King of Car Content (with Chad Nasr)

Episode 03: Turning a passion into a multimillion dollar (and follower) business.

Born in Iraq and raised in Libya, Chad Nasr (aka Chad Mfive) emigrated to the United States with a dissatisfaction for school and enthusiasm for cars. Ignoring the traditional advice given by his family, he began working out of a humble garage and tinted the windows of any car he could. His proficiency garnered the attention of drivers with high-end vehicles — and with a solid reputation came a thriving auto business. This week, Hamza and Chad discuss his story, how he kept his business running through the pandemic, his future, and much more.

If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to subscribe for more inspiring and thought-provoking conversations.

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Let’s work together: hamzainvests.com

Visit our website: immigrantunfiltered.com

For all inquiries, please email: zahra@hamzainvests.com

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Connect with Chad:

instagram.com/chadmfive

tiktok.com/@chadmfive

youtube.com/@chadmfive

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Transcript

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Businesses are laying people off, and here you are importing cars and like like putting my of money on the line and you're getting a premium on, on, on the cars that you thought you weren't getting. So what, what are your takes on the economy? So that's why I'm taking it a little bit easy, even though I have four cars in the ocean. Well, not in the ocean, they're on top of the ocean. Right? Trans, you did an Arabic translation just to English direct That's why we're at, we're at, we're we're at Immigrants and Unfilter. So it's the Immigrant Unfiltered Podcast. Hey guys, welcome to the Immigrant Unfiltered Podcast with me, your host, Hamza. And today we have Chad M five, also known as Chad Mu, by the way, I found that out today cuz I looked at his socials cuz I go, I actually refer to him as Chad M five, uh, on the podcast. Me and Chad go way back. He initially reached out to me. Well, we kind of communicated over Flex Space outta all things because Chad has a really interesting business that we're gonna talk about. Uh, but before that, Chad, uh, you know, first thing I wanted to ask you is of course, please give us a brief bio about your awesomeness. And, uh, secondly, just tell us who Chad M five or Chad Nestle is and how that journey began for you. First of all, Thanks for having me here. Uh, uh, it's a pleasure to be here in, uh, Houston, Texas for the third time, I believe. Uh, who is Chad? Uh, do you wanna know who's Chad or who's Yaser? Because that's my original name, right? Uh, so who is Yasa? Tell us Yaser. Okay. Yaser born in Iraq and. Moved to Iraq when I was two years old to Libya. I grew up on Libya, spent 18 years on Libya and right after the revolution that happened, uh, in 2000, uh, 11, 12 in Libya, I, uh, immigrated here to the United States in, uh, at the end of 2012. And I've been here since. So I think we both came here right around the same time. You came in 12. I came end of 13. So we're like a year apart. Uh, just we came under different, different circumstances. You came because of the revolution and what was happening at the time. Um, and I came just because, you know, I wanted a better future, I guess for my family. Actually. I didn't really come because of the revolution. My parents, uh, won the lottery to come to the United States as immigrants. Okay. In 2007. That's how they were able to get the visa. But I was, I wasn't able to come with them. They, they. Came in here in 2009, but I didn't come with 'em. I stayed in labor for a few years. They did the sponsor, they did the, all the paperwork, and they were able to bring me right after that, which again, the process took multiple years and I was able to come in at the end of 2012. And so how did that work out? So they came here, you were below 18, I'm assuming, at the time. So they could sponsor you or apply for that thing, uh, for you to come or, yeah. So the way it works here to be able to sponsor someone, whether it's uh, any person, even if it's your son, um, I believe the regulations is you're, you are required to. You're required to have a job and you have three years paid taxes. Uh, my parents just moved in, so they had no, no record of anything. So they had to find somebody to do the p proper paperwork and, uh, just the process took time. Okay. And so when they come, you don't automatically come. You're not like a dependent on their, uh, what do you call on their lottery? It's like they apply, they come in. So this is like, I'm trying to, I'm trying to think like, does every person go through this with their kids? If they win the lottery, so here, here's what, here's how it goes. If you're under 21, you're a, you're automatically, you know, eligible to come with them with your parents. My issue was, is my passport, my passport was expired and I could not get a passport on time. I had like a window to provide the embassy with a passport. I got the visa. I just don't have a passport to put the visa on. Visa on. So, uh, the way it worked, I tried to apply for passport. I tried to apply in the embassy in Libya. I tried in the embassy in Tunisia. Uh, we did not have an American Embassy in Libya, so we had an Tunisia. That's, that's how the, uh, all the um, um, all the paperwork was done through, uh, the American Embassy, Tunis. I did it. There, didn't work out. I even traveled because I'm an, uh, Iraqi, uh, citizen. So I even went to Iraq, applied. I couldn't get it done on time. I lost a Visa and I just went back to Libya and I stayed on Libya. I just missed the, missed the cut. So, just because you missed documents, you spent years in Libya while your parents were here trying to prove, like, you know, they had a job, they were doing whatever it is that they were doing, and they could sponsor you. Yep, yep. At that time I was, I believe I was 15. and yeah, I spent like three years and uh, that's so crazy. Yeah. My parents were coming back and forth. Uh, they didn't like to believe me, but still, I mean, yeah, it was, I know, I know I, I, it didn't hit me, but it definitely hit my parents from that. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you would like almost spent three years in limbo because of a technicality. Correct. That's crazy. These, see, these are the type of things that people don't understand. They look at, they look at you today, right? And they look at all your success and they see you on social media doing your thing, but nobody, I guarantee you, nobody has ever asked you that, or nobody actually understands how difficult, uh, it was for you to actually come here in the very beginning. Right. And that's kind of, I think, a. all of us immigrants have that chip on our shoulder that it took so much to get here, uh, that we are like automatically in hustle mode as soon as we land. It's not just that, it's also what you leave because you're gonna leave everything behind. Like since the day I left, I did not go back and like it's just an entire lifetime that gets, I would say, erased completely or you just don't have access to again, uh, because you're obligated to start a new life. So you just, you just leave that in the past and start a new life again. So, okay. What was that journey like? So you land in America, first day, you got all your documents, you landed here, then what happened? Um, so I'm in Michigan. Uh, first thing is it was very cold. Uh, they described it to me how America is, is definitely not like how it is, um, in movies. Cause in movies, all you see is New York City Um, Come to America, just, you know, normal houses, normal roads, wide open. Uh, what's called, the first thing I actually, that got my attention is why the walls are like drywall. I'm like, is this even safe? Like, I just knock on the wall. I'm like, is this even like okay to live in? But I guess that's, uh, that's how it's been. You know, it's funny you say that cuz I went through the exact same thing when I moved here. I lived in initially, uh, of course I lived in my aunt's house and I always wondered that. I'm like, man, these Walters whole thing, I can hear everyone. Like I could hear them eating dinner, I could hear them watching tv. And then worse, I moved to an apartment after that and I could literally hear everything. The whole neighborhood. The whole neighborhood, right? I could hear people fighting couples, you know, just things happening around me. All the fun stuff, all the fun stuff, right? And so it's funny you bring that up because. Everything back home is stone. We never, we never deal with, uh, really those type of like minute details until we land here. And you're right. Yeah. It's all cinder blocks and concrete. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And you're right. I mean, you know, Hollywood is all movies, big Apple, empire State Building Times Square. That's kind of what we think we're gonna get when we land and here we are. Typical suburbia, uh, the life home is almost more fascinating than life here, you know, just because of the way America's built and, you know, things are relatively, infrastructure rather is relatively old. Of course, we have all the new things coming up, but generally the infrastructure is quite old. So it's funny how that ends up working out. So you land here, your parents describe it to you. Here you are in America, I'm assuming, living with them in their house now, trying to figure out your next move. Yeah. So the very first six months I spent the entire time just communicating with my old friends until, uh, I came to a realization that I don't really. There is no reason for me to communicate with them. Uh, there we're, we're, we're in a completely different country, is, I don't know if I'm gonna see him again. And this was just a complete waste of time. Uh, but again, first thing you come in, you have no barely any English. So I had to go to school, uh, study some esl and then, uh, started college. Um, I had some classes that I took overseas. I was in a university studying petroleum engineering. And then when I moved here and none of my classes and all of the credits, uh, were transferred. And I had a ton, I had like three years worth worth of, um, education. So I had to start all over. Uh, I wanted to go to a petroleum engineering school, but they're only available in states that have oil, which is like Texas and, yeah, exactly. So, um, I couldn't find anything in Michigan. So I had to look for something else and it was, uh, mechanical engineering. I started mechanical engineering, um, degree and uh, ended up not finishing. How, how long were you in college? I was in college, so what I was doing, I was maxing out all the credits as much as I can, and I even took spring summer classes. Um, I was able to get like 90 credits within like, I believe two and a half years. That including the, um, the summers English? No, in including the English classes that I took, I took about six months, like two semesters of English classes. And then I was also taking English classes as I go. Uh, but I took about two and a half years, maybe three years until like 2015. I started in 2013. That was my first, uh, semester and uh, I believe 2015. That's when I ended up, uh, just dropping out And what was the reason? Um, I just didn't see, it just wasn't for me. I just felt like, it's, uh, I'm gonna be capped. It's a dadan road. Um, and the reason was, is because I was listening to one of the interviews, it's an older one with Mark Cuban, and he was talking about how education is not what, what everyone think it is. And he was saying, if anyone at work, anybody will win a life. So that resonated with me. I was, I wasn't like in that entrepreneurial mi mindset, I would say, um, I am all about the hustle, but I just didn't understand it. Well, so here you are. So you're not failing. You're getting good grade, you're getting decent grades out of choice. You listen to this interview, mark Cuban says, Hey, education's an not for everyone. If you're an entrepreneur, go do your thing. You'll probably end up making more money. And you're like, okay, that's it. I'm done. I don't wanna say that's exactly how it was, but there is always like gonna be okay. You're excited about school. But again, I don't think anybody loves school. We all hate it. Okay. We go to school, we waste so much time in school. They take our money, we leave school, we do homework for something that we didn't pay attention in class, and then we take exams for things that probably didn't even study and we just try to make it happen. So most people don't really love school. Maybe they'll get excited to go to school in the beginning. It just depends on what the lifestyle is there. But nobody loves, I don't think anybody loves school. We like learning, but we're required to. Study things that we don't care about. Like, I'm not a big fan of history. I'm not a big fan of, uh, philosophy or psychology or all these sociology, all these classes that I don't need. That's not gonna help me in the future. Why am I required to take them? That was my only issue. And again, there's also the cost involved, the time that I have to spend going to school. It just didn't make sense to me after doing a lot of research, getting deep into like why school is important. And it just wasn't, well, at least it wasn't for me. Yeah, I mean, that's totally fine. We, uh, look, uh, Elon Musk said that, you know, you don't need a degree to sh to do anything in today's world. You can really tackle any task unless it's technical, of course, like a doctor or engineer or like, you know, lawyer, even lawyers. Now, uh, AI is kind of messing that up, but but my, but my thing is, is that, you know, school is not for everyone and I totally get it. Uh, so here you are, you decide to leave. Then what happens? So I didn't really decide. The shift wasn't, I'm leaving school. So I was doing what I was doing and it just happened by accident. Um, I am in the, okay, which is, that's a question, probably gotta be later. But what I do right now is we work on cars. We do something called window tin paint protection, film vinyl wrapping. That's my current business right now. And the way it started is I just wanted to work on my own car. It, I've always been a car guy. I wanted to do something on my car and I just didn't want to pay someone to do it because I just couldn't justify spending that kind of money. So why not try it out and try to figure it out, watch a few videos, bought some tools and tried to do it myself. And failed, did it again, failed and did it again. And it worked out. And after that, it just turned into like a business just given, provided service to, uh, friends and, uh, friends of friends. And then dad just picked up a little bit and I just wanted to take a little bit break from school because it was back to back. Like I said, just maxing out all the credits. I had absolutely no life and I was getting some part, I had like some part, uh, part-time jobs. Um, right in between that I learned a few things from 'em, but there, there wasn't anything valuable, uh, from these experiences. So I want to take a little bit of break. You know how Middle Eastern families is? School is school's everything. School is everything. Okay. So I just want, I told 'em I need a year break. That's all. I said. I did not take any semester off. Let me take this one. Took a year break and everything changed. I haven't, I haven't been back to school since. So obviously you took the year change. You have a chip on your shoulder now and you have a time frame. You're like, okay, I need to do something, otherwise I'm gonna have to go back to school. I don't think they really, I think, here's the thing, I'm, I'm stubborn. Okay. I have my older brother, um, he's a little bit different, but I'm like the most stubborn person in my family. If I have something in my head, I'm, I'm gonna do it. Whether it works or it doesn't, I at least I'll go ahead and do it. I attempted, again, I, I, I just try to prove myself, uh, a lot of things. They, as much as they support me, I would say they are my biggest supporter. But also they always want you to feel comfortable. They want you to do the things that are easy for you, that is more guaranteed. So they did not like me doing what I was doing because it just didn't make sense to them. And why not just take a degree instead, uh, so. Not just us all your families, your cousins, all the families overseas will be part of you. Uh, I don't know if they are part of me right now. They don't have a degree or not, but again, each person, I can't please everyone. That's how I say. Yeah. Middle Eastern culture is very degree focused. It's very, what what does your kid do? Is a doctor, engineer, lawyer. Right. Uh, the funny thing is it's been like, it's been since 2015. That's like eight years. And technically I, I dropped outta college, my family overseas, still things. I'm still in college So they don't even have a clue. They don't know. I, I, no social media I fish or dropped out. Yeah. They don't know yet. Well, I mean, look, like you said, you, you kind of left that world behind and you had to learn, you know, you took E S L, you had to get acclimated to the US culture and you somehow then, you know, through friends and friends of friends, dis decided to somewhat become an entrepreneur, started your entrepreneurial journey. and then that took you to, I guess, within that year that you took off, that's kind of when things started to like go your way. And I guess that's when this whole idea began. Um, here's the thing. I don't think a lot of things that go your way, there's, there's always gonna be obstacles. Okay. You just have to climb and then pave the road. That's how, that's how it goes. Uh, but I just saw that there is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just had to go and chase it. Even though, again, I, there's a lot of naysayers that, there's just so much noise. Uh, I don't let that affect me. I just focus on what I wanted to do. And, um, yes, it did work out, but there's a lot of sacrifice behind that of course. So, question there, do you feel like the negativity and the noise drove you to work even harder towards your goal? Man, that's a tough question. Uh, like do you think that was the reason you were like, okay, you know what, since you are not behind me and you are not behind me, and you think that I'm not gonna succeed, I'm gonna push even harder today. Um, so I don't know if that's how, I don't think I really care too much about the noise. It's more like I just want to do, I just want to do what I want to do. Um, I'm, I wasn't trying to like prove people wrong. I just wanted to prove myself. Right. Yeah. And the reason I bring that up is because like, I remember one of my first big meetings here in Houston was with a huge developer at the time. And he actually told me that Hamza, you know what? Just go back home. You're not gonna succeed. He literally told me and I was like, shocked. Like, what the hell's this guy saying? And he was like, you're not gonna succeed. Just go back home. You don't know what you're doing. You know, you're just a small time person. And I feel like that conversation. Went so deep down within at that time that I was like, oh, you know what? I'm not proved this guy wrong. And I feel like out of that conversation, everything that I kind of tried to do after that, I would always remember that actually one of the things that, oh, one, one thing that actually like hit me, hit me hard at that time I was, um, while I was in, in, in college still and I wasn't really doing what I, what I, what I currently do. It was like right in between, I was getting a job at a gas station and that's what most middle Easterns do. They get a job at a gas station cuz it's easier cause don't degree, nothing. Usually it's cash under the table, whatever they, how, how they get paid. It didn't matter to me like how I had all the papers, but that's how it, normally he is. Um, but I remember one of the, the owner of the gas station, he asked me, he was like, where are you from? And I told him I'm, I'm from Iraq. Like that was like two weeks into the training and um, he told me, Um, just so you know, like I had an Iraqi person here that was working for me and he saw from me. Okay. And he was like, just so you know, like we got cameras and stuff everywhere. Um, from that day I did not go back just because it's more like, why are you being racist about this? What does the, um, the nationality has to do with, with my behaviors? So that's, again, there's just a lot of things, but that's was, that was one of the things that I always remember that that person, um, stereotyping me just because of where I am from, even though we're both middle Easterns. Um, but I didn't have to like prove anyone wrong. I mean, my parents, when they all tell on me like, don't do this or don't do the, don't move to a big shop, or Don't buy this. I always went and did it on my own. And I never reminded them that you remember what you did to me. I, I, I have, but I never like, made it like a big deal. Like, Hey, you guys told me don't do it. I went ahead and did it, and it worked out. You never want to make, especially your parents, you don't want, you never want to make 'em feel that way. Yep. I totally get it. So that one conversation at the time triggered you whether it was, you know, whatever it was, and that, you know, very, that may be the conversation that did it all, man. You never know, you know, uh, I just never wanted to work for somebody after that, right? Yep. That was it. It was like a day. I mean, we all work for somebody in the end. Uh, we all ha our boss has gotta be our client. And when somebody says, I am my own boss, and your client is your boss, uh, he's the one that's paying you and they can fire you at any moment, you have to make him happy. Just like if you have an employee. You pay your employee, they make you, they make you happy. You make 'em happy. That's how it normally is. But I just didn't want to work for somebody. And, um, again, I, I just had the computer in front of me and just doing a lot of research and watching a lot of interviews. That's what I did. And back then there wasn't a lot of content and now it's, it's everywhere. But back then there was barely anything like that was like 2014, I believe that it was 2014. That's when it was. So there was barely anything out there. That was before, before Vine, before TikTok. Instagram is barely there. Instagram didn't even offer videos at that time and just some YouTube videos. Of clips that were shot in the past. Exactly. You know, it's funny you bring all that up because I remember when I came to this country, that's all I would do. YouTube and the, the knowledge that YouTube had at the time. It wasn't this library of information. It wasn't people v logging about their journeys. It was basic videos, you know, uh uh, it was just basic educational how-tos and, you know, some, there were some other entertainment. A lot of pranks. Yeah. And a lot of pranks and fun stuff. Yeah. It was popular at that time. Uh, but you're right, abso and Facebook was probably, even Facebook wasn't enough of a, of a platform to like really educate you. There were Facebook groups and real estate and all that, but it was also primitive at the time. And Instagram was in me when I came here, uh, was almost useless. Like it was a bunch of realtors and, you know, advertising for homes and that type, but there was nobody really like, Offering mentorship or, you know, uh, educational content or seminars or whatever that you could listen to today, like Mark Cuban and, you know, O'Leary and all these other people that talk today literally on social media and educate people. So now here you are doing research, ton of research, and this is, is this the point where you opened your business? Uh, so I was, I was, I was doing it in my parents' garage. That's what it was. I was doing it in my parents' garage. It, the whole place wasn. Properly set up for me, right. But I just had to make it happen, just like, and so what did you start with? Are you detailing cars? Are you tinting tinting? I was tinting, yes. I was tinting windows and I really was just so obsessed about doing it and I was just so obsessed about the result. Uh, it's always nice to see the trans, the transformation. And, um, I just got better at it. Watched videos, practiced doing it, just doing it to friends, just doing it for cheap. I just wanted to learn how to do it. And, and at that time was thinking different than it is today. It's the same exact process. Okay. The same exact thing. The same stuff. I used the same tools, almost the same tools, the same process, the same. that I used back then, it, it's still exactly the same right now. Um, so I was doing that in my parents' garage and then we moved to another garage cuz the first one was so small where I can't even open the doors all the way out, which you're supposed to. Um, we moved to a different garage that has a different house, that has a bigger garage and that's what I was doing. I started doing vinyl wrapping. Uh, that was even much more satisfying because you're trans transforming. The color of the car from black to orange or from white to dark blue. It's just so cool. And I think you were one of like pro at that time. I think vinyl wrapping itself was like a brand new thing. Vinyl wrapping, I would say is vinyl wrapping has been since like the nineties. Uh, but the material was different. Uh, it's not like the material that we have right now. The material that we have right now is a lot easier to work with, and it's a lot more durable. It's been out since, again, Cincinnati because you can see like seventies cars. They have decals on them and it's technically the same material, but the older material doesn't stretch as the new one. Um, so I was just teaching myself and it wasn't, like you said, it wasn't that popular. Now people do it. Even, even cars. Like for example, the cyber truck, it's just not gonna have any color. So the only option for the buyer is to go get it wrapped. Uh, it's stainless steel and it, there's not many thing you can do to it. Uh, so that's what I started doing. And it was tough. That was more tough than window tinting. But again, I, I just was very determined. I wanted to learn it, watch a lot of videos, and go ahead and apply, fail, you know, watch videos, try it again. And that's pretty much how it worked. Added the, uh, pain protection film. I was just messing with it and I was still in the garage. That was, I took, I spent like about almost two years just working in the garage and I had a lot of clients, like clients coming to me with Lamborghini in, in an $80,000 house. Okay. And I was able to, Work on their vehicles. They, you general clients, um, just shaking hands. That's how it is. Just building connections. When someone trusts you with one person, trusts you with their car, they tell you this guy is is good at what he's doing, he's gonna refer somebody else. And that's how it was. I wasn't charging that much in the beginning. Uh, just so I can learn and also attract the right buyers. But slowly I built my skills and uh, I moved to my first shop, and that's one of the first places. Well, one of the decisions I made where also my parents weren't unhappy with because they were saying, why not just stay where you are? You have absolutely no bills. You're doing very well. Why are you going to, I'm like, no, it doesn't work like that. There are certain clients that I wanna have access to. Those clients are not gonna come to my garage. I cannot do it. It's absolutely unprofessional. I got my first place. That was in 2016. Uh, it was like a four car, uh, flex space. Okay. Yay. It was about, yes. What were you paying for the four car flex space? Uh, four car fl. It was about 1800 square feet. It had a mezze up up top of 10 by 30. So that's an extra three square feet that doesn't get counted. I believe I was paying 1300, uh, maybe like 13, 1200 bucks at that time. A month? Yeah. Yeah. Um, that doesn't include, well, I think the cam is included. I don't have to pay. The only thing I had to pay for was a modified gross lease, so I only had to pay for, uh, taxes. Got it. So, I mean, it's still relatively cheap in today's, in today's world. So for car garage, you start from there. Did you start getting the clients that you wanted? So here's the thing. I put all my money into that place. Okay. And that was at the end of October. Early November, that's when I moved in. For us, that's a complete season change. That's when it starts getting cold. That's when people put their sports cars away and all they drive is their, we call 'em, uh, daily beaters. So any cheap car or like a pickup truck and nothing that, that exciting. That's why people start driving. So it slows down it holidays. People don't care about what I do, uh, or like the service I provide. It's not that big of a deal to them. Uh, they care about holidays, they care about Christmas. They care about, you know, uh, making their house look pretty. And the last thing they want is to spend some money on their cars. So to me it was very tough because I moved in at the wrong time. That was November. I should have like moved in, in, in April. That's when it starts warming up. That's when we actually started getting busier. So the very first month I put all my money into the building. And I didn't even know how am I gonna pay my utility bill by the end of the month because it was, I just had no business. It was just a bad move for me at that time. I should have waited or I should have spent less, I would say, just so I can, uh, pay all the extra expenses that I didn't count for because I didn't have them in when I was in my parents' garage. But slowly things work out and I was able to make my bills, pay them, pay them up, uh, slowly. And um, the business starts was picking up and then, yeah, it was, it was great. So it was great. Me. How long did it take you to get out of the four car garage into your next upgrade? Uh, so I would say I, I IG grew that space. I didn't, I igre the space by myself because by myself, I can only do so much unless I'm just gonna park cars and I'm just gonna use the space for storage. It doesn't work. If you have space you want to. Have space and also have people to work on other projects to turn these projects faster. So it took me two and a half years to move from the first location to the second one, uh, from 1800 square feet. And the, the current one is only 5,000 square foot, but I, that space, the first one, I ag grew that space within the first year. And it was just very difficult to find what I exactly want. It's, it's everywhere. That's a problem. You either have to go with like 8,000 square feet plus, or you have like the 1100 square foot, uh, building that doesn't work for me. So it was very difficult to find the right place at the right, uh, the right layout at the right location. That fits my budget that is available, but it took about a year and a half just searching. And then normally it takes about, takes about like a few months to, uh, to finalize the, the deal. Currently I'm in a, in a 5,000 corporate building. Uh, we've been in a, since, uh, July of 2019, so it's been almost three years right now. Uh, we have one year left, but I'm not staying there after that. I'm not renewing my lease. I'm, uh, just gonna buy my own building. Okay. Maybe build my own building. Yeah, why not? I mean, you're here. We can talk about that for sure. Uh, so you're in a space, your lease is coming up. Uh, obviously you moved into that space, you just said 2019. So Covid hit after. So I moved in. Yeah, so July, I remember July of 2019, or June of 2019, that's when I moved. But we were busy again. We were busy. We had like a team. It wasn't like just one person. I had like a, I believe I had six or seven employees at that time in 2019, I believe almost 10 employees in 2019 in the new place. I was hiring people while the building wasn't even fully built. Like not built, but more like organized. Like we have four post lifts, four cars that were just stacked to the side while we're getting work done. And we had a camera guy recording with all the mess in the shop. We just had to make it happen. Um, a few months later, you, you're right, COVID hit again. Um, I don't want to say like it really affected us. I had to lay people off because at that time it was March. Normally we get really busy starting from like February to till. November. That's like our prime season, uh, from early December to end of January, even like mid-February for us, like that's a little bit slow, which is fine. We can catch up on few things. We can train other people. We, there's just a lot of things that we can do within that time. So March of 2020, that's when Covid hit. We were busy. I had staff with me, the whole shop, you cannot even walk. We had just so many projects and they, uh, in Michigan, Michigan was a little bit tough for us because just the governor, just politics. We were required to shut down. So we had to close. I told my staff, I told 'em, we're gonna close, but we got these projects. We need to finish 'em. The clients don't care. They want their cars back no matter what. If you bring me your $20,000 Lambo, they don't want that one to sit for months until we don't know. They're gonna allow us to open again. We, we were doing some work in, in, um, in the shop, but for some reason, I don't know who found out, but, uh, cops came in and they actually required me to lay off all my employees, and they did not allow any person to come in my, in my building, uh, because we were not essential at that time. So I had to lay off every, every person. They, what happened to the cars? Uh, I had to work on 'em myself to finish 'em, to finish 'em, because I cannot have any people in my, in my building, and they're just, I would say I'm like on the spotlight, people. We'll always call and tell, just complain. People will complain about anything. Uh, you know how, what is it was, it was just crazy at that time. So I was just working on it myself. And honestly, COVID was like, we were close for like maybe a month and a half or two months, and it flew by so quick because I was so busy just working on this project. It was a normal day for me. Even like Sunday, I was still going to the shop like at eight in the morning and leave probably like around midnight. And at that time, I was also making content. That's when I started making content. Like I was aggressively focused on making content on TikTok. And that's, I believe what a lot of people did. Um, I leveraged that and it was just, it worked out perfectly. Uh, clients came in and picked up their cars within that time and, um, when we were allowed to, uh, operate again, Um, all the projects were done. The, the staff were back to work and we just got busy right after that. Yeah, I think that content piece is very important. So covid happens, you get shut down, you lay off everyone. Now you are working on these cars and you're like, Hey, I might as well just create content in my own time. And I think that's initially when I saw you and I was like, man, this guy's doing some really cool stuff. And then you just kept growing and growing and growing, uh, to millions of followers at some point. And, uh, literally very, like, almost like soothing content for car people. People love it. And, uh, that's why I just kept doing it because people love the, the process. Uh, they say it's very satisfying to watch. And it was, I was at a point where I just didn't know what I should be doing. Should I be doing, like, what's satisfying or what's important to grow the brand, uh, because it's, it's just hard to. To do these things. Where, which one, where should I stand? Uh, but I just kept making these content and I was going, doing all these live streams. I was live streaming for hours at some point, uh, multiple times a day. I was posting a lot of content at some point, like four to six times a day. Um, and that's how I was able to like, uh, grow really fast. And at that time, the algorithm was like, there were, there weren't enough creators, so you were probably one of the first people to get in there, start creating and, you know, uh, post all the car. I think you were like, at some point, in my opinion, you were king of car content. Basically everybody who, anybody in the car world knows you somehow. It was great. It, it was great. I, I think I should have kept doing it. Uh, but I slowed down a little bit just to focus on business. Uh, especially in the, the past, the past six months, I focus primarily just to focus on the business, uh, because creating content is great, but at the same time, if you only focus on creative content, but you'll let your business fail. It's just not gonna work. Yeah. You gotta focus on one thing. But so I ended up focus on the business instead. And now I'm back on the content. I made my PO first post. Uh, so hold on. How long did you stop for? I didn't completely stop, but if you go and see from August of 2022, so that's about six months, you might find maybe just 10 videos. You know? I was gonna say, I haven't seen you in a long time pop up on my, uh, for you page. Yes. Because I do follow you. Yeah. So I just, I just don't, don't post anything. I'm on Instagram, but again, it was just not my priority. That's what I was, um, was it the right thing to do? Yes, but not for that long. I should have not waited that long. And why do you say that? Uh, just because if you, that's just like working out. Okay. If you have a routine, you go to the gym for years. If you stop for a week, you can go back and you can pick, you know, get, get your strength very fast because you have that muscle memory. But if you slow, if you stop for six months, you're gonna feel very weak after that. And the issue is gonna be afterwards, is gonna be how creative are you gonna be after you stop for that period of time? Cuz the creativity will stop just like playing guitar. Just like, you know, just like anything. If you're, if you're doing something that you are frequently doing and you stop doing it, and when you're back at it, you're not gonna be as creative. It's like muscle memory. It's muscle memory. I, I'm still, I mean, but it's also like riding a bike. You know how they say you can ride a bike after 10 years and it takes you a week and you're back at it? I made a, I made my first post again in a long time. Um, I posted it two days. and, no, actually I posted it last night. I recorded it and posted it last night. Uh, one of, one of the guys in the com, they said this guy took a long vacation and he came back and it's like nothing happened. So yeah, people can see that like, okay, it's in you that you have the energy, you can be in front of the camera, you're not camera shy. You can say whatever you want to say and that's not gonna change. So I don't think that's affecting me, but it's more like I don't work 10 minute to anyone. I am gonna be back. I just had to take a break. Yeah, I think it's totally fine, man. Everybody needs like a mental little bit of a mental time off. I can't, I wish I could take some mental time off, but I have a whole team that re relies on me and if I stop, my business literally stops the same day. So like, you know, I just continuously have to keep posting. Uh, so I'm wondering now that I think about that, did that impact your business in any way? No, it didn't. We already had the full, you know, the traffic that did not impact my business. Do you guys get booked in advance? Like way in advance? So here's the thing. A lot of people get when they, when they say they booked, they're booked like a month, two months, three months in advance, that's not a good thing. Okay? If you're booked that far in advance, you don't have the right crew, okay? And especially with what we do, people want their things done quick. When you wrap your car in the Dubai police theme, if somebody told you, I can schedule it a month and a half, you gotta be looking for somebody else. So we try to keep it within like a week and a half window. It just depends on what you want to get done a week and a half max. But certain things are quick. We can get them in, in like in the same day. It just depends on what we have to do. And that's what I focus on, is I have to make sure I have the right team, the right skills that can get things done quick. So those clients don't go elsewhere. And that's how I was able to scoop all the clients from the other shops, just because the other shop just have a small team. Yeah, you're right. The Dubai, the Dubai police, uh, theme that I had done, I got done the same day. I called a guy and he said, yeah, come on in today. I'm like, yes, okay, fine. I'll get it done. And I literally walked out of with the car the next day. I think that's how it is. I'm, if I want something, I want it done now. Yeah. If someone tells me I have to wait, I'm gonna figure it out myself. My, my truck just broke down the other day. I had to, uh, tow on a fly back to the dealer and the dealer said, uh, yeah, we have the truck right now, but we won't get to it until three weeks from now. I just did some research. It was like a shifter. It's a dodger ramble. The shifter was, I think the shifter was bad, and um, I just ordered a new one, installed it. In the dealer's parking lot. It worked. I drove off. I call him the next day. I did it. Like at one in the morning, I call him the next day. I told him, Hey, I picked up the car, I'm gonna come and get the key. I fix it. fix it yourself. So this is the second time under warranty. This is the second time I think that you have done something with your own car and then just, you know, dealt with it. Cause I remember you were telling me about that story where your car got stolen. We'll get to that in a second. The, the GT three. Yeah. Uh, that's a, that's a hilarious story, man. And I, and you know, I commend you on doing that. That's like almost dangerous. You know what you did to get your car back, but, so now you are here. Uh, your, you know, your run times are good, your business is good, COVID is good. Uh, and somehow you and I now get connected over, over TikTok and you come and visit me in Houston because of flex space and because you are thinking of growing so, what were you doing at the time? Because I know that at that time you were going to multiple locations, you know, you have your main shop and you're going to multiple locations, and, and I, and I'm guessing that was some type of business strategy that you had, and I wanna learn more about that. So yes, at that time I wanted to, uh, plant these locations in, in, in everywhere, or at least in all major cities in the us. I did not even start, like, it was just a business that wasn't in operation. It was just a plan that we didn't even start, we didn't even take clients in, um, what I call a failure. You could call a failure, but I was able to pull myself out. I lost some money up upfront because I didn't have the right partners. So I had some partners I was gonna, I, I trusted that I was gonna. Built a business with, but I just didn't have good feelings about where it's headed. And, uh, I just backed out completely from both deals. One deal was supposed to be in Florida and the other one was, uh, local to me, and it was just not the right group to, uh, to do business with. So it's okay. I lost some money, but it did not affect my brand because if I continued with the wrong partners and then we had to split, that would've would've been a disaster because it was gonna affect my brand. They're not gonna lose anything. Yeah. I mean, you have the following, you have the hustle. Everybody knows your face. In fact, if anything, I think they'd get business just because your face is on it. Correct. So I just didn't want to make that an, an issue where it affects my business again, that honestly, I don't even call it, I don't even think failure is the right word to use. I think you are a content creator. Uh, first. Because you, you have literally millions of followers and at some point in time you are the king of, of rapping. You know, you were the king of like what you do, and your brand is just too important for you to like even consider, uh, going in with the wrong partners because you will lose everything. They will lose nothing. And so you have to kind of think about it that you, you were in protection mode 100%. And I'm very happy with the decisions I made because again, the only thing that we made was just a few Instagram posts and some money that we spent. That was it. No money was taken from clients. Nothing had to be fixed or had to be, again, nothing after that. I was like, you guys go on your own. Let me focus on my thing. This is just not going to where I think it needs to go. Exactly. And the problem is, is because when you do business with the. There are two things I would say they can do business with. There is a hustler that a person that never seen money, but when you give them money, they actually appreciate it. But there is somebody when is also a hustler, but when you help 'em with money and it gets to a point where they start making money with your help and they see you bringing a lot of value, but they don't appreciate that value and they see as why am I paying you that, uh, amount or like that percentage if I'm doing most of the work, while all the value that you bought in early on, they don't appreciate it, that's a problem. That's not the type of person you want because they've never seen money in the past. Um, BEC if they don't appreciate it, then they're just not gonna value. Hey, look man, all business partnerships I think are marriage and if it's not written, Uh, you know, people lose interest very fast. So the thing is, in partnerships, cuz I deal with like thousands of investors, right? Each investor is different and somehow you have to keep everybody in like in check and in harmony. Uh, and in line sort of with the general purpose. With the general mission, right? So it's not even about me at some point. Uh, it's about the business. And I think once you, once you put things in writing and you enforce them, I think that's where you probably were the, were the better person and you were like, you know what? I trust you guys. You guys run with this, and then we'll kind of, you know, see where it goes and then we will create something out of it. I'll be honest with you, it doesn't matter, um, whether it's writing or not, if someone has no integrity, no morals, no. If someone that is not ethical, I will give you, you know, a million dollar right now and I know it's gonna be in, in good place without anything in writing. Why? It's because. you're a person that I can trust, okay. But it doesn't apply to everyone. Right? So even if it's in writing, I'll give you a million dollar. But if you, if you're a, if you're a, you know, crook person, I won't even get the money. Even if I have a document, even the law's not gonna protect you because if, if you plus all the money, what they gonna do, they're not gonna generate the money for you. Yeah. So, uh, it just, it just depends on who you're partner with. Yeah, I agree. And there is a reason why people trust you with their investments is because of the integrity they have. Right, exactly. And, and you know, believe it or not, you mentioned something earlier about your brand and how like you went into protect protection mode cuz it's so important. Uh, obviously I'm not as big of a creator as you are, but we have had instances here in the company where we have as a team had to go into protection mode just to protect. The brand and had had to say no. Like, like I literally today, believe it or not, today, this morning, said no to 20 million, uh, of investment money coming into my fund. Wow. 20 million. We said no to that. Uh, just because we have to protect the brand and we don't know where the money's coming from and the person's not being upfront and end of the day we have to comply with American regulation, uh, SCC guidelines. Like there is just, so, like if I was a shady person, I'd be like, yeah, bring it in. Let me figure it out. You know, I'll, I'll figure something out. Uh, but we genuinely cannot verify where the money came from and so we politely had to decline 20 million. 20 million. Wow. And so, and it's all for brand protection because look, you have at least another 50 years in you, you know, at least hopefully. Yeah. And I have probably a f 50 years or so in me as well, may hopefully. Uh, maybe a little less cuz I'm a little older. Uh, just six years apart. Yeah. But it makes a difference, man. makes a big difference. Let me, 36, I'm 38. Oh wow. You grew since last year. Yeah, exactly. By two years. Yeah. So, uh, so, you know, it makes a difference. I think 37 is a game changer for sure. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. 37 to 38 is definitely 30. I'm 30 now, so now I, I'm like, okay. Yeah. So I was, I was 31 when I made my first million dollars, like one goal, $1 million. I was 31 when I made, did bank 1 million in like cash in the bank account. Cash in the bank account. Beautiful. Hit my bank account. I was 31 when that happened for me. Uh, and here we are at 38 and I can tell you life is different, man. Like, things start, you know, happening at 38. That's awesome. Uh, but you know, but here you are. So we met because of, initially I think those partnerships you came down to Houston to check out some industrial real estate to see what you could do. Uh, and we of course got the bond and it was amazing. Yeah. Got to meet each other. I showed you some of my projects. Yeah, some of my developments. And uh, it's pretty interesting. Those developments have matured. I've sold all of them. And, you know, so we have new developments in the pipeline. Uh, but then we stayed in touch and I think the next time we connected is, I remember specifically when you were here in Houston, you said, Hey man, I went to this, uh, I went to this seminar, uh, it was by P B D by Patrick, but David, and you were like, man, it was a game changer for me. And, and I think that comes from those very early on videos that you were talking about that you continuously watched to further educate yourself on, on, you know, business. I just never stopped. I kept doing it like it since I would say 20 17, 20 18, like I was listening to Gary if he was the grant card. Um, there isn't, there wasn't many people like actually, uh, posting contents at PPV D was one of them as well. I attended, I remember the 10 x growth conference, I believe back in 2018, my first one. And I believe that was their second event. And um, every time I go, I just take a piece from it. Um, sometimes they say the same exact thing, like year's event and this year's event, it's probably the same exact thing. But what I picked from last year and what I picked from this year, they're totally different because you only pick what you need to apply right now because each person is at a different cycle in their business. So you have to pay attention. And that's why there's always gonna be different takeaways for different people. It just depends on where they can implement, um, these advices. Yeah, totally. And you know, that has contributed, I think, massively to your success. You need to realize that a lot of people don't get to where you're at in such a short, such a short amount of time. Uh, on social media and in business life as well. Right? Uh, like I started my business journey at 29. Uh, you've started like 23. Yeah. I would think I was 23 at the time. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. All these conferences, the, whether it's the conferences, whether it's the books, so how many conferences do you attend a year? Um, so last at least one conference a year, at least one conference. I believe the only year that I did not attend was 2020 because nothing was, uh, I was going to attend, but I got canceled. I wish it was The Vault by Patrick, but David, that's the one that was supposed to attend by again, that whole event got canceled. I think they did it virtual. They did it virtual and then they redid, redid it, uh, or they ended up doing it in 2021. I attended that one at least I attended one, one conference. Uh, but for the most part two or three, um, just picking the right people that I like to listen to. And here's the thing, like I said, a lot of. they say the same thing when you go to, uh, grant Cardone's, uh, bootcamp. I personally like the bootcamp more than the tax growth conference. Uh, because more direct. How much is that? I think it's like 2,500 to $5,000, um, for like a two or three day event. There's a lot of, you know, it's just, it's, they'll, they'll still gonna sell you, uh, their product or their university or whatever, but sometimes whatever you do, okay, you're, you have the momentum, you got all the energy, you work hard. Something you know, comes your way, multiple things comes your way and you're gonna slow down. And these. Uh, events I attend, whether it's an event I attend or a book I listen to, uh, like audio books personally more than, uh, reading. I'm just a slow reader, but the conferences is a lot better because it's more receptive. You're in front of that person, you feel the energy, you are paying full attention. You're paying for the place as well, uh, and for you to get there. So it makes a lot of difference. Even my, my staff, like sometimes they tell me, Chad, I think, I think you need to go attend the conference because need that energy. You, you need that back. Exactly. So they see it, you know, they see it because again, you got the momentum, but a lot of things, you know, come your way and you just want to get busy. So, you know, try to solve 'em and stress you out, slow you down. He just needs somebody to push you back up. And, uh, it just happens from these rooms. And I, I love going to 'em. I haven't been anywhere this year, which again, I missed, I missed the bootcamp. Um, I believe it happened last month. I'm gonna attend, uh, the next one, I believe in May. Uh, just because each person provide different, uh, value. There's also Patrick, but David, last year I attended three different conferences, Patrick, but David, he had a sales, uh, summit conference. It was, I believe, a one day event. Uh, I attended the 10 x Growth conference and I also attended the Vault. Which you were there as well. Yeah, I actually went because of you. That's awesome. Yeah. But you left early I did. We're gonna talk about that in just a second. So, you know, you are doing all of these things to keep your, you know, to open doors as soon as you come out. And I do agree with you. I think there's a lot of energy, uh, of you when you leave a conference and you're ready and you feel like there's these six doors, I can at least open five of them right now and look at what's on the other side. And conferences, I think motivate your team because you actually brought your team with you as well. I did. So conferences motivate your team. They keep them energized, they keep them focused. Uh, and they also are, I think they're an awesome incentive for them to come and, you know, hang out with you outside of an office setting. Remember we also talked about this before. Um, The conference is, yes, it's amazing, but also even audiobooks. And we discussed the, um, we had a conversation about the bs. So B average, uh, for some reason it's both of our f well of our favorite definitely. Actually right now, top five if you go right now. I was listening to on the airplane. I, when I came here. Yeah. Why? Just because that book just resonate with me so much and everything. And that every time I listen to that one, I pick something. Sometimes you just need to be remember, you remember, hey, this is what was said. And um, even though you know it, you just need to remember it, and it just put you back on track. That's all you need. You need to be put back on track. No matter how much focus you are, you just get distracted. I agree. You need to be back on the rails and just keep moving. I agree. Look, 10 x rule. Be obsessed or be average. Those are books that I probably read on repeat every six months just to get re-energized. I feel like once I read them, I'm like a different person for sometimes 100%. 100%, absolutely. Yeah. I love it. Um, talking about audio books, what other, what other type of audio books do you like? Audio books. So certain audio books, definitely nothing. Um, Like, is it all educational stuff? 100%, yeah. Okay. Now I've been listening to a lot of podcasts, a lot of, um, a lot of interviews, a lot of jaws, a lot of health stuff. I've been, I've been listening to in the past, uh, I believe I would say in the past six months because I've been focused, um, a lot on my health, uh, as far as working out I health. Yeah, you look like you're in better shape for sure. Thank you. My, my mom doesn't say that No, no. You definitely look different from when I saw you at the Vault. She definitely says I look skinny, but again, that's how, you know moms are, they always want their kids to be fed. right? Fed. So, um, so do I I do listen to audio books. Uh, definitely nothing, uh, romantic or romance or, or, um, um, everything has to be either business or finance. Uh, primarily it's gonna be business. I just have like a list of books. Um, and some of dialect, some of 'em I get bored of. I just cannot finish. Uh, I just, if, if the person that writes the book isn't the person that narrates, I just cannot pay attention, you know, they can do that now with ai. They can have, oh my god, your right. They, they can have your voice, like they'll record it and, uh, apparently it learns your voice. Yeah. And now it can narrate kind of sorta in your like 80% your voice. No, I watched a vi, I watched a video of, uh, Leonard United DiCaprio and he was given a speech, but it was, uh, narrated by multiple different people, Steve Jobs and, I don't know, multiple different people. It was crazy how good it was. I'm like, there's no way. There's no way. But yeah, I guess, uh, that's gonna be a new thing. Yeah, that's gonna be a new thing for sure, man. Okay. So we've covered, I think, a lot, a lot of your business. How you, how you got started your journey School parents. Uh, I know you recently got married, well not recently, but you got married a while ago. It's been a while. It's been five years. Five years? Yeah. And then you just had a, you just had a baby, right? I just had a Santa, yeah. How, how old is Santa? She is. That's crazy. My wife's name is Santa, you know that. Oh really? My mom's name is Santa as well. Um, she is uh, nine months. She is nine months. Damn. Yeah. Yeah. That's uh, that's a, I miss those ages, man. My kids are 14. She's crawling. My kids got 12 and 11 total teeth in the bottom right now. Yeah, his baby ones. Yep. Well, so what is that like? What's that journey like? What's fatherhood like? It's very different. I get very excited to go home right now. Okay. That's why you don't see me going lives again. Yeah. So I'm thinking maybe there's a correlation, man, you, you left you know, social media cuz you, you have sauna now. It did. It did. Again, there's just a lot of things that happened at the same time. Yes. And that was definitely one of them because I was just hearing from people that had kids Well, We have kids that were in that age that they didn't get to spend time with, and they tell me, you gotta spend time with your kids, especially you know, when they're growing up because time just flies by so fast and you have to spend time. So I try my best. Uh, maybe I spent, I spent a little bit too much time but to go away from your social media, but, but no regret. Absolutely no regret. Yeah, absolutely. Man. Look, I missed out on the first couple years, uh, of my kids growing up and then I came here. So my story is I came here nine months. I didn't get to spend it, my kids cuz my wife and kids couldn't come cuz I couldn't afford to bring 'em here and like, you know, run a business and all that, that's tough. Um, and so yeah, definitely time with your kids is better than time without your kids. Uh, as they're growing up now, once they get to a certain age and they start becoming like young adults, which I will tell you is way earlier than it used to be in our days. So our days, we probably became young adults at like 15. Uh, today it happens at about 10, 11 years old. They become young adults just because of the schools and what they're exposed to and the amount of information that they get. Uh, that is when they kind of don't wanna spend time with you anymore. Um, and then they come back to you in their, you know, later years. So, so cherish these moments is what I'm telling you. Uh, and also terrible tools end at about, uh, seven. So, you know, they, they, they're tough till about seven and then they become like your best friend after that till about 11 or 12. And then they just don't wanna deal with you unless you're famous So you're famous, so you're lucky. Uh, so, you know, then they're like, oh, my dad's cooler than your dad. You know that you can play that card as they grow older. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I'm, I'm trying to spend more time with them, uh, with, with, with center right now. I'm not sure if we have a plan for another one yet. Uh, but that's, uh, we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. Yeah. But there are definitely moments that I can, uh, I, they're priceless. Look, I'll, I'll tell you one thing. If, uh, if everything went well the first time, try to have the second one as soon as possible because it's just what everyone tells me. It's just, uh, that's what everyone tells me. Like, don't two years max. Like, I'm like, yeah, I tell me like, do it right after. Yeah. I, I did mine right after, so I, mine are two years apart. Okay. and it's just a beautiful journey. They're best friends and they're worst enemies at the same time. Now that they grew older, of course they're worst enemies at the same time. So, you know, 50% of the time they're playing with each other and 50% of the time they're just trying to like, figure out a way to like, you know, defeat the other sibling. That's, but it's beautiful to watch. That's awesome. You know? Yeah. I think, I think, um, I think I agree with you because there's a gap between my older brother and my sister. My sister is five years younger than my brother and myself and my sister. Were only a year apart. We're much closer. Me and my sister and my brother. Again, I don't wanna say like, he's, it's a D generation is just different. Like, it's just different. I mean, that was different when we were older, but we were younger. Me and my sister were best friend. Yep. Well, that's good to hear, man. Let's talk about cars. Let's get to the fun stuff, man. So, like, uh, you know, I remember when I met you at the. You came in in a land cruiser. So a guy who drives a Dodge. What was the Dodge that you drove? I have a a the Ram or the, I have a Viper and I have a Ram. Exactly. No, I'm talking about like the fully like done one. Is that, is the Viper a sports car? Yeah, it's a Viper. Yes. Okay. So you went from a Viper and a Dodge truck into a Land Cruiser. And I remember you took delivery of the Land Cruiser in the conference in Florida and you're like, Hey man, this is my new car. I was gonna pick you up from the airport. Yeah. Like I literally Uber Ubered. Right. I remember to the parking lot. It was a Walmart parking lot. That's where the car was dropped off. It was delivered from Alabama. And I hopped in the car, but I see the, the distance. Well, no, I went to the wrong airport. You went to the wrong airport. Airport. That's exactly what happened. And I just didn't wanna miss the meeting and. I was able to, to, to get to the meeting on time. You almost missed it. But yeah, I took delivery right there. You took delivery of your land and I remember it was kind of dirty inside when like, it wasn't like ready to be delivered, you know, it was like you just literally like, just bring it, just give it to me. It was outside. Yeah. I mean it was, it was, you know, across like half the country. Right? Yeah. And so what happened there, cuz I remember you talked to me, you were like, man, I can't deal with these unreliable dodge trucks anymore. I I'm gonna get a Land Cruiser. That was the thing. So I've always been a Land Cruiser guy. We're Middle Eastern. Yeah. And we're live in countries that we love these trucks. If you live in Tunisia, if you live in maybe like Algeria Lan cruise isn't like a big deal. Like Morocco, same thing. If you live in, um, I think Jordan, there's just a lot of countries that, or Egypt, like all these countries. Lion Cruiser is not a, is not an option. That's not a car that people actually like. They more, they more like, Um, German cars. Or European cars. That's what I was gonna say. Yeah. P and like all of Liker is gonna be bmw, Mercedes. Like the, that's, that's what they love. But for us, Libya, I grew up in Libya, Iraq, I mean, um, all of 'em, all they lovelan cruiser. So for us that's the, the vehicle. And it's not like that's the vehicle. We like these cars more than the, the German cars. Yeah. They're prestigious. Exactly. Yeah. Like you have to, like, you have a status to own these cars. Yeah. Um, so I've always wanted one, I just didn't get the chance to buy one. And, um, after just going through a lot of cars, uh, I just didn't, couldn't deal with, with how unreliable they are. And I just wanted to buy something that actually work. I don't care about all the. Uh, bells and whistles, the puzzle whistles. I don't care about all that. I want something that works. And, um, I just went back to my roots and it was a Toyota Line Cruiser, man, you know, you inspire me to go by. I look at Land Cruisers probably at least once a week because of you. And I'm like, man, Chad went from, you know, these Dodgers. And I, I don't think they're good cars. And I'm obviously an Ammg guy, but I have more recently even found love in Land Cruisers, and I think they're, they're pretty awesome vehicles. They're just so darn expensive. They are expensive. I mean, again, that was one of the things when I was looking for one, like a, at that time was like a 2013 with 200,000 miles. They're still going for $40,000 and the car originally was 80, 85 at that time. I would say that doesn't happen with any American car, any German car. And when you tell someone, Hey, should I buy, they say, oh, it's just broken in. And, uh, yeah, I ended up buying two Land Cruisers with 200,000 miles. They're just about two years apart. 20 13, 20 15. One for me, for one for my dad. The one that I bought my, my wife took, and now I'm just left with a bunch of other line cruisers. What? What do you mean a bunch of other land cruisers? I have multiple, I have multiple, I have, uh, a few nine 1990s. I just took delivery last week of my Land Cruiser pickup. The Toyota Sha, if you know it. Yeah, the, the, the renowned shas 1997. It was in 1997. I imported that one from, uh, Saudi Arabia. I just, it just came in last week, avenue South. So, hold on. What's going on with all these Land Cruisers? Um, so there is a passion. There is also, um, an obsession and there's also a business side of it. Okay. Yes. So if I buy something, I know it's clean, I know it. I can sell a, a profit, then I'm buying it. And, and now people are asking me like, do you have any Land Cruiser for sale? So I don't, I don't know if I want to be like the Land Cruiser guy, but I have no issues. I think that's pretty cool, man. Yeah, I have ones going on. Bring a trailer next week. A 1997 beautiful one. Um, I just sold one last month. Also, I'm bring a trailer. Same thing in 1997. The older one with like the flares. Um, I have a Lexus version of it right now. Same thing. I'm gonna sell that one very soon. I don't, I don't want these. And there's a reason why I don't want 'em is because I don't like the US specs. I like the, the, uh, it's GCC specs, right? Um, middle Eastern specs. The Middle Eastern. The reason why I like the Middle Eastern ones is because, uh, few cer, few things that I like, like the manual transmission. We had no line cruisers in the man transmission, like the 1990s in here at all. So I like to get 'em from there. Tire carrier, you know, two tanks of gas. They're just, uh, certain options that were available there. The cloth seats, like I go crazy for the cloth seats. Yeah, we all got the leather, leather seats now. I don't want the leather seats. we even got the inline six. That's what, yeah. Yeah. Which is like a variant of like the super engine or something that they Yep. That's what I have on the, the, the pickup one. It's got the N line six. It's n line six, 4.5, which is a very big displacement. That's the one that they put the turbos on, man. The one, the videos. Ah, I think that's a patrol. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. No. So the 4.5 liter inline six. The line six, yes. Also got the turbos on it. The patrols all, because you told me, you, you were, you were in the uh, in the Yeah, I was modification. That was a long time ago, man. But yeah, so those ones, uh, we used to put turbos on them and the MoTeC on them. And then the vitech, the, the Nissan patrol. Oh, man. Oh, those engines. Those are crazy. Crazy. It's like a gtr. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I have a few, um, coming also from, um, from Middle East. I have, uh, patrol in 1997. For some reason, 1997 was like one of the best years that they built these cars before, like they, uh, so I think 1997 was the newer generation. It was like the last year of these, of that generation. You're right. Yeah. And it was also fuel injected. Cause there was, I wanna say the nineties, early nineties to like nineties. It was a carbonated. Yeah. There were carbonated engines. So there was very limited things you could do with those. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I have a patrol coming, uh, next week actually. Uh, 97. And what are you making on these cars? Like, uh, I actually, the patrol, I might just keep it. Okay. Just because it's, nobody knows the patrol here. Right. The patrol there is barely any people know what the patrol is. Unless I find someone that knows what the car is, then yeah. I can't sell it. But that's something I want to keep for myself. It was a patrol Safari four door is beautiful. It only has 30,000 miles, like four 50,000 kilometers. That's nothing. Yeah, that's Christine. It's nothing. Yeah. And I also have two other Land cruisers. Same thing in 1990s are gonna get shipped next week from Saudi Arabia. Um, one of 'em are gonna sell and one of 'em I'm gonna keep. So these are all the, the, the oval shaped land cruisers. They're not the squared. because those were like early nineties and then eighties maybe, or no, are they all squared? Land cruisers? So in 19, so there is, it depends on what you are talking about, but in 1991, I would say 1990. 1991, that's when they made the new one. It's got like, it's a little bit around Exactly. It's got like fender flares. Exactly, yes. Um, people love that one. It's got a tire carrier in the back. It was like one of the coolest ones and it's still one of the most iconic design that people absolutely go crazy for. And they're bringing crazy amount of money. Um, they are everywhere over in, in Middle East, but also the clean ones, they are available. They're really hard to get and they're really expensive because people still love them. Yeah. The ones that have no miles, like I have one that's coming, it's got. Also like 50,000 kilometer. Yeah, that's nothing. That's about 1994. Same thing. And uh, it was very expensive to buy from there. Um, I was begging the person to sell it to me and he sold it to me. And he's very happy that he sold it to me because now we're doing business. He actually looks for cars for me right now and, and ships them over. Ship 'em over. It's very difficults. Not, that's so weird. Cause I'm used to hearing about businesses, shipping cars to Iraq, shipping for cars to Saudi, shipping cars to Dubai. And now you're doing the opposite. It's so, it was very difficult to find shipping companies that ship cars from these countries because they said You're doing the opposite, don't we? We, yeah, exactly. It doesn't work like we normally ship from the us Uh, but I'm doing the opposite just because I just found the, the niche, the demand and uh, I'm just going after him. I'll see how it goes. I think it's gonna be a better business than anything else cuz riches are in the niches and these land cruisers and the Nissan patrols. I think there's, there is enough demand for you to be that guy, but there is only so many. Land cruises that's out there left the are in a great condition, right? Uh, but in here, people pay a lot of money, honestly, for, uh, the ones that have 200,000. I just sold one, um, in 1997 with a, with a good amount, with 280,000 miles. I was crazy. I, I didn't even know I was gonna get that much money, but it worked out and it's all been the trailer. That was on Bringa Trail. Yeah. I don't wanna say like, I was surprised. I expected it. It's gonna bring that much money. What did it go for? Uh, that one went for $24,000. Yeah, yeah. About 20, 80,000 miles. Right. With two accidents, six different owners. Like the car is absolutely clean. Like it's beautiful. It's one of the cleanest ones out there, But again, it's just, um, it just, there just demands for, and there is ones that's going like, you know, for over a hundred. Okay. So talking about demand, let's talk about the economy and where we're at. So, of course, I don't know if you know this, but interest rates are at all time high. You know, people are worried about recession. uh, businesses are laying people off. And here you are importing cars and like like paying, putting my money on the line and you're getting a premium on, on, on the cars that you thought you weren't getting. So what, what are your takes on the economy? So that's why I'm taking it a little bit easy, even though I have four cars in the ocean. Well, not in the ocean, they're on top of the ocean, right? you trans, you did an Arabic translation just to English direct That's why we're at, we're we're, we're at immigrants and falter. So, um, I have four vehicles come in. Again, you have to upfront the money for these vehicles, uh, even though I miss on a few deals that, that I, I wish I bought. But at the same time, I kind like don't wanna keep buying all these cars and not knowing how much money they gotta bring. Cuz I don't know if people are interested in the, uh, the Middle Eastern spec. People will like it. But here's a thing, there's absolutely no history. There's no Carfax. They don't know. Like you don't know, I don't know. This is a car, this is what you buy. People still go after the Carfax, but people will still buy these cars and people that have money, they don't care. You could become one of those guys that like retrofits these vehicles in your own brand. You know, like there's this guy who brings in defenders and G wagons and those, and they retrofit them and they just, it's their own brand. Nobody cares about like what the history is cuz they like, and those cars sell for like 200 grand. It's crazy. It's crazy. And they're beautiful. The leather, they, they're up to new. Really nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but again, people that have money, they really don't care. A lot of people actually have extra money. They just wanna buy something. I, I'll buy something personally. Okay? If I sell a car, if I sell something, um, I have some cash set aside. Sure. I'll, I'll be looking for something probably I don't even want, like, you know, I didn't even, I, I'm not even searching for, but, uh, it's just opportunity there. Something comes up and people will buy it and people still pay you premium for all these classics. They did not drop in price. Maybe they dropped like by five to 10%, I would say Maybe a little bit less, but I mean, Barry Jackson, they had the auction going on last month and cars were going for insane amount. Yeah. I feel like people just want tax write offs for those cars. Newer cars aren't really bringing that much money. Uh, people don't care too much about these cars, but anything that's older, I mean, the record's been hit. Like all these, it's working all these really expensive ones. Like the Career GT is the, um, the McLaren people, like the ones that aren't, you can't really get anymore. They're still bringing, you know, ultra premium, um, LAN are not gonna be there. But hopefully we'll see I don't know, man. I think they would, I, I think Land Cruisers are coming back, man. I think, uh, if you bring them back, you'll become that guy. And then if you hype them enough with just your following, I do want to do, I, that's what I want to do. That's what I wanna do. It's like flex Space actually, actually, that's what I wanna do. I wanna hype them up. I did sell, uh, a couple already, but I, I want hype 'em up a little bit. But no, there's a big cult behind it. There's a big cult behind it. People love these cars. I mean, I'm looking at 'em because of you, you know what I mean? I'm like, you should, you should. He's driving in a waterfall. I wanna do that. I can't do that with my gag and I'm gonna go in the Land Cruiser. You know? You should, you should do it. No, it's, I think, I think again, it's not. The car is not like, again, it is not a very ad advantage. It's not technological, but it's culturally very sentimental to us. That's how it is. That's how it is. It's like we just feel like we belong in that vehicle. Exactly. That's it. Nothing else uh, what's going on with the GT three? Uh, the GT three, so since I got the baby, I barely drove that car because I, I haven't seen you post about even post about it. It's, I have it still. Yeah. I honestly, I didn't drive it on the street since August of last year. Again, we're March right now. Yeah. And I sat on the racing slicks for months. I, I took her to the track a few times. I sat one of the records at one of our local tracks, which was awesome, but I didn't get to drive on the street. I only drove her once I trailed the car to Tennessee, one with my family. There were beautiful roads there. The tail of the dragon. I drove it there, it was awesome. And then trailed it back and I really did not drive it at all. Not a single mile. I added on it. Since that trip. Okay. I removed the wrap. I removed the, the police, the Dubai police. Yeah, I, I saw you had the, it looked pretty good. It was awesome. Thanks. Yeah. Um, I don't know what I wanna do with it. I don't know if I want to keep it, I want to sell it. I might sell it honestly. Uh, I might get the zero six soon. We'll see the new one. The new one. When do you have one on order? I don't have one on order. I actually have one for a client I'm picking up, uh, from the same deal that I'm ordering mine from. Uh, he got his before me. Uh, ironically the same exact specs. Um, I'm the third on the list. He's the first on the list, so I'm gonna wait. It's probably gonna be sometimes in the summer. I'm not in the hurry right now. Like I said, I'm more excited about these land cruises right now. Um, we'll see. I do have a Z 11 le. Do you still have that? No. So I had, the first one I sold, I got another one I sold, and now I have a third one, which is brand new. It has eight miles on it. I bought it in October. It just sits right now. And my. I don't know. My cell might keep, I don't know. We'll see what I'm gonna do with that. Okay. Are those going for like a premium? Um, they're just hard to get. Okay. They, they, they stop making them Okay. In 2023. They are, uh, demanding, you know, higher amount than the regular cars. But I do like that car a lot. We'll see what I'm gonna do with it. I think the GT three is gonna go, um, maybe the Camaro's gonna go, but I like the Camara cuz it's got backseats. I, yeah. I don't know what the replacement is gonna be. I kind of have, want to get like a sports car. Well I have to have a sport car, but I just don't know which one it is. And I want through a bunch of cars, I had a Rivian, um, that I didn't even get to drive, I just sold immediately. Um, I had a viper, I sold that one. Uh, all these cars I sold like within like the past two months. Yeah. I think it's Land Cruiser man, to be honest. Is it, you're just gonna, oh man, you look like you're just gonna need another Land Cruiser. Honestly, honestly, here's a funny thing because I have a container live in Juda. And next week, uh, on the 12th and I have space in the container, I just don't know what to fill it with. I'm, I'm putting two cars in it. I was honestly thinking of doing this trip to Houston and flying from Houston to Jetta. Find some like desirable parts that aren't available in the US or at least the US specs. Uh, fill the gap that I have in the container and ship, ship the, it doesn't matter to me cuz the shipping is gonna be the same thing. I pay for the container. Maybe I'll pay more for duties or just extra expenses, but I just don't have the time to do it. Maybe on the next shipment. Yeah. Next. It's sounds like it will be too rushed. You probably won't get the right parts if you, we'll see if you rush. Unless you have a contact there, then that's different. They are available. I just, it's not worth it. It's too quick. Yeah. I only have, again, that's a week. Yeah. That's not worth it. Yeah. Probably not worth it at this point. So now you, I, I think. I think you're gonna be that guy, bro. You think so? The Land Cruiser guy, man, I don't mind. You know, I don't mind that, but, but the thing is, there's nobody else, like, if not you, then who? You know what I mean? Well, it has to be a Middle Eastern guy. Yeah. or Australian because there's a lot of Australians. It's so, that's true patrol. But you know, their specs are different. They're more diesel and like, uh, they do love the turbo diesel. There's Central American. There's a lot of stuff come from Columbia that get imported here. Uh, uh, Australians, there's a lot of turbo diesel, but all of 'em are right hand drive. Same thing with Japanese ones. They're all right hand drive. That's why they don't bring as much money. I don't want to drive a right hand drive car. Personally. Yeah. Um, bill Eastern's, our left hand drive, some of 'em are beat up, but having the right person that goes and check is always awesome because, um, a lot of 'em aren't in the best shape. If you find the right person that finds the right car, they're awesome. Like really good stuff out there. Yeah, I, I get that. So, talking about all this, I'm really, by the way, this is exciting. Okay. The Land Cruiser talk is exciting cuz I'm thinking of getting one and then your shop is really exciting cuz it's in a flex space. Uh, wh where do now, where do you go from here? What are, what is the next five years like? Man, I, there is, because of the economy, there is definitely a big shift or I would say a pause in my, in my growth or my plans. Just because I don't wanna make a move or I lose All right. Um, in that you're all in. I'm all in, but at the same time, I want to make sure I'm protected. Okay. We don't know how the next eight months gonna be. Um, I want to. Liquidate as much as I can, just so I can buy deals that come up that, you know, come up because I'll be liquid. So that's, that's where I'm at. I definitely want to grow my company, my brand, even though I can't, I don't wanna sound like I neglected it, but neglected the marketing part of it. Uh, it didn't affect the business, but it just affected the image that, the global image, I would say of, of the, of the company. Uh, that's something I want to, uh, bring back and focus on growing. Um, and we'll see where the company is gonna go. Um, is it something that you would sell? Cause I know Patrick's model is all about like, you know, build it and then plan for an exit, but, but he's in the financial industry and. That that business doesn't make sense. The financial services, I don't know, but to me they just don't make sense. Um, but again, they bring somewhat crazy numbers. I don't think I will sell the business unless it's gonna be like a, a business where it's very large, many, many locations. Like I'm talking a hundred plus location. Okay. Then yeah, I'll package it all together and, and sell it to like one of the big companies or some, some, uh, private equity. But I don't think, um, I don't think that's gonna happen. And if I have to do it, I wanna make sure like I own real estate in like I will sell it with the real estate. Got it. And not. The, you know, the, the name, so. Got it. So now your plan is lease expires. You'll have a new space ready by then. Yes. Move into that. So did you know that you could do, or are you working with like an SBA type product to get all that set up for you? I'm not yet. I do have another year left. Yeah. Uh, but I, I will look into, I don't know, how, how are you looking to build it ground up or are you looking to buy something existing? That's something you'll have to advise. Yeah. Because look, if you're looking to build it ground up, I just did a shop here not too far from here, actually. Yeah. And we did a ground up development for them and they, they went ahead and did everything via the SBA equipment plus shop, plus real estate. So a hundred percent financed. And, um, they turned around and the finance amount, I can share it with you, it was about 1.2 million. They immediately started, the business started generating revenue. The business was appraised at $4 million a year later. Wow. Yeah. And they pulled out, they pulled out some of that equity. So is the business and the building are both together? Yes. Okay. So the, the evaluation was the business and, and the real estate. The real estate estate. Correct. Um, and I would, you know, I would say, uh, I would say that's the model. Like sell the business with the real estate. Ideally. That's what you wanna do. Yeah. You know, I mean, we can talk about that on, uh, cause I, I was going to buy, uh, I was going to acquire, uh, one of my competitors, uh, three years ago. It was like a big competitor to mine and I wanted to acquire it, not just to, uh, you know, take their clients, but also to take down the competitor. Right. Um, and again, went through the process. I was gonna do the, uh, the whole, uh, the whole business acquisition. But one of the main things was through the financing is. Is there real estate? You know? Yes. That does that deal business own a real estate? Because if the business owns the building, it will will be much easier. Yeah. To get the loan. Exactly. You're buying the asset. Correct. That falls under a whole different category. Makes life very easy for like, you know, inter generat. So that's, that's what I will have to, uh, most likely work on. And um, I don't know if I will have to build my own, my own, uh, but like you said, you have to find the land first. Yeah. And my next one, I think I want to be in like a main location and it has to be like a big space. Cuz again, you always wanna Yeah. Um, have more space than you need for growth. Yeah. And we're, we, we were out of space again three years ago and we're just adding more people just to get these projects done. Which again, it's, it's working great because we're staying the same space, but at the same time it gets smaller. So, uh, the next one is gonna be hopefully on like a main. But if I can't find a land, if I can't build it myself, I'm definitely, yeah. I think you should get started, man. Because the process, it, it's gonna take two years. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Especially I'm in Michigan. Okay. It gets, there's snow there winter. Yeah, exactly. It slows down even, even more. So maybe that's something we need to discuss Yeah. Over dinner. Sure. In more detail. Absolutely. I'll be glad to walk you through that process. I love it. Yeah. Actually, I think we are, uh, we are, we're just wrapping up. Yeah. But we'll, we'll stay for photos and stuff. Okay. I don't want to cut guys this thing off and you'll hear this is the best pod. This the best episode yet, man. That. Thank you. That's how we do, man. Thank you. How many episodes you guys did? Two. One. So you are number three. How beautiful. Uh, number four is coming, uh, on the eighth and then, and then we have back to back episodes after that. Beautiful. Yeah. You're just contacting people, been able to like, arrange it. Yeah. All social media. Are they local alone? No, no, no. Everyone, most of our guests are flying in. Beautiful. Or well, driving in. Our first guest was in Dallas. Oh, sweet. Okay. Uh, a second guest. Uh, drove in. You flew in and then everybody after you flying in. Nice. Yeah. Very nice. Good? We're good? Yep. All right. So where were we? Growth. You're gonna focus on the business? Yeah, we were talking about real estate and how you need to start acquiring real estate right now. And, uh, and yeah, really in all honesty, look, the process takes time and like you said, in Michigan, cuz we have, we have projects that our members are doing in Michigan. and literally you have half the amount of time to like get these things erected and, and move forward with them. Now you have an added layer where you need to go through the SBA and get those processes started. So ideally what I would suggest is you probably need to start looking at land right now. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's, I was a, I was on LoopNet, um, yesterday actually looking for buildings, but I did not look at, uh, land. I think you now, now it just makes more sense if I just build it myself. Yeah, because you, you know, you'd get to customize it to what you want, number one. Yep. Parking the way you like it, access the way you like it and, you know, land is probably easier accessible than a, a finished flex space for you. You know, I would say there's more land than flex space. For your type of development. You're right. Depends on the area. Yeah. Depends on the area, of course. But your right. Yeah. Yeah. And it would be just an easier acquisition, even easier loan terms, you know? Cause uh, you can use the land as collateral and then just move forward with there. We'll have to talk about that. Yeah. We'll have to talk about it. Exactly. Well need some guidance. Yeah. Yes. I'm, we're definitely gonna give it to you, man. So once again, man, thank you for coming down. We really appreciate it. We had a, you know, we went, we went about an hour and a half. I have, I had no idea. Yeah, exactly. I didn't even watch the time. Exactly. And that's, and that's kind of, you know, uh, how these things are. Thank you for having me. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Uh, and it was really good having you and we're gonna continue this conversation af offline. And once again, Chad Yaser, uh, thank you very much for flying down and coming and visiting me and, uh, having this conversation. I appreciate it. Thank you, Hamza.