American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
This Conversation Reveals How Leadership Principles Turned A Small Towing Operation Into A Multi‑Market Force
A lot of folks think towing only makes the news when something goes wrong. We set out to change that story. In this conversation with Jeff Bauer, president of Cardinal Legacy, we dig into how leadership, culture, and smart growth can rebuild trust and turn good teams into great ones. From learning alongside respected operators to honoring their legacies through acquisitions, Jeff maps out how a people‑first strategy scales better than any fleet list.
We get specific. Jeff shares the simple survey he uses to align roles with strengths, including the tale of a “bad fit” service writer who became a star in accounting once the work matched his wiring. We unpack temperaments, conflict resolution, and the difference between managing tasks and leading people. You’ll hear how principles from mentors like John Maxwell and Zig Ziglar translate into shop reality—clear expectations, practical language, and a structure that turns blind spots into leverage. The result isn’t theory: the team went from a $10M operation to north of $60M by pairing professionalism with consistent training.
We also preview our two‑day leadership retreat in Cape Coral, Florida, built for towing pros and any leader who wants to grow. Expect sessions on blind spots, communication, hiring for strengths, and real‑world conflict tools led by voices from towing, law enforcement, and nonprofit leadership. If you’ve felt stuck on hiring, onboarding, or culture, this is your playbook to reset the year with clarity and momentum.
Want in on the training wave? Check dates and details at CardinalLegacyTowing.com/events, and catch our free deep‑dives on the American Tow and Recovery Institute YouTube channel. If this conversation sparked a new idea, subscribe, share it with a teammate, and leave a review to tell us the next leadership challenge you want us to tackle.
You're on the train to success with April and Wes Wilburn. I'm DJ Harrington, the co-host, better known as the Toad Doctor. We're all on our way to the town of proper towing and recovery, along with our producer, Chuck Camp in the studio. Don't go to the town of woulda, coulda, shoulda. You could have done this. You should have done that. Listen every week to thought-provoking wisdom from great guests. So if you have Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, or the number one podcast, or maybe Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast, turn in on Wednesday and be turned on all week long. If you are a state association and watch your announcements or upcoming state association news, or maybe a co-show that's coming up, let us know. Our podcast studio phone number is 706-409-5603. I'm proud to be part of a great team at the American Dome Recovery Institute. Let's make 2025 our best year ever. I will turn it into April 11th.
SPEAKER_05:Well, DJ, as always, I appreciate your kind words and appreciate your help on this podcast. We've got a great guest for you. Jeff Jeff, I I work with Jeff at the Cardinal Telling Legacy Group. He's the president of the Cardinal. And he's doing some exciting things with us with uh leadership training and uh team building and and whatnot. So uh I'd like to introduce to some, present to others, Jeff. Jeff, uh go ahead and introduce yourself, please.
SPEAKER_03:Hello everybody. Um thanks for the introduction. Uh as Wes said, yeah, I am the president of the Cardell Legacy Group uh out of St. Louis, Missouri. And um I I love the industry. Uh I've been in the automotive industry now going on for 30 plus years. Um over that time, I've done a little bit of everything that comes new and along with uh dealing with automotive from selling cars to working on cars. Uh we've had the collision repair industry, we've had service, we've had um, you know, our entry into towing came, I guess, about uh 2013. Uh my business partner Curtis Barks uh bought a small company just to move cars back and forth between the body shops and uh quickly learn to love the industry and learn love the business. And um, along with that, you know, part of the secret of our success is just uh, you know, is doing a great job taking care of people and and uh respecting people. Um through that uh I got into learning about leadership, learning about personal growth. And um, you know, so the next chapter of our life, you know, as we grow our business and and and look for opportunities, one of the greatest opportunities I see out there for us is just to have a better understanding of of how to do just that as far as taking care of people.
SPEAKER_05:And um so Jeff, just hang on a second. You guys were in the body shop business and the auto repair business and had uh built up several entities in those or in those fields. And then you got you bought a small towing company and like you say, fell in love with the industry. Also there was some you talk about opportunity. There were some great opportunities as uh succession planning was happening at several local towing uh giants, I'll call 'em, starting with Bob and Services. Talk a little bit about getting the opportunities that that presented themselves and how you you all position yourself in the St. Louis market.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. So um, you know, the the collision and the and the service was going really well. Um, you know, Kurt already had a thriving business when I joined the team back in 2014. Um, you know, he had a couple of you know shops. We we quickly grew that to uh seven locations in the St. Louis market, and and as we were growing the towing, um kind of a unique thing happened. You know, we looked at uh at Bowling Services, a local company that had a great reputation, uh very professional. And and as Kurt and I were talking about what do we want our little A to B towing company to look like, um, we modeled ourselves after them. And and we're like, man, if we could just be as professional as them and and have the equipment and have the knowledge and the resources and the respect that they had in the community, what an awesome thing that would be. So it was it was very much an honor for us uh, you know, in 2021 when uh the Bolin brothers came to us and asked us to basically take over their legacy, um, to acquire their company, uh, do a merger with them. And um so so the company that we looked up to, the the company we modeled ourselves from, had enough respect for us and what we did to come back to us and ask us to take that over. So that was our first major acquisition when it came to the towing side. Uh so we went from overnight um 11 pieces of equipment to 75. I mean, so it was like that quick that they were able to do that. And then uh Beth followed um in a couple years later with another local giant and then hugely respected uh with A towing. Um at the point we did the deal with A towing, um, they had already required uh Cardinal Towing, um, Hoods, Crash City, um, and a couple other smaller companies here locally. So so with that acquisition, we quickly went from you know about 80 pieces of equipment to you know uh 130. So so it it we we kind of grew leaps and bounds and and and um had some stumbling blocks along the way, but we learned a lot. Learned a lot about people, learned a lot about the transition of of how to make that work and and um things that are important and things that uh you think are important, maybe not quite.
SPEAKER_05:So Yeah, uh definitely acquired some industry giants. I've worked with both of the companies on training over the years and starting with the Bowlens in the 90s was the first time I went to St. Super professional company, well organized, uh and looked up to as an industry leader in the area.
SPEAKER_03:So you you all definitely acquired some great talent with uh the telling company to acquired and then most recently, just this year, you know, again we fell in love with the industry, realized there's a lot of opportunity for growth, um, a lot of opportunity just to uh um take something that was already it is already a great industry, but but just add a couple of things to it just from some of the leadership things that we've learned that I'd like to talk about here in the future, but um and just start applying that, you know, giving people um a career path, giving people the proper training, um, which is up your alley, West, is something we truly appreciate about you and what you bring to the table, right? Uh safety, professionalism. And um, so we most recently went to Kansas City, Missouri, and uh we we did a merger with a business out there that again um leader in Kansas City uh in laser tow. So very proud to be a part of that, and we're looking to grow our presence in that area. And then um we also this year um love Florida, you know, for for lots of reasons. Um it gets pulled in Missouri, but uh we we acquired um a company called Bald Eagle Towing, again, leader in the industry down in Naples, Florida. So so um that's what we're looking for, is just we're looking for people that um uh have an amazing business, have an amazing reputation, and just looking for um a way to carry that on, you know. Um didn't necessarily have that progression plan, you know, as far as what's next and who's gonna take over after they were done. And and again, very thankful and blessed with the opportunity to be that people to partner with and carry that name and carry that respect and tradition on along into the future.
SPEAKER_05:Well, speaking of being thankful and blessed, we're definitely thankful and blessed that we've we've been acquired as well by you guys. I think that's obvious to the listeners if you listen to any podcast in the last, I don't know, six months. Um we definitely mentioned it, but we're proud that our training division is part of the Cardinal Coding Legacy group as well. And again, it helps keep keep things moving forward. Super exciting what what you guys are doing with the training center for fulfilling that part of our arrangement. Um and w and uh why I'd love to talk about that. We're here to talk about other things. Tell us a little bit about the leadership training that you we've got coming up.
SPEAKER_03:So I don't think there's ever been a point in history where um, you know, there was a a a greater need for for leadership and just understanding. Um, you know, it kind of started with you know, just here in our own industry. Um listen, there's there's a lot of really good players, a lot of good actors out there, a lot of good owners, a lot of very wonderful professional, you know, business people that that run a great business and toying industry, but there's also a lot of not so good players. And uh so one of the things that, you know, it became a mission and taking it personally is to uh help rectify that. You know, how can we um get into an industry that that basically unfortunately has had a little bit of a black eye? You know, when you turn on the TV and you ever hear anything about a towing company, it's usually not a good story. It's usually because somebody feels they're taken advantage of, there's back office deals and you know, with government politicians that are corrupt, and and uh um, you know, people get their cars towed and illegally all that kind of fun stuff, and and uh we hear those stories and and um we want to turn that into a positive, you know, want to raise the bar. So I've taken a lot of my years of experience, you know, just things that I plugged into personally and decided that um it'd be a great opportunity to find some of those good actors, find some of those good business people, bring them together, and and let's talk about some of the things that um uh are very important. And and one of the big topics that I like to bring up is just that we all have blind spots. Um you know, we all have things that we don't know that we don't know. And unfortunately, just because you don't know about something does not mean that it doesn't apply to you or apply to the game that we're playing. And when I say game, I don't say that lightly. I don't say game because I don't take you seriously, it's just the opposite. Um I'm actually a very competitive person. So when I say I want to go play a game, it's because I'm competitive and I like to win and I like to do it the right way. So something as simple as you know, analogy that I use, uh, like West, for example, the law of gravity. You know, a five-year-old child, if they climb up on the kitchen counter and they fall off, um, whether they know about the law of gravity or not, they're gonna hit the floor, right? So just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't apply to you. And when you take a subject, again, let's stick with the law of gravity. If you really truly lean in and you learn about it, you can do some amazing things. You know, I think about you know the Apollo 13 project back in the day when they actually used their knowledge of the law of gravity to slingshot that little capsule around the moon. They use the moon's gravity to bring it back home safely to Earth. Not knowing about that, that could have been disastrous. Um even today, you look at companies like SpaceX that they're able to launch this rocket into the atmosphere, and you use now, obviously, there's other things that play it, but it's a very high-level understanding in the law of gravity to be able to land that rocket on a little pod in the middle of the ocean and bring it back safely. So, so on one hand, ignorance of it doesn't excuse you from it, and it can hurt you what you don't know. And on the other hand, that greater understanding can can lead to some really amazing things, some some some huge successes in life. And we're gonna we're gonna talk about that in this retreat that we're doing the end of January down in Cape Coral, Florida. We picked out a beautiful area. We figured that uh end of January it's gonna be cold most places in the United States, and for no other reason alone, it'd be great to go to Florida that time of year anyway, right? Um, but we're gonna try and pack it full uh a couple days of just learning about uh some blind spots. You know, we're gonna talk about conflict resolution, we're gonna talk about the temperaments, you know, how to understand people and and help them understand each uh themselves better. Um I I love learning. I I love um being able to share the things that I've learned, especially the things that have hurt me and mistakes that I've made, equally the things that I've done that's that's brought some really great success to our life and our business.
SPEAKER_05:So, Jeff, how many people do you manage in um on a on a daily basis? And as I understand what you're saying, you're talking about bringing some of the techniques that you learned from your management skills to this conference.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. So um just recently, just to let everybody know, um we made a big decision, not an easy decision, but but we uh just were recently sold off the collision service part of what we do. And with that was over 100 employees. All in, we were pushing close to 300 employees that I was responsible for. Uh the only way I found to do that is you have to have great people. Um, you have to have great managers, you have to have great leaders that you work with. And um one of the things we'll talk about is just how to identify those people, how to develop those people. So whereas if if I was uh having a world where I had to be talking to every single one of those three almost 300 employees, there's no possible way of having success. You know, one of the laws of decline uh is simple, you know, that that uh once you get to a certain size, you you lose some value, right? Uh the law of diminishing results. Um so so one of the things we talk about, I just mentioned the temperaments. Um Albert Einstein, very smart guy, you probably heard of him, um, had a great quote. Everybody's a genius, but if you judge a fish and has the ability to climb a tree, um that fish is potentially gonna live his whole life thinking it's a failure. Well, I took that to the next step. What about the person trying to train that fish to climb a tree? How frustrated is that guy, right? So if you understand that people have certain natural, God-given talents, uh things that they are already wired for, whether it be social ability, whether that be attention to detail, whether that be process and patience, whether that be you know an aggressive doer, um identifying, understanding, and then applying makes a big difference. You have the right person on the right bus in the right seat, and that makes all the difference in the world. You know, when it comes to level of engagement, when it comes to job satisfaction, when it comes to taking a business to the next level, um, having that basic resource to understand who you were dealing with and how to motivate and and and equally what do motivate somebody, um very important tools and resources to have.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely. Um we got to take a quick break, but I want you to take last break.
SPEAKER_00:We also offer the National Tower Operator Certification, an independently sourced virtual testing program covering light duty, heavy duty, electric, and alternative fuel vehicles.
SPEAKER_04:Welcome back, listeners. You know you're listening to the American Tow and Recovery Institute podcast. This is a great one. Normally we have Wes and April Wilburn, but Wes is there today interviewing the president of the Cardinal Legacy Towing Group, Jeff Bauer, and I'm getting so much out of it myself. I'm taking plenty of notes. So please remember we're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, or wherever you get your podcast, we are there. This is a special podcast, this is a great one, and I want you to write down some notes that I'm taking. So far, I'm writing down the gift that Jeff Bauer has of leadership training. And Jeff, I wanted to ask him if I have the permission, when did you get a chance to meet John Maxwell? And are you a member of his certification class?
SPEAKER_03:I did. I uh 2019, um, actually starting in 18, but actually 2019, March of the certification there in Orlando. Uh I went through the class uh to learn how to be a better speaker and business coach and had the pleasure of meeting Mr. John Maxwell in March of 2019 and and um amazing person. He's written close to 100 books in his lifetime, um, just an absolute amazing resource, been a mentor to me for a long time, um, getting to know him over the last uh six years and and and being able to ask questions of him and um life-changing experience, let me tell you. And uh so part of the the the course that we're gonna be doing um the end of January of twenty six, uh I'm gonna utilize a lot of his teachings and a lot of the things that he you know instilled in me to help uh the crowd that shows up.
SPEAKER_04:Right, and then it'd be a certain crowd because it's For people who want to develop from within so they never go without. And leadership training that you're presenting is just not for the Cardinal Legacy Towing group. It's for anyone desiring to be better as a human being, desiring to be better in the leadership, in his family, in his church, in his community, and definitely in his business. Is that what you're trying to present here?
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Another great man by the name of Zig Ziegler. I learned this quote and changed my life. If you can help enough people get what they want, you can have everything you want. I adopted that as a philosophy for my life moving forward. And, you know, there's been a lot of wonderful things, a lot of blessings that's been bestowed upon me. And I figure when you're blessed, the next thing to do is to be a blessing. And this is exactly what I want to do. So yes, correct. It's not just for the toying industry. This is for anybody that is currently a leader or aspires to be one. This is some amazing, again, little tidbits just to hopefully take back, apply in your life, and make a positive difference. Absolutely. So this is going to be a two-day course, uh, the 29th and the 30th of January. And um again, beautiful Cape Coral, Florida, Southwest. It's nice and warm that you know that time of year. So no matter where you're at in the United States, you can come and be comfortable. But uh we designed around, um, I will be leading. Wes will be there as well in sharing some of his his uh leadership skills and things he's acquired over the years. Uh we'll have two other uh great speakers. Um one uh Mr. Kyle Bruns, who actually comes from the law enforcement agency. He's been through FBI training and he's gonna speak specifically on conflict resolution. Uh we have a young lady, uh, Miss Heather Kepper, that's gonna be there. She comes from not-for-profit segments where she does a lot of charity work and a lot of fundraising, a lot of things, and just brings a whole perspective on how to help people as well. She'll do deliver a keynote on Friday, and um we're gonna have majority of topics uh all related to uh personal growth, leadership, self-improvement, and and most importantly, higher level of understanding.
SPEAKER_04:That is fantastic. I I'm enjoying listening to you because when just like Wes has always believed in, if you can help a person grow, just like Zig Zigler has said that many, many times, but you're helping people grow, and they in turn hopefully will go back to their business and help their business grow and their young middle managers become better managers by implication of some of the things they'll learn in this, you know, couple of days of schooling, which is I think wonderful. That's wonderful. All right, Wes, I'm gonna turn back over to you. You know, I I'm making notes here. I'm kind of engaged in this whole thing. I love it.
SPEAKER_05:Well, uh many people know that I've always thought of hybrid training needed to include more mental skills as much as uh physical skills, understanding leverage and working on limits and whatnot. All of that's important, but this is also important. Um I'm very excited to be a a small part of it. Um if folks that don't come to my classes like the game that we play with the light switch, you'll love this weekend this this session. It's all about that type of information to help uh you go back and be more efficient. And one of the things that I think Jeff has done an excellent job of is taking a lot of the information you talked about, Zig Ziggler. I always love Zig Ziglar, and I many people know I like Tony Robbins as well, many of the different speakers over the years. But sometimes listening to him talk and trying to convert that back to the auto-body recyclers, towing industry worlds, sometimes that can be challenging. And I think one of the things that Jeff and the team McCardo's done is taking that information they learned and put it into practical skills. I want to talk a little bit about uh the onboarding process with your organization and um some standard things y'all do and apply it to me and and how uh I thought that came worked out. Can we uh Jeff, can you expand a little bit on what we're talking about about the onboarding process and what I went through the the survey?
SPEAKER_03:Yep. So so yeah, specifically, you know, uh even before the onboarding, Wes, you know, part of part of the interview process as we look for for candidates, as we look for people, you know, it kind of goes back to the the prior segment we talked about the right person in the right seat doing the right job. Um we have a an excellent survey, um something that I I've really dug into um over the past 20 years. And you just said it under it requires a higher level of understanding. And in 10 minutes, a person can take a survey, answer two simple questions, and with that information, I then can understand um what that person is hardwired for. And what I mean by that is, and I'm I'll take a step back, I I will never tell anybody they cannot do something based on a survey. That that's ridiculous. Um that's not what it's meant for. Um, but what it does is allows people to tell us you know things that are important to them. I mentioned the word hardwired. If you were to go on automatic pilot, what does that look like? And if you can find a job, if you can find an occupation, uh something they can do, a task that aligns with who they are naturally, uh well then naturally hopefully they'll be better at it. And and if you're naturally better at something, level of engagement goes up, uh, then job satisfaction goes up. And and while it may not be reasonable to expect that everybody loves their job every day, I think it's reasonable to expect you don't hate it. So this survey allows us um to quickly recognize um what things are important, where they would succeed, potential, and and and um and then that skips the the the three to six, sometimes years it takes before people figure it out, and then and sometimes unfortunately, by the time you figure it out that person's miserable, they've already moved on. Um life is too much to be miserable.
SPEAKER_05:One of the things I believe it does is it recognizes tendencies in human behavior that I represent it to my mind. Absolutely have tendencies and by this excellent system of recognizing them. Um I think is part of the success of what you're supposed to do. Okay, let's take a quick break, and when we come back, Jeff has a great success story he's gonna share with us.
SPEAKER_02:That's nine one oh seven four seven nine thousand. We look forward to serving you.
SPEAKER_04:Welcome back, listeners. You know you're listening to the American Tow and Recovery Institute podcast. This is a great one. Wes is there today interviewing the president of the Cardinal Legacy Towing Group, Jeff Bauer. All right, Wes, I'm gonna turn back over to you. Thank you, DJ.
SPEAKER_05:We are continuing our conversation with Jeff Bauer, president of a Cardinal Town Group. Yeah, please continue with the story you were telling us.
SPEAKER_03:So one of the success stories I love to share, uh years ago, uh, this is going back to 2015, uh, when I brought this tool, you know, into the business and started utilizing it. We had a young man that was currently working for us on the service side, and um he was miserable. And and it was to the point where I believe after conversations later on, he told us that you know he was ready to quit. Uh on our side, we were ready to let him go just because he was not in a successful role. And and by doing this this survey with him, we realized that he just wasn't comfortable in dealing with people on a regular basis. And that doesn't make him a bad person. It's just we had him at a role, we were sitting at the front counter and he was selling service to people, and he wasn't a people-motivated person, right? So so before we let him go, we realized he was very highly detailed. We realized he was very much uh, you know, had the ability to work on tasks, and and like a lot of people in this world, he preferred to work on those tasks without interruption from other people. He was okay with being, you know, in the office, not having a lot of outside you know communication. Uh so we had a position open in our office as far as doing uh some of the accounting work. He had no accounting background whatsoever when we started this, uh, but he turned out to be one of the best uh people in our accounting office, basically taking care of accounts receivable, accounts payable, data entry, um, became a right-hand resource for us for for many, many years, and and and became a rock star, so to speak, on our team. And um, you know, had we followed through with our original gut feeling that he was not a good employee, we would have probably let him go or he would have quit.
SPEAKER_05:Wow, that's powerful. It really is.
SPEAKER_03:And that's just one of many stories, you know. Um, you know, recognizing people that uh have leadership ability and and and putting them on a on a path that sometimes people don't even recognize in themselves. And that that's really when you're talking about leadership, where it's it's it's more than just being a manager, right? Managers manage your tasks. They they they they manage things as they as it is, and sometimes managers lack the ability to see things as it could be, right? We get stuck in what what it looks like today, and we don't necessarily can always see that vision of what tomorrow could be. And um by recognizing those things, using utilizing the survey that we're talking about, um again, amazing results. And and I'm I'm living proof of that. And um, you know, to the to the point now where um where I was working very, you know, my day-to-day work was was in the weeds. I I was there in the trenches working with people, and I still enjoy doing that. Um, but if that's all I did, I wouldn't be able to do the things with leadership. I wouldn't be able to do the things with with acquiring these businesses and growing the leadership and and having a retreat in January had I stayed in the weeds, if that's if that that makes any sense.
SPEAKER_05:That's gonna be part of the conference of showing folks how to get those big picture items they have in their mind out and express to others and their uh teams.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. You know, we were gonna help them answer questions as far as okay, I plateaued, what's next? Right? How do I get to that next level? What does that look like? What are the resources that I need? Um we're gonna talk things about, you know, again, pointing out blind spots, how to overcome conflicts, um, how to overcome the adversity, you know, that life is going to throw at you on a regular consistent basis and not quit. Um lot of lot of failures along the the way that I can share with you and and mix for some interesting stories today. And it wasn't so fun then, but we can laugh about it now and and and because we were we're on the other side, we didn't quit. We made it through, right? We we can show you how to navigate that minefield and you know where to step and where not to.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I'm I'm just excited thinking about all the great stuff that we've got planned for folks. Um this conference is gonna be just an incredible uh way to start out in the year. Yeah, I've only said it a few times in my life, but I have to say this is one of 'em. I I wish I could be interested. And uh take all this the uh the growth that's gonna happen with a lot of individuals that are looking for that next step. I think this is the place to be.
SPEAKER_03:You know, and and like we talked about, we we are very proud of our industry and we are focused on the towing world, but this conference we're doing, this this retreat we're doing, it it's not just for the towing industry. This is for like again, like we talked about anybody that that is currently a leader looking to take it to the next level, or or maybe you're you're looking to uh figure out how how to become a leader. Uh, this is for everybody that wants to take that next step into personal growth and the leadership and the accountability and and and personal responsibility, and and um absolutely anybody can do this. Um I I am very blessed and fortunate. I I have uh some success that that I can uh teach from and and and learn from and and share from. Um but I promise you, God did not create us so different that anybody cannot do this, right? We we can we can all do these things if you put in the time and the effort. And and um again, my goal with this, and like like John Maxwell and and a lot of other great leaders have instilled in me, there are some rules, there are some principles, and and once you understand those rules and principles, um it removes a lot of the roadblocks, it makes things clearer, it helps speed up the process and helps you get the results faster. Um and once you start applying those things, I just telling you, it's it's amazing. You know, John Maxwell told me back in 2019 um just to share just a little bit about uh some of the things that he did, and um I went and applied them, and he said, When you do, don't be so surprised at how fast you grow. 2019 was a great year for us. We did over$10 million in revenue in 2019 with a handful of shops and a little towing company. You know, fast forward to uh you know, today we're we're gonna be doing north of 60 million in revenue. Now, again, we just sold part of that away, but we're gonna regrow that on the towing side. Um it's possible, it's possible for anybody.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, there's a lot of opportunities out there right now, and it's great to see uh a focused team and and to be a part of a focused team working to help towing industry professionals better themselves. That's why I'm thankful to be a part of Cardinal and uh really look forward to our future. The uh business training event leadership conference is just gonna kick off a year. We got a lot of classes planned. Uh folks can go to Cardinal LegacyTowing.com backslash events. That's Cardinal Legacytowing.com backslash events for all of our training uh offerings this year. We're gonna be all over the country. I'm really excited about the energy the Cardinal's putting into the training. Uh not only this leadership training, but the regular uh leadership training that we've been providing, continuing education around the country. So, Jeff, uh, you want to give us some final thoughts about this conference?
SPEAKER_03:I I I would, and I would be amiss if I didn't at least uh talk a little bit about um, you know, Wes, what you brought to this and and how grateful we are um for your contribution to our industry and continued contributions to our industry. Um uh you have motivated me to take this next level step. And I want you to understand that. You know, when we were down in Chattanooga this year, that's kind of where this idea was birthed to have this retreat. Um and and uh so I'm very thankful for you and and and basically the torch you've carried for all these years to try to better the industry, uh, to bring safety, progress, progress, you know, stability, the processes and how to get there. And um so so from what you've built, you know, I'm very proud to be a part of going forward, and I hope I do you proud too, um, as far as you know, our plans for the future and carrying on your legacy. Uh one of the things that we have not talked about is you know, as part of those classes that that you have put forth is is adding a level of leadership training to that and actually giving that opportunity that if somebody's not able to either A, be able to afford the plane ticket to get down to Florida in January or take the time off to be able to do that, if they're able to make it to one of those very valuable courses that we're already doing uh through ATRI, that um that there will be an opportunity at least to get a little bit of nuggets of of leadership that we're going to make part of that, those those trainings as well. So, so be stay tuned, be looking for for that coming forward too. But uh but final thoughts as far as January goes. I'm super excited.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate those words and your dedication, sincerely. Sorry for interrupting.
SPEAKER_03:No, absolutely, absolutely. Um, so so again, final thoughts, you know, uh for for Florida in January. Um it's an it's an amazing opportunity, and I can't stress that enough. And and I I truly believe that um we're gonna make it entertaining, we're we're gonna make it fun, but but most importantly, um there is gonna be something for every single person that shows up and plugs in uh that they can take back and and and make a difference. I'm telling you, just a couple of things that that I I'm gonna share that I learned from a John Maxwell in 2019 that took us from an already thriving 10 million a year company, you know, with about 60 employees uh to a 60 million a year company and then a little over five years um to almost 300 employees. And um those are the types of things, those are the types of life-changing things that come from this information. So highly recommend anybody that's able to make it down there, um, you're welcome and and excited to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_05:Thanks, Jeff. And one of the things I didn't mention to the listeners, if you go to our YouTube channel, uh YouTube, go to American Coing and Recovery Institute. And there's uh two deep dives uh about the training program and myself in general. And then also in speci uh one specifically about this event down in Florida. Uh they're both on YouTube, American Coing and Recovery Institute. Of course, that's free. You just go on. YouTube and uh you can watch the videos and we're working on putting more content up there as well. So, Jeff, I want to thank you for being here. Uh, DJ has always did a a great job. What are your closing thoughts, DJ?
SPEAKER_04:Well, my thoughts uh because I listened to Jeff and and I've I've seen Jeff, this is a very gifted guy. So if you get an opportunity that you can enhance your own family life, you can enhance your own personal life, and you can grow your business exponentially, because this is the thing that you know one time when someone asked me about a John Maxwell or about uh a Bill Brooks, all of these great leaders, Zig Ziggler, Norman Vincent Peel, all the people that have led good lives through daily, daily principles that you're gonna get at the retreat. This is something that helps you build. So you my daughter asked one time, the professor said, What's your dad do for a living? And she actually said, My father helps people develop from within so they never go without. And that is just what Jeff Bauer and all of this creation by John Maxwell, a gifted, gifted leader that has shown hundreds of thousands of leaders, not just in the United States, but worldwide. This is great training that you invested. You invest in yourself so you become a better person. So I think everybody should write down January 28th. They they set up the 29th and 30th. It's going to be in beautiful sunny Florida, and it's set up so that if you want to bring your spouse with you, you actually get a better price. So the two of you could attend the class together and grow your business together, grow your life together. And I think it's wonderful, and I'm very proud to know Jeff and to know the Cardinal Legacy Towing Group. But this is leadership training, all about this is improving yourself. So I I'm Wes, I think this was a great podcast.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, absolutely. I want to thank everybody that else make the podcast happen. If you want any more information on what's going on out there, don't hesitate to call the shop. 910-747-9000. Um, we're setting updates for next year. We got several of them on the calendar, working on several more, so keep your eye on that as well. God bless, be safe out there, and until next time.