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Walter Lybeck is the CEO of Point S Tire and Auto Service. Originally from McMinnville, Oregon, growing up in a tight-knit community instilled in Walter a strong work ethic from a young age, starting with his first paying job mowing lawns. His path eventually led him through various roles in the service industry, including a memorable stint at Burger King. Though he initially stumbled into the tire industry by chance during a housing downturn, Walter was drawn to the dynamic challenges and opportunities it presents.
In this episode…
Company culture has taken center stage regarding a workplace’s overall value, reputation, and desirability. In reality, how important is that culture and camaraderie to the value of a tire business?
According to Walter Lybeck, a supportive work culture and tight-knit community have proven invaluable for Point S Tire. His commitment to creating a familial atmosphere among team members reflects not only in his leadership style but also in the strong bonds formed within the organization. By prioritizing collaboration, mutual respect, and a shared sense of purpose, Walter has proven that building relationships and camaraderie among employees can profoundly impact employee morale, productivity, and overall organizational cohesion.
On this episode of Gain Traction, Walter joins Mike Edge to discuss the importance of company culture. Walter shares how to engender familial closeness among team members and how those efforts have paid off daily and in the big picture. He also discusses his accidental journey into the tire industry and why he’s happy it happened. He recalls an embarrassing story as a testament to poise under pressure.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Walter Lybeck explains how he stumbled into the tire industry during a housing downturn
- Why Walter embraced the challenges of the tire industry despite initial hesitations
- The importance of pushing past reluctance to seize growth opportunities
- How Point S Tire fosters a sense of community and loyalty among employees
- A memorable customer service story exemplifying the Point S ethos
- Walter shares an interview mishap and the importance of staying composed under pressure
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Walter Lybeck on LinkedIn
- Point S Tire
- Ron Dolan on LinkedIn
- Sailun Tire Americas
- Mike Edge on LinkedIn
- 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. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners and the ReTread Marketing Program. What the heck is the ReTread Marketing Program? It is a customer re-engagement program using IP targeting to win back your best lost customers. It is a one-time 120-day program that guarantees a 10:1 return on investment. And that’s correct, yes I said it right. It’s a 10:1 guaranteed ROI. No tricks or gimmicks. These are your customers already in your point-of-sale right now.
For instance, if you were to invest $4000 today, going after these best lost customers, you would receive a $40,000 return in 120 days from this list of customers. Tread Partners works exclusively in this industry, and specializes with tire and automotive repair shops. To learn more, visit treadpartners.com.
Last April, I had one of my favorite people in the tire industry on this podcast as a guest, Ron Dolan, president of Sailun Tires North America. The podcast is actually labeled number 87 if you visit gaintractionpodcast.com. I encourage you to check it out at your convenience.
A few months ago, Ron introduced me to our guest today and recommended that we have him on the podcast. We finally got him scheduled. His name Walter Lybeck. He’s the CEO of Point S Tire. Point S is a member owned co-op with hundreds of independent tire dealers across the country.
Walter, welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast.
Walter:
Thank you, Mike.
Mike:
Glad to have you.
Walter:
Great to meet you, back in Vegas.
Mike:
Oh, yeah. Well, that was fun. Yeah, that was a good party by Ron. Ron, I’ll pump him up a little bit here because he’ll end up listening to this podcast. But what a great guy, isn’t he? Very social.
Walter:
He’s amazing. Super fun to be with, super real. Just I trust that guy.
Mike:
Yeah, that’s the thing. When I met him, he was just as down-to-Earth as could be. The first time we met, it was I think a phone call, then it was a Zoom meeting. Then, we did a podcast together. It was just like I feel like I’ve hung out with this guy forever. He gives you that vibe.
Walter:
Yeah, for sure. I just want to know, did he authorize that wall of champaign, where you had the gloves and the champaign glasses hanging out there? That was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.
Mike:
Probably. Tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Let’s talk about before tires. Growing up, where’d you grow up? What was your first real job?
Walter:
Oh, that’s an interesting question. Well, my first real job … I grew up in McMinnville, Oregon, a small town.
Mike:
Okay.
Walter:
About an hour from Portland, Oregon. A town of 12,000 people, farming town. The kind of town, when you got your license, you never went over the speed limit because you knew someone from the church was going to know your mom and tell your mom about you speeding down on the road. You were real careful because you knew you were going to get spotted.
Mike:
That’s great.
Walter:
McMinnville is a great little small town. My first paying job was mowing lawns when I was in sixth grade. I’d go around the neighborhood, and get five bucks a lawn.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Boy, I’d mow up, clean up. I was really fortunate, one of my neighbors was a builder and he was building a development behind us. He’d build a house up, put the yard in, then I’d get to take care of that yard until they sold the house, so it was pretty cool.
Mike:
Oh, yeah. What a deal! All right, I know this podcast is about you but I got to tell you a funny story about when I learned to negotiate. I was doing a lawn for $5. You know, $5 is not really that much. But still, back then, say this was 1980, ’81, somewhere in there.
Walter:
Okay.
Mike:
Yeah, it seemed like a lot of money, but at the same time … The next year, I had this old guy that I mowed his lawn down the street. I was probably 10 years old. He was my first lawn. I remember, I wanted more money the next year. I told him it was going to be $7.50 this year.
Walter:
Oh my gosh.
Mike:
I didn’t even discuss this with my parents or anything, I just went for it. He goes, “Why?” I go, “Well, because costs go up,” or something like that. I remember stating it. He goes, “Well, I don’t want to pay that.” I said, “Well, I’m not going to be able to mow it.” He goes, “Well, if you’re not going to be able to mow it for five, then I don’t need you.”
Let me tell what I did.
Walter:
[inaudible 00:04:47] negotiate.
Mike:
Yeah, let me tell you what I did. Okay, we kept it at five bucks.
Walter:
He kept putting in five bucks. He didn’t take you down to four?
Mike:
I remember that, when you don’t have any leverage, you can’t negotiate. I wasn’t willing to walk away.
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
You did the same thing. You mowed grass for $5 a lawn.
Walter:
I did, $5 a lawn, yeah.
Mike:
That’s awesome.
Walter:
[inaudible 00:05:16].
Mike:
Then, what did you do after that?
Walter:
Well, that was young. My first taxable job was Burger King. I remember the manager saying something like, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” I hated that job. Yeah, I went through the service industry. Mom said, when I was young … She was always pushing me to work. Trimming hedges, mowing lawns, whatever it was I had to do, walking dogs. Mom was always pro-work. When I turned 16, the day I turned 16, she marched me down to Burger King for that application.
Mike:
Oh.
Walter:
She’s like, “You’re working now.” I’m like, “But, Mom, I’m in swimming, I’m in high school.” She was like, “Nope, get your job.”
Mike:
That’s awesome.
Walter:
[inaudible 00:06:02] until I got tired of it.
Mike:
Well, what a great mom because the reality of it is there is no better educator than your first couple jobs.
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
Not only that you earn money, which is great, but all the people you’ve got to deal with, especially if you’re in the service side.
Walter:
Yeah, yeah. Then, all the reasons you’d want to get your education.
Mike:
True. You realize, “Whoa, everything means something here.”
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
No doubt about it. Well, you know the part I’m trying to get to is when you did your YouTube video.
Walter:
Oh, no. Oh, no.
Mike:
Are we going to talk about that?
Walter:
Yeah. I got no filter, so you can open whatever you want.
Mike:
Walter described that he made working for a company that he installed door sets. He does a video explaining how you install these. Anyway, I thought it was a great video. This was back when YouTube was first out?
Walter:
Yeah. This was 2006, maybe 2000 … No, it was 2008 maybe when the video came out. I can’t remember the exact year. But, it’s a life lesson. It’s one of those things. I didn’t get fully into there, but the CFO. I was an accountant, by trade out of college. Went the CFO route, was the CFO at a company called Rejuvenation Hardware, Rejuvenation House Parts. They did catalogs, web, all that stuff. Anyway, I was the accountant guy for it. I remember the day they walked into my office and they’re like, “Hey, Walter, we’d like you to do this video on how to install a door set,” that was one of our products. We’re trying to sell the classic products. My first reaction is, “Hell no.”
Then, it was my first life lesson on hell no. If I have an emotional hell no now, and this is the first time I did it, the first thing I have to do is say, “Why am I saying hell no again?” If it’s not dangerous, if it’s not going to hurt somebody, then chances are I need to rethink that hell no. If it’s something I haven’t done before and I don’t know what that experience is, and I have an emotional, gut reaction, why is that? In this case, I was scared of being behind the camera. You get to see, in that video, or you got to see in that video, Walter, first time ever behind a camera, doing recordings and all of the nervousness, and all the crazy stuff that came out of there in the strangest topic. It was in the form of a YouTube video, didn’t even know what YouTube when it started.
Mike:
Oh, yeah. Aren’t there 40,000 views now, or something?
Walter:
It has 20,000 views, yeah.
Mike:
20,000? Yeah, yeah.
Walter:
It hasn’t gone up that much in the last few years.
Mike:
Well, it’s lost its significance at this point.
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
You’re not longer promoting it, so exactly.
Walter:
Maybe it’ll go up after today.
Mike:
Hey, wouldn’t that be something? We’d laugh our heads off. Then, how did you get to tires? I love everybody’s journey to tires.
Walter:
Tires by accident, right?
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Yeah. It’s like Hotel California, “you can check in but you can’t ever leave.”
Mike:
See, I did. I checked out for a little bit, and then they pull you back in.
Walter:
Oh, okay. You attempted to leave? Okay.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Well, I checked in. I haven’t left yet. This was an accident. This was a person I knew really well in business and she wanted me to meet this other person she knew in business, thought we’d get along great. It was in the middle of the housing downturn and I was at Rejuvenation at the time, and I was thinking about, “What happens next? Where do I go? What do I do? What do I want to do?” It was just a neat connection because one, I really, really liked the company. Mom got me working early, my brother was an entrepreneur by nature. He was a contractor. My grandfather was a contractor. The family roots of a work ethic and all of that really went deep. The concept of working for a group that supported independent tire dealers, or independent businesses, was just really interesting to me. It created maybe a little bit of roots for me immediately. I really wanted to be there.
The tire industry was secondary. It was not why I went here.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
I was a CFO, I wanted to be a CFO, CFO information about accounting and all that translates. It’s pretty easy to figure out. Tire industry is way more complicated than I thought, but at the end of the day, you’re still selling widgets and services.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
It’s pretty similar to a lot of other things. I became CEO in 2015. I started in 2010, in a tire factory at the time.
Mike:
Okay.
Walter:
In 2015, I took the CEO role. It was another one of those hell no moments. They asked if I’d be interested in being the CEO and my first gut reaction is, “Hell no. I don’t want to be that role.”
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Then you have to rethink that. You think about, “What are the parameters that make that hell no a hell yes?”
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
You work through that, and work through that with the board. We landed in the CEO role and I’ve been here ever since.
Mike:
Man, I love it. I love the fact that your whole gut instinct knows that, even though your warning signs say don’t do it, you check up and make sure that that’s a real … It’s like for you, that’s a clear sign that maybe I need to double check.
Walter:
Yeah. Is the hell no because it’s the wrong fit, or is the hell no because I’m nervous about doing something I haven’t done before?
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
If I haven’t done it, and there’s something to learn, and I can gain personally by it, then I have to switch that to a hell yes. I jumped out of an airplane the first time for the same reason. Now if you’d ask me again, I’d say, “Hell no,” and it stays, I did that once.
Mike:
I’m like that with a couple things, too. I’ll tell you, that’s so funny because this podcast, our parent company’s Tread, and when they came to me about this idea, I had that thought but I didn’t verbalize it. But then, I was just like, “All right, going to be a team player.” Well now, I’m the one that does it, but I love it. I enjoy it. It’s funny how that works. I was just curious about how you … That’s a great ability of self-knowledge because most people, I don’t think, cross back over. Once they put up the hell no, it’s a wall, “I’m not going back through that wall,” or over it, or whatever.
Walter:
Yeah. You get to do all sorts of great, cool things if you can cross over that well.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
And get yourself to try something. Sometimes, you don’t like it. Like I said, if it doesn’t hurt somebody, it’s not dangerous, then you probably should give it a real consideration.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
And make a time of it, have an experience and something that’s a life memory. Sometimes, the crappy things that happen on them, sometimes they’re life memories, too. They end up being good.
Mike:
Well, I say this in prayer, but I never want to experience my bad things again, but I’m grateful that I went through them. Does that make sense?
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
I’m like, “Lord, I’m good. I don’t need that one again.”
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
But I’m actually grateful I experienced whatever that pain was.
Walter:
Yeah. People that know me know I like to use analogies and I always screw them up. I’ll do them and they’ll be totally wrong than I’ve intended to do. But I like to think you’re kind of like an egg. You like that egg, you like being in that shell, you like that safety where you got, but in order to break free, in order to grow, you got to crack that thing. That’s a scary thing because you’re afraid you’re going to spill all over everywhere. But in order to grow, you got to crack that and have those bad experiences sometimes.
Mike:
That’s it. No, that’s a great point. Well, let’s talk about Point S, because I think you guys are a really cool organization. I think it’s got to be really a lot of fun meeting all the new people that you meet because you’re always inviting people to be members, correct?
Walter:
Yes. I have a team that does all that invitation stuff, so I’m usually not hitting the streets, grabbing the new members other than connections I’d have throughout the industry.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
I have a team that does that. But I get to be involved in the new member orientations, and I get to meet all those folks. I want to shake the hand of everyone who comes into the organization. It gets harder and harder, when you get to 350 stores, we’re at 336 right now. You get to that kind of a number and you can’t know them all well. But you have to stick to what your roots and your cause are.
With Point S, it’s a neat company because well one, we’ve got a great team of people. Everybody is in line with the cause of what we’re trying to do. We all really enjoy working with one another. We are an under budget company, for sure. We don’t have enough people. But we all commit to what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s fun. We like hanging out with each other, too. When you go to a strategic retreat, just being together is a good time. I think that respect for one another and that enjoyment of one another really lends itself to the culture of what we’re trying to accomplish with the members.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
I want this organization, if I had a footprint I wanted to leave behind, I want this to be a family company. I want it to be a company that’s supporting, that kids are interested in being part of the next generation. I want to be able to help independents have an avenue for a longterm success. I believe independents are what, two-thirds of the tire industry still.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
I believe that they will be for a long time and I want to help create an avenue for the right folks to participate in something like we do, and create that longevity that’ll create a longterm family business in a community.
Mike:
Well, when you say that, if I was an independent, that makes me feel really good because you’re in it for all the right reasons and not just for today. You’re in it for tomorrow and the next generation, et cetera. I’m a big fan of co-ops. I think they do build that unity and you build a lot of great friendships.
I’ll give a shout-out to Bay Area Tire, up in Maryland.
Walter:
Oh God, yeah. [inaudible 00:16:27] of our newest members.
Mike:
What’s that?
Walter:
They’re one of our newest members.
Mike:
Yeah, yeah. But Brandon, when I brought up the fact that I was going to interview you, he was like, “Man.” He goes, “I think a lot of Walter. I’ve met him once or twice,” or whatever. You could tell he was excited and he’s a new member. I could feel the fever and that’s fun.
Then, I think you got an older one that we know, is it Capital City, Point S Capital City and J&J? Nick Fox’s company out of Helena, Montana.
Walter:
Helena and Great Falls.
Mike:
Yeah, Helena. They spoke highly of you as well. It just bodes well for the organization. I guess, what I’m trying to say is I could feel the enthusiasm. They liked being part of Point S.
Walter:
Yeah, I hope that’s always the case. You never want to plan an exit. I don’t want to ever … I’d like to retire here. I’m super happy here.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
But you have to prepare it for when you leave so you try to create a team and a culture that can survive when you’re not there.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
It’s hard to do that. It’s a little scary to do that sometimes, because you have to delegate to folks and let them run. But at the end of the day, I’m just a piece of it. I can help facilitate the culture, but what’s really cool about this organization is the folks that are in it. The Nick and the Brandon. Store Four, Klyde Thompson, I’d like to call out to him. He’s our founder, he’s still active in our business from 40 years ago.
Mike:
That’s awesome.
Walter:
He’s [inaudible 00:18:13], Oregon. The vision that they had was not a vision. It was, “Hey, guys, I think we can do it better together. Okay, cool. Let’s do it.” It was a wing it kind of a thing, when it started.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
But the right reasons were there. Everybody was in it for the group to start. When everyone’s in it for the group and they’re not in it for the self, then it creates a much deeper fabric.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
That’s another reason why I like Point S, or why I think it’s unique. I’m making this a sales pitch, sorry.
Mike:
No, you’re not. But it gives us a good idea of Point S.
Walter:
Yeah. The branding of the store is a rite of passage, a little bit.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Branding the store, and the collective common warranty that you occur. I used an example … Oh gosh, I’m going to spend a minute on it. We can cut it out later if you hate it, I suppose.
Mike:
Go for it.
Walter:
There was an example I used at my annual meeting this year and it’s a true example. I’ll try and keep it short. Customer called our corporate office, and we don’t get feedback at the corporate office very often. Most of the time, people call with complaints or compliments directly to the stores. But if something’s really bad or something’s really good, sometimes they make an effort and call out to the corporate office, and we always put our corporate number on every bill of sale. If a customer ever has a problem, they can call us as well, as that second line of defense.
Mike:
Nice.
Walter:
If anything happens, we’ll guarantee customers’ happiness. But they never call us, maybe five times in 10 years we’ve had to do something for a customer that was above and beyond, to bring them back.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
But this customer called us and went out of his way. He was driving through rural Utah, Southern Utah, with a horse trailer and a family. He had a problem with his trailer wheel. He turned around and he was going to go to a store he’d spotted coming through town. He decided he couldn’t make it all the way to Houston on the trailer. Spotted a Point S store in Moab. He was from Portland, he was a Point S customer and he recognized the sign, so he pulled in.
Every independent has a story, right? The independent’s closing up shop, they’re literally rolling the bay doors down and they look over, and this horse trailer pulls in. You know what that means, work, right? He walks over, Colby walked over and said, “How can I help you?” The guy in the horse trailer is like, “Well, I got a problem with my wheel.” He’s like, “No problem. Pull it over here, I’ll take a look.” Closing time, he’s going home to his family, but the customer sees him going above and beyond. Colby knows this guy’s passing through.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Colby knows that. But he’s part of the Point S organization, and it’s the way he goes to business. It’s not even because he was Point S, he didn’t know he was a Point S customer. Anyway, he took a look at it, got the parts and he had to get parts in the next day, got it fixed and got him on the road. He was happy and everything was great.
The Point S store in Portland just got a customer for life for something a guy in Moab did when he was passing through. That’s the cool part about the community of the same brand.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
In addition to the warranty and the things that we provide. That’s, I guess, what I get really excited about is there’s something that gets built in a brotherhood when you’re at work together.
Mike:
Yes.
Walter:
And you’re [inaudible 00:21:32].
Mike:
Yeah. There is something about loving to cheer on a brother in the business that’s successful at something, and you’re just like, “Yeah, I’m part of that.” Even though you weren’t in that story specifically, it feels good.
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
That’s our brand, that’s who I work for. Yeah.
Walter:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
It’s the reason to go to work. It’s the reason to be happy as you’re approaching the office, instead of … I have a couple examples driving to work, and you want to turn around and go home before you get there. You’re like, “Please don’t let this exit come up next.”
Mike:
No, it’s true.
Walter:
“I never liked this job.” Always, you want to come in and do something better for the next day.
Mike:
That’s awesome. Everybody always expects this on the podcast now, so I’m just going to pull it out now. Do you got a funny story in your career, something you can share that’s clean and might make us laugh a little bit? It can be self-deprecating, if you want to go that route.
Walter:
Okay. Well, it’s easy for me to be embarrass myself, I do it all the time. My staff call me out on it all the time and they’re pretty good at it.
Mike:
I can’t wait.
Walter:
I’ve got a funny story. I got an interview story.
Mike:
Oh, these are good. Yeah, go for that. Yeah.
Walter:
Yeah. Interview story. I was working at a company, it was time for me to move on. I had young kids, I was never home. I needed to find a job where I could enjoy my family. I went to interview at a company, the Rejuvenation Hardware. That company is an antiques company. They really liked old things, and they reproduced lighting and parts that were antique, so everything’s old. I’m walking into this interview and they have this antique table, which was lower than a normal table, for whatever reason. I don’t know why it was low, but it was.
Mike:
You mean, like the chair … I’m trying to give the visual to the audience.
Walter:
It was an old, antique wooden table with the fold-down ends.
Mike:
Okay.
Walter:
There were four rickety chairs, antique chairs, around it.
Mike:
Yeah, okay.
Walter:
There was a CFO at the time, and I was ultimately going to replace that guy, and he knew it so it was part of the interview. My HR director, who was a woman. The CEO, who was a woman. And, the four of us in this room. I pull up and we’re talking like this. I’m looking at you, I’m having a good time. The table is really low though, and I keep bumping my knees. I’m like, “Okay, I can handle that.” It’s an interview, bumping your knees, no big deal.
Well, halfway through the interview, they’re asking me some hard questions. I glance down as I’m thinking, I look down, and I notice that my zipper was wide open.
Mike:
Oh, no.
Walter:
It’s not just unzipped, it’s like this and it’s above the table.
Mike:
Oh, no.
Walter:
I’m mid-answer. You suddenly split your brain into, “How do I answer this interview question?”
Mike:
I’m dying. I’m dying here.
Walter:
“What do I do?” Do you zip, or do you pretend it doesn’t exist and you try and go on without it? On the fly, I had to make this decision and I’m realizing they can see that, and I’m trying to answer, and I’m trying to make it-
Mike:
Is it obvious to them, it’s so wide open, it’s clear?
Walter:
It could be. If they looked down there, they’d see it.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
It’s there, the whole time. I was wearing a white shirt, blue pants.
Mike:
You’re done, yeah.
Walter:
Yeah. I’m like, “Well, I’m going to zip it up.” Then, in conversation, you’re moving your hands around, you’ve got to somehow drop your hands down to your pants and start pulling your zipper up without looking like a creeper. That’s the decision I made, I zipper ‘er up, kept on the conversation, finished the interview. Shook everybody’s hand, walked out the door, and literally just went through my brain and I said it verbally, once I got outside, “Que sera sera.”
I got the job.
Mike:
Yeah, who cares, right? Did it ever come back up after you got the job?
Walter:
It did. I asked them, three or four years later. I’m like …
Mike:
I’m just curious.
Walter:
No, nobody noticed me zipping it up, so I totally got away it it.
Mike:
Oh my gosh. Then, that makes you feel like an ace, right?
Walter:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Mike:
They didn’t have … Oh, man. I love it. I do know that feeling, when you go into full, your heart stops, your brain splits, like you said, and you’re in this debate with yourself, trying to carry on a conversation. Yeah. Yeah. That’s great.
Walter:
That’s an embarrassing story, but man, that was an awkward position and really hard to figure out.
Mike:
But it says a lot about your character. You were able to think on your feet, you were able to stay focused and you got the job, you still got it with the big fly down.
Walter:
Yeah, exactly. I’m like, “Well, maybe they like it. Maybe that was an on-purpose thing.” Maybe they thought it was, “This guy’s just testing us.”
Mike:
That’s it. That’s it. “We like this guy because he’s testing us.”
All right, another question. You live up there in the Northwest. What’s your favorite food?
Walter:
Oh, I like all food. I don’t know if I’ve met a food I don’t like, other than what I’ve got allergies to, which is fish.
Mike:
Oh well, so we can’t eat salmon?
Walter:
I can’t eat salmon. I live in salmon country. It’s horrifying.
Mike:
Oh.
Walter:
My wife hates it, that I can’t do that. We have smoked salmon and barbecues, and all that stuff.
Mike:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Walter:
Yeah, so I just have to work around it. I’ve figured it out. But I love food, really love food. I will tell you my favorite restaurant is a restaurant that is now closed, the owner died a couple years back. It was Valter’s in Salt Lake City.
Mike:
Okay.
Walter:
Best Italian food I’ve ever had in my life. It was absolutely astounding. Valter ran that restaurant until he died.
Mike:
Wow.
Walter:
It was somewhere around COVID time. You walk in and you’d see the Black Coat Mafia in the corner. I think they came from Italy and talked with Valter, maybe it was connected back. I don’t know.
Mike:
Hey, it made the ambiance, right?
Walter:
Oh, it really did. He’d come in and be like, “Hey, we’re here to have some food,” he’s like, “Oh, what do you like?” We were like, first time we were there, “We’d never been here.” He was like, “You got any allergies? Yeah. I’ll take care of you.” That’s it. He plated it out, a multi-course dinner, and the pasta was all handmade and to-die-for. He didn’t do any work, as the owner, but he flitted in and around every single table. He greeted every table. You could tell the way he presented the service to the people, he also directed his staff to make sure … He was like an choreographer of a restaurant. It was fun to go, the food was amazing.
Mike:
Yeah, but you know, that guy, he can’t be duplicated. That’s interesting.
Walter:
Yeah.
Mike:
He’s so good at what he does, he can’t be duplicated.
Walter:
He really can’t. When he was done, the restaurant was done.
Mike:
That’s so interesting. Yeah, and that’s kind of sad because you would like it to go on but it can go on really, and be the same without him.
Walter:
It wouldn’t be the same anyway.
Mike:
But, it’s a great memory. I love businesses like that. I know we’re all supposed to be in businesses where you can duplicate your work and success, and whatnot, but there are those situations like that, that you really like.
Walter:
[inaudible 00:29:04].
Mike:
Yeah. It does with the guy. That’s really cool.
Well, before we hang up, you got any words of wisdom, anybody in the business, that you learned along the way? It doesn’t have to be tire related, just something you live by.
Walter:
I had a big piece of that, and it’s true with food too, and I talked about that a lot. Really, it’s the be open to new ideas. Try something new, don’t be afraid to get out there and bust your face. There is a quote … I’m not a huge reader. I read occasionally for fun.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
We had a motivational speaker at one of my events and I got his motivational speaking book, which I wouldn’t qualify as really a book. It’s one of those, “Here’s my book,” on the way out the door. But it is hilarious. There’s a quote in that book that I really like and I like to live my life by, smartly. But the quote was, “There is no such thing …” This may be someone else’s quote, but it came out of his book. “There is no such thing as a wrong decision, so don’t make a wrong decision just make the decision right.”
Mike:
Interesting.
Walter:
Don’t get caught in the analysis paralysis. Do your basics, know what you need to do, go execute and react. You’ll be a lot faster at what you do. We have to be careful in what we do. The co-op is a naturally conservative company. But we have to be willing to try things because we don’t have unlimited funds as a co-op.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
In my world, I’ve got to be willing to try a few things, but have that exit plan. But really, it’s about making that next step the right decision.
Mike:
That’s so cool. I like that. There is a lot of paralysis by analysis in the world today, and people want to think on things constantly. Then, they just don’t do anything.
Walter:
The best entrepreneurs in our organization, and we’ve got a number of great ones, I’m going to tip my hat to Eric Gill, who now has 64 stores or something like that.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
Eric is an amazing analyst. His brain is a natural, he’s one of the smartest guys you’ll ever meet. If you ever do an interview with him, he’d be a good one, too.
Mike:
He and I were going to do one, but we’ve just never scheduled it so we might be able to [inaudible 00:31:33].
Walter:
He takes that make a decision and make it right, he lives by that. He does the work, he’s smart, he’s got his plan figured out, but he is willing to put his money where his mouth is. He’s willing to take a risk in business. To me, that’s the classic entrepreneur.
Mike:
Yeah.
Walter:
There isn’t a fear of failure as an entrepreneur, because you know you can make it right.
Mike:
I love that. I like the fact that, when you are the leader and you do put your money where your mouth is, you do get people that follow you. When you’re timid about that step, everybody behind you’s timid. When you’re bold about it, they get bolder.
Walter:
Yeah. Yeah. You got to make sure you keep your hands on the wheel.
Mike:
That’s it. Well, Walter, I can’t thank you enough for being part of Gain Traction. It’s been awesome.
Walter:
Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it, Mike. It’s been a fun, fun experience. You made it easy.
Mike:
Good. I’m glad, and we’ll have you back some day. Maybe we’ll get Clint on as well.
Walter:
Oh, Clint’s an amazing guy. He’s a super great lieutenant COO of our company and he does way more work than I do, that’s for sure.
Mike:
He’s definitely [inaudible 00:32:38], great shout-out. To all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of the podcast again. If you’d like to recommend a guest to us, please email me at [email protected]. Til next time, be safe and have a great day.
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