Jeff Breid

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals and modern moments.

An event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert. And today is an amazing day because we have. Who do we have with us today?

This is a very good friend of mine as well, so I'm excited.

He's more my friend than your friend, I think.

Okay, sure, I'll give it to you. All right. This guest grew up in Sunland, California, then Mesa, Arizona, where he graduated from Red Mountain High School. He began his career in the automotive world at the age of 18. He has been married for more than 25 years to his best friend Heidi, and they share two kids who are now adults themselves but remain close to home. In 2012, he took a leap of faith to support the launch of Car Life Gilbert and now has ownership in and serves as COO of the company. Please welcome Jeff Bride.

Mr. Automotive.

Yes, that would be.

And then some. Yeah, he's the guy I go to. So if you're out there, you need a guy. This is the guy we're going to talk to today. So I'm so glad you're here, Jeff.

Glad to be here.

We start our show off with what we call rapid fire.

So, Sarah, fill in the blank.

Happiness is a day in the desert just enjoying time away from cell phones and out with friends.

Glad you said desert because we live in the desert. Okay. What is your hidden talent?

Hidden talent? I mean, I'm an excellent. So I would say most people that interact with me all day don't know that. I do a lot of long range shooting. Been doing it for about 10 years. And so we shoot out to a mile plus. And it's kind of one of those things I just. I nerd out about.

So the story of you can run, but you can't hide. That's. That's you.

Yeah.

Probably a concert you will never forget.

Well, I just recently saw Pearl Jam for the fifth time and it took my daughter and of course she grew up around hearing rock and roll music because I know a lot of kids don't hear that as much anymore. And she was just blown away to share that with her. I saw my first concert in 1992, ended up coming to 2022 and take her. It was a blast. And Heidi Went too. But it was just to see the look on her face was like, wow.

Wow. Yeah, I think I would be like that, too.

They were so good.

Have you ever lived abroad?

No, I have not.

Check, check.

What is something people get wrong about you?

My last name. All the time. People say it Breed. It's actually bride. We're German. So, yeah.

Jeff, what makes you hopeful?

Makes me hopeful. Seeing my kids excel is what makes me hopeful. Like, you know, you raise them, you think you raise them right, but you really don't know until they actually have to make decisions for themselves. And I think seeing their decision making, that gives me hope.

Are you more of a thinker or a doer?

I think being a technician, you have to be both, because you got to be working your way through the problem and acting at the same time. So it's kind of walking and chewing bubble gum kind of thing. So as you're working on a car, you are thinking your processes through as you're going. So I like to say I probably think things out, but then I love taking action. So.

Yeah, you like to tinker with that stuff, don't you?

Yeah, I am.

All right, so here's a fun one. If you were to have someone play you in a movie, who would you want that to be?

You know, I think Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. If he could act for a day, he could play me.

What is your favorite pastime or hobby?

I like building rifles. I like. I would say that's probably the thing that lets me just kind of lock in and just kind of tune the world out. Otherwise, it's being with Heidi, whether it's a road trip or just. We are so good just being the two of us. So anything that, you know, even when I'm working on stuff, she'll come sit and hang out with me. So, you know, that's always our us together.

All right, last question. Glass half full or half empty?

Oh, it's half full.

Yeah, I would have guessed that about him.

Yep.

I have my own last question. What is one thing you are grateful for?

Probably the influences I've had in my life, because I think that's, you know, wisdom is not. Is seeing what others have done and then being able to go forward with it, not make the same mistakes. I'm very thankful for people who've been in my life who have saved me from just doing dumb things.

You know, you do dumb things all the time.

Still do them, you know, don't you.

Think there has to be a balance between doing dumb Things and being saved from dumb things.

Have you figured that out, Sarah?

Oh, my Lord.

Well, I mean, I think making mistakes is fun. You know, unless it costs you a lot, then it's not as fun, right?

That's true.

You know, the more expensive a hangover is fun, but, you know, waking up behind bars probably wouldn't be so fun.

You know, Spear knows all about that.

Okay. Do you ever feel like your business is stuck? It's time to get traction and move it forward?

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Call Chris today at 480-848-3037.

That's 480-848-3037. Moving on. Let's talk about Jeff some more, huh? Shall we?

Yeah, let's do it. So take us back. So, Sunland, California, and then Mesa. Talk about childhood. What did that look like for you.

Growing up in Southern California was, you know, you're in, like. My stepdad was a professional motorcycle rider. I just had friends that were actors. I used to go to auditions all the time with my friends. I went to one with a friend of mine, and he got, like, the lead role, and he was not actually that excited, but my other buddies that got, like, supporting roles were like, this is the best thing ever. And then he kind of got out of acting, and then it wasn't until years later he got back in that I heard about it. But just doing those kind of things that. That, you know, most people in the rest of the country don't. Don't even know. I met Michael Landon when I was, like, 8 years old, and it's just because I was playing video games at a neighbor's house, and he walked in and was giving them their Christmas presents, and they were the prop director for the Little House on the Prairie. And he was out hand delivering all everybody in his staff's presents before Christmas. And you're sitting there playing pack, sitting there playing, probably Atari or something like that. And he walks in and just the nicest guy, you know, and it was just things like that happened all the time, so you just didn't know any different. You weren't ever wowed by those things. My mom was an insurance agent. One of her accounts, the godfather of their children was Tommy Lasorda. And we used to get their tickets all the time. And we'd park at Dodger Stadium in the players parking lot, sit down by the players, and I thought, this is how Everybody sees a baseball game.

Sure.

And one day I go with my Little League and we're sitting in the cheap seat like, wow, this sucks. You know, this is nothing like that. This is how the rest of the world lives. But it was just fun. I mean, it just, you know, it was. My parents had both met there, so just really being in Sunland, which is outside of la, it was still a small community. I mean, even though it's massive, it just still felt that way to me. Growing up, it felt safe. It felt. We used to race BMX bikes and we were just all over the place. And, you know, I ran a lot more wild all over the place than my kids do here in Gilbert and just didn't know any different, you know. So it was a blast. I loved la. Being there was just great. Love the ocean. I love swimming in the ocean. If I can be one place, that would probably be, you know, the ocean everywhere I go, it's like, okay, we're going to take a long swim when we get there, you know, and so I love that, that experience. My dad worked for McDonnell Douglas, and that's how he ended up in. In Mesa, was because he had a. He started doing the flyover every week. And then pretty soon it was, hey, you need to sell your house and it's time for you to move to Mesa. So. But just growing up LA was a blast. My whole thing was when I moved here, I was like, all I'm going to do is get back. All I want to do is get back. My sister was the same way. And then I've never left. She's left, she's gone all over the place, but I've stayed. And so it's kind of funny, my first thought all the way through high school was, I'm going back to la. I'm going back.

So was that the age of transition from California to Arizona? High school.

Right. Middle of junior high. So it was kind of awkward. I got lucky, though, because the junior high I went to for one year, it opened. So everybody was new, so I didn't feel that awkward because everybody else, they were blending everybody in. Yeah, some people knew each other from other schools, but, yeah, it didn't feel that awkward to me because we were all new then. My high school was new. So, yeah, you know, kind of like, for me, I just kind of now my sister. It was a terrible transition, but for me, it was. It was really easy because everybody was new. And I think I knew that. Like, I think I used that to my advantage, that knowing that Going in, I didn't have to worry about that very much.

I think your personality probably played into that a bit too.

I was actually a quiet, shy kid.

Okay, were you?

I was. I was. I didn't talk much. I was super laid back. I think I was always watching.

Oh, yeah.

And I think what I did is I watched people enough and watched situations enough that I was like, now I know what I want to say. And I've just never shut up since, so.

So what? Knowing that you had the desire to go back to California, what kept you from going?

You know, I think by high school, I'd found friends that I, you know, that I really valued at that time in my life, which, it's funny, we don't hang out anymore, but that kind of grounded me. Then I got my first job right after high school in auto shop. And the gentleman that worked there had known me since I had moved out here, and he was just a great mentor. And he kind of hired me in as, hey, I hurt my back. I need somebody to do some things around here, but it'll probably just be for a couple weeks, and you can go figure out what you want to do in life. And that went on for months and months and months. And then I ended up being there nine years. It was kind of like Princess bride, hey, we'll probably just kill you in the morning. Every Friday, I would hear, hey, Monday, we might not need you back. And yet then I would come in and he'd be like, hey, let's have you do this. And as I was growing, I was like, I really like this, and I really respected him. And I just felt like I had friends tell me, oh, you should go work here. You can make more money. You can make more money. But I also knew no one was going to grow me more than he was. And I had an opportunity to work with, like, five total master techs, which is just unheard of in the industry even back then. And I just felt like I was going to college and they were paying me to do it, so, you know, how could I lose? So, you know, I ended up staying there nine years, and that kind of just locked me in. And that time I had, you know, met my wife and gotten married and had my first kid. Before we ever left there, life kind of happened. Yeah.

That's great insight, though, at such a young age to know the value of that experience again.

I'd seen my. I had a wonderful grandfather, and I love my dad, but my dad was always kind of reactionary person. My grandfather was Always kind of that forward thinking person. So I think I had it mirrored and I knew which one I didn't like. So I. I really tried to, even at a young age, think about where things were going to lead me. These decisions and being around the guys I was around in that shop, it was impressive. I mean, it was a very impressive shop. It was a great organization. And they were just doing it right. And I was just like, this is where I want to be. When I left, I realized then how right we were doing it and how so many others were not. Yeah.

Were the trades always. I mean, I know you started off fairly young in it right out of high school, but what was it before that that inspired you to get into that area? Or like, were you always tinkering with stuff all through?

I was always childhood when I was. I remember my dad bought me my first really nice racing BMX bike. And it was Christmas and I wrote it Christmas Day like any kid would. And then the next day I took it all apart and my dad came home and was like, what is going on here? You know, the chains off the bike, everything's off. I'm going through and greasing everything and going. And he's just like, what are you doing? And you know, my dad just had like a crappy little Craftsman toolbox set. But I found a way to take that entire bike apart with everything he had there and then put it all back together and I thought it rode better. I was like, hey, I like this better. So, yeah, I was always that way. My dad had been a car guy, like he used to drag race and he had been into some of that stuff. But I realized he can do brakes on a car back then, but it wasn't much more. By the time I was 16, I already knew. I knew more about cars than my dad, but my dad did give me the freedom to explore that. We had some project cars. We had a 65 Mustang, a 67 Mustang. I think it was like 14 when we started building motors and things like that. You know, he didn't know what he was doing. I mean, he, he, he knew enough to be dangerous, but he also knew enough to ask for some help from neighbors and friends.

There was no YouTube then.

No, there was not.

Yeah. I don't know how things happened before. You see.

Yeah. Yeah. Don't let her know. Yeah, we just. You just did it. And trial and error, man. You know, having the engine not come together right is an expensive.

Yeah.

Thing when you got to take it back apart. But he was wonderful. In that my parents were getting divorced at that time and. And I was spending a lot of time with him. And I think that was his way of helping me through it and helping himself through it was, hey, let's go out in the garage and tinker. And so I think at an early age I kind of. He saw that in me and he never. I had a lot of people in my life tell me, oh, being a mechanic, I mean, what is that going to be for you? And family members. And my dad never, ever did that. It was always like, you can do well with this.

So you talked a little bit earlier and you had shared with us as well that your grandfather was also a huge influence. He was share a little bit about his role in your life.

So when my parents separated the first time we were in California and they moved to Arizona to try and work it out. And my grandfather was a person that would always sit down with me and kind of explain things in a. He would always talk in a way. I always say he was drawing me down the road. So he'd start in the situation we're in and he would start talking about things that decision making would lead to in the future. And sometimes I didn't get it until I ran into it. And there's even things this day that he talked to me about before he passed away that I'm like, oh, that's what he meant, you know. And so even when my dad left, you know, he had talked to me about being the man of the house and what it meant to represent that. And he didn't put that pressure like, you need to be providing, like, drop out of school and go get a job, kid. It was how to take care of my mom, how to be emotionally supportive of my mom and my sister, how to just lead, even though I was the youngest, you know, how to be care, how to be thoughtful and careful with what I said. He was really big on perspective. So he would just talk to me about things like, well, what does this look like to you? And he would even get kind of a little bit argumentative about with me. And then I wouldn't realize. What he was trying to do is teach me that we both have opposing viewpoints. And then he'd come over and sit next to me and say, oh, now I understand what you're seeing. And I'm 12 years old and he's 1112 years old. And these are the way he talked to me back then. And he was a very successful man. He built the largest enclosed retirement community and hospital in the western half of the United States. He had been around successful people his whole life, and he just took it upon himself to spend a lot of time telling me stories, telling me things, and how he ended up there and sharing his faith and how he got to those points and how he trusted certain things to work out. And I think that really kept me calm as a kid. I really felt like I knew where my place was in the world at, you know, 10, 11, 12 years old. Because of him. Yeah, because he was just so good at talking to me at a level that, I mean, I have no idea how a man that age can relate to somebody that young, but he did. So it was pretty powerful. You're in his palm. Just feeding. It was. It was amazing. And even. Even before he died, I mean, we'd have. When my grandma passed away, my wife and I went back there for the funeral. And just talking to him, I mean, he was close to 90 and he's still like talking to people and serving people. And that was another thing he was big on was serving others. Leadership is serving. And that was, I think, where I really got that from is it was, you know, he's a tip of the spear kind of guy. I'm. He's soft spoken, but I am the leader. It sits on my shoulders. And I really think I liked that. Like, I saw that like a man who just was calm, soft spoken, and just very dynamic at the same time. And I think to me, I was just as a kid, like, wow, this guy's larger than life. In fact, at his funeral, there was a line of people waiting to talk at his funeral that worked for the community he lived in. He had helped a gentleman start his own cabinet company, helped him learn QuickBooks. Here, my grandpa, 90 years old, QuickBooks, and he was actually resigning to go take over his company. And then nurses that went to night school and all this stuff. And you find out all these people he was still teaching in his 90s, people that worked in the retirement center he lived in.

I love that kind of legacy. I think that's so. It's inspirational.

So it's a lot to live up to as well. So I feel like you kind of, when someone puts that kind of time into you, you got to kind of approach the same way the people that you got an opportunity to lead. Yep.

Now it's your turn.

Yeah. All right.

So high school now, I'm thinking back when I was in high school, they don't really do this as much now, seems like. But shop class was a thing, right? You could actually take automotive classes and stuff. Was that you? Were you in those kinds of things?

I was actually not. But it's funny because I had to teach. We had a physics class and we had to teach something mechanical. So me and another, my lab partner, we did a talk on the internal combustion engine and it was funny. I had to give it in the shop class I had never been in to my classmates and it was funny. There was a bunch of kids in the auto class and they were like, oh, I understand how that works more now. And they've been in shop two years. So I think for me I'm dyslexic. So for me I see things in like three dimensional space. People think, you know, the way you read words is. For me, it wasn't until someone pointed out to me that I was dyslexic that I started to understand why I see an engine so clearly, why I see mechanical devices in motion. It's like it just. I see what's happening in my head and it's hard to. Can't teach that to other people. But it is something that I understood that there was something different about the way I saw the world even back then, because I could explain those things and make them make sense fairly quickly.

Almost translate it for them. So you shared and I'm just interested in this. So you and Heidi met at church and not even a half a year, but four and a half months.

So we met. It was. We had met actually almost a year before we got engaged. So we had met through some, just mutual friends. And then she started dating my roommate and then I was dating one of her friends. And of course the great thing about not having cell phones is you have to call my house to talk to my roommate. And then we would talk a lot and she would tease me all the time because I was dating this girl and I was dating that girl because I was like single with a vengeance. I was looking for somebody who shared my goals, dreams, commonalities. And it was funny. It was only probably a month or so before we went on our first date that I told the guy who ended up being our best man at our wedding. I'm like, man, if he ever messes that up. And it was like two days later he came to me and said, hey, I'm thinking about moving back down to my family's. I'm going to pay my rent through July and then we'll see what's going to happen. I was like, okay. Heidi calls like two days later asking for him and I was like, well, he moved. And she's like, wait, what?

Oh, wow, Me.

I was like, so, what are you doing? You know, I mean, I was that guy. I'm sorry. You know, I. I was that guy. So we went on a date. Well, we went and met some friends, and we rode together and we talked about. I was like, hey, I know we have a connection. We both kind of knew that. And I said, where's this thing you see us leading? And she's like, I don't know. Let's. I'm gonna. I'm gonna pray about it. Let me talk about it. And I was like, let me do the same. And then we went on a date, like that Friday, Thursday night, or Friday night. And I said, where do you see things? I don't know. I mean, if this. We're gonna do this, it should be. The goal, should be marriage. It's like, great, let's go get a ring. So we got a writing ring on our first date Saturday.

That was a fast one. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, you know, almost 25 years later, we're still married. And she's my best friend. I mean, we just. We've always approached life like we probably. People probably look at us and go, they're crazy. You know, they're going to do what you're going to do, you know? And all of our friends, like, nobody knew we were even dating, because we really weren't. But we had just been around each other so much that I was like, that's who I want to be with. She just needs to be single. She was single for, like, a day.

Took advantage of that, didn't you?

Yeah.

I love that. So then you shared, too. And I'm wondering if it correlates that in your early 20s, you learned the difference between happiness and joy.

So I had a temper. Like, a lot of people have tempers when they're young, especially. I don't know, Maybe it's just guys. Maybe girls do. I don't know. But my dad had a pretty good temper when I was growing up, and I think I just thought that that was normal.

Was this an outward temper? Like, people would know you're having a tantrum?

Not a tantrum, but I would get angry. I mean, you know, so.

Short fuse.

Very short fuse.

Got it.

And I was living on my own. I mean, I had a roommate, and I was probably, like, 20 years old, and I'd been. Just had almost really gotten in a fight with my roommate. And I was like, wow. I mean, this is my best friend from High school. And this is over. Like, you know, you didn't put the cheese away or something.

Dishes or something.

Something stupid that you get in arguments over. And I was like, you know, I just don't want to be that person. And so then I kind of. I kind of started just seeking out. And my boss at the time was really good for me to. To. And he saw I had a temper. You know, things go wrong in the shop or you break a bolt, and, you know, I'd be the first one to be the most angry in the shop. And I actually asked him about it. He's like, no, duh. You have a temper. We all know that. I was like, wow, everybody knows this. You know, I didn't know everybody knew this. And we talked about that. And, you know, I started realizing through conversation with other people that there was a difference between happiness and joy. You know, happiness, if you look at just what happens to you, you know, you win the lottery, you're happy. You know, we. You know, you go out your friends, you're happ. But then you get a flat tire, you're sad. And I saw growing up, when things would go wrong with my parents, there was always tempers between the two of them, and it would ruin trips and it would ruin things. And I was like, man, I just don't ever want to be that person that ruins my kid. I don't have kids yet. I'm like, I just don't want to be that person. So I really kind of set myself on a course to go, okay, how do I overcome this? And so I started realizing we all have a little bit of time before we react. Our brain processes it. And you can either just open your mouth or you can pause for a second and think about what you say. And I think at that moment, in my 20s, I started becoming very deliberate with my words. Like in high school, I started becoming outgoing, and then I kind of regressed a little bit and realized being outgoing also meant I was an emotional roller coaster. Like most of our in teenage and early 20s.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Yeah, well, Ben, you might not. You just, you know, he's a special breed. We know he's special, but, yeah, it was just one of those things that I think I really worked hard on that. And I still have a temper. Like, I still. I'm no different. It's just how I react to it is different.

And you said your dad was like that as well.

Yeah, my dad was like that. He's a very. My dad's. A very passionate, emotional person. He's the first one to cry. He's the first one to be excited. And I mean, I don't cry, and I don't really get that excited. You know, I learned just to kind of. I experience those things. I let myself experience them. I'm just very careful how I let it out.

How about your mom? What was she like?

Emotional. Emotional. Emotional. Very emotional. Okay. Very victim mentality. And if she's listening to some, sorry, mom, but it's very victim mentality. Everything happened to her. And I hated that, too.

Yeah.

Back at my sister's wedding, I told my mom and I was like, so proud of you become. And I was just kind of not in a good place. And I was like, hey, mom, guess what? It's not because of you. Oh, so, you know, because. But here's the thing is I saw the train wrecks between what my parents were doing. My dad's very happily married. He's. My mom's very happily married. But I just saw that and I was like, if they had had the skills and the mentorship, would they have had to go through what they went through?

Right. They're working with the best tools they.

Have or the only tools they have. And I mean, I think just being open to being mentored. So many people want to mentor other people because they've read books or they've had success, but they've never know what it's like to really be mentored, that you have to, like, you can be a bad student because you don't listen to the teacher, but you can choose to be a good student. And that's an individual choice. And it's where it starts to be a better person is you first have to be a good student.

So, all right, so you spent those years in the shop right out of high school. Then what?

You know, I was a technician there for nine years, and I went to a bigger organization which I thought was going to hang the moon. And it was a. It was a good fit for me because I didn't realize how good I was at my craft until I went someplace that really had had a lot of people that weren't good at their craft and how much they appreciated me. And we moved to the West Valley, which I absolutely was a mistake. I did not like living in the West Valley. I'm an East Valley person. There is a difference. That's like Mars over there.

This is like pre Cardinal stadium time. So, like, there was really nothing over there.

Now we lived in Surprise, and it Was really like, you drove out there and surprise or something. Surprise, you know, but my wife had some family out there, and we thought that might be a good fit for us, and it was a good thing for us because with any adversity, you grow. So for that, for three years, it was. It was that. And I found my wife was driving to see your mom 75 miles round trip, you know, twice a week. And like, why don't we just move back? But that was a great experience because there was some really good leaders in that organization. And I learned just a lot about the business side of automotive that I don't think I would have gotten had I stayed in the small shop I was in. I mean, I learned a lot about the, you know, profits and margins and all those things at any shop you go to. But there I learned more like the vision of having multiple locations doing things.

Efficiencies at a different level. Right.

Yeah. And duplicating things. You know, what you do in one shop and one guy can pull off. If you can't duplicate that across the board.

Less consistency.

Yeah. Then the customer service experience is not the same. And so that was just huge. In fact, I regretted leaving there when I did from a. I still felt like I had a lot to learn. But then I went back to a small shop because I needed to find something aside. We sold our house over there, moved over here. Of course, that was like 2008 or 2006, when housing market was going up again. And so good time to move. Yeah. Great job, good planning, good foresight.

Where's the temper on that one?

Yeah, well. And then I went to work for a small shop, and I was. He called me and was like, hey, come to work for me. And I was like, okay. You know, and he. His numbers were terrible, and everything about his shop wasn't very good. And I was like, okay, this is an easy fix.

I know to fix this, Jeff.

Yeah. So I did. I. He. I took his lube tech and made him a service writer because I'm like, why is this guy changing oil? This guy's like a total personality. Why is he changing oil? Oh, no, I'm the personality. No, nobody likes you. You're the owner. Nobody likes you, including the customers, you know, and that's the way he was. He thought everybody liked him.

You go golf. We'll do it. We'll do this.

So we doubled his sales in one year. And. And it was a great, great experience from that until he felt like he was not needed and then started firing the People I had been mentoring and growing. And we doubled his sales. And he gave that service writer $100 bonus for Christmas. And I was like, it should have been like a couple extra zeros. That should be like a $10,000 bonus for what that kid did that year. And he now owns his own shop, so. And way more successful than the one he was working at back then. So, you know, sometimes people let good people go for the, for ego. Yeah, they do. And so that was a, a good experience from that. But then we had to part ways. I mean, we just, we could not stay, you know, we can, we were not compatible at all. You know, he wanted to be. Have all the accolades of him building his shop. And here customers aren't even talking to him anymore because they want to talk to me or the other guys or whatever. And I'm thinking, man, that's security. Like you should be happy. You can go fishing or do whatever you like to do. So that was a, you know, that West Valley, back to East Valley was a really hard transition financially. Every aspect of that was just tough. And we kind of wait out the housing market. And then I got a call from a gentleman around the time I was ready to leave and said, hey, let's start a shop. And this was 2008. And we ended up having almost a nine month construction delay, which was really terrible. And in 2008, you know, opening an auto repair shop just, it just wasn't that awesome. People were getting rid of cars because they couldn't, they couldn't pay for them. And so we opened a shop and it was like, we opened it up and was like, I need to come in for my oil change. Well, what time can you get here? You know, I mean that's, that's where we were at at that time. And. But I think I knew how to work through that. And that was a good experience for me because it was the first real ground up experience I had, you know, at that time. And, and I was, I liked working on cars. Like I had no ambitions to do more than being around the automotive industry. I mean, I didn't look at it at that time and like, oh, I would like to be doing this or why don't I go to college or you know, I, that never let like that stuff never fazed me. I loved what I did through all the ups and downs because that going back to that, having joy was, I was like, man, I get to do this every day and get paid to do it and they're paying me to do it. Yeah, I mean, I do this for free. There's points in my career, I just do this for free. If someone just pay my house payment, you know, my wife's like, you're crazy. But yeah. So then with that shop, we did really well. It took us a while to get going, but we did pretty well. But I found my goals, my ambitions were bigger than his. And that was not an easy thing for him. And I learned in that, that I'm not an easy personality to deal with when I'm. When I'm doing what I love, you know, I just want to kind of get it. Let's do this. Yeah, let's get out of my way. Let's go. Or help me do whichever you choose. I'm easy. Just pick one. And he couldn't pick either. He just, he wanted to grow in his way. And I just wanted to go, let's just go. You know, my thought was we could do more locations. And it was a second location, which is two different ownerships. And so the other owners really liked the idea, but it just wasn't my motivation.

So where does Eddie come in?

So I worked in that shop for six years, which I do not know how it lasted that long. And I had a buddy of mine call me and say, hey, why don't you come work for our shop? We're struggling. We know you can make a difference. And they did mostly diesel stuff, and they really wanted to get better at diagnostic and working on gas powered vehicles, and they kind of wanted to develop their brand a little bit better. And I said, okay, let's go. So after Thanksgiving, right around Thanksgiving, I took that job and then I met Eddie. And I was at that job for three days. Because when I met Eddie, we talked and I was sitting there going, wow, this is my. We're speaking the same language. This is amazing. And so Eddie's literally like, yeah, man, I want you to be on my team. I'm like, okay. And then he calls me the next day. He's like, no, I want you to be on my team. I need you here now. So I had to walk in that office after being there for three days and going, guys, I'm out. And they were just like, what? What? We've never really spoken again. So, you know, I mean, I think they were just like, they were pretty hurt about that because they had been trying to get me there for a number of years. And I finally come and I stayed for three days. I told him, I said, I'll give you all the help I can, but I'm out. And then so in 2012, 1212, 2012, we launched Car Life Gilbert. So our 10 year anniversary is coming up. And the thing I thought I was getting into was I had been helping people with their businesses and I was almost tired of that because no one listened. They listened only partly. And not all my ideas were right, but you just felt like, well, they're the owner and you're not. So guess what? So I was like, great, this is going to be a place I can just come and I can get back to honing my craft. And all my stuff was always like advanced drivability computer systems. That was my. I wasn't doing brakes, I wasn't doing suspension, I was working on all the hard stuff no one could figure out. So I thought, oh, I can get back to really focusing on that. And then what can I do? What can I become? And so after a couple years of finding, I was constantly helping Eddie find a new person to run the store. And then Eddie was running the store. And then pretty soon Eddie's like, you know, you should just run this thing, you know? And I'm like, but the back, I mean, I'm supposed to be in the back working. And he's like, no, this is your gift. And he had told me that early on. He's like, jeff, you have more than most technicians have to offer. It's really hard for people to go from the back to the front. I mean, there's lots of guys who own shops that were good technicians, but they usually need a personality piece in the front to make that work. And he's like, nope, you got it. So he went on vacation, left me in the front, and then said, I'll be back in a week.

Sink or swim, boy, you got it.

Three weeks later he came back and he was like, wow, you've set all the sales records in this store. You've broken someone. Finally beat Scottsdale. And he's like, great, I'm gonna hang out for. He hung out for a week. And he's like, well, I got some things I gotta go do. And I don't know that he's ever really come back since, you know. So Eddie is a master of seeing people's talents and what they could be. If that's it, that's to me, his gift is he can sit there and you think you know what you're doing and what you can be. And he's like, oh, no, no, no, no. You got so much more than that, so much more to offer. And he is a Visionary. I mean, that's why car life is built the way they're built. Why they look the way they look is because he had a vision. And for him, Elsie and I were the two that could execute. And so we are the executors. But now we share the same vision because we've executed for so long, we understand it. And so, like I said, Eddie just saw more in me. I think a lot like my grandfather. My grandfather saw it when I was young. And when my grandfather was no longer around him, I got Eddie. And so Eddie just saw things about me that no other owners didn't see, or maybe they didn't want to see or they didn't care, but Eddie did. And Eddie was like, okay, we're going on this journey together. And, you know, we. And that's the thing now we. Because we're all so different, the three of us, we all have our roles.

Yeah.

And I'm. I firmly know what I'm gonna do and what my purpose is and where I'm going. And I know Eddie's got what he's got to do, and Elsie does what she's got to do. And then we come together and it all works.

So now what's next? Let's look ahead. What's coming on the horizon for you?

You know, we have. So every year we go to sema, which is. I go to Vegas Monday, and we spend four days together. And it's probably the only time of the year that the four of us are together that much and that long, and we have an absolute blast. And we kind of game plan. We kind of almost close out the year in the middle of that, and then we open up the next year, thought process wise. So last year we had some financial goals to hit, we had a few technologies wanted to implement into the stores, and in fact, we are still working on launching another kind of branch, but it's taken a lot longer because we gotta keep the prize winner going all the time. And this year was a lot of challenges with staff like everybody's had after Covid. We've rolled over, I think, our front of House staff three times this year completely since 2019, we've rolled the entire staff but one person over like five times. And it's not because we're bad to work for. It's. We do have such high standards, we are demanding and we have an expectation and law techs come work for us and they can't. And so we have finally, I think this year our goal is to finally get that off the ground. So it's doing calibrations and investing a lot more in the technology of the future cars so that we can kind of be on that leading edge of that technology. And that's kind of the vision right now is, you know, we understand auto repair and we understand how to do it really well, and we understand customer service, and we're good at that. But the technology side is changing faster, you know, faster this year than it did last year. And that's the part that we kind of want to set the pace on. And that's actually kind of my role these days, is to really look at what the future stuff is for auto repair and the driving public in general. So I think that's fun. So as we launch that, it'll be exciting. Yeah.

Well, I'm grateful for what you bring to the business community. I do see you reach out and mentor others who are up and coming in all types of industries. And you're a great contributor to the Chamber in terms of advice and mentorship and guidance and leadership. So thank you for that. And thanks for taking care of the Watts family cars, too.

We appreciate having you guys.

Indeed. Jeff, thanks for being here. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you for being part of this show. If you like this show, like I know you do, please subscribe, join our tribe and we will catch you on the next one. Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you.

Guiding conversations with community Leaders.

Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast?

This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor it in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand. Whether you want to again be on the show. Reach out to us. Let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.