How to Build Your Personal Brand | Lola Schmidt and Kim Walker - Episode 5

0:00And I'm not gonna cry on this podcast. Are we in crying mode? No, no, hold on. Eyes. Okay. Oh my gosh, I don't know where she's going. No, because I just think about all the heart— Daggone it, girl, you need some testosterone, right? Y'all, bring my little pills to Montana for you. Welcome to Downshift with my sis Tanika Haynes. We all know as shop owners, sometimes you got to slow down in order to speed up.

0:31And that's what this podcast is all about. It's time to downshift. I love your background, Tanika. I know. So cozy. We're so sterile with our white. I know. You like in a psychiatric ward. In a psych ward. Good evening. They let them talk. Good evening. Correct. I feel like I'm in the psych ward. Does that count? Oh, because you're— where are you right now?

0:59Ignite? Yeah, but not because of that, just because of life in general. Life. Oh, it's like psych world. Are you like David and, um, uh, Lucas, where we're already recording and we don't know it? Yeah. Oh, fun. Yeah, yeah, because why not? Because it's just going to be a natural conversation. I got a couple questions, but we can banter all day. We can start by talking about your spider.

1:27I knew this was going to come up because it was funny, Kim. That was so sad. It's a common thing. I live in Louisiana. What do you expect? It was a big spider. It was big. It was very big. So am I supposed to explain for our listeners? I think you should explain how you were standing on the couch hollering for Brian, and you decided to text us to make sure that if you died from this spider, that you had reached out to somebody before.

2:03So you reached out to us, and I feel really good about that. Well, the problem is I reached out for support, but what I don't want is any heckling. Just— that is support. That was We gave you music. Itzy beats the spider. Yes, there was options. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Did you think we were going to bring up all of them? I am so far away.

2:25I can't show up to help you. What did you think we were going to say? What did you think we were going to say? Tanika and Lola? Well, you're right. You're right. I got exactly what I— Don't do that. Don't do us like that, Kim. I got exactly what I asked for. There you go. Now that we're in the debriefing stage. For those that don't know, right?

2:48We live in Louisiana and we have critters that are large. And all I know is that Brian just walked in and he knew I was going to be on a podcast and he's listening to me talk about spiders. But that checks out. Yeah. Honestly, I'm kind of afraid to tell the story because once people know what you're afraid of, then they're going to bring toy spiders to your classes and throw them at you.

3:13I just gave him an idea. Dang on it. Yeah, she didn't know, right? Right. It's no better time to overcome a fear. Yeah, this is— yeah, I was like 8 years old, so this fear— did you get bit by a spider? No, it was just another super large one when I was a little kid that was in my room. And, um, oh, in your room?

3:44Oh, oh, and again, Louisiana, these things are large, large. So you think you'd be used to them? No, no, but I'm not. Okay, I'm sorry. I was in my gym and I was doing farmer's carry, so I was walking around trying to warm up, and I got to this spot where I saw it. On the ground, and I just froze and ran back to where I came from and jumped up on this bench, texted my friends saying, OMG, look what I'm seeing here.

4:20I also recorded a video and sent it to the family text. Peyton, who was in New York, Brian, who at the time was 20 feet from me but on the other side of the wall, And he was the last to see the message out of like 6 people. So me and Lola probably could have got there quicker than Brian, probably. And yeah, yeah, and he just laughed and said I was ridiculous, and he took a picture of me up on the, on the bench.

4:49He did kill it to us and didn't want to kill it because like Lola has tried to train me in the past, it was a good, a good spider. Oh, that's like her in the flipping bee that got in my martini in New York, and I'm mad because I just paid for a martini. And she's like, save the bee! Listen, he needs to be drunk.

5:09He was not savable. He was drunk. Not fly away well. Oh my gosh. Anyway, the good spider is dead. Sorry. That's okay. Really so sorry. But to be fair, I don't love the big spiders. They're— we have wolf— the wolf spiders, right? Is that what it was? That's Brian says it was. We have them too. And like, I don't— I'd heard I trapped one under a cake, like a glass cake dish, and it was there for like 2 days while Eric was on a motorcycle trip.

5:41Okay, so don't come at me when you're doing that. Listen, I went and trapped it though. You did not trap— you were elevated on furniture. But you know, it was— most of them are dead because we have it sprayed. Once a month. But this guy, this is a super spider. He made it, he made it through. He made it through. Dang, you got closer, Loralee, than I would have.

6:07I, I can't even get close enough to trap it. I was screaming the whole time though, if it makes you feel better. Like, that does scream. Yes, she was screaming while she was laughing, like that kind of screaming. Yes, like nervous cackle. All right, well, yeah, but Lola, uh, Montana 2025 fishing, you kind of squealed like a little girl with the fish.

6:36It's no lie. Slippery, slimy. I did not want to touch the fish. I was forced to touch the fish. Yeah, it was very slick. It's a fish. I like them on my plate. Yeah, yeah, they are made for eating. And it was a beautiful fish, but I didn't want to touch it, and y'all forced me to touch it. And then you wanted to catch another one just like that, and I did not.

7:07You did not. I was very ready to go back at that point. It was a beautiful day, wonderful day. But soon we're gonna do it again, right? Yeah, I can't wait. It's on every calendar. I'm so ready. I've got some boots It better be cold so I can wear all of my Montana wear. Oh my gosh, I got new fancy sweaters for Montana.

7:29I gotta get on the sweater game. But I actually had to wear some of the stuff that I bought for Montana because we never get that cold in North Carolina. I've been wearing that this week because it is cold, and I've asked you repeatedly to come pick up your weather, Lola. I have enough weather. It's snowing again tonight in North Carolina. That doesn't— she's not a good listener.

7:53Come get— you're the only one that's in a warm spot then, huh, Kim? Well, I don't think it's warm, but everybody else here says it's warm. What's the temp right now? Um, probably 40, 50. Let me see. I'm like negative 2. That's a thing? It's a bad thing. It's really cold tonight. Oh my God, it's 76 here right now. What's wrong with you, woman?

8:19I don't even want to hear from you at this moment. That's nice. That's like, I'll be at the pool. Yeah. For those who are— oh wait, where did my screenshot go? For those who are watching, it's 76 and sunny. And where are you? Arizona. Scottsdale, Arizona. Riding the horses. Yeah. Riding the horses. It was beautiful. That was so beautiful. Phenomenal. Brian's a very smart man.

8:43He knows what he's doing. You should get a horse. I'm working on it. You're not home a lot to take care of it, but— right, well, you've got people and family, they can come feed them. Well, you know, there's milestones to every goal, so the first one is to get myself out of all of the travel. So slowly but surely, we'll see.

9:02I mean, I don't know, I think I did like 12 conferences last year. We'll see. Yeah, but I do need to be more at home to do that, right? Do you want to stop like completely or just cut it in half? Like how much traveling? How much you're going to cut back? Who's going to do your thing if you're not there? How are we going to see you?

9:21That's a lot of questions. Like, who's going to take your place? You are the queen of connections. Oh my Lord. You got to be there. Y'all fix this. Otherwise it's like unconnected. Then you're like the queen of unconnect. Don't do that. Don't do that. Well, the queen of disconnection. It takes a while to get that stuff done. Oh my God. Y'all are crazy.

9:42That doesn't happen overnight. Okay. I was leaving. Just take some time. But okay. Let me get back to the question. We will never be not connected. Yeah. You're not going to ever be unconnected. How long have you been in the industry? Because you got started out with a shop right here in Apex or Cary, which one was it? So the first shop was in Raleigh.

10:06Okay. And that would have been— well, I was pregnant, so 2003 is when we opened our first shop. Yeah. So I've been in the industry since then. Bryan, however, has been in the industry because he was a technician first. So, gosh, I don't know, back to like '95 or something. That's cool. Like both of you guys, your men drug you in. The industry?

10:33Like, was that hard trying to find your footing? Because Kim, you're an educator, correct? Yeah, by trade, well before this. And Lola, fashion. So that's a— well, fashion, makeup, all the things, all the pretty things. Yeah, but you're still doing pretty things. Unpretty industry. No, it's an unpretty industry, but you're making it pretty. Trying. Like you're the marketing— both of you guys are marketing branding queens.

11:02And but when they said, hey baby, come to the shop and help me, what did you say? Oh, hell no. Or did you say, sure, anything for you, love? Oh no, it was definitely closer to hell no. And the way that happened for me, because I was a teacher and a school counselor, Brian opened the shop and as I don't know. I think most shop owners, a lot of them are not getting paid in the beginning.

11:29So when he said, hey, come do marketing. Okay. We tell this story. So it's not a secret. I literally said, I don't know what marketing is. What do you, what does that mean? And now I own a marketing company. So I know that's kind of crazy, but he said, you're great with people. You'll figure it out. And I said, well, am I going to get paid?

11:48Cause one of us has to get paid. And we had Peyton at the time. And he was like, yes, you'll get paid for sure. And so, yeah, I agreed. And that was really it. So at first it was a no, are you crazy? Somebody's got to get paid. I'm the only one with a salary right now. But we figured it out. I mean, we'll be married 27 years this year and we have worked together 20 4 of those 27.

12:18Wow, that's cool. So did you, when Eric told you, "Baby, I need you to come to the shop," or did you say, "I need to come to the shop because you ain't doing it right"? Which one was it? That sounds right. I was pregnant. Same. But he, like, I traveled for my job. Like, it was probably a good, like, 85-90% travel job.

12:41So he was like, hey, how am I supposed to— how am I supposed to take care of this baby and have this job? And so we had to figure out what to do, and child care was so expensive, it made no sense for me to keep working if I was just gonna hand over my whole check anyways. And so kind of the same though, I was really scared because like Eric didn't make a lot of money, um, at the shop.

13:07Then it was like, we're figuring a lot out, right? So I was like, man, we're about to be poor, like real poor. And didn't sign up for that. Yeah, not really, you know, because I didn't put 'for richer or poorer' in my wedding vows. Like, they were not there, and they didn't sound good to me. So, but it, you know, I knew, I was like, okay, I'm smart.

13:31I knew that. And I saw some opportunity in the shop So here we go, here we go. I remember we were doing the, um, class at ASTA and some of the women were like, I don't know how to help my husband in the business. And that was a real question. And then like, they come to the conferences because they don't want to be away from their man for 3 to 5 days.

13:52I don't care, but, um, they just don't know where they fit in. So do you think that you would tell people, go in there and help him, or just stay at home. Like, I know some ladies that really want to help, but they don't know where they fit in. But I guess you could help with marketing. I don't know if anybody wants to be in there working with their husbands, because you, you have a separate desk for Brian.

14:17Lola, you don't really have to work with Eric. Like, you guys are working together on projects, or are you? Yeah. Together. How does your marriage survive? You have to stay separate. We went to a lot of therapy, man. I'm not even gonna lie. Uh, it took some therapy and us moving offices, separating. We could not share an office at the beginning. We had to because the space was small, right?

14:44Even having an office in the same vicinity, like with a huge hallway between us, we, we still— it did not work until a little bit. One of us left the building. No, I think though, what, what Lola is saying is you need to know yourself and you need to know your husband and you need to know strengths and weaknesses and boundaries and know if it's going to work or if it's not going to work.

15:08Ron and I just happened to— we— it does work for us. But I think that it— and I think I said this in that class that you're talking about. Is you don't have to join him in the business. Maybe there's not a place for you there. But I think the most important place is when he comes home, be a soft place for him to land.

15:33Because if he's in that space in that business without you, when he comes home, you've been doing whatever you've been doing. And you want this, but he comes home and he wants this. Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it, or maybe he does need to talk about it. And you might be the only comfortable spot for him. So having some patience, some grace, some understanding, giving him the space to vent if he needs to vent, rant if he needs to rant.

16:04And you may be in the spot where you're like, I don't want to hear it. But you're his wife. And that's, that's just, in my opinion, we're there to support one another. And so I think more You know, some— one of those ladies, they said something like, I don't know how to support him. Do I need to work in the business? If I remember this one lady that was talking about it, it was like she felt obligated to go be in the business, but she really didn't want to be in the business.

16:33And I just say don't, because look, running a business together is not for everyone. Like Lola just said, they did counseling. Brian and I did counseling. Uh, I want to say maybe 3 or 4 years ago, actually. So we, when we lived in North Carolina, we had, um, a lady in our BNI group who was a marriage and family therapist. And we'd been married at that point, I don't know, 23 years, 24 years, something like that, whatever it was a couple of years ago.

17:10And you would think at that point in your marriage, you, you don't, you figured it out, right? You're now kind of on cruise control. And our communication had gotten off. And so instead of doing like, we loved her, we trust this, this, her name is Leslie Doreez, by the way, if anybody wants to look her up, she actually does the Super Husband Project or Superman Husband, or she's not that she focuses on the men, but lots of men don't want to have anything to do with counseling.

17:46And so her target audience is men, let's say that, I would say. And so to just kind of— we call it the Walker way. Make a decision, steamroll ahead, and don't look back. Like, that's literally our family mantra. And so instead of doing like weekly sessions, every other week, we were like, nope, let's just— we're going to ASTA, literally. Let's, let's go and have an all day long, just hash it out session.

18:20We booked her for 8 hours, an intensive. Wow. And then we were like, wait a minute, do we do it on the right before ASTA or do we do it after? So we were like trying to figure out like if we do it before ASTA and it doesn't go well, then we're at this conference. And so we decided, but if we do it after ASTA, we're drained, we're exhausted anyway.

18:45We went with that Monday after, and thankfully we only needed half a day. But just to say that you don't know, it might take years in before you realize that there's an area you need to address. And for us, it was communication. It was just being on the same page. My big takeaway was instead of just coming up to him, I need to talk about this right now when he's in the middle of something.

19:12Um, it, for me, it was just check in with him first. Is this a good time? Can I talk to you about this thing? Um, and so we each kind of had our own little takeaway from that, but back to the, I'm kind of rambling back to the question. Rambling's good. I think it's like, don't feel pressured to be in the space where you don't belong.

19:31The space where you belong might just be And when I say at home, I don't mean not working, whatever your work is, but being a supportive wife at home at the end of the day. Right. That was good. I like how you said a soft place because it is. It's hard out there for everybody. You have to come home and just come home to— who wants to do that?

19:52That's why people sit in the car extra 30 minutes before they walk in the house. Oh, here we go. Right. Got to finish the song. Oh, you got to finish the song too. Yeah, first song. So now you both have found your footing in the industry, and you both are dynamite. Like, I can't believe that I'm your friend. I feel so lucky.

20:14I know it sounds corny, it really does though. Like, I remember when I first met Kim and Brian— I don't get to meet you— it was a Rick White event, and you guys were presenting, and I just thought it was so cool that you guys presented together and you didn't hurt each other. Like, you didn't cut each other off. He spoke, then you spoke, and he spoke, then you spoke.

20:36And I was like, look at it, it's so cute. And I remember, I think I met Eric before I met Lola. I saw Lola, but I think I met Eric first at the Fueling Connections. And we won't tell that story, but I think from that point, her and Eric knew that I had that girl's back just by default, because there was somebody trying to push up on her man.

20:55And I was— I had to tell that woman, I will cut you. I know, she didn't even know me. I know, I was like, sorry. Yeah, so yeah, somebody's trying to push up on her man. Cute. So the little pointy ears, somebody wanted them. And, um, I remember because I kept saying, I was like, no, he's married. No, he didn't even realize they were like hitting.

21:18Yeah, he didn't even— he's just like, and then I think we're in line to get food, and I just got in front. I was like, I said, married. What? And I think he called— yeah, yeah, he was like, hey, you're gonna like Tanika. I don't even think I've met her in person yet. I think I probably saw her in passing at ASDA and online, but at that point I was like, oh, she tripping, we ain't doing this, stop it.

21:47So I love it, but Lola What the heck? You gotta answer this for the people that don't know. And like Kim said, everybody doesn't know. Stop frowning, don't do that. Put your eyebrow down, eyebrow down. There you go. Hey, girl, explain to the people in the back what marketing and branding is. You've got 1 minute because they don't know. They really don't.

22:08People still ask that question. Okay, so I don't talk about marketing. You talk about branding. I hire Kim for marketing. Yeah, you're the branding. You're the branding baddie. Yeah, I do branding stuff. Um, marketing in one minute, uh, telling a consistent story that can grow and evolve in authenticity. Boom. Wow. Oh, you did that like 3 seconds. Now say it for a person with a 5th grade education.

22:36Oh, um, little words. Neat and clean and consistent. Okay. And true. And what's the big no's in marketing? I mean, in branding, the things that you don't do in branding, don't do it. Don't use weird illegible font in weird places. I agree. Like, you people get overly creative sometimes, I think. Like, keep it simple, stupid. You know, was it like Coco Chanel?

23:05She says, take, take one thing off before you leave the house. One thing back off. So they can do that sometimes. With some branding, I think. Um, I don't— there's a lot of different nuances. I think you have to know who you are to be able to build a good brand. You have to know who you are first. Dig in, get the why, figure out who you are, and then come up with the scheme.

23:28Yeah, you can't be everybody else. You have to be you. Please be you. I love that. You guys are so uniquely you, and I love it. And like I said, I can't believe that I'm your friend. And we go places together, and we actually talk almost on a daily basis. And Kim is such the queen of connections. And I'm not gonna cry on this podcast.

23:49Are we in crying mode? No, I don't bring that to the— don't do that. Hold on. Uh-oh. Okay. Oh my gosh, I don't know where she's going. No, because I just think about all the heart. Daggone it, girl, you need some testosterone, right? Yeah, bring my little pills to Montana for you. Mine are weekly. Oh my God. But no, I just think about the times that you actually reach out and it's so genuine.

24:18I think the first thing I got, I think, who was it? Santana? No, Jordan graduated and I was feeling some kind of way and you sent me that stinking beautiful handkerchief. Oh, and you said all good Southern mamas have to have a handkerchief. And since then I actually give those out a lot to my customers when I feel like they need one.

24:40So you are— it's such good stuff. The Queen of Connections, just the random kindness, and it's not— there's nothing expected back. And I think a lot of people miss that. And so when you talk about that during your classes, I hope people really listen and understand, and that can be a part of their brand or their marketing. I don't know which one that falls under, just being your unique self to your customers and your clients.

25:06And they'll remember that. Like, just actually, when a customer, you can see that they're not having that good day, you can like not make that transaction about their car. You can step in front of the desk and say, hey, are you good? Like, can we talk? Do you really need somebody to talk to? I will not judge. I will not say anything.

25:24Just get it out. And you, you're that person for a lot of people. And I know you— did you really want to sign up for that? Does it take an emotional toll on you? Because it was taking one on me. And then again, Kim Walker sends me a book, Your Best No. Best Yes. Your Best Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Like, did you— have you always been that person?

25:48Did you develop into that person? How did you get to be so lovely? That's a deep question. Nobody's ever asked that before. I don't know. I mean, I definitely— I— anybody that knows me knows I'm a very faith-filled person. And I did this, like, I don't know, my life purpose study one time because I was like, who— what was I created to be?

26:14Who am I? And I thought I was going to come out with some big revelation, like some big aha moment. But I went through this, like, 8-week study, and by the time I got to the end of it, I was like, what? I was born to teach, connect, and serve. That's what I came out with. That's so obvious. I did it. I did it too.

26:37I did the, um, leadership intensive with the Institute, and they asked a question, and I was like, oh no, I'm just me. And mine came out something like that. I was like, am I? I'm gonna have to find it. Well, the thing is, am I? I guess I am. Even Even just recently in this study that I'm doing now, it's just like a daily devotional kind of thing.

27:00And I'm in this section about your identity. And there's a part in it that I'm like, you know, like your God-given skills and talents and abilities, your natural tendencies are obvious. And so while it took me a very long time to discover who I really am and where I'm really comfortable and what just comes natural to me, I mean, it took years, but I grew up in a wildly traumatic childhood that didn't allow me to be who I was meant to be because I was in survival mode.

27:41And so it took until I was in my, I don't know, probably 30s before I even started realizing some of those natural giftings in my life. And, um, you know, the whole Queen of Connections thing, when that happened, somebody introduced me that way at a networking event. Somebody called me over and they called somebody else over and they're like, you got to meet Kim Walker, she's Queen of Connections.

28:08And I was like, that's a funny, funny word. Well, honestly, I, I, it wasn't comfortable. I didn't like it. Oh, and You know, like when you're a kid, you get it, you get, you don't get to pick your nickname, right? Right. It's just given to you. And so as an adult, I was given that nickname. And then a couple of years later, I tried everything I could to shake it off, you know, to get rid of it and drop it.

28:35And it just wouldn't, it wouldn't happen. And so I finally accepted it. And then when I did that study and realized I was literally created for this, This is why God put me on earth. And so I've accepted it. And now it's, um, I own the domain. I— You do? Yeah. And, and I, um, and I put it on my business card and sometimes I'll have it on my name on here, you know, just things like that.

29:04But I think sometimes you just have to accept who you are, whether you like it or not. And, um, I don't know that that really answered your question. No, actually it did. Interesting, because it's— you try to run away. Like, for me, I try to run away of whoever God wants me to be. He ain't gonna let it happen. I'll be running and he'd be running faster than me, and I'll be like, I can't outrun the Lord.

29:28Nope. That is, uh, stupid. He is coming for you. He is coming. Put you on Earth for that. He needs you to do what he— there is no other Tanika, there is no other Lola, there is no other Well, there is another Kim Walker, but you know what I mean. She's not Kim Walker. But yeah, I mean, you're needed. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So like, Lola, how do you feel when people reach out to you with all the questions and picking your brain?

29:56Because I know I'm a brain picker. I've called you and say, hey, what about this? Can I borrow this? What do you got? What do you got? What do you got? Help me, help me. No, I think it depends on who's reaching out. Okay. Um, I'm not— let me not say that. Um, say it. No, like, I don't want to say I'm not available for everyone, but— well, no, your boundaries.

30:17I'm not available for everyone. Um, and how deep I get with some things just depends on the level of value that I see in the person reaching out. That's fair enough. No, that's not— it doesn't really sound very nice. No. Well, because you don't want to do like, say yes to everything and then you're burnt out. I had to learn how to set boundaries.

30:42Like, well, this was my whole thing right at Refuge last year that we talked about. Like, I made some like choices because I have things that like actually matter to me that I have to protect. So I have to have time for those things. People will take as much as you will give. Oh yeah. Right. So you, you have to, you have to have those boundaries.

31:04It took me a very long time to learn it. And that's why I know that book, The Best Yes, and I give it to people all the time, is people will take all that you will give. And if you are not taking— look, I'm 52. Anybody that's listening, this, this might be the reason you're listening to this thing is nobody else is going to set your boundaries for you.

31:23And learning when to say no, when to say yes. How to do it so that people aren't leaving that exchange going, well, she's rude. No, you're taking care of yourself. And so I— you asked earlier, Tanika, about the weight of it. And I think that there is a heavy weight to it if you're not, if you're not being a good steward of it, right?

31:48If you're not taking care of it. And so for me, I, I've just figured out I'm in this hotel room right now. As, as a social butterfly as I am, when I'm at these conferences, I have to retreat and go fill up, right? And just my brain and my heart, my soul back together so I can go back out with a full cup.

32:09That is true, because I find that it's very exhausting to like speak at a conference though. Like, did you speak? Brian did. I mean, the whole, the whole setup, the whole gearing, the people talking to you, like you do have to step away and just sort of like Oh yeah, there's plenty of times, like, I don't do as much as you guys do, but the expo, it's just like, okay, I gotta go to my room because you do a lot.

32:32I saw you going all around and it's like, wow. And Tanika, Tanika, and I know the joke is, oh, you know my name because I'm the only Black female in here and I'm easy to pick out, but I have no idea who you are, but hey. And you're just like, hey. And it's like, it's just 'Cause Jordan saw it. Jordan saw it this year 'cause he was there.

32:51He's like, "Mom, like, what in the world?" And so, I mean, I'm no Kim Walker. I'm no Lola Schmitt. But it is exhausting. So I'm happy to know that it's not just me. It's a good exhaustion. Because, you know, people are coming and they respect you, they love you. And I'm just starting to learn to accept that they like me. They really like me.

33:16And Like, Braxton was pushing me to do this podcast for like a year. I was like, what do I have to say? And I still don't know what I have to say, but he keeps telling me about it. I went to the leadership intensive, I came up with my new why, and I put my purpose down on paper, and it made me choke up a little bit.

33:34And I faulted— I was like, uh-uh, Jesus, I cuss too much, I can't be doing this because I don't— my mouth ain't right. You know, sometimes I roll my eyes at people. God, but you want me to do this? Okay, well, I'll try not to roll my eyes at people and I'll try not to say a lot of bad words, but I'm really not going to change myself.

33:53But no one has— they haven't said I need you to change yourself, because when they say I need to change yourself, I'm just going to exit stage right. I'm not doing that. I'll just call, I'll text you guys and say, you know what they said to me? Is there— oh my gosh, is there a podcast that Is in our industry that's done by a woman?

34:14Nope, I don't think so. Well, there's one that's starting. I haven't met her yet. I was introduced to her via text today. I don't know who it is. Oh, I did one with a girl who was like a technician, like probably 2 years ago, but I don't ever think that that actually came out. So, and I don't know if she's even around.

34:34I don't know. There might be, but you know, our circle is different than others, so they There may be. Hopefully there is. Well, my point is there are going to be— look, men are going to listen to this too. Hey, guys. Hey, guys. But like I said earlier, a soft place. This is a soft place to land for some of the ladies in the industry to be able to hear the— by the way, I am not a feminist at all.

34:59So sorry to any ladies that are. I personally am not. Do your thing. It's totally fine. I'm not.. But I think it's good to have a place for women to connect and hear from other women in the industry. So it's a, it's a, it's a hole I think that you're filling. Well, thank you. I hope so, because I think women are more catty than men.

35:21And so even in the Amazing Women's Facebook group, we can— there'll be a lot of people reading, but there's not a lot of interaction there. Because I think the fear of speaking up or the fear of being judged by the question— and I'm pretty sure that happens in all the ASAW, the Confessions, all of those other groups— but I wish that we were better connected.

35:43We are, and I really enjoy that. And I really enjoy all my little nieces. Like, I've got these younger women who are in the shop with their husbands or doing this, or they're technicians themselves, just in the industry, like Ash and, uh, Katie Knox. And they're texting me and asking me things and sharing stuff, and I just feel like, well, you girl.

36:03Auntie's got you. I'm so proud. Okay, I do. I like being like the automotive auntie a little bit. So, and I'm the automotive mom, do you know that? No, you're not. You're only 52. I'm 49. I guess because I'm your sister. Yeah. And you're— yeah, so that's why I'm auntie and Lola is the rich auntie. What? No. How did I get to be the rich?

36:25Because you're a woman with the cars. Woman with the bags and the glamour. You're so glamorous. Is she drinking wine? Are we done? No, we're not done. This is part of my marketing for the podcast. My branding. That's hysterical. I did tell Brian, I was like, I need to do a pod— I'm not doing it. Okay. Just so you know. But I told him, I'm like, I need to do a podcast that's like martinis and talking.

36:55We should do that. Okay, so we should do that like once a month. Talking Teenies with the ladies. I don't know, that kind of sounds like something else, but let's talk about it. I wanted to do a pajama party where we all wore pretty pajamas and talked about car stuff in the bed one evening. But you don't even like car stuff, Lola.

37:15I can smile. I don't want to talk car stuff though. And I can read our conversation if it gets bad. Yeah, I don't want to talk car stuff, but we can do that. This, another one of these podcasts, right, in our pajamas in Montana with Sherri. Oh yeah. Oh my God. Yeah, we're gonna do it. So we all have to bring our podcast stuff.

37:37There's no internet there. Oh wait, but in the internet— well, if we're together, I don't think you need to do it on like a phone or something, and we'll figure it out. Braxton can fix it. We can give him— he can fix it. Braxton can fix it. He's right. You will fix it. You better tell him. Oh, we'll do it in Montana.

37:56It'll be a pajama party for the industry, for the ladies. Cute pajamas. That's gonna be funny. Okay, we'll do it. Wow, it's done. You have like 2 months to make us branded pajamas, bedazzled pajamas, so we'll itch at night. Let's say like, what is it, Downshift? The Downshift. Yeah. Well, did you get your name? So My first coach, my first real coach that was Rick White.

38:24And I'm not a coachable person. Imagine that. You're not telling me what to do because that's stupid. That's stupid. No, stupid. I was not very coachable. And so both Rick and I are very strong D and I on the DISC. So it was kind of like this a lot. He's like my favorite person now. So I remember one of the things that he really tried to drill into me is that you really need to slow your shop down in order to make more money.

38:50And I thought that was the dumbest thing in the world. It's like, no, I need all the car count. I need to do 820 cars a month because if I get $50 from 820 cars, because that's basically what I was doing. I think my ARO when I started coaching was maybe $150, $160. It was laughable. I did everything that came my way.

39:11I said yes to everything in the whole world because we never ran a service department before. I'm a body shop girl. I was doing all the inspections. I was using the customer's parts and everything. And when he told me to do a whole different thing than what I had been used to. I just looked at this man like, you done lost his damn mind.

39:28But I tried to sip the Kool-Aid or wine, whatever he was serving, and it started to work. It really did work. And even when you're driving a car, it's like, okay, we all drive cars. I know you know how to drive a stick shift, both of you ladies, right? Mm-hmm. 5-speed. Lola, I know better than this. You don't probably want to ride with me.

39:48Oh Lord Jesus. But anyway, so if you're driving a 5-speed, all right, and you want to kick it up and you want to get ready to pass somebody, you can't— if you're in 5th gear or 6th gear, whatever you're driving, you can't just hit the gas. You need to downshift, get a little bit more power. You need to downshift to get up a hill.

40:06So like, I think people really need to step back, sit down, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, look at what you got going on, slow it down, and pay attention to what you have before you ask for more. So step back, downshift, figure out what you've got, make sure you're using everything that you got, all the power that's within you, and then the Lord will bless you with more.

40:27He'll give you more speed, he'll give you more. But first, sit down. And I don't think a lot of men know how to do that. Well, a lot of people in business don't know how to do that. Just people, not just men. Because what happens is we're looking on Facebook, we all laugh at it, right? But we're strong individuals. But we've got shop owners that are just starting out, they're in year 1, 2, or 3.

40:47And then they're looking at people and they're like, oh, why do I not have this? Why is my shop not doing this? I'm not able, I'm not able, and they're beating themselves up, or they're going way too fast. And they're just a train wreck waiting to happen. You know, they're, they're trying to spend too much money on marketing or trying to spend too much money on this because they're trying to do what the evil shop owners and the multi-shop owners are doing.

41:14And it's like, no. And then you're coached— you're also coached by a lot of companies, and it's not wrong. What they'll tell you is— and you guys have been coached— is you have to work on your business and not in your business. And sometimes people take that way too seriously. Sometimes you have to do both. Like, right now I'm at the space that I do not have to work in my business as much, but I know I still need to keep my finger on that pulse, right?

41:42Because then it'll get away from you. But there are people that's been in business for 1 year, 3 years, 5 years that really think that they can be an absentee shop owner, and they're trying to live that big life because they see everybody else doing it. And I'm just like, you better take your tail to work, fool. So you gotta earn that spot.

42:01You've got to earn that spot. It takes a while. And when I say you have to do both, that means you sometimes you're going to have to work from 8 to 5 or 8 to 6 whenever your shop is over— open. And then you're going to have to Shut the front door, go to MacD— work some more. And yeah, and then maybe set your alarm to go home at 9 o'clock until you get to the point that you don't have to do that anymore.

42:22But I think people want to just kick it into 5th gear, 6th gear, and just go. Yeah. And they haven't done the work. So I really believe that people have to downshift and, um, try it again. I love that. I, I see it all the time with the comparison thing, right? Like you were saying, they see, they see other people on Facebook and they're like, I need to do that.

42:43And it's all about car count, which I think this is probably where Rick White was getting to with you is, let's look at the ARO first. Let's take full advantage of each individual vehicle that comes in because you might be able to do more with half. I did. Literally, when I listen, my car count goes down. And my growth goes up. My numbers, the good numbers increase, the car count goes down.

43:07So I'm not working myself like a dog. And that's another— They come in with us and they're looking for car count, right? From the ads. I want more car count, more car. But your service advisor is not answering the phone. There you go. So we can drive all the calls to you, but one, are they answering the phone? Number two, when the phone does get answered, How do they sound?

43:32Are they converting? Because we don't want anybody paying us to send ads to, or to run ads and make the phone ring or forms filled out when the service advisor is not. Why do you want to pay for that, that phone call that's not going to get converted? It makes no sense. So you're not converting what you got. You said, yeah, you got to get back to the basics.

43:53Slow down. I love that. Before you speed up, make sure everything, you know, Lola is always preaching about process, systems and processes in place and make sure everybody is on the same page and doing the same thing. Absolutely. So that's part of the— well, that's basically where the name came from. Just that lesson just shot me into a different space in the industry.

44:15Like, that was my first profitable and million-dollar year. I mean, once I was able to do that and, you know, I remember being at ASTA maybe 2 years ago and I'm sitting in the back of Rick's class, and it's a packed class, and I'm sitting on the floor. I'm just back there, and somebody says, I want to make a million dollars. And I laughed, and I didn't think— I didn't think I did it out loud.

44:37And he said, Taniko, what's so funny about that? I said, do you want to make a million dollars, or do you want to make 20% on that million dollars? Like, you can do a million dollars in sales all day, but if you're just hitting— it means nothing. It don't mean nothing. You're recycling money. So let's Again, processes, knowing your numbers, all the KPIs that nobody wants to— I hate doing it.

44:59Like, I hate sitting down doing my numbers. My current coach, bless her soul, oh, bless Jennifer's heart, bless it, because she is just like, Tanika, put your numbers in. There's money in the bank. Well, because the numbers, my eyes starts twitching. Oh, I love the numbers. I do not like the numbers. I can't sit still enough. I'm like squirrel. They're out there laughing in the shop.

45:21I start doing them at home because they're out there having fun telling shop jokes, and I'm in there looking at numbers. You don't want me to do anything that has anything to do with numbers, honey. Right? Do you even want to look at the reports? Really? Oh no, I want to— I mean, I, I don't love it. I understand it now, and I know that it's necessary for me to keep my eye on my business.

45:44Yeah, look at my face, it won't go away. No, no ma'am, I don't like it though. I really like Excel and graphs, charts. Did you get that on? I really like— no, I hate it. That's gonna be— look, Braxton is gonna use— he's gonna use that one screenshot for our thumbnail. Yes, he will. Oh my God, I've been trying to smile politely the whole time.

46:12Stop. Why? You're gonna come out looking like a Like, what was wrong with her? Like a creep. I'm over it. Do y'all remember the little graphic I put together with like 9 or 12 of my faces from— That was good. That Mars conference? Yeah. All of those were within one 45-minute class. You're very expressive. No, you— the picture you took, you were not— you were— I don't think you were taking a picture of me at Tools.

46:40I think you were taking a picture of the screen. And it got my face looking at Brian because Brian said something stupid. Yeah, that was good. I am pretty sure that that is my, um— that is not. What do you call it? That is not your caller ID for me. Uh, I'm pretty sure, Kim. It's not. Don't do that. Oh, it sure is.

46:59Excellent. Would you like to see it? Yes. That's funny because even, um, Jennifer said something about— she was like, yeah, that's crazy. Yes. Oh my God, so good. Brian said something stupid, I'm sure. Tanika, I love it. And that's the picture you chose. Show your— I liked that class we did together. We should do that more. That is my favorite. I don't— who took that picture of us sitting there laughing?

47:29That was a— it's still my profile picture. Your cover photo? Yeah, my cover photo. I love that picture. I don't know, we were lying about something. That was funny. That was a good class. That was a good class. We should do it all over the world. It was fun to— all over the world. Well, class submissions, are they already done for ASTA?

47:51No, no, they're not. Oh, we did ASTA. Yeah, yeah, but we did that at ASTA. Yeah. Hmm, who's going to Tools? Anybody? I'm not able to go. I have a family gig the same weekend as our company retreat, so not even— not— I can't even like send someone from the retreat. Do you have a vacation? Not a family thing. There's a vacation?

48:16No. Oh no, that's never a— I mean, no, a family thing and vacation are not the same. When she says it like that and has that face, somebody's gonna be watching this in her family going No, they won't. Okay, only Eric, and he understands. That's awesome. Oh my goodness. So yeah, we have to take that worldwide, and we can, uh, ride in Zeb's plane.

48:43World domination. Zeb has a plane? No, you haven't seen his imaginary plane that he puts on Facebook? I have not. Business. Oh my goodness, his world domination plane. I have to find it and I'll tag you in it a little later. Listen, but you know he's going to have that plane. Oh, he's going to get that plane. Brian too, y'all. Maybe they should like— what do you call it when you co-share a plane?

49:07Like you co-share the plane. I think that's just co-sharing. I think that's just co-sharing. Is that what it's called? I don't know. I don't have enough money to know. Yeah, I don't have enough money to know what that is, ma'am. No. You made it sound like I do. I don't. But Brian comes, he always solves, he always figures it out. If he said he's gonna have a plane, he's gonna have a plane.

49:29I don't, I do you, does it look like I stop him from anything? Please don't. Don't do that. Be his soft place. For the plane to land. For the plane. Yes, baby. Go get yourself a plane. I could take this conversation in so many ways right now, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna take it to the left. Let's take it. I feel like this should be a song.

49:55That's a song. Water. I'm boring, sorry. Yeah, naturally giddy. I just had my protein shake. Y'all know about that. So, premiere. Having to hide— I've had so much coffee being snowed into this house that I have to hydrate. By the end of the day, I'm like, why do I feel weird? All I know is it's very important that you make good decisions because 9 months from now, from now, you'll be, you know, I can't be nothing.

50:24I took care of that years ago. Or drinking wine. Okay, okay. Just making it be the second coming. So I have a dog. I got a dog. Yeah. I do want some chickens. Maybe I'll get some chickens in 9 months. Ew. They're so dirty. And stinky. They stink and they're so dirty and the dander from the feathers and— But their eggs are really good.

50:56They are really good. I got customers with chickens and they'll just bring me eggs and I'm thankful. That's good friends. Not when you have to do it yourself. Yeah. It's like, we have extra eggs. I know the boys want eggs. It's like, absolutely. Lola could add that to her plethora of things that she does. Like, literally, she's got the garden and the plants, right?

51:18And the— they help, they help kill all of the bugs that are around that hurt the plants. Okay, and that's the story you're gonna tell Eric? Yes, he knows. He just keeps telling me I don't have time. I agree with him. You don't have time for chickens. I feel like I could make some time. Chicken time. You know what, teach your daughter, right?

51:41Together. Well, she knows because she takes care of my mom and dad's chickens. She's a professional already. Yeah, and she, you know, she'd like some here. So some chickens maybe. All right, well, I just have a lot of coyotes around, and so that's like the problem. The coyotes and the raccoons. Oh, you'd cry every day. So that's— I really am not prepared to lose the chickens.

52:03You can't even let a bumblebee die. What would happen if a coyote got to your chickens? I have to call into work forever. Yeah, I'll be sad. Big sad. So I don't know. Yeah, that might be too traumatic for you. Don't do it. Maybe when my mom and dad can't take care of their chickens anymore. Last— how long do they live? Well, they only lay eggs for like 5 years, 6 years, and then they just live a little while longer.

52:33But a lot of times they're sick and stuff by then, so you just gotta like get rid of them. So you name the chicken? You just gotta get rid of it, you know. You live in the country, you just gotta get rid of them. Hmm. So yeah, we name them. Ironically, my daughter named them, and so they each have the name of one of the cousins.

52:58So that feels good when you're like, well, you know, LJ died today. Yeah, that's fun. Martha's gone. Martha's gone to the upper room. It's too much. This new batch is called like Bacon, Eggs, Sausage, Pancakes, and Waffles. Amazing. That's your child all day. She is so fun. She looks so cute. I'm just like— and are you having fun homeschooling still? Yeah. How much are you learning homeschooling her?

53:28Oh, actually, I did learn some things this week, and I was like very impressed with— yeah, I was like, wow, okay, now I'm getting a 4th grade education. This is exciting. Oh my God, look at you! You're going to graduate with your daughter. I'm so excited. Great. Yay! How long do you think you'll do that? Like, you think she'll do middle school or high school or Hopefully a long time.

53:49Hopefully until we're done. Okay. You know, or until like if she doesn't want, you know, like there's a moment that it becomes too difficult. I don't know, like on our relationship, if it ever became a bad strain. Maybe if Johnny had two apples. If you become that mama, it's time to like, you know, you can always have her like homeschooling with other kids too.

54:13She doesn't really miss the other kids. Oh, so she's good. And she goes to still other things, so like she goes— she's involved in stuff. So she goes to other classes like cooking class and skiing lessons and, you know, art lessons. So she sees other kids. Yeah, she won't be a weirdo any more than you. She's mine and Eric's kid. She's definitely— yeah, I'll say any more than— she won't be any more than a weirdo that she needs to be.

54:41Yeah, okay, got it. She'll be perfectly weird in her own perfect way. All right. So this is, this is an automotive podcast. It's not. I didn't want to brand it as that. I wanted to brand it for our automotive community, but the softer side, you know? But so Braxton's going to be like, why are you going so long on these podcasts? I think he wants me to do like an hour.

55:06So we've got 6 minutes. Okay. Like, but it's fine, we'll do it again. We'll do like 1,700 more times. So both of you have to answer this question. I need you to give advice to a beginning shop, a shop that's not doing financially well right now. Like, both of you guys have to offer one thing, or maybe two, something that they can do that's really cheap or free to start marketing in an effort to bring in more customers?

55:37Like, what's one thing that you can think of a struggling shop could do to kind of turn it around? Well, I'll go, Lola. You ready? I'm ready whenever you're ready. I mean, I want to give like some flowery, amazing, but it's very basic. And I'm just going back to what, what we did, especially when you threw in the low cost. Is you have to get involved in your community.

56:07And what I wanted to say was you're not on an island. I don't know who's listening to this yet. So I'm assuming it's people that know us, so they're probably involved in the industry. So I wanted to say go to an event, right? Go get involved in the industry, get connected, whatever that looks like. But that costs, that costs money because you got to fly there or whatever.

56:31Unless you are like North Carolina and you have that amazing, or the Midwest where you have those amazing chapters of networking groups and stuff. So low cost, feet on the ground. Let your community know who you are. Get involved, get engaged. Don't use excuses like I'm an introvert. BS. I don't care. Get over it. I said it, right? You just, you know, you know, the speaker today at the Ignite conference, I'm here with the elite.

57:00He talked about the growth is in the comfort zone, is just outside of your comfort zone. You got to get uncomfortable if you want to be a business owner. You want to thrive. You want to run a great shop. You want to do all the things, achieve your dreams. Well, guess what? You got to get out there and put your feet to the ground and go meet some people and network.

57:22And yeah, that's, that's what I have to say. That's basically free. Yeah. A little gas money. I mean, really, that's what I was going to say. You got to go door to door. You got to shake hands with everybody. Everybody has to know you. Yeah. You have to be everywhere. There's a time in your business when you have time, but not money.

57:42Yeah. Yeah. I believe that. I remember my NAPA representative. I tell people the story that when I got my first service advisor, it wasn't out of a need. For a service advisor. Something in me, and he knows this, Bill knows this, um, and his name is Bill, something in me said that I needed this older white male at my front desk for people to come into the shop.

58:03And then so I hired him, and he's great, still my friend, talk to him all the time. Um, and then I disappeared to the back because I thought he, he'd be the face of the business, right? Nobody told me that they needed old white men. That's just some crap I told myself. Um,. And then people were like, where's Tanika? Where's Tanika? And I remember Napa, my Napa rep said, you are the business.

58:24People are here for you. And I'm like, why? I hadn't accepted that. So just my face in front of the business was my free marketing. And I still do that today. I try not to do it so much because I still feel a little arrogant putting my face in front of the business. But I'm the legacy of my dad. People have, they know me, they love me.

58:43They know the kids, they love the kids. Just putting us on Facebook is so free. They're like, oh, look how big the boys are. When Santana was playing football, oh my goodness, I can't believe he's playing football. Like, when I stopped showing all the highlights and stopped sharing his scores and everything on Facebook, people would say, well, did he not have a game last weekend?

59:01I'm like, oh, you guys are really paying attention to this. So again, that's just free stuff, being in front, being in the community. And all the community work that you do, Lola, is crazy. I'm just I am— I'm gonna do Teeny Texts. I am going to take that from you. Oh yeah, I'm really ready to do that. I'll help you like with any of that.

59:18Yeah, I've pitched it to a couple customers whose kids I'd love to death, and they're like, yes, please do that. And so I'm excited about doing that. Hopefully it's as successful as yours. But, um, I am sure it will be great no matter what it is, you know. If you get to impact like one kid, it's better than no kids, right? We definitely have to get some kids in the industry, which is another thing that I'm passionate about.

59:42So ladies, this was so much fun. I can't wait for us to do it in our pajamas in Montana and make everybody jealous. And they're like, why are you in pajamas in Montana? Because we need a break. We are— we're going to Montana, ladies. So Kim, you get some rest. Lola, go do something fabulous. I know you're probably back there. I want to check my flowers down.

1:00:05You're going to check her flowers and then she's going to go writing. Mm-hmm. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. All right, ladies, I love you. I really appreciate your friendships, and we will see you later. Bye-bye.