Elevate Springfield featuring Mylas Copeland: Elevating Through the Power of Enhancing the Client Experience and Caring for the Community

Summary

In this conversation, Robert Ferriell interviews Mylas Copeland to discuss the  the transition from radio to the automotive industry, and the importance of customer service. They explore how innovations in technology and customer experience are shaping the automotive landscape, as well as the significance of community involvement and leadership roles in local organizations. Mylas discusses his deep involvement in community initiatives, including business development through the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, and support for law enforcement and military families through his foundation. He shares insights on personal growth, community engagement, and enhancing the fan experience at University of Illinois sporting events. Mylas emphasizes the importance of taking time for oneself and caring for the community, advocating for action over talk to drive positive change.

Takeaways

• I got into the car business completely by accident.
• Customer service is about how you make guests feel.
• Creating a Disney type experience is essential.
• Customers are more informed than ever before.
• Community involvement is crucial for business success.
• The Peacekeepers foundation supports law enforcement and military families.
• Engaging with the community enhances personal fulfillment.
• Conflict in teams can lead to growth and truth.
• Caring for the community is essential for collective success.

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Transcript

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Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we will 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 going to 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 going to 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 Ruffing, your local roughing 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. Hey, familiar face. You've seen him around town a lot. Mr. Milas Copeland from Green Family Stores. Miles, how are we doing today, man? I'm fantastic. I'm great. Appreciate you coming down this morning. Thank you for the invitation. I I really appreciate the opportunity. Yeah, looking forward to hearing everything that you do, which is a lot, right? So on this beautiful Springfield morning. Sure. I'm I'm fortunate. You know, I've got a wonderful life. We've got a great career, fantastic family, and and I've just been blessed with some amazing opportunities. Love it. Well, Miles, we're going to talk about the business and all that. But first, let's just learn a little bit more about you, man. Tell me a little bit about your background. I'm originally from Decatur, your homestompic great. There we go. So I was born and reared in Decatur, Illinois, product of Eisenhower High School, Millican University. I worked in radio for a long time when I was uh when I was over in Decatur. I did play by play. I was the voice of a lot of sports over there, basketball and football. I would do the overnight show. Now that's when the days when everybody was in the studio late at night, my job was to make sure the commercials came on and the programming was set. Then I would join the morning show and do the morning show as part of the sports reporting on the AM and FM side. Then I'd go sell FM radio. That's that was my gig for a very long time. I I got into the car business completely by accident. I had been given an opportunity to join a local dealership group, and I was supposed to go in and was hired to do their marketing, write their commercials, work with their national agencies, and help do promotions. Things that I had been doing on a regular basis for that group when I was with the radio station. Sure. It's crazy, bro. The day I walk in, I'm excited, I turn, I look. The office that I'm supposed to occupy, someone's sitting there. No. You can't make this up, right? His head is down, he's asleep, the lights are off, and I thought, well, that's strange. Fast forward, the gentleman who hired me comes in a short time later and he looked at me and his eyes were as big as this screen. Milas. Steve. We forgot to call you. For what? To tell me that they had gone a different direction with a relative of the owner of the group. I said, I I left my job. He said, Not a problem. Come on. If you're ever going to be in the car business, I'm going to teach you the car business. And he walks me from there, turns me down the hallway, and that day I began my automotive career as a service advisor. Wow. Had no idea what it was. That was back in 1995. That's crazy, though. So that that was the jump start for me to get into the automotive industry. I started in fixed ops, had some success at a couple of dealerships in Decatur before getting to uh the call to come over to Springfield in 1997. Okay. Yeah. I'm a MacArthur guy. My wife's an Eisenhower. There we go. Yeah. She was a Panther. Love it. Yeah. So it's uh again, that that brought me to Springfield. My wife, Casey, MacArthur girl. It's okay. We won't hold that against you or her. We've been here again. I came in 95. She came just after she graduated from uh from eastern Illinois. We've got two wonderful children. Our son just graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in astrophysics, and he is headed to IU this fall to start his PhD program. And our daughter is a senior, will be a senior at the University of Louisville. She's a dual major sports administration communication, and she wants to go to law school. So yeah, we just we're very, very blessed. We really are. We're very blessed, tremendous family, lots of support in what I believe is still a great community. And we're doing a lot of great things in this community for this community. As the current board chair of the chamber, I want to see businesses thrive. I want to see our community thrive, and I want to see people do better. That's that's really my passion. My passion has always been to try to help. And I think that's what fuels me in a lot of different things that I do. And so when you say what do you learn about me, the catalyst would be, I enjoy helping others. And that's what leads me to do a lot of things that I do. Yeah. And he said astrophysicists. Yes. That's one of those that you when you hear that you don't hear it often, but when you hear it, it's like one of those, there's like, man, that's some smart stuff right there. He's a different bird. He he really is. I like to tell people he enjoys playing with lasers. That's kind of how he explains it to me. He dumbs it down for me. He really does. He said, because when he asked, when I asked him, okay, what's your PhD? And he said, just say AMO, Dad. People know what that is. And I said, Well, what is it, Asen? Well, it's atomic molecular optical physics. I'll stick with AMO. Right. Right. But he's uh he's doing his summer internship up at Argonne National Labs working on research, and that's his love. He enjoys working in the the world of space. He enjoys the opportunity to work with lasers and beams and isotopes and all the things that they do, which are way above my kick panel. So when he talks about it, I smile and listen. Right. It sounds really good. That's awesome. Does he want to stay on the research side? Is that really where he's wanting to do? Well, he doesn't know yet. Obviously, there's the opportunity to go into academia. He has really thought about working, whether going to a governmental agency, Department of Defense, NASA, in the private sector. I think he's still trying to figure that part out. This is a six-year program to come right out of your bachelor or your undergrad into the PhD program at IU. He'll work for in what we understand to be an incredible PI over there, who has just really, I think, started to dig into the research that ASAN is most interested in. He has had wonderful reviews. There are a lot of people in that field who speak very highly of him. And he told Ace that he said, I'm I'm going to take one. And I'd love for you to be that person. Come on. Between that one and a couple of others, one of which was Stony Brook up in Long Island. I it was a great opportunity for him, but I'm really glad he's going to be in Bloomington, Indiana. Oh, yeah. A lot closer. It's a lot closer, and we can we can get there sooner without as much expense. And but it would have been fun to spend some additional time in New York as well. Yeah, absolutely. So when you got started in the car business by accident, I guess, what were some of those early experiences that that framed your career moving forward? That I have no idea what I'm doing. That I that don't take things for granted. You know, I had to learn that people want to do business with you when they at least like you and trust you. And from a service perspective, that has continued on throughout my career. I had to learn that just because you're in the business and just because you're servicing vehicles doesn't mean that everyone understands what we're talking about. Now, again, we're going back to the mid-90s, and so things were a lot different then in terms of, I think, the availability of some of the information that we had to provide daily. But I had to, again, learn the business from the inside out. I started what I thought was going to be on the front of the house, and I went back to the back. And so when I had technicians telling me that a vehicle needed A, B, C, and D, the first thing I had to find out is what is A, B, what does it do, and see what are the ramifications if it's not done. Then I became a parent. It was just conveying that same message to our customers and trying to explain why they needed to do what was being recommended, the benefits of doing that. And then again, weigh that against the probabilities of what would happen if the service wasn't done. I started in a with a dealership that did not have good customer satisfaction ratings, but when I left, I'm proud to say that we had a 100% rating in three manufacturers' lines. And that's not because I did anything special, it's because I took the time to talk to people to really explain to them what I think needed to be said in a way in which it was pleasing and easy to understand. I try to still give that same message to my employees today. Don't take for granted that people, one, know, understand, or are receptive of what we're saying. Take the time to really make sure that we are providing a service. You know, you said you're taking a trip soon. Well, I had an opportunity to attend the Disney Institute for Higher Learning. And one of the things that they really, really instilled in us is it is all about how you make the guests feel. It's about how well you take care of them. There's so many little nuances that they do behind the scenes at Disney that make that experience special. And so what I've again tried to implement, especially now moving forward with the almost $13 million project, is we have to create a Disney type experience. Our guests have to come in and, you know, they may not always be happy. They may have sat in that line to get into Disney and they're a little irritated because it took so long to get in. They understand the price point's going to be probably more than they were wanting to spend. Welcome to Disney. Right. But one of the things they say when you walk in is have a magical day. All right. Well, I don't know that we can coin that phrase in the dealership, but we can at least say good morning and thank you. Yeah. And so those are again are just little things, and what I had to learn is that I had to learn to really can how to continue to give great service, how to service our guests. And that is a continued work in progress. We we are by no way the best in the business. We'd like to be, but as I have grown and as I have developed and learned over the last 30 years, that is the mainstay. That is the foundation that will either make you or break you, not just in this industry, but in life. Right. No, I love that Disney model, like we were talking. We go there all the time. It is, it's the way they make you feel. You'll be there all day. You'll spend a ton of money. You'll be hot and tired at the end. And happy. And happy as can be. And absolutely love it. In any other instance where you'd be somewhere where you spent a bunch of money and you're hot and tired, you're probably not that happy. But there, it's it's just like joy. For it's a good thing. You've never been so happy to spend so much money. Right, exactly. Yeah, it's a great concept. Yeah. No, and however, you can translate that into whatever business you have is just phenomenal. And some of the other things they do is just the immersion, you know. When you're in a land out there when you're in an area, it's just you're just completely immersed in the moment. That's right. And I just love that. And you can take those tips and ideas and translate them into any business. One of the things that I found very interesting, not to tell their secrets from Disney's, but that they have a group of people that they hire and they simply stand and watch people's reaction. They watch your facial expression, they watch your body language. They are looking for people who are confused or possibly upset. And they're strategically placed at the exits, a group of them, because most people, now you've had that really long day and you're walking out, where's my car? Right. And they are designed to engage, walk up and ask, how can I help you? Nine times out of ten, it's the same thing. Like people can't find their car. But their model, uh their vision is that they want the experience to end as well as it began. They want you to walk out knowing how helpful they were in helping you solve what was perceived to be probably a very, very minute issue, but was a very challenging one at that time. And so I now have employed people to be there at the exit, to bring the cars up. But if you see someone looking, go. We're trying to work on reading body language and looking at facial expressions and engaging sooner. Even though we're in a small dealership space, it's also a very pivotal point when people need to leave, they need to get out, they need to get going. We've got to take that to the next level. I'd love to take it to the next level. So I've got some young men working with me right now, and we're practicing it every single day with the hopes that we can model a little bit of that off of what I learned from being able to spend some time with them. That's awesome. And I would imagine not too many dealerships are doing that. Shouldn't have told that secret. How do you get to participate in that Disney Institute? How does that work? That was through Toyota. Toyota selected a group of dealers and they were putting on a leadership conference. And so I had the opportunity to go down to Florida and spend some time with their execs. And there were also some execs from the four seasons that talked about their onboarding process and why their hotels are rated the way they are and what they do. And we just went through a a week-long learning environment where it was some of the best minds that have some of the best processes in the industry of customer service. And we tried to figure out how we can adopt that and and change that to what we do in our field. There's so much to learn from those more luxury high-end, whether that's a product or a hospitality at a hotel or anything. They do so many things great. They do so many things well that even if you're not at their price point, you can implement some of those into whatever business you have. Absolutely you can. No doubt about it. So at Green, walk us through how that works for somebody coming in. Take us through the whole process there of that customer service journey. Well, right now, we are anxiously and eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get the certificates of occupancy so we can open the new store. But it will be a, I think, a very oh, how shall I say, welcoming space. When you walk in or drive into the dealership now, first of all, you're going to notice that there's going to be big screens that are there when you drive in. We have machines that we've put in that will read the tire tread depth. It'll check the alignment on space as you drive in. As you drive in. Just as you drive in, it'll be displayed on large screens so you can see in real time what your tires are looking like, what the alignment is like. You know up front, we are here to get things started. We have a video process where we are taking a picture of the car, we're looking for damages, we're looking for things that you may not have noticed. And then we'll save that, right, throughout your visit. You're going to see what we believe are nice things that have been said about us along the wall. We've taken some of the reviews that have been displayed on Google and we've put them up there just as touch points for people to see. The first thing you'll notice if you're newt or if you've come back to us is that it's a completely air-conditioned system now. Everything is climate controlled. Our advisors have all new space. We've got everything from cappuccino to flavored coffee to sparkling waters. I worked with Diane over at Wiley, and we just have a fantastic furniture layout. The amenities and the soft points came with uh with Kimstaff and her group. And so we wanted the guests to feel like if you have to stay, I want you to be as comfortable as possible. Yeah. I want you to feel like I can sit here all day long. We've I put in a workstation with privacy screens. So people do have to sit there and get some work done. You've got a mobile desk system that's there. Again, just little things and trying to take here and trying to think of all those little spots. I don't want customers to get lost. So I've implemented what we call a long-range system. It's a paging system, very similar to the ones that you see at the hospitals, but we've got external antennas now. So if you want to walk across the street to Papa Frank's or to IHOP or just wander around a lot, you'll never be away from us. You'll have a little page that we can let you know exactly when your car is done. Exactly. I I've worked with some of our local restaurants on the west side out there and even across the street at Galaxy Nails if people want to get some things done. And we've got some coupons we're going to be able to offer people. Our way of saying thank you for doing business with us, and you don't have to sit here. If you'd like to wander around, we'll get you a ride someplace. And still, again, just be able to have a nice touch point. Those are just things that I think that people will notice up front. You'll hopefully notice a much bigger crew being much more attentive to you and your needs when you're coming in. That's on the fixed operation side. The technicians, again, are all in a climate control system. $1.2 million to put basically in air and back there with makes it so that they don't work in adverse conditions. It's not 100 degrees back there with high humidity. They're going to love that. They do love it. It's actually too cold back there right now, so we've got to figure out how to crank it up a little bit. On the sell side, it's a big investment, and Toyota has been very, very good to us with what we get on the backside of it. I'll have over 1,000 plus Toyotas in addition to our normal allocation of inventory coming to us over the next three years. I've got trucks that were scattered once every two to three weeks that are now coming in daily, if not twice a day. We're going to have a plethora of inventory. So that's a really good problem for us. It's a very, very unique situation, especially because Toyota as a brand has still been, I think, somewhat challenged in our availability of inventory for dealers at the local level, right? You can see them online, but it sometimes takes us a while to get inventory in. We won't have that problem. Uh just over the weekend, I had four Grand Highlanders drop. They were additional inventory. They were all gone by Monday. I was talking to a gentleman yesterday and said, not a problem. I got three more on a truck. They're right behind him. Come on. We have not been able to say that for a long time. So what we're going to have to do is we we have to grow again. We have to learn to work in an environment that we were propelled into during COVID. And that's really understanding how to work in a digital space. But there are a lot of customers and a lot of customer opportunities here, a lot of opportunities for us to get acquisitions. But we're also going to make sure have to make sure that we are selling in a space that's not just local. Right. Again, we've got a lot of vehicles, and we want to continue to grow. This is not, this is not the end. This is the beginning of a very long race. And we want the trajectory to go this way. And that all takes place with what we're doing now, what we'll be doing over the next two to three years. So we just we want to grow. We have to grow. Right. I'm looking for great people who want a great opportunity and a great space with great product availability. And I think if we can make all those things match up, it's going to be fun. It that's and I know that sounds very, very like clichéish, but it's going to be such a fun run. And I'm I'm super excited. It's it's been it's been a long 16 months. Sure. Oh, I bet. I bet it has. It's well, 15. It's been a long 15 months. But we're almost there. We're I I tell people now that people ask, is your building done? It's almost a laughing joke. Are you done yet? I said, well, I'm on a 20 going in. I'm on a 20-yard line. I can I can see the goal line and I am going in. And and I I at least want to pause and say a special thanks to the men and women of organized labor in this community, uh, the Central Illinois Builders and Trades. They've been great. It's a blended project. And that's not to take anything away from the non-trades that have helped us on this project because they have been fantastic as well. But in order to get this done from the onset, the trades sat down with me. They worked with me, they knew how important it was for me to be able to say I have local men and women from our community working on this, and they've been fantastic. They've just been great. And I always, anytime I'm talking about this project, want to say thank you to them. I want to say thank you for their involvement, for for all the trade leaders sitting with me, figuring out how to get it done and sending me men and women who just worked through it. Right. And we're almost there. Love it. We're almost there. Yeah. I love the new technology stuff. So you said earlier that when they drive in, they'll get they'll read the tread depth of their tires and also get the alignment. Do people know they're on a machine at that time, or do they just roll in and all of a sudden it pops up on the TV and they're like, what in the Just pops up. So it's part of this. I I've become a pretty good contractor, right? But part of what we had to do is is we dig out the front and we put these machines into the ground. And you'll never know it. You're just you just know you're driving in. Yeah. Really high speed, quick doors. You'll see these doors are super fast. You pull up, they fire up, but that's in an attempt to keep some of the air that we're pumping in inside. But as you roll over, there are these machines that sit alongside the entrances of the drive spots, and you'll see those. And you don't really pay too much attention to them, but they're scanning, reading, and working down underneath. Then they'll send that information up to the screens as you come in, and you'll be able to see again in real time just what the cars look like. That's just part of it. Everything has gone tech you know with technology. The technicians now are using iPads, some of them reluctantly, but we are trying to. Communicate with customers the way they want to be communicated with. We want to be respectful of their time. They can't always pick up the phone. But I can send you a text that has all the information, that has the video of what the technician found, that has them explaining what we're looking at and recommendations either for today or down the road so that you can make an intelligent decision moving forward. All that is new technology, but all of it is to enhance the customer experience. They get a copy, we've got a copy. You can always go back and look to say, well, what did they tell me the last time I was here? And we can go back and say, what did we say the last time that the car was here? I I think that's a big improvement. Yeah. Brand new car wash, state-of-the-art car wash, it's that's probably been one of the biggest disappointments for guests since March of last year. We haven't been able to wash their car. Oh, yeah. And you kind of take it for granted that you know the dealership's going to wash my car. We try to, but this was the worst time not to be able to wash a car. When you're in a full construction site, this was three projects in one. We tore down a building, we remodeled a building, and we built a new building all at the same time. So this was a Herculean effort from not only my employee standpoint, the worker standpoint, but my customers' perspective as well, because they they endured a lot of it with us and it has been challenging. It has been a great learning curve. I don't know that I'd want to do this again, not anytime soon. But if so, then we know what to do and how to do it a little better. Right. So you were talking earlier in the nineties about all the information you'd give people when they come in and everything. With all industries, information is so readily available now. It's how has that changed either the sales process or the business? Because people are coming in a lot more probably educated on everything. Well, it's it's night and day. When when I was first getting into the sales side back in 1997, I remember going to a class in St. Louis. It's when the Camry Solara had just been released. And they told us then that a few years from now, and this is back in 1997, that a few years from now, we anticipate at least 95% of all shoppers will touch the internet for some sort of information before making a purchase. Those of us in the room thought, nah. Right. Really? Now that's come full circle. I would say 99.99% of all customers at least touch the internet for some sort of information. And again, as I said, when we had COVID, we had to learn to propel ourselves forward. Now consumers not only will touch the internet, but they can complete the entire buying process through the internet, inclusive sometimes of just an at-home delivery. So that's changed. Customers now, for the most part, know what they want. They have done a lot of research before they come into us. Has that changed what we do? A little bit. Not really. We still have to be knowledgeable about our product. We still have to be knowledgeable about different options from different manufacturers. And we really still have to be understanding and receptive to what the consumer is telling us and try to figure out the best vehicle that meets their needs. Now, again, customers know they've spent time scrolling at home on their phones, going to some different sites while they're at work. They just have to decide who they're going to do business with. We'd love for them to choose us, but we have to give them the reasons. One of the reasons is that we're responsive to their requests. We have product availability, and we can provide it at a price point that's pleasing to both sides. Absolutely. Well, Miles, let's get into a little bit more of your work in the community. You're highly involved. I know you you mentioned a moment ago your work with the chamber, but what are some of the associations, organizations, nonprofits, any of those that you're involved with right now? I get to do a lot of things. Yeah, I was gonna say all of them. I get to do a lot of really fun things. I I am fortunate enough and very blessed right now to be the board chair of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. We want to continue to push for the benefit of all businesses in our community. My goal has been as the board chair to really try to figure out how we can expand that reach and that knowledge to businesses across all sectors, regardless of what side of town, what ward you're in. I want all businesses to thrive and to grow. And if we're being honest, it's been a little challenging. We've we've seen some businesses close, we've seen some people that have been with us a long time have to say it's just not for us anymore. And that's tough. You really hate to see that. There are people coming in, there are new businesses coming in, but you really hate to see some have to make the decision that it's time to go a different direction because it's no longer sustainable for whatever reason. But that's one role. I I sit on the board of the United Way. I'm able to see in real time some of the great work that the United Way is doing for other agencies in our community. My wife is a development officer for SIU School of Medicine specifically with the Alzheimer's Association. And uh I sit on her board as well. I lost my father back in 1994 to Alzheimer's, so that one is very close to my heart. They are doing some amazing research in this community. And I think Springfield, if there's one thing that you should know if you don't know, and that is all of the work that SIU researchers are doing that are benefiting not just Springfield, but everything in south of I-80, all the way down to southern Illinois. Just earlier this week, they had the SIU on par for pediatrics golf event. And Dr. Doug Carlson, who's the chair of the pediatrics group, was explaining all of the things that they do. It's things we don't think of, right? It's things that not every child is sick enough to have to go to the Ronald McDonald house. Sometimes they just need help with mules because they have to travel back and forth. Sometimes the parents need a little gas, sometimes they need a hotel, sometimes they need infusion machines. It's all the things, again, that you just don't think of that SIU is the cornerstone of helping to provide that. So again, I can you will hear me say fortunate because it's an opportunity, but Dr. Aaron and Dr. Kevin Haskop, who are the leading researchers with the Smiths Alzheimer Center, are amazing. They just are just doing great work, and that takes nothing away. In fact, it just continues to highlight what's being done at the Simmons Cancer Institute as well. So And that's what I love about this show in general is being able to highlight stuff like that because there's so much going on in Springfield that people just don't know. The the reach of some of the folks and some of what's done here that that reaches across the state, of course, across the country and across the world. There's just so many great people doing so many great things right here in our town. Right here, right here in our community. The Sangman Growth Alliance, I serve with the with the Growth Alliance. Once more, it's an opportunity to have a sight from inside. The SSGA is working so, so incredibly hard to try to attract business to come to our community. And sometimes I think they get a bad rap. People don't always understand or appreciate the level of work that they are doing. It's constant. It is constant, constant work. And they have been responsible for bringing not just the data center, but other businesses to our community. And they are trying desperately to help place those businesses in all parts of our community that will benefit all of our community. And again, I'm honored to have a seat on the inside and be able to see that up close and personal. Yeah, Ryan's great. Ryan and his team there are great. Done a lot of things with Ryan and Amber, Craig, she's on the board with me at local first Springfield, everything. So they just do great work. They're fantastic people. Uh the last two, I think, is uh I would start with the I'm on the executive team of the Illinois Auto Dealers Association. Our model is very simple. We are advocating for franchise dealers in the state of Illinois. It is a process that is every single day. Joe McMahon and the team over at the IADA, it's nonstop. And you know, I just watched them come through a recent lobbying session where they were trying to get some things passed for the benefit of dealers. Again, it's those things that go unnoticed, it's things that happen behind the scene. But our job as an association, what they do at IADA is to make sure that, hey, that $13 million that we're putting up in a community with local community people, that doesn't get eroded by people making policies that don't support what happens at the local level. We've got a lot of dealerships operating in this state, and a lot of us all do the same thing. We support the men and women and families in our community. Whether we're doing a little league sponsorship or a major event, when we put our name to it, it's never free. That money comes right out of our bottom line. When people at the Capitol don't understand that and don't appreciate that and allow policies to come through that adversely affect that, it's a big deal. Yeah. So that one, again, I take it very seriously. I appreciate the opportunity to sit there and to help advocate for dealers and franchises in our state. And last but not least is my own foundation that I started in 2004, which is the Peacekeepers. And that's an organization that was created to support the men and women of law enforcement in the Illinois military. It's a motorcycle ride and now a motorcycle Jeep event. This year's our 23rd annual event. Nice. It's the largest motorcycle and jeep ride rally in the area. And half the money that we bring in goes right back to the Illinois Military Family Relief Fund, which was a fund that was established as a result of the September 11th terrorist attack. Any servicemen or women that's called to active duty can apply for hardship grants. And the IMFRF is the fund where that grant is originated. So we give to that fund every single year. And then the second half, we provide scholarships to dependents of anyone who is a military or law enforcement family. So we, again, in real time get to see the benefit of what we do. And we it's a third Sunday in July, and we'd go out and we have some fun, but we're really, really raising money for great causes and great people. And over the last eight to ten years, we've tried to have an even bigger impact by picking something or someone in our area that has had a real adverse action happen, whether it was through loss of life or something else, and we give directly to them as well. So that's that's a lot. It seems like a lot. It is a lot. You know, you you you juggle the time, you you try to keep the balls in the air and make sure the plates aren't falling. What's the route for the ride? This year we'll we start at the 183rd. So we'll we'll begin again at the 183rd. Colonel Straley has been just as great out there for us. They're awesome out there. They're fantastic. So we'll leave the 183rd, and with the help of all of our law enforcement partners, we'll head to Palmyra. We'll go to the old number seven. It's funny we tell people that when we're coming, we've got a ride, and everyone's, oh, it's great, yeah, we can handle it. I said, Well, hold on. We're a little bigger. We're okay. How many are you expecting? Anywhere from eight to twelve hundred. All right. But maybe we should plan a little bit. We'll head to Palmyra this year. Uh we'll leave the old number seven, and we're gonna we're going further south than we have in a very long time. We're going all the way to Grafton. We'll go down to the loading dock. Uh-huh. They're creating a space for us. They'll pull all the motorcycles inside. It'll be a covered catered lunch for us down there and just a beautiful scenery. If you've been to the loading dock, you know down in Grafton, it's just an amazing area and a fantastic venue. From there, we'll leave. We'll head back up north. We'll go to the city of Carlinville. We'll take over the Carlinville Square once again. And then we'll kind of navigate our way back up along the western side of the county and we'll finish the Casey's Pub where Linda and her team have a band in place and we'll open up. No, they're normally closed on Sundays, but they're going to open up and welcome us, and that will be our route this year. Come on. Very cool. So, where do people go to get signed up for that? They can do it on Facebook. Uh, you can just follow us on Facebook, Feacekeepers Inc. My daughter was so very pleasant when she said, Your website sucks. I said, Thank you. Right. Darby, I appreciate it. I just, I haven't had a lot of time. Yeah, I can tell. So she has really taken over our Facebook, and and so you'll be able to do online registrations there. Okay. We'll have shirts and some things out there. We've got a very special shirt that we're doing this year. The back of our, well, our shield is very unique in that it has an eagle and it's it's it's very intricate, but it's a very unique design. We lost one of our board members, one of my oldest board members, uh, just a few weeks ago to uh renal cancer. He lost his seven-year battle. And so my daughter designed this year's t-shirt to have the renal ribbon incorporated in it. So that will be our souvenir shirt. So people will be able to purchase those in a very short period of time. We want to have everything out and open. Again, we ride July 19th, so you can find us on Facebook. You'll be able to find everything on the website as well because my daughter is pushing every single day to make sure that that is correct. And then, of course, you can always come out to the 183rd that Sunday morning and just register on spot. There you go. You've also got another cool thing going on with U of I. I've seen you around on that a little bit. What's that all about? Yeah. That was accidental. Yeah. Now that one night, I talk about things being accidental. That one was really kind of accidental. My wife and I, uh, Casey and I were in Louisville. We were visiting Derby, and I get a text, and it was from a neighbor, Cliff McCurdy, who lives across the street, sent me a text, and it was a screenshot of a post that Fighting a Line Eye Men's Basketball had put up and said, Hey, do you have what it takes? We're looking for. And it listed the criteria that they were looking for. An in-venue host, a hype man, blah, blah, blah. He said, I thought of you. And I looked at it and thought, Well, that's kind of cool. That that would be fun. And so in my mind, I thought, well, I'll see. I didn't have time to look at the application at that point. We were again visiting her. We came home. I had to be in Chicago for uh a meeting with Toyota that following Monday or Tuesday, but I knew I was leaving. So, well, I better get this done because I may have run out of time. It was it was due by Friday. It was a long application. They wanted video, they wanted film work. And I said, It's been a really long time since I can provide film and that sort of stuff. I mean, I've done a lot of things. Oh, yeah, you've done a ton. But I don't know that I've got a bunch of clips. So I filled out what I could. I I sent it in to them and away I went. A couple weeks later, I was talking to some people at the Illinois game and explained that I had filled out this application. That Monday I got a phone call. It said, Hey, we've got your app. We'd like for you to come over for an audition. I said, Well, when? They said, Wednesday. I said, This Wednesday? I said, Yes. Now, this is the Monday following the USC game. Uh-huh. If you remember, that game went long. I was very vocal, and I was there for a long time. That's my way of saying my voice was in no shape to go do an audition. But I said, okay, I I really can't be there until after seven o'clock when we close. And they said, Well, we we've got a 7 30 slot available. Fast forward, I go over, they've given me some things they wanted you to prepare for, a lot of which we had seen because we attended so many games. But they asked, What would you do if you were here, if you wanted to engage more people, if you wanted to get the crowd more excited? And and I had a few ideas. And I walked into the State Farm Center. There was a large group of people. They had everybody from marketing, fan engagement, tickets, crush, align eye pride. The sound and and TV crew were there. I thought, okay. All right. All right, let's get it on. Here we go. Let's have some fun. But then I just I did what I do. I did what comes naturally. I I'm comfortable with a microphone in my hand. I and I love being in front of an audience. So away we went. And I found myself about 20 minutes into this thing. I am sweating profusely. And I thought, either the air is not on or I'm really working hard right here for this. Two weeks later, the weekend or the Friday before it was either before Michigan or Ohio State. I'd have to look and see. Uh, I got the call and they said, Hey, we'd like for you to be our guy this year. And this is a new position. It's going to be something that we're kind of learning as we go along. And what an amazing time to be associated with the Alli Knight. Yeah, no doubt about it. So I think each game we pulled a little bit uh more back. We were able to dig in a little further. I was able to incorporate more of my vision. And we've already begun talks here in the offseason. What else can we do? You know, my role and my goal and my mission was to figure out a way to enhance the fan experience and to bring more energy into the SFC. When Illinois is on the road, it's tough. Our son went to Michigan State. You want to talk about a tough place to play? Sure. Breslin is insane. And they tell me that doesn't come close to Mackey Arena over at Purdue. I've got to get there to watch a game. Watching Nebraska on the road. So there are just places that Illinois plays and people will always bring their A game from a fan perspective. We want that for them in Champaign. We want people to walk into the State Farm Center and think this is one of the toughest places in the country. We want people to know that we have a responsibility. We've got a role to play. And it's not to be antagonistic, it's not to be mean, but it is to be loud. It is to be vocal. It is to be challenging. And it is to make the other team, the opposing team, think, I can't wait to get on a bus and get out of here. And that's been my role. That's been my job to run around the center and get people excited. And I think the more the people saw me, the more they knew what we were trying to do. Unfortunately, it's a quick season, right? You think, well, we got all year. It's a fast 16 games and then it's over. But they had an amazing run. They had a final four finish. Most of the people are coming back. A couple big additions. There's a lot of excitement that's already that's already started being generated. So we're working. We're working right now and we're planning. And so if you're listening, if you're coming over there, just know we're going to be looking toward you to help bring the noise this year. We we want to hang a banner. Heck yeah. We want to hang a banner. And so both football, basketball, and and and possibly some of the role in football as they now are going to incorporate a host for the first time into football as well. And we're discussing what that may look like. There's a lot more ground to cover in football than there is in basketball. And at first I thought, well, I'm at the games anyway. So it's not that big. Pop on down, let's go. That's a big deal. It's you know, it's that afterward call when you're on the phone for an hour and a half with production and you're you're trying to figure out the elements. There's a lot of sponsor things that I mean, you know, you're doing you do a full production, and you have to make sure that you're checking all the boxes. There's fan engagement, there's bringing people down for the contest, there's making sure that you have everything in line in place, and it is scripted to the second. You've got this many seconds before it's time for us to either move to TV or to come back from break or or whatever else is happening. We just have to figure out how to do more with less. And I'm going to say with less because the more Illinois wins, the more people want to be a part of that production, the more space is going to be taken from sponsorships. So we'll figure it out. There you go. So you wear like a jersey when you're doing that? You have a number you like? I don't. I don't because I just don't want to do that to any of the players. So uh I do have a jersey. I was fortunate enough to be honored to be given uh a crushed jersey. I was presented with a crushed jersey. They said, you're the only person that has never officially been a member of Crush, that you're now a member of Crush, and here's your crushed jersey. So that was a really, really special moment for me this year, and it it told me just how much I meant to crush and vice versa. Yeah. Right. So I've immersed myself with the crush team and and we just have a ton of fun. So typically I'm wearing either a crush jersey or one of our staff shirts or or just a line-eye swag. It will it will really just kind of depend. But I think I did the first one in a a pair of sweats and quickly realized it's it's too hot. Too hot for sweats. Yeah. For sweats. So even though it's cold, I I may show up in the game in jeans and boots and a parka, and I hit the court and I'm in shorts. Right. Because there's a lot of running around. But before I go back outside, and there were some snow games. There were a couple games this past year that I thought, this is crazy that we're driving over here in this weather. But once you get there, everything gets thrown out, and it's just about for the next 40 minutes, how do we figure out how to have the most fun for both the fans, the students, the players? Come on. Well, Miles, let's flip over to the personal side a little bit. What are some ways you elevate your life personally? You know, I try to stay grounded. I say I used to love to ride my motorcycle. That was always kind of my outlet. I don't like getting on it as much anymore. So I've had to kind of adjust that. And that's, you know, I've seen a lot of things. I've I've worked with the Sangman County Auxiliary Sheriff's Office as an auxiliary deputy for 14 years. And I I've been riding motorcycles since I was in Decatur. But there's a lot of distraction out there. Our community has unfortunately had a lot of accidents, and it makes you ride differently, makes you a little more tense, and makes my wife very anxious. So I have not done that as much, but I do still enjoy getting on my bicycle. And I enjoy riding my bicycle around. I studied under John Gaston. And so again, I used to love martial arts a ton. I'd go every single day. I'm two knee replacements in. Uh-huh. So uh yeah, for the last six years, I've had both knees done. So I haven't been able to get back into the mats, but I still enjoy going to the gym. I enjoy working out, whether I'm walking or lifting or riding in a bike, you know, try to get as many miles in as I can. That's what I do in my spare time. For whatever crazy reason, I picked up a golf club again. It's not going to be. Not your thing. I want it to be my thing. I really do. I want it to be my thing. I enjoy golf. You may remember my uncle over Indicator, Fred Copeland. Oh, yeah. He was a he was a pro at Nelson. He hated to see me come to the course. He would get on his cart, he'd shake his head, and he'd just drive the other direction. Well, I get it. I'm not a good golfer, but I'm competitive and I love to compete. And so when I'm playing with guys who are really good and I shank, I'm like, this is not fun for me. But I'm I'm going to take some lessons. I'm I'm going to try. Get better because I really, really want to enjoy golf. They say that's a great pastime. Well, it's a time. Right. It's not a great time yet, but I hope that it will be. And I'll I'll look forward to doing that again. My son enjoys the game. My daughter is enjoying the game. And my wife is even, we went out the other day as a family, and even she hit the ball a couple of times. So I think that will really kind of start being a fun pastime. I I hope I can say fun and pastime together when I'm talking about golf in the near future. There you go. But that's just that. I lost my mother last year. I used to run over to Decatur a lot to see her. I've still got family over there, but it's we get together when we can. But I am grounded and rooted in in following our kids, following their journey, supporting my wife. And when I've got some free time, just stepping aside and doing what I love to do most, which is just trying to make myself better mentally and and physically and get ready for the next day. Love it. I spent a decent amount of time at Nelson Golf Course because that was, you know, when I was a teenager, late teens, young and broke, that was the most affordable place to go in Decatur. So which means you didn't hit the cars on 36. Well, I wasn't that good. So I can't say there wasn't a few times where it went to the road. I can't say that it hit a car, but it certainly went to the road. I guarantee that. That's awesome. Yeah, every time I would go back to Decatur, I'm driving down 36 there, and I see that spot right there there. Yep. Been there. Been there. You've done that. Yep. I would I would turn around. I just one drive. I but I still drive the ball well. My my T shots are great. It's just the other stuff that falls apart. Anyway, but I drove the ball in what I thought was going to be a really good shot. It just kept going left. And kept going left and kept going left. And before I knew it, I'm off. I'm way over the eastbound lanes of traffic. And I've got westbound coming at me, and I'm thinking, this is going to be bad. And I turn around and my uncle is sitting in his golf cart and he looks at me and he just shakes his head and drives the opposite direction. He doesn't even say anything to me. And he called my dad and he said, He shouldn't be out here. He just shouldn't be out here. He just doesn't take it seriously. I said, I'm just not any good. Right, right. Don't take it. I'm just I'm just not good at that. That's okay. Yeah, I never really got good. I got decent for a little while when I was playing, but I haven't I really haven't played consistently for probably 20 years. So that's the key. And you when you look at people that play all the time, you know, okay. If you're a bad golfer, you've got a hundred swings. Right. And and you've got 100 swings, what, once a month, twice a month, that's 200. Well, there are people that are hitting the ball or are swinging two, three hundred times a day after a round. Right. They're going to be much better. And I'd I've come and I've grown to accept the fact I'm never going to be that, but I'd like to be better than what I am, so that I can at least go out and enjoy the game and not want to, you know, toss a club. Right, exactly. We we played last week and one of my buddies said, Hey, don't don't bring any good balls. I said, Why not? He said, Because you're not gonna find them. Just don't don't bring any good balls out here. And he was right. We had the opportunity to play at Panther, and they are getting it tournament ready. Yeah. That's not for me. Right. That's I I shouldn't be out there right now. Leave the Pro V ones at home. Bring the I went by Walmart. I picked up some Taylor Maids. Uh-huh. It was so funny that my first drive went a little right, and I was still in the fairway, but one of the guys that I was playing with looked at the ball and thought it was one of the old range balls and just kicked it back over to the side. So anyway, but yeah, that's those those are my those are my advices. And and I still love to to do some announcing. Yeah. I enjoy helping organizations. I do a lot of MC work, both uh in the community for different organizations, helping them raise funds for whatever their cause is. I get to do some really fun ones. I get to do Style of Hope, I get to do Illuminate, I get to do Denim and Diamonds. There's there's just some really fun things that I that I'm able to MC. And I still get to do a couple boat races, which is where I cut my teeth back in, wow, chase, the early 90s. Right. That's that's how I used to travel the circuit and and do boat races, everything from the granddaddy of the mall, which was the Detroit Gold Cup, as part of the voice of the inboard hydroplane series. And they've now brought races back to our hometown to Decatur, uh, the Eastern Divisionals and now the Summer Nationals. So I'll have a chance to run over and do some some boat calls uh in a couple of weeks. So yeah, that's that's me. That's that's me in a nutshell. Good stuff. Well, Mile, so much great stuff today. I always like to close with these last couple of things. Let's give the audience a piece of advice, one on the professional side, one on the personal side to help them elevate their life or business. I'll start on the professional side. There is a a book that I always recommend to organizations and to people and mentors when we're talking to them, and that is the five dysfunctions of a team and understanding that sometimes you have to have hard conversations. They will be challenging conversations and there will be conflict. Don't be afraid of conflict. Conflict means you're at least having truth and you can't have growth without truth. And so the five dysfunctions of a team is a book. It's a great audio, audible listen. If you just like to listen to books, and if you are in a leadership position or if you are even in a position where you can help leadership, I highly, highly, highly recommend it because it can help and will help you grow. And that is what I would do and recommend in terms of people professionally. Personally, stay true to yourself. Take time for yourself. There are no second chances in terms of capturing time. That is one of the things that I had to learn in our business when I first came over here in '97. I was of the belief that we always had to be there for every single deal and every single person. And it's not that I was an absent father, not by any means, but there were times when we would come home at eight o'clock at night and sure. Everyone else is already throwing the ball around and had dinner, and we're just coming home. My kids laugh today. And so I tell people, especially when I see people around me with younger kids, take advantage of those moments. Make sure you not only hit the events, hit the games, hit the practices, hit the tryouts, hit those times, those things that you're like, I'll catch the next one because the next ones aren't always promised, and we know that all too well in our community. And that is what I say to people personally, take time. Take the time. I told a group a couple of months ago, I said, make the time to take the time. And that is what I would say. Love it. And is there anything we can do community-wide to help all of us here elevate Springfield and the surrounding communities? Yes, we can care. We can care more, talk less. And that seems like such a crazy thing, but if we really care, and I mean really care, then we'll talk less and do more. We'll just get after it. I think there are way too many people in our community who talk about it, but don't really get after it. And if they do, they're coming from a different place and different perspective that is about a me-ism instead of a we-ism. And that adversely affects all of us. So just care more about the people, the businesses, the neighborhood, people in general. And we'll all thrive. We'll all be better as a result of it if we if we all just just care. Powerful. Action's where it's at, man. Like you said, we can talk and talk and talk, but if you don't take that action, nothing's going to get done. That's right. So well, Miles, appreciate you spending some time with me this morning. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity and the consideration and continue to do what you're doing. Continue to put the word out and again help us all elevate each other and support each other. This is fantastic. It's just it's a great setting, and I'm privileged to have had the opportunity to sit with you for a little bit. Well, I appreciate it. You keep doing all those great things. Remind everybody about your ride, about green, anything else, how to get a hold of you, all that good stuff. Peacekeepers, Sunday, July 19th, third Sunday in July, the 23rd Annual Peacekeepers Ride, grand reopening at Green Toyota to happen soon. We'll keep you updated on that. I think it's just a short time from now. And other than that, we'll see you in the community. And I'm I always have been and continue to be, I'll be here to help you any way I can. Love it. Well, we're gonna let Milas get back to elevating 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, Sangaman Tree Service, or visit them today at SangamentTreeService.com. Sangaman Tree Service, rooted in quality, built on trust. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent is 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. 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. When I first walked into Shudokong Karate Club, I was just looking for a way to get stronger. But what I found was so much more. Here we train in traditional karate, the real stuff. Passed down through generations. 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