Keys to Customer Engagement With Jason Widmer of AAA Auto Repair and Darren McLea of DJM Solutions

Darren McLea is a tire sales trainer and the Founder of DJM Solutions, specializing in tire sales, repairs, and elevating the customer experience within the tire and auto repair industry. With a passion for fostering growth in automotive businesses, Darren provides comprehensive sales and operational training while delivering consistent coaching feedback. His dedication lies in helping business owners forge enduring connections with employees and customers, ultimately fostering loyal, long-term relationships and increasing tire sales. Previously, Darren was the Executive Vice President of McLea’s Tire and Automotive Service before selling the 41-year-old business to AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah.

Jason Widmer of AAA Auto Repair brings a unique blend of comedic flair and intuitive sensitivity to his role. Jason has mastered connecting with customers whether they walk in feeling downtrodden or jubilant. His ability to read situations and body language makes him effortlessly strike up conversations and lift spirits, turning routine interactions into memorable experiences. With a keen sense of timing and a gift for knowing when humor is inappropriate, Jason creates a welcoming atmosphere where customers feel understood and appreciated.

In this episode…

Maintaining a positive demeanor is vital in customer service and effective communication, particularly within the automotive industry. How do seasoned professionals approach interactions with unhappy customers?

From personal experience, Jason Widmer and Darren McLea have learned how humor and adaptability can be powerful tools for navigating stressful customer scenarios. They underscore the significance of establishing rapport and finding common ground with customers to enhance their overall experience. Additionally, Jason and Darren emphasize the impact of positivity on team morale and productivity and highlight the importance of not allowing negative encounters with customers to dampen future interactions. 

On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes Jason and Darren to discuss the importance of maintaining positivity in customer service. Drawing from their extensive experience, they share anecdotes illustrating how utilizing humor and building rapport can enhance customer interactions. The conversation also touches on practical strategies for handling challenging customer encounters and the value of finding common ground with customers.

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

• Darren McLea and Jason Widmer highlight the fast-paced nature of service advisor roles in an automotive shop
• Why providing customer service often requires a positive attitude
• Jason shares his humorous approach to diffusing customer stress
• How maintaining a positive mindset can impact interactions and increase sales
• The importance of refusing to let negative experiences with customers affect future interactions
• How positivity can influence team morale and improve the overall work environment

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Jason Widmer on LinkedIn
• Darren McLea on LinkedIn 
• DJM Solutions 
• AAA Auto Repair
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn
• Tread Partners

• AAA Auto Repair
• Darren McLea
• DJM Solutions
• Gain Traction Podcast
• Jason Widmer
• Mike Edge
• Tread Partners

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:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host. Today’s episode is brought to you by Tread Partners and the ReTread Marketing Program. What the heck is a ReTread Marketing Program? It is a customer re-engagement program using IP targeting to win back your best lost customers. It’s a one-time 120-day program that generates a 10:1 return on investment. The best part about it? It’s guaranteed. That is correct. 10:1 guaranteed ROI. No tricks or gimmicks. These are your customers that are already in your point-of-sale system right now. For example, if you were to invest $4000 today, you’ll see a return of $40,000 within 120 days from that list of best lost customers. Tread Partners works only within this industry, they specialize in tires and auto repair. To learn more, visit treadpartners.com.

Hey, if you haven’t ever been to our website, I feel like I do a very poor job of promoting it so I’m going to promote it today. Visit www.gaintractionpodcast.com. It’s a simple website, laid out easily to find more about all our podcasts and all the people that we’ve interviewed in the last several years. You will find an all-star group of people. I think it’s laid out real simple. You’re probably going to know a lot of the people in the industry from there, but check it out.

All right, enough talking about the Gain Traction Podcast and promoting ourselves. Let’s talk about today’s guests. Today’s guests are Jason Widmer, with Triple A Auto Repair and Tire, and Darren McClea, who is tire sales trainer and founder at DJM Solutions.

Jason and Darren, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast.

Darren:

Thanks, Mike. Happy to be here.

Jason:

Thanks for having us.

Mike:

Hey, glad to hear it. The theme of this podcast is customer service reps, counter sales reps, whatever people call them in the tire industry and how important that role is. Both of you guys have been in that role in your lifetime, correct?

Darren:

Oh, yeah.

Jason:

Correct.

Mike:

You love people and you never have any problems with people, and everything runs smooth every day with you guys, right?

Darren:

Totally. Piece of cake. It’s an easy job. We just skate right through it, day after day, right, Jason?

Jason:

Yeah.

Mike:

That’s why you’re on the Gain Traction Podcast, folks.

Darren:

Yeah, yeah. Because all today’s work is already done before noon, now we just do podcasts in the afternoon. Simple.

Mike:

Tell me the story real quick, because I thought it was funny about the, “I’m on lunch right now.”

Darren:

Yeah. Jason, do you want to do this or do you want me to tell the story?

Jason:

Go ahead. Thank you.

Darren:

Okay. Because I vividly remember it and it’s still hilarious. What I love about Jason is he still hits me with that line, “I’m at lunch.” Where that came from was, I don’t know how long ago, years and years ago, Jason and I worked together in our tire and automotive repair company, for 10, 15 years, something like that, a long time.

Jason:

Since ’08.

Darren:

Yeah, since ’07. Anyway, we got dropped, and I say we got dropped in one of our stores one day, because that store’s manager and service manager, and maybe one of the service rider’s too, a lot of people’s vacation all fell at the same time.

Mike:

That’s always fun.

Darren:

I still question how we allowed that to happen. But it happened. Then the sirens went off and said, “Okay, Jason and Darren got to go and there.” I know it was the first day, we’re trying to get our feet wet, trying to get our bearings of what’s going on with what cars. He and I together are scrambling to figure out what all these cars because we were a pretty high volume shop.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

I’m getting overloaded, and Jason’s getting overloaded. I think Jason hit his little bit of a boiling point when somebody else was already asking him something, somebody else was pulling on the back of his sleeve. I think his screen was going off saying, “You need to order these parts from World Pack in the next 60 seconds or you’re not going to get them.” All this stuff is happening. I throw the cherry on top and ask him one more question. He just breaks. He looks at me and he just yells, “I’m on lunch!”

One, it’s 10:30 in the morning, dude. You’re not on lunch. I liked that we kick off with this story because we thought it was funny. I looked at him and I said, “Jason, it’s me, man. It’s okay. Do you know what’s up with the Honda, yes or no?”

“Yeah. Ah, sorry, man. Yes. It’s here for four tire.” Then we got through it. But it’s a great example because that is how your day is as a service advisor, every day.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

There’s a lot going on. It’s not like we’re kicking back and playing fantasy football.

Mike:

Y’all don’t do that back in the office?

Darren:

That’s what restroom breaks are for. But it’s go, go, go. It’s just an example. Jason hit that point where he was … What was Mike’s thing? Maximum density. Is that what you hit, maximum density?

Jason:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Darren:

Yeah. But then as a team, we worked so well together, we got through it. I said, “Jason, hey, it’s me, dude. Come on, let’s get through this. We’re going to be okay.” He’ll still hit me with that on a phone call.

Mike:

I like that. I think I want to use that some time. “I’m at lunch.”

Darren:

What, what?

Jason:

You just got to scream it and you got to say it real quick.

Darren:

But you have to be a little bit cross-eyed when you say it.

Jason:

Yeah.

Mike:

Where they look at you cross-eyed back like, “Wait a minute. I see him. He’s not a lunch.”

Darren:

You’re right there, dude. You’re holding the tie rod in. What are you talking about? You’re covered in grease.

Mike:

It’s a great story to break into because look, the one thing I appreciate about the counter sales rep, customer service rep, whatever, I know each individual company calls them different titles, but ultimately like a CSR. We can use the same acronym.

Darren:

Sure.

Mike:

But ultimately, you’re dealing with people that, first of all, they’re not happy. They had to show up today because they need tires and they need some service for their car. It’s not what they dreamed about today. Or they already had it scheduled, but they’re still not happy about coming in and spending the money. It’s never a happy purchase.

It’s really made me reflect, and this is one of the reasons why I’m doing a lot of these interviews right now and really starting these interviews, because you guys literally don’t deal with people that are happy to be in your store at that time. Yet, you’ve got to have a chipper attitude the whole day through, every way. And guess what? You got to do it again tomorrow.

Darren:

Yeah. More often than not, they’re not happy. Now, we did lift kits, and rims, and tires so occasionally-

Mike:

Yeah, I got it.

Darren:

We’d get those happy ones.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Jason, I would say we lived for those ones, didn’t we?

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

Someone that was happy?

Jason:

They were fun.

Darren:

Yes.

Mike:

Yeah.

Jason:

They were fun.

Darren:

I know what you’re saying, Mike. Actually, I’m glad Jason is here with us today because, Jason, you navigated through that so well in the years that we worked together. I just watched, time after time, as customers would come in hysterical, up in arms, “This came out of nowhere today,” and you just … How did you always handle that? Because you were so good at it, you’d calm them down. What was always your approach to that?

Jason:

Naturally, I’m just a goofball. I’m a comedian. I’m pretty good at sensing if somebody’s not happy, they’re walking in, they’re miserable, or if they’re happy. I instantly crack jokes. It just might be a little one-liner. But I’ve always tried to bring myself down to their level. It’s if it’s some 75-year-old guy walking in really slow, then I talk really slow, move really slow. Then you got the guys that are coming in, they just an inheritance, or something, or a big bonus check, and they want to just lift out, pimp out their truck.

Mike:

Yeah.

Jason:

I just always bring myself to their level, whether it was down or up. I really enjoyed doing that. I have occasionally said some things to people where I know Darren’s like, “Oh,” and then they just crack up laughing. He’s like, “Oh.”

Mike:

When he’s like, “Man, what were you thinking?”

Jason:

I’m not saying, “Hey, look at me,” but I have a gift to, I don’t know, I could just sense when it’s okay to joke around and when it’s not.

Mike:

Yeah, I got you.

Darren:

[inaudible 00:08:25]

Mike:

I like that. I had a call today with somebody that I had to talk to, and it was just funny, I could just tell he was no-nonsense so I got even more no-nonsense. You know what I’m saying?

Darren:

Yeah, right to the point.

Mike:

Oh, yeah.

Darren:

It works.

Mike:

It’s funny, I pick up on that. As soon as I realize, “This is it, I’m not going to be able to be …” I like to joke around, too. I like to have a good time. But if I realize somebody’s not going to be that way, then I want to outdo them in what their personality is, if that makes sense. Then they’re responsive to it like, “Hey, I like this. This is good.”

Darren:

Yeah.

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

I think it’s important, and kind of to what Jason is saying, is you have to do all of that in the beginning. It’s got to be the first thing you have to do.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

You either have to de-escalate their hysteria, or you have to get on their level.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Because Jason always saw this, and that’s why he was one of our best salespeople, year after year, month after month all the time, is because he would get on their level. That’s the first thing he would do.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Get on their level, get to know them, and then all the conversations about how to fix it, when to fix it, what it’s going to cost, all that was a lot easier because they already felt like, “Oh, this guy kind of became my friend.” From there, I don’t think it makes the job easy, because we joked in the beginning but the job is not easy, but it can definitely make it easier if we do a little bit more of that work in the beginning.

Jason:

Yeah.

Mike:

Jason, did you grow up in an environment where you, I don’t know how to say it, you were taught maybe how to engage people, your parents pushed you out there? Or did you grow up just learning on your own, street smart? Or did you pick it up along the way? You know what I’m saying, because some people just never get it about how to deal with people. If you’re that good at stepping into a situation, usually like we’ve said, a little bit negative, they’re not happy, and you know how to measure that. Where’s that come from?

Jason:

All that was pretty much self-taught. I had a dark past, so I pretty much taught myself all this stuff. Street smart stuff.

Mike:

Yeah.

Jason:

I don’t know where I got it from, but I’ve always had this sense of being able to read situations.

Mike:

Yeah.

Jason:

People’s body movements. A big thing that I would always do is, let’s say Darren came in for an oil change, I’d go out and get information off of his car. I’d always look for something either on him or on the car that I can relate to, to strike a conversation. If somebody comes in and they just want to give you their keys and just leave, they don’t want to wait there, if they’re leaving it. But I would just try to find something to compliment or strike a conversation, like car seats. Or a sports sticker on the window. Or let’s say she has a nice necklace on, I’ll compliment them. Something to open them up.

Mike:

Yeah. This is one thing I hate about it, when some people say about sales, they’ll say, “Ah, you’re just BSing.” No, I’m saying something honest, I’m just willing to say it versus not give some … If I see a chance to give somebody a compliment, what you’re saying, not me, you’re saying you see a chance to give somebody a compliment so you’re like, “I’m going to give it versus holding it back.”

Jason:

Yeah, correct.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Yeah. What Jason’s touching on … I love this story because it comes from my grandpa. I remember him telling me exactly what Jason said. He goes, “Oh, I used to love it back in the day, when I’d be walking out to their car …” This gives you an idea of the era that he was in. He goes, “I’d be walking out to their car, getting their license and mileage, and if I saw the sack in the back for a bowling ball, I knew they were a bowler. I’d come right back in and I’d go, are you a bowler? They’d say, ‘Yeah, I am.’ He goes, I’m a bowler.” Then he goes, “We would talk for the next minute to two minutes about bowling, and what we’re throwing, and all this.”

I’m sitting there and I’m like, one, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a customer come in with a bowling ball in the back of their car. But you remember that time, when a lot of people had their own bowling balls.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

But I got that from my grandpa and I’m like, “That’s a good idea, yeah.” They got a bumper sticker for a school say, “Oh, how many kids you got?” That type of stuff.

Mike:

There’s something that I love about that. You call it street smarts, like Jason acquired. But what I love about hearing that, your grandad and Jason’s experiences, is that you just know how to connect with people. You recognize an opportunity to connect. It’s not BS because it’s sincere. You see it, “Hey, I am a bowler, you’re a bowler.” At least I’m bringing up something and it diffuses, sometimes let’s say, that initial rub that’s going to be there because you’re the seller, they’re the buyer. They feel like they’re going to get ripped off, that type of thing. But all of a sudden you’re, I guess the best word is maybe smoothing it a little bit.

Darren:

Yeah.

Mike:

Yeah?

Darren:

I think it helps squash out some of that anxiety and that stress of … Maybe they don’t think they’re going to get ripped off, maybe they just think, “What is this going to cost?”

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

That’s where their sense are at.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Jason, from the first time I met Jason, he had that. I remember he came in, he was in the tire department so he was a tire installer and doing oil changes. People would come in. I think, was it Rick, was it my uncle, Rick, that hired you, interviewed you?

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

Jason?

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

I knew someone was coming in. I’m like, “You never know what you’re going to get. Okay, what are we going to get?” I remember I see this guy, and he looked just like he looks today, just like that. He had a hat on, came in.

Mike:

Age?

Darren:

I don’t think he ages. He’s ageless. But I remember, he came in-

Jason:

I had hair when I started, Mike.

Darren:

He had hair when he started. We took it all from him in stress. But I remember the way he communicated and the way he moved, and everything about him, I think within 15 minutes I was like, “Oh, we got a good one.” You would ask him to do something like, “Hey, can you make sure we Windex and wash that windshield before Mrs. Jones comes out to her car?” He goes, “Absolutely, I’ll take care of it for you.” Just the way he would answer with what he would say. I’m like, “Oh, this guy’s on it.” You may go do the action, and you’re actually going to do it, but it’s the way that he would always communicate what he was going to do. Not only with customers, but within the shop. It just always created such a high level of morale.

He had that when he became a manager. He would go to a store and all of a sudden, you could see the momentum and the morale just raising and growing in that store, because of how we communicated and conducted himself.

Mike:

It’s amazing to me what one person can do and with the right mood, bringing the right attitude. You could go in and do something, but you go in with a little enthusiasm, and it just lifts everybody.

Darren:

Yeah, it does. I think a little, what is it, the power of positivity? What we used to call it, what my dad used to say. “Keep the pedal to the metal,” or something like that?

Jason:

Yeah, cheerleading. You got a coach and cheerleading.

Darren:

There he goes. My dad was always about coaching and cheerleading, and Jason was one of the best. He would, he would figure out how to motivate people.

Mike:

Have you guys ever done this, because I have and I think it’s quite interesting. I didn’t do it until I got older, until I lost maybe a little chip on my shoulder or something. But you just completely smile at strangers.

Darren:

Yes.

Mike:

And what it does in the process.

Darren:

Yeah.

Mike:

It’s fascinating.

Darren:

Yes.

Mike:

Just one smile, what that does to people and disarms them. You’re just like, “Hey.” They’re like, “Oh, hey.” They don’t have any choice, they almost have to respond with a smile. If they don’t, who cares?

Darren:

Yeah.

Jason:

Yeah. Yeah.

Darren:

Yeah. Even, I learned this from my Uncle Rick. I would be out with him, if we were going to lunch or something like that, and he would just see people. If he was waiting in line and they were waiting in line, and Jason probably knows this about him too, he would turn and he would go, “Hey, how you doing?” Just in line, waiting a Chipotle, no big deal. You’d see them, some people would be like, “Good,” no big deal, so you don’t lose anything. But sometimes people would be like, “I’m good. How are you?” All of a sudden, this whole conversation goes.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Then before we know it, he’s out there inspecting their tires in the parking lot or whatever. No, I’m kidding. It didn’t usually go that far, but never know.

Mike:

Right, that’s it.

Darren:

You never know.

Mike:

Look, it’s contagious. All right, it’s contagious and if you’re going to be sour grapes, it’s just going to stay sour in the atmosphere.

Darren:

Yeah. I agree.

Jason:

Yeah.

Mike:

Mature. Jason, what’s some of the things that you learned from working with Darren?

Jason:

Darren has the same energy as me. We’re always happy and positive. Rarely do I ever see him negative or grouchy. I’m really big about positivity. I can’t stand being around negative people. In a work environment, it’s already stressful and negative, so you got to have fun. Whenever I would see Darren pulling up at whatever store I was covering at or working at that day, I knew it was going to be a good day. Whether we were short, half the crew called in sick. I think whether he knows it or now, I fed off of his energy, his positive energy. It just made me that more positive.

Mike:

Yeah, I was going to ask you. You said when you saw him pull up, it made a difference. Well, isn’t amazing? It only takes one or two other people and you’re like, “Yes, I got an ally today.”

Jason:

Yeah. I knew we were going to have so much fun that day because we’re both goofballs when we’re together.

Mike:

Yeah. I love that.

Darren:

I would think the same thing if I was going to go cover a store, I was going to go visit a store, and I look at the schedule and I saw Jason W.’s name on the schedule for that day, the day was not going to be easy but I would tell myself, “This day’s going to be a treat, this is going to be easy.” We had that with a lot of our employees I think.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Jason, a lot of people that we worked with-

Mike:

That’s awesome.

Darren:

[inaudible 00:17:42].

Mike:

One of the questions, you guys, I was going to ask you to impart some wisdom to the listening audience, but it’s almost like you already have because I would say … I’m going to answer the question for you. I was going to say do you guys have any wisdom that you would give away today, to the listening audience, and man, I would say it would have to be that right there. Be positive, be happy, be enthusiastic.

Darren:

Yeah.

Jason:

In sales, what have learned too, and your dad, Lester, would say this too, is just when that phone rings, when you pick up that phone and you answer that phone with a smile, that person on the other line hears that. What they don’t know yet is that they’re calling in for a tire quote, but I know that I’m going to land this deal no matter what. You tell yourself that, whether it’s in-person or on a phone call, and you’ll have more of a chance to get it. But you have to start it off with a positive. Not, “Thank you for choosing McLea’s Tire, this is Jason.” You can’t just be all blah. You got to answer it with enthusiasm, just a smile on your face. They don’t know it yet, but I’m going to get them.

Darren:

I love that he brought that up.

Jason:

Yeah. You love it.

Darren:

I learned that from my dad, who probably learned it from my grandpa. But we were that way. Go ahead, Jason.

Jason:

It’s mindset. That’s all it’s about is mindset. Being positive and just mindset, that’s literally all it is.

Mike:

Yeah.

Jason:

You set your own mindset when you wake up that day.

Mike:

I love the fact, and I heard this from different people, but I’m not going to let somebody else take my joy away from me, or my good nature, or whatever. Because it’s easy to do. You can let somebody else … Somewhere in the maturing process when you’re growing up, it seemed like it took me to when I was about 40, but for most people it probably happens a lot sooner. But you can’t grab my joy from me, you can’t take it from me. It’s mine.

Darren:

It’s not yours to take.

Mike:

Right. Sorry you’re having a bad day, but I’m still happy.

Darren:

Yeah.

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

You have to recognize that, too. If somebody else, and Jason and I have talked about this … Occasionally, you get that customer that calls in and we have a process, so we have an approach, and we have our positivity going, and we’re positive about the day, and you always have that one who rejects that or doesn’t want to hear it, who wants to just bulldoze through. “Look, dude, I don’t need the whole sales pitch. I just need to know how much a tire,” whatever it is. Okay, roll with that one, but do not let it change you for the next phone call, and the next phone call, and the next phone call. But I’ve seen it happen, that happens to people.

Mike:

Yeah.

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

You can have a great day and one customer changes them for the whole day. Don’t let that happen.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Don’t let them change the way you were going to treat the next five people and take the joy away from the next five. You got to, “Okay, that was a one-off. Let’s get back in the game, and let’s help the next person, and let’s make them have a better day.”

Mike:

That’s great advice.

Darren:

Yeah. Don’t let the outliers change you.

Mike:

I felt like I cut you off, Jason. Were you going to say something?

Jason:

No, I was just agreeing.

Mike:

Yeah. I love that. Don’t let that one bad apple mess up the rest of the … It does. You would be affecting all the other apples, per se, in the bushel.

Darren:

Yeah, yeah. I see it. In the training that I do, it just takes just quickly mentioning payment plans at the beginning of a conversation. You’re not forcing it on them. But I teach and train people to do that. You just mention we have payment plans and if they bring it up, great. Four or five people will take advantage of it later and it’s great for them. But then the one person is like, “Why are you telling me about payment plans? You don’t think I have enough money to afford this?” Then all of a sudden, they stop telling everybody else about payment plans, so now all the other customers don’t know that they offer payment plans, can’t take advantage of it.

So no, don’t let those outliers change you because you don’t know what you are now missing going forward if you allow yourself to change. Stay true to yourself. Just keep moving forward. There we go.

Mike:

I like it. I like it.

Darren:

Yeah.

Mike:

All right, so I got another tough question for you. What’s your favorite hobby, Jason? Being a counter sales rep, when you’re not dealing with people, what do you like to do?

Jason:

You know, I don’t have one specific favorite thing. I have a lot of things that I enjoy doing. Me and my son, my 11-year-old son, we do a lot of stuff with these BMX bikes, and we go out and we go ride with large groups of people in the community. Night rides. Right now, it’s Taco Tuesday. I want to say, right before Halloween, we had over 400 people come out. We prepare, we charge our lights on our bikes because we have these flashy LED lights. That’s my favorite thing that we’re doing right now. But I love getting out and just going for drives, hiking, going out to the coast. But usually, it’s just either plastic cars or bikes.

Yeah, I like to just be outdoors.

Mike:

Well Jason, and I did a bad job of this, starting this podcast visually. Where are you guys? Where are you located?

Jason:

I’m in Northern California, about 45 minutes north of San Francisco in Sonoma County.

Darren:

I’m about an hour-and-a-half, two hours east of Jason. I’m just northeast, out of Sacramento.

Mike:

Nice.

Jason:

Yeah.,

Mike:

I did that because I want the audience to be able to visualize where you’re at.

Darren:

Yeah, picture where we’re at?

Mike:

Yeah, yeah.

Darren:

Who knows, right?

Mike:

No, that’s a great hobby. BMX, so you’re pedaling a lot, aren’t you?

Jason:

Yeah.

Mike:

I’m sitting here thinking of the work involved. Did you see my head, Jason? Did you see my face, Darren? I was like, “Oh my gosh, this guy.”

Jason:

Yes. You’re like, “B-M-X?”

Darren:

I think, did I just see, Jason, you built something for your son that’s going to teach him to do wheelies?

Jason:

Yeah. There’s all these kids that are riding these BMX bikes on wheelies, and my son’s been trying so hard. One of my buddies, during the whole three-hour bike ride, he is on one wheel. He’s wheeling. My son’s always following him, trying to watch him on how he does it. He sent me this video online, that this dad made this thing, it’s called a Wheelie Jig. Basically, you have your BMX bike with pegs, and you build this support thing so he can practice balancing. Once he gets the balance down, then he just needs to practice on riding, and pulling up, and finding that because.

I sent him a picture of it yesterday. He hasn’t tried it yet, but I’m super pumped about it.

Darren:

Yeah, it looked pretty cool. The pegs in the pack sit on it.

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

So he can kick up. I saw it and I’m like, “Man, that’s pretty cool.” You did a good job. That was very cool.

Jason:

I even tried it. I was like-

Darren:

Oh, God.

Jason:

“This is either going to fall apart on me,” but I found my balance. My bike’s bigger, so it only works for his size. But I’m pretty excited about it. I’m picking him up this weekend to use it.

Mike:

That is so cool. I think it’s cool because I don’t know, you don’t see kids, at least in my area, riding the BMX bikes as much anymore. I think that’s awesome that that’s still going on.

Jason:

Yeah. It’s pretty awesome. They’re all over here.

Mike:

That’s so cool. Really cool. I love that tool to ride a wheelie. I had to learn the hard way and crashed a lot.

Jason:

Yeah.

Mike:

Plus, I never was very good at it because I never got consistent.

Jason:

[inaudible 00:24:58].

Mike:

[inaudible 00:24:58], my cousin was cool as heck. He was riding up and down the street on one wheelie, and turning on it, and all that stuff. I could never mimic that. It drove me crazy.

Darren:

Yeah. I still can’t do it, and I’m not going to try either, because I just don’t want to get hurt.

Mike:

Yeah.

Darren:

Today’s not the day to get hurt.

Mike:

No, no. I’m passed that, I’m good. I just can’t ride a wheelie, that’s all right.

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

Yeah.

Mike:

That’s it. I let it go a long time ago.

Jason:

Yeah.

Darren:

That part is gone and it’s okay. I’m at peace with it.

Mike:

Yeah, exactly. Well, guys, I can’t thank you enough for being on the podcast. This has been a blast.

Darren:

A lot of fun. Thanks for having us on here. Jason, thanks for being here, man. I miss you, dude.

Jason:

Yeah. I miss you, too.

Darren:

Let’s go sell some tires together.

Jason:

Exactly. You know where I’m at.

Darren:

I need some tires. Can I hit up?

Jason:

Mike, I got an extra BMX bike if you want to come down and go for a ride on one of these.

Mike:

You know what, I’ll probably make it just about a quarter of a mile is all I can handle.

Jason:

We can go really slow.

Mike:

Okay, there you go. There you go. I love it. If Darren goes with me, I’ll do it.

Darren:

Yeah. I’ll be about half a mile back, can’t breathe. But I’ll be there, I’ll be there.

Mike:

Actually, I want to ride on the pegs. I’ll ride …

Darren:

I’ll have a boombox.

Mike:

There we go. Way cool. Thanks a bunch for being on here, it’s been a pleasure having you on Gain Traction.

Darren:

Awesome. Thanks, Mike.

Mike:

To all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of our podcast today. If you’d like to recommend a guest, please email me at [email protected]. Until next time, be safe and have a great day.

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