Chuck Space is the Executive Director of the Texas Tire & Automotive Association (TTAA) and the founder of Space & Associates, an association management and consulting firm. With more than two decades of experience working alongside tire dealers, auto repair shop owners, and trade organizations, Chuck has built a career focused on advocacy, governance, and strategic growth for industry associations.

Before leading TTAA, Chuck worked in public service, lobbying, and association leadership, giving him a rare perspective on how legislation, regulation, and business realities intersect. His work matters to shop owners because he operates at the point where policy decisions become real operational consequences: fees, compliance issues, labor challenges, and business continuity.

In this episode…

For many tire dealers and auto repair shop owners, joining a state association feels optional until it isn’t. This conversation centers on the real-world value behind state tire association benefits, especially when regulatory pressure, local government disputes, or unexpected legal issues surface without warning.

Rather than framing association membership as a perk or obligation, the discussion explores why collective representation, peer access, and advocacy matter more today than they did a decade ago. Rising costs, shifting regulations, and increased scrutiny make it harder for independent operators to stand alone, and this episode challenges the mindset of “I’ll deal with it when it happens” before that moment arrives.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

[01:07] Who Chuck Space is and his role in the industry

[01:50] Early background and upbringing in Texas and New Mexico

[04:05] Career path into association leadership and consulting

[06:46] Advising associations on strategy, governance, and growth challenges

[07:35] Why tire and auto businesses should participate in state associations

[12:05] Real-world example of association support resolving a local dispute

[16:35] Texas’s business-friendly environment and industry growth context

[20:30] How Texas tire businesses can join the state association

[22:31] Practical value of peer guidance and shared experience

[24:37] Legal guidance and attorney access as a member benefit

[26:36] Leadership philosophy and personal values guiding Chuck’s work

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Chuck Space LinkedIn
• Texas & Tire Automotive Association Website
• Tread Partners
• Gain Traction Podcast on YouTube
• Gain Traction Podcast Website
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments:

• “You don’t need to sit there and scratch your head and try to guess what you should do as a member.”
• “It allows you to have a mini board of directors where you have the resources there that you can call on.”
• “When you come together, you speak with a louder voice.”
• “What one business can’t do by itself, the association can help accomplish.”
• “Very few legislators understand the indirect effects of what they pass.”

Action Steps:

1. Evaluate the state tire association benefits available in your market, focusing on advocacy, legal access, and peer support rather than discounts.
2. Identify one regulatory or operational risk in your business that would be easier to address with collective representation.
3. Build a habit of seeking experienced peer input before making major service, staffing, or compliance decisions.
4. Treat association membership as a risk-management tool, not just a networking opportunity.
5. Review whether your business has a clear path to legal or regulatory guidance before an issue becomes urgent.

• Chuck Space
• Gain Traction Podcast
• Mike Edge
• State Tire Association
• State Tire Association Benefits
• Texas Tire & Automotive Association
• Tread Partners

Transcript

00:00
You don’t need to sit there and scratch your head and try to guess what you should do as a member. You simply call me, tell me basically what you want, and I try to put you in touch with one of our mentors. And that’s defined as somebody that’s been in the business for 15 years, allows you to be to have a mini board of directors where you have the resources there that you can call on. 

00:22
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire Business. I am Mike Edge, your host and I have the privilege of interviewing the tire dealers, shop owners, counter sales reps, technicians, industry executives and other thought leaders of our industry. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners. Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. Tread Partners works with clients that have hundreds of locations, down to five locations. Get a professional, unbiased opinion and let Tread Partners review what you’re doing. It starts with a simple conversation. To contact tread partners, visit treadpartners.com so let’s get started. Welcome to the game Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. My guest today is Chuck Space, executive director for the Texas Tire and Automotive association, also known as ttaa. 

01:14
Chuck, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast. 

01:17
Thank you, Mike. It’s a joy to be with you. 

01:20
Well, I am delighted that you came and met with us at sema. I knew, I knew I’d seen your face or whatever and then you know, but you see it, forget that. But you see it in live action. You’re like, hey, wait a minute. And then you came up and said, chuck’s basin. Appreciate you doing that. And yeah, I’m delighted too that Mike Burns with itdg introduced us. He’s a awesome guy. 

01:45
He is. He truly is. 

01:46
Down in your neck of the woods. But let’s talk about Chuck Space a little bit. So where did Chuck start out in life? Where’d you grow up? 

01:56
Well, I grew up in two different places. I was born in Texas. My dad worked for the Santa Fe and when he got out of the service in World War II, went back, he had a job with the Santa Fe waiting for him. And so we moved from Texas to back to New Mexico and lived in New Mexico until I was a freshman in high school and then moved back to Texas at that point. And then that’s where I’ve been ever since. 

02:26
Nice. New Mexico is one of those states that if you haven’t been, everybody needs to see it. It’s absolutely beautiful. 

02:34
It’s gorgeous. We love, in fact, love to go back, particularly in the. In the spring and also in the fall again. I enjoy fly fishing, so that’s a great place to fly fish, but it’s just. It’s a beautiful country and lots of mountains. I love mountains and hiking and all of that. So it’s. It’s a beautiful place to visit. If you haven’t been there, you need to do it. 

03:01
I. I agree. I’ve skied Taos. But, you know, it’s just interesting when you go from Albuquerque up to Taos. The landscape, the change, and I mean, it’s just, It’s. It’s hard to describe it because it’s all in one state and you think you’re in another spot, you know, and you’re going from what’s. Yeah, it is. You go from low desert, high desert, and then mountains, and it’s just. It’s really magnific. And then the sunsets and all that. But beautiful place to drive through, for sure. 

03:30
Well. 

03:31
Well, you mentioned something that, you know, everybody knows. I like to ask, you know, what’s a favorite hobby or something like that. So fly fishing’s favorite hobby. Do you do a lot of that in New Mexico? 

03:41
Do a lot of it in New Mexico. Mostly in New Mexico, because that’s where we go to chill, as you say. We enjoy going, and my wife loves to sit and read by the streams, and I walk up and down the streams fishing. So it’s. It’s actually chilling for both of us. We love to be there and just enjoy the mountains. 

04:04
Nice. So fast forward. How did you get to the Tire association? You know, you grew up. You came back to Texas as a freshman in high school and then take us from there. How did you get to where you’re at today? 

04:22
It’s, you know, I like to. When I. When I talk about. With different groups and organizations, when I talk about life and. And business and that type of thing, I like to talk about the twists and turns of life because we all enjoy things that pop up that we maybe don’t expect but turn out to be pretty beautiful as far as your life is concerned. I went to Texas Tech in Lubbock, graduated from there. I worked my way through school as a disc jockey and also in television news in Lubbock. And then when I graduated from Tech, had an opportunity to come to Austin, which is where we live now, and went to work as an assistant city manager for the city of Austin. Did that for a few years. 

05:15
That led me to working for A city councilman that wanted me to go to work for his company and do a little bit of lobbying at the Capitol. I started doing that, and then I was offered a position as a lobbyist for an association of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, became a lobbyist for that organization, a large state group here in Texas that over a couple of years went from lobbyist to the executive director’s position. I worked in that position for a few years and had always wanted to own my own business and be in business for myself. And during that period of time, I was helping smaller associations work their way through strategy and building the association. And I decided that I could start a business and do that. And so I started Space and Associates. 

06:15
And now as one of our clients, we have four different clients, but one of our clients is the Texas Tire and Automotive association, and we’ve been working for that group for 20 plus years now. 

06:30
That’s awesome. So you consult with actual. I mean, when you’re not acting as executive director for the Texas Tire Automotive association, you actually act as consulting to associations and helping them, right? 

06:47
Yeah, we, in fact, that’s really how we got started, was working. An association may be wanting to go through strategic planning. You know, what are we going to, how are we going to get into the future? What do we need to be looking at to grow? Or in some cases, you have dysfunctional associations that are having issues with the board of directors or, you know, internal issues. And so we can come in, we can be hired to come in and work with those associations to. Because being an outside source, sometimes they’ll listen to you a little bit more than if you’re on the inside and they feel like you’ve got an agenda, but. 

07:30
Agenda, motive, something like that. It’s just like brothers and sisters. Yeah, exactly. Well, take us to the process of. You know, I’ve got a lot of dealers that listen to this podcast nationwide, you know, and I want you to talk about why that, why people should be part of the Texas Tire and Automotive association, but why should people be part of their state tire auto and auto Association? What’s your, what’s your best analysis? Or I guess, in a way, what’s the best, what’s the pros of being involved? 

08:08
Well, I think, man, I think there are so many positive aspects to being involved with your industry association or any association for that matter. Number one, and this is hard for a lot of folks to understand, but I think number one, that Being successful in business, you owe it to your industry or your business to support the industry. And that’s what most associations should be doing, is supporting their members and supporting the industry. So I think it’s altruistic, I guess you could say, that people owe back to the industry a little bit of what they have taken away from the industry as far as building their business is concerned. 

08:53
But one of the things that I think is most rewarding to me as I see both in the associations that we fully manage as well as the associations that we work with on a ad hoc business. From an ad hoc standpoint, what I see is that it’s really rewarding. It’s really, I guess, rewarding, for lack of a better term, to see people being able to come together to accomplish things that they could not accomplish individually, whether it be from a legislative standpoint or it could be. We’re working right now in the state of Texas. In fact, I have a meeting in the governor’s office on Thursday where we’re going to be talking about how to make scrap tires more of a commodity as far as road construction is concerned, which will save money for the state of Texas. 

09:55
It’ll make roads last a little bit longer. Plus, in addition to that is going to help alleviate the problem of scrap tires that sometimes are just dumped beside the road because people don’t see value in them and they just want to get rid of them. So, yeah, they’re, you know, you see things happening like that where you can help the industry and when you come together, you speak with a louder voice and you can get further down the road, I think, by doing that. And it helps people in their business, helps make their lives better, helps their. Make their lives more enjoyable, helps make their lives and businesses more successful. 

10:33
That’s awesome. You know, I, I think of associations as you kind of allude into this, but it’s almost like. It’s almost like a. It’s almost like a protection too, you know, because I’ve seen things where. Well, I had a guy one time, it was a. Relatively. Without getting into the industry itself, but it was relatively emerging industry and he was having problems or whatever. And everybody out there statewide, they were just kind of brand new and competing against each other, but nobody was, you know, joining forces. That said, what you need to do is start an association of you guys, even though you’re competitors and then you’re going to have more strength in lobbying, you know, our local state senator and whatnot. And you could probably get them come Talk to you. And he did. 

11:17
And it did make an impact, but it took time because it doesn’t happen overnight. But it was instantly what I realized. It was just safety in numbers. And especially from the legislative side, people are going to take over. People that don’t know your industry. They’re going to bully you because they think, you know, whatever stereotype they’ve got or whether they perceive something or whatever, it may be completely inaccurate, but it can affect legislation in your life. And if you’re not collectively trying to dictate what really needs to happen for the preservation of your industry and to serve your customers, then it’s going to be done for you. And I think that’s. That’s the thing that. Because I do know a lot of dealers and I. 

11:58
And most of them, I think, are members of their associations, but there’s a lot that aren’t, and it blows my mind that they’re not. 

12:05
Yeah. And just one example of what you’re saying. A couple of years ago, we had a dealer in the state of Texas that call me. He was not a member of the organization. He called me and he said, I’m having an issue with my local government, my county government here as it deals with scrap tires. They’re trying to penalize me for. For scrap tires that are tossed beside the road when I have a company that comes and picks them up. And so I have nothing to do with it, but they’re trying to penalize me because they were looking at him as an individual. We, he became a member of the organization and were able to go to that city in that county as an association. 

12:52
And even though this is not our membership there, we project that they’re over almost 1900 entire businesses in the state of Texas. And I wish all of them were members, but. But they’re not. But we do have a good balance, you know, of. Of membership. But were able to go to the city and the county and say, look, we, you know, this industry is 1900 businesses strong throughout the state of Texas, and what you’re doing is not right. And, and representing him more as. As you say, the body of the industry. And, and it turned out to be very successful. We were able to get them to realize that he was not the culprit and that there were laws on the books that. That could find the people that were creating the health hazards. So again, coming. 

13:49
What he could not do by himself, were able to help him to accomplish by coming forward as an organization. 

13:59
Well, and I Like the way you approached it, though, you’re like, hey, we got a bunch. There’s a bunch of us, you know, and it’s like, hey, this is. We’re all speaking with him in this one community. And because, I mean, those things get contagious, right? I mean, you know, you pass something and it’s just, it’s fascinating to me because legislators in general feel like they’re. Whoever’s listening out there, you can take it or leave it for what you think it’s worth. And the legislators too, but some of them could be busy bodies and they just want to be in everybody’s business and they want to pass legislation because it feels good. But very few of them know what the indirect effects are going to be. And a lot of times legislation get passed and it’s just, no one knows that indirect consequence because. 

14:47
And especially if you’ve never been in business for yourself in that industry, and yet you’re going to pass legislation. Free Willy, just because you get a couple complaints or somebody says something instead of investigating it, you know, it sounds good. Yeah, let’s pass the law, whatever. And the reality is that law could not just affect that industry, but it could contaminate, or I say contaminate, but it could increase cost across the board to every consumer in the county or the state, whatever. 

15:15
And that’s what they did. You’re exactly right, Mike. And that’s what they didn’t understand. What the governing bodies there did not understand is that, you know, once you impact this, this one individual that was just trying to run his business and doing everything he could to do it the right way, take advantage of him from that standpoint and not really impact where the problem is. You know, not look at solving the problem, but just look at maybe a smoke and mirrors approach to it where it looks like you’re trying to do something and in neighboring counties that could have had an impact. You know, you see that kind of snowball. 

15:51
Oh yeah. 

15:51
On the state level too, because you’ve got states that will pass laws and then these state legislators get together and realize, you know what? We did this. And it helped. Not sure it helped the businesses, but it sure patted the state budget. You may want to think about that. So they don’t always look at it from a business perspective. Fortunately, here in Texas we’ve got a, a very strong pro business governor and a very strong pro business lectures lecture. So were helped from that standpoint. But a lot of states don’t have that and can end up with some very unfortunate legislation. 

16:35
Totally. And look from a national level looking into Texas and I have a lot of business in Texas but at the same time I’m still an outsider. But looking in and seeing how many corporations have moved to Texas in the last five to ten years is fascinating. 

16:55
It is. In fact I don’t know if you watched Fox News this morning, but they did. I believe the guy’s name is Steve Doocy. Oh yeah, did a segment on folks moving to Texas, businesses moving to Texas and how many are doing that. And he was in Dallas and looking. There were several large buildings being built there by large companies coming to Texas. And in fact he made the comment and I don’t know if this is accurate or not, so I’m only repeating what he said, but he made the comment this morning that in the past year more people have moved to Texas than any other state bringing their business and also large corporations bringing their employees. 

17:47
So I do think that, you know, with the low taxes and all the different pro business practices that we have in Texas, if that’s a pretty good welcome mat for folks that may be looking for that. 

18:05
Well, I read an article on you guys that had to do with the triangle between Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and I guess San Antonio because that would include Allston, I’m assuming, in the triangle. And it basically talked about the growth in that triangle like it exceeds other states like and even other countries obviously. But it’s just blew my mind about just that triangle alone. How much money and growth is in that triangle inside Texas. And it’s fascinating. 

18:40
It truly is. In fact, when I moved to Austin back in the 70s, 1970s, I could drive from Austin to San Antonio and be very little in between, maybe some rural communities and so forth. Now you drive from Austin to San Antonio and it’s almost. There’s no, there’s no free land. It doesn’t look like it’s really. Oh yeah, it’s, it has. The infrastructure has just boomed there with different businesses and communities that have come up and it’s the same way between Austin and Dallas now. Used to be I could leave Austin and there was a little Round Rock, a little Georgetown, but you know, not very big. And now it’s just one continuous strip of businesses and homes and apartment buildings. It’s just amazing how that has just exploded over the last five to 10 years. 

19:52
But there again business friendly, you know, environment and you’re going to attract people, you attract workers, you’re going to attract employers, etc. But so going back to the association, if someone in Texas is listening now, what’s the best way if they say, all right, look, I, I like this Chuck Space guy and Mike talking and I like where they’re going with this and it does make sense to be part of TTAA. Where do they go? Ttaa.org Is that what it is? 

20:21
Yeah, it’s texastiredealers.org www.texashiredealers.org. You can join online. Our membership is a whopping $145 annually. 

20:33
Is that for any size? 

20:35
Any size. 

20:36
Oh, that’s awesome. 

20:37
Yeah, yeah. We, our goal is, you know, we’re a non profit 501c6 so that we can do some lobbying. But our goal is not to put a lot of money in the bank. Our goal is to service our members and you know, we. One of the more popular. And it gets back to what you were talking about earlier. One of our more popular benefits is what we call our Mentors Council and we have people join just to be able to participate in that. And that is where as a member of ttaa, if you have a question or maybe you’re thinking about adding a service to your business or maybe you’re having an issue with a vendor, you know, any one of a number of questions that small business people have over a period of time. 

21:28
You don’t need to sit there and scratch your head and, and try to guess what you should do as a member. You simply call me, tell me basically what you want, and I try to put you in touch with one of our mentors. And that’s defined as somebody that’s been in the business for 15 years or more. And, and it basically allows you to be, to have a mini board of directors. Because many of these relationships are then established not just for that specific purpose, but they’re established over a longer period of time. And you’re probably familiar with the 20 groups. 

22:10
Oh yeah. 

22:11
And this is sort of a mini 20 group where you have the resources there that you can call on. And, and once you make that connection with your mentor, it benefits both people. I’ve seen it where the mentor has benefited from the relationship also. So that’s one of our more popular benefits that people. 

22:31
I think that’s fantastic. I mean for 145 bucks you basically get a board of directors you could run an idea behind and more than likely somebody has done that idea or thought about it or tried it, failed at it, or succeeded one or the other. And then they could tell you all the potholes. And. Because, I mean, I got a tire dealer right now that he was thinking about a service that he wanted to add. But then as he looked into it and the cost and everything, he said, nah, it’s not. It’s not my thing right now. But really, it wouldn’t have taken him that long to get there had he been able to talk to somebody sooner. 

23:06
Exactly. And what we do, if somebody will let us know what their question is, I send it out to the mentors group, and all of this is very confidential and has worked very successfully from that standpoint. And we don’t put competitors together there unless they request to be together. 

23:26
That’s awesome. 

23:27
But we send it out to our mentors group and say, okay, here’s the question. Who out there has dealt with this or understands this or can help address this question? And then that’s how we connect them. You know, it’s just not a random type of. Type of search, but we try to connect them with somebody that has experienced it or dealt with the issue or. And it could be any. Anything from hr. We have a lot of HR questions. We have a lot of questions as it deals with training. How do you know, how do you train your people? How do you onboard, how do you train. Just all sorts of questions that come up where people can get together and brainstorm, whether it be on the phone or zoom or whatever. They brainstorm together and they grow together. 

24:16
And that’s what an association is really all about, is bringing people together so that they can grow their business, make it more fun, make it easier, make it more successful. 

24:26
Yeah. And all for 145 bucks. I just can’t get over. I mean, you’re talking about getting it. I mean, you’d have to pay an attorney way more than that just to get yes or no answer on some things. You know that brings up. 

24:38
Brings up another benefit. We have. We have an attorney based out of Houston that. For. On a comp basis, if. If a business person, one of our members has a question, a lot of questions right now are dealing with immigration. And Jacob Motti is our. Is our. We call him attorney on call. And he is. He’s a nationally recognized immigration attorney. He’s got a really good infrastructure when it comes to business attorneys on staff. And if you’re a member, you can call and say, okay, I. You know, this guy came in and. And he Hurt his back and, you know, I don’t know what to do. What do you recommend? And the advice is free. Doesn’t cost him anything other than the $145 membership to be able to visit with this attorney. 

25:34
Now, obviously, if they have to go to court or something, that’s a whole different ball game. But advice and counsel looking at their. 

25:42
Yeah, but just to get some preliminary steps. Where you’re going in the right direction means everything. 

25:46
I had a fire dealer tell me here probably two years ago that for the $145, Jacob Motti probably saved him somewhere around 40 to 50,000. Just. And his advice in handling an employee issue, that’s fantastic. 

26:03
So, folks, I’d like to. And especially Texans, if you’re in the tire business, you should be part of the TTAA. If you’re not, get there 145 bucks. It sounds like it’s the best deal out there. And then for all the other folks listening in other states, be a member of your association. You guys have heard me. I’m a big advocate for advocacy. I think TIA is important to belong to. And as well as sema, they’re all advocates for the industry, and it’s. It’s important for each one of us to do our part there. So. Well, Chuck, real quick, before I let you go, what’s a quote or a mantra you like to live by? 

26:42
Oh, goodness. Probably going back to my spiritual life as a Christian is very important to me. And like I mentioned, I think that reading the Bible every morning, proverbs always pops out to me as is guidance for. For the day. And I think there are two proverbs that I try to live by. One is that what is desirable in a man is his kindness. And the other is, as water reflects a man’s face, so the heart reflects the true man. And I think if we could all male, female, whatever, live by those two creeds or mantras, it would be a better world. 

27:30
That’s fantastic. We’ll. We’ll leave it on that. But it is fascinating that Proverbs, it doesn’t feel like it was written 3,000 years ago. It feels like it’s always relevant, doesn’t it? You know, it is anyway. 

27:42
It is very relevant. Yeah. 

27:44
Chuck, thank you for being part of the podcast. 

27:47
Thank you, Mike. I really appreciate it. And thank you for all you do for the industry, too, because it would not be the industry it is if it wasn’t for. For you folks like you and how you support us as an association and tire dealers is as operators I appreciate it, Chuck. 

28:07
Thank you. It’s fun. When you like the people, it makes it even better. 

28:11
Amen. That’s true. 

28:13
So to all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of the podcast. You know we love you. We’ll see you next time here at Gain Traction. To all our listeners, thank you for being part of the Gain Traction podcast. We are grateful for you. If you’d like to find more podcasts like this, please visit gaintractionpodcast.com if you’d like to make a guest recommendation, please email [email protected] this episode has been powered by TREAD partners, the leader in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. To learn more about tread partners, visit treadpartners.com.