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
Leadership Legacies: Insights from Industry Veterans at URG
What happens when automotive recycling industry leaders gather to share their wisdom? Pure gold for anyone connected to this unique business community.
The latest episode of URG On The Go podcast delivers exclusive conversations recorded live from the URG Team PRP Conference in Orlando, Florida. Host DJ Harrington sits down with Marty Hollingshed, past president of the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) and 40-year owner of Northlake Auto Recyclers, who reveals what makes this industry exceptional—competitors who genuinely help one another succeed.
"We're an industry born out of adversity," Hollingshed explains, tracing the organization's roots to World War II. His insights on innovation highlight how recyclers were remarkably ahead of OEMs in tackling electric vehicle challenges through their self-taught, collaborative approach. The conversation takes a heartfelt turn as Hollingshed discusses his deep commitment to veterans' causes, honoring those who've sacrificed for our freedom.
Shannon Nordstrom, incoming ARA president, shares his remarkable journey from a family dairy farm to building a nationwide business with 80 employees. His story illustrates the power of industry connections: "My horizons were opened up so big to think bigger than the window I saw out of back in South Dakota." Listeners get a glimpse into Nordstrom's "Under the Hood Show"—a nationally syndicated radio program broadcasting on 247 stations that subtly champions automotive recycling while educating consumers.
The episode concludes with Ron Matthews from Axe Payments discussing innovative solutions that eliminate credit card processing fees for recyclers. Beyond business talk, Matthews embodies the industry's spirit: "I'm building bridges, putting people together so they can grow their business."
Ready to tap into the wisdom of recycling's most successful leaders? Listen now and discover how collaboration might be the missing piece in your business growth strategy!
Welcome one and all. You are there and we are here. This is the URG On the Go podcast, the true voice of the automotive recycling industry. Yes, we are still in Orlando, Florida, at the URG Team PRP Conference. One of my dearest friends, Marty, has come by and I'm going to tell all of you. I have his hat on now. Everybody's saying what is with this Northlake hat on your head, Marty? Tell everybody, Tell all our listeners where you're from. This is the past. President of ARA. It's a privilege to get you to sit down.
Speaker 2:My name is Marty Hollingsford. I own Northlake Auto Recyclers in Hammond, Indiana, right outside of Chicago. Been there for 40 years 40? 40 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, holy moly. Now it is. People go to and you started at ARA. You were president of AR. What year? Because that's a five-year commitment when you start. I was president of ARA in 2022. Okay, that's the year they started mentor program and all that.
Speaker 2:Well, the mentoring program was started my first year with ARA. That was done. Artie Hopper was the founder of the program and I helped Artie, but it was Artie's idea. And the whole idea with the ARA program or the peer-to-peer mentoring program was us helping people that are new to the business, or some people that may be struggling or need some answers.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to tell you, Marty, the year you were president was the year the mentoring program blossomed. It bloomed.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it was going before then. But again, you know, this is a unique industry, dj, yeah, okay, and we're one of the few industries where we're willing to share and help one another, even though we're competitors and we're competing for the same dollars. Some of us, we're all willing to do what's best for the industry and help each other because, at the end of the day, rising tide raises all shifts, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but Northlake is almost a key location where people how many recyclers call you on the phone to see if they can come visit you.
Speaker 2:We get a little bit here and there, but it is a. I've got a good place because of my people, it's not because of me. I've been fortunate where I've been able to build a good team. I'd like to think of my group as the equivalent of the New York Yankees or the Montreal Canadiens. Okay, and my place is what it is because of them, not because of me.
Speaker 1:I got you. Well, you're a very gifted owner. You give so much back to the industry. When I had Shannon Nordstrom sitting where you're sitting now, and Tom Andre, who is your treasurer this year at ARA, they all said it's a five-year commitment. So when they recruited you way back when did they tell you you're committing for five years?
Speaker 2:Oh, I know well it's going to be a longer commitment than that because I am on the board and all. It is a less active role, but yes, it is a five-year commitment each year on the executive committee to when you reach president, it becomes more demanding. But again, the whole thing is is you know, to keep this industry relevant and strong? Okay, gotcha, ara was an industry. Look, we were born ARA. We're an industry that was born out of adversity. This industry started back during World War II, when this association was formed because yards needed to keep cars.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 2:Cars to sell parts, and you know this industry. We're self-taught, we're innovative, We've figured out things on our own. If you look at the electric vehicles and some of the areas we were involved in with the higher-ups, with the OEMs, they were amazing. We were a year and a half ahead of them, figuring out the problems and being able to see around the corner.
Speaker 1:Wow, but you did make it. You see, the thing of it is meeting someone like yourself. You've made a difference in the industry. You're that type of person who really gave and you gave back, and then to follow in your footsteps or on your shoulders. Now you've got a Shannon Nordstrom coming up. He's the first vice president this year. You've got a Tom Andre, another gifted guy like you, and it's amazing how these guys make a commitment to spend that many years helping the industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but again, you know, look, we wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have been there in my time if it wasn't for all the people that did all the hard, the good and the hard work before us. And this isn't about one person, okay, it's about a group and it's about things that have been done over time. Okay, you've got a great group of guys that are very busy businessmen, but they're willing to devote their time and their money and their efforts for the greater good. It was that way well before me and hopefully it'll be that way well after me, there's a lot of good guys that were around, and if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here.
Speaker 1:David Gold, that's another great, great leader.
Speaker 2:There's one other thing I would like to touch on. Okay, yeah, and this is something that is very special to me okay, and this is the veterans and all the people that have sacrificed so we can enjoy the life that we have.
Speaker 1:Yes, and being a veteran makes a big difference. I have my veteran hat Now. I got my Tunnel to Towers hat here, but I also got my veteran hat over here and I got recruited out of the priesthood to go into Fort Dix and I was a librarian at Fort Dix.
Speaker 2:That's my military background, but there's a lot of people that have, you know, have given some, and there's some that have given all. I lost an uncle in the Battle of the Bulge. Okay, I never even knew him, they just found him two years ago and I'm going to go to Arlington next month to see his headstone. Okay, but again, in this country, you know, we have to realize what our values are and what is important.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And the people that have fought to preserve our way of life. They deserve to be held in high regard.
Speaker 1:I agree 110%.
Speaker 2:And the stuff that you do for the veterans. One of the things I admire about you is your devotion and your efforts to do that, and you are a good man, charlie Well vice versa.
Speaker 1:You're a good man and I want to tell all our listeners every time I ever was trying to raise money for Tunnel to Towers or a veteran group, you're always there. You're a very generous human being, marty.
Speaker 2:Well, we're glad to help, DJ. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1:And thanks for being on the podcast Listeners. This is a great one. We have just walked by, we're at the URG conference in a beautiful Orlando, florida, and the number one guy, shannon Nordstrom, from Nordstrom's Shannon, how are you today?
Speaker 4:Wonderful. Don't build me up that much. The number one guy is sitting right beside me.
Speaker 1:No, my friend, I have to ask you this Tell us a little bit about your position at ARA, if you would, yeah.
Speaker 4:No, we're excited. I'm the first vice president right now in Birmingham at our convention coming up here this fall I'll become the president. Right now, eric Wilbert is a president and it's great to be able to be in a position to get back to the industry interact with other industries and be in those rooms to have those conversations and working with URG like we're doing more right now things like this. It's exciting about the future for our industry.
Speaker 1:Shannon, the most important part of this little it's a short interview and, folks, I was trying to pull people from the audience to talk to you why you need to be in Denver next year. So what's some of the tips that you give people? You're a speaker here yourself, yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, I tell you what. When I first started coming to shows in the late 1990s, 2000s, as a young man, a teenager, I didn't know what. I didn't know Right and I knew what I knew, but just my horizons were opened up so big to be able to just think bigger than the window that I saw out of back in Garrison, south Dakota, we would never have been able to build our business on our family dairy farm, with cows and alfalfa and corn all around us, to have 80 employees and be able to service markets all across the country without being at places like this. I just got done listening to my friend, pat from Pam's Auto talk about AI use.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:And it was amazing to sit there and just let your mind wander about what can happen very soon and what they're doing now and other places are doing now using AI. Things like that will continue to expand, and being at these shows is where you're going to find out about it. Otherwise you'll be back uh, sharpening the axe and uh, I'm here sharpening the axe while other people are swinging it yes, all right, and my axe is gonna be sharp.
Speaker 1:And one final question why is it that when people call you on the phone, they come and want to visit Nordstrom's 2.0.
Speaker 4:Well, we try to share as much as we can.
Speaker 4:You don't always have the time for everybody that wants to but we love to share because I learn when I share, when I share with other people, they share things back, and I'm like huh, never thought of it that way. And so, as long as you keep an open mind, the back-and-forth sharing is valuable for me. My son is here for the first time. I'm excited about that Third generation of Nordstrom's. We've got employees here that have not been to events like this before. I want to open up their window too. So it's not just me at the top thinking bigger If I can get more people seeing that, more people opening their eyes. I saw two of my employees sitting in one of the meetings and I'm like, okay, we're going to have a conversation when we get back and I want to hear what they got out of that and we can expand together because I'm not pulling the rope by myself that way.
Speaker 1:Shannon Nordstrom has 247 radio stations that carry your program. Tell them a little bit about that A quick little bit.
Speaker 4:It started off as an infomercial and back then, when I think about it, it was a half hour live infomercial. My mom had the idea. Back then, when I think about it, it was a half-hour live infomercial. My mom had the idea. Local radio station put me on the air at 19 years old and it was crazy to think about it now and with the help of my partner, russ Evans, who I brought in eight years, later who manages our service center and friends that we made in that industry that were mentors to us to help us learn how to do it.
Speaker 4:It's all self-syndicated, we did it all ourselves and now it's a nationally syndicated car talk show. We also have podcasts. We also have YouTube. It's called Under the Hood Show, and we want to help consumers be better consumers of the automobile, and in the middle of that we get to talk the position that we are as an auto reseller. We see the body shop side, we see the new car dealer side, we see and we can give people just straight good advice, and then we have some fun doing it too, and so it's a two hour show. We make two one hour podcasts out of that show the live show and then that goes up on Westwood One satellites to be downloaded by stations all across the country. And now we've been slowly building up our YouTube audience too, doing live streaming on YouTube, facebook I think we've got it going on X now we're just trying different things to get out there, and in the middle of all that is the auto recycling story, and so that's fun to do.
Speaker 1:You're a real gift. I can't thank you enough for being here.
Speaker 4:You helped me unwrap the gift. Yeah, shannon, god bless you.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you. So let's take a break, folks, and when we come back we'll hear more about what's happening at URG. Be right back.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. We're at URG in Orlando, florida, right here at the conference, and a dear friend of mine that you've heard about on a podcast but never listened to on a podcast, ron Matthew from Axe Payment, is just walking by. We're dear friends, so, ron, let me pass it over to you Tell people where you're from, what company you're with and how you love URG. Team PRP.
Speaker 5:DJ Ron Matthews here representing Axe Payments. I've been coming to these shows for many decades.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 5:URG now is a combined show with PRP which turns into an enormous show. This is probably the biggest and best show. I've ever been to this place and this venue is huge.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 5:It's been a really great environment here and the people it's been phenomenal, the staff very well organized. I think it's our best show for people signing up with us too.
Speaker 1:And tomorrow I'll come back. The magazine they're handing out at the Florida Toe Show is all about Axe Payment, so I'll get four or five copies for you. Thank you, because you'll be here working and you need copies of bragging about Axe Payment. But folks, ron and I have been dear friends and there's 9,000 of you and today I had so many people that said we'll get over the 10,000 mark. So Spotify and iTunes and all of them Pandora they start promoting you when you hit 10,000 more. Oh, wow. So we're at almost 9 000. 9 018 people every week listen to your g on the go podcast. But I want to ask you ax payment has really made a difference. If the person is having a credit card fee and they're spending money on processing, how can ax paymente, payment help them? Ron?
Speaker 5:So what we do different besides not having contracts, not committing you into a relationship you may not want to be into. We pass the fee on to the customer, so we take all your credit card fees and make them to zero. We do not charge for our software or our hardware.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 5:It's a like-us-or-leave-us mentality that we have, and it's been a no-brainer. We have hundreds of recyclers with us now yes and the software solutions from texting or emailing a pay link to somebody are really efficient for the sales people and we have hardware solutions for mobile and desktop and I know for a fact, the customer service department at axe is phenomenal.
Speaker 1:so you don't have to talk to a foreign land. You don't talk to a foreign customer, you talk to a live human being right here in the USA. If somebody wants to get a hold of you, ron, what's the best way to get a hold of you?
Speaker 5:So my cell phone is on all of our advertisements, including our website, so we don't hide behind an 800 number or behind a phone system. Our CEO's cell phone's available. Most of our staff has cell phones that are available If we're not group texting our clients that want support. I'm available seven days a week 20 hours a day. My personal cell phone you can text or call is 401-640-3015.
Speaker 1:All right, now say that number, folks. This is a dear friend of mine, so write the phone number down If you're having any kind of a snag. You give Ron Matthews a call from Axe Payment and I want him to repeat the phone number to you, and then a website too.
Speaker 5:So it's 401-640-3015. And we now have a website exclusive to auto AxePayAutocom. Axepayautocom.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Well, all I want to tell all of you listeners, ron and I have been dear friends, but I would never, ever give an endorsement if I didn't believe in his product. But I believe in Ron Matthews. He's a wonderful human being and he gives back to the industry more than you'll ever know. He's a real gift to recyclers across the country.
Speaker 5:So I can't thank you enough for being up on this. I am. My life is auto recycling.
Speaker 1:You are.
Speaker 5:I grew up as an auto recycler. My life is still there. That's why I like to go see my friends that have facilities and keep it in my blood.
Speaker 1:We had two people on this podcast today that said Ron Matthews is the most giving. Being in the recycling industry, You're never in it for you. What can I do to help the recycler? Get better, Not bitter. Get better, and let me help them with their credit card. Not only that, but when you see me walking around the show.
Speaker 5:I'm building bridges. I'm putting people together. I'm like-minded recyclers, one that may be looking to sell more parts in a certain area or may want to deal with a certain particular vendor. I'm always putting people together so they can grow their business indirectly.
Speaker 1:That's like my favorite saying you help enough people get what they want. You can have everything you want. You can have everything you want and you've done that. You've done that in this industry, ron thank you very much.
Speaker 4:Thank you, DJ.
Speaker 1:And folks contact Gax Payment and contact Ron Matthews himself. And until next time this is DJ Harrington telling you have a safe, good time with your families. Love the ones you're with. See you next time on URG, on the Go Podcast.