From Roadside Hustle To Industry Innovation

A lifted truck tracking into oncoming lanes. A repo driver on hot asphalt, thinking fast. That’s where this story starts—and where real innovation in towing tools begins. We sit with JB Tow Accessories co-founder and VP of Sales, Jason Giddens, to trace the gritty path from first-week mistakes to thousands of field-proven tools making recoveries safer and faster.

Jason breaks down the real-world problem that led to the Fat Boy wheel adapters—wide tires, hard steering angles, and no safe way to strap. He shares how he and his team turned that sketch into a Tampa-built solution that’s now a go-to for operators facing big rubber and tight streets. Then we go deep on the Big Stiffy lockout tool: stainless steel to protect seals and paint, a stiffer rod and larger handle for leverage, and a lifetime warranty backed by relentless show-floor stress tests. If you care about durability, clean entries, and fewer comebacks, you’ll appreciate the why behind every design choice.

Beyond tools, this conversation is about service, safety, and unity. Jason answers every message himself and drives long routes just to shake hands, demo gear, and earn trust—because the towing business still runs on relationships. We explore practical safety moves operators can use today, like working passenger-side controls when traffic is hot, setting proper scene lighting, and investing in training that cuts liability and injuries. We also spotlight the power of community: small-town rotation group texts, blocking for each other on busy roads, and a shared commitment to the move over message that sends more people home at night.

If you’re a tow operator, dispatcher, or owner looking for reliable gear and a brand that shows up, this is your playbook. Hear how authentic content, better tools, and a customer-first mindset can elevate your operation and strengthen the towing community at large.

Subscribe, share with your crew, and leave a review to help more towers find conversations that put safety, service, and smart gear first.

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Jason Giddens And JB Tow
• 2:05 From Rookie Driver To Heavy Towing
• 6:41 The Fat Boy Wheel Adapter Origin
• 10:55 Building The Big Stiffy Lockout Tool
• 15:10 Service, Warranty, And Product Quality
• 19:07 Sponsors And Industry Partners
• 21:00 Why JB Tow Became A Brand
• 25:00 Hitting The Road To Meet Customers
• 28:05 Content, Authenticity, And Video Strategy
• 31:05 The Tow Life Collaboration Story
• 35:00 Contact, Support, And Accessibility
• 39:10 Mentors, Paying It Forward, Community
• 43:30 Unity, Rotations, And Working Together
• 46:20 Safety Mindset And Practical Tips
• 49:10 Final Contacts, Challenge On Service

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:04

Well, welcome one and all. You are there. We are here. This is Toe Professional Podcast. Remember, this is your podcast for our Tow Professionals out there, for our drivers, our dispatchers, our administration. And the whole process of this, folks, is to bring you the information in the market from the dealers, distributors, the service providers in the industry, the people we trust, so that you can get out of the red and back in the black when you're buying your products out there and services. And today, this is going to be a great one. Darren Weaver here, publisher of Tow Professional. I have uh Jason Giddens. He's the co-founder and VP of sales of JB Toe Accessories. And uh a lot of you might remember stopping by the booth and talking with him. Uh he's a man that was on his feet, I'm sure, about uh 20 hours a day at the Baltimore show, uh, just to make sure he met all of his people. And uh Jason, we are very excited to have you on today, sir. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_04: 1:06

Man, I'm super joyed to be upright, my friend. I appreciate you having me on. Uh big fan of your magazine and your podcast.

SPEAKER_02: 1:14

Thank you. Thank you so much, brother. Well, for for our uh for our listeners here, guys, this is uh one of this is one of the first shows we're starting in a series of many where we're gonna to use the video and audio formats. In the past, it's only been available through podcasts, through audio. Uh, with this one, we're starting the video side of it. So uh, guys, as you can see, uh men and women out there, I've got a face for radio, but we're gonna use it for video today. And uh I can promise you this is gonna be a good one. Um, well, Jason, what one thing I wanted to start off with, um, you know, something I've noticed in industry. All of my advertisers that run with me, guys that are in the publication, are men and women just like yourself. They've got uh a passion for the industry, they've got a story behind them why they're in this industry and why it means so much to them. And it makes them so relatable to all the all of the the tow professionals out there they're doing business with. So um, you know, first thing I wanted to ask you about is tell me a little bit about yourself, your background, and your family, and what what fires you up and drives you in this market?

SPEAKER_04: 2:24

Well, I started out, I got a towing operator job by accident, believe it or not. Uh I was a good friend of mine goes, man, he goes, I see you're struggling a little bit. He goes, he goes, get in a tow truck. He goes, uh, I got a friend of mine that has a seat that's opening up. It's a one truck company. Uh the guy'll train you for two weeks, and then you'll be making, and this was a very long time ago, when$600 a week was a good, decent paycheck. Oh, yeah. Because you'll make six, eight, nine hundred dollars a week as long as you hustle. I I don't mind hustling, so that was right up my alley. I don't mind driving and I don't mind working. So uh the name of the company, this is funny, it was called Big Toe Toeing. Uh Big Toe Toeing. Um, the side of the truck had a picture of a big toe, big, a big toe on it with a chain around it, and that was their company logo. Um the guy gave me the truck and a and a driver that was gave him a two-week notice. So we're day and a half into training, and this guy just dropped me off at home. I'm done. So Jason, with just a day and a half worth of knowledge from somebody that really didn't care, uh, was stuck into a tow truck. And uh, I still remember my first oops, like it was yesterday. Uh, it was literally the first week of in a tow truck. So I started with no knowledge. I gained a lot of my knowledge on my own in the very beginning with the light duty side of things. And uh, once the guy that helped me get this job realized I'd managed I managed to mess up a car, he goes, Okay, he took three or four days or something like that off of his business. He owned a uh a mechanic shop that was very busy, but he wanted me to be successful and he wanted my family to be able to eat. Yeah, so he took four days off and we stayed in that truck for four days. Uh, I went home for a nap and dinner each day. He goes, I only have the rest of this week to train you. He goes, the rest of it's on your own. So I stayed in that truck for basically four days besides dinner and a nap. And um, his name was Greg Groover. Uh, I I he is the reason I'm in the towing world. Uh, he's somewhere here in Tampa, somewhere still. Good dude, at least last time I'll talk to him.

SPEAKER_02: 4:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_04: 4:35

Um, and so I progressed from there. I went from uh driving an automatic uh flat-nosed uh international to uh medium duty wheel lift. Uh and then I worked my way up to driving everything from road service uh to impounds, then eventually got into repossessions and recoveries.

unknown: 4:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_04: 4:58

So I've literally driven pretty much everything between a light duty sling truck all the way up to a 40-ton. Wow. Um, the only thing I really haven't driven is a rotator. So and there weren't a whole lot of them around when I was in the heavy towing world. So it wasn't a common truck back then, like it is now. I think every big company owns one to ten rotators. Exactly. So it's a long way. I've I've had a lot of support from my beautiful wife and my awesome family. Most people that come to the shows have met my family because they all come with me for the most part. Every show you'll see one or two family members. Uh, if not all of them, because this is something I want to turn into a company that my family can work at, enjoy, and have pride in.

SPEAKER_02: 5:42

Love it, man. I love it. Well, it's you know, so uh again, uh listeners and everybody watching this today is this when you come to ask Jason about products in the industry, he's not a guy that's just just hawking products in the market. He's a guy that's been out there in the trenches where you have. He's he's had to hook to the vehicles, he's been in the weather, he's been in all types of elements and had to do this job on all different skill skill set levels from the the quick pick truck all the way up to, like you said, the the medium, uh medium duties and and heaviers. So uh, you know, when when you come to his booth or you ask him about products, he's got the inside knowledge on the use of them, uh, and so on. And that even uh curtailed into some things that we a project that me and you were able to do together. We'll talk about a little later in this. But uh Jason, I I guess the next question I want to ask you is what in what inspired the fat boy uh wheel adapters?

SPEAKER_04: 6:41

Well, uh I was a repossessor, yeah, and this is when I came up with the idea. I had picked up an F350 four-door long bed. And uh it was in a little neighborhood in Tampa, very narrow streets. Uh I I grab it, I pull it out, the wheels are cranked all the way to one direction, and they've got just probably 33 or at least 35-inch tires, probably 12 to 15 inches wide. So I get it about a mile away to the local Circle K, not too far from where I picked it up at. I got it by the back wheels, but it's tracking all the way into the other lane. Uh, I mean, literally almost into the oncoming lane. I had to take up both lanes on Hillsborough Avenue. I barely got it out of the neighborhood without taking out cars and mailboxes. Right. Uh, so I'm literally laying on the ground in a circle K parking lot going, What do I do? I it's mine now. And when you're a repossessor, you don't get paid to find them, you get paid to bring them home.

SPEAKER_02: 7:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 7:38

Uh, so I'm stay-at-home mom raising my baby. So I have no choice but to get that car back to the yard or truck. So I'm literally laying underneath it, going, How do I safely get this home? So it pops in my head back to my heavy driving days. We would use the tilt, tilt it down, wrap chains around the axles, and then tilt back up and it would pull tight. I couldn't get a strap on either side of the wheel if the wheels and tires were so big and turned so hard. So basically, what I did is I I popped it in neutral. I was only like eight miles from the shop. Uh, I secured the front by using a technique we use for heavies, and uh put my safety chains and toe lights on the bumper, and I did 10 miles an hour down Nebraska, or as we call it, business 41 here in Tampa, right? All the way back to the shop with my toe lights on and my and uh just heading that way, just praying that everything worked out well. I got it back to the shop, dropped it in the yard, put it in neutral, or put it back in park from neutral, did my paperwork, and I drove straight home and drew that idea on a piece of paper. Uh probably the worst rendition of a drawing I've ever done. I'm not real good at straight lines. And uh I sat on it for about a year or so, and then I approached my uncle, my uncle Otis, which is one of my favorite humans. Um he came to his work on a Saturday, which he was a welding instructor for the union, and uh helped me make that with nothing but wanting to do something for his nephew. Uh till this day, he's never asked for anything but me to do good things. Uh, I I keep him progress, I give him a progress report every once in a while, like letting him know what he did for me and where it's taken us. And uh I'm super overjoyed that uh he was there to help me. And he's super overjoyed it's come to where it's where it's at now. And I did it, I sat on it, made physical working uh prototype and never showed it to anybody but really close family members for almost 10 years. And then I ran into a gentleman that you met at the tow show named Brandon. Yes, and uh he's in the food industry, so he didn't know anything about tow trucks until he met me. And uh I explained to him what it was. He still was clueless. Uh, he told me to meet him on Monday. Uh, we'll have a talk about it, go see a patent attorney, and then uh six years later, we're on a podcast with you now. And uh I've probably sold thousands upon thousands of them, and what not everybody might not know, that product is made right here in Tampa, Florida by us. We manufacture it ourselves along with the big Stiffy, so we control every aspect of them products.

SPEAKER_02: 10:23

Man, that Jason, that is that is fantastic. And I tell you, with the you know, years ago you didn't have as many, but now there is a lot of vehicles that are out there with factory 33s or 35s, um, and even bigger that you come across. So it's an app almost an absolute necessity uh to have. And it's uh man, it's a fantastic product. Well, that that brings us to the the big stiffy that you mentioned. What what inspired? Tell us a little bit about it, and what inspired the the big stiffy?

SPEAKER_04: 10:54

Well, to be honest, uh I needed a product that was for almost all towers, right? The fat boys was a very limited market, yeah. It was a problem that I thought that needed to be fixed because I was a repossessor and a PPI guy.

SPEAKER_02: 11:09

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 11:09

Um, but I needed a product that could relate to almost all tow operators, even your roadside guys and gals. So I was sitting at home one night, and believe it or not, I had one of my old tools. I still have almost every lockout tool I've ever purchased.

SPEAKER_02: 11:23

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 11:24

Um, and I'm looking at it and I go, that's what I need to do. I need to make the lockout tool better. So I sat there with a pen and paper and just started writing down ideas. And then I got with the gentleman, Lewis, that uh was the first person that could build the fat boy. Because what a lot of people don't know is each and every piece of that is almost custom machined. There's you can't go buy any part of that but the very end piece that hasn't had some machining work done to it. So I reached out to Lewis, he specializes in metal, he specializes in specializes in building things. Uh, I come up in the industry of not just towing, but I was in the wheel world too, so I had a little bit of knowledge about metal. So we beat our heads together and come up with stainless. So stainless doesn't mar metal, uh, it doesn't rust, and it's smooth. So you don't have to worry about all the coatings, the rusting. When the coating peels, it tears the seal. Now you're throwing a tool away. So we've fixed that issue. But my next issue was there's no leverage with the tools that people use nowadays. Uh, so we had to come up with a way to fix that. So we made the handle bigger, hence big. The rod is stiffer, hence stiffy. So people think it's a gimmick, the name. I mean, it kind of is, but it describes the tool perfectly. The handle is bigger, the rod is stiffer, hence big stiffy. So we're coming up with a way to do it and make it more comfortable and user-friendly. So we made the big handle double welded in the center. I did my best to destroy that tool. So I just decided against my partner's best judgment. He goes, I said, we're gonna give a lifetime warranty on it. Because that makes no sense. I said, Yes, but we'll be the only one in the industry standing behind our tool like that. And in six years, I've warranted one big stiffy, and that's because UPS or FedEx dropped a pallet on it and bent the handle, didn't break it, just bent it. So the guy sends me a picture of it. I said, bro, I'm just gonna send you a new one. We'll make a claim with UPS or FedEx, whoever it might have been, or USPS, I'm not sure. And uh I sent him a new one. I said, put it in a vice and straighten it. If it does, if it doesn't break, give it to one of your buddies. And that's exactly what he did. He went and put it in a vice, straightened it. It did not break. And uh he got two big stiffies, and that's the only big stiffy that I've warranted. Nobody's brought a broken one to me yet. And the I've broke three and six years on purpose. So when you see me bending them at the show, I usually bend the same one until it breaks, unless I give it away. Every once in a while, like at the end of the show, when I used to fly everywhere, I would give that stiffy to somebody on the way out the door because I didn't want to put it in my luggage, they make me check it.

SPEAKER_02: 14:03

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 14:03

So until recently, I would give them away at the end of the show if I didn't break them. Uh so but it's 13, 15 months of bending that in videos and it shows that to break a big stiffy.

SPEAKER_02: 14:15

Wow, that is man, that's something else. And and just like you're saying, the the ability that the fact that it's stainless steel, so it's smooth uh when it when it slides in, it doesn't tear weather strip and doesn't mar paint. Um and you're getting a tool that lasts forever. I mean, I'm a I'm a uh a mechanic on the side, uh I love working on cars, and let me tell you, I've I've got a stack of tools that some of them cost a little bit more than others, what I could have got somewhere else. But I've had them since I was 12 years old and I'm 52 now. And and that's the difference. You you pay, you get what you pay for, as they say. And uh when you've got a quality product you carry out there to do the work, hey, the people around your city hear about it, about how they were able to get in your car and it was quick and easy, and they didn't mess anything up, and that just adds to to more business. But uh, Jason, let's do this. Let's take a quick commercial break uh for our sponsors, and uh we'll come right back uh with more. So, listeners, hang in there. We're gonna take a quick commercial break for our sponsors, and we'll be back with more knowledge from Jason Giddens, co-founder and VP of sales for JB Toe. If you want to know more about them, jbtoe.com, make sure you check them out and also make sure you go check out their Instagram and TikTok. Uh, he does an amazing job there. We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_03: 15:45

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SPEAKER_01: 16:09

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SPEAKER_03: 17:00

TRAA is the national association representing the U.S. towing and recovery industry. We act as the voice of America's towing industry by offering representation, education, and leadership at the federal level. Much of our focus is on representing the interests of the towing and recovery industry on Capitol Hill, including promoting positive legislation and opposing potentially negative legislation. TRAA is the industry's watchdog on Capitol Hill. There are so many compelling reasons to be a TRAA member that besides being the right thing to do, membership gives you exclusive member benefits worth thousands of dollars a year, including exclusive TRAA member discounts from our featured partners, such as Host Apuel Cards, TV Clever Out, Tobo, Recmaster, Plusher, Oz Alert, we buy key fobs, auto data direct, and fleet compliant solutions, free advertising in our national membership directory and online directory, email updates, invitations to exclusive events and scholarship access. But best of all, you are pouring back into the industry to ensure we together make it stronger for generations to come. A special thank you to our partner Gay Rochester of INA Toey for her continued ongoing support service to TRAA and her commitment to safety for our industry with one over, lose none. Become a National Association member today at TRAAonline.com.

SPEAKER_02: 18:47

Welcome back, listeners. You are listening to Toe Professional On the Go podcast. Every week we do our best to bring you the greatest, great guest in industry information, just like Jason Giddens, co-founder and VP of sales for JB Toe Accessories. Just make sure you download and listen. We're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast. Well, back to uh talking about the products, Jason. I love this because you can see in the products and the way you talk about them, you you're passionate about this industry and you love your customers. And it shows. And that's, I tell you, that's something I base to professional on. I've always said, if I can take care of somebody else's mortgage, I don't have to worry about mine. All I've got to do is a great job for my customers and it'll pay me dividends down the road. And I love having clients that that think along those same lines and and you see it in them at the shows and when they're out. So let me ask you this what what inspired you to create? Because I know you've got a fantastic line of, but what what incre inspired you to create the JB? Tow truck accessories.

SPEAKER_04: 20:03

Well, we needed something different. Right. There's nobody you can really reach out to on a continental kind of level, so to speak. Um, even though we actually reached internationally. I have customers in Australia, Great Britain, Puerto Rico, Japan. Uh, I just sent my first order to Spain two weeks ago. So we ship and do business internationally. That wasn't my goal in the beginning. My goal was to have a person that you could reach out to to buy product from for your towing company that cared as much about your towing company as you do.

SPEAKER_02: 20:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 20:39

So that's why I call people tow family, because at the end of the day, when you buy a product from me, you're supporting my family, my my beautiful granddaughter, my fantastic wife, and my awesome children. If it wasn't for my wife putting up with all my crazy ideas and wanting to do stuff like this and making sacrifices for us and not having me at home or having me going on the road all the time, uh, I this wouldn't happen. So at the end of the day, my biggest fan and biggest supporter would be my wife, Melissa, and then comes in line with my my daughters and then my my my good friend Brandon, my family. Everybody supports me. All the people that come to the shows that just want to take a picture with me. Uh, that is super insane. Like this past show in Baltimore made my entire year. Three little kids, two kids, and uh, and uh uh younger guy that uh I don't know what his disability is. Uh I don't really care at the end of the day. Uh he's he's just his family owns a towing company and they come and see me every year. And this year he came and got a hat from me and had to give me a big hug and a high five. Uh super humbling to know that kids are looking up to me as fellow or future tow operators. So, I mean, it is it's insane. I never thought it would come to this point. I figured I'd just hustle some toe parts, make some friends, and uh and do the best I can. It's actually turned into something that I never thought it would, which is really cool, which is even harder on my family because now I'm gone almost all the time. Yeah, so I'm trying to build something to where they can come with me.

SPEAKER_02: 22:13

Yes, well, I I tell you, it makes it tougher because I I'm like yourself, man. I I've been in the in uh publishing since I was 24, and I've been in everything from the helicopter market, fabricating, over-the-road transportation, you name it. And when I started the publication 15 years ago in this market, I just fell in love. I was like, man, these folks are just like me. I will polish a car for two days just to get a trophy that's uh a$3 trophy. And you know, I've seen these guys in 118-degree weather out there buffing a truck all day for a trophy, and it just shows their heart and their their pride in their industry uh and their hard work for their family. And uh man, none of those things you can go wrong with having those in your in your uh quiver to pull from. Uh, so it it's something else. Well, let me ask you this. What why, and I know we've we've talked a little bit about it here, but why do you do the road trips?

SPEAKER_04: 23:12

Because I want to meet my customers in person, like on my way to Baltimore every year. The the giant guy that took the video with me, his name's Caleb Crockett. Yep, but they call him Bigfoot Towman. Every year I stop on my way to Baltimore. Last the year before last, we stopped and had lunch with like four towing companies at one place. How often do you get one person to draw four towing companies in the same town to the same yard to break bread? Um that was super that I didn't know what to do with myself. All these people showed up just because I was coming to their town. Uh, this last time everybody was super busy, it was late in the evening, so only the Tuckers got the the Tuckers towing. Caleb and his whole family come and had dinner with me, my cousin, and my good brother Jackie at a little restaurant in Virginia. Uh, we sat there for two and a half hours just shooting the breeze. Uh, we had a couple drinks together, we did some videos together. They they they bought product from me like they do every year. They come to the show, bought more product from me. Yeah, uh, and I love that people support me. So, what I like to do is go out and see the people in person. I want to come out, shake your hand, and show you the product myself. Uh, this impersonal uh world that it's turned into, it kind of bothers me. Uh, I don't like the fact that nobody does this in person no more. So I bring my mobile unit to you. We build a relationship and you have no problem calling me. If you call me at nine o'clock at night and I'm awake and my phone's next to me, I'm taking your order.

SPEAKER_02: 24:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 24:48

Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday. If that day ends in why, I got you.

SPEAKER_02: 24:53

I love that. I love that. You know, Jason, I tell you when I first started this thing, I got a call one morning at four in the morning or three thirty in the morning. I reached over, picked it up, answered it. Darren Weaver Toe Professional. And they said, Hello? I said, Darren Weaver Toe Professional. They said, This ain't an answer machine. I said, No, you can get me anytime. And they said, Well, I was having second thoughts about trying you out. And if I can get a hold of you at 3:30 in the morning on a Sunday, you're my guy. And uh, they've been running with me 15 years now. So uh it means a lot when you can answer the phone and it it shows them that you care about their business as much as they do. And uh that's what I tell everybody in the market. Hey, in an economy where money's tight and you have to make good decisions, you have to you have to deal with what you can control. And one of the things you can control is who you buy from. Do they do they care about me? Are they as passionate about my business as I am? And when I find people like that, man, I I hook up with them. You know, those are the people I want to do business with, and that's what you're doing in your industry, is you're showing them, hey man, I care about your business as much as you do. And it it means something to me to make sure that you're successful out there. And we love that, Jason. Um, let me ask you this what uh what inspired you to start creating the videos? Because man, you've had some tremendous success with these videos, they are they are hot.

SPEAKER_04: 26:23

Uh, I started doing videos a little bit on Facebook with the Fat Boys because nobody knew what it was. There was no product out there like it. So I had to show people what it was and how it worked. And I'd do a couple of videos here and there, and then my wife's like, You you really need to to to step this up and and and go on different platforms. And I really didn't want to. I wasn't that guy, I didn't think. Uh, I didn't want to be the guy I'm doing a bunch of videos. I I just wanted to bring good products to the planet and show them to people, and it just worked out to where she's like, You need to do this. And then I had my cousin saying it, and then I had another one of my buddies saying that if you want to sell a product, you have to sell yourself first. So I started selling myself and I started letting my personality take over. Uh and not all my videos are polished. Um, they probably percent of it up until recently has all been me. Um, that's why my videos are edited the way they are, because I have to keep moving the camera around. I don't always have a camera person. So when you see the people edited a lot, well, that's because I got to keep stop what I'm doing and keep moving the camera to different locations to get the shots that I think I need, and I'm probably getting the hang of it. And now that I'm getting the hang of it, I have a couple people that are gonna be coming on board to help me do this. So they might become a little more polished, but my videos will always be as organic as they can be. You won't see me doing AI videos, you won't see me doing any goofy stuff like that. I try to be serious, but with some fun in the background. Uh, I'll do quirky things in the videos to see if people notice, uh, which is funny. Sometimes people do, some pump, sometimes people don't. Uh, I did a recent video, I put my yellow jacket from BA together backwards. Once I noticed it, I did not redo the video. I left it alone. Out of all of the fallers that watched that, only one person noticed that I put the go jack back together backwards, which was so funny. And uh, I was hoping my wife's gonna fix that. I was like, no, I want to see how many people are gonna notice it. I'm not I'm human, man. Not everything I do is ever gonna be perfect, so I put it together backwards. I just had to do it again. So uh that video's still up.

SPEAKER_02: 28:34

Hey, I I tell you, Jason, I started I started to market the same way. My first issue was a feature on towing software management systems. Management, not management, but management right there on the cover, printed 26,000 times. So uh, as I told everybody, I said, I'm really good at showing how human I am, uh, but we'll certainly go behind it. And just just last week, I I ran a some edit that went into publication. One of my guys missed it before it printed, and we put an improper price in there for uh for big D fabrication on their dollies. And I had to jump online and tell everybody, hey folks, Santa didn't come early. You know, I just showed everybody how human I was. It was an absolute mistake. Don't hold it against Tammy and the crew. They've got some fantastic products, check them out, and they'll take care of you, but it's not the discount I gave you. So uh well, I'm uh I'm good at showing how human I am as well.

SPEAKER_04: 29:34

Well, yeah, I try not to edit the dumb stuff out because I want people to know that I'm definitely not a perfect person.

SPEAKER_02: 29:39

And it shows so hey, same here, man. What you get is what you get, and uh hey, it's rough and raw, but that's who I am, and uh, I love the marketing, I love doing what I'm doing, and it's not gonna always be polished. Um, let me ask you this. How how did you uh end up with uh the toe life and uh uh t-shirt brand? Because I love that.

SPEAKER_04: 30:02

That is actually a real that's a great story. Uh I was across my first year inside at Florida Toe Show. Yeah, uh we were across the aisle from Jackie and Kevin from Toe Life. Um, they uh they're the owners of Trijays and Joe's here in Pinellas County, Florida. Right. Absolutely some of the greatest people I've ever had the pleasure of being in bed with uh or being in business with. All right. Uh but the first few hours of being across from them, Kevin did not like me. He was afraid that I was gonna distract people from their product and bring them to my side. Well, which we didn't sell the same stuff at all. They were doing toe life t-shirts and stuff, and I sold the big stiffies and the fat boys. So we weren't concerned about me getting his product, but I think he was concerned about me distracting people from his brand. By the end of the day, I was his favorite person because I stopped everybody right there. Because I don't sit down behind my booth. You'll notice if you see me at a show, there is no chair in that booth for me to sit in. None. Right, I do not sit uh because I'm up hustling because I need to. I have a brand to push, and if you don't hustle, you don't build a brand. So he approached me by the end of the show and goes, Hey, would you like to sell some of our shirts at other shows? Because they didn't go to all of them. Uh, and I was like, Man, I'm not really ready for that yet. I'm still learning the shows from my product and how this whole thing functions.

SPEAKER_02: 31:28

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 31:29

Three three years pass, and I start hustling this JV Toe as a brand, and I keep going by Tri Jason Joe's because he showed interest in me selling his products. I was hoping he would buy my product. And then I had no luck going to the front door because the gatekeepers were good, which I appreciate them. Not everybody wants just your average Smo just trying to put peddle stuff to the owners. Well, I seen Kevin at the Florida Toe Show and I said, Bro, I am ready to take on tow life. We sat down, had a meeting, and we've basically been hustling on tow life at pretty much every convention with their help and their tutelage and their their experience with the brand has been super priceless. So now we've stepped it up to when you walk in my booth, you're walking into basically a an open market like retail store. You can come in and touch our products, you can come in and see our products, you're not you're not uh pushed away by a wall of tables with just stuff laid on it, which I can thank my business partner, Brandon, for that. He brought the the the prettiness or not really pretty, the word he made it more hands-friendly, he made it more aesthetically pleasing to come shop with us at the shows.

SPEAKER_02: 32:40

Yeah, uh it's so much different, Jason, than just like you said, just a boring table with with cargo control products and lights piled on it, and and a barrier between you and your customer. And you built a friendly show space that's like walking into a uh into somebody's office and looking at their products on their show floor. So, man, kudos to you and your partner on that because it was a great looking setup, and you had people funneling through there every day looking looking at products.

SPEAKER_04: 33:16

Yeah, I definitely can't take the credit for that, man. Brandon's uh he's a visionary when it comes to things being aesthetically pleasing, and that was his his drive because we gotta make this look great when people show up. They need to want to come in here and shop.

SPEAKER_02: 33:31

Definitely, definitely. Well, listeners, we're gonna take one more break for our sponsors. Do me a favor, hang in there, and we'll be right back in just a moment with more great information from Jason Giddens, co-founder and VP of sales with JB Tow Accessories LLC. We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_00: 33:57

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SPEAKER_05: 35:04

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SPEAKER_02: 35:30

Thank you, listeners. We are back. We are here. You are there. Is again Toe Professional Podcast for the pros that are on the go and have the need to know. Uh, we want to thank every one of you, over 23,000 listeners worldwide that have tuned in to Toe Professional Podcast made this the number one podcast in industry. We certainly thank you for that. Our sponsors thank you for that. You've certainly been loyal to them. And uh again, wanted to bring you back here. Again, we're talking with Jason Giddens. He's the co-founder VP of Sales for JB Toe Accessories LLC. Well, Jason, let me ask you this. Um, what are some great ways your your clients can get a hold of you if they want to shop? I know you've got tell them a little bit about uh jbtoe.com and um other ways they can get a hold of you.

SPEAKER_04: 36:22

Well, you can always reach me through Messenger on any platform I'm on. I personally answer every message myself. I personally reply to every comment on every post. That is not somebody else. It's not AI generated. It is literally me getting up every morning and spending the first hour or so of my day responding to people on my either Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or YouTube, whatever it might be. It is something I do personally every day. So you can reach out to me that way. You can call me directly, 813-703-8830. Rings directly to me. Uh, you could also, jason at jbtoe.com is my email address. Uh, my personal information is all over the internet. Uh, I want people to talk to me. Um, eventually it's gonna grow to where you'll eventually be talking to somebody that works for us, more than likely a family member or a close friend. Uh, I try to hire within, so to speak. Uh, I want to bring my friends and family in because I really take the whole Toe family thing seriously. Uh, I want everybody that does eventually work for us to feel like family and be treated like family. So, I mean, you can reach out to me and I will always personally handle a problem. If there's a day that I'm not always answering a phone, I will always field every problem that I can within reason uh every time. I want people to know that they can reach out to me, that I'm a person that they can they can talk to and help fix a problem if they have one.

SPEAKER_02: 37:52

Love it, man. Well, and and I can attest for that because I can tell you, listeners, uh, me and Jason talk uh weekly at about uh 4:30 in the morning, five o'clock. He is up and moving. He gets up uh and wakes the rooster up and gets started and uh and gets the coffee going. And uh let me tell you, anytime I've ever posted anything for him, 15 years doing this, only advertiser I've ever had that responds back to the postings. When I'm posting them on Facebook, when I'm posting them on TikTok, only advertiser I've ever had that's personally taken the time, clicked on it, said thank you for sharing. And guys, when when you got a group like this that's burning a candle from on both ends, it's just amazing to have somebody like that. And if they'll do that, if Jason will respond like that just for somebody that's showcasing what will you think he does for his customers. And I tell you, that's why his booth stays so busy, and that's why people ask for you, brother, is because your heart and and you wanting to be there to meet every one of their needs because you you know how hard it is to maintain a business and to do that on a daily basis, and you want to prop your customers up any way you can.

SPEAKER_04: 39:03

That's why I do the videos uh to show the customers that I appreciate them. Uh, I was a tow operator with no money at one time. I still don't have any money, uh, but but things were expensive. And and I'll give a shout out to one of my favorite humans, uh Ryan Cherry, uh, him and his dad, Mike Cherry. Uh, when I was a tow operator coming up in the tow world and you're making paycheck to paycheck, I would go in and talk to Ryan, and Ryan would be like, Is this for you or is this for the company who's paying? And I'd be straight with him. I said, bro, it's it's on me. I lost it. Uh there's been times that Ryan had let me give him half one week and half another week. There's been times he goes, dude, I'm gonna sell it to you at cost because I don't you can't be running around without a toe light or without straps. So, and then one decade later, the Cherries were the first person to ever believe in me with the fat boys and the big stiffies. And uh, not a lot of people know this, but Ryan and Mike Cherry. Took me to my first toe show on them. Wow. Uh, they didn't ask for nothing but for me to show up and do what I do. So I don't care where these guys work or where they live, they're always gonna be important people to me and my family because they were literally the first people to believe in my products and they always took care of me as a tow operator, too. So I would definitely love them guys. So I mean, that's the kind of support that I want to give other people. So that's why when tow operators come to me, uh, I don't know, about a month ago, I probably shouldn't tell everybody this, but it is what it is. Guy came to me on his way to do a lockout. He lost his lockout tool. It was a Thursday. He goes, I get paid Friday. He goes, I have like 30 bucks on me. He goes, Can I come give you that and pay you the rest tomorrow when I get paid? I was like, bro, just come get the lockout tool and come see me tomorrow and just pay me for the whole lockout tool. He goes, You sure? I was like, bro, if you never show back up, it was the best$80 I ever spent. But when you do come back and pay me, you're gonna tell everybody about me. You're gonna go make some money to put some bread on your table, and I'll feel good about that, even if you never came back and paid for that tool. He came back the next day, paid for the big stiffy, bought straps, uh, he bought a toe life hat and bought some other stuff when he got paid. So now that guy will be a customer of mine forever. And that's what I'm after.

SPEAKER_02: 41:24

Yeah. That well, that that's how after the forever customer. Exactly. That's that's the big picture, and that's why I I like what you do so much, Jason, is because you some customers look at the small picture, hey, what do we do to sell them today? Whereas the big picture is what do we do so that we create a customer for the next 15, 20 years? How how do I nurture this relationship so that I can create a customer that knows they can count on me no matter what? And it's uh it's being taught by others, like you said, Mike Cherry, Ryan Cherry. I I remember when they've run with us consistently in the past, and and we got to run the the notice when uh Mike Cherry was inducted into the Hall of Fame, which I thought was absolutely awesome. And his son, Ryan, is is is just an awesome, awesome uh person in this industry and leader in this industry as well. So uh hey, I can I can second that story right there, brother. It's it's good people like that that fire you up and show you that when you work inside an industry, um, dipping out of it's one thing, but pouring back into it is what gives you the longevity. You've got to pour back in so that you're you're maintaining and pouring the concrete under the foundation of the industry you're in.

SPEAKER_04: 42:41

I would have to agree on that. I'd like to I'd like to see it become a better community than it's turned into. Uh, I I travel a lot and I talk to a lot of people all over the country, and and I hear that they miss 20 years ago when Bob's towing was on the side of the road and Mike's towing would pull up for no reason and block traffic for that guy. And so he can safely load that car, or even safer, get a car on his truck and get off the highway without being hit. Um, you don't see a lot of that anymore. You don't hear about that a lot, except in some of the smaller towns. Uh I go to some of these small towns and you you hear about it, you see it. These guys are helping each other. Uh, there's a little town on the other coast of Florida. Uh, I don't know if they're allowed to do this, so I won't say any names, but these guys have a group text. And as soon as Bob gets his rotation, he lets the next guy in the line know so he doesn't miss his rotation by going out of town on a long haul. So these guys communicate with each other and say, hey, hey, Darren, I just got my call. Don't go nowhere, you're next. I love that. That was super awesome to see that type of community helping each other make money and grow. Uh, some of the bigger cities, you don't see that. They would rather you miss that call so they can get it.

SPEAKER_02: 43:58

Well, well, uh, that's the I want to see some more.

SPEAKER_04: 44:07

I want to see some more community. I want to see commun. I want to see some. I can't uh think yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_02: 44:14

Yes, Comrade. You you know, I had somebody ask me at the show, they said, you know, Darren, um, I I tell you, he said, you know, they always talk about, hey, the tow associations need to get along, the the members in there need to get along in the state, and so on. He said, but hey, we can't get along, the manufacturers can't get along, the publications can't get along, the associations can't get along. Um, the the sometimes the troopers and the and the business owners can't get along. He's like, you know, we're in an industry of can't get along that that need to get back to the family values that that started this market and the getting along that grew it to where it's at today. So, you know, I hope uh that that vendors like yourself, uh publications like myself can promote that um, you know, across the board and promote that, hey, uh when you work together, it makes the industry better. It's not going to take away from you. If you're if you're giving your brother information, you're just helping, you're giving him a hand up in the market. And I believe blessings come from that. I don't believe that sets you back. I believe it blesses you in the long run. Well, Jason, before we we leave here and finish up the podcast for the day, do you have any any parting words or information you want to give our listeners and our viewers of the video?

SPEAKER_04: 45:34

Uh if I'm out and about and I'm coming to your town, shoot me a message. I would love to come by and see people. I'm actually on the 15th of uh of December, I'm heading down through Bradenton, down to Naples, across over the Davy, Florida, up through Fort Lauderdale, or Davy is Fort Lauderdale, up through the beach side up there, and I'll be coming back through Fort Pierce into uh into uh uh Lakeland and then coming back to Tampa. And my whole goal is to go meet people and and and spread the word of what I do. Uh I want to spread the word for tow professional magazine so people can get their hands on a copy of that, uh, so they can see a great publication that's trying to help the industry. We need, as I'm trying to think earlier, we need some unity in the towing community. I've been trying to coin that for a little while. Hasn't quite worked out yet, but I'm gonna keep working on it. Uh, but that's why I stop at places. That's why I want to create events. Uh, Tony the tow man. We went to Kenner, Louisiana last year, or well, beginning of this year. Uh, me and the wife went up there during the summer in my hot old truck. 1,500 miles round trip. My wife sat in that truck with me to just go meet people and do great things. And we tried to start a well, I mean, we didn't try, we did. We started a small move over event. Love it. With Aaron Campos towing. He he gave us his shop like it like it was our home, brought food and water, and other companies came by and we all hung out. And Tony the tow man broke it down on why people need to educate themselves. Uh safety education is huge, and nobody's doing that. They're putting all these uneducated, well, that's the wrong way to put it, uh, not properly trained tow operators in trucks. And what people don't realize, man, training is the key in this industry. It'll save your company money, lower your liability, and keep people from getting hurt. So, and at the end of the day, everybody just wants to go home, man. And you know, I want to say one thing, and I can't stress this enough, uh, and I'm and I'll be dumbing on this. Stop loading from the driver's side of your truck. There's controls on both sides for a reason. Yeah, I drive an expressway home every day, back and forth to work, every day. And every day I see somebody loading a vehicle with the controls on the driver's side of the truck with traffic coming. One of our problems is we need to take, as operators, take ourselves out of harm's way. And being on the driver's side is the most dangerous spot you could be in. Don't get me wrong, the passenger side's still dangerous. They could push the truck into you, but it takes a lot more to push a giant flatbed into you and the guardrail than it does to hit you being next to the truck. So, with that being said, we got to be safer. We got to pay attention because if you want to go home, sometimes it's on the operator, not just the the drivers not paying attention.

SPEAKER_02: 48:27

Well said, Jason. Well said. Well, all right. Well, if they want to get your products, let's tell them. Give them, let's give them the phone number, web asite, website, every way they can reach you.

SPEAKER_04: 48:37

Uh, phone number is it like I said, a direct line to me. 813-703-8830. Uh, my email is jason at jbtoe.com. Uh, you can also send general messages about product to sales at jbtow.com. Uh they'll always be forwarded to me, so you might as well just use my email. Uh, you have all my platforms, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Uh, you send me a message to any of them, I will personally answer it. And and that's how you get a hold of Jason. If you want good products at a good price, and I tell you right now, I dare somebody to beat my service. I want somebody to do a better job than me, because if they do, then we're all gonna be doing good.

SPEAKER_02: 49:18

Amen. But I I I challenge them. I love it, man. Hey, that's that's why I came into market. I was like, hey, I don't want to replace anybody that's out there. I just want my piece of the pie. I want to do a good job for my clients. And guess what? If somebody tries to outdo me, then everybody else gets a better service across the industry. Yeah, you gotta love it. Gotta love it. Well, guys, again, jbtoe.com. Make sure you go there and check it out. You can shop by brand, you can shop by type, you can shop by chains, you can uh view all of the tow life products. And he's even got a uh uh key there where you can click on and see the best deals that are offered on the website for the day. Uh check him out on uh TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and you can see him in Toe Professional Magazine. We've got an issue that just hit the desk. Um, and we've got a on cargo control products, and there's a great editorial in there about the products from cargo control products to lighting and so on that Jason offers. So make sure you reach out to him. And as always, I want to end this with a prayer. Um, dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for every one of our vendors in the industry. Uh, I thank you for their knowledge, their mindset, uh, their key to create products for safety and to help others um access uh the needs they have in their life. We just ask that you bless them for their servants' heart and their ability, bless them with knowledge, financial, mental, and physically bless them and their family, Father. Also, uh, thank you for every one of our men and women of Towing. Dear Heavenly Father, I just ask that you continue to show them their worth, how valuable they are to every one of us. Bless them and their families, keep them safe as they go out there on the highway and they work an office that's right next to the white line. Protect them and bring them back to their family safe and bless them for their servant's heart. We ask this in your precious name, Father. Amen. Amen. Well, as always, listeners, thank you again for listening to Toe Professional on the Go podcast. You have helped make us number one in industry to our 23,000 listeners out there worldwide. Also want to thank Jason Giddens, a personal friend and co-founder of the V and VP of Sales for JB Toe Accessories. As Jason always says, I'll let you in with your line, Jason Tellum. Slow down or move over. It's the law and you'll save a life. Amen. Thank you so much for listening. God bless. Until next time, towprofessional.com, or you can see some fantastic products in the industry. Go visit jbtoe.com today. Be blessed and be safe out there. We'll see you next week.