Transcript
Speaker: But what I really, the contrast was really stark because in the corporate world, this is what I left behind. I left behind, um you know, endless meetings, things that take a long time to get done, um ah dealing with bureaucracy, having to actually go into an office and and and stay there for a certain amount of time.
Speaker: You know, I left that behind, you know, and I didn't miss that at all.
Speaker: Hi, and welcome back to the Ageism Survival Guide. This is John Steck. And I had promised you that I would be bringing some guests on here on the podcast. And today I have a really special guest because in many ways we share a common background, many long years in the automotive industry. And the guest today, his name is Jeff Ford.
Speaker: ah He and I are now 14 time zone hours apart. He's facing the morning in California. And I'm at the end of my working day here in Bangkok, Thailand.
Speaker: Jeff spent almost 30 years in the auto industry working for a number of different manufacturers. And in 1999, we last saw each other working together directly at Mercedes-Benz.
Speaker: He went off to work for some additional automakers. um And unfortunately, in 2009, at the global financial crisis, his last employer, corporate employer, folded up shop in the United States, pulled out of the market and went back to Japan.
Speaker: It was Suzuki. And i think... I'm gonna introduce and hand over this to Jeff now to tell us a little bit about how was that that that process, that that shutdown, and and how did that impact you after your 20 plus years in the automotive industry? So welcome aboard, Jeff. It's really great to have you here.
Speaker: Thanks, John. I appreciate that gracious introduction. Well, I'll tell you, of all, first of all i I love the auto industry. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker: of Even before I started working in the auto industry, when I graduated from USC, I actually naively thought I could get a job in Europe. And I went to Europe for, ah ah right after I graduated and toured.
Speaker: eight different automotive plants hoping to get a job there. Well, I had no so experience, no work permit, you know, but I had a great time going to all the different plants from Aston Martin to Jaguar to even DeLorean at the time.
Speaker: But i I ended up working in the automotive industry for, Sean said, yeah, 27 years. And I just, I had a real, I continue to have a real passion for the auto industry and especially in terms of um the product itself. I just have a real passion for engaging cars. I still love to drive manual transmissions. I i love convertibles and ah i just I just really enjoy the experience of driving cars and I loved being a part of marketing them.
Speaker: When I was, as John mentioned, I was working for Suzuki as my last, in my last company, I was heading the national training effort. And I ah i really enjoyed the interaction with people, with trying to help them be better at their jobs.
Speaker: um And it was really a gratifying experience. Suzuki was not as fully committed to the US market as they should have been. It takes, you know, when you're going up against ah some of the giants here and in this country, you better have pretty deep pockets and and and a lot of commitment. And I don't think they really had that.
Speaker: And as a result of that, um I was ah I had a staff of three or four people working for me ah here in the office in California.
Speaker: And they started layoffs. They laid off all my people. And I was so shocked that, that they would lay my people up without even me knowing it, they were just poof, they were gone.
Speaker: And of course then i thought, well, I guess I'm safe. I'm the only one in the department. Well, it was only a matter of months before they laid me off. And then shortly after I decided to to pull, pull out of the U S auto market. And, uh,
Speaker: It was traumatic um to say the least. i ah ah i had I had no expectation of that happening and it was painful. It happened to be on April Fool's Day. and ah But I i content i i ah left the building and took my son fishing that day and and then started to think about what I was going to do next. So I really wanted to return to the auto industry and I really want to get a job in the industry. But like like you, John, i mine wasn't COVID issue. Mine was a recession.
Speaker: And there just wasn't any there just wasn't any ah opportunities in the auto industry at the time. Right. i I like to say that God does his best work when he pushes us in a corner.
Speaker: And I was certainly in a corner because I had i was a single single dad, single parent with two kids, and I needed to work again. And ah so I thought, okay. And I also read a book called Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, which was very inspirational for me. and I really appreciated his perspective because as ah as a Christian, I really felt strongly that there was a purpose in this and that there that there was a way out that God would provide, right?
Speaker: So I thought, okay, what did i what would I really like to do? And I thought starting a business. And so that's when I decided that... I wanted to start my own business. My brother was in the pool business and I had no experience, you know, right nothing no experience at all in that business.
Speaker: But I eventually wanted- was going to say, yeah you would you had only and exclusively worked in in the auto industry, right? Throughout your entire career? That's Only the auto industry. Yep, that's right. So it was a big change from- But so many of the changes are really positive. What I really want to do was landscaping, but I knew that if I could start in pools and start building revenue, I could move into the landscaping business.
Speaker: So that's what I did. And with the help of, uh, my brother a, as a part-time consultant and, and just going for it. You know, my first customer was my neighbor across the street, uh, started servicing her pool and, and then started, started, uh, the whole process of building a business.
Speaker: But what I really, the contrast was really stark because in the corporate world, this is what I left behind. I left behind, um you know endless meetings, things that take a long time to get done, um ah dealing with bureaucracy, having to actually go into an office and and and stay there for a certain amount of time.
Speaker: You know, I left that behind, you know, and I didn't miss that at all. um And the first time I went out um in my own business where i ah went out with a friend of mine who knew what he was doing to do a repair,
Speaker: And within one hour, I had their equipment running again and the and the and the pool looking great, you know, after the after we did the repair, I thought, this is really cool that I can go in and actually get a result within an hour rather than like two years, you know? So that's that's the beauty of having your own business, that you actually see the results of your work within a ah shorter period of time. And um it's very gratifying.
Speaker: And I really enjoyed that part of it. um I enjoy the part of of ah managing people as well. um That is certainly one of the biggest challenges running your own business, managing people, because it's they all have different personalities. And um i learned I learned that, however, even though I wanted them to conform to certain standards and you show up on time and the rest, I also learned that loyalty
Speaker: Trump's ah competency sometimes. And sometimes that my employees were two of them were with me for many years, almost eight years.
Speaker: And one would drive me nuts because he'd show up late all the time. And he would, uh, he, he just, he had certain habits that would make me crazy, but because he was loyal and because he really valued that, that work and he, I really valued him. And as a result of that, since I've sold the business, he's actually started his own pool business partly because of what he learned from me.
Speaker: But I, um, i So I built the business over time from that one customer to over 200 customers. But one of the challenges i faced was that, and I won't go into it too much, but my i moved into into landscaping. And so so I had managers on the pool side, managers on the landscaping side.
Speaker: My payroll was eating me alive. And basically I was paying everybody else except for me. So I made the painful decision to let go of the landscaping business, even though that's what I really wanted to do. That's where my passion is. I just love to clear out a yard, start from an open canvas and start over and and design and plant.
Speaker: I really enjoyed that a lot. The pool business was just my means to that end. Right. But for me, so basically what I had to do is I had to I had to lay off my, my most important and and loyal guy in the landscaping side, give up that business and focus on the pool business so I could eventually sell it.
Speaker: Um, right. So, well, well, there are lots of positives in that business. Um, building it was really fun. Uh, managing was, was, was challenging sometimes, but also gratifying.
Speaker: Um, And having loyal customers who really appreciate what you're doing. of One of the things that I really learned in in starting my own business was that I thought in the beginning, I need to do something really unique that differentiates me from all the other pool companies.
Speaker: And what I discovered was I really didn't need to do that. All I needed to do was do what most companies don't do, show up on time, return phone calls, Do the basics right.
Speaker: and And if you do the basics right, you're you're already differentiating yourself from ah from so ah so many other competitors. So that's really what I focused on and that that worked for me.
Speaker: So it sounds, I mean, you you really applied then your nearly 30 years of in the auto industry. You you looked at the the customer need. You looked at you know product differentiation. You really applied your knowledge from from your corporate career. And and you you put that into a completely different perspective into ah into a smaller business with, as you said, 200 customers, not 200,000 customers a year as as the car companies might might have.
Speaker: it's It's fascinating how you how you did that and you and you brought your people management skills along with you as well. um and And the understanding that that people are different and and behave differently in in different circumstances, you know accepting the loyalty versus the being on time every time.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah, that's right, John. i ah I think probably my automotive experience changed it impacted the way i I approach my business more than I i probably realized.
Speaker: I think your corporate experience helps you in terms of communication and in the way you present yourself, the way you ah you approach marketing.
Speaker: um most Most people, especially in the in the pool or landscaping business, are are technicians. They know how to do things. not necessarily how to manage things.
Speaker: So um I was, I had to learn how to do things and, you know, but I was already ahead of the game in terms of communication, marketing and, and managing. So,
Speaker: So tell me, Jeff, you you you left Suzuki um and and your brother was already in the in the pool business. I mean, what kind of timeframe are we talking about? You said you were interested in going back in the auto industry and and it sounds like you tried, you you looked, you you poked around, you you looked and and applied perhaps to some jobs back in 2009, 2010 in that timeframe. What was the timeframe to to go from the realization ah that you first of all, that you were jobless, not finding a job and then making that transition into going going into the first the pool business and then landscaping. I think part of it has to do, my question has to do also with the what I talk about a lot, which is the the runway that that you have. You said that you had you were a single father, you had two sons that you were raising and you had to to go back to work.
Speaker: um how How did you prepare yourself there? Because I know that's a question that I get a lot is is just, you know, how how do you tide yourself over between those two big events in your life?
Speaker: Well, that's a good question. First of all, you've you've got it you' got to get practical. You know, you have to take a look at, okay, ah hopefully you you ended up with some, either you had a savings or you ended up with some kind of as severance.
Speaker: And i I had a small severance. um So my runway was about basically knocking on doors for about six months, not literally knocking on doors, but certainly electronically and with conversations through LinkedIn about six months. And that's when i I said, well, if I'm going to do this, I need to do I need to move forward. so Financially, what I i did kind of a i ah not and kind of an unusual way to finance it because you still have to, if you're launch your business, one of the biggest issues that i so I learned also in the corporate world when I was working in in and i was working in dealer
Speaker: development if you if you are short on cash, it's only a matter of time where where you're gonna shut down. So i needed to to have a cushion.
Speaker: And so um I borrowed against my 401k and created an S corp. And basically the S-Corp, the 401k became the investor in my company.
Speaker: And you have to do that really carefully because IRS is really strict the but way you approach it. But that funded my startup and that's that's really the way I did it.
Speaker: So that's Benetrends was a company that i worked with and they they did a really good job. um It's not easy to do. but it is a way you can access that without having a tax liability.
Speaker: So that's, that's how I got it started. But it took about six months, John, of of basically i I feel like, you know, especially with my faith, my job is not necessarily to land the deal. It's just to knock on the doors and then whatever's going to open.
Speaker: And I, all the doors within automotive industry were, were closed at that time. So I went for it. I was myself in that exact moment in 2009 working for a kind of a zombie company. It was Chrysler at the time in bankruptcy, eventually emerging out a few months later.
Speaker: so That's a good way to describe it. Never heard it called that. That's funny. Definitely an interesting experience and in my life as well. I mean, this this was this was a huge challenge. So you you you self-funded. um And i've just I think I've discussed before in in one of the episodes um using a 401k. And as you mentioned, it's very tricky to do that. um you You were raising two two boys. um You were applying yourself from, as you said, you had to learn how to do things as opposed to you know managing things. um
Speaker: I mean, huge, huge learning opportunity, huge stress. what What advice do you have for for people who are even thinking about going forward with with starting a new business? you You make it sound like it was straightforward and cut and dry as you move forward. I know that's probably how you're telling it right now.
Speaker: what Was it like that? Or what advice could you give to people who are standing at that crossroad now?
Speaker: Well, that's that's a really good question. And no, it wasn't as easy ah as I'm making it sound. It was, there were lots of challenges along the way because you youre you're setting up something from scratch and maybe you're not going to maybe that's not going to be the case for your listeners. But if you're looking to launch a business, um there's lots of things to think about. um i i certainly had my struggles in terms of,
Speaker: how quickly I wanted to to generate ah you know you're you're you've got a time clock because you've got this ah you've got ah this amount of money in the bank to keep yourself financed. But in the meantime, you're trying to build a business to to reach that point of at least break even so that you can.
Speaker: So that part was scary. It was ah ah it was challenging because you know yeah you the word that I like to use is traction because you don't it takes you a while to build up traction and so you get one customer and then you get two customers and then maybe you get then maybe you're yeah at four but ah but what I found it was really it was really was really thankful for the fact that most of my business
Speaker: eventually all of my business came from referrals. So if you really focused on doing a great job and over the top service for some of your first customers, they're going to tell people.
Speaker: And that was, that was really what made the difference for me. So once you get, you know, one, two, four, 10 customers, then you start, you start getting the, ah you know, you get the Yelp reviews, you get the Google reviews, you get people talking to each to each other That makes a huge difference. And that's what eventually ah helped me develop the traction and the and the confidence that I was going to be able to to make this work.
Speaker: and But it's, you know, you talk about the challenges. It's not like we have a whole, you know, a bench of guys sitting around ready to, pull you know, clean pools. So if, if you're, you know, when, when somebody shows up or calls in because there are fires in Anaheim Hills and he has asthma, I can't come in to do the pools. It's me.
Speaker: So I get load up my truck, put the poles in and go out and do the pools. And that's, that's one of the challenges of, of owning your own business that sometimes, know,
Speaker: you you have to be humble going into it because you can't have, no job is going to have to be too good for you to do. You you need to go out there and and get it get it done and get what it takes. And so you can have this, you know, the corporate world, you can have a wonderful to-do list and and check them off during the course of the day. But when you own your own business, that can go out the window in five minutes.
Speaker: And that was, a so those are some of the challenges, you know. Making sure that that that you especially do a great job and take care of the customers, answer the phones, show up when you say you're going to do, keep keep to whatever price you promised.
Speaker: And it it works. you know If you do those basics right and and you and you go over the top with with your service, you'll build your you'll you'll build your business.
Speaker: Right. yeah I mean, you've you've clearly, again, you've you've taken what you what you developed in your your um multi-decade automotive career and you applied that to a different type of business altogether. And and you you learned from from those corporate years, you also learned what you didn't like. You didn't like the bureaucracy, you didn't like the committees and the meetings and the the meeting minutes and all of that stuff. um But this transition that you made from from corporate into running your own business, which is the probably the least bureaucratic thing, and is this is this something for everybody? or Or what kind of person does it take to make this happen and to make it happen? That's a really good question. You clearly had it.
Speaker: um but But what does it take? Well, I didn't know that i if I had it or not, actually. i just kind of discovered as so I was doing it that, i yeah, I can do this, that i can I can be an entrepreneur and be successful at it. um Part of it is just trying having having the courage to try it.
Speaker: But, you know, and that's, you you have to depend on a lot of people to help you. you can't You can't believe you can do it yourself. I had business coaches during part of this period of time.
Speaker: I had a very helpful brother that helped me through some of these things that I didn't understand. um You can't do it alone. That's one thing. um You have to expect that there are going to be ah issues and and and and problems during the course of this.
Speaker: um So if you're a person who needs to have structure and predictable processes then it's probably owning your own businesses is not for you, at least starting your own business. Maybe eventually you could get to that point, but starting your own business, you've got to be, you have to be prepared for, for unexpected every single day.
Speaker: And, and the process that you've developed is going to be different every day, even though you've planned it differently. Right. So, exactly so I, I think, um,
Speaker: The other thing that you have to be prepared for, and ultimately was the reason why I sold my business, frankly, is that while the positives of leaving the corporate world are are obvious for for those who have spent so much time there, um when you own your own business, especially as it's growing, um you don't own the business. The business owns you.
Speaker: And and that that that meant, you know, 50, 60, 70 hour a week sometimes. And that got old, you know, over time. right And so i i it was time for me to look at doing something different. And that's ultimately the reason why I let go landscaping.
Speaker: Because frankly, landscaping was not as marketable as a pool. The pool business can sell routes. So I was able to develop a 200 customer route that i was that we actually put on with a broker and sold it. But, you know, do I miss the pool business? Not necessarily, but I i definitely miss the landscaping part of it.
Speaker: And it still gives me great satisfaction sometimes to drive by some of the landscapes I've done and see how they have developed over time and how wonderful. And and I still itch to to do that ah kind of work because I really, really liked that. But um so in essence, I'm saying i don't really know that I would want to go back to a corporate job or owning my own business again. At this point, I've done both.
Speaker: but I like to do different things. So You know, one of the things that I read this book, and for those who are thinking about being an entrepreneur, I recommend this highly. It's kind of a sleeper out there, but her name is Liz Bohannon. She wrote a book, ah Beginner's Pluck.
Speaker: It's very funny. she's she's a She's an entrepreneur herself. She's very amusing. she's done ah She's actually an inspirational speaker as well. But In this book, she wrote something that I i wrote down that is one of my favorite quotes.
Speaker: And I think this really, if if if this is you, then then I think this is part of what you have to kind of weigh for yourself. Curiosity may perhaps be the most consistent and defining characteristic of childhood.
Speaker: It isn't something you have to achieve, but a place to find your way back to. Curiosity is the art of becoming fully awake again. so Part of what you want to do is you want to you want to be a person who's not just curious about other other careers, but curious about other people, other cultures, other languages. And that that really keeps you young.
Speaker: um It keeps you looking at opportunities. And um it's it helps you also with, you know, understanding how to, you know, inter-family kind of conflicts as well. Because at at the end of the day, you know, at the end of our our lives, um our jobs and careers are not really what define us. our life work Our life's work for for the dads and and moms out there are our children. they're They are our legacy. And and ultimately, that's ah that's what we need to think about to put things in perspective.
Speaker: there's so much wrapped up in being an entrepreneur uh between the yeah as you well as the author wrote ah the pluck of being an an entrepreneur um yes and then also having your priorities doing something that you like i mean clearly you preferred the landscaping over the pool business but the pool business was more the bread and butter um and then understanding the priority of of your of your family and, and having that as a priority, which was, had to have been difficult to do 60, 70 hours a week when you were also simultaneously raising two children, uh, incredible workload. And, and I have to say that's, uh, you certainly had the pluck.
Speaker: yeah Well, you know, the other thing too, I, I just want to mention is, you know, we talked a little bit about, um spiritual health, but I, but your physical health is really as you job change and you pivot to other different careers or starting your own business, you got to take care of yourself. You need to take care of because you're getting older and your stamina is not going to be like it was when you're 30.
Speaker: So take care of your health is really important. But I'll tell you, one of the things we haven't gotten to it yet, but, um, After I sold my pool business, I decided that i had ah I had some money in the bank. And so i I volunteered to go to North Africa to help with entrepreneurs launching businesses there.
Speaker: And I did it to help them out. And it was just such a great experience because just like I said, i was really curious about their culture. I loved interacting with college students.
Speaker: um We had very different faiths, of course, me a Christian and then Muslim. So we were able to learn a lot about each other. And and um it was a really gratifying experience, but way out of my comfort zone.
Speaker: So don't, don't be afraid to try something crazy. You know, if you're, if the rest your family thinks you're nuts, you're probably onto something.
Speaker: That's, that's gotta be the first line of the podcast. I love that. That's fantastic.
Speaker: Great. Yeah. Well, Jeff, I think, um, Absolutely fantastic how you how you've summarized that up. And and i have to agree with you that curiosity um is is kind of really the building block for for success because you always ask why why, why, why? until you really understand how something works. And once you understand how it works, you can make that thing work for you. And ah so really, really great approach.
Speaker: I think we're going to wrap it up here in a few moments, but is there is there any last word of advice, anything that we missed that you you want to put out there for anyone, again, who's standing at that crossroads right now, trying to decide whether or not they're going to go forward with starting a business?
Speaker: Anything to either push them forward or pull them back? ah Well, the encouragement I would have is just kind of going back to the beginning. Don't waste your life. If you've got a savings account, don't think that the rest of your life is going to be playing golf and and leisure. it's The gratification of doing that is going to be really limited. You're going to be disappointed.
Speaker: Try something crazy. Do something that's that's that's serving others that that would would be your passion, but also in a way to help people. Don't waste your life. you know you've got You have the time to pivot and you and if you take care of your health, you're you're able to do it. So don't waste it on leisure.
Speaker: it's I think that's fantastic words of his wisdom. ah It really nails it. Just to keep growing and to keep learning and to to just keep experiencing life to its to its fullest. Yep, absolutely.
Speaker: Jeff, I really want to thank you for your time today. um I know you've got a day that you have to plunge into now since you, again, you you're in the morning in California.
Speaker: um Thank you very much for for taking the time out and and joining me here on the Ageism Survival Guide. My pleasure. And I really appreciate what you're doing, John. and And thanks for the time. And anytime. If you want to follow up, we can do that another time as well.
Speaker: Yeah, will I will definitely consider that. um If we get any good questions after this after this gets released, I might just have to do that and get some follow-up and get you back on here.
Speaker: So in the meantime, um I want to thank the listeners for joining in. There are a lot of resources that you can pick up for free, even at ageismsurvivalguide.com.
Speaker: And as I always say, youth runs fast, but age knows the terrain. And I know Jeff knows the terrain. Until next time.
