Ep 163: The Culture Every Business Owner Wants to Build with Edward Caswell

0:00Uh, we're not perfect, uh, but we definitely try our hardest to just love on people and, and use the platform God's given us no matter what's going to happen. That's what Jesus did for us, right? He put himself on a cross. He came down this earth. He took all the things he didn't want. That he didn't want the abuse. He didn't want to be sacrificed, but he did it for me and you, right?

0:17He did it for every person that's going to watch this. If it's about you, you're already wrong, right? Because Christ didn't come to the earth for him. He came to the earth for you and me. 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.

0:42Are 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. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. Before we get started, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, do all the things you need to on social media to help this podcast impact people and build leaders just like the one I have sitting in front of me today.

1:15My friend, I fairly, fairly new friend. We met at Vision, uh, in person. We've been following each other on social media for a minute now, but Um, love that we finally got you on the show, Edward, because you are doing some incredible things for our industry and really just for the world. I'm just gonna say it. I'm just gonna put it out there because you are building disciples for the kingdom of God.

1:34And we're gonna explain what that means here in just a second. But my guest today is my friend. He is the owner of Full Throttle Automotive and Fast Lane Automotive— Fast Lane Auto Repair. Automotive. Sorry, I'm butchering it. Okay. Auto repair. Anyway, my, my friend, my guest is Edward Caswell. Edward, thanks for being here, man. Man, thank you so much. It's, uh, there's been some pretty awesome people on here.

1:56I, I, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, taken aback for the opportunity for you to ask me to come on. And, and, uh, I love what you're doing, man. I told you that when I met you at Vision. I love what you're doing for this industry. I love how you're sharing God's love. I love that you're speaking up and, and, um, just trying to make this whole thing better.

2:13And it's a big deal to me. And, and that's what we're about. Uh, we're not perfect. Uh, but we definitely try our hardest to, to just love on people and, and use the platform God's given us. Preach, man. Well, thank you for that. I, I'm, I'm really excited for the audience to get to know who you are, what you do, and how you do it.

2:28So with that being said, man, the floor is yours. Go ahead and share with our audience who you are, what you do, how you do it. All right, folks. As you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best. It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop success. It's about putting the right team in place. It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro, making pro moves.

2:48And when I think about the pros, I think about Shop Marketing Pros. The know, like, and trust factor, that's a real thing, and Shop Marketing Pros understands that. That's why I wanna recommend Shop Marketing Pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know, like, and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know, like, and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level.

3:11So when I talk about making pro moves, this is the kind of move I'm talking about. This is the kind of standard-setting partnership that's going to elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. All right, um, well, this could be a long story. I, I— you said there wasn't a big window here.

3:32Um, so, uh, You know, starting out, I actually was a school teacher. A lot of people don't know that. I started out as a school teacher in 2004. I was a school teacher for 11 years. Loved being a school teacher. Absolutely loved it. But with school teacher comes a lot of politics and a lot of things that I like black and whites.

3:56I don't like a lot of grays. I got a rig painted gray. What am I talking about? I don't like a lot of grays. And I just started to get frustrated and, uh, ended up me and one of my, uh, students started the business together in 2014. And, um, we didn't know what we were doing. We were blind. We were running blind and just fixing cars.

4:18We knew we had to— we knew how to talk to people and interact with people. Not a follower of Christ at that time. And, you know, was just trying to be nice to people and fix as many cars as we possibly could. And losing money. Uh, and my wife pushed me to do that. Uh, we were working on cars in our, in our, at our house, at our garage, ended up with like 10 cars in the parking lot.

4:38She's like, Ed, we're done. You're starting your own business. So she pushed me to do it. She, you know, saw, saw that we could do this, or I was capable of doing it. I didn't quite see it myself, but, um, so we took off running and, uh, we operated out of that, uh, 2-bay store. We had a little 2, 2-shop— well, it was 2 It was 2 and a half.

4:55One of the bays was cut in half so you could have an office. Um, so it was, it was rough. And, uh, we worked tons of hours, me and Dakota. Dakota, we refer to as our son. Um, we took him in and lost his father, um, when he was in high school and we ended up bringing him on board. Sorry, I get emotional easy, man.

5:14Uh, just, he's such an amazing young man. Uh, not young anymore. He's 30 now, but at that time had just lost his father and we ended up bringing him in and working together and we've grown this business together. So I got to give a lot of respect to him, but Uh, we took off running and run out of a gap, moved to a gas station, old service center, like old school service center, better demographic for a customer.

5:35We operated there for, uh, 3 years or so, and then dead middle of COVID you know, what do you do? You go buy a 16,000 square foot shop and, uh, you know, just muscle it, right? So we gutted the— did all the work, gutted it. It was an old gym Uh, God put this together, orchestrated it perfectly. We were looking for a property.

5:56We actually put a purchase agreement on the property right across the road. There was some hiccups, found out I wasn't gonna be able to put a shovel in the ground for a year. COVID hits, the gym opens up. So we ended up with a freaking amazing building. Like it is top notch, like to, to be able to get it. I couldn't have built it.

6:13We didn't financially, weren't in a position to do that. But, uh, so we started here in 2020. Um, running blind. Uh, you know, $3 million company blind and, uh, ended up going to Vision, uh, 2020, I don't know, 2022, maybe somewhere in there. Went to Vision, sitting in an owner's class, found out real quick that I had no clue what was going on.

6:39Uh, what's COGS and what's this and what's this? I'm going, and I came back mad. Oh, okay. Super upset. Like I came back, my wife's like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, I know nothing. I'm failing everyone, you know? Um, was very worked up. And, um, also at that same time that was going on— and I'm very transparent, I don't know if you heard any of the testimony— very transparent.

7:01Uh, I was in a very deep, dark place. Um, I had been building, running a business, building a brand new shop, working 70, 80 hours a week and living on the crutch of my youth. I'd been abused when I was young, um, emotionally, sexually, physically, all kinds of stuff had happened. I'd come out of child Child Protective Services, ended up getting adopted by my grandparents.

7:22So I grew up in a rough situation, and for so long I just lived on that crutch, right? Like, my sexual idolatry, sexual sin, addiction struggles that I've had that a lot of us have as men, um, it was deep and dirty and dark and ugly. Um, ended up coming out and telling my wife, like, hey, I'm a cheater, I'm a broken person, I have done things wrong against you, I've sinned against you.

7:44I had to come out in front of the shop and talk about that. And, uh, man, rocked my world. About lost it all. And, uh, my wife, my wife, she, she, uh, replicated Jesus that I never felt before. Before, uh, it was always conditional, or, you know, conditional love— how I performed, how I was, how I did in a football game, how I did in a basketball game.

8:13And for the first time in my life, I saw a woman hate me in the moment, right? She wasn't happy. She was very upset, obviously, and destroyed her world, wrecked our family. Um, but you know what she did? She looked at me and I'll never forget it. She said, Edward, I know the man you're supposed to be. You don't get it. She's like, and I know you can be that person.

8:37She's like, I'm not telling you we're staying together, but I'm going to war with you. And she did, man. Like, running a shop is hard enough without juggling 5 different tools that don't talk to each other. TechMetric is the all-in-one auto repair platform that brings every part of your business together— shop management, payments, and marketing— in one place with one login and one team behind you.

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10:38I tell you what, man, you're giving me goosebumps. And, um, and now I'm thinking Brandy should have been on this podcast with you. Um, she's a, she's a beast. I'm telling you, like, I'll tell you what, Edward, you know, one of the questions that, you know, I ask every guest on this podcast is, what does leadership mean to you? And I'm going to ask that question later on.

10:59It's going to come. But one of the questions I want to ask you, and you might you might have just answered it. What does being a Christ follower mean to you? Because, and here's why I'm asking this, I think Brandy modeled what, what it's like, but in your own words, how would you answer that question? Yeah, I mean, you got to look at Hosea, right?

11:19Like, that's who she was in that situation, right? Uh, she, she, like, Gomer was out cheating, doing all these things, and this is biblical, right? And she did, she stuck to her guns. Like, she was like, I got you. We're going to fight through this. We're going to make it work and God's going to honor it. And he's going to use this testimony and he's going to use this testimony to change people.

11:38And it was, man, I mean, I'm getting goosebumps. I can't talk about it without getting upset or goosebumps. But yeah, you know, when I say that, it's that like you love people no matter what's going to happen. That's what Jesus did for us, right? He put himself on a cross. He came down this earth. He took all the things he didn't want, that he didn't want the abuse.

11:56He didn't want what we went through. He didn't want to be sacrificed, but he did it for me and you. Right? He did it for every person that's going to watch this. And my wife replicated that, man. Like, she is like, this hurts, but I know we can make this happen. I know it's going to be legacy-changing. It's going to change the dynamic of our family if we can get through this.

12:15And she served— like, she has a servant's heart. She was teaching me that, like, hey, I'm gonna serve you. I'm gonna love you. I'm gonna care for you no matter what the situation is, even though it doesn't feel good. And, and that, that's what we try to do here. I mean, you know how it is. Automotive's hanging and banging. It's busy and it's running and gunning and, and emotions get riled up and things happen.

12:37You get frustrated customers because you're not perfect and all of these things happen. But at the end of the day, we, myself as the leader of the company and my wife, the leader of the company, and then all the people that trickle down from there all have to understand We're going to love every person walking in the door. Doesn't matter, black, white, yellow, green, mad, upset, frustrated, whatever.

12:59It's okay. And that's where we really just try to keep our focus. And, you know, I can say I could read the Bible until I saw that in, in works of my wife. I didn't get it. I really didn't, man. Like, I'd been abused and all those things that had happened to me. I couldn't understand a love like that. And then once I saw it, now I see it all the time, Christ doing it and using it.

13:20And I have so many testimonies of that, that I've just saw it day after day, week after week, and of God just doing miraculous, huge things that only God can do. It isn't coincidental. So, well, you know, we, we can't have a testimony without a test or a message without a mess, and you absolutely have both. And, and the, the beautiful thing about this, Edward, is now you're able to model for your guests, for your team, that kind of Christlike love.

13:48Um, it, the same can be said though, even in leadership, as we transition, um, into leadership, there's so many people who have never worked for an impactful, influential leader. Um, and the, the way that you get to model that is incredible. And you're not just changing the people, changing lives in that shop. You're not changing the— I mean, you're, you're changing lives in this industry.

14:11And, and again, when I say you're changing the world through, through this because you're furthering God's kingdom. If I, if I were to ask you, how, uh, how does your faith play a role in your business? I, I, I do. And by the way, I'm intentionally segueing into this because of what you're doing, um, on, uh, even this evening. And so I'm gonna ask you to share with our audience what you're doing this evening and what this has looked like over the, the last, uh, few, few months, few years, however long you've been doing it.

14:37Yeah. So I got challenged. Uh, I wanna, uh, there's a little snippet of this that we can't miss. So My wife pushed me. Uh, I developed relationships with men for a men's group, and I had a mentor that come alongside me. Josh, he's big. He's the biggest Filipino guy in the world, 500-pound bitch. And we would meet on Tuesday nights to hold me accountable, to talk to me, to love me, and, uh, to talk to me about Christ, to apply, you know, Christian principles and Jesus principles into my life.

15:06And I started to make changes. And every time we got done, I'll have to listen there. Every time we got done, he'd look me straight in the face this close and he'd say, are you lying? And it was a level of accountability that I hadn't had also. You know, my wife didn't need to carry the burden. It was my burden that I had to work through.

15:22So I didn't put that off on my wife. I found men to surround myself with. So that's how this whole thing started. So every other Tuesday I met with him and the other Tuesdays we went to a men's group at our church. And, um, after some time of, of growing and maturing and, uh, moving along in my Christian walk or my faith, uh, it was time for me not to, to be the receiver, but to be a disciple for Christ and go out and get to work.

15:49And what happened was we decided to open the business up for, um, at the time it wasn't at the business, actually it was at our house in a garage. Um, but over, over some time, the cool dynamic of just coming to automotive shop with no faith attached, nothing to it. It's like, hey, we're gonna come talk about God, we're gonna read the Bible, and we're gonna meet here.

16:08And these men that just keep coming in and coming in and coming in— we've had 20, 20-plus quite often. Um, you know, in the spring it slows down a little bit because everybody's busy with sports, but in the winter we'll have 20-plus people there. And, and for a while it was like a feel-good thing, but now it's a feel-good thing that we read the Bible and apply those principles to what we're in right now.

16:28We're going to be reading in 1 Peter chapter 2 today. So I decided to start using the business as a platform and I got challenged on that. And this is that little snippet that you have to know. So one day I was in here working and I don't know if you've heard this in my testimony before, but I know other people hadn't, but there was a, I was in here working, a really big burly guy was in here getting his truck fixed.

16:47I'm talking, this guy's huge, like 6'4, 300 pounds, scary, tatted all up. Like, you know, um, you know, he's in there just riled up in the front office. And, um, a, a lady, actually a principal, her name's Danielle Owens, came up to him and said, hey, can I pray for you? And he said, no, get away from me. And I was like— and I was standing there, right, scared, soft, whatever.

17:15I didn't stand up. And she said, well, you know what, I'm gonna go pray for you right now. Went and sat down. That was on a Wednesday. And Sunday she had the principal walk at church and just come straight at me and put her finger in my face. She said, Edward Caswell, you need to use that business, what God given to you for the platform you're given.

17:35You need to step up. And I was like, whoa, whoa. Yes, ma'am. I'm not a small guy. And I was, I was like, yes, ma'am. You're right. You're 100% right. And man, I just got really challenged in that moment. To, you know, I'm not going to say every person walks through, I'm like, Jesus loves you. It's not how it is, right? But what every person that walks in the door, we want people to know that we love and care for them and that every person that's going to be involved here, that they go, you know what, even if things go completely wrong and it's terrible, they, they try to care for us in the best

18:11way we could. And, and they just step up to the plate when they're wrong. They own things. We don't try to push things off. I mean, I just ate a huge ticket. It was on something stupid. And I just told the customer, I said, if I was wrong, I'll write the check right back. This is how we do things. Yeah. So, you know, building that trust and, um, rapport with the customers and loving and caring for them on a much deeper level than just transactional.

18:34That's, that's what we built this on. You, you shared something that's really powerful and, and I don't want to glaze over this. When, when Danielle Owens challenged you a few days later after that guest came in on a Wednesday and she saw you on Sunday, marched right up to you, finger in your face, eye to eye, and said, use this as a platform to further God's kingdom.

18:57What we get to do is we get to serve people, love people, take care of people, and we do this through the vessel of automotive repair. But here's the message that I don't want anyone to miss out on is this: that is accountability, and accountability is not calling you out. Accountability is calling you up. And ultimately, there are so many people who, who are missing the opportunity to be called up because they receive coaching as criticism, condemnation, judgment.

19:22They don't receive it as feedback. And they start putting up walls. Yeah, that's right. Walls go around things. And there's a great book by Don Miguel Ruiz. He wrote, he wrote a book called The Four Agreements. And one of the Four Agreements is don't take things personal. And it's so challenging for a lot of us to take things personal because you could have easily When, when, when Miss Owens went up to you and challenged you and held you accountable like that, you could have, you could have taken it personal, gotten defensive, put the walls up like you talked about, and just went on about your day.

19:51But it was that moment. There's a lot of core memories that we have. There's a lot of moments in our lives that we have that, that'll— if, if, if we're listening, because that could have been God speaking through her. And if we're listening, if we're not capturing that opportunity, that, that's an opportunity to be called up. And that's exactly what you did.

20:06So I wanna commend you for that. That's, that's powerful. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. So if I were to ask you, Edward, to, to answer the question of what does leadership mean to you? How would you answer that question? Serving. That's where, I mean, that's where it starts and stops. Yeah. If it's about you, you're already wrong, right? Because Christ didn't come to the earth for him.

20:26He came to the earth for you and me. And, and that's what he, that's what we do. So when we can wrap our head around the fact that the people that walk in this door, we get the opportunity to serve them. We get an opportunity to serve them. They're not doing something for us. We're doing something. We get the opportunity to do it for them.

20:45When we can get that and the people that work for you, every person that walks the door, I don't care if it's a parts delivery person, I don't care if it's anybody that's going to come in that door, should just know, hey, there's cookies up front, go grab a cookie. Hey, there's snacks up there. You need a drink? Like just loving and caring for people.

21:02And, you know, I've always tried to be that leader that eats last. I always try to be the leader that makes sure things are taken care of. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. Again, I'm not saying I'm great at it, but over time that's just developed, uh, because I see the impact it makes. And, you know, even try it sometime. Everybody try next time you're gonna eat, you go out to eat with people and, or you have your team and you have your thing, wait and eat last, then clean up everybody's plate.

21:32It's powerful. John Forrest did that to me. Okay. In a— NHRA, the legend, the king of all, right? I'll never forget, I was sitting in— I got Advance, uh, um, invited by Advance Auto Parts to sit with them. He comes out in the middle of drag racing, walks around the whole room, and takes everybody's plates and throws them away. Um, and I was like, man, there's something about— it's the only thing I remember.

21:57So some people might be thinking, that's the last guy who I would expect to be doing this, right? It's like Michael Jordan walking in and cleaning up your food. Yeah, like just NHRA. So, you know, I saw that and that was very impactful. And I've seen these things over time of it, and it's so cool to see when somebody will put themselves second to serve the next person, no matter where they're at.

22:17GS Porter, person walking in the door, it don't matter who it is. You just gotta love them. You gotta love them. They gotta know you're gonna show up well and care for them and, and, and talk to them and make a deeper connection than transactional, and they walk back out Well, you, you, I mean, you make it evident that, that every person matters.

22:33And, and there's, you know, I, I'm a big believer in the concept of the way that we do anything is the way we do everything. And the way that you serve your team, the way that you serve your guests, the way that you take care of your shops, the way that you, uh, take care of your facilities is a, is a big deal.

22:48In fact, it is, it is such a big deal. And, and the industry recognizes how big of a deal it is and how good you guys do it because at Vision, you guys won phys— and you, you're not gonna mention it 'cause you're modest. Uh, but I'll say it for you. You guys won Facility of the Year. And here's the— here's what, what I loved about this, and this gave me goosebumps when I saw this.

23:06When you guys win Facility of the Year, it has, it has, uh, you and Brandy's name on, on the screen, but you had 40-ish people march up there on stage with you representing your brands. That is— that's powerful. And, and, and here's the thing, that same day I met a large majority of your team And it's very evident that the way that you lead people through your servant leadership, it is infectious because your team makes me feel heard, understood, acknowledged.

23:37They make me feel like they care and I know it's coming from you. So that's testament to your leadership. Thank you. Yeah. Speechless. Yeah, we didn't know we were getting that award. So, um, you know, and that's what the important thing is. It didn't come down to me and Brandy. It doesn't come down. It comes down to every person who was on that stage that was part of our Fast Lane crew too.

23:58Too. You got to remember, I've been disconnected. I was disconnected from Full Throttle starting these new shops. And, and to just see the, the people— Dakota and Josh and Walter and Nick and all of our leaders— like leveling up. And, um, you know, we're going through a tough time right now and leadership's being tested. We got a lot happening at the shop.

24:17Uh, it was good. It was, it was really good to— for that acknowledgment. I'm grateful for that. Again, it just creates platforms every time these podcasts and all these things, you know. I did one with Aaron Stokes and Aaron's like, pray over the whole industry right in the middle of the panel. Oh, okay. But as these things come again, it's what Daniel goes back to, is these platforms just get created because we're honoring Christ in our actions the best of our ability.

24:42Again, man, it was, it was cool to, to win that award, uh, because I don't need to be better than anybody. That's not what it was about for me. It was about all those people, those 44 people or whatever walked up on stage, for them to like, hey, I'm a part— we're a part of something. Yeah. Uh, and it's just different, you know?

25:03It, it's just not the same as what it was when I worked at other shops. And that, that's what I care about. I think you just said something that's real key too, because it, it's that they're a part of something. And a lot of us will go to work and this work is our job, and we go to, to do our job and then we go home.

25:18And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but ultimately When you can create an environment that is bigger than ourselves, bigger than that person, where there's greater purpose. Ultimately, purpose trumps motivation. There are days that we're just not motivated. Like, we're, you know, we're tired. We got things going on. We got life happening, and people are gonna people, and leadership is a full-time job.

25:37It's, it can be challenging, but there's greater, there, there's, there's a, when there's a greater purpose, when we understand our why, when the why is clear, the how becomes easy. Um, That's, it goes a long way. And, yeah. And, and when I saw your entire, I mean, everyone who was there, uh, at Vision from your team went up on stage. Uh, and, and by the way, I, I cannot be the only one in a room full of, I mean, there was thousands of people in this room.

26:03They all noticed this, like they all saw it and they all recognized like, that is what I'm trying to build. Like it, to me, that should be a light bulb for everyone. It's like that, that team gets culture. That is important. Like culture can, can truly make or break your organization and it's gonna keep the good people there too. So, um, yeah, anyway, we're, we're, yeah, culture, culture's key.

26:27We're, we're in the middle of growing pains and some things, you know, uh, you're gonna ask a question later and I won't throw 'em all out here, but man, I got challenged this past week. I got the opportunity to go out to Colorado and visit some operators and seeing what they're doing and, and, uh, Yeah, culture can get rocked quickly. Yeah, you gotta, you gotta keep your, you gotta keep your hand on it.

26:46And, um, you know, you get caught in the weeds, you get busy, and the next thing you know, culture slips. And we had some of that, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, we had some of that happen. And, um, we're really pushing ourselves, our leaders and myself right now to go, okay, that's not how we do things. That's not what we do.

27:00We didn't change how we pro— like customers don't walk in the door and feel it, but man, a culture in the shop, I had to go love on some people and I had to like pick them up and give them a hug and be like, man, I'm sorry that I haven't been available, you know. I'm sorry that you feel this way. I'm sorry that these things are happening.

27:16And, and, um, acknowledging that they hurt, right? They, they miss the relationship and interaction. So my wife's, uh, brought up to me a while back— and you're gonna say, well, you know, I hear people all the time, owners and stuff, they're like, you don't need to be a part of it, you raise leaders up to be leaders. I agree, but I also have relationships with people who work for me.

27:38Yeah, I mean, I do. I have really— I have relationships. And do I go hang out with them every weekend? No. But I guarantee you that the people that work here know, phone call, we're gonna get it done. Like, that's just how we are, and we're gonna work together and make it happen. So, man, when you go through that culture shift and things happen, and sometimes you don't see it happening, man, it's, it's tough on your team.

28:00It's tough on you when you, when you catch it. Well, they're like, man, I didn't know. I didn't know. And, uh, yeah, it's been a different dynamic over the past, uh, past, past few months, but I'm just glad that we're kind of bringing it back together and the right people are falling in the right seats and we get to push leaders to a different level than they've ever been.

28:18So there's, there's a lot to be said when, when the, when the leader becomes extra intentional and starts focusing on connection before content and the people before the process, but before the process and even the people before the profits. Because we know that we connect through authenticity, humility, and vulnerability. Well, we know that connection creates engagement, and engagement is one of the key factors in increasing performance.

28:40And it's easy to get lost in the weeds. It's easy because we don't have time. I'm throwing that in air quotes. We don't have time. And the respectful challenge or encouragement is we gotta make time. We gotta make time for our greatest assets, which are our people. And so, when we make time for our people, we're, we're able to be connected in a way where where we see the engagement.

28:59And, and, and by the way, you know, I wanna go back to something you shared, which was, you know, you got a lot of shop owners who might say something like, well, you know, you, you raise up your, your team members to be leaders and then it's almost like a, all right, I'm done. I kind of did my part, like they're leaders.

29:11But you and I both know, Edward, um, it, it, it doesn't stop there. And this is even why, why you are a part of, um, uh, uh, networking groups and communities. I mean, uh, I mean, I think it's okay to say like, you know, ShopFix has been a big, part of your life. Uh, there, there's been a lot of folks, uh, in fact, even a lot of our clients are ShopFix, uh, clients.

29:29And, and a lot of folks that I work with were even in Colorado this week. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because there is a lot to be said about surrounding yourself with people who are going through the same things that you're going through. Can you speak to the power of the relationships that you formed over the industry? Yeah. I mean, how do you have growth if you— it's always easy to be the big fish in a little pond.

29:52Mm. Yeah. I mean, it's easy to come around and beat on my chest and tell you I'm the greatest. There was, there was a man that did that sitting right in front of you that, that had the ego, uh, and ignorance at the same time, but ego was trumping everything. Now, as, as, um, time has went along, ego's subsided. I'm getting a little older, a lot more gray, hurt a little more.

30:15Um, and, and now it's like, Man, there was so much ignorance in the way that I operated. So now it's like the humility to be able to, to go beside these operators and go, you know what? There's something I'm going to take away from this. That's powerful. And to hear them, man, just this past week, we went to a couple of shops there and the owner's like ability to pull the most out of his leaders.

30:40I was like, oh, and like, he has some work to do. But to say that, what I'm really into, if you don't know what winning is because you're the big fish in a little pond and you stay in your little box, you don't really know what it looks like to make your— to help your team grow because you don't even know the opportunities.

31:04You don't know what successful— like success in the automotive industry could potentially look like. You know, I got the— I got a, a, a nice shop, but what if I don't know anything about equipment because I don't surround myself with people that are using those tools? Same thing when it comes to leadership, equipment in the building, same, you know, all of those things over intertwined.

31:27Um, so it's just been one of those things that you're number one getting exposure. That's what Vision did for me, right? I thought I was great, man. I'm running a $3 million shop. I'm awesome. And then I go to Vision, I go, I'm an idiot. Oh, what's net profit? Oh, and, and it was so eye-opening that it made me mad. And it made me— the next year I went back to Vision.

31:48I was like, I could— I'm ready to teach. Like, let's go, you know? Because I had really dug in because I surrounded myself with people in the industry that was ahead of me. There's something about that, right? Like, yes, it's powerful to have enough humility to go, man, I can tell that guy— it happened to me this week. I was sitting in a room with some of the Biggest hitters you've ever met and amazing owner operators.

32:11And I'm sitting in that room just soaking it up, man. Just 50 people in there, 50 different shops sitting there just with a smile on my face thinking, man, like, this is the best opportunity I could be in right now. I almost didn't go because of our circumstances at work. And I am so grateful that I took the time to make it happen because I picked up on so many little nuggets from each person.

32:33Uh, people that are ahead of me, meaning like not just financially, I'm talking about years ahead of me that have went through some of the struggles. Um, you got to surround yourself with those people. You got to get pushed out of your comfort zone. That's so good, man. We got to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And if you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.

32:52Um, you know, I love— I'm good with being a little fish in the big pond. It's all right. I can, I can deal with it now. A few years ago I couldn't. Edward, I, I love that you mentioned humility. You know, earlier I said that we connect through, uh, authenticity, humility, and vulnerability. I think my favorite quote on humility is from C.S.

33:08Lewis. He says, uh, humility is not thinking, uh, thinking of yourself less. It's, sorry, it's not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. And that really is what servant leadership is all about. It's not about us. And you said that earlier. It's like, look, it's not about me. It's about my team. It's about my guests. It's about people who I get to serve.

33:25Um, you know, there's a couple more questions I wanna ask. Uh, one is, can you, can you elaborate on, um, you know, for, for me as a veteran, uh, I was accustomed to positional leadership, which is like anyone outranks you, you just, that's, you just do it cuz you're, you're told to do it. But that's more telling and not teaching. And servant leadership is this concept of, um, you know, give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, or teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.

33:50And as a servant leader, you get to teach your team. You're modeling what leadership really looks like. So last question on servant leadership. Can you describe what, like, specific actions that you take with your team that exude servant leadership? Putting you on the spot here. Don't smack me, Josh. I struggle with this, man. I'm, I'm not gonna lie. I'm being challenged right now in my leadership.

34:16I'm, I, I wanna be honest with everybody. I wanna be completely transparent. Um, I've muscled a big shop. And I have jammed people into my mold of what I expected and how it's going to work. And I've found that it is— people, people have not feared me but worried about what I'm gonna say. Okay. I don't want that. Yeah. And, and I've really been challenged by some other owners and friends that like— and, and the people that work here, the leaders here now are starting— I'm, I'm taking down these walls and they're going Yeah, it was kind of tough to talk to you about this or that.

34:52Okay. And, and so I'm going to tell you, I want to be completely transparent with everybody. I've struggled and I, and I still want to like just get it done, make it happen. Let's go. And we're, you know, action, action, action. And not everybody's that way. Other people think, think things through, like my general manager Josh or my general manager of my other store Nathan.

35:11They slow down a little bit more and they think it out and they talk through it and they come up with the details and they try to keep me from looking like the Kool-Aid Man kicking in the door every time I walk in and making big changes. Um, I have, I've struggled, Josh, man, and I, I am so grateful that God really has been laying that on my heart big time is, all right, I've got to really focus in.

35:34And I think this happened, I don't know, over the past year of Pull yourself away. Let them make decisions and fail. Let them make decisions. Don't grab them every time and snatch them back up. No, they're going to fail. It's going to cost some money. It's going to hurt. It's going to go. And, and we're in that. We're letting some things happen right now.

35:54And what that's doing is making them get out of their comfort zone of their normal leadership. Yeah. And, um, you're empowering them too. I mean, they're, they're, they're making decisions. They're empowered. They're no longer leaning on you as a crutch. The question we can always, always ask ourselves consistently is, Does my team feel the weight of my title or the influence of my leadership?

36:15That's, that's fire, man. That's right. I mean, well, because I would like to say I've been on both sides of that, but yeah, I think we all have. I mean, it's okay. We walk in a room and people are like, man, it's when you walk in the room, things are gonna happen. I'm like, that's terrible. Like they just, I just know things are going to happen.

36:30No, that's a terrible, they shouldn't worry or be fearful. I'm talking about a few years ago, but sure. Sure. The wrath of Edward. Like, what was I doing? It was complete ignorance, man. And that was beautiful. I love what you just said. I love that. Well, thank you, man. Well, so final question, Edward. Um, you know, I, I love the— again, I love your transparency, your humility, the fact that you are willing to say like, look, like, I'm, I'm figuring this out as we go.

36:55I mean, ultimately we're all going through something, but we're all hopefully growing through something. And I see someone across the screen right now who is growing through challenges and growing through things and recognizing it's not gonna be perfect. The only perfection is reserved for God. It's like we're never gonna get it perfect. Yeah, it's not often gonna be pretty, but we're figuring it out.

37:13So final question is, what is the best advice that you have ever received from a coach or a mentor? Oh man, I'll never forget my, uh, basketball coach from high school. He, he was the first person that really challenged me, um, and pushed me hard. And he would say, Edward, no one cares. It was that simple. I mean, it was so simple.

37:35Like, nobody cares. It's— you got to get to work. Yeah. He would say that to me all the time. It's like, get to work. Another one that was said to me by my grandfather, I struggled with my whole life and he knew I was going to. Better be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt. I struggled with that one and have matured in that lately.

37:59And, um, you know, some of the— and even a coach this past week, my coach, it's Mike DeFatto, but he, he ended up saying something to me. He said, it sounds like, Ed, you're struggling with puberty right now. And I said, what are you talking about, man? He said, you've grown a monster, right? This big business. Um, it's big and it's lanky and it does not quite know what to do.

38:24And you have the leadership of that 12-year-old mind. And ooh, so it challenged me again. Um, yeah, I can go through tons of them, man. Just people that have influenced me with things they said. But really, for me, it was for a long time what my coach said. It was, nobody cares, get to work. And I did that. I would, I would work that way.

38:48I would make things happen. I would outperform. I would work harder. I would run harder. I would lift harder. I would do all of these things. And now it's taking time to know what Christ wants me to do and taking time to read my Bible every morning. I, I meet with men and do a Bible study every morning at the gym. I pray every morning.

39:12I spend time with the Lord. I take these things, and it's time for me just to be alone and understand what I'm supposed to do, to understand how I'm going to navigate certain things. And that only comes through hearing. Yeah. And spending quality time. Um, so for me, it was run through walls before, and now I still got the tendency. It's still built in there.

39:36It's, it's, it's interwoven into my body and my DNA, but take time to have relationship with Christ. Take time to surround yourself with other men that are going to love you. Um, surround yourself, put yourself in a room where you're going to be challenged, uh, whether it's bib— you know, through Christian values or just leadership. And, um, I continue to just try to do that, and I don't slow down.

40:04I just love it. I love being challenged, man. I love the opportunity. Like, I watch your guys' podcast all the time that you challenge people, and I love it. I hear it and I go, man, All right, I'm gonna work on that. And, and, you know, having a podcast in your ear and, and the Bible in your ear and all these things, they're constantly evolving you, um, if you're willing to be evolved.

40:24And, and I love that. That's it. Well, I appreciate you sharing that, Edward. And, and the key too is if you're willing, if you're willing also to take action on the knowledge, because knowledge without action is just information. And, you know, I just said that this morning, dude. Faith without action's dead. That's what me and my— okay, yeah, Dakota, we were just talking about it so often.

40:44Yeah, I mean, like, the thing is, like, we have so many resources in our ear these days, but are we being resourceful? And the key is like, look, we're getting knowledge, it's great, but are we taking action on the knowledge gained? So I— hey, look, I see someone who has taken action, so kudos to you for that, Edward, man. Keep on going, keep on growing, and thank you for being on the podcast.

41:04Thank you, my friend. Hey, I just want to say this. Thank you seriously for what you're doing. Um, some people don't get it. Like, I see what you're doing, brother, and it's big. And, uh, there are people that need to be hugged and loved on daily through a podcast. Um, you don't, you don't always have to be the brightest light. I'll never need to be the flashlight shining right in your eyes.

41:25Sometimes it's just a, a candle in the room. You know, dark doesn't, dark doesn't overtake light. And you're a light, man. Um, getting goosebumps right now, just talking about what you're doing. I'm grateful, bro. Uh, you're making a huge impact in this industry. You're making a huge impact in people's lives. Uh, that ripple effect of one drop of water just moving out, it goes for a long time.

41:46And, and, uh, I'm just beyond grateful, man. I'm number one to be on here, but I'm grateful for who you are and what you're doing, your company and what it represents. Thank you, brother. That really means a lot to me, man. Thank you so much. Yep. And thank you 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.

42:06So thanks again, everyone. 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.