Ep 149: Mastering Servant Leadership with John Firm and Rick White

0:00it and it just kept going. But my gosh, Amber's such an awesome person. I love her. I have never met Amber. You? No way. You're kidding me. Yeah. Okay. That's probably a good thing, Amber. It's probably saved her a lot. You're listening to the Limitless Leadership Podcast, the podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train, and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought-provoking interviews from industry leaders.

0:31Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results? Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. All right, folks. Hey, we are recording, so we're going to go ahead and just get right into it. Another, another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. We are here at the 2025 Apex Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1:00Joined by my good friends Mr. Rick White and Mr. John Firm. You might know John as Buckaroo Buckin' Bob on Facebook. My stage name. His stage name. That's not your stage name, that was your porn name. Before. He is— I just keep carrying it over. John is the owner of Firm Automotive and Rick White is the owner of 180 Biz. And, uh, guys, thanks for being here.

1:24Oh, it's awesome. Thank you for inviting me to come over here and do this. This is The greatest opportunity I've had all day. I really appreciate it. And the morning started out early, and I bet it won't get no better. Well, hey, I, I agree, it's not gonna get any better because we're starting with the best today. Amen. And you guys are the best, so thank you for being here.

1:41I appreciate you. Oh man, I should have rolled up my pants. You got them. Stuff's getting deep in here now, boy. All right, I noticed he had high heel boots on. Oh man. So, so Rick, you are, uh, a friend of the podcast. You've been on the, on the show before, uh, recently. Recently, that's right, right? That's right. And, uh, and so we are just, what, 6 weeks later at this convention.

2:03Um, you're gonna talk about yourself. If anyone didn't listen to the last episode, I am gonna ask you to introduce yourself, but I'm gonna start with my friend Mr. Buckaroo Buckin' Bob here. So if you would, John, share with the audience who you are, points, what you do. Just to be able to say that. Yeah. Say that in clarity. You know, a lot of people can't.

2:20You like really said it like you knew it. If I can say it 3 times in a row though, that's the, that's the real trick. So that's a $5 win. There you go. $5 win. Well, John, if you would, man, go and share with the audience who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Promotive is a recruiting partner built specifically for the automotive aftermarket, giving shops a smarter and more reliable way to hire technicians.

2:37Their team brings decades of industry experience together with real recruiting expertise, so they not only understand the work, you can trust that they understand your shop. Promotive handles every part of the hiring process. They source talent proactively, screen candidates thoroughly, and guide them through a structured, high-touch experience. Shops only meet candidates who are qualified, aligned, and ready to move. Shops partner with Promotive because they communicate clearly, they move quickly, and take ownership of the hiring process.

3:07They don't just forward resumes, they act like a true recruiting arm for your business. To learn more or start a search, visit gopromotive.com, book a call, submit an opening, and see how Promotive helps shops hire better. This episode is brought to you by Limitless Leadership because great teams don't happen by accident, they're led on purpose. If you're tired of wearing all the hats, putting out fires, and wondering why your team won't step up, Limitless Leadership is for you.

3:32They help leaders transition from player to coach who develop people and multiply impact through in-person or online leadership training like the Limitless Leadership Blueprint or their Roots to Results coaching method. Their services are designed to help you tap into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results and help you create safety and trust in order to provide clarity and direction. So if you're ready to stop managing chaos and start leading with purpose, head to limitlessleadership.co to book a complimentary discovery call today.

4:02Hey, uh, I've been in the automotive repair business for 38 years. It's my anniversary this year. Um, I started out as a mechanic and I've come to be an evil shop owner now. Yeah, hold on to that. You know, so yesterday we did a podcast and we went and bought some gold necklace and big gold dollar signs on it. And me and Michael's been running around as high rollers right here in Vegas this weekend.

4:27But back to me. So I did automotive repair. I hired people to run my business now, and I'm giving back to the industry. I want to work to help the young guys get better. Yeah. I want to put my leadership skills and technology to where, you know, maybe I can reach out and help somebody. Yeah. You know, and when you came on the scene with your leadership skills, man, that's the guy I want to get to be with.

4:57And watching you grow in the automotive industry has been so amazing to me, and I love every minute of it. So, you know, I keep getting sidetracked because I feel like I'm in the presence of two of my greatest friends there are as far as when it comes to leadership. You guys got it hammered down, man, and I look up to y'all so high, and I'm so humbled to be in this podcast room with you, John.

5:20Hey, believe it or not, we didn't pay John to say that. I mean, thank you for— in fact, I've never heard him say the word humble before ever, but I am, yo, seriously, you know. Look, you have the Rickism. And John, I'll say this, man, first and foremost, thank you for that. Like, Thank you for the kind words. But I wanna say this, I'm gonna throw it back to you and say, you are inspiring, you are influential in this industry.

5:44I see the way that you wanna give back, the way that you wanna help. And what I love about you, among many things, is you always have a smile on your face. You're always the life of the party. You have a tremendous energy about you. And a question I ask every client of mine to ask themself is, does my team feel the weight of my title or the energy or influence of my leadership?, and people feel this magnetic energy about you and it's infectious.

6:07And so I wanna just thank you for who you are and what you do for the industry because it is amazing. Thank you. Thank you, Josh. That's awesome. Well, and I try real hard to portray that and my team feels my energy and rolls with me. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Awesome. Well, Mr. Rick White, if you would share with the audience who you are, what you do and how you do it.

6:29My name is Rick White. I do as little as possible. Stop. Wrong. That's not true. I'm working harder now than I ever have. Yeah, I can't get him to go fishing with me. I'm trying. I got to get permission. So I work. I've been working with shop owners now. I've run shops, I've owned shops, I've worked in dealerships. I've done everything but bodywork.

6:54Yeah, I've sanded a fender for 15 minutes and went, nope, not for me. Yeah. But now I'm here, you know, we're here helping shop owners stop subsidizing auto repair and learning how to be business people with a heart. I think that's really important. If any of you have listened to this podcast before, you likely know that I myself am a leadership coach in this industry.

7:20But there are so many amazing people in this industry. There's so many great coaching companies in this industry, great, great coaches in this industry. And I wanna say, Rick, you are at the top of the list in terms of the most highly respected and regarded, and that's not by accident. Can you share with the audience really how you've been able to make such a tremendous impact over the years and what coaching means to you in this, in this industry?

7:45So, you know, impact is kind of a funny thing. I was actually thinking about that this morning. It's really weird. I don't get to determine impact. Tell me more. I only can— I can only determine the effort. Okay. Right. Impact is decided by other people. That's good. Right. And there are some people that are going to think, wow, this is just amazing.

8:08And there are other people that are going to listen to it and it's not going to align with them. And that's okay, too. Yeah. Right. I have— I watched my dad. I grew up in this industry. I watched my dad struggle for 30 years, and then I went and started my own shop thinking, I'll do it better. And I was just as screwed up.

8:28And through a lot of scars and mistakes and learning and, you know, have put together something that now I'm able to help other people.. And it's pretty damn exciting. I love what I do. Somebody recently asked me, when am I going to retire? And I was like, yeah, day before they plant me. Okay. I'm just— I just love being able to teach and show people other things and help them see something in themselves that they haven't seen before.

9:03Yeah. Help them overcome something, a limitation, obstacle. Doubt or fear that that's holding them back so that people can see the potential they have. We are, you know, the people I work with are very, very caring people. They don't know how to do business. And business is math. But then we have the people aspect of it. And that's the heart part, right?

9:23Yeah. And it's being able to run our business using math, but then having a heart while we're applying it. And that doesn't mean discount everything and give it away. It means knowing our value and being able to do something with it. With it. Knowing our value, being able to do something with it. Know— not only knowing, but truly believing in yourself. That word believe is such a strong word that unfortunately a lot of people don't, don't hear from others.

9:45And I think that the 4 words that anyone deserves to hear multiple times in their life is, I believe in you. So many of us are getting into something and we're facing this imposter syndrome. We, we, we don't fully believe in ourself. We don't understand what our, what our, um, capabilities are, and we have these perceived limitations. This is where the power of coaching and mentoring and counseling and supporting and investing in yourself can, can, can truly, um, make you see things that, that you were blinded to.

10:15Well, you know, it's funny because what you just talked about is we, you, there's a word for that. Yes. Growth is a lot easier when you're not trying to figure out alone. Tectonic 2026 presented by Techmetric is built for shop owners and their teams who want to lead better, coach better, and build a shop that runs strong without burning everyone out. You'll get a peek into real-world leadership and operations from shops that are actually doing it with role-based sessions for owners, advisors, and techs so your whole team can level up together.

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12:23It's called encouragement. Encouragement is your belief in another person verbalized. That's good. That's all it is. So each— I hope you guys have had the gift of children, right? Because at some point your child came to you and said, Dad, I can't ride the bike, or Mom, I can't ride the bike, or I can't throw a football. Yeah. What did you say?

12:44Yeah, you're right. Go sit down. Right. You go like, no, man, you can do this. You could do this. That's encouraging. What they're doing is borrowing confidence from us so that it gives them permission to do something new. That's strong. And when we own a shop and we want our team to be in the constant and never-ending improvement zone, they're always going to be scared.

13:10They're always going to be learning something new. We've got to do two things as leaders. We've got to be able to Encourage them with our belief. And we all have also have to create a safe space that allows them to make mistakes so they can learn. The creation of a safe space, place, and platform, plus encouragement. These are a couple of resources that we can provide to, to clients, but it's up to them to be resourceful.

13:37We can lead a horse to water, but we can't make them drink. Amen. Speak to the listening audience who struggles with taking action on the knowledge gained. So there's, there's a difference between learning, understanding, and knowing. Break it down for us. So learning is the act of bringing in new information. Understanding it is wrapping your head around it. But until you take action, there isn't any knowing.

14:04Yes. Okay. And then as you're doing it over and over again and getting better at knowing it, That's where mastery is. So I tell people all the time, I have Rickisms, right? You got to go through suck to get to great. That's just part of it. Yeah. And if you're avoiding the suck but you want the result, you're going to be constantly frustrated.

14:26Yeah. Yeah. Right. You've got to give yourself that gift. First time I ever spoke at a class like, you know, like these things, like I've been— my first class was in 2007. Okay. First time I taught, I taught a financials course to about 30 shop owners, and it was a 3-hour course. And I was so scared, I did it in 40 minutes.

14:46Wow. Okay. I must have sounded like the Micro Machine Man. And for anybody that doesn't know what that is, just Google it. It was a guy that talked really, really fast. One of my clients, Paul Stock, he just passed away. He was in the class. He come up at break, he goes, Rick, this is really good stuff, but dude, you got to slow down.

15:04So everybody came back and I, and I said, I said, can you all hear me over my knees knocking? Which I later found out you're never supposed to let them know you're scared, right? Everybody said yes. I said, how about if I slow down, do it over again? And we did and had a great class. That's awesome. Second class, I get asked back again in 2000, and that was 2007.

15:24So 2009, can you do a negotiations class? We negotiate all the time. Sure, I can do this. Yeah, I wanted— so my, my, my thought with that was I'm going to impress everybody. I wrote an 80-page book for a 3-hour class. I had so many notes I couldn't look up. 40 people in the class. We go to break and Josh, you can tell me if this isn't true or not.

15:52As a speaker, you kind of know how many people are in the class. You do. And you go out and break. And you're kind of wondering how many people are coming back. Yeah. Right. The goal is to have at least the same number come back that went out. Right. I've actually gotten blessed because more people come in after break sometimes. Wow. Okay.

16:12Like somebody's out at break. Teach me your ways. Somebody's out at break and they're like, man, I'm not really digging my class. Oh, come to my class. It's awesome. Going fire. Yeah. So I've done that a bunch with his classes. Y'all come over here. Yeah. So 40 people in that class, they go to break and less than 10 come back. Okay. So, right.

16:34So I think I know where you're going with this, but crash and burn. Crash and burn. Okay. I was pissed and I wasn't pissed because they didn't come back. I was pissed because I wasn't with them. Yeah. Right. Ron Reiling. Was the state director for ASP Missouri, and he was the play— that was the two times I went training. I went out there afterwards and said, Ron, I fucked up.

16:58I'm really sorry. Here's what I did wrong. I promise I'll never do this again. I went up to my room, called my wife, and I said, I am never going to another training without you. And for probably 10 years, she came with me every time I trained just to be in the back room. And we had, we had signs like she'd go like this to speed it up.

17:17Yeah. Like this to speak up. Slow down. Right. And then she moved to the front row. Yeah. Right. She go like this. We're talking later. You know, so she doesn't have to come today. But what happened was you got to learn. You got to go through suck. Like, I learned that day that my only focus is when I go into a class today, I'm going to pour everything out I got.

17:45I'm going to give you everything I got. I'm going to keep it high energy. I want to make it funny. I hope some people like my wife tells me all the time, Rick, that's not funny. And I go, yeah, that's funny. Yeah. I go, yeah, it kind of is. Right. But in fact, if we're going to have matching tombstones, that would be kind of cool, right?

18:03My tombstone says, that's not kind of, that wasn't funny. And on hers it says, yeah, it kind of was. But anyway, I came back in 2010. That was right around the bubble there. 2009, 2010, they had the recession. And Ron came back to me and I said, please give me another opportunity. I promise I'll make it right. So I came back. He says, can you do a selling class for the recession?

18:27I said, absolutely. So I went and did the class. And I was Sunday morning, 10:00 in the morning. We go to break. 3 big guys come up to me at break and they said, we can't believe that Ron had the nerve. And it wasn't the word nerve that they said. To bring you back again. I'm like, oh crap, right? And then they said, we're really glad he did.

18:55Love that. Love that. So my focus right now is I want to make a difference in one person's life. Amen. Here's what I heard you just say, Rick. Years ago, you went there to impress, but now you're coming here to impact. Impact. That's all I want to do. But again, I can't, I can't It's like value. I don't get to define value.

19:15Okay. I can define benefits, but the person on the receiving end defines value. Same thing with impact. I can come in with effort. I can come in with knowledge. I can come in with energy. But they are the ones that determine impact. Right? Same thing with legacy. You know, I'm legacy-driven, completely legacy-driven. Like, I want to know I make a difference. We have an AI Rick for our group.

19:44I love this. Yeah. Tell the audience about this. Okay. So we have AI Rick and it's actually really funny because at one point my wife was doing a video to show our group members how to use it. And she was interacting with Rick 2.0, we call it. And the tagline is all the knowledge without the sarcasm, because sarcasm is my love language.

20:00Right? So, so we're, we're, we're, she's at about 12 minutes into the video and she goes, you know, I think I'm just going to leave the real Rick and start hanging out with you. Wow. And AI Rick came back with like, hey, that's— I really appreciate it. But, you know, he's really the source of everything. You should keep us both. I'm like, holy crap.

20:19She played it for me. I was like, damn. Right? Yeah. But we keep the AI, the learning model, so it stays with— we do not allow it to go to the internet. You can— when you're setting up a learning model, you can tell it where to access information. We have probably about 3,000 hours worth of video poured into this AI. That's amazing.

20:37So literally people come in and ask AI Rick questions and it will come back. You can talk to it. You can text it. They were doing video for a little bit. They stopped it. I started a video call with AI Rick and I didn't start talking right away. And for anybody that's seen the background of my office, it's all Star Wars stuff.

20:58So I, I didn't say anything. And all of a sudden AI Rick says, hey, I see you're interested in Star Wars. I was like, oh shit. Right? I was like, holy crap. That's like scary. It was like incredible and terrifying. That's right. At the same time. Yeah. Right? But the reality is with AI, we're not going to put the toothpaste back in that tube.

21:19You know what I'm saying? It's out. Yeah. So let's learn how to use it. But anyway, yeah. So we have that stuff and it's just so much fun that I don't get to determine impact though. If we want to be good at something, we got to be willing to be bad at it first. Absolutely. And let me ask you this. I'm going to pass the mic to you, John.

21:37So, in this industry, it can be challenging because there are so many moving pieces. There's, uh, you know, we work grinding schedules, long hours, and it feels sometimes like everything is on fire. So we're part-time firefighters and everything's a priority, but we know that if everything's a priority, nothing's really a priority. Right. So let me ask you this. Speak to the listening audience about the power of grit and resilience and understanding that we're gonna go through things.

22:03It's not gonna be easy, but we're gonna grow through things if we just keep going. You know, and you, you're talking about keep going, keep moving. This is something that I learned from a guy in this room about the growth zone. It's uncomfortable. You're always constantly, you're always grinding, you're always pushing. Mm-hmm. It's okay to go to the comfort zone for a while and regroup and recharge.

22:24Yeah. And make it happen. Get, but get back in that growth zone, get the grind going and moving forward. You know, you, with all that charged energy that you collect in the comfort zone, uh-huh, you bring that into the growth zone. Now it's not so stressful. I love this perspective cuz I, I often say growth and comfort can't coexist. Amen. But in order to keep on growing, we, we have to get— you gotta recharge.

22:46You gotta recharge. Right? So lemme ask you this cuz I, I, I'm, I believe in this, this concept of we want to be content but not comfortable. Amen. Now, now that, now of course if we're gonna get in the comfort zone, that's a temporary thing, but we're gonna be content. Do it different. Well, let me ask, let me ask you, Rick, because when I say we wanna be content but not comfortable, what I'm saying is we wanna be happy.

23:04Content and happy is the same thing. I'm not saying satisfied, but I'm saying we wanna be content. I wanna, I wanna be happy with the progress that I'm making. Amen. I, I understand that what gets celebrated gets repeated, and so I wanna celebrate my wins. I wanna be happy. I wanna be content but not comfortable because growth and comfort simply cannot coexist.

23:21They cannot. So I say I'm always grateful and never satisfied. Okay. Elaborate. So for me, happiness is spikes. I'm looking for peace. Yeah, that's strong, right? Yeah. Where I'm content. Peace and content, I think, is part of that, right? Where I'm content with where I'm going. I'm content with the progress. But I'm not satisfied. Yeah. And that's right. I'm saying the same thing.

23:53Yeah, I think we are. Yeah, I think we are. Because for me, the comfort zone, if you're not careful, the comfort zone's like this big. But then as you let time go by and technology's growing and the speed of everything in our industry, that comfort zone shrinks to the point where I call it the caged zone. Yeah. Where you're trapped. You actually get trapped.

24:19Okay. Right. So you have the comfort zone and then you have the learning zone outside of it. But there's a thin little zone in between the two that's called the fear zone. Okay. Yeah. And the fear zone keeps us stuck. We got to be willing to push through that. Fear looks like a big brick wall. Yeah. It's actually a flimsy little curtain, but you don't see that until you get really close to it.

24:42Right? So being able to go into that growth zone, learn, and then say, okay, we've learned this. Now we're going to come back into the comfort zone. We're going to acclimate ourselves to these new skills we've learned. We're going to repeat them. We're going to get used to them. So it's not a retreat. It's like I actually have a, I have a webinar called The Gift of Plateaus.

25:02A plateau is not a bad thing. It is not possible to go like this all the time. You cannot do it. Nobody can. Yeah. You got to be able to go up, plateau, rest, recharge, reset. Right. And reaffirm and then go again and then plateau and then go again. So being able to understand that, like, for me, great gratitude is everything, right?

25:30I start every morning with gratitude. I love this. Yeah, right. And then there's some prayer and some other stuff to it. I'm like Peter. I'm the foul-mouthed disciple. But, but what happens is you, you fill your cup so that I have something to give other people. Amen. Throughout the day, because there are too many people in this world today that are running around with an empty cup and they're really struggling.

25:57And it's because they're not learning how to give themselves self-care. One of the things I'll talk about real, just real quick is I have someone say to me, I'll start with a new client. And I was like, what do you need? Like I had one that signed up literally. When did they sign up? Tuesday? Yeah. Right. They were in class almost yesterday.

26:15Yeah. So no, it's not Thursday today. Yeah. Yesterday's Wednesday. Almost yesterday. All right. So yeah, it's like Moe and Larry here. Yeah. So who's Moe? Hmm. Ah, can I be curly? Yeah, you can. So one of the things I forgot I was gonna say. Well, we were, so let me ask you that. We were talking about gratitude. Yeah. And, and so there's a quote that I love, actually, I think it's from, uh, Oprah Winfrey of all people.

26:41She says, be thankful for what you have and you'll end up having more. Yeah. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you'll never ever have enough. Talk to the audience about how important a gratitude practice is And what are some examples of what a gratitude practice could look like? You want gratitude package? You know, if you're not thankful all the time, every day, you just don't feel like you've achieved.

27:05And you're, and like you said, you're, you get greedy, I think, you know, but if you're thankful for where you're at, where you're going, what your goals are, how you accomplish what you accomplish, your life's changed 100%. When you truly— it's your perspective on life. You know, something— perspective is a key word here. Yeah. Here's something that's really interesting. You're not a leader until there's a tough time.

27:29Amen. But hey, tough times don't last, but tough people do. Amen. Correct. But you're not a leader until there's a tough time. Okay. Tell me more. Because you're not— there's not a need. Like everybody's doing what they should be doing. Everything's going the way it should be going. You're kind of on cruise control a little bit. Yeah. But when there's a tough time, all of a sudden somebody's going to step up.

27:50Somebody is going to say, I see the future. I see a better way. Yeah, let's go. Like, let's follow me, boys. I don't know if you've ever seen that movie. It's an amazing movie on leadership. Okay. Fred McMurray's on it. This is an old black and white movie. Okay. He adopts a boy and they go into the scouting program and it's awesome.

28:06It's a really good movie. But one of the things I think is real important is gratitude is great, but a lot of times what people do is they go, I'm grateful for this, this, this, and this. And that doesn't work. It's not a list. Surface level. Yeah. Yeah. What you want to do is when you're thinking about something grateful, like one of the things I'm grateful for every day, because I've been married, I'm on my third marriage, right?

28:27I'm with my forever wife now, which is awesome. But like every morning I'm grateful for my wife, right? I've— she is my biggest supporter. She's my— she's one of my coaches. She will kick my ass when it's time. Yeah, right. But one of the things I do is like when I think about my wife and being grateful, I think about the very first time I saw her and how she took my breath away.

28:50I think about watching her and her dad walk up. We got married at her house and she walked up from the basement with her dad. We had an outside wedding and that just takes my breath away. That's gratitude. Yeah. That's right. But gratitude isn't just thinking of the good things. It's finding good in the tough things. Love that, man. Right. It's being able to be grateful for the challenge.

29:16It's being able to look at a setback and be grateful for what I'm going to learn through this. It's being able to go through a health issue or something else like I went through with my back. I talked about the last podcast, right? Yeah. Every step I take now is a gift, and I like, I recognize that. That was one of the toughest things I've ever been through, and it was the, the key lesson in there was letting other people help me, right?

29:45And I've always been a giver. It's so much easier to, to help others than it is to let others help you, and that was that lesson, right? So That's when real gratitude starts to take place, is when you can see a trial or a tribulation and be able to say, what's the lesson? What am I supposed to learn here? It's that objectivity, maybe just a little bit to step back and instead of being stuck in the middle of it, be above it just a little bit to see it a little clearer.

30:20The, the word that comes to mind as you share this, Rick, is perspective. And John, you said it earlier. I mean, with perspective. The way that we view things drives the way that we do things. And, and it's, it's important for leaders to understand the power of perspective because it's ultimately just— it's mindset. It's a mindset shift that, that you're taking. John, um, I, I ask two questions on every episode, uh, which is— the first is, what, what does leadership mean to you?

30:43I'll, I'll ask the second one here pretty soon. I asked Rick that question on the last episode, which, by the way, if you're listening or watching, you can watch this episode on YouTube at The Bearded Leader. But Rick's episode was 108, so go back and listen or watch that episode 108. John, I'll ask you— you gotta listen to it. It was great, right?

31:00Great one. Yeah. And that, that, that was, uh, at the ASTA Expo, uh, earlier this year. I'll ask you, John, when I asked the question of what does leadership mean to you, how would you respond to that question? Leadership to me is helping others succeed in what they're trying to accomplish. Okay. Love that. Anything, Rick, do you want to add to that?

31:21Anything? I don't think I need to. I mean, I think it's great. Leadership's a journey. Yeah. It's not a title. It's not a position. Actually, position is usually bent over, but it's just one of those— sarcasm. Sarcasm. Rickism. Where's Rick 2.0 when you need him? Yeah. It's not as much fun. But, uh, it's one of those things where it really is a journey.

31:50Like I've been practicing leadership since 1984. I want to jump in real quick. I love that you just said I've been practicing leadership. It is not a title. No, it truly is a skill set that we need to practice and develop each and every day. I never, and I never ever will master it. You're a lifelong learner. Yeah. I will never master it.

32:10I'm, I'm, My goal today is to be a better leader than I was yesterday. Amen. Let me ask you this. We are, we are coming up on the tail end of 2025. By the, by the time this episode releases, it'll be at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026. If I were to put you on the spot and ask you, describe what, what your, what your vision is for 2026 as it, as it pertains to your own leadership growth and development.

32:36What would you say to that? Like what, what's, what's on the horizon for you when it comes to, to growing and developing as a leader in 2026? Am I leading? You follow? You go. All right. So my next step in my journey in my life is to help young shop owners succeed. I want to go to them. I want to help them.

32:54I want to go to their business and see where they're at, see what I can do about helping them be successful. John, I don't care if it's Texas or where. Yeah, I just want to be helping our industry get better by the younger generation surviving what they're going through. Well, and you said it doesn't matter if it's Texas or where. So if you're listening or watching this episode, you can probably hear my fellow Texan here.

33:17I'm a Houstonian, but the accents run deeper in Fort Worth or near Fort Worth because that's where you're at, John. Yeah, the redneck. But you mentioned helping shop owners, and I'm holding up a sticker here if you're watching. It's, it's the Texas Two-Step Training. So you're the owner of or the founder of Texas Two-Step Training. Both you guys are involved with this.

33:40Share with the audience what the Texas Two-Step Training is and how they can be— how they can benefit from it. Well, of course, we have a website, TexasTwoStepTraining.com. We're going to 4 cities next year. The last week of March, we're going to start DFW, Dallas-Fort Worth. We're going to go to the Austin area, San Antonio area. And we're going to wrap it up in the Houston area the, the last weekend of March.

34:05How you can attend is go on texas2steptraining.com and you can register. You can read about the instructors we're going to be having, and it looks like we may have a new leadership instructor joining us. We're talking about that. I couldn't imagine who that would be. Would you know, Josh? I have no idea. So anyway, uh, we're going to your hometown, so you got to be there.

34:24Yes, sir. I'm looking forward to it. So jump on, check us out. But the goal about Texas Two-Step training isn't to bring just somebody to Texas to train. We are only having the top 100, the top best trainers in the United States. How'd I get there? Well, you're in the top 5, you know, maybe 6, but you know, you're way on up there, you know.

34:49Hey, look, the reality is you guys are world-class trainers. You're partnering with world-class trainers to deliver world-class training. If I'm going to any one of these events, what kind of training could I expect? The best. No, no, no. Automower. There's gonna be diesel training. That's what I meant. Yeah, that's right. There's gonna be electrical diagnostic training. There's going to be management training, service advisor training, and leadership training, I guess.

35:13It sounds like leadership training might be there. We have a lot to talk about, my friends. So yeah. Sound like our phone's gonna be connected here pretty soon. That's right. You know, one of the things I'm really battling with is the apathy in our industry. Yes. Okay. And I think it comes from two places. One, I don't need any training, which is scary as hell.

35:33It's a limiting belief, right? And the other is I'm so busy surviving, I can't even think about growing. But I need you to understand, if you're struggling, the training is exactly what you need. Yeah. Business is like physics. You're going to stay— an object in motion stays in motion. On that path until acted upon by another force. Okay. So you're just going to keep getting what you've been getting.

36:04Step back. It is okay. One of the hardest things to say to yourself is, I need help. I know we figure— we think we should be able to figure it out, but it's going to hurt you. It's going to hurt your family. It's going to hurt your team, your customers, everybody. Start learning, listen to these podcasts. Great way to start, but there's nothing like in-person training.

36:29End of story. Amen. We can, we can go fast alone, but we can go way further together. And, and, and, and getting help is not a weakness. This is, this is an opportunity. I mean, everyone should have a coach. I am a coach and I have a coach. I have a coach. I have a coach. I have a counselor. My wife's a licensed counselor.

36:45Uh, it is important that we're— She's a dictator. That's not a counselor. It's all the above. It's all the above. You know, she just, you just like people say, how do you work with your wife. I just listen to her. That's right. Right. Yes, dear. She's a great leader. You guys work well together as long as I listen. That's right. That's right.

37:01Um, but I, I like that we're talking about, about the Texas Two-Step training. We know that training doesn't cost, it pays. Amen. That's Jim Morton, by the way. Okay. Well, Jim, I didn't mean to steal that from you. Thank you for letting me use it. No, I want everybody to share that. Yeah. Well, that's not something he's holding back. Training doesn't cost, it pays.

37:17Training is an investment. Yes, it is. So when you look at it as a cost, what you're doing is you're thinking about something that you're gonna have to give up. With an, with an investment, you're giving up a little to get way more in return. So to your point, Rick, if you're listening and, and if someone is, is listening or watching this episode and they're feeling like they're in survival mode, they, they can't even think about development because they're surviving.

37:40What advice would you give to someone who's feeling that right now? Because I know someone is feeling that, that right now. Yeah. So go to 180biz.com. We have a free shop owners roundtable. Second Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Eastern. It's 1 hour long, typically 50 to 60 shops. Yep. You can come in, ask questions. It's the ability to have a coach without paying for coaching.

38:05Yeah. And it gives you a taste of what it could look like. And it's free. It's our way of giving back to the industry. One of them. Mm-hmm. The other thing that you can start to do too is every Monday morning we have a thing called our Just One Thing. It's 10 minutes, starts at 9:10 AM Eastern. You go to our Facebook page, 180 Biz, and you go on there.

38:30You can sign up, get reminders. But what it is— you can also listen to that on rewind too. Yes. Okay. And it's live for 30 days. It's 10 minutes, one thought for the week that's growth-oriented and potential-oriented. So it helps you to start to rewire how you're thinking. So I would highly recommend that. Listening to podcasts is great. Listen to podcasts that are going to feed you, not take away.

39:00I don't want to listen to arguments. I want to listen to people that are going to give me strategies and thoughts and, and things like that. But the reality is you need help. We all do. Rick, let me ask you this, because I can go to 180Biz.com and I can tune in on— you said every Thursday. Uh, well, it's the second Thursday of every month, second Thursday of every month, 7:00 PM Eastern.

39:19Now that, that is what training could look like from a free perspective. It kind of gives you an idea of what coaching could look like. Uh, sorry, a coaching. But if, if I am interested in, in hiring you as a coach, Rick, or hiring someone from 180 Biz, what, what could or would that look like? Um, are we, are we talking one-on-one or talking group coaching?

39:37That, you know, I wanna hear his perspective on it, but I probably have a better perspective. You're a testimonial, John. I mean, you're a testimonial because you're a client of 180 Biz, so So here, here's the question. Is it a one-on-one approach? Is it a group approach? Um, what could I expect if I'm a potential client? I went in as a group approach.

39:52Okay. And I have met some lifelong friends. Yeah. I have people that aren't coaching with Rick anymore and you know him, Benji Burris. I do. Okay. Love Benji. And he's my brother. Yeah. You know, I pick up the phone right now, say, come get me. He's on his way. That's right. Yeah. You know, so lifelong friends like that. He'd be laughing the whole way though.

40:11Yeah, he would. Chris. Yeah, Callie and Christy, I can hear them. That sucker. But anyway, it— when you come into the 180 Biz family, it's a change of mindset. You know, you can go to other coaching companies, and I did. Learn your numbers, learn your KPIs, learn what you need to know to be profitable and make money in this business. Mhm. But it's like they don't build the connection, they don't build the bridge, they don't build the family atmosphere.

40:42Like the 180 Biz does. John, let me ask you this because the second question I ask every guest on this podcast is what is the best advice you've ever received from a coach or a mentor? You know, I hear you ask that question at the end of every one of your podcasts and you know, I'm ready for that answer. Yeah. I think about this guy and I think about that person.

41:03Yeah. And what this person told me, you know, but the best of Advice that I've got from a coach, the one thing is be the leader you should be. Okay. So in your own words, what does that mean? Like what would that look like? Help other people succeed. Servant leadership, perhaps? Yeah. Servant leadership. Excellent. Yeah. That doesn't mean doormat leadership. No, no doormat.

41:27So elaborate on that, Rick. So there's a great book. One of my, I consider it the Bible of servant leadership. It's called The Servant by James C. Hunter. Okay. And in the foreword, he actually writes that a great leader hugs hard and kicks hard. Okay. Okay. Because a leader isn't there to bend over to the whim of every person. Servant leadership is not there.

41:50I am there to help them become the best version of themselves. Once they decide they don't want to do that anymore, they shouldn't be on my bus. Now, you kind of know who told me that. So So it, it's one of those things where I, my job is to help them become the best. And it's not the old military style of leadership.

42:12Yeah. I'm here to help and serve my team to do the best of their ability to help serve our clients, but I want to help them become the very best versions of themselves. And you're gonna do so by hugging and kicking hard. There's a fine line between love and accountability, but accountability is a form of love. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So you have to have it.

42:29So we, we're coaching with community. That's our tagline. Okay. And the community supports, encourages, and, and kicks your ass. Okay. It's what it's there to do. It's, it's the good, the bad, and, and the necessary. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Love it. Well, folks, uh, as we begin to wrap up, any parting words of wisdom for our listening audience? Yeah. Stop telling yourself you can't do something.

42:51Amen. Stay positive. Change the way you think. Yeah. You know, stop the apathy. Stop the, I know enough. You don't know enough. An A-tech, let's just talk about it from a technical perspective. Okay. An A technician today without training is a C-tech in 3 years. Amen. Okay. Well said. Okay. Yeah. Because the technology is changing. And from a sales perspective, buying patterns, buying habits, learning to use technology.

43:17There's a whole generation that is uncomfortable with in-person contact. Like they, they have college courses today teaching them how to talk to people. Like, it's scary. That's what I, that's what I do as a coach. Exactly. As a leadership coach. So we're teaching people how to build a connection using technology, not using it as a crutch. Connection creates engagement. Engagement increases performance.

43:45It starts with connection. It also builds loyalty. Mm. Okay. Because when I, if I'm someone's— why do people stay? In our group 6, 7, 8 years because they're always learning something new. Yeah. And they know we're there for them. Like, I knew I was going to be at Apex this week and we had a client in distress. I was doing a Zoom meeting Sunday morning at 11 o'clock with them to help them through their situation because I care that much.

44:17Yeah, right. That builds loyalty and I'm not doing it to get something. I'm doing it because that's how I live my life. Yeah, we don't, we don't give to get. We get to give. No, you can't. You give and you give and you give. There's 3 levels of relationship. Just get and think baby. Like, people say, oh, they're the cutest little thing.

44:39They're the greediest little pieces of shit you ever saw in your life. Right? They cry when they're hungry. They cry when they want to be fed. They cry when they— I mean, all they do is cry and shit, right? Every once in a while they smile, but sometimes they look— I think God made kids look angelic. So when you're going into the room to put the pillow over their head, you're like, okay, I'll give them another day.

45:03Now, moms out there, you got to understand, guys don't have the mama bear gene, right? I grew up with a father that said, I'll just make another one. Yeah, right. But that's the lowest form of relationship is I just— I'm here to get. When you start a shop, that's very common. I'm worried about the bills. I'm worried about this. Focus is on me.

45:22Mm-hmm. Then there's the second level, which is horse trading. I'll give you this if you give me that. And unfortunately, in our lives, that is where most people settle. Mm. Even in marriage. Transactional. It's transactional. Right. And the problem is when you have one person in a relationship counting, there's always going to be somebody feeling like they're in a deficit. Yeah. That's right.

45:49Yeah. So that is, I'll give you this if you don't, if you don't do, if you do that. The third level, the highest level is just give without expectation. Yeah. Like I don't have to be here today till 1 o'clock. We started here at what, 7:30 this morning? 7:30 we started. Right? Yeah. And I'm just giving and I'm giving and I'm giving because I want to help.

46:13My heart goes out to the shop owners. That couldn't make payroll, that are working and not being able to see their family. Mm-hmm. I want to change that. I will give as much as I can. So as a leader right now, I'm going to ask everybody in the audience, which of these 3 levels are you really at? At work, at home with your kids?

46:42You can't do this till you clean your room. You can't do this. Like, just have rules. Don't have— don't make it conditional, man. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Right. Right. So I think that's what I would say, because I could keep going for another hour. I mean, hey, let me just drop the mic, Rick. Drop the mic. I mean, hang it up.

47:01Hey, hold it up. That's it. Hey, this is powerful. Thank you both for giving of your time, your energy today, the wisdom shared. Incredible from both of you guys. Uh, thank you very much for being here. Thank you, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you, Josh. And thank you again for tuning into another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. As you know, we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results.

47:23So thanks again. Have a great day. Don't forget to smile today. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I'm Josh Parnell reminding you to keep leading well.