The Fighter for Truth and Finding the Good in Companies - Dale Cardwell

Dale always wanted to be in the media, and his career is one that would make many jealous. Little did he know that his career of finding the 'truth' and reporting the bad things people did would lead him to pivot and find the GOOD in companies and contractors. He shines the light on reliable and reputable companies that can help consumers with their home and service needs. His network, called TrustDale.com, is built on his investigative journalistic background and creates a platform for consumers to find contractors in a marketplace with a guarantee of performance. Did you know our amazing voices can go beyond just the microphone? Yes, we have video! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!

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GOLD NUGGETS:

(00:00) - Small Business Safari with Dale Cardwell

(12:34) - Truth in Journalism

(21:16) - Turning Point in Dale Cardwell’s Career

(31:17) - Lessons Learned From Entrepreneurship and Politics

(44:47) - Business Ethics and Consumer Protection

(55:40) - Entrepreneurship, Family, and Success

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Dale’s Links:

Website | https://trustdale.com/ 

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/TrustDALE/ 

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Books Mentioned: Don't Get Scammed: Get Smart! - Dale Cardwell

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Previous guests on The Small Business Safari include Dale Cardwell, Amy Lyle, Ben Alexander, Joseph Sission, Jonathan Ellis, Brad Dell, Chris Hanks, C.T. Emerson, Chad Brown, Tracy Moore, Wayne Sherger, David Raymond, Paul Redman, Gabby Meteor, Ryan Dement, Barbara Heil Sonneck, Bryan John, Tom Defore, Rusty Clifton, Duane Johns, Jason Sleeman, Andy Suggs, Chris Michel, Jon Ostenson, Tommy Breedlove, Rocky Lalvani, Amanda Griffey, Spencer Powell, Joe Perrone, David Lupberger, Duane C. Barney, Dave Moerman, Jim Ryerson, Al Mishkoff, Scott Specker, Mike Claudio and more!

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Have any questions or comments? Connect with me here!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You know, and they're like Bill Campbell, former mayor of Atlanta, is flying all over the country using contractor money to pay for his gambling junkets and everything else. Do you have the guts to do that story? Well, I felt like people deserve to know that, so I wrote the story that led to Bill Campbell going to prison. You know Linda Shrinco, the state school superintendent. I get a tip that she's using campaign contributions for things like facelifts and things that don't really have much to do with education.

Speaker 2: 0:31

That's bad.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Well, in some circles it is oh, okay, so.

Speaker 3: 0:35

Well, I wanna go back to that gambling thing, so that's a little close to home, Chris.

Speaker 1: 0:41

You're a public servant, yeah that's true.

Speaker 3: 0:43

It's not much for that future for you, chris, hey, I use points to get there and I lost some money all on my own. But Welcome to the Small Business Safari where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there and I wanna help you traverse through the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from any of your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through the safari and get you to the mountaintop. ["safari"].

Speaker 3: 1:24

Allen, we gotta rock it. We gotta get going. It's time to learn. It's time to get better. 2024 might be the timestamp on this one, but I don't care. When you're doing this stuff, you've got to keep rocking. You gotta keep rolling, because we're staring at an economy that maybe not so good Every once in a while. Economy's awesome Every once in a while we like to go.

Speaker 2: 1:41

Just remember, when the bear's chasing you, chris, what do you do? You know what? Sometimes the bear eats you, sometimes you eat it. You gotta run faster than they can. Oh, that's right, that guy too. You got that one I did, oh damn it Cut that.

Speaker 3: 1:51

Michael. Oh no, we're gonna keep it on. We gotta keep rolling, but before we keep rolling we gotta talk about Big Daddy's big weekend.

Speaker 2: 1:57

Yeah, Big Daddy had another weekend with his sphere of under the influence.

Speaker 3: 2:01

I did so we went out to Colorado, we had to go skiing. My friend says hey, man, you wanna go out there and go to Durango, colorado, and we'll just go skiing? There's a place called Tell your Ride. I'm like sure, man, I heard about it. Yeah, let's go do this thing. So we go out there. Two connections later, 24 hours of flying, I get there and I've skied a little bit.

Speaker 2: 2:21

When's the last time you went skiing? I mean, technology's changed a lot.

Speaker 3: 2:26

You know it's funny that they didn't have the leather bindings and the skis that they had to strap around your shoulder. But no, I grew up in Michigan where we learned to ski on hills that were made out of landfills, where they actually took the landfills, pushed them up and would stick methane relief pipes in there. So as we were skiing down the hills, you'd ski around the methane pipe, but you knew what you were doing. You could smell it.

Speaker 2: 2:47

That was my first A in college in Michigan With skiing Downhill skiing and it was on a landfill, Absolutely. I remember we were driving out there and I came from the west and I'm like, where's the mountain? And they're like, oh, it's just around the corner. I'm like, how can a mountain be around the corner? There it was. Oh my God, that's it. We did our final exam backwards down the hill and the guy called us and asked as we went by and then we got it away.

Speaker 3: 3:10

So that's skiing and that's what you do when you get to live the big time. And then we come back to earth and we're back here, we're working hard, we're doing our thing, making stuff happen. One of the questions I just got from one of our listeners, by the way, yeah, throw a name. So, oh, that's a great question. He hit me on the thing Jake. It was Jake, jake, shout out buddy. He asked me, chris, going into 24 with what's going on, what do you recommend for marketing mix? And I'm like, dude, I don't know yet. I wish I had a good answer for you. Depends on where you're at. I will tell you that I'm gonna mix it up a little bit this year. I've cut back on some things. One of the big things I literally just got off the phone with three different people over the last week and we're all talking about Google and pay per click and the crap they're doing right now is it's not working. Well, boys, you've gotta watch out for yourself.

Speaker 2: 3:57

Ladies and gentlemen, so, google, says you did not just say that things are getting tough and you're cutting back on marketing. I just wanna be clear.

Speaker 3: 4:03

I cut back on PPC. I'm going after it in other areas.

Speaker 2: 4:07

So what am I going Right, you're reallocating, I'm reallocating, you're not cutting back on marketing. No, I gotta get back in. I understand.

Speaker 3: 4:14

No, I'm actually I'm not gonna double down to everybody, but I am definitely gonna stay. I'm gonna stay the course, which is tough because cash flow is tight right now, in the months I've been working on. You know, people, we don't talk about this stuff a lot, but it's not all roses and going down hills and-.

Speaker 2: 4:29

Well, it is for you.

Speaker 3: 4:30

It's the time, caviar, champagne, well, and cozying up with the bunnies on the ski lift, no but so. No, it's not good, but it's something you gotta do. So watch your marketing mix, everybody. Jake, we talked about this. One of the things I will tell you is it doesn't cost you anything to go out there on YouTube yourself and post a few videos of what you're doing. Tag yourself, tag your company, do some stuff, get it out there. You're gonna get rewarded for it. Little bits, little places, all the place around.

Speaker 2: 4:54

And we've had a couple of marketing experts on recently so you can go back to those episodes. But you definitely don't wanna cut back on your marketing. That's just stupid, because everybody else is and so again, run faster than the other person when the bear is chasing you. But the one thing they said was maybe have a shorter leash on whatever campaign you're doing, you know, do a lot of testing and measuring and pivoting Good point.

Speaker 3: 5:16

Yeah, absolutely, if you didn't go back and listen to those episodes. They're good stuff. He's got one on that one. All right, that's enough of that. We have got to get to one of my favorite guys. This is a big deal, this is a way beyond a big deal, guys, and he doesn't think so. He's over there shaking his head already. But when I went to write a book, I had a very short list of people who I'd asked if they would read it and endorse it, and today we have one of the guys who agreed to do it. He was only 25th on my list.

Speaker 2: 5:41

Thank you, Chris.

Speaker 3: 5:42

And Alan yeah, but we have Dale Cardwell from Trust Dale here in Atlanta. That is unbelievable that we have Dale Cardwell, yeah, he is. Not only is he a big deal in Atlanta, he's a way big deal and we're gonna let him talk about it. He probably won't, because he's too.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Thank you everybody. Have a good night. See you next time. Leave a link on a high note we have Dale Cardwell.

Speaker 3: 6:04

So Dale Cardwell, what is Trust Dale? Trust Dale is a group that he got together. He's built an idea which was I have a background that looks for bad people and I'm gonna turn that around and I'm gonna look for good people and I'm gonna tie them into consumers so consumers can find good people at this resource that I called Trust Dale. And he has built this thing. He's been doing it now for 15 years 15 years, love it.

Speaker 2: 6:28

So I got a quick story to say when I first moved to Atlanta 25 years ago corporate America and I was quickly advised there's two people you don't wanna piss off, and one is Clark Howard and the other one is Dale Cardwell, cause he was the investigative reporter and you didn't want him walking into your store. Wait a minute.

Speaker 3: 6:50

We just talked about him hooking good people together and you're scared of him already and we thought of him in studio.

Speaker 2: 6:55

It seems a lot nicer than I always kind of thought he had bangs and horns.

Speaker 3: 6:59

Well, actually, dale's pulling on his book right now and he said I think I've investigated you, I know, but, dale, I'm on the naughty list. So Dale's business is trustdalegotcom. It's here in Atlanta, but he also has a syndicated show nationwide. But before we get to all that, dale, thank you so much for coming on the studio. This is gonna be a great story. So everybody, hang on, because I guarantee you not many of you have had this career that this guy's had.

Speaker 1: 7:25

Well, thank you, chris, and you're one of my favorite people. You're a longtime partner and I was thrilled to join you. This is awesome.

Speaker 3: 7:31

So, Dale I we're gonna get back to the business stuff in a minute, but you grew up where I was born, in Greenville, Kentucky.

Speaker 1: 7:38

My dad was a coal miner and we moved around a lot. So by the time I'm a year old we moved back to Alabama where my family is from. I grew up in the suburbs of Birmingham until I'm 13. My dad gets transferred back to Kentucky, so I go to high school and college in Western Kentucky, went to Western Kentucky University, got my first TV job in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which is a market that's so small it didn't even have a market designation number.

Speaker 1: 8:08

But a big thing happened back in 1985, the Gander Newfoundland Air Crash. 248 Port Campbell soldiers died coming back from peacekeeping in the Sinai in Egypt. And a giant story fell in my lap. A young lady whose fiance was on that plane had sent her an audio tape three days before they left, saying we're all scared to death to ride on this plane, it's rickety, the military could do better, but oh, local Sam will get us home. That story wound up on CBS Evening News, ABC World News Night, NBC Nightly News, CNN Cover. The New York Times kind of propelled me much faster in my career than the normal career goes, and so that's how I started.

Speaker 2: 8:56

I'm assuming that just gave you a sudden sense of purpose in what you were doing.

Speaker 1: 9:00

It did, it did, alan. I am a person of faith and I believe that my life is directed and we're gonna talk a little bit about some of the jams I got into over the years but I always felt this veil of protection. I felt like I was on a mission, I had a purpose.

Speaker 3: 9:18

Wow. So how did you go, dad mom and you sat there until dad mom, I'm going on TV.

Speaker 1: 10:41

That's a really good question. I always wanted to be a sports reporter, Chris Nice I was in love with sports.

Speaker 3: 10:46

Well, that is God's mark, right there.

Speaker 1: 10:48

Yeah, sports. And I get to college and I'm in my first broadcast class and the advisor says, okay, dale, tell us your story, where are you from? And I'm like da-da-da. And he says, okay, are you a great athlete? And I'm like, no, I'm not. And he said do you have a voice that emanates from your toes? And I said, no, I don't. And he said well, good luck with this sports career, because the odds are really against you. A very, very small number of people make it and bust through sports. And, man, I was devastated. I went to my dorm room that night. I was on the edge of tears. I'm like, oh my gosh, my chosen profession isn't going to happen. And I prayed about it and I said, god, show me what you want me to do, because I'm here for you, I'm not here for me, and this is true. I get up the next morning and I have this burning passion for news. I have a burning passion to tell people things that they deserve to know, and that's how it started.

Speaker 3: 11:46

Well, I would tell you the guy's been true to it, because I had never heard him tell me that before, but knowing him for the last 15 years, now, yeah, you see it, it's there. So you had this. But you're telling mom and dad, I'm going to get into the broadcasting world. And I'm telling you, man, if I would have told my parents that, my mom and dad would have said you're not going to school, and when we're not paying for that, because I heard enough of that crap, by the way, I said, dad, I want to go to Case Western University. He goes yeah, did you get a scholarship? I said no. He goes. No, you're going to Michigan Tech.

Speaker 1: 12:17

Well see, I had a plan. I told him I was going to TV school, which meant I was going to be able to fix everybody's VCR. Beautiful television.

Speaker 3: 12:26

Yeah, back in 1985, you can get away with that crap, right? Thank God we did not have social media then because I got away with so much back then. There he goes, all right, so you're going to TV school. You break this story. Wow, that must have been amazing. You must have felt like earwrapped. How old, 20?, 23. You're on top of the world. You're like, oh my God, I'm going to be now. This is really dating myself. Walter Cronkite yeah, that's who I wanted to be. Yeah, you're like I got this. Yeah, I'm on my way. So the offers must have loaded, just absolutely.

Speaker 1: 12:55

You know it's really funny. We're going to talk about how television works. I was making $12,800 a year at TV 43 in Hopkinsville, kentucky. My best offer came from the 43rd largest television market in the country. Now there's 218 markets, so getting an offer from the 43rd largest, birmingham, was a big deal to me. I took the job because they were going to pay me $13,000.

Speaker 3: 13:20

$200, baby. Yes, hey, you know what. We can get the best box of wine you could find, baby, because I'm going somewhere, all right, so you took it. You went back to Birmingham. That doesn't even cover the U-Haul, oh my God. No, it doesn't. Yeah, oh, wow, all right. So you continue on in this career and we're going to fast forward through the things you've seen, so many things. We can sit here and talk for hours about all the things you have seen and you eventually get into investigative reporting. But I didn't know this because he mentioned this right before we got on, as he met Alan. So you came to Atlanta in 1996 because you were this big ABC breaking news guy.

Speaker 1: 13:58

No, oh, so how'd you get here? I was tired of telling people how rotten the world was. In Nashville, tennessee, which is where I was, I saw an ad in Broadcasting Magazine for a consumer producer to work for this guy named Clark Howard, who was a syndicated radio show host and a TV guy in Atlanta, and I'm like that's my job, that's my calling, I'm going to do the grunt work for this guy, I'm going to go out and I'm going to fight for truth, justice in the American way and live happily ever after.

Speaker 2: 14:27

Because you got tired of delivering bad news. I did.

Speaker 1: 14:30

That was it.

Speaker 3: 14:31

Did that ever get to you? Like delivering the bad news and doing what you did Again? For a lot of us from the outside in, it just seems so romantic that you get to be on TV. You're in the middle of something. I'm thinking of you in the middle of fighting the war the this and that Did it start to wear on you?

Speaker 1: 14:49

Late in my tenure in Birmingham I broke a story about a Birmingham City Council member being investigated for cocaine distribution and he came to the station the evening after I broke the story, stood in my face and threatened my life and shook me up pretty good. I went home, didn't tell my wife, I went to bed and I woke up at two o'clock in the morning and I was checking the locks on our windows. Subconsciously that's what I was doing. I was, I was sleepwalking, checking the locks on our windows when I woke up and said, oh my gosh, yeah, this is, this is not fun.

Speaker 3: 15:26

Like I said, man, you've just got to hang into this story, because this is a story that many of us don't have. You have threatened with your life because you broke the truth.

Speaker 2: 15:36

But my guess is is that did you have to think about it before you did that story? Was there a? I mean there.

Speaker 1: 15:42

No, no, I just did it because it was the thing I was supposed to do, wow.

Speaker 3: 15:47

Man, that's no filter, Not for nothing. I'm being an Italian, which don't judge, but I probably would have thought about it a couple times and then I absolutely would have called local Tony for a little help. Yeah, but that's a different story for a different time. Let's keep going. So you went Birmingham, nashville, atlanta, or did you bounce like 75 times Because I've heard Birmingham, Raleigh, Raleigh, Nashville, Nashville, Atlanta. So in the arc of the world, of that that's, that's not that many for you in your world, right.

Speaker 1: 16:16

Five stations, 25 years. Atlanta is an interesting town because when I was a kid, starting out in the business, it was like the 18th, 19th largest market in the country and your goal is to get to a top 10, right? Well, Atlanta was a boom town. So all of my career at Atlanta just kept getting higher and higher in the market designation. So by the time I came here we were 11, we were just outside the top 10. Today, Atlanta is the sixth largest market in the United States.

Speaker 3: 16:47

That's amazing that you were here for that. So you did. You said hey, I'm going to come down, I'm going to work for this guy named Clark Howard and again, if you're not in Atlanta and you're in one of our many countries in continental and, of course, the galaxy, yeah you can go out there and you can Google who Clark Howard is, but you're going to see who actually is, which is funny, because I've had people say this to me.

Speaker 3: 17:07

I've known Dale for quite a while and is we're going to get to what he's done as an entrepreneur? Trust me, guys, we'll get there. But when I met him they're like, oh, that's Clark Howard's investigative reporter. I said, well, that's before my time. But yeah, I've heard that he's done that. So you went from producer behind the scenes to going you know what, clark, I'm going to go out there and do and help you. So how did you become Clark Howard's?

Speaker 1: 17:27

investigative reporter? Not really the way it happened. So the station would come to me and they'd say Delta just did a stock split. We need Clark on at six and I'm he's not here. What do you mean he's not here? Well, he's on vacation or he's in.

Speaker 2: 17:40

Because he would fly anywhere with who's cheap enough right, he's an aspen.

Speaker 1: 17:44

Okay, you do it. And so I wound up having to do his on air work because he might not have been available. And it happened more and more often. And a funny thing happened, chris when you are doing stories that affects consumers, people start calling you and saying, well, if he did that guy's story or that gal story, maybe he will do my story. And that led to people calling me about corruption. You know, and they're like Bill Campbell, former mayor of Atlanta, is flying all over the country using contractor money to pay for his gambling junkets and everything else. Now, do you have the guts to do that story? Well, I felt like people deserve to know that, so I wrote the story that led to Bill Campbell going to prison. You know Linda shrinko, the state school superintendent. I get a tip that she's using campaign contributions for things like facelifts and things that don't really have much to do with education. That's bad. Well, in some circles it is so.

Speaker 2: 18:47

I want to go back to that gambling thing, so a little close to home, chris you're a public servant, yeah that's true For that future for you, Chris I use points to get there and I lost some money all on my own.

Speaker 3: 18:59

But what I know, I actually Alan. You guys can't see this in the podcast. We can have it on our YouTube channel, by the way. So small business safari take us out. We're still here, all right.

Speaker 3: 19:10

But back to that. He said I broke the Bill Campbell story. I moved to Atlanta and Bill Campbell was going to jail and I started listening to all that stuff. At that time I had no idea that this guy was the guy who broke all the stuff that knocked Bill Campbell down like that, which and no slight on Bill if you're listening, you can't know where we're living. But we're not in Atlanta anymore when witness protection programs there's no, no, no, don't worry about that. You can find stuff there. So, but that's crazy. But you had this. You said guts, I don't know about that, that's nuts. Because you knew you're going up against. I mean, that's a. That was a pretty big dude at the time and you had to go out there. So you don't just break a story because some crackhead tells you this. You go out there, you do the research, you figure out what's going on and we're getting to why you started your business.

Speaker 1: 19:57

Yeah, you kind of have to have two confirmable sources. It has to be true. You know you don't take a pot shot at somebody unless you know. It's absolutely true.

Speaker 2: 20:05

It seems like that has changed in current media.

Speaker 3: 20:08

Yeah, yeah, I think a little bit, I mean think. So back to that, because, again, if you're listening to this podcast, you're like, oh man, he just broke some story. You know what? I'll break a story with my iPhone. Yeah well, hang on there, tough guy, because there's a lot more going to it and that's what Dale started building. You know, again, faith, believe. People had to understand the truth, had to make sure he believed the truth first, because what is the truth? I mean, of course, there's always two sides to every coin. What do you find harder? Finding out what the answers were or delivering that news on TV? Wow, that's a great question.

Speaker 1: 20:39

Oh, God, two to one.

Speaker 2: 20:40

That's a straight question.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Thank you. I'd say the latter because if you would discover something that people deserve to know, then there was this whole political level you had to get through. You know whose head's going to roll because you report this. Can we ignore it? There was a lot of pushback all through the industry. There is a presence there of who you can go after, who you can't, and I didn't like playing that game. I didn't play that game. That's why I got out of it at some point.

Speaker 3: 21:09

All right, we got. Yeah. So let's talk about that game. So you're Clark Harward's investigative reporter, which actually turns out to be you're Clark Harward's vacation fillet guy, where everybody's like so Clark, don't kill me on this one either, buddy. I've never met him, by the way.

Speaker 1: 21:22

Good, great guy.

Speaker 3: 21:23

Yeah, Okay. So again, Clark Dale Vouch is for me. I know you're going to like me too.

Speaker 2: 21:28

All right, you know, our trip to Rome is because of Clark. Oh, he helped you out with that. No, well, it's just, you know, the Friday Flyer. My wife is just an avid follower of Clark Harward and she's like there's tickets, round trip tickets to Rome for $500. And we're like, okay, yeah again then going back to Oregon.

Speaker 3: 21:43

Well, again, we're not here to push Clark Harward, but he can, if he wants to sponsor the show. No, I'm kidding, because today we're sponsored by Woodford Reserve bourbon, because that's where, of course, dale came from. Anyway, back to this story. Can we Sure let's? Or shall we talk about your Rome trip? No, that's okay.

Speaker 3: 22:00

Okay, let's keep going, all right. So you're doing the investigative report. Because I know you're jealous, I am a little bit. Of course I am Multi-bending. He's going back to my home, he's going back to the mother country. I'm excited, I'm going to go.

Speaker 2: 22:11

Do you know, chris Lalamiah? You know, chris Lalamiah. You know what they'll say.

Speaker 3: 22:15

They'll say, oh, it's a Sicilian. Well, no, that last name that doesn't live in Rome, that name only lives in Sicily. Yeah, and very few of us here over the United States. But they'll continue. Shall we All right? Can we get back to?

Speaker 2: 22:29

Yeah, let's get back to that Good, all right.

Speaker 3: 22:32

So we're working with Clark, you're doing your thing, you're starting to investigate, you're doing all this stuff. And when did you decide that? You know what? Maybe this isn't for me.

Speaker 1: 22:42

Well, it was in 2000 when about a half dozen police officers show up at my door about 12, 30 in the morning, december the 15th, and they say the sheriff of elect of DeKalb County, darwin Brown, was murdered tonight, shot 13 times in his driveway.

Speaker 1: 23:01

We expected to find you dead as well. You need to get your kids, get a few changes of clothes, come with us because you're going to have to go into witness protection. And, chris, that moment it really really got real for me and I realized that I had to stand for something you know, or just go back to car wrecks, house fires and drug shootings, which is the standard, fair and television reporting. I either had to really do this in a serious way or or get away from it. And I realized that night that that, no matter how much I tried to protect people from evil and bad things, I couldn't change it, I could not make a dent. And that's when I started thinking, well, how can, how can I reverse this, reverse, engineer it right and say Let me use these skills to figure out who's doing it the right way and let me lead people to the people doing it the right way, so they don't have this angst and junk that they have to deal with.

Speaker 3: 24:09

That must be. You talk about seminal moments, car wrecks, near-death experiences but when you have the decaps County sheriffs and again, if you're not from Atlanta, that the cab County sheriffs showing up at your door with small children at your house, I'd be freaking out because I'm not sure which way it's gonna go. I mean, I'm telling you again, I love everything the police force does, but they showing up in my house I'm not thinking they're there for my protection, I'm thinking they're thinking I did something wrong, which I have it's cuz you feel guilty about.

Speaker 2: 24:38

that's great, we should talk about that.

Speaker 3: 24:40

No, that's my Unbox a little bit for different podcasts.

Speaker 2: 24:44

They're the way the sheriff was in one of my rental cars. I was with Enterprise rental car, yeah, and I had a bunch of bullet holes in it. We couldn't get it back. We were really pissed because I mean, those things are good money makers, yeah just hate it when that happens. No, it's evidence Right, come on evidence.

Speaker 3: 24:57

Madness, give her that truck back, give that car back.

Speaker 2: 25:00

Take a picture. We'll plug the holes, put it on the road and get rolling again.

Speaker 3: 25:03

So alright, so let me get to talk about that, because if you're not listening as podcast, this is really like true crimes podcast.

Speaker 2: 25:09

We just want number one.

Speaker 3: 25:11

Just what number one podcast. John Revere here we go, so they, they grab you. So your family got a pack of bag, getting their car with them and go somewhere.

Speaker 1: 25:18

We. We stay a couple of weeks at emcee suites. They move us from one hotel to another. I have to take it. I'm still working, so I have to take a different route from work home. The station hired a retired secret service agent. When we finally did come back home, he lived with us to teach us how to be more safe. And Well, you talk about some stories. Listening to a guy that worked for LBJ, oh my gosh, it's just, it's just amazing, but it really changed our lifestyle, so to speak.

Speaker 3: 25:52

Is. That is that one, and so his wife's name is Angie, by the way, and I'm proud to say that myself, that I'm on the Angie's list. They're really, they're real, angie.

Speaker 2: 26:01

No, she is true, and that's how he thinks. So when do you decide not to be on witness protection program anymore? I mean, you know, that sounds like that's a lifetime.

Speaker 1: 26:11

That lasted. We stayed. We went to Kentucky for the holidays and so left the state. So they thought that we would be fairly safe, you know, three states away. We came back, they kept us in hotels for a while longer and then the decadent County Police Department assigned a Person to live with us and stay with us in our house. We wired up everything for super security. You know got double bolts on the door that you know I didn't know. They existed, like an inch and a half long bolts instead of the standard thing. And you know it took a year for them to arrest Sidney Dorsey the, the Seated sheriff of the county, who was the mastermind of what he did to the person who beat him in the election. It took him a year to arrest him. And so during that entire time, you know who knows. You know you just show up, you do your job and trust God to protect you. So it worked.

Speaker 3: 27:07

All right, so that's 2000, 2001. You you had been working for the radio station again outside looking in radio station. Very romantic, right? We get all this stuff. We get to go out there, we get to break these cases. He's a witness, protect this program. He's going to Kentucky, which sounds romantic.

Speaker 2: 27:24

No, I mean well it depends on what part of Kentucky, as we've heard, yeah, there's yeah, yeah, that's the coal miner side.

Speaker 3: 27:30

Where is Dad was? He went to the fancy side where the bourbon and the horses are all right, you come on. So you didn't leave. Then you stayed with it and so later on you decided to leave.

Speaker 1: 27:45

Now we want to talk about what made you want to leave that so when you work for a TV station, you wind up in a live truck every day and you're riding around a live truck with a photographer, and those Photographers have insight into the way the world works more than just about anybody you'll ever cross paths with because you talk about a Cross-section of people. One day you'll be with with yeah, just movers and shakers, and then the next day you'll be Ruttin through the woods looking for stray dogs, because somebody said that there's a pack of dogs that were born and you got to go out there and get them and take them to the animal shelter. So it's just. I used to say I Wrote the newsletter for the ant bed. I got to go to the top of the ant bed. I got to go to the bottom of the ant bed. I got to go to the farthest reaches.

Speaker 1: 28:32

These photographers did too. And, chris, they would tell me every day man, if just somebody honest would stand up and talk about the way government is run and how it's mismanaged and what's truly wrong, that person could really make a difference. And it was a near worm and it got inside my head. It got inside my head and and I thought, okay, maybe, maybe that's what I'm supposed to do.

Speaker 3: 28:57

But you have TV, you have, you have this immediate, this amazing outlet where you can tell everybody everything and anything, anytime you want, and you could do it all right.

Speaker 1: 29:06

Well, I got to the point where every time I would bust a bad guy, he would be replaced by a worst guy. I just wasn't making a difference. I was just stunned that people would replace bad guys with worse guys and gals. That sucks.

Speaker 2: 29:23

Alan doesn't.

Speaker 3: 29:24

I'm just dumbfounded processing that you write that, yeah, I mean, you were sitting here talking about being a businessman and doing things and he says, no, I was doing my thing, I was doing what? Again, you can tell he's very faith-based I'm doing everything I was supposed to be doing and I'm I'm taking out bad guys and worse guys show up and and what am I doing? I'm not making a difference. I'm not moving the needle. I talk about that all the time, whether it's helping your families, helping your company's families, helping your employees, families, man, I mean, one of the things we talked about in small businesses what am I most proud of? Your most proud of the fact that, yeah, you're providing for your families, but I'm really not. I'm more proud of the fact that I got 35 people and their families who go every day when they come to work. I'm, I'm there and they, they're, they're feeling that they got the ttb brand on their On their chest and they're ready to rock and roll. So so you're not, you're not making a difference. That's gotta suck.

Speaker 1: 30:14

It did, it did and I'm like what am I here for? What's the point?

Speaker 3: 30:18

You know, and again outside looking in the Grammys, the Emmys, prime-time Emmys. I'm a oh, I broke this. Hey, at 23 I broke this ABC. I was gonna be Walter Cronkite. He was one of the most revered people in the world back in the 70s because that's when news was different. Dinner with him every night. Right, he was, he was revered, he was. And here you are. You got to meet him twice.

Speaker 1: 30:40

Did you really come on? Oh yeah, I did a story in Nashville and he happened to be there speaking and he literally called the newsroom and wanted to know who did that story and to congratulate the guy, because he's a real Journalist and I didn't even get to talk to him when he called in and said that. But I got to meet him later and then I met him when I worked in Raleigh and it's just a super guy.

Speaker 3: 31:02

Oh, that's an amazing Well that's even better to hear, I mean especially this first seasoned guys, because we're not old no these season?

Speaker 3: 31:09

Yeah, because we've been told that by our younger generation that we've had on the podcast. So all right, so here we are, let's talk about this. You made the jump to say I'm gonna get out, but before you did that, you said I'm gonna do something even better for my country, for my, for my countrymen. I'm gonna go out there. I'm gonna run for office Politics. Ooh, I'm just sick and you know what? I hang out break. I gotta take a shower.

Speaker 1: 31:34

Yeah, first of all, it's a different world in 2007 than it is in 2024, okay.

Speaker 2: 31:43

He's not afraid to jump into the void, though that's what I'm getting out of this so far.

Speaker 3: 31:47

So he jumps up so daily. You say you know what? I'm sick of respect, taking bad guys out and replace them with worst guys. I'm gonna go make a difference and run for politics. Yeah, again break, I gotta take a shower. Okay, we're back All right, go, okay.

Speaker 1: 32:01

So here's a little known fact, the best kept secret in government 97% of the money that funds elections comes from 3% of the population. 97% of the money that funds elections comes from 3% of the population. And I'm tell you, telling you, that 3% is not making hundred grand a year, right.

Speaker 3: 32:26

So they're making 12, 12, 8, 13,000. They're doing a little better, Little board that.

Speaker 1: 32:33

And so what happens is the folks out there hire people to represent their position. Let's talk about lobbyists. They hire lobbyists to represent their position in Congress, at Congress. So AARP you think it's a great organization? Well, they're gonna fight like hell for the people they represent. They're not paid to represent or be concerned about kids who are not members of the AARP. That's not their concern. There's a whole group of people that are paid to worry about kids.

Speaker 1: 33:07

So you get all these intractable positions in Washington where they're not working for the common good, they're working for the people that are paying them to be there. And I recognized that and I said you know, if someone would just tell the truth about that and say, look, all those issues, the red meat issues that you're getting upset about and you're choosing a candidate because of that's a sideshow. That's not what's really happening in Washington. Your government has been stolen by special interests and I still believe that to this day. But people as I said, alan, earlier people believe two things when it comes to politics cause and effect. But if there's a third variable that's more subtle, that explains the cause and effect, they don't stick around to listen to it. And social media has made that even worse.

Speaker 2: 34:02

Tick-tock, Chris. Hey, there's something wrong with tick-tock.

Speaker 3: 34:05

Actually, I just believe that I'm a great tick-tock, by the way, but I do it for funsies, man, and you know what? I try to keep it light, keep it humorous. But because life is so freaking hard and you know what, if you saw my social media, you guys all check me out Instagram, chris, all of me have Facebook, Chris, all of me have tick-tock, chris, all of me let's go, everybody, go out there and check me out. But it's fun, but life is still hard and that's what Dale's talking about right now. We're getting into that hard stuff. So he goes and runs for politics. You know what? Check yourself before you wreck yourself on this one. If you want to bang on a hit on politics. You know what? Keep complaining, but stepping in and trying to do something, because that's what I hate about people. I can sit there, you can sit on the sidelines all day long and take potshots, and everybody's ever tried to take a chance and do something and go.

Speaker 2: 34:52

Ah, politician, and how many people are complaining and they don't even vote Bingo. Oh, that hurts, yeah. What he meant was that's a good point All right, two for two.

Speaker 3: 35:01

Okay, all right back to this, but he decided to take a chance. I joke about taking a shower, but he took a chance, he got into it. And what is it like to be running for politics?

Speaker 1: 35:11

So I ran for US Senate and I describe it as going to school every day in your underwear. You're 10 years old and you're going to school every day in your underwear. People say things to you that they would never say to anyone else. They take potshots at your family, they draw conclusions because of who you're running with or whatever, and it's a gauntlet. It's tough, but, chris, I call it the greatest fail of my career. You know it was. What do you mean by that? It taught me so much. I lost my fear. I stopped fearing, taking a risk. Now I'm not talking about a personal risk of safety. I'm talking about putting yourself out there and taking a risk and risking that people won't support what you're doing.

Speaker 3: 36:01

This one everybody is a gold nugget. This one's beyond gold nugget. I got Alan over here tearing up. Chris can barely talk. We're into it because you just said something that is crazy, because as you start your own business, you're like fear of failure. Absolutely, man. We all had it and I still have it. I have it 16 years into it. I got it tomorrow morning.

Speaker 2: 36:22

It's hard to make good business decisions when you're afraid, when you're exactly right.

Speaker 1: 36:26

One of the first times I connected with you on a real level is when you told me your story and you were in banking, and you're not in banking now. Chris, You're 180 degrees Now. The lessons you learned from that were incredibly valuable, but you took a risk. You had to walk out on that plank.

Speaker 3: 36:44

We did, yeah, and it's tough, and so as we talk, that's why I love having Dale on this episode, because you're in business for yourself. You've never had these experiences Well, maybe some of you guys have but I just love his career arc that he's done and then going all the way to going. You know, I'm going to try to do better for a man and then you're being told that me trying to do better means I have to go out there and be a 10 year old running in my tiny whiteies, run across the field and everybody's going, hey, fat boy.

Speaker 2: 37:13

Well, that was me Never sir, you apparently haven't gotten over the fear like Dale has I have Well you know what?

Speaker 3: 37:20

Well, he says no, I'm fearless. I would tell you, uh, yeah, no, I'm not fearless, but yeah, damn it, man, I'm going to do it. And then that's you got to do it. And that's what you're going to wake up every freaking morning doing, going. You know what I'm going to solve that problem? I'm going to do better that day.

Speaker 1: 37:35

And that's where that's a better description. I still have fear. I just pushed through the fear.

Speaker 3: 37:40

Yeah, and you get up there going. You know what Tomorrow, today is going to be a better day. Today I'm going to solve that problem and I'm going to get through today. I'm going to get through tomorrow. That's what entrepreneurship is about.

Speaker 2: 37:49

Is it just as simple as my worst day in business is better than my best day running for office?

Speaker 1: 37:57

Yes, yeah, great, great, that was a great thing. Oh my.

Speaker 3: 37:59

God, three for two? All right, all right, fine, but that's fine. But I'm not telling you, if you're thinking about running for office, what Dale was telling you is um, don't come to this podcast looking for money, because, unless you want to sponsor me and Alan, right now we're working off bourbon and beer. Uh, so we probably can't give you a lot, but we can give you a lot of endorsements. Just again, it's going to have to be worldwide, nationwide and galaxy wide. Let's go back to Dale, shall we? All right? So, dale, you run it greatest failure of your life. You come back out of it. That's got to be hard. I mean, when you have your greatest fail, that's when you're in your deepest, darkest pit of your soul. This is the thing it's hard to share with your wife. You definitely don't share with your kids.

Speaker 2: 38:41

What did I mean? Did it really feel like that Big of a? I mean, you didn't get elected, but I don't. I mean I'm so thankful that you just tried to do something and you were part of the process.

Speaker 1: 38:51

Well, here's let me set the stage. I'm 45 years old, uh, the station that I worked for wanted me to come back, but I knew I would never be able to go back to the role I was in, because if, when you choose a side and you run and stake a claim, the other side is always going to say that's why he's after me, that's why he's doing what he's doing, so I would have been relegated to Carrex house fires and drug shootings for the rest of my career, and so I didn't want to go back to what I did. I had no safety net. Most people that run for office have a safety net. Somebody's putting them up, and if they lose there, they've got to fall back. There's, there's a job waiting.

Speaker 2: 39:29

Had you thought about that before you ran, or did it just become evident?

Speaker 1: 39:33

No, I thought about it before I ran. I was trusting God. I was like I was stepping out and I was going to say, if I really believe this, then I'm going to live it. I'm actually going to take that chance and you know so. So when I I'll give props to somebody that was very important in my life. I have a business mentor named Billy Corey. If you live in Atlanta, the smokestack on the Grady Curve that says Corey on it, that's Billy Corey. Billy did not give me a fish. He taught me to fish and I would go see him because we just started cooking up ideas. He thought I was a fairly bright guy and he said what do you want to do? And we talked about going into roofing. He said, dale, everybody has to have a roof.

Speaker 3: 40:25

I've seen Billy talk once because of the deal and no, that's the voice he fricking nailed it.

Speaker 1: 40:32

And I started piecing together this idea that I'm going to help people make smart decisions. I have the tools to help them do that. And we started talking about what would I call this business. Is it going to be? Dale finds a way, whatever. And Billy is the one who said well, it's trust Dale, that's what you want people to do. They want to trust you. So it's trust Dale, trust Dalecom, and that's where it came from.

Speaker 2: 41:04

And basically you sort of invented this business, right. I mean, was anybody else doing anything similar?

Speaker 1: 41:11

No, I have a lot of respect for Angie Hicks. Don't have a lot of respect for Angiecom, because it's not Angie Hicks anymore. But you know, Home Advisor was doing it to a certain extent. But the problem with those models is that they would take money from anybody that would fog a mirror. They'd put any contractor on the website and claim they were betting them, but they weren't. And what most people don't know is that all those services now are owned by one guy. His name's Barry Diller. He owns Home Advisor, he owns Next Door, he owns Angiecom. And it's the same business model. We will put everybody on the website, so it's the yellow pages on the computer and we'll charge the contractor and then by the time the contractor finds out that it's not a value, they can't get out of their contract and their card just keeps getting hit. But that's another story for another day.

Speaker 1: 42:06

I remember the early days. Chris and I didn't even have unique phone numbers, I just had a description of the business. I had a short video explaining the merits of that business. I had my seven-point investigative process. I showed where they met it and how they passed it and the only way I knew I was getting any feedback is if they sent an email. So I lived every day to have my phone buzz and the first few months my phone. When someone sent an email I'd get a buzz on my phone and it might happen once or twice a day, right For the first several weeks, months and then it would happen five times a day and then it would happen 20 times a day.

Speaker 3: 42:50

All right, let's go back to this. So let's talk about the entrepreneurship journey. We talked about how you are, who you are and what you've done, so you built this trust deal. I can't even do Billy Corey's voice, but I went to her to speak once and I was like, oh, my God nailed it, great mimicking. But you said you did this. Was this a side hustle? Was this a jump off the point? And like, hey, angie, my wife, hey kids. Well, there's no money coming in, but watch this.

Speaker 1: 43:18

You know I went. So I'm 45 years old, I'm thinking what am I going to do when I grow up? So I actually went to insurance school. I got my certification in life and health and then I later got it in in casualty right and property, and so I became a certain. I became a licensed insurance agent and I thought, okay, there's a vocation, there's something I can go into. I renewed my license every year, I did what I took, but then I finally jumped off the ledge a couple of years ago and started my own insurance agency. So we've got Trustail Insurance. And so what year was that? I got my? I got my license in 2010. All right.

Speaker 3: 43:58

When did you start the trustailcom 2009. Again note you had no primary income other than trustailcom at that point.

Speaker 1: 44:07

I did not. I had my wife's nursing salary. You know she carried me for two years.

Speaker 3: 44:12

Yeah, you went hey, Ant, you got to keep working, here's what I'm going to do. So I ran for government and it didn't work out, and you know, maybe you remember that. And so now I get this great idea and Billy Corey talks like this, and he's got to. He said I'm going to start this thing. And she went oh Dale, you go do that, I'll keep nursing. Is that how it went? And not exactly, my friends, I have met her.

Speaker 2: 44:38

I mean, she's been dragged around to every major city. Oh, I put you with this protection program. You know what?

Speaker 3: 44:43

That's what. This is the first episode I'm actually going to have my wife listen. To listen, honey. I have not put you with this protection program. Yeah, I have taken you to the bow of hell. I know what hell, hell, hell, but I have not ever put you with this.

Speaker 1: 44:57

It's funny, her maiden name is Saint, so she truly is Angie. That's awesome, yes.

Speaker 3: 45:04

Well you have, angie. I hope you're listening to this one and we love you. You know that because you're the best you know. Dale knows that.

Speaker 1: 45:10

Well, she keeps you employed, Chris. She calls you all the time for the next project. Look at this.

Speaker 2: 45:15

You're in on Chris's face.

Speaker 3: 45:16

That was a Cheshire catch bridge. Angie, call me for the next one, don't worry about that, dale doesn't need to know, just call me, call me. Okay, call me directly. All right, Back to this. So you started this thing and again, I think it's a genius business idea. If you look at this career, die the arc of this guy's career. He looks for bad and he says, wait a minute, the same techniques. I look for bad, I can look for good. And if I could take good contractors from the B to C model and put them business people with good people who are consumers, who want to be educated and understand what they're doing, so they make an educated and informed decision. I got an idea and I call it trustdalecom. I think this is. I mean, just, it's for me, it's awesome, but not awesome because it's helped my, my business, but I just love the idea. Why has this not been replicated over and over and over?

Speaker 1: 46:07

I've had a good number of people come to me offering capital equity, but but what they want is control. And the first thing they say is why don't you have 50 roofers on your site? You'd make more money. And I'm like, because it would dilute what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to help people find a great company that's going to treat them fairly and do a great job, but, Dale, we want to make money.

Speaker 3: 46:27

Man you got, don't you get, 50 roofers. Wait a minute, let's go back to the beginning of the episode. Yup, he wants to do right by people. That sucks, that ain't. Can't make no money doing that.

Speaker 2: 46:39

Good thing you can. Good thing you don't have a sense of purpose, Chris, so you can just change. Chase the dollars, right Isn't?

Speaker 3: 46:43

that isn't that a little. That's my job. Yeah, that's why. Well.

Speaker 2: 46:46

Dale likes me, so you have to say no, then, to a lot of people.

Speaker 1: 46:51

Oh, yeah, yeah, I was. We were negotiating with a major pest control company a few years ago and it was getting close, getting close and this would have been a biggie. This is a nationwide pest control company and the investigative arm of what we do we have a TV show, trust Elle Investigates, and we get 40, you know outreaches a month from people saying I'm in a hopeless situation, can you help me? We started investigating the situation where this family's home was literally falling down because of termite infestation, but they were declined for coverage because the clause in the contract says we have to find live infestation at the time we inspect.

Speaker 1: 47:31

Now this family had had the same intran-pest control company for 30 years oh my God, who supposedly was inspecting every year? Right, well, they don't. And so when they did not find live infestation, they declined to pay the damage and it just so happened. We're talking to this company for possible representation, but my investigative arm is calling their marketing department saying how do you, how do you reconcile these two things? And that relationship didn't happen Because because if you take a look at your insurance bond or your policy, you're going to find for many pest control companies they have that exclusion that if we do not find live infestation at the time of your damage, we do not have to cover you.

Speaker 3: 48:19

If you're listening, like I am listening right now blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah. So that's the problem. No, not the blah blah blah Dale, it's the blah blah blah on the contract. I beg your pardon. No, but it's true. It's like that's why he's where he's at.

Speaker 1: 48:32

And Chris, it's what's awesome. Blah, blah, blah until it happens to you.

Speaker 3: 48:36

Because it happens to you and so Dale's out there championing for good businesses to get to good people, and that's I mean, that's the part that's so big to understand.

Speaker 1: 48:46

And one of the realities that I've learned after doing it for 15 years is that my potential is, at most, 30% of the available market. And let me tell you why Because 30% of the people that I could reach won't use my service because they really believe they can get something for nothing. They're constantly chasing the too good to be true and they never learn their lesson. They just keep making mistake after mistake because they're charmed into believing they can get something for nothing. The second 30% are people that don't control their own economic destiny. They are leasing a home from somebody else or they live in an apartment. They don't get to choose the plumber that they hire. They don't get to choose the handyman that comes out.

Speaker 1: 49:32

So there's 60% that I'm never going to be able to reach. My target audience are the 30%. Generally, most of them have been burned at least once. You know I'm looking at somebody that's 35, 36 years old. They can't afford to lose money and then they get taken and then they're like honey. We got to make sure that we're hiring somebody that is going to show up and do what they say they're going to do. But it takes a young couple at least into their mid to late 30s for that kind of problem to happen.

Speaker 3: 50:06

A huge point. That's the one that I talk about all the time. Why did I start my business at 37? It's because, when I was 23, my dad and I would never have bought my service into the trusted toolbox because we would do everything all the time. You know what. You want to learn to plum? Yep. You want to learn to gas? I did, man. I ran gas pipe when I was 16 years old. Wow, yeah, good luck. The house is not blown up, by the way, but yeah, we would do everything. Right, we did everything, and so it didn't happen. So here I go, fast forward to. I graduate, I buy my first house and the tract home builder says well, it's going to be X amount of money to towel the bathroom. I'm like screw that, I'll towel myself. When was the last time you towel? I was 18. But I looked at my wife and I was like yeah, I can do that you know.

Speaker 3: 50:58

So we're buying this house, so I did it. And then you start working. You start traveling around. You're like, hey, man, I'm going to have you come work at my house. I get burned. Yeah, like he didn't do anything. And what did my wife say? Well, you know how to fix it, you can fix it yourself. I'm like, yeah, but we just paid him a lot of money $750. And I had to work all weekend to unfix everything he fixed.

Speaker 1: 51:19

And Chris, what people learn the hard way is that magistrate court doesn't work anymore. Small claims court doesn't work. There's this mirage that you believe you can at least take someone to civil court for violating or not fulfilling a contract. It's so jammed. There's so many cases. Attorneys know how to play the system and they'll get that defendant a continuance, one, two, three, half dozen times. And so the victim keeps showing up trying to figure out why. Why can't that guy have to show up? Well, because they're so overloaded they don't want to get to the case. And so you wind up realizing and then, let's say, you get lucky enough to get a judgment, no one's going to collect that judgment. You're not going to get anybody to go out and get the money from that company. It's. I hate to be so negative, but we're past the tipping point on that system, working for people, for regular, everyday people, which is why you have to be so careful, upfront.

Speaker 3: 52:20

I love that idea because then that's where you build on this as a businessman. Right, you build on this and go wait a minute if I do things the right way upfront. But, however, if I tell people my unique selling proposition is this Dale talks about this and with my guys, when I use my sales team, dale for us is a differentiator. Hey, look, you can go out there, you can check this out. So he has a $10,000 guarantee, make it right, guarantee Right. And we go out to a person's house and that my guys sell it and the lady says I don't believe you. And she says my guy says if you want, you can talk to my owner. So she calls me, says hey, your guy says that he has a $10,000 make it right guarantee. You guys couldn't screw it up.

Speaker 3: 53:02

I said well, first of all, no, mrs Jones, we're not going to screw it up, mrs Jones, if we're not going to go all the way to the sales. I said but I will tell you that personally, he made it right on two guarantees last year. Anyone know why he paid me $10,000 to fix other people's problems. She went okay, we won that job. So wait a minute, you mean somebody's going to sit out there and back people he doesn't even know. And he did. And the other thing was he paid us 10 grand. I actually called and said, dale, you don't have to, he goes. No, that's the deal. I want you to do it right. I want you to make sure you take care of the customer. That is a huge and powerful statement, and let me give you some credit.

Speaker 1: 53:44

Chris too, because every owner of every company that I work with signs and agreement puts it in writing. That puts me in charge of your customer service and now I never have to get involved with you and trusted toolbox because you take care of people. But I think it's the strongest testament you can have to the to how much you believe in what you do is to say Alan, I'm so certain that you're going to have a great deal of credit, you're going to have a great experience. This guy over here is in charge if you're unhappy. I've completely relinquished my control of what is going to happen, to happen to make you happy, because I believe that much in my company. Now it has to be what's promised in the written agreement. But that's the secret sauce, chris finding owners that are that confident in their ability to deliver.

Speaker 3: 54:32

So think about this entire career arc that he's done. Alan, I think this is amazing and that's why I love it and that's why I'm so glad he came on now, because I wanted everybody to hear this one. He started out in Kentucky. He says, man, I'm going to go sports reporting, I'm going to go do this, and you know what? I just got this purpose in life. It says I'm going to do the right thing.

Speaker 3: 54:51

He actually tries to go into government, which is, oh God, I love you for doing that. Thank you, god for doing that. You need to take a shower. Take a break, because I do, because there's no way. And the more as, of course, as I get older, I get more involved in it. But always voted. By the way, since the moment I was eligible to vote, I've never not voted. All right back to this.

Speaker 3: 55:12

He found a way to get good people to good people. That's a huge thing. And then he goes I'm going to back it up with $10,000 of my company's money. And so people go oh, he's just sitting there for the money. Hang on a minute.

Speaker 3: 55:25

Did you hear what he said? He paid me $20,000. He didn't have to. He could say Chris, make me, just do this on the side for me Probably would have. You know what? Honestly, because it's tail, he didn't. He goes. No, you, you pay me full freight. You do the whole thing because I looked at the job. The job was done incorrectly, they were done wrong, that person was done wrong and that's what we do and we did it. I mean, you can hear me, you can not hear me. You can go to God, you can not go to God. This is one of those things where guys either believe me or not. The dude's talking the truth and that's pretty cool. And how does that help you as a business? Well, here's how it helps me. In Atlanta, I have trustailcom. He makes a differentiator. Now let's talk about business. I can't believe you can't get this thing replicated in the States Dallas, charlotte, new York. How come other people can't do the same thing?

Speaker 1: 56:20

Again, it's the people that have come to me that have offered capital want control of it. They want to change it so that they can scale it faster. Chris, Nobody's looking for a 4% return. They're looking for a 10% return. You know, 10 fold return, 10 fold yeah.

Speaker 3: 56:36

Not 10.

Speaker 1: 56:37

Yeah and 10 fold and I've just, I've just never been willing to sell out. Now we we have a presence in Nashville, we've got trustail in Nashville and I don't think it's because I was a reporter there, because that was years and years ago but we've got a core of 30, some odd companies that use it as a closing tool and you know it's working for them. But yeah, I would like to scale it, but I, but I. But when I was really in the scaling mode, I was mode, I was traveling all the time I was on a plane. I would wake up in a hotel room and not realize for a second which city I was in, and that's not a good life, you know that.

Speaker 3: 57:11

No, again, we talked about Angie and the fam, and no, he's actually in the grand kid mode, so, which is awesome?

Speaker 2: 57:18

Well, it does beg the question that you are this business, so exit strategy, what happens so?

Speaker 1: 57:30

I've got a decent life insurance policy in case I get hit by a bus. Angie can't listen to this no, no, no. And you know I've toyed with that, alan. I've thought about changing the name to trustyourdealcom. I own that URL, but I've just never. You know I didn't do it because look at Angiecom. Angie Hicks started it 25 years ago. She's out of it pretty much now, but the name worked. The name stuck.

Speaker 3: 57:57

Actually the additional concept worked. You know I've listened to so much. I was like you're right. When she was there she stayed true to the concept. It was awesome in Columbus Ohio. She was amazing. It just got diluted over time as it worked out and at the end of it it got really diluted. So I hijacked the answer, but I want to go back to it because I want you to finish it. So what is the exit strategy?

Speaker 1: 58:21

And you know? Good question. I'm 61. I feel like I'm good to do this another nine, 10 years right. Happy with that.

Speaker 3: 58:32

How many years was that again?

Speaker 1: 58:34

Nine more years I'll be 70 and 90.

Speaker 3: 58:37

You know, my grandfather retired at 55. My dad just reminded me of that. You know your grandfather retired at 55. Long story, but the short story is, I'm like dad, I got so many years to go and he did not graduate. We're just talking about this is that he did not even think about retiring my dad until he was 65. Now you're talking 72. I'm the same way. I'm like I have so much more to give. Yeah, it's not that I need the money, it's the giving.

Speaker 1: 59:05

I enjoy it. I'm solving a problem every day Right In a pot of money right.

Speaker 3: 59:10

That's called entrepreneurship, and so that's what's in you. It always has been.

Speaker 1: 59:14

So my son is our webmaster, very talented, built the website, runs it every day. My daughter is about to get her PhD in criminal psychology. Okay, Don't know how that happened, but she's a bright young lady and she's good on camera, she's good on television, and so I've thought about helping incorporate her into the psychology of why people make these mistakes and why they choose that you know path when they should know better. So she may come into the business at some point. You know who knows. I just don't want to sell it to somebody that doesn't believe in what I'm doing, right.

Speaker 3: 59:51

That's that's. Oh my God, that's awesome. I just wish I could have got my kids into handyman. So no, I have a person who wants to go do better, dad, I got, I got, I got Sydney. And she is classic, by the way, and she is the teachers that you can buy on the small business safari. It's called do better and no, dad. No, there you go. That's my 25 year old who is in PA school and I've got a lawyer. Oh dear God, he wants to be a lawyer. I know I tried to talk about him since he was eight years old. The kid has never wavered. He's 23 now. He's going to do it. So he's off to law school. Good news is he'll probably be able to. Uh, dad had a jail. That's a long story, but uh, that's why I want one. All right Back to Dale. Can we Sure, let's shoot. What should we?

Speaker 2: 1:00:42

end with I can't wait for his book recommendation oh my God.

Speaker 3: 1:00:47

All right, dale, you've written a book. I've written a book. You've endorsed my book. Now, it's endorsed my book. We love talking about my book. It's called from the zoo to the wild your guide to entrepreneurship and freedom. But I'm more excited about it because I was thinking about Dale's book. It's called don't get scammed, because I have read it. How many books have you written?

Speaker 1: 1:01:08

Oh, three, yeah, the only one has been published. I've written some novels. I've written a couple of novels, uh, fiction, because I enjoy doing it, but you know they've got to be awesome, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:01:22

They've got to be like. Why aren't you publishing them?

Speaker 1: 1:01:25

Just I'm a perfectionist, you know. I'm just working on it until I feel that it's enough to put out there. It's time to go.

Speaker 3: 1:01:32

Hey, if you want to publish a book, you're going to contact Dale Cardwell trustdalecom. All right, forget that. What's a favorite book you would recommend to entrepreneurs Like you came from a really crazy world, meaning you get a chance to talk about this a lot, but, um, I really romanticized what you did and you kept telling me no, chris, it's just like corporate America. I'm like no, there's no way he goes. Oh yeah, no, you completely had to be in a box. But I started my own business and you've done it, man. You've done it. You've got to where you want it to be and you stayed true to your values, which is also something that well, when I, when I, can't do it.

Speaker 3: 1:02:07

I did, I cause, I would do anything that anybody at any time All right, well back.

Speaker 1: 1:02:12

But what's a good book when I have a crazy business idea? Chris, who do I call? We talk a lot. Yeah, we talk a lot. We talk a lot. Simon Sinek start with why Love that? Yeah, uh, it had a big influence on me, the tipping point by Malcolm. Love that, right, oh yeah, great one, of course. Um, and I listened to the uh Masters of Scale with Reed Hoffman and uh you know me podcast and it's entertaining. It's talking about uh building a business, seth Godin uh startup school entertaining, building a business.

Speaker 2: 1:02:46

You may need to slash or dobs.

Speaker 3: 1:02:47

You know what that can't scale business like I can. Hello, big boy. You know what? Welcome to my world, rookie. Yeah, you know what? Dale does it with truth and honesty and integrity. I do it the other way by friends. Welcome to my world and the reason.

Speaker 1: 1:03:01

The reason and I'm going to let you know this is plain truth. I love your book. Love your book because it's a nuts and bolts. This is really the way it works. It's not platitudes, it's. It's like. Here are the things you've got to think about.

Speaker 2: 1:03:15

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:03:15

And there are the things, the steps you have to take to get from point A to point A, and so that's why I think it's so good Thank you everybody that, considering how many people consider jumping out and doing their own thing, this is a book you need to read before you actually jump.

Speaker 2: 1:03:33

We should just end on that. I mean, my God, what an endorsement. Yeah, we'll stop the Dale Cardwell. We should.

Speaker 3: 1:03:38

Yeah, we're done, we're out of here. You know what I got to go? Because I'm for Clint. I'm big Dale Cardwell. Thank you so much for coming on this show. If you learned something, that's on you, man, because we had some awesome crap. We're dropping down. This is awesome stuff. And don't, by the way, go to witness protection program. We're out of here. Cheers. Thanks, dale, thanks.