Elevate Springfield featuring Kevin Johnson: Elevating Through the Power of Family Business, Customer Relationships, and Business Evolution through the Years

Summary

In this conversation, Robert Ferriell interviews Kevin Johnson from Johnson and Johnson Automotive Service, exploring the rich history of the family business, its evolution over nearly a century, and the challenges faced in the modern automotive industry. Kevin shares insights into his personal journey, the importance of customer relationships, and the impact of technology on automotive repair. He also offers advice for entrepreneurs and emphasizes the significance of community involvement.

Takeaways

• Kevin's family has been in the automotive business since 1932.
• He initially pursued woodworking before returning to the family business.
• Johnson and Johnson Automotive Service has evolved from a gas station to a full-service automotive repair shop.
• Route 66 has played a significant role in the business's history.
• The transition from full service to self-service was a major change in the industry.
• Kevin emphasizes the importance of repeat customers and building relationships.
• The automotive industry faces challenges with technology and a shortage of skilled technicians.
• Customer experience is enhanced by personal interactions and understanding their needs.
• Entrepreneurs must be actively involved in their businesses to succeed.
• Community involvement is crucial for local businesses.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we'll dive into strategies and stories that help you rise to your full potential. Each episode, we'll talk about how you can take intentional steps to elevate your life and your business while making a meaningful impact on those around you. Along the way, we're gonna bring in the change makers from our community that are already elevating. We'll bring the actionable strategies, you bring the discipline and follow through, and together, we can elevate Springfield. Alright, let's go, Springfield. Time to 10x your life, your business, all of it. Time to crush those goals, time to get after it. Let's go. You are listening to the Elevate Springfield podcast. Robert Farrell here, certified 10x coach, speaker, and mentor here to bring you actionable strategies. You bring the discipline and follow through, and together, we're gonna Elevate Springfield. We're coming to you again from beautiful downtown Springfield in the big dog construction studio. Hey, we've got so much going on in Springfield right now. Make sure you are participating. Get out there, network with folks, be a part of the community, support local businesses, support local nonprofits, and let's go, we can all grow together. So, hey, another great episode for you today. We're gonna get right to our guest after the break. Hey, Springfield, when it comes to reliable, high-quality roofing, you don't want to leave things to chance. That's why you should reach out to Acosta Angeli Roofing, your local roofing expert serving Springfield and surrounding communities, from quick dependable repairs to full replacement, from residential to commercial. They are your trusted pros. Call them today at 217-993-2748 or visit their website to book your free quote and inspection. Don't wait. A little leak now could lead to major damage later. Trust the local experts, protect your home, and get peace of mind with Acosta Angeli Roofing. And we are back. Joining me in the studio now is Kevin Johnson from Johnson Johnson Automotive Service here in Springfield. Kevin, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I'm doing very well. Very well, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, appreciate you coming down. Yeah. I know you guys have had a business in Springfield. The family's had a business in Springfield for a long time now.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah, it's uh grandfather started in the oil and gas business in 1932.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Wow. Wow. So six years away from a hundred years, man. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah. He uh grew up in southern Illinois and migrated up here to central Illinois back in the 30s. Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Well, we're gonna get into all that, but let's first learn a little bit about you. So let's talk a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Well, I've been uh pretty much in the automotive business most of my life, really. At a young age, dad had a repair shop on MacArthur, and it was funny, you know, days off, you know, we'd have you know, school days off. My mom, she had uh three boys and a girl at home, my my siblings, and she'd always say, You're going to work with dad today. At a young age, I would would hang out at the shop and just get in a lot of uh a lot of trouble.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Sure. So did that the that experience there kind of solidify, hey, I'm gonna I want to do the family business, or did you ever have an idea, no, this isn't what I want to do?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Well, I I did that for for many years. I did kind of branch out in the early mid-90s. I uprooted our whole family and moved to North Carolina. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I went to uh furniture school in uh Hickory, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

So to build like to build furniture?

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah, I worked for a a large uh furniture manufacturer, Century Furniture. And uh because I I was a woodworker prior to that. I had an uncle that kind of steered me that way, and it was a good hobby working with your hands and and doing that. But um yeah, I applied for a scholarship to the school, um, and everything kind of worked out. Um I got the scholarship, they paid for my schooling, and it just happened that we had a family friend that also lived near there that uh we we were able to connect with. Okay. So yeah, it was a great experience for all the kids. Um, at a young age, it was just us, uh you know, five of us and we had one friend. Right, sure, sure. But uh yeah, after a few years we had plenty of um, you know, friends and you know, acquaintances down there. But how long did you end up doing that before you came back from about six years? Yeah, yeah, six years, got out of that and then stayed kind of in the woodworking industry. Uh had a good friend, Noodle Products was a good friend of Pat was a good friend of mine, and uh ended up working them for them for a few years. And then also another good friend of mine, Dave Braylor. Oh, yeah. Dave Braylor had some lube centers in Springfield, so uh ended up going to work for him and managing seven lube centers and forty some employees, and uh so that was that was interesting. And then later on, my father was ill and and uh he had passed away, so I ended up coming back to the family business and running it. But uh didn't really miss a step, you know. Took a little while to get my feet back on the ground, but yeah, no brailler.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

We had Jared Brailler in, which I believe was his grandson. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, uh say he has Brailler concrete and paving. So we we we had him on the head on the pod a few months back. Oh cool stuff going on there. Oh, yeah. So did you have a favorite type of furniture that you like to like to make?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Well, I I did a lot of outdoor furniture at around deck chairs and such. While I was at the school, they all also offered an upholstery school.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

So at night, kind of my day would start at 6 a.m., drive an hour to work, punch in, work till around noon, go to school until about four o'clock, and then uh go back to work at the plant some nights. And then uh also on the nights they had class, I'd go into a uh upholstery class and uh receive my certificate for uh cutting and sewing and pattern making. Busy time for you. Oh, yeah, yeah. So, you know, I did a little bit of that, you know, but furniture of any kind I really enjoy. You still do that at all as a hobby, just at home type of stuff? Yeah, just a hobby. Not as much time-wise, don't have that much time to do it, but I still dabble in that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Right. Yeah. So growing up, like when you're in high school, being in, you know, with in this industry, were you the guy with the with the cool car in high school, like a classic car or anything?

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Well, not really. You know, it's kind of funny. We most of my cars that I had as a teenager were ham-me-downs, you know. So my brother, older brother would get a new car or newer car, I'd get his old one, you know. But yeah, no, I never really had uh any hot rides. I did eventually I did get a uh in senior in high school when I was going to Capillary Career Center. Oh, okay. I had this really nice red Z28 Camaro, 1978. Um paid for it myself. It was crazy looking back. I think I only paid like four thousand dollars for this car, but you know, it was my dream car, I guess you might say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

But uh you hang on to it, or is it one of those where you got rid of when you started having the kids and all that?

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah, yeah. The back seat of those things isn't very big. Yeah, that was the first thing that went once we uh got married and had children. Right. Wasn't easy to put a car seat in the back of that thing.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

No, it wouldn't, it wouldn't be in one of those. No, absolutely not. So so back in Springfield, you got back into the into the family business. Let's let's talk a little bit about Johnson and Johnson. Grandfather's been in the business for almost a hundred years now. So so let's let's take it all the way back to the to the 30s. What did we start at and then let's move up from there?

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, like I said, uh about 32, grandpa uh migrated up here to Elkhart, Illinois. And you know, we've got the hundred-year anniversary of Route 66 coming up, or it is this year, and there's gonna be a lot of activities. So, you know, Elkhart was on Route 66. So uh yeah, he worked for a couple guys up there. He actually roomed with some later in life, some friends of ours in the 30s. Shortly after that, he didn't stay up there very long, but he ended up operating a gas station, uh West Grand in Conklin.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

So West Grand was actually is now MacArthur Boulevard. It was real close to the Esquire Theater, okay. MacArthur and South Grand, kind of that area. And he ran that for less than a year and then he moved out to Peoria Road. Sure. Sure. Um 11th and Peoria Road, which again is on the Route 66, and I think he was there for almost 10 years at that location. 11th and Peoria Road. Yeah. So the main gate road, yeah. Yeah, the main gate road. Yep. The building's no longer there. Um, the foundation is. Oh, yeah. But yeah, we've I've did a little research and finding old pictures of it. And we had old pictures of his his uh filling station, and uh I had the big globes for the fuel, and outside he also had all these grease guns and in a rack, and he's those greasy overalls and everything. It's it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

It's very cool. You guys still have any uh the old, I guess you can call it memorabilia from those from those stations.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

No, I wish I did. You know, that stuff uh by the wayside, I guess you might say, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

If hindsight, yes, I wish I was like, Yeah, people really never think of it back then to save this thing because it might be worth something one day. Yeah, they didn't really do that.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

No, but um it was it's pretty cool to look at those pictures and kind of imagine you know that person's life in the 30s growing up in that, it was had to be difficult, you know, getting around and so what was next after the 11th and Peoria Road filling. Well, from there he moved his gas and oil because back then you didn't own the building, you only were the proprietor of that location. So you would take a small percentage from any of the sales, you know, gas and stuff like that. But from Peoria Road, he moved downtown, actually. Not far from here, actually. Seventh in Jefferson. Seventh, yeah, not too far at all then. Yeah. No, he's um well, it was where uh number one fire station was, uh and then now the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is on that corner. Okay. So he was right next to the police station and um pretty pretty cool, you know. He that is a cool spot, yeah. I think he was there for uh another ten or eleven years. But uh we do have some memorabilia from that era too. There was a a magazine that what gas and oil companies put out and featured certain dealers and things like that. We still have some of that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Okay. So what uh what was the brand that he had?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I think it was marathon, yeah. He was a marathon dealer. Uh it used to be on 11th Street, 11th and Puri, it was Linco, and I think eventually it kind of converted to Marathon. But yeah, he was a marathon dealer for forever, it seemed like. Linko, is it just like a regional brand like Lincoln Company or something? Yeah, Linco and then Marathon. I think they were out of Ohio and they ended up consolidating a bunch of those.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

So that is cool to see some of those old regional brands like that. Yeah. And I mean, eventually they were all consolidated into into the bigger ones, but it is cool to look back and see all those older regional ones.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yep. Yeah, there was a lot of a lot of stuff, you know, and it's we've got pictures of him at the cash register, checking customers out and handing change. And a lot of times the oil companies would do these promotional, bring a photographer in and do stuff like that, which is cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

So when he was downtown here, was it was it still only a filling station, or did you get into the mechanics first?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Mechanics too, yeah. He did a little bit of mechanics, um, but um and he had uh three or four employees. Um and at the time I was reading this article and it it states he had a brother, and uh he was in World War II, and he was waiting for him to come back, and ended up he had become a POW and uh and Tom Tom Johnson and uh I remember he was from Peoria area, and that's where him and his wife and raised their family, but uh every year they would make a pilgrimage down to see their family in southern Illinois, and they'd always stop at the shop and you know, say hi. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

So that so that downtown location, how long was that building there? Of course you say it's at the corner where the Lincoln Museum is now, but how long was it there before that?

SPEAKER_01 12:31

I don't know how long it was there. I'm not sure when the number one firehouse was built. So it had to be maybe well, he was there till fifty-two. It's around fifty-two. It was pretty uh ornate little building on that corner, and but yeah, I don't know how long it was there.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

I bet it was, yeah, no, that's cool. So, what was the next move after after the downtown location?

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Well, he stayed in the kind of this downtown area. He went to Spring and Edwards. Ah, okay. Across from the uh museum, the Illinois State Museum. Uh-huh. And uh my dad actually kind of stepping back a little bit, we've got pictures of him about two years old at the Peoria um Peoria Road and 11th Street, working on cars and you know, he's just a little tight. It's funny. But going to the Spring and Edwards, he was high school age, he was about 14 years old. And we've got some pictures in another one of those magazines that uh at the marathon dealers would or the marathon company would put out him changing attire at 14. Yeah, it's kind of cool that caption on it. It's like uh you know uh uh Johnson's uh son of fourteen is you know freeing up other adults to do other jobs and things like that. Yeah, which is kind of cool. So cool. How long they stay there. Well, they were there well, I I think, and I'm going back in the at that time around 57, 1957, he took on a a partner and uh it was Johnson Biggs Service Station.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Uh Ray Biggs was a was a good friend of his, and uh, I think Ray had some other gas stations here in Springfield as well. But uh but yeah, then um they were at that station until 1960 in Spring and Edwards. 52 to 1960. So he had you know about every 10 years, yeah, he decided to move home. Right, right. Was it did it uh did it grow at each move? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, from what I can see that you have a lot of uh clientele that you take care of and a lot of repeat customers. I don't think we have a whole lot that we see on our current location from that era, but over the years you always say, Well, my dad used to come here, or you know, it's pretty neat. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

So I mean for what you guys do, you talk about the repeat customers. I would find I would think that that's very valuable to a to a service station, to a mechanic shop, to all those, because like you said, you're getting word of mouth from people, or you're getting the same person that has come to you for the last five cars that they've had.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Right, yeah, and then and now we've got customers that are their kids uh growing up, right? They're bringing their cars in now, which is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah, that's awesome. So, what was the next move after that? We're going uh almost a hundred years here, so I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Well, 1960, um, my dad, 57, I believe, went into the Navy. He spent three years in there, so he came back in nineteen sixty and they would move to Outer Park and MacArthur. Okay. Again, part of Route 66 at one time. So he's been on Route 66 or MacArthur twice already. Right, right. Which is pretty cool. Definitely. But uh yeah, it's across from where High V's at now. Right there, okay. Country shopping center. Yeah. I think there's a Burger King that's there now or payday loan or something. Uh it was right there. Yeah. Okay. And um I think my grandpa and Ray Biggs, they kind of uh stopped their partnership at some point there, and then my dad came into the business once he got out of the Navy. And and that's where we really came up with the Johnson and Johnson.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Okay, I was gonna ask you, that's where that's where the other Johnson came. It was your dad. So your grandpa and your dad were the original Johnson and Johnson. Yeah. Okay. And then how how soon did they move to the Stevenson location where you are now?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Well, in 1960, when he moved to Outer Park MacArthur, he actually had a gas station or filling station that was really close to MacArthur. And Marathon was rebranding their their buildings and getting away from the porcelain or the white shiny stuff. So they had behind the other, the original one, they built this brand new building and they were still operating in front, and then within a matter of a few days, they had torn down the old one, repaved it, and they were already up and going in that newer building. Yeah. Okay. Cool. But yeah, that was I'm not sure what year that was. Um that they had done that. It maybe in the mid-sixties it happened. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

But that's just an amazing family history going through all that stuff. That's just awesome.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Well, you know, and then gas stations, I think they had uh what they call islands at the time. So you'd have two sets of pumps on each island. He had three at the outer park of MacArthur. And as a kid, I would that's the station that I kind of grew up in. I was born in 63, so you know, at 68 or so, I was going to work with dad, and he'd always tell me, he says, uh, I want you to go out there and fill those oil can racks up, you know, because they'd have them out there. And and those gas, what we call gas jockeys or pump attendants, there would be three or four guys at each pump. Right. You know, car pulls in, what do you want? Fill her up, you know. Can we check your oil, wash your windows, yeah, wash the window in, yeah. You know, we do all that. It's full service, man. That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

I mean, you watch the you watch the old movies and everything. There is such a nostalgic American feel when when you see that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Right, right. You don't have to go out and pump, you you know, the attendants pumping for you, you know, and they're washing the window.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Did you did that did uh all the guys have like uniforms that they wore out there that everybody dressed the same?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah, they all had white shirts on, too. Yeah, you know, pretty spotless, you know. But uh yeah, they all had to be uniform, and that's kind of what I followed the same trend, you know, having everybody uniform, and when you walk in, you know who works there and such. Back at the you know, back in that time, I do remember my dad telling me a story that grandfather grandpa had if you had any facial hair, you would not be considered uh an employment. So all the guys had these really long sideburns that were pretty, you know, pretty cool. But uh that's funny. Yeah, times have changed.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah. So when did the when did the full service aspect go away where you have those three, four guys at every every Yeah, well that's kind of what prompted my dad to consider moving and again Marathon at the time, they were converting all their gas stations to self-service and the sea stores, the convenience stores and such.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

So about that time, about 76, he was looking at another location, ended up buying uh where we're at now at present time, out on Stevenson Drive, across from Bonomatic.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

So prior to where everything's going convenience store, did you guys have at your filling station much of a quote unquote convenience store in there?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

It's funny you asked that, yeah, because the the new station when they built it was really uh you know state of the art, you know, we had vending machines and that's it. That was it, yeah. So but yeah, that's uh that didn't go over very well. But we had a nice lobby and vending machine. You can get that cup of coffee, just hit the button, put 25 cents in, cup comes down.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Yep, oh yeah, oh yeah, definitely. Okay, so the Stevenson location, did it start out with a filling station too? Or did it just go straight? Okay, it didn't.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah, we he purchased it. It was uh Sinoco, and uh we operated as a Sinoco station for just for a few years, but it it got so competitive with with uh self-servicing. We still had the full service there. We had a couple guys that would uh pump your gas for and so I love that. Yeah, that was kind of funny when when I turned 16 and had a car, um, dad had gotten rid of the gas. Right. And my brothers took full advantage of it. Oh, I bet they did. They're older than me. They've they've been driving for three or four years and they had always worked till the end of the day, you know. Oh, sure, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

That was all gone though, by the time you were 16. That was gone. Yeah. So that would have been what late, late 70s, early 80s when he decided no more gas, and we're just doing just doing mechanics, doing the automotive service from here on out. Yep. Okay. Those early years, did he focus on any specific type of car, or was he just a general mechanic over every anything?

SPEAKER_01 20:53

General. Yeah, he tried to stay up with the times, you know. At that time, it's uh automotive repair was really changing. Computers started coming into it, fuel injection, carburetors were going away. So it was kind of a learning curve at that time. It's like anything. You got to change with the times or or just get out. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

So present day over there on Stevenson, what do you guys focus on now? Tell us a little bit about what you guys do.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Actually, uh, we work on a lot of Jeeps. Yeah. You know, the acronym for Jeep is just empty every pocket, right? Right. But we do a lot of general servicing, you know, oil changes, tires, brakes, alignments, and that's kind of our niche, I guess you might say, alignments and suspension. So so the Jeeps, are you guys known?

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Are you are you guys known for kind of Jeep work?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, kinda. Yeah, kinda a little bit. We uh we've worked on sometimes dealerships have brought Jeeps to us to figure out why it's doing this or doing that, and you know. It's kind of cool. Yeah. They're kind of tired of working on them, but uh, you know, I just have to keep them motivated, you know.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Sure, sure, sure. So as the The technologies and such are changing in cars. How do you and how do you keep your team up to up to date on some of that new technology?

SPEAKER_01 22:09

It is very difficult. We've got a couple scan tools that we use, you know, little laptops or tablets. We've one that's you know ten thousand dollar piece of equipment, you know. I mean, you have to really make those investments to keep up with it. And it's it's tough. It's tough for the whole automotive industry, really, right now.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Shortage of techs, the technology's way above a 50-year-old or 60-year-old tech, you know, at this point. So, you know, we try to bring in younger kids or younger techs. There's just a huge shortage. You look at I don't know if you ever heard of Mike Rowe. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. He's got this initiative going for regenerating all the trades, you know, in it across the whole board. And there's you know, these guys in HVAC or plumbing. Well, that's a great industry to get into as a as a tech, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

No doubt about it. No, Mike Rowe, I was at a conference actually like a year ago today. Yeah, because I saw it come up on my Facebook yesterday and the day before. I was at a conference and he spoke, and he's just a phenomenal speaker, too. Um, he is just great. Yeah. He commanded an entire stadium in there.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

He was good. Yeah, he he's quite the speaker. Yeah. I actually tried I tried to reach out to him, and you know, uh chances of contacting Mike Rowe are like slim to none. Sure. He's got he's gotten so big. He's got people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Early on, uh, my business partner in our coaching business, he also does some work with the uh CEO program uh down in McCupin County. Okay. And uh they had him, the CEO program down there, had Mike Rowe come in and speak. It was it was a number of years ago now. I mean, he was still popular, but he he came as I mean it was it was amazing. Yeah, it was amazing nowadays. Yeah, he's so big that it's probably a little more difficult, but you get to be a little more expensive, yeah, a little more expensive nowadays. But hey, people want to make it happen, they could probably make it happen with a big enough check out. That's right. So no, it's great opportunity in the trades right now, and all of them. If students are out there or young people are out there looking and they don't know what they want to do and they like working with their hands, and they you know, it's great opportunities out there right now.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Oh, yeah, it sure is, you know, and that's and it cars aren't going away. There's just gonna be certain things that independent shops are gonna be able to do, you know, and it's gonna take some specialty services, you know, and these kids with the computer knowledge and that's all it's going to, you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Right. Yeah, because it's it's probably a different person now, maybe than it was 40 years ago, right? A different person that's interested in that trade because of the more electrical thing that has to be done and the computers and all that stuff that's embedded in there, instead of just being a maybe more of a a gearhead type of person where you're you know wanting to really dig into stuff. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Well, that that kind of goes with it the industry, you know. But yeah, these computers, you know, with all these can networks and you know, one car could have anywhere from ten to twenty-five or thirty different modules or computers, these all have to talk to each other, right? Absolutely. And if you get one little wire that's not working right, it's done.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

So being a locally owned, independent shop here, how do you feel like you elevate the client experience, people that come to you every day?

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Well, we try to give them a good experience. And I think the main thing with any time you have customers coming in and out of your business, you have to skip up to their level, really, and have a conversation. We have customers that come in that just spill the beans, you know. Well, how's your day going? Well, you really want to know? And yeah, we really do. We throw things off, you know, and just uh listen to their problems sometimes and lend an air to them, you know. But um and being personal, personable and having a to b have a conversation with them.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

You know, on their level.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Absolutely. And being having such longevity with a family business, almost a hundred years, what are some tips you could give for entrepreneurs out there for longevity in business?

SPEAKER_01 26:15

It's not easy, you know, for sure. Nothing's easy. I think the main thing is just, you know, for us, we have a little bit of inventory, stuff that the commodities that we use all the time, but watching what you're purchasing, watching your pricing all the time. Because today you could buy something for say a nickel, but this afternoon it's gonna be a dime. You really have to watch those increases very, very closely.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Yeah. Absolutely. So you mentioned the hundredth anniversary of the of Route 66 and everything. Are you are you involved with the you know, Mother Road Festival or anything that goes on with all of that?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Not really, no, not really. We have uh a guy that comes in that puts posters, we put posters on our windows all the time, and and his name's Coop, and he's him and his wife are in charge of the Mother Road here in you know in September. And he was in the other day kind of talking about it, and he's got some big RV group that's coming in. So he said he had to go out to the fairgrounds and reserve like 400 RV spots. Whoa, yeah, it's gonna be huge. That's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. And he's got people coming in uh shipping cars in from overseas. So when he first told me, you know, we've got this big RV group coming in, and in my head, I'm going, where are these people gonna camp? You know, he said, Well, I had to get all these spots at the Facebook. Yeah, wow. Well, they have a lot of horse shows that come in. Yeah, they have big big hookups for campers and things right there.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

So that's a lot though. That's a lot of campers, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

That is a lot. And then uh he also said some of the registration, they're already ahead of last year's at this time by a substantial amount. They only have so much room. So you know, I get some information here and there, but uh you know, they're doing they're gonna take the BOS center, they're gonna use that this year as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 28:03

I hadn't heard that part.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

So they're gonna bring cars in there and everything.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Well, they used to. I don't know if you ever remember the Valco Cruise for Charity. It was another cruise that they had, but they would actually cruise through the convention center out the other side. That's cool. So they're gonna do that this year, from what he said. All right. I hadn't heard that. That's fun. That's awesome. So uh and and with that being said, using the BOS Center, they're also gonna park some of these really high-end uh vehicles in that area. Right. Because you know, leaving your car outside on the city of Springfield, right? Yeah, yeah. That's you know, you never know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

You know, they do have security roaming, but uh sure. But yeah, if you've got one of those super high-end cars, it's not something you want to necessarily leave out on the road all night uh unattended, even if there is security going around.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

We actually have a guy in uh a good customer of ours that he's his car's in today. We're working on it, and uh he's gonna have six cars in the OS Center, yeah. Okay. So and he's feels really good about that because of the, you know, he doesn't want to hit, you know, all of his cars separated somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Right. But cool. So when it comes to working on cars like that, do you have a I don't know, a favorite type over the years? Man, I really loved working on this thing.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

No, not really. I like like all of them. You know, they're all cool, the nostalgia and you know, just teaching some of the younger guys, okay. Well, we nowadays you don't really have to grease any fittings, you know. Back then you could have 20 to 30 different grease fittings on a car, you know. So showing them where these are at, and uh yeah, it's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Doubt about it. I'm driving an older car right now. My uncle passed a few months back, and I got this car from him at the same time I was in a wreck, I was rear-ended, and it totaled my Volkswagen two-reg that I was in. So totaled that, but at the same time, I got this 1977 Dodge Aspen from my uncle. And it's got the slant six in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's in beautiful condition. Yeah, it only has 38,000 miles on it, and you know, he he rarely drove it, but it's it's just cool to see an old 70s sedan that was just a beater sedan at the time. Right. Kind of cool now. It is driving that driving that thing around. It's awesome, you know, and yeah, and it was one of those things where my great aunt bought it brand new in the 70s, and then my own he she gave it to my uncle. My uncle had it for however many years, and then when he passed, I got it. So, I mean, very little driving, just a true survivor, right? Everything's it, everything's original, all in good shape.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Yeah, and you know, those those older guys that had these cars, they took care of them immaculately. Any little thing, or it was garage kept or you know, got waxed twice a year. Right, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

No, it's just it's fun to drive around in that thing compared to you know the newer the newer cars, just everything's very, very basic in there. You can see everywhere. There's no there's no blind spots compared to a newer car with all the cross everything, you know. Feel like I'm in a bubble.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Right. I can see everything.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

You know, it is cool. Gigantic trunk, yeah. The whole thing. Golf clubs, you could put four fire sets in there. No, no worries. So yeah, it's been kind it's been kind of fun. I like I liked older cars, but I never thought I'd, you know, I don't know if I'll buy them, but that driving that thing around, it's like maybe I'll this might be something I could get into. I could start, I could maybe get even older cars and just have a little have a little fun with this. Yeah, it is fun. So it's neat. Well, we've talked a lot of business stuff. Let's let's jump over to the personal side. Anything you do personally to elevate your life?

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I try. We we go to church and um I use that as a um you know a good way to connect with with God and you know, and my family and my wife, and you know, you can always do more. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You can always do more. But um, yeah, I I was uh kind of recruited last year to to make some furniture for our church. Oh cool. Yeah, and it was it was neat. Yeah, it was uh our pastor wanted these stands and replicate what we already had, and you know, I came pretty close. But yeah, it was it's it's it's neat. What'd you what'd you make them out of? It's all oak. Okay. Yeah, red oak. I had to do it a little different way than what these original stands were made, it but it looks the same. You know, just have to think about things like that and how you're gonna use your brain. Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

That furniture building is is a lost art in a lot of ways. I mean, people just don't do that anymore as much. There it's so intricate, and you really have to have a a home skill set to be able to make nice furniture like that.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Yeah. I have a little shop. I everything is kind of pushed to the side so we can get the cars in, and I pull it all out.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

But it works for me. So when you were younger, you didn't have any hot rods, but as you got older, did you ever got get into any classic cars or anything yourself?

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Not really. I I've always thought about it. That's the thing with me is I work on them all the time, I'm around them all the time, and it's like, you know what? I'm gonna go do something that's completely different. Right, right, you know. Nothing to do with cars. Right, right. And then even in high school, the friends that we hung out, they had a dragster, and never really got into it. Never really did. You know, I know I know a lot of shop owners do, you know, because that's kind of their thing.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yeah, that and that's what I find. A lot of my talkers have they might have that on the side too.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

But no, I've got an old Jeep that that I tool around with, you know, in the summer. It's just a old beater, but it's fun.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

That works. That works. Well, Kevin, so much great stuff today. I like to close with these last couple of things. Yes. So let's give the audience a piece of advice, one on the personal side and one on the professional side to help them elevate their life or business.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Well, on the personal side, I think you really when you're in your job and you're running a business, you know, it's really hard to separate that business because you bring it home with you, you know. And and I try to leave the office at the office and try to focus on on family at home. Sometimes I have to answer a few phone calls, but but trying to separate that is is really the best thing to but on a professional level it with running a business, if you're running a business, you have to be in your business, okay? Watching what's going on every day, trying to make the workflow go through like it should. And that's that's probably the biggest thing I can tell anybody is just if you own a business, you got to be in the business.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

So your family's been in Springfield for a long time. Is there is there anything we can all do community-wide to help uh elevate Springfield and the surrounding communities?

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Well, I think uh I don't do a lot of volunteering here in Springfield, which I guess I really don't have a whole lot of time to do that. But I think getting involved in community projects for me at our church helping them is kind of the same thing, but you know, doing something outside, just helping each other, really.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Yeah, that's key. Everybody doing their part, doing their doing their thing, whether that's whatever your niche is, we can all help out in some way, whether it's building furniture for your church or helping out with the outlet or whatever, right? So very cool. Well, Kevin, if somebody wants to come visit you over on Stevenson or learn more about you guys, where do they go?

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Well, we're uh 1325 Stevenson Drive. We've been there since 1978. And uh, you know, give us a call, 529-9200, of course. Um, we do have a Facebook page. Um, we do some updating every once in a while, making some posts, but uh I have somebody else taking care of that. Sure, sure, sure. So we'll appreciate you spending some time with me today. It was fun. Yeah, it was fun. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Well, we're gonna let Kevin get back to Elevate in Springfield, but for the rest of y'all, we'll be right back. Looking for expert tree care with hometown integrity, look no further than Sangamon Tree Service. They're your trusted local pros, delivering quality workmanship, exceptional customer service, and fair, honest pricing. Every time. Whether it's trimming, removal, or storm cleanup, their team brings professionalism and care to every job, big or small. Call the name your neighbors trust, Sangman Tree Service, or visit them today at Sangmentree Service.com. Sangman Tree Service, rooted in quality, built on trust.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

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SPEAKER_02 36:43

Well, thank you for joining us today, everybody. Appreciate you making us a part of your day. Hey, don't forget while you're out on social, check ours out. You can check my personal one out at RobertFarrell at everywhere. Check out those Elevate Springfield pages, those big dog business coaching pages as well. Check us out over on YouTube. Give us a subscribe, give us a like or a follow on any of those channels. We would certainly appreciate it. So, hey, take what you learned today. You bring the discipline and follow through and together. That's right, y'all. We're gonna elevate Springfield. Be great. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent's here to help you protect what matters most: your family, your home, and your dreams. Whether it's auto, home, life, business, David and his team are proud to serve the Springfield community with trusted advice and reliable coverage. Local service, real relationships, peace of mind. Call today or stop by their office. They can build your dream protection plan together. Call 217 726 6343 836.