U-R-G On the Go
An informative podcast for the United Recyclers Group. Each week we will feature an entertaining guest that will share their knowledge and information with you, providing you with tips and tools to help you become a more profitable business.
U-R-G On the Go
Racing to the Future: Jason Howell on Automotive Recycling, Innovation, and Family Legacy
Discover the heartwarming legacy of the automotive recycling industry as Jason Howell from All Imports in Fort Worth takes us on a journey through his family's rich history. With roots dating back to his great-grandfather's entrepreneurial spirit, Jason's story is one of passion and perseverance. We explore his transition from radio, television, and film studies to carving his niche in the business world since 2013, all while nurturing a profound love for racing. Jason's narrative not only highlights his personal experiences but also serves as an inspiring testament to the value of family traditions and industry evolution.
The future of automotive recycling is brimming with promise as we tackle the industry's challenges and innovations. With Jason's insights, we unpack the technological advancements poised to reshape the landscape over the next decade. Recycled automotive parts emerge as vital solutions to supply chain woes and cost reduction, while public perception shifts towards viewing these facilities as eco-friendly alternatives to traditional junkyards. The conversation underscores the critical role of maintaining an online presence and leveraging e-commerce platforms like car-part.com to ensure sustained business success.
Education and networking are key to advancing in the auto recycling industry, and Jason shares invaluable takeaways from the recent ARA conference. We explore the significance of industry events and the URG Scholarship Foundation in fostering growth and safety within teams. As we wrap up with a lively exchange on dynamic duos, we encourage our listeners to look forward to upcoming events and embrace the opportunities for growth and knowledge that lie ahead. With gratitude for Jason's enthusiasm and our audience's engagement, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the vibrant world of auto recycling.
Welcome one and all to the URG On the Go Podcast. You are there. We are here Now. This is the true voice of the automotive recycling industry. It was created for the pros that have a need to know that are on the go. I'm DJ Harrington, your co-host, better known as the cardiologist. The other co-host is the talented Amanda Morrison, who is the director of member and vendor relationships for URG. Amanda, how are you this beautiful day?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. I'm finally back home after being on the road for the last few weeks going to conferences. How are you DJ?
Speaker 1:Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Speaker 2:With the election over now everything's back to normal and everything is good, exactly yes, and we have a great guest on the show today. We've got Jason Howell from All Imports in Fort Worth. Jason, thank you so much for having for being on the show today.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, Thanks for having me on and excited to talk a little bit about our industry.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's awesome. Thanks, DJ, for that amazing introduction. You're always so great at those.
Speaker 1:That's the least I can do, because Jason's a wonderful guest. This will be a good one, amanda.
Speaker 2:I totally agree. I completely agree. So, Jason, we want to know a little bit about how you got involved in the industry and a little bit about your family history. I know you've you've kind of been ingrained in this industry for a long time. Can you tell me about how you got started?
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, kind of like a lot of you know family owned yards, didn't really have a choice to do anything else. You know I kid with that. I really had a choice and honestly I tried to do everything I could to not be in this industry but it just kept pulling me back. So a little you know history lesson. On my, my mother's side of the family Gosh, my great grandpa started scrapping cars back in the day on the side to bring a little extra money to help pay for bills and groceries. And then, as my grandfather got older, he got into the industry and started scrapping cars and then opened up like a pick and pull scrap operation, became a mobile car crusher. He's 89 years old and still does that. I don't know how he still does all of it, but he's a worker, a hard blue collar guy. He just doesn't want to sit at home. So he still works as a mobile crusher. As a matter of fact, they're actually here crushing right now.
Speaker 4:And then my mom got into the industry working with my grandfather and then married Keith Sturgeon in the 90s and they ran all import auto parts. Keith, on Keith's side of the story you know. Most people know who Keith Sturgeon and the Ron. Sturgeon and the family name Ron started kind of all in port while Keith was in junior high and then when he got into high school, kind of turned it over to Keith and Keith would go to school during the day while his mom would run the counter and answer phone calls and then when Keith would get off school he would come in and pull the parts that needed to be pulled and dismantle cars and do everything else. Then, once he graduated, he ran it and, like I said, when him and my mom got married, they ran it for 20 years together and then now my mom owns it and I am the general manager and I've been here since 2013 and you know I've had every hard lesson on the way to 2024. Awesome, that's how I got here.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. So what? What position did you start out at then in 2013?
Speaker 4:You say 2013? Yeah, back in 2013 I was. I was actually in college trying to get my degree in radio, television, television and film. I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. I thought that would be a lot of fun. I took a lot of film classes and audio and radio classes, which was great. I learned a lot, but then realized that my true calling was business. I came in and, honestly, my job when I started was what needed to be done, like what needed to be done that wasn't getting done and how to make it better and improve it. I had to work my way with the part pullers to shipping and receiving, to inventory, to work with dismantlers and then ultimately landed managing all of the production and inventory about a year into it, and that's kind of where I stayed for about four or five years.
Speaker 2:Very cool. So you kind of learned all the ins and outs of the business so that you know how to do the job itself right yeah.
Speaker 4:You know as a kid. You know most people who grew up with their parents owning a salvage yard will know and understand that you learn how to work on cars and drive them at a very young age because you're kind of free labor to the parents.
Speaker 4:And when you're out of school to keep you out of trouble, they just bring you to work and it's great lessons, honestly. So you learn how to work on the cars, you understand how that works, but you don't really truly understand the intricacies of the business and when you get, you know. That was really great for me to come back after working in it to actually look at it at a different level and a different perspective of understanding. Okay, when I make, you know, a change over here on the left, it really changes everything over here on the right. So what is the happy medium? So it really showed me a lot on what to do, what not to do and how to manage my people with the correct management styles and practices. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like you have a lot of knowledge based on. You know, obviously, cars and you race a little bit too, don't you? Uh, yes, I do still race.
Speaker 4:Uh, yeah, that's. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do that. Uh, you know, father, time is still undefeated, and all.
Speaker 2:I like it. I like it. Well that's. That's really cool and I'm sure your employees really appreciate that. You've grown up in the business and and create kind of a loyalty for for you, knowing the ins and outs of of all of what they do as well and trying to help improve those processes yeah, you know, that is really great to have that knowledge and experience, to be able to train and and have the guys understand that I know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4:I'm not just in the office because I'm the owner's son.
Speaker 4:I'm in the office because I understand what it takes to get the job done in the correct way and the safe way to get it done.
Speaker 4:And you know, with that knowledge it goes a long way. But the opposite side of that is we've got three or four people that have been here for 20-plus years. But being here 20-plus years, most of those people knew me as a young teenager and you know, we all know we grow from a young teenager to an adolescent, to a mature adult, and they've seen me grow through all that Uh, and that actually really helped out a lot because they do have a lot of respect for me, uh, seeing me grow and become who I am now. So you kind of get both sides of it or at least I do in the position I'm in, which is really nice. Because then when you get some of the new guys that think, oh, he just doesn't know what he's talking about, he just wants it to get done, that's what he wants. I have the older leadership guys that can say well, actually, this is why Nobody talks about it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I have the older leadership guys that I can say well, actually this is why and yeah, they have my back a little bit more and it's not like I have a bad team that doesn't want to do anything. I say I really have a really good team out back and in my office. It's just sometimes it's hard for everybody to understand the big picture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can completely understand that, especially being a family-owned business, it's probably one of the biggest hurdles, I hear for sure. So obviously that's one challenge that you've kind of had to overcome. Is there any kind of other success stories that you're particularly proud of?
Speaker 4:There probably is, but I am a very sentimental in the moment type of person. But once I'm out of that moment, um, I kind of just move on. Uh, I don't really think about it too much. Um, I just, you know, the right thing needs to be done. Make that decision, um, and don't think about it anymore after that, just move forward.
Speaker 2:I like it. That's probably what helps you succeed. So what advice would you give someone? Obviously, your family's been very deeply involved in the automotive recycling industry. What would you give someone coming into the business that's opening a new facility?
Speaker 4:Okay, be extremely open-minded. There's so many different ways to be able to run one of these salvage yards. We all have our own thoughts and our own ideas, things that we want to implement and do but we just know won't work. But when you're new and you're fresh, you don't know what will and what won't work. And I'm not saying we do 100%, but we have more of a general idea. So be open-minded.
Speaker 4:Network, meet as many people as you can that are in the associations that do great for our industry, because anybody in those associations is going to want to help you out, because that's what we're there for. We're held to help make our industry more professional and to advance it further down the line. It's not one of those industries where everybody holds all their best, kept secrets close to their chest. We actually share all of those because we want everybody to succeed and be successful. So you know, if you're new and you're coming in and you're really new to our industry, just take in the fact that everybody's willing to help. Everybody's willing to give you advice. There's plenty of training out there to be able to understand and know more. And you know, be part of a peer group.
Speaker 2:Being part of peer groups is great because you're constantly getting information as far as you know what's new to the industry and what's shifting and and changing in the industry yeah, and I think that's that's one thing that you know recyclers they're starting to realize you know it's ever evolving, all the technology that's coming in and trying to integrate and try to get your parts out there, and so I agree it's one of the coolest things about, you know, going to the conferences the urg conference or the aera conference, um, and just being able to network with all the people that are willing to give free feedback.
Speaker 4:They're just wanting to talk and figure out different ways to sell more parts, essentially, yeah and no matter who you talk to I mean, you may talk to somebody you've talked to for years. You may talk to somebody you've talked to for years 90% of the information they're going to say you know, but there's going to be that little 10% or 20% of things they say that you're that you either a never thought of or you thought of but you weren't sure how to tackle it. So then you can actually then ask more in depth. Well, hey, you kind of mentioned this. How, how did you do that, how did you manage it and how did you know what the results were at the end? And they'll just share that. So, even though some of the bigger yards and the most professional people, there's still always something to be learned anytime you talk to anybody.
Speaker 2:Yep, I completely agree. All right, DJ, is it time for another break?
Speaker 1:Let's take a break, folks, and when we come back we'll listen more. With Jason Howe We'll be right back.
Speaker 3:URG can help you streamline your business for maximum efficiency and increased profits. Access powerful software and unique tools. Receive top-level training with industry experts. Network with hundreds of recyclers. Employ e-commerce solutions to boost business. Receive support, resources and discounts Starting at just $150 a month. It's the smartest investment you will make for your business this year. Go to u-r-gcom and click on Become a Member. Your path to a profitable future is just a click away. That's u-r-gcom.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, listeners. You know you're listening to the number one podcast in the recycling industry, urg on the Go podcast with Amanda Morrison and DJ Harrington. We have and I want to remind all of our listeners save the date April 10th through the 12th for the Hyatt Regency, grand Cypress in beautiful sunny Orlando, florida. That's the 2025 convention for URG and Team PRP. Now I want to bring back Amanda and Jason Howell because this is fantastic. Listeners, take notes because Jason is giving you some great tips. All right, amanda, I'll send it back over to you.
Speaker 2:I agree with you, dj. This is a great interview. Thanks again, jason. We just kind of want to dig in a little bit more. How do you see the future of automotive recycling evolving in the next few years? Like five to ten years?
Speaker 4:I see it evolving a lot, honestly, with technology advancements, part availability, you know, a cultural shift in how hard you want to work and how much work you really want to do. I think we're really kind of on the forefront of revolutionary change within our industry, just with the OEs realizing that the value of our parts and how much it can actually help them with their supply chain issues, fixing cars, getting more cars sold, and with the public really finding out more about us. You know everything's expensive, everything costs a lot more nowadays because of technology. You know technology is great in one way and bad in another, just because it's expensive to keep cars on the road nowadays, especially with all the add-ons they have. So I think you know we're starting to get to a point to where, the more we can get our product and our what we do in front of the public, we're just going to gain more traction and become more known.
Speaker 4:Because, you know, nowadays we constantly get people in our offices. I never knew this existed, but this is fantastic. Y'all just saved me a lot of money. And that's what we're really here for. We're here to help people save money and to make sure cars are getting recycled properly to where they can be reused in different aspects of our economy. So I really think it's going to change a lot more on the technology side and with dealers going to be, they're going to want to use our product more in the future than they are now because of the cost savings it's going to be for them, rather than have to produce that part and ship that part and move all of it and get it to where it needs to be, they should, you know they're going to be able to source those parts from us to be able to get those cars fixed faster for their customers.
Speaker 2:Exactly and I think you're spot on with. You know just getting our name out there as recyclers and how it is a green, you know way to be able to help the planet. Even you know it's an environmental thing being able to make sure that these vehicles are recycled properly and then also you can get inexpensive parts and really just letting everyone know that we're not just junkyards, we're these automotive recycling facilities, and a lot of them are great. We've been to your yard. It's a great facility and you guys do really good things over there. It is really just not known out there what we do.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's widely not known. I mean, anywhere I go, I tell people what I do, you know, and they immediately ask me hey, I need a door mirror, I need a taillight or I need a door.
Speaker 4:I need something, where can I find it? And you just spend a five or 10 minute conversation with them and they're almost blown away with how intricate our business is and how much we know and where to find it and how much it would probably be, and so it's. It's always fantastic teaching people and getting people to understand who we are and that we're here and that we've been here for years. You know, so it's, we're not going anywhere. I feel like our our market's going to get stronger as time progresses over the next five to ten years and just because the knowledge of who we are is getting more into the public.
Speaker 2:Yep, I completely agree. So what platforms do you feel like perform best for you for selling parts?
Speaker 1:arts.
Speaker 2:Tough question, I know. When we're talking about technology and all the different integrations, I guess it'd be more of getting online.
Speaker 4:Essentially, I guess is probably one of your biggest sellers, right? Yeah, I mean, there's so many different platforms nowadays. You know you have your website that you can do to be able to sell through google. You have ebay, uh, and I know some yards are on amazon. I do not know the success that they're having on there.
Speaker 4:Um, you know, for us really it's just getting the stuff online. You know car-partcom, great source uh, yeah, a fun story. I always tell people because you know you meet new yards that aren't sure if they need to list their stuff on Carpartcom. We actually had an instance where our data fee got knocked out. For like two or three weeks Our information was not showing on Carpart and I can tell you right now it was mass emergency. What's going on? How do we fix this? It took us two or three weeks to fix it, but by the time we got that fixed, we realized how important it was to have that stuff on the website, because you went from being busy and hustling all day to we were sitting around twiddling our thumbs because we were hardly getting any phone calls.
Speaker 4:So, e-commerce, getting your stuff online to where people get online and they search. You know salvage yard near me. You know used auto parts to where your name can pop up and, as long as you know, keeping a good review rating online really helps with those phone calls coming in as well. You know, for us we are a big online yard. We sell a lot on eBay, but that is. I feel a lot of that is attributed to our inventory and what we do with our inventory as far as making sure it's actually described with photos of the individual part that is being sold, so that way when somebody looks online, they're looking at exactly what they're buying and they can match that to what they have to make that buying process as easy as we can.
Speaker 2:Right. It's all about visibility and being able to trust what's on in your inventory right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you know you always hear celebrities and politicians and just anybody that's in the public eye. Some of them say there's no such thing as bad publicity. As long as they're talking about you, they're talking about you. Now, I agree there is some bad publicity, Don't get me wrong. But the more you can have your product out there in front of people, the more of an opportunity you have to be able to sell it.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep and hopefully gain that trust of that customer and then future sales will end up happening as well. I love it. So what do you think the biggest risk or challenges facing the automotive industry are today? What do you think we kind of are seeing that maybe is hindering our industry at all?
Speaker 4:The biggest. That's tough because there's a lot of them out there. You know I would think that with the independent salvage yard is different than the consolidators. So you know a huge risk to the independents are the consolidators coming in and taking up a large share of the market and kind of blocking the smaller yards out. So you know that's a big risk for them. Along with you know, regulations that come along with what you have to do at your yard and every state is different with the regulations, is different with the regulations. So to me I think one of the biggest risks or concerns we have coming up is the technology they are putting in the cars, because the more technology they put in the cars, the more they make it to where you have to take your car to a certified mechanic for that brand or manufacturer, whereas that's not really the American way.
Speaker 4:The American way is hey, I'm going to buy this from you and I should be able to fix it on my own, but I'll have to take it to you. So I think the biggest risk is going to be the technology they're putting into the cars to where only that manufacturer can work on it, Whereas instead of being able to take it to an independent mechanic to be able to get your car fixed. I think that's going to be one of the toughest things that we have to battle coming in the future.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I just went to the Collision Industry Conference in Vegas here. I just got back yesterday and that's kind of one of the biggest things is the OEM repair procedures. I just got back yesterday and that's kind of one of the biggest things is the OEM repair procedures and it's true, it's crazy the amount of procedures and different things that they have to do, but it is a lot of different technology and all these newer vehicles and it's all different. So I think that's a very good point that you made it is all vastly different.
Speaker 4:I went to the, a similar show here in texas, and they talk a lot about the same thing and I was really blown away. I didn't realize how involved all that was so it was definitely eye-opening for me to be at that and learn that as well yeah, it's interesting to.
Speaker 2:We had a few recyclers that came to uh jr from chucks and then we had had Shannon Nordstrom as well from Nordstrom and they were also you know. But we come in with all these ideas where we can try to improve the relationships but then we realize how much they have to go through with all these procedures and it's crazy. But just making the connections with the body shops I'm sure you guys kind of have people that go out and make you know day-to-day connections with body shops and just getting the word out out there about recycled parts is important.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Um, you know, uh, it's all about advocacy and and, uh, continuing to to let people know who you are and what you're about and what you do.
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly. All right, DJ. Is it time for another break? Uh, let's do a break, Folks.
Speaker 1:We'll be right back with Jason Huff Hold tight.
Speaker 3:The URG Scholarship Foundation was founded in 2014 in honor of individuals who give their talent, time and, very often, their own finances, to ensure the growth and success of the automotive recycling industry. We understand college is not for everyone, so each year the foundation offers substantial financial scholarships to auto recycling employees and the children of employees that are attending four-year and technical or trade schools, to assist with their education. Don't leave money on the table. If you have a child or if you're interested in attending continuing education, this money is available to you. Go to u-r-gcom and click on the Scholarship Foundation tab. Urg keeping our industry strong through education.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. You know you're listening to URG On the Go with Amanda Morrison, dj Harrington and this special guest this week is Jason Howell. I want to remind all of you. We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheart Media, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, amanda, I'm sending it back to you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dj. All right, jason, I saw you at ARA. Let's see, it was a week ago now. How did that go for you guys?
Speaker 4:That was great. It's always great getting to see everybody and catch up. You're doing business with all these people but you have personal connections with everybody. So catching up with everybody on family and life and work and business and learning Went to a few sessions that I kind of picked up on some stuff and came back and talked with my staff and we're starting to implement and change. And you know, anytime you get to go to those conventions and get to be around your peers, it's just a huge learning experience and a great networking experience as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you brought some of your team as well. Luke was there.
Speaker 4:Luke was there. Luke used to be on my team. Now he's uh, he's on another team, uh, but uh, you know he does great uh. Usually, uh, when I go, I uh, I try to take a couple of my sales members with me. Unfortunately, I was the only one to be able to go uh this year to ara, um, due to uh, yeah, some other people had some vacation and we were kind of short staffed so I wasn't able to pull anybody away to go with me.
Speaker 2:So you were able to attend. That's amazing that you guys were able to learn some things there. What all do you take back to your people? What did you end up implementing into your day-to-day?
Speaker 4:I came back with some safety precautions as far as my yard guys, some things we knew we needed to work on to be a little bit more safe with how our cars are being placed in the yard and things that we're doing through our dismantling process.
Speaker 4:I specifically wanted to go there to learn about a couple of things because before I go to any of these, I ask my people you know what are three to five things that I need to work on improving for y'all? I do it with my back end, I do it with my front end, my sales staff, my office staff, and so I usually have a list of about 10 or 15 things I need to learn. Some of them are kind of intertwined and some of them are their own ideas. So I try to really just go learn and understand as much as my people need to know to grow what they need to and come back and implement. Like I said, you know the safety part on the back end with my dismantling how my yards are being placed in my yard and then on the front end it was a little bit of sales techniques and customer service.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. That's awesome. And yet you go to the URG conference every year too, right?
Speaker 4:Yes, I've been going to URG, I think for eight or nine years now. You know as a professional. I've gone to URG when I was a kid with my parents, but I was not there to learn, I was there on vacation.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 4:Well, you were still around it. Oh yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we try to have events that are, you know, in cool areas so people can bring their family, and that's kind of a goal of Orlando, you know, bringing your family and being able to go to Disney. So did you get to go to? I don't know if we were in Orlando at that point. Were you going to Denver when you were a kid?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was in Denver a few times. There was a couple other locations. I could not tell you where it was, I just know it wasn't in Denver. But yeah, so Denver at the time, and been to Orlando a couple of times, that's always a great spot. And I was in Kansas City earlier this year at URG as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. What are some things that you've been able to bring back from the URG conference? Whenever you go, obviously, networking is key, but have you been able to bring anything back to your team, or even take your team to URG as well?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I've been able to take some your team to to URG as well. Yeah, I've been able to take, uh, some of my team to URG, uh, taking my production manager and a couple of my sales staff members. Uh, for my sales staff, it's really making connections with other sales members at yards and learning more about the business. Um, I tell them all, uh, if there is sales session, you can go to it, but more than likely you're going to know 80 percent of it. Like I said, there's always more to be learned. They're not going to know all of it, but my idea of taking them is I actually want them to learn more in the other aspects of the industry.
Speaker 4:So, whether it be car buying or inventory or processing any of that stuff, that's really what I want them to learn, because they learn through their relationships with the other sales members at the yards. I want them to truly understand the business as a whole, because the more training and the more education your staff has, the more educated decisions they can make and the less I have to be involved in everyday decisions. And I just want my people to know all of it. I don't want them to be just stuck in a niche where all they know how to do is sell parts. I want them to know how to sell parts, inventory a car, dismantle a car, pull apart and dissect the numbers of the performance evaluation of vehicles and inventory, because I'm always constantly growing and adapting and seeing better today than I was yesterday and I highly encourage that on all of my staff.
Speaker 4:And they've really kind of taken that to where now they actually bring issues to me with solutions and that's really great because now I have their input as well.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's exactly where you want your team to be. Is, you know, bringing the problem with the solution? That's awesome that you have them trained like that. And you know, bringing them to ARA and URG is so good for their developmental you know, just getting them into the future and getting them to a point where they feel like they're going to continue to grow in the business, and that creates loyalty as well.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I love it. So I want to dig in a little bit more about all imports. So you started in 2013. Have you done what? Whenever you are hiring I'm assuming you are involved in hiring and all of that- I am. Yep, Is that is that kind of a pain point for y'all. How do you guys go about hiring and training?
Speaker 4:You know that's interesting. You know everybody kind of has their own ways. I am the only, I am the main person that does all the hiring. I'm the one that you know gets the ads posted, goes through all the candidates and and I do all the interviews. There's only a couple of positions I don't handle and that's kind of accounting stuff that my mom and my sister handle. Since that's their department they manage. I let them do all the hiring on that side.
Speaker 4:But hiring it kind of is a challenge and it kind of isn't. You know, I think a lot of people, you know you hear about the paper ceiling. Now, right, the paper ceiling is a huge thing that's being discussed because a lot of people want qualification, they want experience, they want to see that you've done it before they'll put their trust in you that you can do it. I'm kind of the opposite. I don't care if you have experience selling auto parts or if you even can tell the difference between an alternator and a starter. As long as you have the drive and the want to and the correct attitude, you can learn anything.
Speaker 4:And so I think you know, with changing my practices and hiring, from needing experience and you've got to have the experience to just give me the right attitude and the right want to and we can get there. That's really helped out tremendously, because I've gotten people with completely different backgrounds in my office and so now I have a guy that used to do data analytics. So when we're working on spreadsheets and trying to come up with new things to look at, he's sitting in my office with me because he knows three times more about Excel than I'll ever know. So it really works great in all aspects to have a crew that just has so much knowledge and information across a broad spectrum of things, because you never know when that can come in handy for you.
Speaker 2:Right, that's such a great mentality to have and, you know, having specific jobs for people you know, like you know online sales or eBay sales, you know that's something that you can get training for, and if they've had computer background, then that's great. And you don't necessarily need cars experience at that point. Yeah, and you don't necessarily need cars experience at that point.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you know, in every position requires a different type of person. Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, you know every position is different. You know inventory is kind of an introverted position. You're not really talking to anybody, you know you really aren't, you're kind of on your own. So you know, if you're kind of an introvert, inventory is kind of almost your thing because you don't need to talk to anybody, you don't have to you, just you and the car by yourself, whereas you know you can't put an introvert on a sales sales floor right, because that is a hundred percent out of their element. So it's just really knowing the people and just kind of getting them in the correct spots to where they can succeed themselves. And when they succeed then the company succeeds.
Speaker 2:Completely agree with that. Completely agree with that. So, talking about eBay we were talking a little bit about that. I think you guys are going to be speaking at URG this year you and Matt Hamlin about eBay. Is that right?
Speaker 4:Me and Matt Hamlin are going speak at your g this year. Um, you know I'm a little bit of a jokester, so you know y'all twisted my arm to finally get me to speak at your key um no, I think it'd be great we had to come to your yard and visit you before you go. Yeah, yeah, a little bit of harassment in there but but that was okay. No, I'm kidding, it's all great.
Speaker 4:It's one of those things of I don't mind talking. I love sharing information and anything we can do to help anybody out with anything, and that's what I'm okay with. I never want to get up in front of anybody and explain a bunch of information that's either incorrect or not true, and that's why I wanted to have Matt Hamlin do it together. That was kind of the deal. I was like I'm not doing it alone, I'm doing it with Matt. Matt's been doing eBay for years extremely knowledgeable, smart. When we were in Reno for ARA people were asking questions and I know the answer. But I'm trying to think of how I want to answer it. He's already spitting it out. He's just that fast, that knowledgeable, and you know me and him kind of have a fun little sense of humor with things.
Speaker 4:So you know, at while we're speaking it will be a little bit of a show. There will be some jokes, there will be more than likely some costumes on the stage that go along with what we're talking about. But we really want to make it fun and entertaining because you get some people when they're speaking. It's a lot of information and it's information you need to know, but it takes a lot to go through a 30 or 40 minute session. That's just nothing but information. Our attention spans aren't built for that anymore, so we want to make it fun to where you get a few laughs but you get a lot of information as well. We just want to make sure that you stay into the speech the whole time, rather than zoning out 15 or 20 minutes into it because we're just standing there talking and looking at the screen.
Speaker 2:Yep, Yep, I think it'll be very entertaining. I'm sure it'll be very informational and entertaining at all at the same time. So I love it. So I obviously we kind of want to wrap this up. But do you have anything else you'd like to share about All Imports and what you guys do over there?
Speaker 4:No, I think we kind of went into pretty good detail about you know what type of company we are and how we came about, how long our family's been in the industry. You know I'm always here. So if anybody ever has any questions or wants to know more about us or the industry, I'm always here for questions, to help anybody understand more about us.
Speaker 2:That's one thing that I love about this industry, and you know you're going to be entertaining during the session, but you know you're always available for people to reach out and that's awesome. That's such a valuable thing to this industry and we thank you for everything you guys do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm with you. I think that if he, jason, is speaking with Matt, I'm gonna say it's gonna be Batman and Robin.
Speaker 2:We're just.
Speaker 4:Batman and Matt would be Robin well, that works out great, because my nickname is batman at the racetrack so you nailed that right on the head there there you go and if and if we could be half as entertaining, as great as dj harrington, I will be happily pleased with how we do oh, please, I tell you what this has been a great one.
Speaker 1:Amanda and jason and matt at urg prp on april 10th through the 12th, I think I, I think all of our listeners should look forward to it and when they get their new calendar, make sure they mark their calendar for those dates coming up to be successful in 2025. You may know your business, but you are great. It helps you grow your business. So, that'll be my final words, Amanda, and I'll turn it over to you.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thank you guys all for listening and thank you, jason, for being on the podcast today.
Speaker 4:And again, thanks for having me, and I enjoyed it very much.