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Episode 207

Gary Skidmore

Big O Tires

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Gary Skidmore is a longtime tire industry leader whose career began in his father’s independent shop and eventually grew into franchise ownership and executive roles within Big O Tires. With experience spanning the sales counter, the service bays, and corporate leadership, Gary brings a rare, full-circle view of what makes tire dealers successful. Today, he helps guide one of the most recognized dealer networks in the country, applying decades of hands-on operational knowledge, market strategy, and people development to support franchise growth across 466 locations.

In this episode…

Understanding how to scale a tire business begins with learning from someone who’s lived every level of it. In this conversation, Gary walks through his early shop experiences, the lessons learned from becoming a franchise owner, and the leadership principles that shaped his approach to growth. He explains how Big O Tires expanded to 466 stores, why intentional market selection matters, and what franchisees truly receive beyond brand recognition.

Gary also breaks down the two traits he believes predict franchise success better than any other metric; insights gained from decades of watching operators thrive or struggle. From the realities of franchise renewals to how often field consultants actually visit stores, he gives a transparent look into how a major tire network supports its people.

This episode is packed with clarity and real-world wisdom for anyone interested in scaling a tire business the right way, through smart operations, strong leadership, and steady, intentional growth.

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

[01:04] Who Gary Skidmore is and how he entered the tire business
[01:29] Why snow days meant shop days growing up
[02:59] From part-time college job to Big O franchise owner
[05:57] How Big O Tires grew to 466 locations
[07:35] What really happens after 10 years: franchise renewal insights
[08:33] What Big O franchisees receive and how support is structured
[10:40] Why consultant visits vary by store size and operational needs
[11:54] Where new franchisees typically come from
[14:56] The two traits that reliably predict franchise success
[22:50] Work stories that shaped Gary’s leadership style
[26:55] A memorable day at the counter and its lesson
[28:10] Gary’s favorite movie and a childhood story that still inspires him

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“Growth only works when the support behind it works, too.”
“You can’t fake integrity. It shows up in every decision you make.”
“The strongest operators are proactive, not reactive.”
“Franchise systems thrive when people feel supported, not managed.”

Action Steps:

Evaluate your growth strategy: Is your expansion structured and intentional?
Strengthen your support systems: Ensure operators receive meaningful field guidance.
Develop leadership habits: Accountability and integrity set the tone for every store.
Define the ideal franchisee: Identify traits that align with long-term success.
Review your store culture: Strong values drive consistent performance and customer trust.

Transcript

00:00
So by the end of the day, I came home and my forearms hurt and I kind of felt like Popeye. And I realized it really wasn’t a. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. I enjoyed being in the car store. We’re not as bad as he thinks we are. We’re not as good as he thinks we are. I said, but we’ll solve his problem. I’m glad he loves us. And let’s put a set of tires on your car. And he goes, okay.

00:20
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. I am Mike Edge, your host and I have the privilege of interviewing the tire dealers, shop owners, counter sales reps, technicians, industry executives, and other thought leaders of our industry. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners. Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. Tread Partners works with clients that have hundreds of locations, down to five locations. Get a professional, unbiased opinion and let Tread Partners review what you’re doing. It starts with a simple conversation. To contact tread partners, visit treadpartners.com so let’s get started. Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. My guest today is Gary Skidmore, chief operating officer with Big O Tire. Gary, welcome to the Game Traction podcast.

01:11
Mike, thanks for having us. It’s a pleasure to be here.

01:13
Glad to have you. Well, let’s, you know, when we got to know each other a little bit, we’re kind of from the same region where you know and you’ve got a lot of family in the Louisville, Kentucky area. I live in Owensboro. We’re down the Ohio river from each other. You got to grow up in the tire business, correct?

01:31
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. My father actually started out in 1961 as a general service tech for okay, Tire River Welders. So a lot of kids as he grew up, used to enjoy snow days. I was one of the kids that did not like snow days because instead of going to school, I got to go to work with my father. School normally got out at three snow days at a big old tire store. Didn’t get up until 8 or 9 o’ clock at night.

01:54
Oh, that’s so.

01:56
And for people that remember this, we used to stud tire. So by the end of the day I came home and my forearms hurt and I kind of felt like Popeye. So. But he always bought lunch, so it was always a fair trade off. So one of the things that I had growing up. So yes.

02:10
Oh, that’s A great story, Gary, because obviously sitting here thinking, I mean, I did. I love, you know, snow days, especially snow days in Kentucky, because we didn’t have the equipment. They weren’t going to invest in equipment because you didn’t have the big snow. It came around every other year, whatever, two year, three years sometimes. So there’s no reason to invest in it. And it only lasted a short period, but it shut everything down for fun. But for you. I never looked at it that way. Yeah, that’s a, that’s. It was just a heavy work day.

02:37
It was not enjoyable for me. So I was the kid that woke up saying, let’s have school, let’s. And by the way, I didn’t necessarily enjoy school either. So it was a win either way.

02:47
It was heads, I wear, tails, you lose. Right? I mean, that’s brutal. So tell me about, you know, because you’ve been in the. Okay, you’ve been in the entire business a long time and, and now you’re with Big O. But how did you migrate from starting with your dad to where you’re at today?

03:03
So I’ll. Yeah. So the second part of the story is, you know, we lived in Louisville, Kentucky. My dad stores in Carcello Indians just across the river. And I just started school, the University of Louisville freshman. And he called one day and he had a. One guy who was out running the Boston Marathon and somebody else had broken the leg, so he’s a little shorthanded. He asked if I could come and help out in the shop. So really no interest in the automotive world. I’m not, you know, automotive inclined and went over and started working part time. So really enjoyed it, interacting with the people. Just had a great time. So throughout that I worked part time throughout college, graduated, got a job, went through orientation and realized it really wasn’t a. It wasn’t what I wanted to do.

03:44
I enjoyed being in the Tarpstar. I enjoyed what I was doing. So called the company and told him, hey, I appreciate this, but I think I’m going to go back doing what I was doing before. So my father and I, throughout that we became partners and then eventually I became a franchisee with them and we had two locations. And then in 2003, I felt like I was ready to do something else. And we sold one of the stores. He kept one with my brother. And then I came to work for Big O Tires Corporate. So I basically sold a store on a Friday and came to work on A Monday was fortunate to continue to work within the Louisville, Kentucky market.

04:20
Now I interacted with franchisees that I’d kind of been a peer with, but from the other side throughout the last several 22 years within Big O TBC, as TBC owned us at the time through, you know, many different roles. I assumed the chief Operating officer about two years ago and moved down here to Palm Beach Gardens. So I always say I’ve kind of been lucky my entire life and always better to be lucky than good, but combination of two work even better. So feel very lucky to be in this role and to lead this brand and. And understand that I have a lot of people’s livelihoods in our hand with franchisees that, you know, life right there. So take it with all seriousness. So feel very blessed to be here.

05:04
Well, and the beauty is that you really understand what it feels like on the other side. You’re not just the corporate guy. You’re. You’re. You. You feel their pain, you understand their worries, their anxieties, et cetera.

05:15
Yep. So I will say that I can empathize because the business from 22 years ago is not the business the same as it was today. So our. Our business continues to evolve and. And I’ll even tell a story at one time, which we still have a DVP named Tim Washburn. Tim was an ex Midas franchisee, and I was a DV at the time, and I was an ex Big O franchisee. So between the two of us, we kind of had different perspectives. So were very strong and we leaned on each other’s strengths. So Tim is still our DVP in the west, so I still lean on his expertise. Jason Bastian is our other DVP who came from our wholesale side of ntw.

05:51
So we all kind of have a little different skill set, and I think we leverage you pretty well to support our franchisees.

05:56
That’s fantastic. So I know you guys are, what a total of. Let’s see. I’ve got the note here. 470 franchise locations.

06:04
Now we’re 466, but I’m an ex fisherman, so we’ll round up 4 7. Right.

06:10
Beautiful. So is there. Is there a go inside Big O to continue to grow at a certain pace, or do you guys.

06:19
Yeah, so what we want to do, Mike, is we want to grow strategically, but grow correctly. All right, so our franchise agreement is for 10 years. So if someone gets into our business, we always want to make sure that it’s the right choice for them, and it’s the right choice for us because if we have somebody that comes into our business and it’s not the right choice for both of us then ends up being a tumultuous relationship for the next 10 years. And nobody likes that. So as we look at what we have core markets where we have a lot of penetration of bigot higher stores, then we have adjacent markets and then we actually have new markets. So we kind of have our growth plans of growing a certain number of stores for our financial year ends in March 31st.

07:00
So we have a number for this year. Then we kind of grow in 26, 27, 28 and 30. And we keep building our pipeline so we feel very strong about we’ll hit our number for 25. We’re going to hit our number for 26. We are well on our way for 27, 28. But we still have to fill in a few gaps here and there. But all we’re very strong. We, we grow about 80% with existing franchisees and about 20% with people from the outside. We’d like to see that changed about a 70, 30. But as long as our franchisees continue to grow, they’re super strong for us. They’re very profitable within our business. So we’re very lucky to have now.

07:35
So speaking from like if I was an investor and I’m thinking about it And I hear 10 years, what is what happens at the end of 10 years?

07:44
So the majority of our franchisees resign for another 10 years. Okay. But we, but what we don’t want to do is we don’t want someone to feel like they don’t have an option. So some people own their own business or own their own property. Some people may lease their property. So a lot of leases are established where there’ll be a 10 year lease and then with five year options. So we’ve tried to align our franchise agreement but we basically we send out our paperwork after nine years. We have relationships with our franchisees throughout those times. So we know whether somebody are our non renewal rate is down in like 1 or 2%. So once you’re a big old franchisee, you generally want to stay a big old franchisee. So we just continue to re sign you up for the next 10 years.

08:25
We have people that have been in our system for over four years.

08:28
That’s fantastic.

08:29
Yeah.

08:30
All right, so if someone’s listening out there and they’re thinking okay, what do I get? What, what’s in it for me if I invest and what’s it, you know what are some of the, I guess you’d say the advantages of.

08:41
Being Big O. Yeah, so I think there’s a lot of small things, but I’ll kind of hit on some of the big things. So one of the things is we have very strong brand recognition. So if you think about the markets we’re in, some of them we have over 10% penetration and people know our brand. Right. Secondly, we have a expert training and support. So we actually have today’s class Technician, which is a mobile app so technicians can train every morning in microlearning. We also have more in depth, longer classroom training available also. But we want to make sure that we adapt that to where the world’s going in the environment’s going with product. We have, you know, we use our NTW support system owned by TBC for consistent availability and variety.

09:23
We actually have our own Big O branded product that’s made for us. It’s not available anywhere but Big O tires. So our franchisees there. But so that. And then we have a proven business model. So our business model we’ve been around since 1962. We continue to have growth throughout the years. We continue to have sales increases, our business continues to become stronger and we continue to get better. So, some of the smaller things that I would talk about is we have a lockdown point of sale with a consistent chart of accounts. So our franchisees have KPIs where they can manage their business against other franchisees so they know where they’re achieving, where they’re overachieving and where they’re underachieving. And then we have our field staff which are franchise business consultants.

10:05
And we chose the name Franchise Business Consultants because they’re not area sales managers, they’re not area director that they actually work with our franchisees and their managers to grow their business and make sure their business is profitable. So we also have a marketing team where we interact whether it’s with our search engine marketing, search engine optimization, our consumer site, all those tools we kind of manage for our franchisees with their interaction. But we have a consistent brand and consistent message across all 466 locations.

10:34
And that’s well said. And I and your field, your field consultant, they. How often did they get to see those folks?

10:44
So here’s what I would say. So we have basically most of our franchise business. They, they have different numbers of stores because we have. Some of our locations are single, stronger. So about 24% of our stores are single store. We have some which I would call medium, say a 2 to 10. And then we have several large corporations that would be 20 plus. Right. So the needs of our franchisees are different depending upon where you fall in that bucket. So our franchise business consultants will adapt their message depending upon who they’re working with. So our large corporations would actually have their own field people that interact with them too.

11:18
So our franchise business consultants, we’ll call them an fpc, would interact with the leadership of that franchisee and then it gets disseminated down with a single store they may be in more often, depending upon what’s needed. So we always try to look at our metrics. For the stores that are doing well, we’ll continue to pat them on their back and help them grow. The stores have faced challenges, we may be more engaged in that. So we can kind of turn it around and make sure we get them where we want to be. And then a secondary part of that, we have regional operations managers that are interacting with our franchisees. So they may be there for a specific reason. And this is kind of their focus for their trip to where we want to get the store better.

11:54
That’s fantastic. Now, when people become a Big O franchise, do they as a percentage, I guess, do a lot of them come in the business, like say, let’s say they were mechanic or a technician or some other business owner and they’re starting a brand new greenfield store? Or do you get a lot of these guys that convert, like somebody that owns a store and you know, they say, you know what? I think I just, I would rather be part of a bigger brand.

12:20
So, so we have a mixture of everything. So a lot of our, what a, as you mentioned, technicians or stuff. A lot of our store manager technicians would generally get their start with Big O by buying the existing store that they’re at. So let’s say we’ve had a person that’s been part of our franchise and they’ve been with them for 20 years and that’s been the franchise. So it may have been somebody that started out as a manager and now they’re kind of ready for the next chapter, whether it’s retirement or whatever they want to do. So at that point the manager would interact with the franchisee, purchase the business from them. So it’s kind of the next chapter within what I call the book of Big O tires. And we have many franchisees that have had chapters within our book.

12:58
So with, they would kind of assume an existing business now after they get their first store, then we could grow possibly from 2 to 3 so like I said, we have about 24% of our franchisees are single store. They enjoy interacting with that customer every day. That’s what they enjoy. And then a core mix that we have say between two to 10 stores, those are people that started out with one and kind of grown now. On the outside we have people that come in that would look to open up new stores. They may be from a total different background. They might be an engineer, they could be somebody that worked for a large corporation that’s now retired and they’re looking to do something else. So we have various aspects that come in.

13:37
We have some conversion people where they may have their existing business, which could be Joe’s Auto or whatever it may be, that look for a brand and an umbrella so they have consistency. Because as you know, the consolidation of our industry continues to exist. And if you’re not paired with someone that you feel strong, you’re challenged. So one of the things I talk about, Big O, and I’ll kind of say this is if you think about boutique stores, one thing about boutique stores is they’re generally give you the individuality and the personality, but prices are higher. If you think about a big box store, you can generally get lower prices, but there’s really no individuality. And it kind of feels like people are managed as a cook with our franchise relationships and the interaction between that.

14:19
We kind of have the best of both worlds. So we have the individuality of the franchise, but then we have the total conglomeration of tbc. You combine the two of those together and you kind of get the best of both worlds. So although we have a core thing, franchisees will tweak it a little bit so it fits their personality. So your core might be 90% consistent, but one store might be do something just a little bit different because if it’s their personality. So I kind of talked about Tim and myself. Tim is more mechanically inclined, so he generally lean more towards service work. I was more tire focused, so I was generally more tired. Not that either one of those were right or wrong. It’s just what we feel more comfortable towards now.

14:55
That’s interesting. So is there like a. What’s a personality trait you’re looking for? And in people that are going to either take over an existing franchisee, like it say it’s a tech or mechanic in a store or somebody coming in. Totally. Like you said, an engineer retiring and says, hey, I want to do this. What are, what are the characteristics Big O is looking for?

15:15
I’ll give you Two, we’ve done tons of study and bunch of different things, but I’m going to nail it down to two things, right? Proactive and accountability. And if you have someone that is proactive instead of always being reactive, because I think if you’re reactive in this world, you’ll never move forward. You always want to keep from being pushed back. So if you’re proactive, they will generally always push forward. So what? People who are proactive will generally find a way. So they don’t make excuses, they find solutions. And then the other thing is, I talked about accountability. So. So we’re only as good as all of us. So if you have 12 people in a store and one of them’s not pulling their weight, then it’s going to pull all 12 people down.

15:58
But if you have 12 people that’s holding each other accountable and everybody’s working together, then you’re all going to succeed. So those. I mean, there’s a lot of other things you can. Yeah, like that. But I really think it comes down to you. You forge Headworth, your proactiveness. You hold people accountable. You don’t have to be mean, you don’t have to be hateful. You just be consistent accountable. Because people like that because they know where they stand, they know what they need to do. And those are the two things I think that make most references very successful.

16:23
I like that a lot. And it’s a. Those two things you can probably pick up on if you go visit a store owner or spend a little time with them.

16:31
I, I will say. So this may sound kind of weird, but you can generally, I’ll say two things I look at when I walk into a store is the amount of light in the business and whether the people at the counter look up and smile and say something or if they keep their head down. But if people make eye contact and they have a little bit of a smile, you’ll usually have a store that’s very successful. If you have people that avoid eye contact and look down, whether it’s our brand or anyone else’s brand, it’s usually a store that’s challenged.

16:59
That’s so interesting. And it’s interesting you have those two things that you look for and that comes through great experience, I mean, of walking in a lot of stores, and something starts just clicking with you that you recognize that, you know, the, where the winner, the winning stores are and the winning people, by the way.

17:15
I’m not saying that they still don’t continue to have challenges.

17:18
No, no, absolutely ain’t it to you.

17:20
But you kind of get a feeling and I think it’s just like every, it’s the things they do every day in their life. And I always talk about people that do things right, generally do a lot of things right. People that don’t think don’t do things right generally don’t do a lot of things right. So it’s not like they’re kind of meddling in the middle. You’re either here or you’re here. And not hard to figure out fairly quick.

17:42
So I saw Nick Saban in an interview one time, he goes, look, overachievers, they like, you know, achievers or winners like other achiever winners. And those that are mediocre, they don’t like them. And it just blends or it won’t blend. So you, it just, you can find out real quick. You know, you remind me of a story and you may like this and forgive me if you’ve heard this before, but there was this story, I may have read it out of some magazine like Forbes, Fortune or something, but there was this executive of mid sized company, I think he had a manufacturing company. And when they would hire. So it was, I think they had several hundreds of employees. But it wasn’t a gigantic company by any means. But when he would hire people and obviously the whole team was involved, the executive team.

18:28
But if he hiring somebody a certain level and up, he would take them out as an owner personally to go play golf. Before they hired him, I said hired him, but before they would hire him, like they’d say, hey, this is, these are the last two candidates or whatever, he would take them out to play golf. And I thought this was interesting, but he wanted to see how honest they were on their scorecard. And because everybody knows every golfer in the world might give themselves a better lie or they might not count a stroke here or there or whatever. And it happens so frequently. I didn’t know this stat until my son told me this, but did you know that 80% of golfers can’t break a hundred? But when you talk to people, every, Everybody’s in the 80s and 90s.

19:13
I mean, you know what I’m saying?

19:15
If you hit one in the 90s, that means you’re in the 90s, right? Yeah.

19:19
Oh yeah. That’s what everybody. I got there one time. Right. But it’s interesting, I just think it’s interesting that he took that as a value that he would Want to see, you know, how accountable are they to themselves? Because if they’re going to cheat in the golf game, I mean, how accountable will you be anywhere else? Because I just want to know. It’s not, I don’t care if you score 120 or whatever it is. I just want to know if you keep the card the right way. I always thought, and I like your little, the indicators you use about lighting and the smiles and how people respond when you walk in the store are two big indicators for you. It’s just, and it’s. I think experience gets you there.

19:56
Yeah, well, that’s funny. Well, I had not heard this story before, Mike, but I appreciate it very much. And I.

20:01
Are you a, are you a golfer?

20:03
I am not a golfer.

20:04
Okay.

20:05
I, I grew up. Yeah, I can appreciate golf, and I can appreciate both good and bad golfers, but not me.

20:12
Well, I, I, I, I did grow up playing. And it’s funny. I, I, I. When I was getting out into the professional world and I would be invited to these, like, vendor tournaments, golf scrambles or whatever, I would get invited, and they would, they were doing the ABCD players. So they would ask your real handicap. Well, I went ahead and I was just brutally honest. I’d say I’m 22 plus, you know, and I, I, I think they thought I was lying because I would get on a team. And I shortly realized that I’m the A. I’m the A player here. What’s going on here? You know, this A. So I’m thinking, and I play with strangers, but I’m sitting there thinking you three SOBs lied, you know, because there’s no, I shouldn’t be the A player here.

20:58
And it was just, but it’s funny because I played in several of them, and I could think of one in particular. It was up indiana, and it was year after year, and then I ended up playing in one down in Bowling Green, Kentucky. And I gave my handicap. You know, I was just being honest. Well, the, Finally I get a guy that was a superstar on our team. He was an A player. And we, and I finally get on a team that came in third and we got a free pair of golf shoes, you know, because we came. But it was funny because that tournament actually did it right. But that one, every year, I was, I didn’t understand how I was the eighth player. But I’m thinking you people are lying on here. I never called anybody out.

21:37
But, but you always thought it after about the second hole, you realize what you were in for. So. So my joke when I went out because I have played in a few tournaments was, what’s the highest handicap you can have? That’s mine.

21:48
So, yeah, whatever that is, that’s okay. Oh, that’s funny as heck. Well, I did play at a local charity one recently and they did a neat thing. They gave out a first and second place and then they gave a tenth. And I don’t know, whoever was like second to last or something like that, but so you couldn’t just be last, you know, and nobody really knew that what the prizes were going to be or even that they were going to do those positions, but they all of a sudden announced our team that we came in 10th. And I’ve got this funny guy that I play with and he’s just, he’s a good golfer and everything, but he’s funny. And somebody goes, oh, man, Jerry, y’ all got tent? He goes, hey, man, winner. Winners win. He goes, I can’t help it. Exactly.

22:42
It was so funny. But anyway, I digress. But tell me, do you have any.

22:47
Because I love asking story.

22:49
I love stories. Do you have any work related stories that just stand out in your career because you’ve, man, you have seen a lot. You have come a long way.

22:56
I do, but I do want to. Can I kind of. I’m going to jump the ship here for a minute because.

23:00
Absolutely.

23:01
You talked about golfing. All right. And people cheating on their scorecard. So. So maybe we’re going out of turn or whatever, but one of the things I live by is integrity.

23:14
Yes.

23:15
Or you can’t see it, but the little sign right up there that says integrity. All right? And it’s the one thing that I have in my life that no one can take away but myself. It’s the one thing I can control and it’s the one thing that impacts everyone around. So it’s funny that you told that story because it relates directly to me and my motto and as a franchisor to many different franchisees, it’s one thing I can always say. So I don’t have a great memory. So when people come to me and say, well, you said this, I can usually say, that sounds like something I had, so I’ll grieve you, or that doesn’t sound like something I said. So I don’t know that if I said it or not. So.

23:53
But I always know if it’s done with integrity, then I really don’t have to worry about whether I remember it. Or not, because. Because I know I’m safe.

23:59
Man, I am so glad we got a lot in common. That. That is one of my things, too. I don’t have a good enough memory to remember. You know, good liars have to have good memories. I mean, you know, and I’m not. And so I, you know, I’m like you. I, hey, if I said it, I’ll. I’ll fix it or I’ll do whatever. But I, I’m the same way. I used to tell my kids, all my kids are grown, except I still have one that’s 18, a senior in high school out of five. And I would tell them, look, we don’t. Edges don’t lie, steal or cheat, period. I don’t care what it is.

24:32
And you know, it’s funny because when you get five kids house and people have money laying somewhere, somebody will go, like one of the younger kids would always go, hey, whose money’s that? I go, is it yours? And they go, no. I said, well, then don’t touch it. It’s not. It doesn’t matter. And now as they’ve grown up, they know anything they lay out anywhere in our house, it’s safe. And anybody else’s stuff is safe. It’s just. We don’t.

24:56
Just.

24:57
That’s it. The only thing you got. And I used to tell my kids, too. I said, look, I’m not going to follow you. I’m not going to 360. Yeah. I’m not going to do any of these things. I. If I can’t trust you, I said, I’ll trust you until you give me a reason not to. And I would tell them too. When you’re growing up, if you’re going to go get in trouble somewhere, that’s fine. I said, you’re going to learn a lesson from it. You’re going to probably be punished for it. But I’ll promise you it’s going to go a lot better if you come home and tell me what you’re in trouble for before I hear it out there. Because if I do hear it’s going to be worse.

25:26
But if you come and own up to it, I promise it’s going to be a lot smoother.

25:30
And as we know, the world gets smaller every day. And somebody out there saw something goes on, it’s going to come back.

25:36
Oh, yes, well, and that’s, you know, look at it in business, you talking about integrity. I mean, you and I know different people that we’ve done business with in our field or Anywhere else. And there, once you burn people, man, there is a stigma and it’s hard to get. It’s one you really don’t get back.

25:54
That’s the one thing people don’t forget, right?

25:56
That’s it.

25:57
Memory sticks with them. For certain. For certain.

25:59
Well, and you know, one of the things that I’ve learned too, about business, and you’ve probably seen this too, you can make mistakes, but that whole worry, that whole word about accountability, man, if you just own up to it, sometimes it becomes your best opportunity. It’s like, you know, when I’ve done business with people before, I’ll tell them, look, we’re not going to be perfect. But I’ll tell you what, if we mess up, we’re going to fix it and we’re going to keep trying, you know, and how you respond, that’s all I got, you know, because I think there’s. Sometimes people are shocked when people are talking to them. They want to hear the best, right? They want to hear everything perfect.

26:36
But when you give them an honest answer that says, look, in our relationship, if we’re going to have 12 year relationship and whatever we’re doing, and it’s one of these type of contracts, I’ll say, look, we’re going to make mistakes, okay? But I can assure you, if we have full communication, we’ll get through it together. And, and that’s what we’re good at, is making sure we’re moving forward.

26:55
So, Mike, that brings me to a story, this perfect segue, our story. This was when I was managing tire store and I had two sales people. So I’m talking to this guy and I’m trying to sell him a set of tires. Now I’ve got one salesperson to the left and the salesperson is just getting hollered at by this customer. We can’t do anything wrong, right? Everything in the world is wrong. And he is just ripping our salesperson down on the other side about 4ft. On the other side of this counter, I’ve got a customer who’s talking to one of the salespeople and he’s just telling them how great we are. Best thing in the world. You guys are fabulous. Been coming here 20 years. And I’m watching this guy I’m trying to sell the tires to and he keeps going like.

27:31
And he keeps going like this. And I finally look at him, let me get this clear. And I. And I kind of stepped back and I said aloud, and I said, we’re not as bad as he thinks we are. We’re not as good as he thinks we are. I said, well, we’ll solve his problem. I’m glad he loves us. And let’s put a set of tires on your car. And he goes, okay. And then there, Aaron kind of paused. Everybody laughed. And then we got through it all. But it was one of those moments, like, oh, my goodness. This is like we’re in three different worlds right here.

27:59
You got the Twilight Zone going on over here. That’s wild. I mean, it was that extreme.

28:05
I just will never forget that day. And I was like, we really aren’t that good, and we’re really not that fast.

28:11
Oh, that’s funny. Well, I’m going to segue to something personal then. And everybody knows I like to do this. I was out at sema, and people will come up to me and go, what’s your favorite movie? So what’s. What’s Gary Skidmore’s favorite movie?

28:22
All right, well, you got to stick with me on this. All right, so my favorite. My favorite movie is Alia. All right.

28:29
Alien. Really? I’ve never heard this one. Do tell.

28:32
All right, so. So Alien. So I’m going to tell you how old I am here. So Alien came out in 1979.

28:39
Was this the one with Sigori Weaver?

28:43
Yeah.

28:43
Yes.

28:43
Yeah. All right. I’m scared. Was. Actually, he was Dallas. So I still remember a whole bunch of this. All right, so I went and saw the movie with my aunt and my cousin. My cousin was the same age as I am. We were kind of like brothers. And my aunt told us that this movie was too scary. We shouldn’t go see it. But were bound to determine were going to go see it. Okay. So I grew up in a family that allowed you to make mistakes. You know, if it wasn’t going to hurt you too bad, they would let you make mistakes so you can learn from them. So she had the conversation about, you sure you don’t want to go see this? You don’t want to go? Nope. We want to go see Alien. Right. I don’t know if you remember.

29:18
There’s a couple scenes in that movie that are pretty daggone scary. At one point, my cousin and I are sitting in the same seat in the movie theater. Remember, we’re 12 years old, so it’s not like were. We were able to sit in that seat together, but that’s how scared were because neither one of us wanted to sit on the outside. So I appreciate you enjoying this. Okay. I do know the reason that’s my favorite movie is first off is because I can remember. And I don’t know if you remember, but they don’t show the creature till probably two thirds halfway through the movie before you ever image you knew he.

29:55
Was out there the whole time, you just didn’t.

29:56
Yeah, scarecast scares. So.

29:58
So that anticipation is a great tool, right?

30:01
Yeah, so. But what it did was it proved to me that sometimes you should listen to people that have more experience and are smarter than you because they know what’s best for you in spite of what you think. So that’s not the typical response for your favorite movie. That’s my favorite movie because I will never ever forget it. I’ll never forget how scared I was and I’ll never forget thinking about it for the rest of my life. Okay. No little different story than most people tell.

30:29
But that’s is but what a life lesson you got out of it.

30:35
I still to this day, 12 years.

30:37
All right, my follow up to that is how long did it take you from 12 years of age to whatever before that you aren’t as scared?

30:47
It hasn’t ever gone away. So I’m going to tell you a story. About 10 years ago, I go to a haunted house and it was a haunted forest. All right. Well, the last thing to go through this haunted forest is there’s a house, it’s a cabin and it’s filled with aliens.

31:00
Oh my God.

31:02
I almost had a heart attack. I made it through, but it’s only because my wife pulled me through so we could get out of it. But the house was filled with smoke. I walk in has zero ideal and there’s an alien monster stand, a xenomorph standing in front of me and my heart skipped a beat. So some things never quite leave you and they always are there to remind you for whatever reason.

31:23
So, so you were still scarred.

31:25
I, I still today it again when you ask favorite movie. I said favorite movies. Alien. I know that it shouldn’t be, but it is.

31:33
So that is a great unique story. So I, I, I’m going to end on that. But I really wanted to tell you I really am honored that you came on today and I really appreciate you being on gain traction now Mike.

31:47
I appreciate you make it very easy to talk. I appreciate you allowing us the platform to talk about myself and Bigotards.

31:53
Absolutely. Well, you guys come back sometime and we’ll talk about where the next chapter of Big O is.

31:57
Absolutely. We got plenty of chapter still thanks.

32:00
Awesome. Thank you to all our listeners out there and viewers. You know we love you. We’ll see you next time here at Gain Traction Podcast. To all our listeners, thank you for being part of the Gain Traction Podcast. We are grateful for you. If you’d like to find more podcasts like this, please visit gaintraction podcast.com if you’d like to make a guest recommendation, please email [email protected] this episode has been powered by TREAD partners, the leader in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. To learn more about tread partners, visit treadpartners.com.

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1 In this episode…

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

3 Resources mentioned in this episode:

4 Quotable Moments:

5 Action Steps: