Be Good to People With Jim Franco

you've got a very special treat today because on the Empire Show we've got my mentor and my rich dad Jim Franco [Music] hey friends welcome this is a very special episode of the Empire podcast show and well I got to tell you I haven't been nervous interviewing some of the greatest speakers Super Bowl athletes entrepreneurs on the planet but I'm a little nervous today and the reason for that is I've got a very special guest his name is Jim Franco if you read my book man up then you heard me talk about Jim Franco he was like a mentor to me well he was my first mentor still is you know when you look back 20 years you realize he was also a father figure and he actually came down to the Fit Body Boot Camp headquarters here in the empire studios and so I'd like to introduce you all to my mentor and friend Jim Franco Jim thank you very much yes sir welcome to the show Pete nobody calls you Pete except family and me that's amore didn't hear to go Pete we're on the building by the way I should tell you all everyone watching and listening to this episode you'll hear Jim called me Pete so my name is bedros and that is st. Peter it's the biblical translation of an Armenian it's the biblical translation of Peter and at the gym at the health club where I was a personal trainer I went by Pete no one could pronounce Pedro's I think once you want to get famous then they you have a little Fame then they can pronounce your name but until then everyone was like Pedro I said no it's not paid roads bad roads I just just call me Pete you know and that's how Pete's stuck okay yeah so Jim and a few family members still call me Pete and I think that's very nostalgic so you and I met in what 2001 2000 2001 yeah yeah and you came into LA Fitness in La Habra for a workout I did and I did how did that go just getting out of my third divorce oh and I had to get back in shape yeah and I say this time we got a really good personal trainer I met this guy and he was a super salesman had a super positive attitude and definitely sold me on I think I did 2 or $3,000 contracts I don't know but I had fun that's the most important thing you know what I remember about one elephant is opening up had valet parking yes I do remember that and I used to tell ya and I used it you know Jim would roll up Monday Wednesday Fridays at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon for his sessions and you would uh it was either the Mercedes or the Escalade that you would drive and I would see through the glass I didn't have I didn't have a lot of money back then I was struggling to get by but um it was neat to see that someone could own multiple cars I up until that point I didn't know anyone that had multiple multiple cars I thought it sounds crazy but I didn't know anyone there own multiple cars and Jose this guy has multiple cards because he just stepped out of a different card today and a couple years later when I bought my first new car with all the Commission's I made from the personal training job there at LA Fitness it was a Chevy Tahoe which is the lower lesser version of the Escalade that I would see you drive in with and until today I still drive I'd ride to Denali now I'm not because the new new Escalades are a little too flashy for me the Denali is just right it's aggressive it's it's more like like what I'm looking for but um interestingly going stick into cars real quick so I've known Jim for 20 years it's going on 20 years here and interestingly enough three years ago could have been four years ago I was in Point Park which is about 30 minutes from the headquarters here and I happened to be in town in that area and I set a pull into your headquarters Auto log headquarters and I've modeled everything about you so much the way you speak the way you set up your office I showed you my office it's all glass just like yours was it's big it's gotten stuck in my sub contest super fantastic thank you thank you man I've modeled so much that I pull up in my GTR my Nissan GTR and I see an identical silver Nissan GTR parked in your spot and I said man Jim's gonna be pissed someone's parked in his spot and then I realize of course it was yours but the fact that I would go out and buy the and I didn't know you had a silver GTR here - yeah yeah so it's crazy how we're on the same wavelength now after all those years so can I ask you how old you were when you were training with me you take 20 off of 76 I was about 56 57 years old 50 57 and you would come in with so much enthusiasm so much energy like you would roll in with thunder most people in their 30s and 40s have given up on life how were you in your late 50s rolling in with so much enthusiasm and Thunder and passion to your workouts well I could go to a long story but I'll make it kind of short - sure I've been very very blessed by having a large amount of energy Drive and passion about life but mostly business and people and I've kept that passion my whole entire life and I'm still the same way when I walk in the gym you are I'm still that yes I'm still the guy walking my dad called me boom boom because I'm always in a hurry my company calls me oh look out Franco's got another ID here we go again but it's uh I've had a very blessed life you have then it hasn't even changed a bit since I met you it's just been fun so you said you're 76 now 76 now stepping on 39 going on 39 I know that for sure I walked into that guy's I walked into the headquarters here and Jim had all three of our of our video team laughing and Joan there behind the counter laughing and the same energy as soon as I walked in it's just that same Jim Franco energy you've got more energy now in fact than you did in your 50s which speaks volumes I believe to also how your mom and dad raised you and I met your mom once I've met your dad several times because he was in charge of watering all the plants and making yours and your sisters Phyllis's lunch at 12 o'clock sharp at 12 o'clock sharp 2 9 crackers because when he first came working with us he would watch we wouldn't have our lunch because we're busy we're trying to build the business because it was pretty young back in those day and but he would make us you come and get both of us and make some more the table sit down and he had this beautiful I have a cottage in his backyard and he haven't caught us as big as melons unbelievable and we have a avocado or some soup or salad what every fix for us every day at lunchtime but he was but what he was he was my hero he was the guy that just supported the heck on me no money no education but I was a son it was a huge little story he was worked for Dixie cup company for 37 years he worked in the printing Department he ran 15 20 guys in the printing Department and that's how we got from Easton Pennsylvania to candidate to California he came in one day and is this while that's a Italian for voices they're gonna take my people away put me on swing shift they got there's only a young college kids coming and you know these big corporations and I can't handle that going to work at you know eight nine o'clock at night and getting off 6:00 in the morning I said dad I only got two before retired he says about six years I said do me a favor go to the office and find out what you would get at 65 and what they would give you today he was hired her like do you got a years in to retire he goes okay it was this a long time ago it was $475 difference Wow I said dad do me a favor quit no so he went on glory I think it or not the plant actually folded six or seven years later all the guys are retired all Dyke's they have nothing to do he can't he's look I want to come work with you but he said the deal is no employees no time clock I just want to help I said okay so even my auto parts stores we used to run condo and build shelves and all kinds of stuff together he we got to work together for 30-some years all he smokes holy smokes huh and my sister now both my daughters are my my son-in-law in the business with ya separate a mother family members its Wow and he taught me mostly hmm one the ability to really do a good day's job he taught me how to work number two he would give the shirt off his back to anybody gracious he sure would he was a friendliest man I met when I would come in generous yeah yeah just absolutely friendly watering all the plans he'd greet me with a smile we'd yuk it up until I you know I had to meet with you for the business that we had started together I'm curious did uh was he in there cuz I would only come to your office two or three times a week to meet for the high tech trainer business that we started together but was he working there five days a week like was in that full time he was there at 5:30 in the morning every day no kidding and after you fix us lunch he says okay I'm going to the couch he take off in the afternoon and do whatever but in the beginning he did all the landscaping he hit all the window washing he vacuumed he did all the trash he completely kept my 18,000 foot square foot building and Buena Park yeah tidy but as he aged we took more and more of a responsibility away from sheriff but 95 years old I'm aunt blessing and you know what no ills no bad Karma's just one day I had a casserole a Sunday and I bring it over to him and knocked on the front door mom and already passed away six six months before and ninety-four knocked through the front door nothing if I walk in the backyard and he was sitting in a lounge chair underneath this beautiful gigantic avocado tree just asleep somewhere over there dead and he had gone to see the Lord and it was okay I mean like perfect yeah no suffering no never the phenomenal life and he was Sherpa everyday walk in my off and said I'm so proud of you every day he says I know that you've been upside down a couple of times your life back tight did you ever not tell him when you were upside oh no he knew no no he's there he's my best friend he knew when I was sometimes hundreds of thousand dollars upside down oh let's go all the way back when I first got my service date eighteen years old I'm in high school pumping gas in the service station they hired me I became the night manager and I saw two you know dealers go broke in that same service station on Beach Boulevard he could tell since then bottom line these two guys went broke so you the big you know a guy comes out and talked to me about what do you think I said well these guys are running off the the truckers they won't get in the discount the place is a mess they don't have anything in the backroom they don't mark it and I said can I had this service station he said ha I'm sorry Jim you're only 18 years old no but I told them how I was gonna make this a business so he leaves goes back to your normal next day he called me up and says you know what if you can get your dad to cosign what you have the service station 18 years old that I took that service station double the triple the gallon he's filled up the back room but on the way when I'm not a really good businessman yet learning and growing ODT they call on job training I'm still waiting for my high school diploma but don't tell anybody let's just reiterate that real quick Oh GT on-the-job training right they don't have that these days no they don't they don't they don't and I learned I'll take a bubble wrap a couple of things I learned in it but let me finish that little story so my dad co-signed a little forward to $2,900 I get my service station went balls have all had a ball well what I learned first of all because I didn't know the business I didn't know what I was gonna make it or not it broke toward the dealers that were old and smart had money I work from 6:00 to morning to 12 o'clock at night I opened and closed Estero station by myself for six months I lived in Anaheim so do the math yeah there's a 30-minute drive each way yeah it's a Staunton I was I had about four and a half hours to leave every single night but well there's time two things happened I would wash windshields and make him spot us I had cloth spray bottles in those days not the squeegee things and I make I would make it a a personal drive to make that windshield perfectly clean ladies say one day this is why I come here is the way you wash my windows so click click customer services you can get gas anywhere customer service if you were I'm saying you can get gas anywhere even have your wish you kind of wash anywhere no but I washed windows all the way around we sometimes vacuum the cars we walked out with our shorts and bow ties on one the sparkle go program three years in a row but when I'm building a business whoops I wasn't watching my receivable as a priest and I couldn't fill my tanks they called my dad at work and said your son's in default mmm my dad says I'm sorry I don't have any money you know what color he says what do you want to do I said let me work it out took me two and a half years to dig out of that and those is only 10 or 15 grand I was upside down but in the 60s 10 or 15 million in right right and might as well you know I mean it was huge but uh so Carmen your dad Carmen has really had your back since since day one day one day one day one I've seen so much influence from Carmen on you having met Carmen so much I mean tell you a funny story when so guys watching this and hearing this when I started my first company my first business you were there mentoring me and I was called high tech trainer I'm supposed to be online personal training software and we were loading up workouts on Palm Pilots that people would take into the gym me you and your wife but now out to gyms and act to record him and now I'm on the pilot yep yep and so when we started that company you gave us a little a little two desks in your office who were kind enough to give us a corner to work out of well you had that section over there yeah on the left side of my yeah and it was great we got to work out of there and it was the first experience I got into like hey this is a technically the high-tech trainer corporate office right and we weren't making any money yet it was just all an idea and you were funding it and you were so kind enough to do that but one day Carmen walks in through that back door right your dad and we get to talk and was around the holidays and hey Carmen what do you got going on this holiday with for this Christmas he's like well you know in the years past I would I would wear and I think your mom may happen that was there as well your mom's name was may may not me your mom might have been there as well because I remember them walking in together and said hey what do you guys got going on for the holidays Carmen says you know well in years past I would wear a Santa suit and make everybody laugh and have a good time etc and then may turns to him as she goes yeah I made that for you and then Carmen turns to your mom and says no May it was store-bought and before I know it they're bickering right now one of us oh yes and me and I who are newlyweds are looking at each other like this is gonna be us like 50 years from now no that's the old Italian way they just argued a lot yeah yell disputes over that was that was their personality that's how they communicated that wasn't I didn't get it and it upset me a lot but what are you gonna do yeah so I know this is one of my fondest memories of your father and your mom arguing your mom said no I made you that Santa outfit he goes it was star Bob May and till this day me and dying still every Christmas when we see Santa I go it's store-bought me to die so anyway man you've helped me with with high-tech trainer we built high-tech trainer up and do you remember the time we went to we went to Chicago okay so high-tech trainer Shh oh no no to sell high-tech trainer to Bally's total off the gym the health club chain now they're out of business but we weren't there to tell them that and that was one of the first times I'd been on an airplane and taking a business trip you know the only other time I had been on an airplane was when I was six years old we came to America in the Soviet Union and then you fast-forward I'm now in my late 20s you know - 26 27 at the time and you said hey I got you a ticket we're going to Bally's we're gonna sell them high-tech trainer and I was excited for that and I was like all right I get to see Jim Franco work like the ultimate salesman and we went and we met with them we did our thing and on the way back somehow I remember the fact that you took off you flew off to California and I was stuck and so there was something wrong with my ticket and I remember you yelling from the other side of security don't worry you'll be fine and I'm thinking I know I'm a grown adult that I should be fine but I'm nervous and scared because was my first time flying on my own right I was like yeah okay damn nothing what do I do now so that's the first thing I remember that I'm sorry I remember about that trip was the morning that we were gonna wake up and go and negotiate with Bally's we stayed in the same room you had gotten a room that had two beds we stayed in the same room and I think he had gotten a book up an hour so before me and as I woke up I could smell something and and all of a sudden as I sit up a coffee obviously it wasn't coffee the bathroom door opens and it was like a Snoop Dogg video guys like like literally all this like smoke comes out of the restroom and Jim Franco is coming out like he was smoking a joint like getting his nerves right just relaxing before we went to negotiate it I thought that was coolest man that was so cool I could do when I was younger now you're almost 60 but now it's only for medicinal I mean just not in the morning I can't do in the morning in our only and evening yeah and you know do sounds you smoke daily oh yeah this is the head for you me and my wife both yes i model success man it's a it's a nostalgic for both of us and we get to have a good night's sleep and the next day I'm on fire back at my company making a difference oh good for you I'll get well I'll tell you I certainly know how to model success that's all I'll say about that so Jim obviously you've gone if I remember correctly you had like gone under twice actually I was at a birthday party one of my daughters and this guy I was talking about business and excessive items pretty darn successful but let me ask you a question first time in my life somebody asked me how many times had been broke I go you know what nobody's ever asked me that I said three times hard three times three times our service station couldn't fill my gas tank you know got dug out of that one paid it off became a bit of it has been doing that open an auto parts store another little quick story once again my parents had no money no education okay my grandfather owned the farm he passed away my mom got $20,000 inheritance at that particular moment time was just about getting that service station been there for five years here I'm still at 10 o'clock at night I'm pumping gas it's raining and it's cold the wind's blowing the rain rate through my canopy my buddies are pulling up outside hi Jim on the way to Hollywood okay see ya and I'm walking up the lights are half out my buddies come back pull up hi Jim how you doing great I don't want to be with you guys or it isn't good so I said what else can I get into that ought to work nice and weekends mmm you know who makes all the money those two guys in the auto parts business I'm gonna open me an auto parts store if you love this store I went down the auto parts guy bought from it was old guy said don't do it money in this business you can't make your money you won't be successful in one ear out the other bottom line my mom loaned me $10,000 America part system put 20,000 in parts nests I got started in 1965 in my own auto parts store what city forward to Fullerton yep Commonwealth and Magnolia so in Fullerton okay not too far from where your offices and I'm right around the corner yeah we could I'll tell you that story but think I graduated over there so so I get in my and now I've got a brand new auto parts store no customers come in the front door in fact the very first customer but I know automobiles like the back of my hand I've been working on for five years and I'm before that I was working my side job with my kids from school yeah I walked in the front doors I need a thermostat for my Chevrolet now I know where I know what it looks like I know where it goes I know about what they sell for I think I can find it in my in my auto parts store a brand new I'm looking through the books opening boxes sorry sir I can't find that there was that oh I mean that was artists God truth now that's fast for first customer walked out with walked out the door without buying anything what a lesson why don't I said now what is the lesson than that but fell less I'll tell you the lesson than that the auto parts business excuse me an American part system said Jim what we usually do is we have a person come and work in our warehouse for three to six months to understand the part numbers the auto parts the business the manufactures the codes all the stuff you got to know about being an auto parts business I said I have a service station I mean parts or parts or parts that's a waste of my time wrong hmm I should have done that but in my eyes I'm wasting those four is six months I don't know lesson there is no matter what your business is trust the process trust the process trust the mentors trust the people that are more knowledgeable you glean from that information yeah rather than be the information right right then most of all I so bottom line two years into that I'm building the business buying more parcels folks to pretty soon I'm upside down I think it was only 50 or 60,000 but once again in this that's a lot a lot of money took me three and a half years to dig out of that one mmm but and I'm still building business till building inventories now I've got three locations 37 employees doing a couple million dollars a year I was rock and roll I had a machine shop built with 300 heads and 150 motors a month and always well we were a rock and roll after 22 years in the auto parts business so I'm guessing then it was because of those auto parts stores you had that you go I got to start doing software no let's go ahead and tell you how we're really okay here I'm in this auto parts store and I've got a card system that's how you did inventory control on those little cards I got to sold one turned upside down call the warehouse and call an order number two couches evil I had a tablet with a carbon piece of paper I wrote the invoice number and they mount down by the way for those of you watching listening a tablet is not the tablet like electronic iPad like today they're thinking tablet like we're talking paper tablet like a notepad nano pad that's steno pad a piece of paper right pulls over right with a piece of card right you can't just hit Send and have it you wrote it all out you had it all up a tape with it put an envelope and send it out hope you got paid the words transferred into this generation but it's a whole different device down yeah absolutely so once again it worked with them took me three and a half years of dig out of that but at the same time I was still building the business and making it work takes a lot of gumption a lot of balls so here I am with a card system manual stuff writing out invoices putting the date and the time every time on it so here comes a company called triad comes along with an auto parts computer now computers in those days only the big bad boys had computers because they were very very expensive how expensive in 1973 I paid 56 thousand for a computer for my auto parts store and my new home was $34,000 let's just say that again in 1973 you paid 56 thousand for a computer system that by the way did no point-of-sale no accounts disabled it was just a inventory electronic card system so really you're the first iPhone that came out in 2007 had more computing power than that computer and homes at that time cost 37,000 at least your home did so when I bought brand-new it was thirty seven thousand dollars and I bought a computer to 56 thousand folks watching and listening to this how hard do you have it now when you think about it like this guys cut one computer that did nothing did nothing but manage inventory cost fifty six thousand dollars where in his home cost thirty-seven thousand dollars right now you've got devices in connection to the world and if you think that you have a problem marketing a product you've got problems yourself up here alright so I agree there's never been people say everything's little story I heard in 1951 some professional at the department said I say that everything has been invented has already been invented we're all done there's no more inventions ha now what every 15 months technology quadruples yep unbelievable is more opportunity today than ever ever in mankind isn't that nuts there's another great lesson there that was in 1951 right so in 1951 he says someone in the patent department see you guys many of you weren't I wasn't alive back then but in 1951 Jim says that some some cat in the patent Department says you know what everything everything that's gonna be invented it has been invented so we're good let's just close the doors and today we're inventing faster than ever and this is a testament to you could either be fixed minded close minded and that guy was closed-minded absolutely he just did not have any vision or he can be open minded and growth minded and go how do I send a Tesla up to the moon because that's what Elon Musk is doing right now he's got a rocket with the Tesla in it going I'm sorry not up to the moon to Mars to Mars now that's ingenuity we'll get to that in just a moment because I know we're gonna talk more about cars so you've got your fifty six thousand dollar computer right triad has come up to Heights model and I've got I bought this thing and now three different times become forward-thinking come on guys if I can get this out to point of sale ya then you don't have to write out an invoice it prints it the legible and when the price is it price it correctly you don't have to look in the book and flat finger and use a calculator it takes away it takes really human error three times I try to put that out in the front counter into a so cumbersome so yeah computer in those days in those days the guy said you owe me to sell parts mr. Franco you want me to work on this thing you call a computer system pull the back in the back office took a few years back he actually the software had to get approved by triad or I had to adopt it I was in on the committees to help design what it needed for the auto parts business etc then how did I get in the auto parts business I mean a computer business you'll love this story so here I am three occasions have a triad safeguard site Timmy's came along and says mister frankel were looking at designing computer system for the auto parts business and we've done a research we found out you're pretty aggressive because not only do you have a computer system you got a phone system that is rings weird and everybody says you got a calculator that cost fifteen hundred dollars for a calculator not electric that's just absurd yeah an abacus the house 1500 calculator I could thought any of my first phone was in my car $3,600 mounded in my car at Miami Vice right then the guy walked in the front door one day there's my mice and had a Motorola flip phone I call that's I wonder when I could put my pocket that big thing you walked around with I paid $2,700 for the first Motorola fall we folks $2,700 for a Motorola flip phone we pay what I know what near 800 900 bucks for an iPhone now you 22 bucks a month yes fun fun fun yeah but safer start Tiffany says we would like to fight you back east be on a committee to actually design the system he said you already have us he said yeah but I need this it should do that it should do this it should do that so I actually helped design the first autolog computer system back in 1978 Oh came back they said why don't you get rid of that triad will put system in both the auto parts stores for free it you'll become a distributor I go well come on I'm running auto parts store see what do I know about the computer business he says you don't have to know anything all you got to do is show the people what you do and they'll buy it you sell it well ship the equipment will ship your wires all you got to do is go out there install it and train the guy and I said wait a minute so I have no accounts receivable no employees you're gonna pay me thirty percent of forty fifty thousand dollar systems for me to do that deal so on the side running an auto parts store with 37 employees I started this little computer company called unlimited computers that my out of our stories are called unlimited auto parts makes sense so so at that point you had your first side hustle that's what they call it today so there you go a side house that house of yeah right right but as it developed and I got more involved in it I had my biggest year in 1984 with computers I had three salesmen I did three-course million dollars in sales the bonus I got that year for selling I bought the company the next February for the bonus they gave me the you bought the company that I brought in this company that I was doing it for how many like that that's how I got in the computer business how do you like that they came to me and says listen mr. Franco we've been losing a million dollars a year for the last six years maybe because they're paying you all those bonuses no because they had IBM still didn't have a frickin clue what they were doing it I'm an auto parts guy I knew the auto parts business consequently I was the top distributor the entire United States got plaques in my wall all that good stuff but when they say they're gonna close this thing down and said don't do it this one the best systems out there well if you want it so bad by it I said well I've got much money simple financing for you so I flew back east and with the bonus money by the way was they gave me $50,000 I had a five percent kickback and I had three of the tortoise sales in the share with my shares about twenty five brand when I flew back east to buy the company I used the same money they just handed me weeks before as my down payment it was seven or fifty grand as a note I had to pay off over the next five years but now I'm in the computer business and if I remember this story correctly Jim that's when you loaded up a u-haul with all the equipment and drove it across country to California that's correct from fuckin'-a from New Jersey yeah yep because they were in New Jersey based here in Jersey base right that's one of the keys to help them design it 3 years later I actually bought the company and now when I bought the company six employees doing about 7 or 15 grand a year I ran it with my auto parts store for about a year then through that divorce now I'm up in the hump up in that area so I this is divorce number one this is divorce number two but it was County the first one I got married when I was 18 years old I doesn't count when I was a kid we hadn't had a clue and we were divorced four years later any marriage before the age of 25 25 25 sorry any marriage before the age of 25 doesn't you know don't work they're too young I haven't got a clue I'm just busting balls yeah all right so so you move that I mean guys let me just talk to her audience here for a moment there's so many lessons here to be learned the man has so much confidence in himself and we heard where the confidence came from right dad his original mentor who always said son I believe in you I know you can do it I've got your back decides that I'm gonna take this bonus check this company gave me and give it back to them as a down payment so that now you've got a $750,000 debt you got to pay off over the next five years to own that company and really while you were selling their product you didn't know anything about software and computers they're not a part store I'm an auto parts store I mean user you saw an opportunity like you went I saw the vision ya miss all the future yeah and so you bring it back to the to Southern California and is that when you change the name to auto log no it was already called called Auto log data system Jersey okay so I just reincorporate called all log computer system so that's the that that's that's the company that's still the mother lode today yeah yeah and I think you bought datatron at some point right well through the actually just like your book said what you had to go through once I actually moved to Buena Park my location now and my auto parts store was to block two and a half blocks away close it down moved it over there got a divorce sold model parts stores did the settlement and I went over there with my Mercedes my Pantera I did have a Pantera but year was it 74 74 and 351 rear-engine last thing was fast I've been going down the freeway it about 60 miles an hour look at the guy next to me I pulled back in the second gear and I could actually light the tires up on the freeway I think I would look at me going wow it was an unbelievable car yeah I love cars those days I love cars where was I I was talking about oh we were talking about data Tron and yeah we did yeah so for the first 10 years it was tough in the computer business no I had to build the business I know what are we talking about here this is this is a nineteen eighty-five to ninety five okay so at this point hard years okay I was up the recession at that girl you were going right through absolutely do and I'm it was so bad so bad that my sister Phyllis worked with me up six rate other employees Jim I can't make payroll you got to go sell some I would get my Ranchero out load the computer back of it and go on-site and I have to sell a computer system and make payroll it was tough and some days those days well we're overdrawn thirty thousand dollars and so called the bank and just send back these two and we'll have them pay those and can I be the bank by two o'clock in the afternoon not for a week or a month years years years it was the ulcers the pain the agony adjust I couldn't couldn't couldn't push over the top and I would agonize over these beautiful double-truck ads of my competitor triad was doing economic competitor to the guy I bought right I mean I'm clearly the guy that I bought a system from back in 73 and there are big bad boys and doing multiple millions of dollars so one guy said to me one day says you want to move the needle look at acquisitions peg oh really he says you'd be surprised so ironically this company in Macon Georgia believe it or not called service triads uh we negotiated my son I flew down that she actually wrote a check out of her personal checking account $450,000 grew made a deal yeah by his company there one point six million and she said I don't have it in my count he that's alright just write me a check that's your down pay when you get back put the money in there and and that's how I did my first acquisition always since that time i've done 17 acquisitions and took the company from six employees to a hundred and I'm in Mexico Canada in the entire United States corporate offices in Buena Park Chicago Iowa New Jersey and Tijuana about 30 40 people off-site just doing customer service etc so let's go back into that period of where you were upside down you're putting in you're putting computers in the back of your Ranchero ranch I was a Ford if I'm not mistaken it was yes the Reggie at Ford and so it if those who want to know what the Ranchero look like it was like that it was almost like the El Camino Chevy Yeah right right it's a Dan with pickup truck back and I put a little hood on yeah and believe it or not I have bought a gurney I really I mean a man is gurney okay ready for this expensive like a hundreds of dollars in those days but I could pull the little I put the computer on Annette by the way I'm laughing as folks the computer nothing exaggerating this big and this thick with an 8-inch floppy that went in the front of it go Google floppy this guy then you good then when I bought my $56,000 trying I had the 56 inch platter that you take the thing out and put it in the do the back up and take it back enough noise her didn't do anything not I had an eight-team ever the 8:10 I don't TI's printers no but one of those wrong there is this that the big the big a tape they're still sitting in the car they dialogue no you can still see them and believe it or not some money lose the airport's okay that's almost like a museum believe it or not see people say oh your suppers getting old you gotta upgraded the whole bit I suggest and that the me the airline industry is still running on old cobalt green screen if you look behind the counter and you see the the log in down here but they've done a dashboard here's the pretty airplane the blue seats all the information you want to know say they put a because they're all running on PCs but down here is an emulator running 50 year-old cobalt the banking business most people don't know this Bank e-business is running on 60 year-old cobalt that it just works it's yeah all right so let's talk about this for a moment because you know we often talk about paying your dues mmm like there's a serious amount of time and energy and money one must put in to get to where you are today to get to where we are it's not an overnight thing alright success doesn't happen I even I first heard you say you said you said hey I'm a twenty-year overnight success and I remember first hearing those words back in the day thinking holy smokes cuz look man I would just see you pulling up in an Escalade and then pulling up in a Mercedes sedan working with a personal trainer three times a week that ain't cheap and then you also said earlier and you're out here two o'clock in the afternoon don't you have a job right right right got a little business and what did that do to you beep I'm gonna do that I want to do that I want to be him but we just see the end result like right now the young generation just season and result of he's got multiple cars he shows up when he wants to jam to work out three days a week with a personal trainer the backstory of suffering for a decade plus at a time ulcers divorces God knows depressions right that's paying your dues and we talked about that today about paying your dues but I think the young kids today think paying your dues is starting a social media account for three months and if it doesn't hit 10,000 followers then they you know they shut it down they go I paid my dues for three months what do you say to that don't give up get your dream stay on it work at it hard make a dream come true I mean it just takes dedication and hard work oh another thing humans say to me you're so lucky Jim you get a business you can just tell everybody what to do and sit back and just do nothing and count the money I go you know what when you're in business you work the longest hours you work with the least amount of pay and you've got to be an example to show people you got to build a culture yeah gotta build a culture let's talk about that let's shift gears and talk about culture and leadership I mean that's a garden you've got amazing culture and I remember coming to walking into Auto log and just seeing the culture that you have and people would just freely walk into your office and talk to you and thinking oh okay that's what it's about so how do you what is culture in a business how do you develop that you know and it took a lot a lot of OGT to understand it on-the-job training when I was young it was custom for the buck yeah I mean it was almost borderline too much hustle too much all about the money too much about that guys to express let's get somebody cheaper in here I bought into all that the way the corporate runs but as I grew in my business especially in the computer business I tried to surround myself obviously with great people and smart people because I don't have a high school education obviously I don't have a Harvard degree I had to actually get some talent around by the way to that point let's do you have a high school degree no you don't have a high school now it's in the mail there's a promise me they're gonna send it to me I just so I did a whole I did a whole episode about why college is a waste of time unless you're gonna be a doctor lawyer engineer accountant that college is a waste of time there was such a big Miami see ya nobody says what's that the best education most economic education to get you on the road to be successful it's a trade school yeah now and if you got the balls get into a business there you go there because there's that your own destiny but it's a it's not easy you can't fail in the first couple of years yeah got to pay attention yep all right so let's get back to culture yes it was on-the-job training for you apps and when did you learn that culture was important well I kind of learned it all the way back in my service station because my first employee okay let's talk about that for yeah my very first point of my service station I said okay I need help well nothing about HR I don't haven't got a clue I just know I'm I could pay somebody a dollar 35 cents an hour to help me do when I'm doing remember I'm working 14-hour days oh so I hired this guy my concept was this if I can teach this guy do what I do then I can do more yeah so it was an employee it was a partner I was hiring it was a friend I'm gonna mentor this guy to have him be as good no I want to be better than me and I wasn't afraid to have that person and do that kind of mentoring all the way back my very first so what I learned then is how to really treat employees I've been fortunate right now I've got 98 employees on my ten year this 14.6 years Wow that means I just don't nobody leaves me and the ones that come on board are youngster it's usually my the people who are trying to get in as apprenticeship type positions because my crew is obviously after being in business for 35 years so my program is getting up there near sixties and seventies and I've got to look at getting some youth coming in yeah but let's continue in the culture I'm at my son's graduation party and one of my daughter's friends he works for the Union and he's a welder I make it 52 bucks an hour working hard they takes a bit much money out I'm trying to get into the corporate more so maybe I can get out of actually being a worker and get into management he started teaching so I was teaching welding but now it's to degree a tutu for pensions yeah because when you're working you're looking at what's the pension so we kept talking about and he said sidebar he says insult corrupt and I says well isn't Wall Street this is absolutely they're corrupt also and I said watching television lady what's our government like they're corrupt also I looked at my daughter he works with me not for ten years and I said I am so blessed so fortunate to have created a culture that is good when employees are happy because I give them their birthdays off we have a credit card everyone on my place is a Visa reloadable credit card Auto log on it in their wallets every single day my daughter come then she's responsible this every single this comes in my office and reads me off the emails that came in from customers complimenting employee peers come in and something employee did somebody worked over to but after hours whatever it is and we'll go ahead and give them 25 50 100 200 dollars on their card but the magic is that email that came in from that customer about this employee goes out to everybody so I've created a positive input not what's wrong with the business what's right with the business yeah yeah what's going right how can we and I challenged my employees I put them under pressure but I treat them with dignity I treat them with honor I truly respect I make sure they all know they were smarter better than me I did a presentation you've seen the pyramids in business where here's the CEO and here's the all the middle management and here's HR and here's the admin people and here's the customers well I did a presentation I turned a pyramid upside down and I said ladies and gentlemen that customers the one that pays our bills Carnegie told me that in his speech they're the ones that write that check our customer they're number one okay you're in face book number two is admin middle management I'm here at the bottom holding up the pyramid absolutely and I will do anything in this company you see me in the back up on the ladders painting lightbulbs I have actually I'm a hands-on entrepreneur and my office is wide open my customer call me anytime I'm an accessible CEO entrepreneur and that gives my employees faith in the company yeah we're profitable repair bills no describes customers no lawsuits no labor leads no tax liens none of that stuff because you know why we just do business right you just business do it right it ain't that hard to do it right it ain't that hard in fact it's easy you're right you sleep better somebody told me a long time ago Jim Frank if you put your energy into just laundry right now the drugs the women the alcohol the gambling you take that energy you got and you focus on a business and a woman you're gonna be a successful guy and I did that I cut all those other vices out and concentrate on one very valuable tool yeah so people say what really is the value and what am I here for what's life about and I fortunately got it figured out what's life about Jim being a blessing making a difference period period period Joel said I told your little girl today I just heard on the way over here today Joel Osteen listen him all the time he says you want to be happy for an hour take a nap you want to happy for a day go fishing you want happy for a month I didn't like what he said he says get married I'm gonna change it to go on a vacation I'm gonna tell it again you ought to have me for a year win the lottery you want to be happy for this your life be good to people make make a difference help somebody be all they can be and I'm doing it every single day you've got 100 toys I got 5,000 customers and I got a family members you know what handed another philosophy you might like can I get share with these guys out here there's two worlds ladies and gentlemen that we live in two distinct worlds one world is the world that you get the touch your family your friends the crosswalk person the person the restaurant your employees the people that you touch and feel on a daily basis that's your world where you can make a difference you can be a blessing you're gonna smile some of these face you can create a business to quit with ploys you can create wealth in your world the other world out there ladies and gentlemen is what they call the media politics the news I do not watch television I do not listen to the news I do not want that negative crap in my brain I want to see the good stuff so what's the two worlds guess what the world out there you've got five minutes every four years that's it the rest of time talking about everything that's going on and the outside world is a way to your time which your mental energy waste your voice mmm think about what I just said because too many people are sitting around talking about Trump and discs and that in them and the stuff in the schools and abortions and all this stuff you have no control of ladies and gentlemen remember worry is a state of mind you have no control of or hasn't happened yet memorize that phrase for the rest of your life worry is a state of mind that hasn't happened yet or you have no control if well then don't worry because it hasn't happened or he's got no control let it go let it go let the Lord guide my steps each and every day I gotta tell you man I didn't know how this how this interview was gonna go here and I've got such long history whether we go months or years without seeing each other or it's just a quick phone call by the way I love that y'all should know they Joan and Jim are the only two people who I'll pick up the phone unless it's scheduled if I have a scheduled call I'll pick up the phone with the client but otherwise you you don't text much and I think instead of sending a text you just do a call cuz that's how you roll and I well but only you in general is when I think out good what's that I can tell you the stories I sit now that I've got a computer company right yeah I've got computering people all over United the emails the back-and-forth this and that trying to figure out stuff I said everywhere I go anybody just pick up the phone watch Jordan Farah okay got it thank you very much no done it's done guys pick up the phone he said email each other 15 times for two days anyhow before we wrap this up Jim there was a story that you told me 15 20 years ago I'm probably gonna get it wrong so I need you to clarify it the message behind it was to show up different in the way you showed up to this auto parts store there was either to make things right something had gone wrong or you were trying to get their business you showed up with a box of donuts to an auto parts stores I did the regular basis what what yeah tell us about that why would you do that what's the point what's the purpose I know the lesson behind it is to show up different and when the customer but why don't you go into one of those stories I just learned along the way that if you did something a little extra little special the person to either remember you or appreciate you or be thankful one of those three things positive thing and stopping by and getting a box of donuts and walking in there with a box of donuts it just lights up people's eyes yeah and anything you can do like that I had a had a Salesman I don't know when I had an auto parts store a 3m guy every time he came in he had some little goodie some new type of tapers stick on this or whatever it was always fun to have items like that that was just and I remembered that so I try to adopt that same cop walk in there by the way when I ever sign a contract I hand the guy a really nice one of my pens signed the contract that's for you to keep keep the pen thank you I mean that beak it's just the gesture yeah to that point I remember the pen sing I see ah so I pen on your desk and it was a Mont Blanc and I didn't know what a Mont Blanc was those of you don't know what a Mont Blanc is look it up it's got a five pointed star white star up top it's got an amazing story behind it do you know the story by the of the Mont Blanc well I don't all I know is there's about three or four hundred ollars each so here yeah they're they're very expensive pens so here's a story it's a five that's a Star of David oh that's the Star of David I did not know that and apparently Hitler's regime had hired well hired commissioned because they weren't paying him a young Jewish man to make the best pen possible for Hitler and he set out to make this pen he was an amazing craftsman and he set out to make this pen and he hid the Star of David the five pointed star on top of that pen which is obviously a nod to the Jewish culture writer and so there Hitler and all in their entire Nazi Party had a pen made by a Jew with the Jewish star on top he got the last laugh yeah yeah I thought that was a powerful thing but that's how Mont Blanc came to be but again Modelling success I remember seeing your Mont Blanc on your desk and at some point I had a used it for something I holy smokes this thing writes well I know and the first do the first treat that I got for myself couldn't afford a watch or a nice car at that point when we were still starting out together I went and got myself like the Mont Blanc and that thing was just everywhere with me I can't tell you how many contracts and deals that I've signed with that a few years ago I lost that and I ended up getting another one but um yeah I love those Mont blocks and again is just another example that you led with let me throw something it's really important for these audience these youngsters okay the mistake that business people make they don't understand that the money you're bringing in ninety percent of that money ninety cents on every dollar goes back out what happens is small businesses that money coming in it gets destroyed in their brain and they start using that money for personal things you know and pretty soon you build up your personal monthly nut towards it got a little out of control about what you're coming in so one of the advices I'll give to everybody put your energy effort money into building a business keep your personal life expenses low guys you hear get easy truck van or truck talks about that all the time and he hey kitties yeah he beats that drum to death so Gary Vaynerchuk is a gentleman on the social media platforms and stages etc and he always talks about hey man you could either buy the Porsche now or you could save and buy the Porsche dealership later and I really love that mindset that morality which is something you've that's how I've instilled in me from you years ago I've done it properties yeah this building you do you remember I said I do not well there's my auto parts store I bought the particularly five eight years to buy that one you know it's a big building I'm in now I was paying three partners before they call that money every month yeah just for the opportunity for what a refusal but that money was going towards it if I bought the building I didn't buy the building it was just thrown in a toilet yeah I did that for six years to buy the eighteen thousand footer good for you cuz I was I knew that by the way once again Hiba get into business please try and buy the property because over the 10 15 20 years you're in business producing you got a building that's worth half a million million million half dollars and that on most people retire on when there's small business they get done return and they got their buildings that's big big big news and you're paying rent paying the payment it's about the same yeah you know if I if I had rented this building instead of buying it my rent was gonna be sixteen thousand my mortgage is seventeen thousand a month why not buy it exactly and now it's already gone through the roofing bow absolutely and your rent today would have been twenty thousand and you're still won't pay right seventeen and ladies and gentlemen they're right off the depreciation the interest and the expenses on buildings is huge and your tax returns by the way huge and we renting you get nada nothing Jim let's finish off with one thing obviously you've been a very successful entrepreneur you are a very successful entrepreneur offices all over the country employees all over the country you've done well in life you're 76 you're going strong why not retire people are asking why not retire Jeff Franco hitting me that would be the biggest waste of my precious time that I could ever how can I continue to be a blessing and make a difference I've got another acquisition lined up but I sometimes my aquas is take three to four years to nurture sure because how I did most of those acquisitions Pete there were there were competitors exam exactly the same in which is a computer business with recurring revenue okay I see them getting slowed down maybe getting old I fence with all of them and I tell every one of them I really like buying companies and help out donor to retire yeah and I'll take the employees and the customers and where we go the way a bottom I don't have any money so I talked him into I'd give you a hundred or two hundred thousand down and carry that million half to three million dollars over a five to seven year period and they get to retire and I pick up phenomenal talent employees customer with for 15-20 years and products I wrapped my e-commerce products around it put my marketing on it and I lift those companies up I don't tear them apart I lift them up very successful brilliant brilliant and to that point yeah retiring is the fastest way to death I'm sorry let me finish my father 95 years old he work every single day it was like to get to 95 five of his best friends in Dixie cup when he retired in his 60s 65 area five of them died within eight years after they retired because I had nothing to do you know you got nothing to put their teeth into had they had nothing to feel the satisfaction of getting up every single day that's I'm gonna retire never good never good no I would I when I was young 12 14 hour days to explain those to you right now because I miss maturity and I'm I and you know the seasons in life as long as you understand respect those seasons who you are what you are what they're sorry not got my microphone everyone smile but I recognize Who I am and where I am I go to work at 8:30 I'm done at 1:30 in the afternoon how many work for weeks are working about 25 hours a week but I've got more energy more balls more Drive more ideas more creativity in those six hours in the morning then all the rest of my crew put together a man what time do you wake up 5:30 6:00 5:30 6:00 automatic no longer looks yeah hi and by the way new this for everybody you want to really have a really fine life at my age every single day around 2:30 3 o'clock I'd take a 40 per minute to an hour power nap and I've learned how to relax myself with bio biofeedback self-hypnosis relaxing techniques or I can actually relax my body I can slow my heart rate down like slow my breathing down and go to it it's almost like a trance what are the Renaissance man you are well only because then I wake up and I love to cook so I'll cook a full blown meal for my me and my wife most most every evening I like to think all that was because of your awesome trainer 20 years ago or not there you go hey by the way what what time of the day do you work out now I I go home to Brianna say take my powernow yeah about 4 o'clock I get up on usually Wednesdays Thursdays Fridays three times a week and I'm a Gold's Gym I was right down the street from me with my new insurance card it's all free so sorry boot camp I don't have to pay anything go to any of those gyms if you have a personal trainer no no you taught me after me what you how about this I got two titanium knees right I've got three four and five fused in my back because I was very athletic horses race cars rock Apollo's record you name it I did all the sports so I kind of hard on my body so I've been with this personal trainer I mean not excuse me they're not personal physical therapist problem there you go and they have nice little gym over there and his officers taught me some techniques so what you've taught me what they've taught me and I got it good for you I know how to do the reps and I know how today I do the jacuzzi and how to do this steam room I know how to do this really really good you know your you have wisdom when you call it a jacuzzi and not a hot tub that I love that I love that it's just that the cool way that you that you drop nuggets that really show your wisdom and years of maturity but you know jacuzzi is a brand that's true it was such a popular brand like 19 X and zero Cola right yeah but really it's it Jacuzzi is no longer popular but other times of a generation that you're from just the jacuzzi I get it I get it but we call it a hot tub and I can call it both because I can straddle both sides of the fence Jim Frank oh man this was an amazing opportunity that you gave us to interview I know that this was a neat ride going back in time yes you number one number two my audience I can tell you loved it because you know we've we've sold almost 40,000 copies of my book it's become a Wall Street Journal bestseller or your name has been read by so many people and for them to actually see the person meet the person I know it's a you've bestowed a lot of wisdom on my audience as well so thank you so much I really appreciate you Peter thank you so much for having me who is pleasure and fun and by the way your facility is to die for thank you guys and gals thank you so much for watching this episode of the Empire show I know you really enjoyed this episode I want you to do one thing I want you to take a screenshot of it post it tag a couple of friends I want this episode to be the most watched and listened to episode of all of our shows have a great one you

Channel: Bedros Keuilian

Views: 29,420

Keywords: entrepreneur, business, ceo, success, manup, decide, leadership, mindset, entrepreneurship, smallbusiness, savvybusinessowner, motivation, businessstips, personaldevelopment, productivity, onlinemarketing, hustle, creativeentrepreneur

Id: y5NOa3h6_Bc

Length: 63min 55sec (3835 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 17 2019