On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. I'm still surprised sometimes by how you meet people. And, I mean, I've met people through the business and just her cell motorcycle parts. I went to Australia and met some friends and, you know, rode motorcycles down to Great Ocean Road because I sold these guys motorcycle parts. So there are some amazing portions of it. But the problem solving, I I would say, is the thing that sorta keeps me on track.
And You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe, featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars from business and life. But have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be. We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the reel of the reel. On what it takes to build a successful business today. Picture of the journey of success and how you too can get there.
Through this dialogue, you will learn the value growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and keys like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolfe gathering the Kings podcast today. I've got Mike DeLuca on the King stage. My brother, Mike. How are we doing? Doing good, Chaz. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man. Just appreciate you being here. You know, I gotta tell you, I I see that beard coming through, man.
I mean, you might you might be able to grow it out a little bit. I could if I had the patience to to deal with along this year. Say, it looks it looks it looks full and ready to come through, man. But, Mike, tell us what kind of business that you got here. I'm excited for this conversation. So I own Westend Motorsports.com. We're an ecommerce retailer. We do motorcycle parts and accessories, side by side stuff. Pretty much everything aftermarket. I don't do any repair parts.
It's we say it's everything you want, nothing you need. So, you know, that that's what it is. I love that. And and I definitely wanna dive into a little bit more of that, but what a fun business, just being able to. That would be ecommspace. That's that's a unique thing in itself, but then also to be in in in that type of product line. Do you have is there is there a connection to that product line? You, your family, like, or did you did you just get started with Well, sort of yeah.
I mean, I mean, we're kinda always motorcycle people, hardly people growing up. We'd go to bike nights and stuff like Chaz. Mean, we're didn't have any money. My dad didn't have any money. So we didn't have a bike usually until he got a little bit older. And then he got into the community He was working. He lost his job with Pfizer, actually.
They outsourced him, gave him a decent severance package, and then he ended up starting West End Motorsports in 2004 with you know, with the funds that he got from that severance package. So I, yeah, I was still in high school at the time, and so we started, you know, building the business, building the store, and and all those things together at that point. Yeah. That's incredible.
Well, I wanna dive in more into the story, but before we do, this will be interesting, asking you this conversate or this question because your 2nd generation or you've kinda you've, you know, you're the son of the the founder, but you've been building it kind of along the way. What's your why? Like, why are you doing this? Obviously, it's been super successful and you're still doing it. You're pressing on. Why? What's the bigger picture for you?
Well, The real answer is I don't have any other options. So, you know, Chaz obviously, you know, I've been I've been, I suppose, guided to this path, and it's one that I've stuck to so far. I don't know how long I'll stay on it, but, you know, truthfully, I wasn't even supposed to be there at the start. I I hadn't listed in the Marine Corps. At a high school. I was not a very good student. I don't know if I was a d student, but it was pretty close. And not dumb.
I just I I mean, I just just don't I couldn't sit still and and didn't really enjoy being in school. So so for history, I did great at history, but it was everything else. It just it wasn't really for me. So I enlisted in the Marine court, and I got hurt before I went to boot camp. And so I actually wasn't able to go. So I just my dad asked me if I wanted to start working. And I was like, yeah.
Sure. You paid me 5 bucks an hour cash under the table, and it was like, Well, I mean, what else was I gonna do? You know? And then Right. One thing sort of led to another. And within about a year, we started getting busy, and then we were just, you know, It was really fun to be a part of a growing business. It was a family business, but, you know, that part of it, I, you know, I've always enjoyed and I've never really it was just always the best path for me, you know, in in the big picture.
So Yeah. I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that. Right? First off, not fitting in at school and learning in a very linear square classroom format. I think that all of us kind of just like afternoon. Yeah. Exactly. I think there's a lot a lot of reliability there. But what you also said in there is that you kinda found a home in a little bit of a startup, a little bit of a mass, little bit of a growth, you know, environment that that that all fit for you.
Why do you think that that fits this person that didn't do well in school, but fits over here. Why do you think that is? I don't know. I mean, I, you know, I I I turned out to be good at finding people what they wanted. I I mean, I guess I guess I'm decent at listening. And so decent enough where I could listen to what people said they were looking for.
Put them on track to the right item, right, part, even if it's a small item or whatever, but, you know, anything in sales starts at listening and Yeah. It turned out that I was naturally good at it.
And so that's probably the thing that sorta kept me kept me in line and and and kept me there the the most kept me interested, I would say, is the fact that you have this complex process of people calling, looking for certain things and being able to have a knowledge, you know, have a huge repertoire in a large set of information that you can access at any point and be like, yeah, that's probably not right, but maybe you wanna try this, this, and this, or Yeah.
You know, having failure from other customers buying stuff they didn't want and just being able to be like, well, I've had people do this and they bought for the wrong reason. So maybe you should be looking at this. And, you know, just that that sort of ethic has sort of allowed me to be good at that part of the job. So Yeah. I I've always enjoyed I mean, it's It's good to be good at something. You know?
So Yeah. That's what I heard you say that you became an expert, you know, expert at helping people and expert at this specific type of you know, business. Also, too, I was gonna say, with it being a family business, do you think that that played into just your relationship building that you're kinda just talking about? You know? That's really what it comes down to, right, is helping people and building relationships. And you kinda said that that's part of listening and and sales.
But helping somebody, like, pick and choose and and being able to remember parts and being able to remember past experiences, all that fun stuff is about relationships. Would you agree? Yeah. Well, it is. And, you know, and maybe Chaz might have been a subconscious part of it.
I certainly didn't wanna make a mistake that would end up costing us money, right, because any mistake that I make in recommending something or choosing something that has the wrong fitment or anything like that would would come out of my dad's pocket, my family's pocket, and the end.
So, I mean, I'm part of all of that is being careful, you know, and and being cautious because I'd I'd rather have them hesitate to buy now and buy the right part later Chaz sell the wrong part and have to deal with that whole mess and, you know, have the company have to deal with that whole mess. And so that's always sort of been a a guiding principle I've had through throughout the process. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. What do you see?
You know, the the the next play for you or the maybe the deeper reason of, like you said, maybe it's this business, maybe it's just not per mural, you know, environment that fits well for you. Is it is it the serving the people? Is it solving problems? Like, what's, like, the inside of you that's, like, burning every day? Like, I gotta go do this. What is that? Yeah. It's probably more problem solving.
I mean, you know, Chaz you solve one problem, you're kinda always looking for the next one, or you get bored by the problems that you've already solved. I mean, I've been dealing with retail customers in ecommerce. So add volume for almost 20 years. So that part is you know, it it gets exhausting sometimes. Sometimes it's great. You know? And I'm still surprised sometimes by how you meet people.
I mean, I've met people through the business and just through selling motorcycle parts, I went to Australia and met some friends and, you know, rode motorcycles down to Great Ocean Road because I sold these guys motorcycle parts. So there are some amazing portions of it, but a lot of the day to day and nastiness that you sometimes get, especially in the COVID world where everything lacking availability and stuff that Yeah. That gets difficult.
So the problem solving, I would say, is the thing that sort of keeps me on track and Yeah. Most of the time. I mean, I I waiver, you know, and and honestly, you know, it's something that I'd I'd deal with where you reach certain goals and stuff. And now the next problem is, well, where do you where's the where's the next finish line and is it?
Yeah. You know, is it something that you wanna really pursue, or is something or are you just moving it just for the sake of moving it, or is there a point to moving it? You know? And so that's sort of where I'm at now. Because fortunately, we've reached a lot of those early goals. So the next problem is sorta well, now what? You know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think it's a a question that we all ask ourselves either I'm sure.
Along the way or multiple times or at least at some point when we hit the goal or when we're getting close. And so I I hope that you dial into that and and figure out next thing is for you because that's yeah. Exactly. That's what keeps us moving. You know? I actually learned a long time ago that right before you hit it, which Wolfe For some people, this doesn't work because they need to cross the finish line, you know, celebrate.
I'm all about that, but I'm more of the guy that's, like, right before I hit it, I'm like, yeah. You know, push it out just a little further. Uh-huh. Droz me in. Push it out a little further. Droz me in because I like the game. Yeah. Because if I keep if I cross the finish line, then then the game's over. You know? Well, and it turns out that that's that's probably what everybody likes.
We just don't know it, you know, until you until you got to that finish line and you sort of realized, well, that that we're here. We're here. Exactly. It's it's actually it's actually what I felt when Wolfe the Grand Canyon. Now I could be totally off on left field here, but Yeah. I don't know if you've been to the Grand Canyon, but when I got there, it was like awesome. Yeah. Okay. Like, now we go now? Or, like, what do we do?
Like, it was so vast and so grand and such a big finish line Chaz you were just talking about. Okay. Yeah. Now what? You know? It's I mean, it's a perfect metaphor, man. It's it's it there's a lot of Chaz, especially, you know, when you're a business for yourself. Yeah. Exactly. So we gotta figure out how to how to gotta keep keep the line pushing out to to to make the make the next target. Alright. Well, Mike, I wanna get into the the practicality of the business here.
I wanna Chaz, as you've been building, obviously, alongside your family, but What's a good decision that you guys have made in the business that you can look back on and go, when we did this, it really lined up a lot of our success. What is that? So, like, most things in my life, it was not exactly a a a completely thought out decision. It was more of a a decision of survival. When I first bought the company for my dad in 2017, we had changed platforms.
I mean, I don't wanna get too technical there because it's boring, but basically, we had a really old website, and so we changed to a new website. And the process of moving 20,000 to 30,000 items and subcategories subcategories over to that new website was sort of promised to be streamlined and wasn't in the end. And so we spent months during our transition, getting a new platform up and updated, and and there were some catastrophic failures throughout that process.
And so as a result, we ended up having to go with a a marketing company to do our advertising because most of our business comes from, you know, AdWords paper click advertising SEO stuff. I mean, that's just the nature of e Commerce. And so we ended up getting sort of funneled into this advertise.
Or again, you know, introduced, I guess, would be a a better way to to look at it as a result of the platform's failures and it has turned out to be I mean, we're still in we still have a business relationship, and it's been the absolute best thing that's ever happened to us. Wow. Wow. And so the lesson learning there, actually, I pulled out a couple. Tell me if I'm wrong, but number 1, I just heard persistence.
Kinda like you said, there was a bunch of, like, ick that you kinda had to push through, but now it turned out okay. Yeah. But then technology matters. Platform matters. And it sounds like in a way, maybe it's it just makes it easier for them to check out. Like, any specifics that you wanna share there that maybe is like a, like, what should I be thinking about from my own business? Well, yeah, sure. Specifically, I mean, you know, at the time, our our website was designed in 2004.
I mean, look, you know, we don't go back and look at websites from 2004, but we remember them. And so you know, obviously, we added throughout, but at some point, we got really stagnant. That was part of the reason that my dad transitioned out, and I and I bought him out. But We also had a platform that was extremely difficult to update. It was like a standalone unit basically siloed in its own type of technology.
And you know, potentially anybody could make anything work on it, but there weren't people out there doing it. So it just kinda became obsolete. And so You know, we needed a website where it does little things. Like, it would remember your cart when you came back 2 weeks later to buy the thing, so you didn't have to look for it all over again. And Right. You know, there's I mean, there's probably a 1000 other little things like that.
Yeah. But but but it but there was a 1000 things that needed to be updated kind of. And so by switching platforms Chaz gave us the ability to to have at least access to the the ability to have a constant update instead of needing to do a teardown update every every 5 years, which, yeah, ultimately any business kinda has to do, but I I prefer to do it steadily so that we don't have to We don't have to fully renovate. You know?
So Yeah. That's the full renovation, even on a, like, a CRM, transitioning a CRM, like, there's just lot of work that goes into something like that. And, you know, I don't think most entrepreneurs realize, like, it's promised ahead of time that it's gonna be super smooth and and and seamless. Always. And it just rarely is, whether it's a platform, whether it's a CRM, it doesn't really matter.
You need to see a plan for probably twice three times as long and and keeping on your current platform until it's, like, all the way tested and and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's difficult, especially with service providers in the technology world, like you said. I mean, you know, one of the things that you find out pretty quickly is that everybody overpromises and under delivers, which has always been the opposite of our egos. You know?
I mean, I've always told people this will take longer, you know, just hedged expectations so that ultimately they end up satisfied, but by everybody. But the majority of these companies that you deal with and service providers, it it's always the same thing. And it and it and going back to that short sighted thing, it's like, well, I'm just not gonna continue to use you. If you promised accordingly and, you know, you did what you could say. Well, then we'll stay in a bit.
We'll have a a business relationship forever. You know? But you overpromise and you don't do what you said, well, it's gonna last a month or 2 months. And so it's just a short money versus a long money. Kind of thing for me. And, I'm very fortunate to that marketing company that we work with had the same mindset as far as long money. You know, they want customers that are there. Forever, if if it's possible.
So Yeah. There's there is a uniqueness of what you're talking about because most people don't think long term. And then in the business world, okay, so maybe they're thinking a little bit longer term because they're building a business and at least have some sort of idea of delayed gratification, but still, Now you have almost, like, like, a, like, a snake oil. Yeah. Well, and the sales guys got numbers they gotta hit, right, because they get paid on commission.
And so Yeah. They're not the guys who are gonna service the the technical call later, or they're not the guys who are gonna service the customer service questions later about why did you over so they get to sell, make their quota, or maybe not, or maybe beat their quota and get and get their commission and then pass the problem along to somebody else so they create all these problems. And so that's I mean, that is just something that's extremely common for anybody trying to do anything.
You know? It's just but I don't get it. I mean, I don't get it. And you can only do that if you have a system where, like, those sales guys are siloed from the customer service guys. I mean, they should work like every other cubicle. That the customer service guy can be like, hey. Your salesman was Bill and walked right next to him and be like, Bill, what are you doing, man? I've been on the phone with this guy for 3 hours, and now he's gonna cancel.
And so but that's not really how these systems are most of them. I'm sure there are there are good companies that do that, but but a lot of them don't do that. It's just push. It's all push. So What would you say to the guy listening right now who maybe hasn't experienced this like we have, or maybe he or she Chaz? They're they're in alignment with us. They're like, I know. This is crazy. I'm I'm trying to provide or I'm trying to get a marketing or any type of service provider.
And I just don't know how to, like, weed through. So, like, are there any tactics that you know how to weed through or get them, like, for us to realize, do they think long term like we do? Like, anything that you wanna share there? Always getting out clause. I mean, like, don't ever put yourself in a situation where you are stuck where you are married to a service provider for any lengthy period of time.
Now there there's gonna be time where maybe it takes you a year to realize that something doesn't work. You know? But Right. Always find and then most of them will do it because they wanna make the sale. And so, you know, always find a way to get that. Give yourself security and have that option to get out because odds are the, well, you know, 100%, but they're not gonna do everything that they said they would as fast as they would or as completely as they would.
But, you know, you have your expectations, and maybe that's another thing. Set your expectations where if they give you 80% of what they're promising, you'd be satisfied and and say, you know, even of that 80% of they gave me these 5 things. If I can get these 5 problems fixed with this thing, even if I have other problems, it's gonna be worth it because, you know, it's it's always a trade off.
So but but having an out clause of being able to pull the plug on them keeps it it it allows you to keep some power, you know, and it allows you to to not have to pay for a service that is not working for you at all. Yeah. Exactly. I love what you just said Chaz far as setting the proper expectations in ourselves.
Like, when we go to hire a service company, we can't just have these out of the world expectations and put things even on them or even realize that, like, okay, this guy's telling me you know, 10, but really it's an 8. And I just need to have some discernment here Right. To what what's the impact of my business? Like, okay. So if they're able to do 8 or even 6, do the math. Does it work? Okay. Fine. So maybe it maybe it's not what they told me it was gonna be, but doesn't make me money?
Is that the whole point there's some there's some logic that you just kinda gave to us in there. Yeah. Is it worth it? You know, maybe it's time that you need to consider. Maybe it's money that you need to consider. Right. You know? But if you get a portion of what they're promising, do you think it would still be worth it? And then you try and then guess what, man? Most of them are gonna be you're gonna change them, and you're gonna find another service provider.
I mean, you know, there there are certain things that we deal with where I've gone through 4 or 5 different service providers because they all promise the world. And then, you know, but I at this point, you know, this is the same thing with product reviews on our on our website. I just say, okay. We'll try it and know full well going into it that I I'm just probably gonna have to cancel whatever it is we're doing in the next year or so because it's it's just something's gonna be a problem.
You know? And and so there's all different kinds of places that you you deal with Chaz. Yeah. From just even, like, trash pickup. You know? Right. They charge it. They give you a good deal on your dumpster. And then 2 years later, they price is double, which we're going through now, and I've gone through one other time. So it's like Yep. Little things like that. You just you just need to expect it, I guess, if if you can. So Yeah. That's interesting.
My fruit provider on our in our fruit franchises, our edible ranches franchises. That always get you to sign the deal with super low prices, and then they just over the course of time.
On on that piece that you were just talking about, as far as, like, I gotta try out a bunch of them knowing that I'm probably gonna fire them quickly and go on to the next, you could there's a little bit of a catalyst that we develop or a little bit of almost like a cynicism of, like, I don't believe that you can deliver what you're telling me. But, yeah, in the same sentence, you said, I'm just gonna keep trying them until I find one. So it's like there was optimism in what you were saying.
Like, you gotta keep trying because you gotta find somebody. But, like, I almost have, like, a pretty jaded perspective on, like, I don't actually think that you can do this until proven otherwise. Sure. How do you stay in that that positive mindset of going like, I'm gonna give you a chance. I doubt you're gonna be able to do it, but I gotta find somebody. So I'm gonna keep giving chances. How do you how do you stay in that place? Wolfe, the truth is I don't.
Most of the time, most of the time you end up frustrated and throwing stuff across your desk or, you know, what whatever it might be, and it's only in hindsight get to go. Okay. Well, yeah, I should have seen that coming. You know? And or I I should have known that. And so, you know, to talk about it is great, but, you know, to to be there in the moment, when these things happen. And sometimes you're just mad at yourself because it's like, well, I I knew this.
I I should've known this was gonna happen. You know? And I ignored my gut, or I I or whatever. And so but you you it's the difference between hope and expectation. Right? Like, you don't hope is not really an option. You know, expectations could be an option. You can choose your expectations, but you if you you have to have hope. Otherwise, you're just you're not not moving forward. There is no progress, you know, in in any way.
So Yeah. Yeah. I also liked how the the angle that you just gave there is of course, you're gonna have hope, but that doesn't mean that you just let them do whatever and you stick with somebody that's not working it out just because you have hope. It's like, no. No. No. I have hope that we're gonna find a solution, but you may not be it because you're not meeting expectations out the door you go. You know?
He's gotta try not to let him blind you if he Chaz, but truthfully, you're you're it will at some point, and then you just, hopefully, every time you learn and you adjust and Yeah. You know, let let it sharpen sharpen the steel a little bit there. You know? Yeah. Understood. Mike, what about a bad decision? Something that you've done along the way Chaz, didn't work out at all Chaz we can learn from and hopefully not repeat. The same state?
Well, I would say my worst decisions are probably around hiring. So you know, not all the time. I've I've got great hires. I've got really good people and stuff, but not all the time. And so Sure. I think that that hope and expectation part really comes in when you're hiring people.
Because the beginning, just like anything, it can be a lot of hope, and there's a lot of promises made and, you know, maybe some exaggerations and untruths that are told on the on the part of the candidate to get the job. And so you know, and then you get to work in every day. And it's like, okay. Well, this is where we're at 6 months later, 1 year later. And so, you know, it's very hard for you to have the candidate you hired a year later.
You know, like, that person is not actually the person that you end up with here later. And sometimes that's good. And Sometimes it's fine, and sometimes it's bad. You know? And so Right. Right. That whole process is not and I haven't had to do lots of hiring and firing, so we've been fortunate in that. And maybe that's a something I need to be. You know, sometimes I keep people because they know what they're doing.
And and so my expectations are a certain thing, and and the thought of hiring, training, and finding is Yep. Not enticing to me at all. You know? Yeah. Yeah. It keeps us sometimes locked in a place where we know we shouldn't be, but but we stay there. Yeah. It's a it's holding the tiger by the tail, man. Like, you don't really wanna do it, but you you don't let it go either. You know? So it's it's just it's always a challenge. And I don't think it'll ever not be a challenge.
And everybody that I know manages people or businesses or whatever, you know, unless they're able to delegate it completely to another manager, it's it's always it's always a a thing. You know, it's always a a source of consternation. Yeah. Absolutely. What would you say to the person listening right now that's maybe dealing with this or has yet to deal with it and they're wondering best practices. Is there other questions up front that you like to ask?
Is there, like, an interview or a hiring process that you go through to kinda try to find the right people? I don't really have one because I don't have to do it all that often. I I wish I had a a better process, to be honest. I've I have some friends that are, you know, in sort of more institutional management positions. And so I I picked their brains a little bit, but their offerings might be different. And so that's a factor.
And their sort of company structure or industry structure might be different. And so that's a factor. And so it's, you know, I I wish I could tell you I had a better system because I but I don't. It's it's something that we're working on. You know? It's I'd love to have the option to choose from the best pool of candidates and have an infinite amount of people to choose from, but when you're a small business, it's like, well, This is what I can afford to pay somebody to do this job.
Yeah. And, you know, that's the first requirement. You don't get to just Chaz. Okay. This is the person I want for the job. It's like, well and and we don't have a lot of positions where our employees can really value add revenue wise. You know what I mean? Bottom line wise, what they could do is they could be valuable employees to us and and work for what they're getting paid and stuff.
We don't have a lot of opportunities for them to to add because sort of that falls under my, you know, my job at the company. Far as, you know, adding product, brands, things like that. So now they can help, but it's hard to define. It's hard to quantify how much value you get from each one of these employees in the end. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that, like you said earlier, the institutional or the the more corporate environments, some of your friends like that, have they've got systems in place. Right? That that's when they're hiring hundreds of people or thousands of people a month or even a year. And, so, yeah, I think that systems across and and maybe certain questions that kinda help us align with the the person, but Right.
To your point, it's not it's not ever gonna be a perfect formula, even in the corporate environments that I've worked in years ago, it was never a perfect environment. And a lot of times, it's the same thing that you mentioned there, they just put you through a process, and it still pops out on the other end of like, oh, bummer. I wish I would have known that ahead of time.
Yeah. Yeah. And so I think it all goes back to the the old adage of, like, you know, hire slow, fire fast, which is tough in itself, but Right. We can slow down the hiring process, ask really good questions, really put them in situations that give us some insight on how they think and how they operate, how they would deal in a in a environment like ours. And then if they're not a good fit, which is tough. So tough. Yeah. It's hard.
I mean, once you commit to somebody, especially, you know, it's hard to fire fast when you hire slow because you've gone through that process. Of, like, committing to the person. And then and then there are things that you you're like, okay. Yeah. The whatever made you think that that was the right person, is all the reasons that you don't fire fast because you think, like okay. We'll figure it out. Yeah. Right. You know? So it's like, Yeah. It's real.
Like all things, I see as you're said, Chaz done. And and when you're a small business and you need somebody to be there to do that job. Like, somebody's got to be there. It's like, well, what do we do? Yeah. Now we don't have anybody doing this in this position. Now we're not satisfying our customer's needs and so like, well, is this person satisfying what we need them to do at 85% good enough to keep the wheels on? Yeah. Yeah. You don't find.
Yeah. Well, there's, like, everything that you just said is a is a right mindset, not necessarily of, like, a lowering of a standard, but his or her 100% might look like you're 85%. Yeah. And that's okay. Like, we are we are we aligned morally? Are we aligned in our mission? Are we actually, accomplishing serving the client in a in a in a in a wholesome way? Well, then, yeah, like, let them let them be there a 100%. Although maybe if you were in their position, maybe you would do it differently.
That's okay. Like Right. That's just leadership and letting people have some autonomy. Yeah. Is the job getting done? And and and I'm not a micromanager, and and I know lots of different people are, but when I do hire, I want my people to come in and help define for them what their what their role is, what their job is, which is truthfully, you know, in a small company, it's a little bit everything. Everybody overlaps and stuff. But I want to be able to let them go.
And so Chaz, to me, is sort of the biggest thing that I'm always watching for. It's like, do I need to stay on top of this person? To do their job all the time because that's the number one factor that's gonna, you know, that I'm just not gonna tolerate. You know? Like, you're not there. You're not getting paid so that I have to make a job of staying on top of you. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You're hiring professionals. Alright, Mike. We're gonna go the speed round here.
My first question Chaz around KPIs. The way I like to say it is this. If you could only pick one thing to track. Everything else falls to the side. What's that one thing? It would probably be revenue, assuming I get to know what my margins are. Sure. K. So, you know, our margins are fairly fixed. You know? And so so revenue is a key number for me because I can base everything else off of that. But, yeah, as long as I get I get my profit margin and I know what it is, then I would say revenue.
Yeah. You can grow that number. And like you said, the delineation of if I know that, then it's, like, you know, kind of Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And that's how you manage the business from one number is is is still gotta know all the rest of them. Yeah. But they all they all come down to one point. Is is useless. Right?
So, you know, you could be higher revenue, low margins, and you know, Chaz there's a scale there, but but once you know what your margins are, revenues, to me, the the most important thing. Yeah. And that's actually, I mean, because it we can have a conversation. There's obviously been a people that have answered this question that say net profit. There's been people that say culture and people. Like, I get all diff types of answers, which is great.
To your point, though, around the the revenue, and you're right. It's not necessarily about what you make. It's about what you keep. But once you know the business, so, like, for example, at one point in time, I had 7 locations of edible arrangements franchises. I just have a few left today, but I knew when I was purchasing location 4, 5, and 6 all in the same month that I could look at that one.
I could look at their top line, and it didn't really care about how they were running the business because I knew how to run the business. Right. And I knew some staples basically how I would run it and what that number would pop out on the end. So all I really cared about was what was the top line because I could make the numbers work in the rest of the formula. Yeah. So you can fit your map in underneath it. So Yep. Exactly. Exactly.
What book would you recommend or maybe a resource, Mike, for a business owner trying to grow the business? I don't know. I mean, I've I've learned a lot on the job, fortunately, and and, unfortunately, and I I certainly didn't take a path towards business. I mean, I I would say, you know, to continue reading, I the problem is I find out so many business books just don't apply into small businesses.
You know, you could find a hundred books right now about some guy who started a has a start up or a tech start up or whatever, and he's telling you how you can work your week out. And it's like, None of this applies. You know? Sure. Absolutely nothing applies. So, I mean, I'd I'd love to see, you know, kinda like what you do with your podcast and stuff. Like, I I don't know of resources like that where it's not a top down.
And I just don't trust most of the people that tell you how to who are business managers and tell you what to do to be successful in business. It's like, well, you're more successful at telling people how to be in business than you are in business as far as I can tell. So, like, I don't know. I I don't have a good source. I I I like to think that I've got a a decent meter and, telling when people are are full of it or not or not. So I don't I don't I don't have one.
I'd love I'd love for somebody to give me some guidance, but that's what I I don't I don't have one other than, you know, the books that matter, you know what? I mean, anytime you get to read a book that's a couple hundred years old, that's Right. People still read and get something out of. I mean, you can always use something. There's always something in one of those books that you could find a way to apply to just about anything. Sure. Yeah. Understood.
Yeah. And I think that generally speaking entrepreneurs are you know, whether it's cynical or, like, I I'm doing I'm over here doing my own thing. And so it's not that maybe that we don't trust, but it's like, you know, I wanna I I I'm stubborn. I'm I'm cynical. Like, all these things kind of applied entrepreneurs. And so I think your answer is real. You know, I think that whether it's reading, whether it's a podcast, whether it's Yeah. An old book.
I mean, Thinking Grow Chaz is, you know, over a hundred years old, and that's one of my favorites. You know? So there's a lot of things that you can pull out from principles, not necessarily tactics, but principles. You know? Sure. And just keeping sharp, you know, and just, you know, books are a a great way to basically take somebody else's examples. You know? I mean, that's what it is. That's what stories about. Right? It's less like, alright.
Well, we don't wanna do Chaz, or we do wanna do that. And so when you put that all together, you can always use it for business or life or whatever. I mean, that that's all we're really doing here is we're dealing with people. You know? So Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. There's a lot of a lot of people skills and a lot of other ways that you can grow in that way. That's for sure. Sure. What do you think about intentionally networking or even master mining with other entrepreneurs? I haven't done it.
I mean, I've been sorta like we we just talked about. I've been sorta hesitant in the past because I just feel like so much of it is just there's something about it that doesn't appeal to my my sensibilities, I guess Sure. To to put it politely. But, you know, I'm, unfortunately, I'm deeply aware of my of my limitations as a human being. So I'm not opposed to it. I'm at the point where I'm past survival mode. You know? And so now it's like, okay.
Everything that I was sort of built to do by myself was for that part. And now it's like, well, those things aren't the same traits or features that I need to have to get to that next level. So I would say I'm much more open to it now than I I would have been in the past when it was just put your nose down and go. Yeah. Yeah. I I in my own story, I relate to that. I think that there's there, like you said, survival. We call it the the warrior mode.
Yeah. And it's just about putting your head down and getting stuff done, survival, literally, or just there's just a period of time where you kinda have to be selfish in order to grow a business. Then eventually it gets to a point where you have resources or that you're leveraging time or even key relationships, even like this right here. Yeah. And then you start having more impact and start when you kinda transition that mindset to not just survival, but now impact, it's like, okay.
There's there's actually a lot more people that I'm like, that are weighing in on this decision, and then the value of relationships just goes through the roof. And so I think that you're spot on. You're right.
Right in that that mental transition where, I mean, I I can't I know exactly where I was when I was thinking those exact same things going, this wasn't, in my mind, very valuable to me in the past, But I've quickly since realized in the, you know, in the last probably decade of, like, wow. Like, these are some of the things that really matter. And and it doesn't have to be in a like, a paid coach or a, you know, you go to a a big conference where it costs a lot.
I mean, it doesn't have to be like that. Sure. It can be you and a guy across the across the town, doing lunch every Thursday. And That's far more interesting to me than Branch you back and forth. Yeah. Yeah. As long as it's mutually it's just going back to our business really. It has everything has be mutually beneficial, or we're just you you're not it's not gonna last. Right? And and so a lot of those other things that you mentioned don't seem I mean, maybe people get a benefit.
I'm sure people get there's a benefit to that, but it seems like one person is benefiting more than the rest of the people in those types of relationships. So so that's not something I'm I'm ever interested in. But communicating, I mean, I I I do always believe that communications, you know, how all of us get better, smarter, and and, you know, just learn from other people's opinions and and experiences, really. Yeah. Absolutely. We got a question for you about family.
And I know that we talked off air a little bit about our our kiddos and and families and such, but you know, we've got a business and we've kinda got have a certain level of obsession with that in order to be successful Chaz you just kinda described in the survival miss of it. How do you apply that same kinda obsession to your family at the same time as having to do that inside your business?
Yeah. Well, I'm gonna tell you, I don't know again, but You know, we we we muddle through it as best we can, and that changes with time. And so, you know, for me, one of one of my big this is actually coming back to that goal thing. One of my big goals was to have enough time to actually spend time with my kids. Because when I bought the company for my dad, my wife got pregnant with our with our son.
And so, you know, my goal, part of owning this business is, yeah, you wanna do well financially and stuff like Chaz. But Time can't be bought. And so I you can have all the all the money in the world. You still can't buy time. And so, you know, I I started to wonder about what's worth more? Is it time or is it money? And so now you only get to do that when you're not in warrior mode. Right?
You know, this is something that comes later, but I've gotten to the point where, you know, I'm able to have a little bit more time. I've got staff. I have resources, like you said. And so, And I'm able to spend time with my family more so, but then you always wonder, is this coming out of price? And and the business is the thing that allows that. And if you're not focusing on the business enough, then that goes away, but how much is too much. And so it's never ending.
It's a spectrum and, like, you'll probably never get it a 100%. Right? But if you keep sort of trying, I I think you kinda hone in over time on what works for you or your family or your goals and, you know, so, yeah, I think you gave it really honest and and even genuine. Just like you said, a spectrum there going, Well, when I do this, it takes away from this and vice, you know, back forth by vice versa. And and you're right.
It does That's why we build teams or systems or key roles or that's why we have conversations communication. Like, talking about with your spouse and getting on the same page and, like, gotta be intentional about all of that. That's what obsession is, though. Like, if I'm not in if I'm not obsessed with my wife and kids, then I'm not intentional with them even around the communication. Like, hey, for the next 3 weeks, I'm gonna be X Y Z with the business and or whatever.
Like, there's just it's just being on the same page, being in alignment, which comes from intentionality, which comes from obsession. If you're not obsessed with it, then why you spend time on it? You know what I mean? Yeah. You you have to be. And and you'll notice you know, because there's times where that obsession waivers, at least for me, it does. And it's like, yeah. Alright. I got it. I got to point. You know, it's Yeah. We gotta get back to it. So Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I I think I think we anybody listening right now has had that conversation that knocked on the door of, like, excuse me, we're we're here. Yeah. Right. Right. Which is which is, you know, you know, honestly, from my perspective, why I started asking the questions, because I've been walking this out myself for for years. And and I don't have it figured out either, but I know the importance of paying attention and being intentional and and obsessing over here.
And and I don't claim to have it perfect either, but I'm trying to curate environments even like this right here where we can go, okay. Let's just talk about the real thing because I almost have found 0 entrepreneurs that say, you know what Chaz? I have the perfect formula for that. Yeah. Right. I think we've all got this this, like, general consensus of, like, Yeah. If my wife was listening right now, I don't know if she would agree with my answer. You know you know what I mean?
But the question is, and my wife might might not agree with this either, but Have you gotten better? And it's like, have we gotten better at this? Has this gone, you know, like, even though we're going back and forth and and we're seeing also this a little bit difficult at times, but, you know, Right.
Where we were 5 years ago and how much time we spent at business and a part and whatever, you know, getting to see your kids for an hour before you put them to bed is not enough, you know, because getting to spend an hour with your spouse before bed is good, certainly better than nothing. But some people get 15 minutes half hour, and and that's not enough. And so the question that I asked is like, alright.
Well, have we gotten better at those things and has it come at a at a fair price business wise? Well, Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I just it's it's gonna come at a price. There there's an expense for everything. So There is. There is. And and that's that's being a good steward. When you know that there's a trade off. And and that's okay. Sometimes we we make those trade offs Sure. To to be purposeful and intentional in our decisions. Right. I got one last question here for you, Mike. You ready?
Yep. I wanna know if you had a chance to whisper in the younger Mike's ear. What would you say? Talt, man. I would just say just have a little faith. Things are gonna work out better than you think they are most of the time. Tell me more. Well, I I'm here accidentally in the end. You know what I mean? So It's that there are so many every big thing in my life has been, not when I tried to push forward, not when I tried to force things.
Chaz been sort of when I I've I've just let them happen and sort of followed what the signs that were sort of being given to me or the that were available and took the best course forward. And so I would say, you know, trust yourself, trust your instincts, and and and and and just trust that those instincts are are gonna get you where you wanna go. Yeah. Eventually. Eventually. Not right away. Eventually. It's a really, really, really positive word for any odd for neuro listening right now.
Sometimes it is quick. Yeah. Most of the times it's not. No. And some things are quicker than than you'd expect them to be. I mean, I'm fair I didn't expect to be in the position that we're in today. You know, it's not over. So it's like you're still there's there's plenty to be done, but you you always come back. You have to have principles or ins you know, you you have to have those things there, that core there to to lean on at all times.
And so I I would just kinda remind myself to just always just trust it. You're getting you're not going to want to sometimes gonna seem like the wrong thing to do. You're gonna see other people succeeding, not doing those things, and that's a shortcut. And the shortcut's not not usually gonna get you where you want to. So good, man. How can we find you, Mike? Of course, if if anybody listening right now needs motorcycle parts or accessories, anything that they want, not need. That's right.
Where can they find that? And then, also, how can they connect with you as an entrepreneur? So it'swestendmotorsports.com. If you need anything for your parlay, Indian motorcycles, you know, any kind of v twin, that's basically what we do. We do some side by side stuff as well. Not repair parts. Like you said, that that's not our game, but I'm not on social media. So so you can't find me. Hopefully, that's that's the goal.
You can always find my work email somewhere if you if you're really after me and like you did, and and we'll go from there. But I I am committed to avoiding social media at this point in my life as much as possible. So That's awesome. Well, I think that, like you said, for for those that are determined, we will find how to contact you. It's like just like we did. So I just so appreciate your time. Mike, you've been helpful and honest.
I love the interview because you're honest, and I think that it will relate to a lot of entrepreneurs. So Thank you for being here. Blessings on your family and your team, all the stuff that you got going on here in 23. Thank you for being here, brother. Same to you. Thanks, Jess. Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple business and multiple different industries and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300 other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is that It's tough to do it alone.
And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
So if that relates and and resonates with you, and you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gathering the king's dot com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.