Discussing Generational Tire Shops With Randy O'Connor, Bobby Gillespie, Kyle Moore and Kayla Heiar

Episode 131

Randy O'Connor, Bobby Gillespie, Kyle Moore, Kayle Heiar

Dealer to Dealer Development Group, Gillespie Tire and Automotive Service, Moore Tires

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Randy O’Connor, Owner of Dealer to Dealer Development Group, is a strategic specialist known for his prowess in analyzing and enhancing processes. With a track record spanning roles at Colony Tire, American Tire Distributors-Tire Pros, DSP20 Group, and Big Brand Tire and Service, Randy brings a wealth of experience to the table. He leverages his expertise to empower independent businesses in the tire and auto service industry, guiding them toward long-term success and excellence as best-in-class operators.

Bobby Gillespie carries on his family’s long-standing tradition as the current manager of Gillespie Tire and Automotive Service in Prattville, Alabama. After his father became the city’s mayor in 2011, Bobby stepped up to lead the family business, drawing on his diverse responsibilities to steer the team toward continued success and growth. As a third-generation manager, Bobby has proven adept at upholding his family’s legacy while adapting to new challenges in the local tire and automotive industry.

Kyle Moore is the Owner and Regional Manager of Moore Tires, a tire and automotive chain with six locations in Illinois. He oversees multiple stores while working alongside his sister Kayla, who is his business partner. Kyle takes immense pride in his family’s business, which was started by his parents in 1991 — he is driven to continue its growth and success in the future.

Kayla Heiar, Chief Administrative Officer at Moore Tires, has been an integral part of the family business since her early years, taking pride in its growth from a two-bay pole barn to a six-store operation. Her biggest accomplishment has been leading the company through a successful total software change after over 20 years on the same systems, showcasing her exceptional planning and organizational skills.

In this episode…

Transitioning leadership from one generation to the next within a family-run tire business often leads to conflicts and resistance, as the founders may have a tight grip on the company they built from the ground up. How can generational businesses navigate this transition smoothly?

According to Randy O’Connor from Dealer to Dealer Development Group, Bobby Gillespie from Gillespie Tire and Automotive Service, and Kyle Moore and Kayla Heiar from Moore Tires, it’s important to lean on open communication, mutual respect, and an understanding of each other’s perspectives. The younger generation must approach change with diplomacy and recognize that their fresh ideas, while valuable, should complement the legacy and wisdom of their predecessors. Conversely, the founders must be willing to let go, trust their successors, and embrace adaptability to foster growth and evolution within the company. Striking this balance through effective dialogue and a willingness to compromise on both sides is crucial for a seamless generational shift in leadership.

On this episode of Gain Traction, Randy, Bobby, Kyle, and Kayla join host Mike Edge to discuss their experience with generational tire shops. Key lessons include navigating the transition between generations through open communication and respect, embracing fresh ideas while honoring the legacy, building trust and earning respect from employees and customers, upholding core values across generations, and seeking guidance from industry groups and mentors.

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

[7:56] Strategies for rebuilding and persevering through major business setbacks like fires or other disasters
[10:25] How to navigate the challenge of transitioning leadership and decision-making from the founding generation
[13:03] How to build and leverage a strong team of experts as the business grows
[15:18] How to balance the founder’s experience with the need for modernization to drive growth
[26:48] Effective ways to motivate and lead employees, setting the right tone and company culture
[27:26] Learning from others’ mistakes to avoid them in your own business
[29:42] The impact of maintaining a positive attitude as a leader has on employees and customers
[29:56] The importance of integrity and making decisions based on what is right for all stakeholders
[31:38] Strategies for gaining trust and respect from employees and customers when taking over a family business

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now let’s get started with the show.

Mike:

Hello, folks. Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host. We have a special podcast for you today. I’m doing a panel discussion with four guests, and this will be our first podcast published in video as well. You can find it on our YouTube channel under Gain Traction Podcast. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners in the Retread Marketing Program. What is a retread marketing program? It is a customer re-engagement program using IP targeting to win back your best lost customers. It’s one-time 120-day program that generates a 10 to 1 return on investment. Tread Partners gets your best lost customers back to spend money with you and it’s guaranteed. These are customers that are already in your point-of-sale system right now. So for example, if you were to invest $4500 today, you will receive a return of $45,000 within 120 days from that very targeted list of best loss customers. Tread Partners works only within the tire and auto repair industry. Tread Partners specializes for you, so visit treadpartners.com to learn more.

Also, please listen to a recent podcast with Brian Quisenberry. He’s vice president of S&S Tire Wholesale in Lexington Kentucky. Great podcast. He’s a good friend. We had a lot of fun together. You can find it on gaintractionpodcast.com or any of the major podcast platforms such as Spotify. My guests today are: Randy O’Connor, owner principal of Dealer to Dealer Development Group, also known as D2D, he is also a regular columnist with Modern Tire Dealer. We also have Bobby Gillespie of Gillespie Tire & Automotive in Prattville Alabama. And we have the brother and sister team of Kayla Heiar and her brother Kyle Moore, who are co-owners of Moore Tires with six locations in Illinois. So, Randy, Bobby, Kayla, and Kyle, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast.

Bobby:

Hey, guys.

Kayla:

Thanks for-

Randy:

Thanks, Mike.

Mike:

Yeah, glad to have you. So, Randy, I’m going to start out with you. You’ve put this good group together. So tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got in the business and what D2D does and why these two groups are with us today.

Randy:

Yeah, actually, quick correction, they actually pull me along and pull us together. It’s the way 20 Groups go, right? I keep the right to veto, but really, it’s what they want to do and how they want to do it. So…

Mike:

Awesome.

Randy:

Yeah, so I’ve known Bobby and I’ve known the Moore folks, Kayla and Kyle, for several years. And so I’ve had the pleasure to be able to see over the past several years how they’ve performed, what they’ve done with their shops, and as they’ve continued to grow over time with what happens. And that’s part of the beauty of a 20 Group, is you get to be involved with a lot of really awesome people to be able to collaborate where you’ve got that altruistic type of approach to be able to really improve each other individually and improve each other’s businesses collectively and individually at the same time. So I’m sitting in a pretty good seat with the easiest, best job in the industry, maybe other than yours.

Mike:

Appreciate that. I know. I love what I do. I do. And I get to meet great folks just like yourselves. This is what makes this industry awesome. So yeah, when I tell people I get to podcasts, I’m like, yeah, and it allows me to meet everybody like I’m doing today and then we get to open up a little bit and talk about where we’re from and what we did and what we’re doing and what we hope to do. Right?

Randy:

Yeah. It’s a beautiful thing, man. 20 Groups are a lot of fun. I get to do this all the time with these folks with 60 different members, so I get to hear from some pretty smart people on a pretty regular basis and keep our finger on the pulse of the industry. So it’s a pretty cool place to be.

Mike:

I love it.

Randy:

Yep.

Mike:

Bobby, what about you? Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you came from, and I know you’re third generation, so I think this is really cool.

Bobby:

Yeah. So my grandfather started Gillespie Tire in 1955. It started as kind of a dollar store and turned into him selling tires. He did retread for a while and then my dad took over and the door opened for me to come behind him. He became the mayor of Prattville. It’s kind of a quick turnaround, so I truly only had two days to become the manager of the tire store. Now I’ve been in the business, but never to that aspect. So I had to learn fast, but thanks to my family, to this business, and a lot of doors have opened.

Mike:

Well, as you know, I like a funny story and I already know yours and I think it kind of intertwines with what you just revealed to the audience. Go ahead and tell us your funny story about how you got thrown into the business.

Bobby:

Yeah. So I worked even as a small child, just straightening oil filters for my dad. And after I graduated, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I went to orientation for the college I had signed up for and I came back, and I was like, “It’s not for me.” Well, I went to work for the tire store and my dad, so he was going to make sure I was going to go to school the next year. So as the technicians call it gravy jobs, I did not get them. It come down to where he had me dig a hole and fill it back up with another hole, the dirt from another hole. I was cleaning the bathrooms and then doing break jobs in between. So guess where I was the following year?

Mike:

So, he gave you a little incentive? A little incentive, I guess then.

Bobby:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was sitting in management class at Huntingdon College, so it didn’t take me long to get signed back up.

Mike:

I do love that, but I love the fact that your dad just had his own little special way of motivating the college scene.

Bobby:

Yeah. It’s kind of funny turn around. He told me from day one that I was not going to work in the tire store. He wanted me doing something else, but here I am today. So…

Mike:

That’s awesome.

Bobby:

Glad for it.

Mike:

Well, thank you. And Kyle, Kayla, I’ll let you guys duke it out who gets to speak first here.

Kayla:

Okay.

Mike:

But tell us a little bit about yourselves and where you came from.

Kayla:

Yep. So, siblings, our parents, Jeff and Angie Moore, started the business one bay or two bay pole barn in Rock Falls, Illinois in 1991, they moved from Iowa. My dad worked at a tire business since he was 15 and wanted to start his own, and my parents went in together and started the business. So over 33 years in the business here, and Kyle and I both came on board about 2017 that we both came on board and have been taking over a lot of the responsibilities throughout the business and long-term goal of… And we became partners in the business as well. So now, we’ve got ownership in the business. So I kind of do more of the administrative, oversee administrative staff and some of the directors and Kyle’s in the day-to-day operations as more of a regional manager. We are both playing very different roles since we did have a devastating fire at our headquarters’ location in January, which has been a huge challenge for our business. So that’s kind of made the 2024 a little bit different than other year.

Mike:

Start at ’24 out a little different than normal, right?

Kayla:

Yeah, absolutely. So…

Kyle:

Four days prior to that, we had our annual owners meeting, and we were lining up the year in terms of what events we have, what our goals were, and that pretty much all got put to the wayside. So it’s been a heck of a four months since then.

Mike:

A little divergent fork in the road there.

Kyle:

Just a little bit. Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. So I’m excited about having you guys because I think one of the things that I wanted to talk about, and you guys too, but generational businesses and in the tire aspect here, and Bobby’s third generation, you guys are second generation. Let’s talk about that first generation. What sets them apart from you guys today? And I’ll let either one of you guys take the lead on that. Anybody want to speak up?

Bobby:

Yes.

Mike:

Go ahead, Bobby.

Bobby:

I mean, none of this is easy, so I can’t speak for the guys that do it from day one. I couldn’t imagine being my grandfather or your parents and the things that have to be done to get this ball rolling. I can only speak for what we’ve had to endure and it’s tough for the parents to hand it over. One of the biggest arguments I ever had with my dad was about handing it over and it started out with a job being promised back. And from that day, you could tell he was mad at me, but after he cooled down, he respected me a lot more. But look, dealing with people, dealing with the businesses is not easy at all. So…

Mike:

And you think it’s because of the, I don’t know, kind of the grip they have on it for a while? I mean, and the fact that it’s that hard to let go feeling of something they’ve developed or grown themselves.

Bobby:

Well, I mean, this is their baby, this is how this was their livelihood. So letting go is tough. I mean, I couldn’t imagine giving it to somebody else and stepping away at this point in my life.

Mike:

Do you have a different operational or personality style in the way you run or manage it?

Bobby:

Yeah, so my dad was running it by getting his hands dirty. So he wasn’t home much, he was turning wrenches. I’m more back-office accounting, knowing my numbers, especially with the help of Randy. In the beginning, in 2011, I did whatever it took, get my hands dirty, change the tire, fix the tire, now I’m back office. But he didn’t run it that way. He ran it from the front.

Mike:

Yeah. Kyle, what do you think? How about you guys?

Kyle:

Yeah. You never replicate the first generation. They’re typically one of one. And what I kind of see in working with other businesses is I’ve worked with some second generations that try to be just like the original. And you can’t really do that, from my experience. You got to operate it differently. Because you never are going to be the founder. They went through a whole different set of challenges than what we’ll ever experience. And like Bobby said, their challenges, I couldn’t even fathom what our parents went through in the early nineties getting that going with small loan and they had family to help them that came over, but it truly was they were on their own. And hearing some of the stories that they tell about in the early days, laying awake, thinking how they’re going to pay vendors, and how are they going to pay people, it’s a completely different set of challenges than what we face.

And I know is it easy now in terms of the different areas that we wouldn’t take our company, but just completely different. And trying to communicate that sometimes with the first generation to second generation can be difficult, but at the same time, we rely on them very heavily for their expertise yet to be able to push back too when something needs to change.

Bobby:

I will say it’s almost… It’s stressful because they did set it up for us to prosper because if we fail, we failed everything that they’ve done before us.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Bobby:

So it’s a different type of stress. Thanks for setting it up, but thanks for if I screw this up, all that I’ve screwed up.

Mike:

Yeah, it’s on you now.

Bobby:

Yep.

Mike:

Yeah. Kayla, what do you think?

Kayla:

Yeah, and they both kind of touched on it, but a little bit of the, you have to do everything yourself mentality in that first generation where you have to be the jack of all trades and shifting that mindset to building a team of experts and having to trust a team of experts as you grow, I think, is a challenge, too. And that we have to be able to hand over responsibilities in a different way than we ever have before and be able to manage those people in those departments differently than as owners having to do everything from A to Z, because they had to in the early nineties. You had to be able to do everything and do it fully from start to finish, which… So again, it’s a different mentality as you grow, too.

Kyle:

Our dad will tell you, he’s an accountant, an HR director, a mechanic, self-service truck driver, and sometimes he still thinks he’s all of the above as well.

Mike:

Well, Randy, you’ve known their dad for a while, right?

Randy:

Yeah, I’ve known Jeff for a little while.

Mike:

And are they nailing that pretty accurate there?

Randy:

Jeff is one of a kind. There are no two Jeffs. Yeah, they absolutely nailed it. I first got to know Jeff, I think, it’s probably about six years ago now. They were hosting for the 20 Group and I had always heard about how Jeff organizes his life and everything around him. And micromanage isn’t the right term, but if you could say micromanage life, Jeff’s got this nailed. They have this huge barn on their property, it’s got all sorts of rakes in it, it’s got plumbing elbows, it’s got anything you can imagine that you might need for a shop somewhere or for your house or whatever. And this guy, Jeff, he knows where he bought it, what he paid for it when he bought it. It’s labeled on every single little thing. So being a second generation following that, Kyle and Kayla have had a very fun road.

Mike:

That’s fun. That’s awesome. So-

Randy:

[inaudible 00:15:32] like him, there really isn’t.

Mike:

I love it. Well, you guys talked so highly of him. I look forward to meeting him one day. Do you think one of the challenges is do you guys come in and… From the first generation, they face a different set of problems and challenges in growing it and then you’ve got, or the generation in front of you. But also, like, Kyle and Kayla, your parents laid in bed thinking, “At two days, what’s going to happen?” They got to pay vendors, etc. And now they’ve grown this to six stores. You guys are involved now, but you guys come in with a different perspective. And so how does that get received?

Kayla:

It can be a challenge definitely because-

Mike:

Because sometimes I got to believe, and I’ve seen this before, you’re not wrong all the time. I mean, you can be right.

Kayla:

Right.

Mike:

And that’s got to be… Because you come in with a fresh perspective and that’s just the reality. So I’m just curious, how do you guys address that as a team?

Kayla:

Yeah, I think one of the biggest challenges is that we’re faced with, “This is the way we’ve always done it and look how far it’s gotten us,” that this is the way that we need to continue doing it. And we come in with the perspective of, “It’s not working anymore,” or “This aspect of what was done, we understand why it was done this way for so long and why it needed to be done that way, but now we have to change and here’s why.” And one thing that both Kyle and I have, I’ve probably had a harder time with this than Kyle, is that just being very respectful. That’s the most important part of when we want to make a change or when we need to do something differently, is how we go about sharing the why things need to change is critical, and being very respectful about understanding where we came from at one point and redirecting in a different way.

Mike:

So are you saying that you’re more of the hothead than Kyle when it was in the arguments with your parents or discussions?

Kayla:

That’s what he says. So…

Mike:

Yeah. He’s not pretty good there.

Kyle:

Jeff Moore, Jr. is what we call her there.

Kayla:

I do get called that quite a bit.

Mike:

Kyle, you’re probably in one of those situations where you’re like, “Just tone it down.” Otherwise-

Kyle:

Definitely. I used to play mediator out there.

Mike:

That’s funny. Well, Bobby, how about you? You mentioned when you challenged your dad, I guess on something, so I’m assuming you had some insights the way you wanted to do something or whatever, and he did respect you afterward, but you had to go through that little rub or bump or whatever you want to call it.

Bobby:

Yeah, it was… And my mother and my sister in the business too, so they’re there every day. So I know where Kayla’s coming from. It’s tough to draw the line. They’re always your parents or your family, and it’s tough to put on the brother or the son hat while keeping the business hat on at the same time. Because you still owe them respect. That’s been a difficult part for me. I always say I have too much of my mother in me and that’s why I’m a little on the hot side, but no, dad finally let go and he was trying to do two jobs at one time. You can’t be the mayor and run the tire store. And I think he finally realized that I had it and I think it was that day. So anyway, [inaudible 00:19:21].

Mike:

Coming from his perspective, finally, I would say that had to be a sigh of relief almost like, “All right, Bobby’s there.”

Bobby:

Well, he was ticked off at first during that conversation, but yeah, I think he finally saw the light and he realized I got this. So…

Mike:

Yeah.

Kayla:

I think one really important thing as well is that as second generation or third generation, we’re not always wrong. We have a lot of really good points, but it’s also very important that we remember we’re not always right as well to make this successful. That we do have to understand that we might have this great idea and the people that have done it for longer, even if maybe they don’t explain it well about why they don’t want to do what we’re saying, they do have the experience. And I think having both perspectives and bringing everyone to table and being able to talk that through can make everybody wildly more successful if we can hear the different perspectives.

Mike:

That’s the key, that whole communication thing.

Bobby:

Yeah. And I think too, they realize, they see where the business going, and they just finally trust you. I mean, I don’t want to say luck, but the word… When dad became mayor, he was not able to spend the time over there and he realized that I had it, he stopped coming over. So I never had any pushback with decisions, and he probably never thought in the day that all the guys would be walking around with computers in their hands, but now they do. And he never would’ve spent the money on something like that. But luckily, he wasn’t there to fight me on that decision.

Mike:

But let me ask you this. When he comes back and sees it working, does he give you acknowledgement that, “Hey, this was good idea”?

Bobby:

Look… He does. He does. We make a funny joke. We give the city employees discounts to keep him across the street, so we try to keep him away as much as possible.

Mike:

That’s fantastic. That’s funny. Well-

Randy:

Well, a perfect example, both you and Kyle of exactly what you’re talking about right now is it wasn’t too awfully long ago that you guys were not on cloud, and you were in a Unix or a DOS-based point of sale system. So I imagine your parents are pretty happy that you guys pushed for years to get everything on cloud and get everything digitized and modernized given the tragedy that you guys suffered in January.

Kayla:

Absolutely. That has been brought up a couple times and recognized what this has been a very stressful three months, and without the change, we would be in a much, much, even more difficult situation. So…

Mike:

Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s a great example, Randy. Yeah. It’s interesting, too. I think about my own dad, and we don’t work in the same business together, but he used to always try to get me to be patient. I would go to him, and I saw my dad almost every morning. It’s a long story why I did this, but every morning about 6:00 in the morning, I’d go over and drink a cup of coffee with him because I knew he was up by 5:00 and I knew he had coffee ready and that was my morning routine for a while, even after I got married. But he would always just try to slow me down. I mean, I was roaring just with a lot of ideas and things to do. Do you guys have that same experience with your parents in the way that you maybe wanted to push in the business or something and they’re like, “Okay, taking…” Or are their decision-making process might be a lot slower than you wanted it to be?

Kyle:

Yeah, it’s similar but different on our end in terms of our dad doesn’t slow down, whatsoever. So with this rebuild of this new store, he’s been absolutely insane about getting it going, which has been phenomenal. It’s worked and whatnot. So we’ve actually had to tell him to slow down a little bit on certain things. But yeah, there is a lot of that though too where like Randy said, the point-of-sale change for us, he did push back hard on that. He did not want us to switch point of sale system because he had used it for 20 plus years and was familiar with it and he just kept wanting to wait until he retired. But we knew that that was not an option. So with enough persistency and show him the daylight and show him that Kayla was instrumental in getting that point of sale switched over and once he kind of saw, okay, he’s not going to have to bear the brunt of the workload of this and the training of this, then he’s more reluctant to it.

And it kind of goes back to that first conversation we had about the first generation thinking that they have to do everything. Once he realized like, “Oh, I have people that can control that now,” then he’s more reluctant to let us go and just kind of do things on that end.

Mike:

That’s awesome. That’s a great example.

Kayla:

And to your point, I think there’s also times where we do get ahead of ourselves about a change that we want to make and he pauses us a little bit about this certain vendor with his experiences to say, “I see what you want to do, but here’s what will happen if you do that.”

Kyle:

His favorite thing that I think I’ve heard him say 6,000 times is, “I had this problem in 1991 and we’re talking about it in 2003 and you’re going to be talking about it in 2041.” So he’s sure to remind us of the never-ending problems that we face in our industry.

Kayla:

Yeah. The things we think we have the magic bullet to solve.

Mike:

Yeah, yeah. Bobby, I always found that my dad always had good people reading skills and he would help me navigate how to handle people versus I might want to be the hothead or cut ties or something with somebody or whatever. And goes, “Easy now, killer.” Did you ever experience anything like that?

Bobby:

Well, let’s put it this way. The tire business is a very good training tool to become the mayor, as my father has. He’s very tactful and he deals with people a lot better than I do. So I’ve learned a lot from him there. As I was saying before, I do have some of my mother in me that leads to some confrontation. But no, you have to know how to read people and especially in today’s society. He’s helped guide me quite a bit in that area. And you don’t have to… You’re trying to win the war, win the battle that’s in front of you, so you can take it slow to accomplish what you need to accomplish with the employee. That’s where the handling conflict is key, and you don’t have to just hammer them. You can do it in a more diplomatic way. So he’s calm me down, he’s taught me a lot.

Mike:

That’s great. Just curious, I’m looking at… Had you guys send over some things, and one of the things I was asking you guys for was words of wisdom. I really like this one, Bobby, that you put. You put, “I’m a one-liner quote guy.” And I love quotes, actually. I used to collect them and kind of just save them in my notes section on my phone and you’ve given me a reflection to maybe go back and look at some of those. But one of those is, “Learn from other people’s mistakes. Don’t make them your own.” I love that one.

Bobby:

Yep.

Mike:

Did you want to expand on that any?

Bobby:

Yeah, and I mean, I preach this to the guys all the time, learn from another technician, in my case, learn from my father and my grandfather’s mistakes, or learn from the successes also. So it’s key in our store. Learn from other people’s mistakes. Don’t make your own.

Mike:

Yeah.

Bobby:

[inaudible 00:28:05].

Mike:

And almost like that attitude, don’t worry about the mistake, let’s move with it. Let’s-

Bobby:

Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah. Because I think you had another one in here that kind of goes along with that. Adversity can break some people and it can make others. So okay, you make a mistake, learn from it, right?

Bobby:

That’s right. Yeah. The problem lies if you make the same mistake twice. So that’s when I start having a problem.

Mike:

That’s good stuff. And then the other one I like here that just resonates is, “People may hear your words but they feel your attitude.”

Bobby:

Yeah. That’s a good one.

Mike:

I mean, that says it all because the way you walk in your store, your mood, your attitude, it’s going to probably set it up for the rest of the… Hold on a second. I see Kayla smiling at Kyle.

Kayla:

That was Kyle’s, he… I’ll let Kyle talk about it, but when he was a store manager, he talked about that all the time. So…

Kyle:

Yeah, it’s just like you said, no doubt, you walk in with a smile on your face, no matter what you’ve got going on, no matter what mood you’re in, you’re the one that’s got to walk in the door that start saying “Good morning” to everybody and because, boy, you can just feel a cloud over a place… As of now, as a regional manager, I can feel it. I swear, when I park my truck out in the parking lot that I’m like, “Oh, boy, there’s an attitude in this place today.” And it’s like, so now you got to be the one that goes up and gets everybody going and get that mood back. We have the same conversation with our managers, like, “You’re going to have your days, yeah, no doubt about it, but, man, you control the atmosphere of this place, whether it’s your customers, your employees, it’s all about how you approach it.” So that was always the thing. Say “Good morning” to every single person that comes in and have a smile on your face. Because if you don’t, everyone else will follow you down that rabbit hole.

Mike:

And that can be a dark rabbit hole.

Kyle:

Exactly.

Mike:

You guys have some things about words of wisdom in regards to what your dad instilled in you in regards to integrity and, obviously, trust is huge, right?

Kayla:

Yep. That’s always been growing up. And then especially now in the business too, that integrity is what’s been instilled in us and more tires was built in 1991 by both of our parents with nothing. But we’re going to do whatever’s right for our customers, whatever’s right for our employees, whatever’s right for anyone that we interact with. And the big line that my dad says often is, “It’s really hard to gain somebody’s trust, but you can lose it real quick and getting trust back after you lose it is almost impossible. So do the right thing, make the right decisions, treat people the way you want to be treated,” the golden rule. And that’s how we run our business, whether it’s, like I said, from our customers to our employees to the vendors that we work with, and I think as long as we do that, we’ll continue going the right direction and we really value that.

Mike:

I like it.

Kayla:

That’s huge [inaudible 00:31:15].

Mike:

I remember… Go ahead.

Bobby:

Trust was the hardest step for me when I took over the tire store.

Mike:

What do you mean?

Bobby:

Trust from the employees that I could do it. Trust from the customers. When I first took over, my dad wasn’t there. So the business dropped a little bit because here comes this punk kid, 23, what does he know? And so it took a good little while to get that business back for the trust reason. Thank goodness, we’ve gotten it back.

Mike:

Yeah. Well, and then they kind of learn over time that, “Hey, this guy’s a chip off the old block,” right? “I liked his old man and now I really like him,” but you kind of had to prove it to him, right?

Bobby:

Yeah, you got to earn it. Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah. That’s good stuff. I don’t know where it is in scripture, but it’s something the Psalms, my grandma used to say this all the time, it refers to the righteous man will keep his word even unto his own hurt. So I think that’s what you guys are trying to convey, basically. “Hey, if I said I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it regardless of the outcome for myself.” Because in the long run, we think it cost us, but it really costs you something in the long run. It doesn’t cost you, really, that much today. I feel a little pain today, but at the end of the day, weeks from now, years from now, whatever, they’re referring business to you that you never knew you were going to get, and you don’t even know what the referral came from sometimes.

Bobby:

Yeah. And trust, respect, it’s earned, not given. So…

Mike:

Yeah. Well, on a lighter moment, y’all want to tell me your funny story, Kyle?

Kyle:

Yeah, so my funny story is actually making fun of myself, mostly. So we’re going to go back to the college days. So my entire career, it’s kind of similar to Bobby’s, where in high school, it started out when I was 12 years old, I remember. My first gig, brooming out. We used to have rental trucks, box rental trucks. So middle of summer, they had them all lined up over against the road. I think we had eight of them at the max or something like that, and 90 degrees out and sweeping that out, but that’s actually not even a story. But anyways, so I’m in college at this point in time, and I’m just working. I’m tire tech, general service tech, tire tech, working during the summertime in between school years. So I don’t know if you guys remember the ALS, that ice bucket challenge. It’s a big thing on social media.

So naturally, I get tagged in one, so it’s summertime, I’m at home working, it’s on a Sunday, so it’s closed. So I have the bright idea that I’m going to use a skid steer. I’m going to fill the skid steer bucket with water and I’m going to dump that on my head for the video. Great idea. I think it would’ve been a hit by the way, on social media. So, me and a buddy, we’re going to go into the tire store on a Sunday and we’re going to do this. So first, it starts out, unlock the door, got my alarm code.

Mike:

Oh, my gosh.

Kyle:

I’m sitting there, it’s ringing. I think you got 60 seconds or something to get the alarm shut off. And I can hear it going and I’m sitting there pushing every button I can think of. And sure enough, didn’t get it in time. So here comes the police department come down, and so I have to tell them, “No, I’m Kyle Moore, I’m just trying to get in there. I’ve got my code.” So, we get that shut off. Let’s just get this stupid challenge over with so I can get out of here. So then I hop in the skid steer and I’m pulling it into the shop to bring it to the wash pit, to fill the bucket up. So I get the bucket full. I go back up the skid steer, run into a control stand for one of our lifts that has a two-inch air pipe going up, break that, compressors on, just pouring out water, pouring out air, just blowing. So I’m running around trying to find the shut-off valve on Sunday.

And so finally, I did that and never even did the ice bucket challenge. Dumped it right there, put the skid steer back, got out of there and never told anybody. Then I went to Menards and bought the two-inch. I found a coupler and a two-inch shut off valve and I thought I was going to fix it myself. I was way out of my league on that one. So sure enough, by Monday morning before I even got there, they pulled the cameras up, got the whole video of the full transaction. I will live that one down for my career. I would…

Mike:

That’s brutal.

Kyle:

Yeah.

Mike:

That’s brutal.

Kyle:

Someone’s got the recording, still. I haven’t seen it in a couple years.

Mike:

That’s really brutal. I’m telling you, man. It’s brutal listening to just the thing fall apart, the whole story. Then you find out you’re on video the whole time.

Kyle:

Oh, yeah, yeah. The video, you could see me get out of the skid steer and I just put my hands my head like this. It’s bad. So yeah, starting with the fire alarm and the police showing up to damaging property and being called.

Kayla:

Randy will like this. Brock Rude, who is one of our partners and comes to the 20 Groups, he was the shop manager at the time, so he’s the one that comes in early and is like, “What happened to my shop over the weekend?” And so he’s the one researching it and…

Kyle:

Do a lot of damage in a short period of time.

Mike:

That is brutal. And it lives forever in video, right?

Kyle:

It does, yeah. Yep, yep. And there’s still a lot of long-term employees there that remember it pretty vividly. So…

Mike:

Crazy kid.

Kyle:

Yeah. Well…

Mike:

So, Bobby, on another note. What’s your favorite book? And tell us why.

Bobby:

So Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. It’s kind of a life story and everybody knows Matthew McConaughey. I know the women do. But, man, he’s lived a wildlife, very motivational life. And, man, this book, he… Don’t read it. I know that sounds weird when we’re talking about books, but get the audiobook because it’s actually Matthew McConaughey telling it, and he gives his charisma touch to it. And that guy’s lived an awesome life, but it’s about different periods of his life where, “Hey, it’s time to move on. It’s time to slow down. It’s time to pause.” It opens up a lot of eyes to where you stand in life. And, man, he does such a great job telling his story. I definitely recommend everybody to listen in to that book.

Mike:

I probably never would’ve thought about that book until you said it like that, because I am a biography person. If there’s a documentary on TV, if there’s a book, I’m more inclined to… I don’t even care if I don’t like the person, I’m still interested in what makes them tick. And you’ve piqued my interest, so don’t be surprised if I talk to you about it in a year or so. But I got a long list of things I’m trying to get done right now, so it’ll just get to the… Stuck it in the book stack, but you piqued my interest.

Bobby:

It’s a good one.

Mike:

What about you guys? You got a favorite book, Kayla?

Kayla:

Yeah. Several people in our organization have read this and probably, if I had to guess, it probably came out of 20 Group at one point or another. But Traction.

Mike:

Is that EOS?

Kayla:

Yes. Yes.

Mike:

Yes.

Kayla:

It was by Gino Wickman. That has been a really helpful book in… I think one of the most challenging parts of being a second generation is the first generation we talked about has to do everything. They just pure grit and hard work is what had to propel them to make them successful. And as a second generation, just that, that doesn’t work anymore. The scale is I think, too big to… You can’t just work hard and be successful, you have to have more of a strategy around how you’re going to be successful. And the book Traction really helps walk through growth and how to manage growth. And that’s been helpful for us to put some structure to our organized chaos as we’ve grown to six stores. And so I can’t recommend that book enough for any business owner. I think it says, “How to get a grip on your business,” is the line on the book. So yeah, a very inspirational book for our-

Mike:

It is a good read. I did read that about four years ago, and it helps you compartmentalize a little bit better and organize. And I think, for me, in our organization, it took away the whole… I don’t know. You know how sometimes you feel a little overwhelmed and it just… I guess the best way to almost like it puts it on paper clearly for you what you look like.

Kayla:

Yep, absolutely. That’s a good way to word it. I would say it’s overwhelming to just think of “Where do I start?” And it helps you walk you through, “Here’s where you should start. If you haven’t done this, do this first.”

Mike:

Yeah. Well, guys, I got to tell you, this has been an awesome podcast. I’ve enjoyed having you.

Kayla:

Thanks for having us.

Kyle:

Yeah. Thanks for having us.

Mike:

Randy-

Randy:

First time for something like this. So, no, we’ve enjoyed this.

Mike:

You are awesome, and I wish you the best of luck in both your businesses and if I’m ever in the neighborhood, I’ll stop by.

Kyle:

Absolutely.

Kayla:

I would love to have you.

Kyle:

I’m going to show you the barn.

Mike:

Oh, with all the labeled parts, I’d love to see.

Kayla:

Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah, I’m-

Kayla:

Randy, I specifically want us to show you the shovels. I think Randy liked the shovels the best.

Randy:

Yeah, I love the shovels.

Mike:

If they stuck out to Randy, I want to check them out.

Kayla:

I think there were 36 at the time, right? So…

Randy:

Yeah. Mike, it’s not like a small amount. It’s not like a small barn. I don’t even know how many… How many square feet is it, Kyle, the barn?

Kyle:

I couldn’t even… Large, large.

Randy:

Yeah. It’s got to be like 8,000 square feet or so. It’s massive and it’s organized.

Mike:

Oh, nice.

Randy:

All in rows and shelves and titled and labeled and everything’s… The barn’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Kayla:

One more funny note here, Randy. So as we finally got cleared to go to the burn site after the fire, and that took months, just probably a month ago after we could go back into the what was left, which was not much. Jeff Moore went in and paint sticks, there were some shovels that you could probably still use. So we saved those. Those did not get discarded. Those are at the new shop being utilized. So…

Mike:

That’s awesome. Well, Bobby, I’m going to be driving past your town in a couple months. I’m going to Gulf Shores, so I’m going to try to set it up to stop in and say hi.

Bobby:

Yeah, that’d be awesome. We’re in the middle of construction ourselves, renovating a 1960-year-old building, so hopefully, we’re done by then. We got a hurry because the 20 Groups coming to our location early next year. So…

Mike:

Oh, fantastic. Fantastic.

Bobby:

Yeah.

Mike:

Randy, thanks for putting this together.

Randy:

Yeah, right on, Mike. No, awesome. It’s a lot of fun to be involved, not just with 20 Groups, but in situations like this where the odds have been totally stacked against the three of these folks, the second generation, very few people make that, and third generation, even fewer. So they-

Mike:

Yeah, give us a stat real quick. What’s it… Because, Bobby, I think you mentioned it last time, what’s the-

Bobby:

Yeah, so I think it’s like 30% make it through second generation, and it’s like 15%, 13% make it through the third. So it’s-

Mike:

Right now, you’re in the top 13%, Bobby.

Bobby:

I guess so. But look…

Mike:

I love it.

Bobby:

And I’ll say this, Randy’s not in that other little box for no reason. First, thanks, Mike, for putting this together. Randy, thanks for inviting me to do this. But if it wasn’t for Randy and the group he has and putting those things together, I wouldn’t know my left and right. And understanding the numbers is what gets us through the day. And the people you meet in those groups, it’s invaluable. You can’t put a number on that stuff. So I appreciate everything that Randy does. And thanks again, Mike, for having me on.

Mike:

Oh, you’re welcome. And, Randy, I think you do, and I’m sure you hear this, but just hearing Bobby, and I’ve heard this before, but… Bobby, I guess you say it best, it’s like somebody to lean on and trust.

Bobby:

In my situation, my dad had other things to do. So the first thing I would recommend anybody is be a part of your association, your local tire association. You learn stuff from there, but it doesn’t compare to the people you’ll meet and the information you’ll meet in a 20 Group like Randy’s.

Mike:

Awesome. That’s great stuff.

Bobby:

Bobby, thanks for that. But I got to tell you, when we look at the industry right now, it’s those other three boxes, Kayla and Kyle and Bobby, it’s you guys because baby boomers are getting out, right? Everybody that’s owned a shop, the baby boomers are getting out and people aren’t going in and buying and starting and doing what your grandfather and your father did, Bobby, and what Jeff and Angie did as much as they were before. And so as independents in the industry, to be able to hold our channel strong, we need more folks, more second generation, more third generation that are super strong like these three that are here to be able to help us not only as the channel, but for consumers and to be able to help consumers be able to have a choice in what they do and to be able to get the down home good true service with value and integrity that we really feel like they deserve and we like to get.

Mike:

That’s well said. Well, before I wrap this up, I do want to encourage anybody listening out there, if you thought about it before, take advantage of it, but the Traction Summit of 2024 is hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina this year, August 13th to 14th. And if you want to learn more, you can visit tractionsummit.com. Randy, Bobby, Kayla, Kyle, thank you so much for being part of the podcast.

Bobby:

Well, thank you.

Kayla:

Thanks so much.

Kyle:

Thank you.

Randy:

Thanks.

Mike:

To all our listeners out there. Thank you for being part of the podcast. We are grateful for you. If you would like to recommend a guest to me, please email me at [email protected]. Till next time, be safe and have a great day.

Announcer:

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

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