The Internet Is Lying About Buying a Business | TJ BROGAN | AO 59

Most people talking about buying a business are focused on deals, numbers, and financial engineering…

But what actually happens after the deal closes?

In this episode of the American Operator Podcast, JC sits down with TJ Brogan—an owner and operator behind multiple businesses including car washes, food concepts, and more—to talk about the part no one teaches:

What it really means to be an owner
Why ownership is more about people than spreadsheets
How to evaluate ANY business as a potential opportunity
Why you don’t need to “find your passion” to get started
The mindset shift from employee → operator

TJ breaks down a simple but powerful framework:

Start looking at everything through the lens of ownership.

From walking into a business and asking “How would I make this better?” to surrounding yourself with people who’ve already done it—this episode is a practical playbook for anyone thinking about taking the leap.

And maybe most importantly…

You’ll hear why ownership isn’t just about making money—
it’s about being part of something bigger:
a community of operators who show up, help each other, and keep America moving forward.

About American Operator

American Operator is dedicated to telling the stories of small business owners and operators—the people who are the backbone of this country.

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Tactical insights and behind-the-scenes stories from America’s operators:

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• Locally Owned and Operated: https://www.locallyownedandoperated.org/

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:14
Unknown
Being one of ten kids I learned to you know my mom would only make nine meals so one person didn't get to eat So

00:00:07:14 - 00:00:22:02
Unknown
All right team welcome back to the show yet Repeat Not only repeat I would say team One of the team favorites here TJ Brogan back on the show Brother Good to have you on man I feel like I should be on salary at this point Well is that what you're doing with it?

00:00:22:04 - 00:00:39:05
Unknown
That's right Well you know you cut me off That is like nothing is a contract yet Is this an offer letter? Yeah Like I said yeah We're going to get ready to sign this We'll talk numbers Let's see what you like there man Let me just say this For those of you all who've been you who haven't had any experience with TJ I'll say a couple things

00:00:39:05 - 00:01:04:01
Unknown
One tune in to one of our early on episodes If you go to the YouTube you'll see just like he's giving us just really great behind the scenes from Zs to Car Wash and a lot of great businesses He's started owned co owned operated all the things in between TJ just got a not only a unique and I think soulful way of running these businesses

00:01:04:02 - 00:01:25:10
Unknown
But what we were catching up before this is that he's also just has this wants to help anybody and everybody on this path because it's hard but it's worthy And he's just a good around all around good person man So man really appreciate you coming in and diving into more raw stuff But really just always appreciate you being somebody who's been a supporter of what we do

00:01:25:12 - 00:01:42:18
Unknown
Thanks Those are kind words Appreciate it Well man we shouldn't be here Yeah All right So here's where I want to kick off We always do like an owner question from the audience Yeah but I'm going to be a little bit selfish today I have one that's been burning me up man So I thought you'd have a good perspective on it

00:01:42:20 - 00:02:02:18
Unknown
I'll said a little context and then I ask you the question I've been more and more which we feel blessed man you know asking folks to come out and speak to their people or their group or I'll go attend some of these events And for a lot of folks you don't know you know five years ago maybe even seven it wasn't even popular

00:02:02:18 - 00:02:25:11
Unknown
And now it's very like small business Buying and owning and stuff has become quite the the I hate calling it a trend but it's like quite the wave right now And I go to these events and fortunately the the rhetoric is a lot around the deal process the financials the you know talking about the the ones and zeros of it which is important

00:02:25:11 - 00:02:50:10
Unknown
Like you need you need to understand that But I would say like over the course of a three day event like 92% of the event will be talking about deal terms and you know raising capital and money and all these things And you might get lucky if there's just a small segment in probably some huddle room nobody even knows about about like the real life what it means to be an owner in the day in and day out of it

00:02:50:10 - 00:03:04:01
Unknown
The thing that you're actually going to do for like decades you know you're going to spend to spend all this time talking about the first six months and then the rest of the time is almost ignored My question to you is

00:03:04:03 - 00:03:28:10
Unknown
What is the thing about owning a business now that you've done it many times and you continue to do it what is the thing that you feel like most folks completely missed the boat on from like an importance perspective on keeping that business successful? Yeah it's a good question

00:03:28:12 - 00:03:47:09
Unknown
My head goes a couple different places with this but there was there was a business that we helped in the beginning when I ran the car wash we I would go pick up their cars I was just doing anything I could to like bring an extra hundred bucks 200 bucks into the register every day

00:03:47:11 - 00:04:04:18
Unknown
And they were right down the road from us and they had company values but they had a huge flag with one of their company values that said like you can't teach give a damn And I always thought that was like interesting And so I asked the owner about it and he's like that's our number one thing that we think about when hiring somebody

00:04:04:20 - 00:04:30:01
Unknown
And then moving them up and inside the company is like that Give it them And I think one of the hard things about give a damn is when you're working for somebody else it's pretty tough to get that out of someone I think like you're really going to follow that core leader And if that core leader is showing that and living that I think you can kind of get that out of your employees

00:04:30:03 - 00:04:58:21
Unknown
But a lot of times when you're buying a business you don't really know that about yourself yet And it's like an especially for you guys who are partnering with someone you don't know if that person is going to be someone that exudes that trait And so I think you really really really got to find someone and you got to be the person that just really cares when you drive home after a long shift and you can't remember if you locked the front door or not are you the guy that's going to drive back through traffic to go

00:04:58:22 - 00:05:13:14
Unknown
Just double check and make sure that it's locked? Are you the guy that like when a customer comes in and clearly there's there's something wrong with their car? And they say you need to fix it Are you the person that says piss off? Go figure it out We I can show you the cameras We didn't do that here

00:05:13:14 - 00:05:30:01
Unknown
Or are you going to be the person that like walks them through with the camera shows them what happened? And really tries to solve the problem like not just say get out of here but also say hey my buddy down the street owns a body shop Let's get him on the phone He can come take a quick peek

00:05:30:06 - 00:05:48:23
Unknown
And that's a customer for life Now and you got to do that day in and day out It's like if you do that enough it's easier in the moment to just you know run that customer off But if you do that enough I mean you're slowly just going to build some momentum behind any type of business And so yeah I think that's one of like the biggest traits and things

00:05:48:23 - 00:05:57:07
Unknown
It's like there's guys that are way smarter than me I would say at least in my early years there weren't any guys that were going to hustle me

00:05:57:07 - 00:06:17:11
Unknown
Hey y'all Quick break Here at American Operator we believe that small business is the backbone of this country But more and more Main Street getting swallowed up by big corporations wall Street or some of them are just shutting down If you've ever thought about building something of your own or just being a part of saving the American dream head on over to American operatorcom

00:06:17:13 - 00:06:27:17
Unknown
It's your one stop shop for inspiration stories and you'll get to join this really great community of patriots that believe our country still worth fighting for All right Back to the show

00:06:27:17 - 00:06:37:00
Unknown
is that a learn thing to like you're you're I think that's really cool employees being able to see their leader and kind of be that soul every day makes a ton of sense

00:06:37:03 - 00:06:56:18
Unknown
I do think it's something folks miss but TJ himself where do you learn that from? I mean it probably goes back to something from the childhood I had an older brother that would always take me along in different business ventures or things that way he would want to do whether it be a caddy at 13 years old starting the lemonade stand at a young age

00:06:56:19 - 00:07:04:09
Unknown
Being one of ten kids I learned to you know my mom would only make nine meals so one person didn't get to eat So

00:07:04:09 - 00:07:23:01
Unknown
no that's not true She'd make ten delicious meals No but that's the best That's not true She made ten delicious meal Jose Guess who was eight? This guy Yeah I think it I think it's I think it's learned at a young age

00:07:23:03 - 00:07:43:23
Unknown
I think it can be developed in people And I think you can you can also learn it about yourself Pretty quickly is if when you work for a big company you can kind of fall into your niche inside the company But once there's no one else to ask the questions to and everything falls under your plate everything rolls up to you

00:07:44:01 - 00:08:12:06
Unknown
How are you going to respond? And I mean from hiring hundreds of different people having business partners working with a lot of different folks across different levels You can figure it out pretty quick from people Yeah It's the stuff that I find it fascinating I find it actually the most interesting thing about ownership but I don't find it to be something that is talked about a lot

00:08:12:08 - 00:08:36:00
Unknown
Why do you think that is man? Just I mean you've been in the space long enough now How long ownership for you? I mean you've done it for I think I bought the car wash in 2018 Yeah 2017 So I mean you going on the better part of a decade like being an owner and I mean for folks who don't know car wash Zs I mean it's if you don't know us if you don't know you don't know Zs you don't know Austin

00:08:36:02 - 00:08:51:23
Unknown
Killer ice cream place New Zealand style ice cream And then you got this new venture Can we talk about that real quick? Yeah sure Yeah Golf simulators I mean not only an entrepreneur but just somebody who's just got the

00:08:52:01 - 00:09:09:21
Unknown
The grit to want to go do the work And then what? A collection of other food businesses Right That you Yeah I have a family I wouldn't do restaurant businesses but now I have a that you're in ice cream and and food trucks Yeah Trying to grow those as well So it's been fun So I mean like you got enough exposure to all that stuff

00:09:09:21 - 00:09:27:02
Unknown
Why do you think it is in the last chunk of time let's say five years or so it's just become Why is that the focus? Why do you think that the the deal stuff and all the ones and zero seems to be what anybody only seems to talk about and the other stuff just doesn't make the headlines? Yeah

00:09:27:04 - 00:09:48:14
Unknown
I mean talking about talking about give a damn and talking about heart First off it's it's not really like you can't track that There's not a metric you can kind of put behind that Most people when they ask how's it going? You start talking about the finances pretty quickly because that's what we want to talk about it

00:09:48:15 - 00:10:03:19
Unknown
I mean you and I just you asked about the golf sim and I jump straight to the finances I mean know my own words And so I think it's just not that sexy to talk about the day in day out the hustle the grind how hard it is I mean I think in your inner circles that's things that you talk about

00:10:03:19 - 00:10:17:19
Unknown
But when you go to a convention those aren't those aren't the first conversations people want to have with you They want to talk about how they're no business is the sexiest thing and you should be a franchise and and run it

00:10:17:21 - 00:10:33:06
Unknown
Yes It's human Yeah yeah I think but then you come on in the podcast we're going to talk about what you can't say at the bar because you don't want anybody They do not make you well because if you really start talking about all the ins and outs of it people probably like their arm around You go like man you're right

00:10:33:06 - 00:10:55:04
Unknown
Yeah you need to talk to somebody You don't want to talk numbers I just need a shoulder to cry on brother It's just hard Yeah man it is hard I if it is so hard what would you tell folks who are who are maybe considering this path why it is that you continue to do it Yeah I mean I think in the easy there's no growth in life

00:10:55:06 - 00:11:16:21
Unknown
In the hard you you look back and you're like gosh that that molded and shaped me in so many great ways that I wasn't prepared for I think a lot of times to this might be a little bit of a turn off but I think if you know the work that it's going to take to make something happen especially running and owning a small business a lot of times you'd say no

00:11:16:23 - 00:11:33:19
Unknown
But when you look back on it you're like dude that shaped and grew me in so many different ways I'm a better husband I'm a better father I'm more in tune with so many different things with my kids That I'd say it's like the most beautiful thing I could have done career wise I mean I'm sure it's true for you being a military guy

00:11:33:19 - 00:11:51:22
Unknown
It's like if you knew what you were going to see and do being in the military I mean you're a little crazy Maybe you would have still signed up for it but I'm like I don't know if you would say yes to all that And being away from family But maybe it's just being a little naive is a beautiful thing that got you into it and then took you to a different place

00:11:52:03 - 00:12:14:15
Unknown
Yeah I think it's a I think it's wise which goes back to the thinking about it too much is kind of the guys who are fine like guys and gals do it Think enough about it but not maybe that's a good place to go Which is like when TJ is I don't know when you're doing it Maybe you're just driving around the tundra and you're just thinking about it or you're you know maybe at home winding down for the evening

00:12:14:17 - 00:12:34:08
Unknown
You seem to me to be the kind of guy who who thinks about Right who kind of can take in and process through your gut what's going on and what's not going on Yeah but you also don't seem to be so analytical that you don't do something I see you moving around town way more and doing stuff than like thinking about a thing

00:12:34:10 - 00:12:49:01
Unknown
I have conversations with guys and gals at like I mean I'll be on my fifth combat with them and they're still thinking about doing the thing you know or thinking about doing the thinking about to go do the thing Yeah And so how do you balance that like and maybe let folks into your world a little bit as an owner as a multi business owner

00:12:49:01 - 00:13:10:11
Unknown
Like what what what's that ritual look like And then how are you doing it How are you putting it into action Yeah I think there's there's a couple things I I run into those people a lot who are people that want to run a small business and maybe they share it because I have some experience under my belt

00:13:10:13 - 00:13:27:23
Unknown
But when I hear it for like the fourth time over a year of seeing them it's like okay either let's figure out a way for you to do this and I can help you or let's just start focusing on your tech sales job because this whole thing for you Yeah I'm like yeah how long are we going to talk about this?

00:13:28:01 - 00:13:49:06
Unknown
For me the first one was like having someone that's done it before in your corner is so valuable Which is why I think what y'all are doing is extremely valuable I probably wouldn't have jumped if I didn't have the mentor that believed in me and said that I could do it And so my first encouragement if you want to buy or run a small business is just get around people that have done it before

00:13:49:08 - 00:14:12:04
Unknown
I specifically asked this guy named Robert to like mentor me and help me get across the finish line of owning a business And he took some equity in the first business that I bought But just having a voice of reason in your corner because it's true You live in your head a ton And it's like you got the angel and the devil on the on two sides and you go back and forth

00:14:12:06 - 00:14:28:21
Unknown
And I think that's where it's for me You're right I don't live in the analytics for long I put everything down on a spreadsheet I have hundreds of business that I've built out models for but it's very back in the napkin type spreadsheet And then I just kind of float to the heart of the decisions

00:14:28:21 - 00:14:57:03
Unknown
So move from the head down to the heart and it's like what is saying yes to this look like time wise? Financially you know what is this going to mean? No Wise Like if I say yes to this is it what was what's the impact on my family? What's the impact on my friends? And then where I live the most it's just gut and it's like at the end of the day if the gut's telling me and it's already gone through the head and the heart is the gut like hey we can we can make this thing work let's send it

00:14:57:05 - 00:15:27:07
Unknown
Do you know what? Something that maybe just what's something you felt like? You made a really strong gut decision on But maybe other people were you know who are in the head still going down and still worked out Yeah You have something that comes to mind I mean the first one was was probably the most gutty where there was a lot of people around me that thought I was insane

00:15:27:09 - 00:16:03:09
Unknown
And I'd also say the first one's always the scariest to when you've never done it before And there's so much to learn So Yeah the first one for sure where the upside wasn't massive in running a small little car wash The employee base was horrendous to say the least I'm quitting my job where I could walk up and get have a barista make me a latte for free at any point and sit at my Apple computer with my AirPods and listen to my favorite tunes to then working with quasi homeless people dealing with customers who had been abusing the wash for a while and trying to change the culture both customer

00:16:03:09 - 00:16:23:01
Unknown
base and employee base And so I i mean there was a lot of things in my head and heart that were like no But ultimately my gut was like dude just jump Even if this one doesn't work out you'll figure it out on the next one And it was a low risk deal So that got let me into that first one for sure

00:16:23:03 - 00:16:47:22
Unknown
It probably transformed TJ too right? Like it probably made you to a version of yourself that I'm going to imagine you like even more than maybe where you came from But you probably didn't even know that it existed until you try that Yeah for sure I think I had worked kind of my whole life doing odds and ends jobs but never like I did when I first bought that car wash

00:16:47:22 - 00:17:11:22
Unknown
But I think back to the original question is like I had a mindset that there was nothing that was gonna allow this thing to fail Like I will make this thing go no matter what it takes And if that means cutting labor and I'm greeting customers helping wash cars helping finish cars bringing the customer up and sending them on their way like I was going to do it

00:17:12:00 - 00:17:37:19
Unknown
And so it was it was that gut in the beginning that like got me to sign the line to buy it But then it was like the grit that really kept alive and kept it going Yeah I mean it is hard to teach me and I don't expect you're talking about the mills or you got me thinking about like some we we used to have this saying in the service anytime you do like triads or even just things that are just kind of the next level the the the phrase you'll hear go around is we're not looking for the best guy

00:17:37:19 - 00:18:01:21
Unknown
We're looking for the right guy And it's which is a kind of a weird thing because you think about like everything is like how fast are you how strong are you how good you shoot All these things have like objective metrics But then there's still this like subjectivity that is wrapped around all of that because oftentimes at the finish line and on the final roster you'll go that guy when the fastest or like what happened there maybe it's like a complete package thing

00:18:01:21 - 00:18:21:04
Unknown
It's like you know but but I think more than anything else there are these moments that as I reflect back and now have buddies that kind of are in spots where they are doing the assessments and things It's interesting to get their feedback about how they measure character and that it isn't some kind of like thing that you just throw around in some philosophy class in college or high school or whatever

00:18:21:04 - 00:18:54:02
Unknown
It's like their whole thing is they're measuring a person's ability to almost like relentlessly pursue something and in a way creates it creates these things that didn't exist before Yeah You know these folks are like quite literally moving the world around them in order to then create value whatever that might be right away And and I've had an old boss of mine or commander used to say like anytime the boys he says any time because you know you've been like this master you know command center with all these radios and what's going on

00:18:54:04 - 00:19:10:11
Unknown
And I'll anytime something was going off he just would ask like what's the call sign of the officer or the commander or the guy on the ground who what's the call sign? And he goes as soon as they tell me the call sign was it would put a face in his head and he'd go they'd be all right just depending on who was because he's like they'll figure it out you know?

00:19:10:13 - 00:19:19:20
Unknown
We'll give them some time to go figure it out Go back to TJ here I'm curious like what is the

00:19:19:22 - 00:19:40:11
Unknown
The question in my mind is like as we're trying to find like more and more folks and think it's such a worthy path it's hard more and more folks to step into this role of ownership and run these great community staples in their town and in their things Should we be looking for the folks who just already have that right stuff or is or can we do a better job?

00:19:40:11 - 00:20:03:00
Unknown
You think creating the right stuff from getting them to kind of cultivate that does that make sense? Yeah I think I have a little I think an interesting take on this I think your gut instinct in this is how do we make it as once they're into the top line funnel how do we make it as frictionless as possible to get them into ownership?

00:20:03:02 - 00:20:31:15
Unknown
And I think most businesses operate this way where you want to eliminate friction so you can whatever speed up operations speed up onboarding you know you're trying to move faster I think I would intentionally find ways to add friction and then use that friction and see how these candidates respond And it's it's maybe I'm trying to think of an example

00:20:31:17 - 00:20:47:20
Unknown
Okay here's a here's a really simple example I saw someone say they wanted an apartment one time That was an employee They kind of just threw it out there and I was like okay how can I help you get an apartment? And they didn't really like say anything And I was like all right I'll just go figure this out for them

00:20:47:20 - 00:21:04:21
Unknown
And so then I went found a duplex bought the duplex realized I had a couple him and a couple of his buddies that wanted to or needed a place to say a quasi homeless employee I just went and figured it all out for them And then I put them in the in the duplex And it was a disaster because they didn't

00:21:04:21 - 00:21:28:19
Unknown
They said they wanted it but then they didn't really want it Like they didn't want to do the steps to go figure it out on their own Yeah And so it's like I want $1 million Am I going to go figure out how to make $1 million? And I think that could be true in your situation where you have a business you have someone says they want it but then how do you it throughout the process put some friction in there to see how badly they actually want it

00:21:28:21 - 00:21:42:21
Unknown
And so I try to I try to find ways to figure that out or if it's like hey we got to get out there to go see this business and we want you there And is are they going to be like dude I can go next week let me a flight or I'll book a flight on Monday

00:21:42:23 - 00:21:56:07
Unknown
Or are they people that are just going to be like okay yeah let me let me know how you want me to get out there It's like no you want the guy that's like dude if that's the next step let me get there I'll figure it out Yeah if you can come great If not I'm going to go do this on my own

00:21:56:12 - 00:22:17:16
Unknown
Yeah And that's like that can kind of breed in there You can start to understand Who am I working with? How bad do they want this thing? I think that'd be super helpful I think you hit it right on the head There's that There's stuff that you can't measure test until you put some put something up against somebody and then see what they do with it

00:22:17:16 - 00:22:31:01
Unknown
Right You know because my mentor he was like hey I told them I want to find a business I don't care what it is I just want to run it myself And it can't be expensive for them No money I don't want to take on a bunch of debt for my first deal And he was like I own this land at this car wash

00:22:31:03 - 00:22:50:13
Unknown
I think the guy might want to sell it And then my immediate response was like dude I'm just hanging out there every weekend And I would just go every Saturday Sunday and wash cars touch cars meet customers and it's like I'm not trying to sing my own praises here but you want to find people that just like want to dive straight in

00:22:50:13 - 00:23:08:23
Unknown
Like if they want an opportunity and an opportunity presented how do they attack it? That's right And they just Yeah Is their default go you know do they just have this ability to move towards it Yeah And without the only plan is I'll go figure out what the next thing to do once I get there Right Yeah No no I think there's a lot of wisdom in that

00:23:08:23 - 00:23:31:18
Unknown
And I think you're right I think the more friction we can put in front of it I'm also wondering it kind of answered my question I thought that I think a lot about which is our folks the old question like our leaders made are they born you know are owners made or are they born? I've always defaulted to they're maybe it's neither but it is like they are a product of the circumstances in which they put them in

00:23:31:18 - 00:23:52:01
Unknown
Right It's like the story they're building is based on like the things they elect to say yes to You know what they're going to go put themselves into But in a way that nature is there Like I don't know that I can teach somebody to do that have a gamut The other day he doing the same thing pretty similar to you grabbing a coffee and like asking about is this for me or not?

00:23:52:03 - 00:24:08:08
Unknown
And had a guy on the show today or our show a few weeks ago Nathan his his take is if you have to ask me that then don't do it Yeah yeah Because if you go should I be an owner? He's like they're not Yeah You know he goes and it just becomes like it is almost like a night of his stubbornness

00:24:08:08 - 00:24:23:19
Unknown
You just go like I have no choice Of course I'm going to try Yeah That's good I like that See where it goes Okay let's take two I want to shift gears just a little bit and talk about something that and probably a little more technical than even typically we get on the show which is about growing things

00:24:23:19 - 00:24:39:11
Unknown
You know So like let's take Z for example Yeah Z again if y'all haven't checked out Z's y'all incredible place Good spot not only for the family and stuff but just a really great hang And if you're in Austin Texas I can't think of something more like iconically Austin

00:24:39:13 - 00:24:56:17
Unknown
With Z though how did you know when to grow? How did you know to add that next location? How did you know that? You know we weren't just getting trigger happy and trying to just show a Roman Empire kind of claim to the city because you all seem to do it well Those places are always packed up I mean maybe behind the scenes you guys are barely making it

00:24:56:17 - 00:25:18:16
Unknown
I have no idea man But I'm assuming they're going well I'm just curious Like what has been the thought process in the rest of because so many guys and gals get in trouble immediately trying to open that second location then it just flops Yeah I think there's there's a couple things to think about So one with Zs I have a business partner I'm the minority owner my business partners the majority owner

00:25:18:17 - 00:25:37:12
Unknown
It's his first rodeo of a business and he's killing it He's doing awesome He's kind of running all the ops for it But when we first bought it we were kind of you know spitballing dreaming about what we could thought Zs could be and were like ten locations in five years was thrown out or it's like five locations in ten years was thrown out

00:25:37:12 - 00:25:54:16
Unknown
It's like okay we don't really know exactly where we want to go Maybe we can get it to 100 Maybe we can make one work We don't know But the first conversation that I had with them was like we have to make number one work If number one doesn't work there's we can't talk about two unless number one is working

00:25:54:18 - 00:26:21:08
Unknown
So start there Do everything you can to Systemize everything that you're doing make sure the right people are in the right place and then have that owner be able to step out of the day to day And if it still flows good enough I mean you can have a small drop off with the owner not there but if if it still runs and is profitable to a level that you want it to be then you can probably start thinking about number two at that point

00:26:21:10 - 00:26:52:03
Unknown
And so Mac did an awesome job I mean pretty quickly he made some monumental changes for the business that dramatically changed what the bottom line was and we were like probably 9 to 12 months and we're like okay we can start thinking about number two This is great And then we spent we probably walked 10 to 15 sites worked with a broker try to find you know the we wanted to make sure number two was great

00:26:52:03 - 00:27:08:15
Unknown
I think when you get 4 or 5 six you can start getting a little bit more risky But you want to make sure number two is great or else you just tank everything you build And so we finally found a second location that you know is probably I'd say 16 to 18 months after we started looking So we were picky

00:27:08:17 - 00:27:29:06
Unknown
And what about the location where it was important? Like it had to have vibe or the concentration of people? What was it? Yeah a little bit of both It I we talked about this when you came and visited but it's like that initial feeling when you walk up is really important to Mackinac And when you walk when you see the site walk on the site come in to get your ice cream

00:27:29:06 - 00:27:44:11
Unknown
Like we really wanted to be able to create a space that people want to be in We don't want just at least for these first couple We didn't want it to just be like end of a strip center that's really dull And boring and not in the neighborhood on a main road Like we like the neighborhood feel

00:27:44:11 - 00:28:05:14
Unknown
And so this one was in a strip center but it was a very neighborhood strip center We could build a huge deck outside It was cute quaint and we're like okay this is going to be we think this is going to be a great fit And so there was a lot of like running some of the head some of the heart behind it but then ultimately it's like it's gut

00:28:05:14 - 00:28:20:03
Unknown
And I think Mac and I work well because I'm always pushing like let's keep hammer in more locations And he's like a little bit more reserved This is his baby He doesn't want to see it you know overextend on the debt side of things and then get us into a bad spot So there's a good push pull there

00:28:20:05 - 00:28:45:22
Unknown
But we've been really happy with number two so I'm pumped that we did it It's I mean they're all grim What do you get now? Three Four? Yeah we got three Yeah Three And then we're starting to to look around for number 4 or 4 Yeah Is the dog bite y'all's dynamic a little more I think that's always interesting to see because you have kind of maybe two schools of thought single owner make all the calls there

00:28:45:23 - 00:29:08:02
Unknown
Yeah I know for you you're you probably are the definition of like a you know a team guy you know kind of leveraging the best of all the you know the some is greater you know together What is what is that dynamic like? And when would you suggest the people that go with a partner versus not Yeah

00:29:08:04 - 00:29:33:07
Unknown
Partners are great and partners are hard I think it's like it's a beautiful thing and it makes things harder It forces you to have to communicate It forces you have to run ideas by the other person A lot of times I can just like shoot from the hip and run with a gut too much And so slowing down having to have scheduled conversations having to be friends through it all I mean it it poses a lot of challenges

00:29:33:07 - 00:29:58:19
Unknown
I think when there are some skill sets that align as far as what one person's good at versus the other one I think that can be a beautiful thing I think also scale kind of matters if you're trying to start selling leather wallets and you think you're going to do a hundred thousand dollars a year in revenue and there's twenty thousand dollars in profit to be had like I wouldn't get a partner because then you're just making ten to feed yourself on ten

00:29:58:21 - 00:30:14:19
Unknown
Maybe for the side business That's fine So scale really does matter I think this one was great because I wasn't going to take a salary that could come in kind of run the operations for the first store take a salary to kind of keep him alive And hopefully there would be some profit sharing at the end of it as well

00:30:14:19 - 00:30:39:14
Unknown
And so this one's very much like his baby his thing And I'm just kind of here to assist and help grow And so we're not 5050 So it's you know a little bit different dynamic there as well But I think ultimately trust do do you trust the person? Does the idea sound and feel and do do you think it's going to work?

00:30:39:16 - 00:30:55:01
Unknown
And then ultimately is is it someone that you want to be around a lot? Yeah I think that's the big thing It's like you're going to spend a lot of way more time than you think with this person And you're going to be integrated in more ways than you realize And is this a person you want to do it with

00:30:55:03 - 00:30:58:16
Unknown
You shared with me one time

00:30:58:18 - 00:31:21:17
Unknown
You said you wouldn't You would never place the friendship over the partnership Or if you do the opposite you would never go like hey the business is more important than the friendship And in a way I when you said that I go I think that's the reason it works Yeah And I think but it's kind of a hard thing to do because I think especially in our society like you know the business capitalistic like thing that goes in there like it always feels like that's the great rule meter

00:31:21:17 - 00:31:40:15
Unknown
And someone very recently make an argument to me about like how by the letter of the law this was the right way to do the business And I thought to myself yeah man but good luck being able to like continue working together with that decision you know? Yeah That'll be tough I mean is that kind of you still keep that?

00:31:40:15 - 00:32:02:15
Unknown
I mean that's a policy you got to keep right? Yeah It's got to keep up and yeah for me it's so much easier sleeping at night and operating through life holding it loosely I think the bigger it gets and the more complex it gets I think it'd be easier to want to hold things a little bit tighter

00:32:02:17 - 00:32:21:10
Unknown
But I kind of come into these things with partners just being like if you're going to screw me you're going to screw me I'm going to be okay If if at the end of the day you want to force me out like send over something that you think is fair I'll hold it pretty loose And that's just the way I want to operate life

00:32:21:10 - 00:32:43:13
Unknown
I'd rather be trusting and occasionally get burned than distrust and always be worried about getting screwed And constantly just trying to peek behind the curtain for every little thing that's happening So I can't tell you the last time I've checked the credit card presents My business partner could be just loading that sucker with personal expenses taking like a private jet to different

00:32:43:13 - 00:33:05:07
Unknown
But he might be Janna right? He's a Texas Tech guy You might be in Lubbock again just hanging out and watching who are some of the artists up there man? Listen there's a good singers coming out That's cool I a is that like a did someone teach you that like to to hold it loosely like that and be okay and not be so like looking over your shoulder all the time?

00:33:05:07 - 00:33:25:13
Unknown
Or Where does that come from? Oh man that's a good question Is it a family vibe? Yeah I think it was kind of model to me My dad was that way He was quick to give and quit to forgive And if you ever burned them he he'd move on quick but he wouldn't I mean you can't rebuild trust quickly

00:33:25:13 - 00:33:40:02
Unknown
So it's if trust broken then Yeah there's consequences of that But also you know it doesn't mean you need to linger on that Oh My dad that taught me most of that Sounds like a good dad man Yeah I think that stuff is you can spend a lot of your life just being holding on to bitterness

00:33:40:08 - 00:34:07:01
Unknown
Yeah and then it prevents you from doing the other things that are just as great How for folks who again probably don't know TJ that well when you think about where where you're great at in the timing of a business too right Like I see that you have I mean you kind of got like the full spectrum you know of all the business you have or like different lives define one part like the early days or the later days being where your sweet spot is

00:34:07:01 - 00:34:27:10
Unknown
Yeah I think it's early days Early I love the early days Yeah Those are the fun ones It's Why is that? Getting a I think I can bring some like belief to an idea And so getting across the finish line is like super fun to me And then those early decisions that are being made little problems that are being solved

00:34:27:10 - 00:34:49:08
Unknown
I'm not great as I can take a business and see some of the bottlenecks and start to work through them But when you start like really trying to fine tune processes and operations I'm just not great at that I can see things but I don't want to spend my time you know working on the minutia of how do we save 30s when cleaning rims of a car?

00:34:49:08 - 00:35:10:15
Unknown
It's like I could I could think of some ideas but I don't want to go sit there and tick off every time he cleans the room and how long it took and see how like that's just not me But getting those like early stage problems solved getting it across the finish line trying to grow a customer base trying to create a vibe

00:35:10:17 - 00:35:28:12
Unknown
I think I'm really good at and after doing it a handful of times now you kind of get your Rolodex of like who's my marketing guy? Who's my bookkeeper who's my designer? You know there's a lot of those early decisions that I've done it enough that it's been you know my same go to people every single time who I've kind of got a small little team around me

00:35:28:12 - 00:35:48:22
Unknown
That's pretty helpful Yeah You kind of can put that playbook to use a little bit more and more and more Is there a time where you decide that you don't want to keep doing this? Not like be more specific Do you do you find that you want to keep doing this you know with new businesses over and over or will there be a time you feel like you have enough of a spread and you're just going to then kind of just mature those?

00:35:48:22 - 00:36:16:11
Unknown
As a as I said I think it's so yeah it's so fun for me What I'd like to at one point transition from the guy doing it to helping people do it more often And I've kind of done that a handful of times already But the most recent one like I'm the guy doing it And so this past year after kind of being the main guy running and operating the car washes I realized they weren't businesses that I could scale

00:36:16:13 - 00:36:37:19
Unknown
And my time would be better spent elsewhere And so I had a guy who had worked for me and I kind of promoted him to an owner and sold him half the business And so now he's operating that and that's like so fun for me to put people in positions of of power where they can grow and take control of what their career looks like

00:36:37:21 - 00:36:56:02
Unknown
And so this new one I just started the the golf simulator business I'm the guy on that one Maybe we try to grow that to 2 or 3 locations and then I find another operator to come in and kind of take the reins and take some ownership Because I think I'm again I like those one two three location businesses I'm not the best at

00:36:56:04 - 00:37:14:17
Unknown
Yeah I don't think I'm the best at operating the 50 location sits at a desk from far away I like to be on site Yeah Build it Get somebody in there groom them up and then why? Where did that idea from the for the golf sim business come from? They're kind of popular right now They're kind of popping off

00:37:14:19 - 00:37:35:14
Unknown
It's a it's a popular concept Being from Michigan they were they were popular 15 years ago Because you can't go play in the winter to go play in the winter time Exactly And so and they started migrating south I had the idea this past summer after selling the wash I looked at probably 10 or 12 different businesses and try to chase them down

00:37:35:14 - 00:37:59:20
Unknown
And Golf SIM was one of them Pet cremation was another Was it really what? Why did everything license granted the video I did the vet thing that made the cut You know part of the heart of like day to day I'm like I'm down to do pretty much anything picking up dead dogs daily in a van

00:37:59:20 - 00:38:28:09
Unknown
Just didn't fully scratch the itch and break your soul after a while Yeah I mean and I also thought for a variety of reasons it wasn't something that I could grow in scale Yeah But golf sims are popular and the model is kind of interesting where there's no employees all remote access that interests me And then I also have like I've been to a lot of Sims and I've never been like that inspired by like the look and feel

00:38:28:09 - 00:38:50:06
Unknown
And I thought we could just do it better Most places look like you and I got together Had 3 or 4 beers looked around The room is like we put some green on that wall and black on the walls and maybe we put some turf down and pick a warehouse We can make that happen and I really wanted to go like kind of like butler pitch and putt mixed with cocktail lounge

00:38:50:08 - 00:39:12:03
Unknown
And so it's like moody and cool colors and a lot of vintage look kind of cigar lounge Almost Yeah With some with some fun like retro vibes in there And I think I just could create a space that people wanted to be in more than other sims And so even though there's more popping up I'm pretty confident we can keep our sims full

00:39:12:05 - 00:39:30:11
Unknown
Yeah yeah the the the vibe of a place I think is something that often is not is not like factoring in the equation But it does matter Especially if you have options Yeah you have options as a customer Where do you want to go Right How's it make you feel? Well walk folks through Whether it's the SIM business or any business that you have

00:39:30:11 - 00:39:53:13
Unknown
Like if you were brand new aspiring owner Brogan you're sitting here you're exploring what to do And let's just have kind of one would just like give folks kind of a path on like how you would think about getting into something and what are the things you would do Yeah Right So I mean you pick the business you know even when you don't own right now what is your process for going through it?

00:39:53:13 - 00:40:12:15
Unknown
I think because what I what I enjoy talking to you about is and I would I don't want it to be missed with our listeners because I know you and like I can understand my brain takes this way too But I don't want to do is take for granted Like kind of the steps you go through in your brain to go explore commit study whatever those things are and then go do the thing

00:40:12:15 - 00:40:32:19
Unknown
Can you walk folks through an example of like how you went about it? Yeah So I think it starts with like every business that I go into I think about if I were to buy this what I would change and how to make it better And it's a great exercise to do anywhere you go I mean walk into McDonald's walk into a fancy restaurant walk in the H-e-b

00:40:32:19 - 00:40:55:07
Unknown
Like what would you do? How would you make it better? If it's something that you think you could do a lot better than what's being executed on but yet this place has a line or it seems busy or they seem profitable Okay There's a there's a ticker that this could be interesting And then I'll just use the golf sim because I just did it

00:40:55:08 - 00:41:20:01
Unknown
So then I kind of went back into my spreadsheets and just super basic simple What do I think revenues could be? How would they grow over the first 12 to 36 months? Started to try to make sense of the numbers and then tried to verify those numbers So the beautiful thing about franchises is one they want operators they want franchisees

00:41:20:03 - 00:41:39:10
Unknown
And so I just then had some calls with four franchise owners and they'll tell you everything about the business and all the numbers It's like it's like you driving around with the car wash You did the same day How much you all charge? Okay What do you charge? What do you do wash my car? It's times It's interesting how much free information's out there

00:41:39:10 - 00:42:02:18
Unknown
Yeah And so I did demos with four franchise companies and I started to pick and choose things that I liked about what one did and what I didn't like about what other ones did And so I do Okay That's more data I can use to incorporate into my business plan Then I started looking for locations and I'm like okay if we want to do this the way I want to do it the location needs to be right

00:42:02:18 - 00:42:21:22
Unknown
And so I probably walked 4 or 5 different locations Felt like I had a pretty good one and then started to figure out the finances If you've never raised money before I'd say figure out the finances before you start looking at locations Yeah And figured out the finances and then started to put the team to work designing it

00:42:21:22 - 00:42:41:23
Unknown
Logos talking to as many people in the space as I possibly could I saw my buddy's or my brother's buddy from high school worked at a simulator in Nebraska I was like yeah can I get on the phone with you for 30 minutes just ask you questions And just really try to use the network Anyone that knew anything about golf and simulators?

00:42:41:23 - 00:43:02:09
Unknown
I was asking them questions And I think you can just educate yourself so much for free before you jump in that you put yourself in a pretty good position to know this might have a chance at working or not When you do you hold it loosely Like is there some data that you would get into to allow you to break out with the idea and not feel too bad about it?

00:43:02:09 - 00:43:21:05
Unknown
Or do you find that you always kind of have to combat that like you're so in love with the idea that it's hard sometimes to not just find things to only support what you're doing? Yeah that's for sure True I think you can kind of get tunnel vision sometimes So having some people that you really trust in your corner is really helpful

00:43:21:07 - 00:43:37:21
Unknown
But ultimately like I just go back to the gut and it's like say no to something three times And then if you still think you should do it keep coming back to it Then it's like okay I probably should just at least for my own sanity take a shot at this thing Yeah What do you think that is what it is like

00:43:37:21 - 00:43:52:14
Unknown
I do like that three times And then if you're still in the brain Yeah Then you're like I got it Or still somewhere in your gut like you got to still do something about it What do you think that is? What do you think? The gut has a different way of making calculations I know I'm probably getting into like medical things now but I'm just curious

00:43:52:14 - 00:44:02:15
Unknown
Like just from your experience why is it a thing that you continue to trust? Yeah it's a good question

00:44:02:17 - 00:44:09:09
Unknown
I think I've made enough decisions in my life that

00:44:09:11 - 00:44:31:13
Unknown
That led me down paths that were not good for me And I think you're always kind of fine tuning your gut through life experiences But I kind of go back to the whole thing of if I'm going to be if I say no to this idea three times but I still keep coming back to it Basically you're just telling yourself hey don't do this thing

00:44:31:15 - 00:44:48:18
Unknown
But if you still really really really want to do it you probably should just take a chance and do it And so I I go back to that often and I think yeah Am I am I thinking about this as I go to bed at night my waking my waking up thinking about this as well And I'm like dude my guts tell me I got it

00:44:48:20 - 00:44:59:10
Unknown
I gotta go for this thing And even if it doesn't work out I've had a handful that didn't work out But it's like I turned my gut a little bit more there and hopefully I get it right on the next one Do you

00:44:59:12 - 00:45:26:21
Unknown
Have you ever been wrong with that? Oh yeah Tons Tons of time So what? Why why do you keep dressing it in? I think the I think Bezos said it There's like one way two doors and two way doors And one way meaning if you walk through that door there's no way to walk back into eight doors is like hey if we want to spend $100 million on this new tech and it doesn't work out it's fine

00:45:26:21 - 00:45:46:06
Unknown
We can walk right back through and go to the old tech And so I think I make a lot of two way doors decisions I'm a little risk averse where I don't make a lot of decisions that are one way doors where it's like catastrophic if it doesn't work out And so I've made enough I mean we try to do mobile car washing

00:45:46:06 - 00:46:04:19
Unknown
We try to do mobile pressure washing We try I mean I've tried a lot of things at Zs that like haven't worked out And so yeah you just keep you keep learning and try and and try to try to make as many those got decisions with two doors as you can So you can always you can always walk back

00:46:04:19 - 00:46:19:08
Unknown
I wouldn't say drain every last dollar that you have and load up a credit card and buy a business Because that could put you in a pretty bad spot But like you can take some risk and try to go buy something And if it doesn't work out you can always go back to your sales tech job if you want

00:46:19:10 - 00:46:37:02
Unknown
It's I think when I think when folks probably see you doing what you do they think he's just a complete reckless cowboy and he's just kind of doing what he do But the fact that yeah the fact you're like now man I do have I do have some adverse you know I'm adverse to certain things like I won't cross that line

00:46:37:03 - 00:46:52:19
Unknown
Yeah And I think that's part of what it is I mean it's probably folks who have who understand their boundaries and then play really hard between them And I think you see someone like you playing really hard between them and thinking oh that guy I mean and I think other people get inspired and then they get in trouble

00:46:52:19 - 00:47:07:08
Unknown
Yeah You know as opposed to going oh hold on a second I've spent some time really knowing what my negotiable and nine are Imagine I probably had to do would also sit around the dinner table and talking to your wife about like what's acceptable It's not true Yeah What did she say about all this? Like working through and then you start new next thing

00:47:07:08 - 00:47:23:20
Unknown
What's the conversation around that? Like at home? I think she thinks I'm a little crazy She know she does think I'm a little crazy for sure But she trusts me She knows that I mean dude I'm someone It's like if we were in a pinch I would go drive Uber if we needed to to make sure there's food on the table

00:47:23:20 - 00:47:40:04
Unknown
Like I'm not afraid to the do the any any job ever to make sure the family is provided for so if I'm taking a bunch of our savings and putting it into new business she trusts me enough that even if it doesn't work out I'll figure it out You know it'll be back I mean you'll be able to kind of replenish what you need

00:47:40:07 - 00:48:09:14
Unknown
Yeah Going? Yeah Keep it going Yeah I do think though one thing I've learned over the last I'd say two and a half years is just getting comfortable with my bank account looking smaller than it did before I think we always think about wanting to have this growth mindset of like continuing to stack and continuing to see larger of everything in all of our accounts

00:48:09:16 - 00:48:32:11
Unknown
And it's something that like when you buy a business a lot of times you put money into it you take less and you sit in this place where like oh dude I had $100 in my account Now I have $50 in my account and I used to make $75 a year and now I'm making $30 a year And it's like dude I I think that's one of the biggest reasons people don't jump

00:48:32:13 - 00:48:46:19
Unknown
And it's like you kind of got to make pennies for a little while before you can make quarters and you're used to making nickels and dimes And now it's like okay I got to drop down to pennies And when you're 25 or I'd say 30 40 years old and you got a family like that's scary I like I get it

00:48:46:19 - 00:49:13:13
Unknown
It's a it's an intense time to to to take on that type of risk But the rewards and the things that you learn along the way I think are just so beautiful Obviously there's freedom that comes with it as well If things go well hopefully there's larger bank accounts if things go well And I've anytime I've gotten money in the last couple of years which hasn't been anything substantial I just drain it all and buy another business or open another location

00:49:13:13 - 00:49:33:15
Unknown
So it's like oh that looks good Yeah Let's send it on another one Down it goes Yeah Lever up some debt And it's something that I lost sleep over and I was very anxious about for I mean a year or two And now I've just gotten comfortable with being like okay we're going to make it work Even if this thing goes low we'll be fine

00:49:33:17 - 00:49:55:20
Unknown
What is the thing about it that gives you peace on it now? Is it because you don't have to? Let me say it a different way When you think about that money coming down Yeah Is that going out because you're buying like a Lambo It's like it's going down because you're investing it in another thing that's theoretically going to produce more of those things that you had just go down

00:49:55:20 - 00:50:17:09
Unknown
Yeah You know cash what is that? What is that level of of comfort or peace you have with it now? Is it knowing that like because you've done it so many times before that you'll see it come back? It'll just be a little while What is that? Yeah I mean there's like this idea of just like delayed gratification and just learning to be comfortable with the delayed gratification even sometimes the delay is longer than you want it to be

00:50:17:11 - 00:50:39:02
Unknown
And so just I don't know if it's time that I've like sat in that for a while having my faith that like I believe God is going to take care of me and provide for me at all stages That plays a huge part in it for me And just surround yourself with people that you can share share that stuff with

00:50:39:03 - 00:50:52:23
Unknown
I think it's pretty tough if you're living in that by yourself But having some close friends that you can kick it around I mean I kicked it around with the other day I was talking about how I was like nervous about a few things and I had a buddy that was just like dude we're here with you in it

00:50:53:01 - 00:51:08:08
Unknown
Also if you need some money for a little bit I'm like yes 3% interest rate give me a good deal Yeah No But it's you know just having like people close to you dude Like you got to be able to share it and talk about it because it's a grind So don't do it alone You got to put good people in your corner

00:51:08:10 - 00:51:26:00
Unknown
Here's an interesting thought I want I'm I didn't think about it in this kind of way until you just said it because my wife is doing some similar to a friend of hers the other day and she was saying that my wife Kelsey likes helping people You can tell she's former military Yeah because she's like she likes making people feel better by going down the worst case path

00:51:26:00 - 00:51:39:20
Unknown
First she like let's just do this for a second Let's go Car crash on this whole thing is you like go all the way down I mean horrific laid down like a path And she goes it's panic gonna end up like that you know? But you know so if it's not gonna end up like that like you're going to be all right

00:51:39:20 - 00:51:52:15
Unknown
Yeah Because every step of the way what she's doing is she'll go like okay and then you lose your house You don't have any friends They're gonna put you up for a day or two or a year No I have some Okay And then your mom or dad just buy this big you know like Yeah and she'll do that

00:51:52:15 - 00:52:07:15
Unknown
She go oh okay So you lose your job or whatever the case may be you're not going to have money to pay for food but you go to like someone's house like every weekend right? To go eat and eat And so she'll do this thing where it's like really? Let's actually think about what it is Yeah But what you just said kind of combos with that

00:52:07:15 - 00:52:35:01
Unknown
And I wonder just kind of going down that rabbit hole for a second like when you think about the relate your relationship guy I know a man is why I like hanging out with you It's just like the people in your life and who and how you are with them are so important I don't know if you get other than maybe the service like you get that level of raw relationship and friendship with people then like being kind of on the limit

00:52:35:06 - 00:52:55:11
Unknown
You know I feel like if you worked a 9 to 5 somewhere like the amount of times your buddy needs to bail you out is probably pretty minimal Yeah You know whereas this is one of those things where like even on a day to day the the something happens at the office you got to run someone else's got to go pick up your kids you know because you're not going to just because you can't

00:52:55:11 - 00:53:21:10
Unknown
The business has got to stay alive Do you feel that the relationships you have because of your business are more rich? Oh absolutely Yeah Yeah because I think like relationships grow in the vulnerability Buying a business you get pretty dang vulnerable At least you can choose to mask up and not be vulnerable But it's like bringing people into the the the highs and the lows is a beautiful thing

00:53:21:10 - 00:53:40:15
Unknown
Also learning to not get too high and not get too low is another beautiful thing But having friends yeah Having friends in your corner that are down to ride with you it's a good sign when you go to open up a new business It's like I mean there's tier where the stuff for me when I open even the golfs in which is my most recent thing

00:53:40:17 - 00:53:58:02
Unknown
It's like I had multiple buddies sign up to be members who like aren't major golfers One of them still hasn't even come in We've been open for three weeks I'm like any sign up for the top one? I'm like dog you're paying 321 first off what do you support? What are you doing? No but like those things are like oh man that feel so beautiful and rich

00:53:58:04 - 00:54:24:00
Unknown
When you go to start a new business and people want to support you and want to be there for you I think oftentimes we are people who want to give and show love but we're terrible at receiving it Opening a business Put yourself in a vulnerable position to receive that And so yeah if you open a business people have the opportunity to support you

00:54:24:01 - 00:54:40:00
Unknown
You're putting yourself in a position where your friends can choose to support what you're doing or they can reject that and so having people when you are opening a business and having the people support it it's like oh my day want

00:54:40:02 - 00:55:01:06
Unknown
It just feels so good Yeah it's the big you get it like it's like oh man you have the option to spend your money a lot of different places and you're trying to support me So it's best feeling Yeah it's the best feeling in the world Legit tier tier tear jerking stuff You almost don't even Yeah You almost can't articulate that level of of like nutrient rich relationships until you kind of start stepping in it and doing it you know?

00:55:01:06 - 00:55:19:16
Unknown
Right Which I think that's what I'm saying is like it's so such a beautiful thing to start a business because you put yourself in a super vulnerable position and kind of forces that yeah it forces that where like you probably just you'll live in a cave or cloak for the rest of your life you know and it's yeah it's it's kind of multifaceted and it's like you got to be the right person to be an owner

00:55:19:18 - 00:55:36:10
Unknown
You know when I say right I'm not saying you're better than there's so much important work that other people have to do Right But if you got the stuff like you know consider it But then also the benefits of it are not just the wealth It sounds like probably the real wealth which is the relationships and the people that you come along with

00:55:36:12 - 00:55:53:17
Unknown
Yeah So it's true I mean even friends that are just like who don't even live in town that are wanting to buy hats feels amazing It's like oh they want to represent me and their their hometown feels great What else can we talk about? That's not what's on your mind

00:55:53:18 - 00:56:07:21
Unknown
I don't know I never give people this after because you're repeat you're you're you're fan favorite This is what I was like All right Well you can offer all that here I'm going to give you I'm going to be vulnerable I'm going to give you the wheel that gets you You can turn it into a tree if you want

00:56:07:23 - 00:56:23:20
Unknown
What do I want to talk about? Especially as you close out? I mean this this conversation I could go all day long asking you question Is there anything on your brain that you just It could be about anything man Oh I probably just want to say something encouraging about running an operating business Let me think what I want to say

00:56:24:06 - 00:56:32:05
Unknown
I think I just want to tell people that like it is possible and life is so short and so

00:56:32:06 - 00:56:49:09
Unknown
You can choose to bat the idea around for forever or surround yourself with people who've done it before and just go get after it What was it Ari? Goal That again was like you can be viciously mediocre you can wake up and get the F after it I'm like I'm not out here trying to be viciously mediocre

00:56:49:09 - 00:57:04:10
Unknown
I don't think anyone is Yeah so go get after it What is the first thing you would give them as a if they had that on their heart right now Like I mean I gotta get do something else Yeah Like this 9 to 5 is killing me Now there's some people out there like I've said before like they'll love a 9 to 5

00:57:04:10 - 00:57:29:17
Unknown
They do for the rest of their life We need you Yeah but for those that are feeling it what's the first thing you'd recommend them doing? If they just kind of have that pit in the stomach? Like I got to go do something else Just change the mindset about like how you operate your daily life as far as again think about everything as a potential opportunity i mean unless you're like a car guy and really want to go start a body shop like go down that rabbit hole but I think most people don't know what they want to do

00:57:29:17 - 00:57:47:08
Unknown
They just want to do something And so think about everything as an opportunity and then put people in the place surround yourself with people who can encourage you And maybe have done it before I think that's I think that's a beautiful thing that you can do to start getting down to getting down the tracks of owning and operating your own business

00:57:47:08 - 00:58:02:04
Unknown
Yeah there's a humility in that I know we said we're going to button it up but I do want to just go in there for a half more second because I think you're saying that like you don't I hope you're saying this and not correct The heck out of me if I'm wrong but you're kind of saying don't like you don't have to be overly passionate

00:58:02:06 - 00:58:18:08
Unknown
Like I got to go spend so much just like discerning my passion Yeah because for some of us the passion ends up being the like the building the team You could almost care less about the business Yeah not less about the business But you don't The idea doesn't have to be what it is that you're doing is Yeah I mean the guy like you get

00:58:18:11 - 00:58:35:09
Unknown
Do you do an ask him all the way to car washes and like it's all different I see you at least from afar man I think you're just like classic owner When I say far I'm just like for folks who don't know you Well if they saw you doing your moves around town that owner vibe is fun

00:58:35:10 - 00:58:52:22
Unknown
Driving around you pick up checking on things seeing how people are doing participating You know we have geology He's does the same thing It doesn't matter what you're running It's just like the ability that you're actually in the fabric of your business in your community and you're able to just be in it and not be like a like a bystander but actually a participant

00:58:52:22 - 00:59:08:20
Unknown
Yeah it's kind of a fun thing So are you kind of saying hey like maybe don't get so worried about your passion being there unless you are a car guy or something like that Yeah but just start making the moves towards an idea that could be an opportunity even if it isn't something you're like stoked about Yeah for sure

00:59:08:20 - 00:59:32:10
Unknown
And I do think I would assume most people listening and wanting to buy a business aren't the car guy that like you know they just want to work on cars all day But I think your passion is small business and you can do small business in so many different ways And so just put the hat like try to put the owner hat on everywhere you go

00:59:32:12 - 00:59:55:05
Unknown
And again put the people in your in in a place around you that you trust and that you can ask questions to and vet ideas and then send it go with the nurse and just go man that's the saddest sentence in there Yeah man Yeah exactly I mean you did the same thing here And like you're sending it with a sweet business trying to help operators grow and become owners of businesses

00:59:55:05 - 01:00:11:16
Unknown
I think that's incredible Now we appreciate it man It's a lot of good work and a lot of good people And if we can just even be is why talking to folks like you so good to see you end up giving just that one person just that little bit of All right finally go do it You know so many folks just on the fence

01:00:11:16 - 01:00:28:13
Unknown
Yeah sure The the part I hope folks take away from this show is that like there is so much there's actually so much in the world to be afraid of if you want it to be But this is one that there are so many good people I think it's just because the path is so hard and there's so many people who've done it that just want to help you

01:00:28:14 - 01:00:48:04
Unknown
Yeah you'd be surprised if you were to get in a bind if you just were If you're humble enough to just say I need some help there's always a ton of people are going to run to you because they just know how much how hard it is And they're like oh yeah let me help you out Yeah But it's interesting when you find that with all these owners I mean even some of the guys that you've had on I mean Patrick Torres won

01:00:48:04 - 01:01:04:07
Unknown
He open up a spot across the street from my car wash I saw him over there I went and talked to him and he just gave me five ten minutes of his time Ask me a bunch of questions about the car wash Carter Smith with the pinks He's the guy that's on here I texted him probably 4 or 5 months ago to meet up next week

01:01:04:07 - 01:01:18:23
Unknown
He met up with me answered a bunch of my questions I'm like operators want to help people? It's pretty It's a pretty special place once you're in it Yeah man some of the best people in the world man The owners they just have a they have a level of commitment I think in depth that I think is hard to explain

01:01:18:23 - 01:01:28:19
Unknown
And if you get to be kind of part of that community Yeah The like turn the richness on It's not easy But man life is like you get like the

01:01:28:21 - 01:01:46:06
Unknown
You get to live life in full HD Yeah yeah Like you get to see the real character of how things are So yeah man you're the best bro I appreciate you coming on man and spending some time with us And for those of you like tuning in really this kind of stuff is only possible when you kind of get to share it with others

01:01:46:06 - 01:01:57:12
Unknown
And I think guys like TJ jump in on the show just make it even more special because we get a continued and know we get a champion of each other here So thanks for coming in man Fun being here Thanks for having me

01:01:57:12 - 01:02:22:09
Unknown
for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you If you've enjoyed today's episode be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong Until next time keep building keep operating and keep America moving forward