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Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. This five line of
brew has been brought to you by our friends and partners at been Fu, m x S Solutions, Shop, Smart Autos, M one Data and Analytics, three to one, Ignition and Fixed Ops Digital. If you want to
team up with the podcast, or you just want more of the brew, go to carguy coffee dot com. Let's brew. What's going on, car
Guys and car gals. It's Lou Ramirez, the car Guys. We are
brewing solutions on the Car Guy Coffee podcasts and we are back from Digital Dealer where everybody got caffeinated at the conference. Come and get you some. There's
still some more on the way. Incredible relationships, and one of them is
with our very very special guest this morning. Fred. I mean, seriously,
this still doesn't even seem real to me. He's sitting right there.
He's just a little back screen. Yeah, he's in the green room right
now, and he's getting ready to come up with us here in a moment when we introduce him. But folks, this is somebody that we look up
to. He's like a mentor, a mentor from Afar. And now we've
got to meet him. Now, I feel like he's a friend that's a
mentor and somebody that I can just reach out to. I got a cell
phone number, he messed up and gave it to me, So I'm going to definitely be reaching out to him, and I'm gonna make sure that he knows that I'm around and that I appreciate him. You know, there's something
about honoring people that you see that have carved the path out for you.
There's something about honoring people that are out there trying to change the game and trying to make it better, not just for themselves, and it's it is.
It's not selfish at all. He's out there helping the masses. He
has such a loyal group of people that are in his network. They all
love what he's doing. When he when he's talking about, hey, let
me show you how to be better at this business, He's not just talking.
He's showing the way. He has books out there, He has everything
that you could imagine to be able to help you get to the next level.
He has these little cool sheets that you can fill out every single day to make sure you did your job. And it's not just specific to one
job. It's specific to everything in the autom little bit whatever period. I
love him. It's Frank Lopes. I absolutely love this guy. We met
him, We got to see him at the Digital Deal. I got the
corner of him and inside the room and say, hey, what's going on.
We shook hands, we hugged, we talked. I mean, he
really a bag of coffee and he said, hey, hey, hold on to this. And you know, some people didn't want to walk around.
He wasn't carrying the bag that everybody else was a little bag. He didn't
have that. So he's like, heit hold on to this. I was
like, absolutely, I did. I put it away, hit it left
there. We came back with one bag. Because listen, folks, when
Frank Lopes tells you to hold on to his coffee, you hold on to his coffee, all right, That's just what you did, all right.
So with that, because he is a car guy that is ruined solutions and has been consistently for the industry, we're trying to get some of this car guy coffee inside of his cup because real car guys and car gals drink car guy coffee. So here we go, folks, we are about to upshift
and uplift the entire cafe. We have the one, the only mister Frank
Loo yo yo, man, it is about time. It's over time,
it's past time, guys. I got to start off with first, apologies,
okay, apologies because this is long, long overdue. We should have
done this a long time ago. But like you guys say all the time,
everything in good time, and everything in the right time, you know, so there's no better time than the presence. So I'm so happy and
so honored to be here today and your kind words on that intro. Man,
you know, the check will be in the mail by the end of the day today. Don't worry about it, okay, made out the cash
just the way you guys asked for it. You know, no problem may
even be depending on how this goes, maybe there'd be a little extra in there, extra in your envelope as well. But you're gonna go hand for
that, then I'm gonna go for it. So yes, Frank, you're
you're so honoring us and you humble us so much, man, And honestly that I remember was one of the last times I had a chance to talk to you, and we were sitting there just talking. I was telling you
about how just crazy it is to meet everybody all my heroes and now heroes are my friends. And you know, sitting there talking to you was so
surreal. I remember just sitting there at the American Social being like, I'm
really really having a just an amazing conversation with just a great gentleman, just somebody that I can really call a friend now, and I'm looking forward to future conversations. I'm looking forward to this conversation here, this five liner,
because this is something that I think that I want to know more about you.
And why I love about my five liners is that we get to really dig deep and just really hear your side of everything and how you got to where you're at, because everybody goes through challenges. You know, I know
your story. I know a little bit about you. You've led it out
there. You're not scared to share. You know, you tell people about
the struggles you went through, that you were about to lose everything at one point, right and now I lost that, lou I lost everything. Man.
The only stuff that I had with me in two ten, two thousand, sorry, two thousand and eleven, the only stuff I had with me is what I could carry from one place to a there. Literally literally that
was it, man, that was it. And by the help of loved
ones, by the you know, by the help of loved ones, by the relentless pursuit to never ever give up, and knowing that I had so much more. That's the only reason that I'm that I'm here today. Man,
First, the help of others, and number two, that relentless pursuit.
Man, just to keep going. But you know, and look,
it took a lot. It took a lot of time, and it took
a lot for me to be able to share that story because I thought that people would judge. Man. I thought they would judge. I thought they
would look down. I thought they would do all these things, you know,
But in reality it's actually the exact opposite. Does some people judge and
look down? Yeah, of course they do, man, But they're they're
not your people. That they're not your people. Their opinion doesn't matter.
Who cares? Who cares what they have to say? Man, who cares?
But what wound up happening is the the outpouring of love, the outpouring of exceptions. You know. The best part that happened was the Hey,
you know, I'm kind of going through that too many Hey what did you do to get yourself past this? Hey? What did you do to get
yourself past that? Just the blessing to be able to pour into others,
you know, and to be able to literally like turn around and be like, hey, grab my hand, grab my hand, come on, let's go to this level. I know I can get you here, okay,
And that's better than where you are right now. It's not the end for
you, that's not where you're gonna wind up. Nobody ends where they start,
you know, But let me at least get you to hear. That's
been the greatest blessing of all man, just being able to pour into others and just watch so many other fantastic people succeed that all they needed was just like that little that little lift could have only been like this much most of the time. That's all it is, man, Just a little just a
little bump, you know, just a little inch, just a little sometimes it's a little sudden, little millimeter, But that bumpet is enough to just get you started. Man, Yes, with you. With all of the
people that I've heard discuss their interactions with you, their mentorship with you, a lot of times it is just that little bit and it is just the chin going like this, just you picking up that head a little bit, saying change your gaze, just a hair, Hey, Dealer's car guy, copy podcasts and certified Solutionaries are honored to be a part of Team vinc Solutions.
They have been growing to help you a more vehicles, manage merchandise, and advertise those vehicles. Has made them one of the most sought after viewerful
the market. They are one CGC approof and when you visit them at vinq
dot com, you will see a whole hill of beans worth of reasons why Team Finq. Let's grow. Instead of looking down, look up, and
then you're not worried about the people that are looking down at you, right, And that's something that I am so thankful for When we showed up to this event, so we finally got the chance to meet you, along with so many other people that we valued greatly at this event. Now, this
is our first time there. We have never been to an event like this
before. We tried to show up as loud and proud and as energized as
possible and try to take away as much as we could, interact as much as we could with other people. So we're like kids first time at Disney.
We have no that's so true. We were like that. So for
you, though, what was it like as a veteran of this, because still we got to see you and in other atmospheres in the in different professions, people would look down, even in the military, right, It's not like the private would walk up to the general and just be like, hey man, what's going on? You really inspire me and really have that conversation.
And that's what it felt like for us. We were these new striped
sergeants walking up to a general inside of our industry, and you had the opportunity to sit down with us, just talk to us. You gave me
some great tips. I sat there and just I'm sitting there squeezing my water,
drinking it. We're over at the American Social and him and he's just
talking to him, just keep going. Just wanted to take in as much
as I could. But what was your opinion and your thought of this event
seeing it from the veteran standpoint, because I was impressed again by the unity that is amongst all of the coming solutions. Well, look, number one,
gentlemen, we're all privates. Okay, we're all privates. None of
us have any more than one stripe, you know, one stripe on our sleeve. And that one stripe is just the stripe that you get when you
freaking show up, Like that's it. Besides that, every single one of
us are on a journey to keep to keep adding stripes to the sleeve, you know, every single one of us. But no matter what, every
time we add a stripe, we realize we're still just at one. We're
still just at one stripe, man, Because every time you win, you're only you know, you will only win, and you're only as good as the last winning achievement or the last successful act that you just performed. Once
you perform it, it's over and it's got and you got you got to do another. So as soon as we put that second stripe on our sleeve,
man, we look at our sleeve and it just it's gone, and we're back and we're back at one again. But that's that's what keeps us
all constantly growing and pouring into each other and stuff. And you can tell
the guys that look at their sleeve and there's just one on there, but man, they think there's like nine. They think they're like down to here,
the bars across the forearm, the funny puffy stuff over here right, all the called come on, man, come on, who are you fooling beside yourself? Man? The only thing that you do you got one.
That's it. Man. We're all still learning because all this is growing.
And look as being somebody who's been, you know, going a digital dealer for years, I've you know, I've keynoted digital dealer in the past.
I was the MC at one time and the host they still am times.
We just shift back and forth, you know, from time to time.
But what was great about this past event was, you know, it was really two things. Number one, just the fact that everybody was so happy
to see each other. I think there was a huge realization of how valuable
the interaction is between people in person. You know, like this is great
the live stuff like yeah, here I am and everything. It's great to
see everybody you know on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or whatever. But when
you actually see somebody, you know, you can see them, you can talk to them, you can you know, you can feel them if you shake their hand or something, and you feel that strength, you feel that power. You know, that's that's a whole completely different level, and it's
if you want to grow, it's necessary. It's a part of the process,
you know, it's definitely a part of the process to make those connections and make those friendships and stuff. You know, it's so so, so
important. So then it was great to see everybody. It was great to
see that connection. It was great to feel the love, to pour the
love out you know what they mean, to see them smiles, it was it was awesome, absolutely awesome. Never gets old, dude, it never
gets old. That's so good to hear. Because we have scheduled ourselves for
every event in all summer and all spring, we're gonna be there. You're
gonna see us at NADA, You're gonna see us even at RV events with some of our partners and our sponsorships. We know you're loving the show so
far. We just wanted to quickly remind you about all partners at fixed Ops
Digital and how they're Automotives, Premier Service Marketing, and Technohop and Company.
They're not only crowd sponsors of this show, but can be your dedicated point of contact for all your online service marketing related needs servicing dealerships through out the US and Canada. The mission is to create a better online experience for your
service customers while using data intelligence to drive more fixed operations revenue. If you
want to take your service marketing efforts to the next level, go ahead and reach out to our friends at fix Stops Digital Fixed Ops Digital dot com back to the show, and they're going to sponsor us to come out and do this because we love bringing fire to everywhere we go. We love bringing heat,
We love to have fun. You know, I was a sweaty mess
the whole time, But I was sweating not because I was nervous, you know, like people might have thought it was nervous. It was never nerves.
It was excitement. I was so excited to be there. I was
so excited to meet people. I was so excited to shift and do something
different. And it was it was unreal. But you know, once again,
like you said, we got to seal the deal with a lot of relationships by making that handshake. We got to seal the deal by going around
and hugging on people, loving on people, even just putting a hand on someone's shoulder and just thanking them for who they were. I mean, it
was just an amazing moment for me to run into you, really that it was our day one. I remember it was day one of the event and
I just see you walking around Hi school. I literally was just like,
that's him. You got that awesome hair. He's got like the perfect hair,
everything looking, always dressed. Easy now man, easy, too kind
words. I know, we're very being very kind. And I'm not saying
this because you're on a show, But this guy's a good looking guy.
I mean, he truly is. He's just that he stands out in the
crowd. It's it's more than his look. It's his presence. Yeah,
it's it's such a great presence. There's yeah, you could almost I almost
before I even saw him, I could feel him walk in the room.
That's that's how much of a presence. And I mean that with no joke.
I mean that as in like he really does bring that type of life to wherever he goes. He brings that type of love wherever he goes.
You could see the people who are connected with Frank that absolutely love him.
So that's what's going to bring us to our first question, the why.
So before we get into that, Okay, car guys favorite because we have a serious VIP inside of the cafe right now. So we got to make
sure that we tag a car guy, tag a car gal. Go ahead
if you if you are a fan and you want to say cheers to our friend Frank Lobes, go ahead and put a coffee cup emoji inside of the comment box there. Let him know that you are brewing solutions with him.
But again, share, share, share, Share. It's important to share
because they're sharing his caring out there. But but before we do even the
first question five liner, we gotta hit the forgive, focus, fly legend with the legend himself. Free f's and do our secret handshake three f's to
wipe off the weight of unforgiveness. Focus on where it is that we're going,
use our faith to fly and keep growing, keep growing. So join
us, the one, the only Frank Lopes. Join us, We forget,
focus and fly together. On three, go ahead and cross the shoulders
on the put your hands on your shoulders and you're gonna wipe it off.
On three one two, three forgive, ok, right here, get right there and fly and keep growing, keep growing, Keep I'm flying, flying, Frank, He's lying. Look at him go. He is soaring the
new heights and he's bringing everybody with them. Let's all grow together and let's
ask let's talk about this five liner, my friend, this five Lets come on. First question for you, my friend, is what is your purpose?
What's your why? What drives you every day to be Frank Lopes the
best version of himself? So two things. Number one, My why is
constantly evolving because the world is evolving, things are changing, Different people are coming in, different people are going out, you know, So the why is constantly evolving, and you're a why should constantly be evolving. I'm not
saying that you should be all like, you know, wishy washy about why you do things and what your purpose is. That's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is that it's got to evolve, man, it's got to evolve. Your why today is not going to be the same why that you
have twenty years from now. It may not be the same that you have
twenty minutes from now. It may change just by watching this. Who knows,
Maybe I'm gonna say a couple of words and you're gonna be like, oh, man, I gotta I gotta just I gotta add this. I
gotta take this away. I'm wasting time on this, I'm doing this shit.
Whatever you gotta It's constantly going to evolve, man, It's constantly going to evolve. But for me, the why right now today, the why
is to pour into others the way I wished others poured into me. You
know when I started in the business, and and that was a long time ago, right when I started in the business. There there, you know,
I had a few people that poured into me, but we didn't have any of this. None of this was available. None of this was even
like thought up yet it just didn't It just didn't even exist, you know.
So there, the access was not there. So the fact that I
am here today in this world right now, the amount of opportunity that we all have is just limitless. And at the same time, the amount of
excuses that we all have on why not to grow? Dude, it's like
it's it's really it's just the ship you make up in your head. That's
it. It's just a crap that you tell yourself. That's all it is.
Besides that, literally, like there is no excuse, Like you're out of excuses now, sorry, sorry, sorry, they're all God, by the bye, there's your excuses for God. You know, it's time to
step up and do it. So the more that I can pour into others,
then that that's what the wise about. To give to others what I
wish I had access to and I had availability for people to be able to give to me. And that's the sign of a great father too, folks.
It's beyond just a great business man. That's a great, great somebody
that's that's willing to pour out and is more about seeing the success of the next generation and their legacy as far as becoming the full expression of the bloomed flower that they're supposed to be, seed producing fruit. I love seeing it
from again from a distance. Haven't had a chance to meet your family yet.
Of course didn't bring everybody to the event, but I can't wait for that to occur. But seeing the pictures, seeing what happens, seeing you
so into your family the way that you do, but then you transition that into the very words you just spoke. It shows that heart of a father
because you are a father to so many in this industry. When we speak
to people of the mentorship that they've received from you, they speak inside of a form of the good father that Frank is. And this is what,
of course, just continues to build that adoration we have for you because we know that it's not just the pointing in the direction of what to do with business. You are appointing in how to keep relationships intact, because that's what's
more valuable than just the business that occurs, and that's actually what's going to pay dividends over any business transaction that. Oh, lou, it's night and
day difference. Man, it's night and day difference. Look, if you're
watching right now and you're sitting there and you're saying, how do I get my business to grow? How do I do this? How do I sell
more? How do I close more? Deals? Bro? You're missing it.
You're missing it. It's not in how many deals you close. The
deals that you close are a byproduct of the connections that you make. They're
a byproduct. They're not the reason. They are the side effect. The
whole idea is to make that connection man, to gain that trust, to pour into somebody else looking for absolutely nothing in return. It's the craziest paradox,
guys, that has ever existed. When you go into any relationship,
any type of interaction, and your expectations are super super low. Your return
is super super high. It's super super high because if you go in with
the right intent, if you go in with the right goal, if you go in pure not looking to hurt anybody, not looking to take advantage, if you're good working on that, man, and that's what your intent is going in, what you're able to pull out is ten times greater than if you just went just looking for a gimme, gimme, gimme, just looking to see what I could get out of it. Man. That that is
just it's you can change. If you can change that mindset and you can
change that wavelength and that intent. When you go in, Man, when
you come out, your arms are gonna be full. You're gonna have to
ask other people to help you carry all your stuff. You're gonna have to
ask other people to help you carry it because there's just going to be too much. That's where that Sharon comes in. Man, that's when that pouring
into others comes. You know, give people the opportunity to help right,
to help get part of that dream, to get involved, to get grafted in like family, And that's what it felt like we joined was a bigger family of those that were really trying to become solutionaries, those that are really trying to raise the standard, especially because we're all aware that there has to be a response. So the Avengers are uniting the really trying to figure out
a way to save the auto world from what isn't such a big thread.
If we're unified and we're speaking the same language and we're really trying to connect to people on the customer side, it's the same, right enough, replaces that handshake when we're meeting a friend, no different than really nothing replaces that handshake when you're meeting that customer and you're completing the transaction. But we are
in a different world. These relationships are able to be made and nurtured without
the assistance of seeing them physically, and so that's something that we're all adapting in. But as we're adapting in it, And I want to try to
be aware of time, because folks, there's so much that we got to get into this five liner. But I want to know and other car guys
and car guys want to know what got Frank Lopes in the car business.
That's great question. Just you know osmosis. I guess I don't even know
what osmosis means, but it just sounded like it would fit into their you know, really good. It's only eight fifty seven. It's too early for
vocab, man, way too early for vocab, you know. So so
I got into the just the short and sweet version. I got into the
business because my father was a prep mechanic, you know, or a PDI guy so to say, at a Link and Mercury dealership in East Brunswick, New Jersey. He worked for the same dealership for thirty four years, and
I started going to work with him when I was eleven years old. It's
because that just shows you how old I am, because you know, back in the day like that it was okay to bring your kid to work like every day during the summer, or you know, maybe it wasn't and I just freaking got away with it. Yeah, it could have just done that.
Maybe then, like it wasn't okay, and it was yet, but if it is normal, I didn't understand why, you know, but I didn't understand why the other people didn't bring your kids to work. But at
the same time, I was grateful they didn't, because you know, I didn't really want anybody else around at that time because I just wanted to soak everything in. So that's how I got in. Man. I started going
to work up my father when I was eleven, started selling cars when I was seventeen, left the business for a little bit, came back again, man, and you know, and here I am. When you get registered
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for Dealers dot com. Yeah, it's it's it's a crazy business. It's
it's I always say, it's like a magnet. You know people A lot
of people try to leave and they come back and they because it's like anything else. We all think the grass is greener. Sometimes, you know,
when you think the grass is greener, it's not usually greener. Usually it's
the fact that if you fertilize your own yard, you water your yard, you take care of your yard, it's gonna be green as heck, it's gonna be as green as you can make it. And that's the key.
It's making your own yard, taking care of your own place. We leave,
we come back, We leave, we come back. This business is
beautiful. This business brings a lot of amazing people into us, and a
lot of people and a lot of people back to it. You know,
I've seen that. I've seen people who've left it for a decade and then
they came right back because they remember the fun they had into the passion.
They wanted to get that back. And there's this business is every day.
It's different, every month, it's different, every year. It's different.
We're always learning something new. So if you're that type of person where I'm
you know, I always preach keep growing, right, if you love to keep growing, this business is the one for you because you're as much as we complain internally, right, as much as we complain about this business, go on the outside and see and see the crap that's going on out there.
See the walls that are put up. You know, you want to
talk about no training, It's worse out there. Get into real estate.
Get into real estate where everything is on you, you know, like everything, like you got to pay for your desk at the office. Come on,
man, and you're complaining about the fact that you know that you have inventory. Well maybe not right now, but you have inventory outside to sell.
You got a phone, you got like everything that you need. And
then on top of that, you got people coming in and all you have to do is just add to it. Come on, and you're and we're
complaining, and that's what brings everybody back because we think the grass is greener on the other side, and then you go to the other side, it's and it's almost like you went to the dark side. Amen, you know,
and you're like, man, I gotta go back there. That's where
the opportunity was, you know, that's where the growth was. And then
you suddenly it clicks in your mind that the grass is greener in the spot where you water it, not the spot that your dog peas on every day.
The grass over there is no good, you know. So if you're
coming into So if you're coming into this, you know, if you're in the business right now and or you're coming in or you're here and all you're doing is being negative, and all you're doing is peeing on your grass.
No wonder, it's all yellow, man, No wonder, no wonder, it's all dead. No wonder. It stinks, you know, no wonder.
It's not growing because you're peeing on it every day. You know,
don't put no peat on there. Put water on it for fertilizer on it,
man, and then watch it grow. Then you don't need to call
people in to cut it because it's gonna grow too fast. You're not gonna
be able to control it. And that's what brings people back is when that
realization clicks in, man, and they're like, wait a minute, that's that's where the game was, that's where the fun was, that's where the opportunity was. You know, it wasn't on the outside, it was right
here. It was right here. And the reality is, I don't want
to go on a long tie rde about this, but you know the reality of it is that whether you're in the car business or not, most of the time, that's what the truth is the grass is greener. It's in
here. What are your own grass, man? What are your own grass?
And let yourself grow? I love that, Frankie, You're so on
the money on that. This is why we had to have you on the
show. You definitely believe in the same philosophies we believe in. I mean,
it's cool to see people who are, like I said, my heroes that just we're on the right mission, on the same mission, on that same rocket ship to the Mars, trying to get there and trying to make changes happen. And I appreciate that, and I appreciate what you're talking about
right now because it's really important that we are talking about these things, you know, to the point where a lot of times we get up in this business. You talked about your father, and I love that your father was
in the business. He brought you to work. You guys learned don't pee
on my grass? Is what Malory roads. I love it. So helped
me on her grass. That's right, she wanted and she's fertilizing her own.
So don't mess it up. Right. But Nope, you're talking about
people that bring you up. Your father introduced you to this business. You
were around car guys and car gyles and everything else. Who has been your
greatest mentor throughout this whole time, Who's been somebody that has helped you reach up to be everything you want? I have too one of them no one's
ever heard of, and his name is David Thaylor. When I was before
I guess you want to say that little time when I was out, but I wasn't really out. I was in. David Faylor has passed and he
was the He was the editor and general manager of the newspaper that I worked at. And when I went into automotive advertising at that newspaper, David poured
into me like an unbelievable amount. He taught me the whole plan on your
work and work your plan, which is basically the basis of this. To
be honest, Dave Faylor should be getting don't forget about book. You can
get it on Amazon. That's right. He poured into me and he showed
me the I guess, how to maneuver the more like political and corporate type of way as opposed to just the car dealership way. So he expanded my
mind into a whole bunch of different things. And you know, there would
be no Frank Lopes without David Faylor, and I think about him quite often.
He's number one. Number two is Gary Vayderchuck. A lot of people
don't know this because I keep it quiet, but um, I was Gary Vaynerchuk's ad agent at Wine Library from two thousand and three to two thousand and nine, and a lot of that time, a lot of that time was the developmental the real developmental time of Gary V before there was a Gary V, you know. And I learned so much during that time, and even
still to this day. He's that person who gives me the kick in the
ass or the punch in the teeth or whatever it is that I need to be able to up my game to whatever that next level is, you know, to whatever it is. And I don't talk about it. I don't
talk about it enough. I don't talk about it as much as maybe I
should. You know, maybe I would be more popular now if I used
his name more. And he's even told me, he's like, man,
use our time together, use our name, use my name, you know, pump the crap out of it. Who cares it's all true anyway,
you know, But you know, I got to you gotta make it on your own and you gotta do your own thing and everything. But those are
the two that have really like poured into me the most, and those are the ones that are the catalysts. You're right first, being somebody that punch
you in the mouth verbally. I mean, I couldn't imagine it right.
Oh he watches me and I watch his videos and I get I get punched in the mouth all the time, you know. And just real quick,
I just have to say, Gary V's one of my biggest inspirations. He's
you could ask Lou Lou first when we first came out. He's we should
just trickle this stuff out like Nabro. Gary V says, throw it all
out there, keep it going. I said, that's exactly what I says.
If I'm gonna follow what gary V's plan is, and I'm gonna do that, and that's why I do what I do. I still feel like
I'm under you know, doing what I should do because what Gary V says.
But basically Gary visas do it and man him grant cardone. You know,
those two guys they talk about ten times and going crazy. But Gary
V is a huge, huge influence in my life. I love him.
I love his story, I love what he's about. I love that he
includes his family. I love that he's throwing people how to be an entrepreneur
in a million different ways, and he encourages it. Doesn't matter if you're
five years old, doesn't matter if you're fifty years old. It's never too
late, it's never too early. Just go do it and do it.
When you do it, you do it. Don't go out there and say,
Okay, I'm a dabble. You can't dabble in life. You have
to go for it. Dabbling is for hobbies. If you really want to
grow and you really want to do something, you have to jump with both feet off the cliff and hope that that parachute opens. It's probably it will
open, but it may not, and you have ready for that too.
But it's okay. So here's the most beautiful part about that. Once you
jump right and once you actually like go in, two things happen. Number
One, you realize how much you weren't doing before amen, And number two, you realize how much you can do. That's the killer. You wind
up realizing how much you can do, and then they're a very pivotal moment comes. Either you become disgusted and aggravated with the amount that you haven't done
or the amount that you've left on the table, or you say to yourself, man, enough of this bullshit. It's time, and it's time,
and it's time to go. And look, we all get sidetracked. I've
gotten sidetracked so many times. It's freaking embarrassing to even say that that it's
happened. But at the same time, and the more you can do,
the more you see that you can do, the more you realize as possible, the more you realize, man, my bandwidth. Really I thought it
was this, but it's not. It's actually this. And then once you
start to get to that point, you realize it's actually this, you know, and maybe you hit walls and you're like, okay, I got to add more. That's the thing about doing it, man, The more you
do, the more you realize what you can do, right, you know that That's always been my catalyst. I want to try something just to see,
Okay, if I can do that, what else could they do?
That's all this was, man. This is just my process, that's it.
This is just my process of how I pulled myself out of zero negative zero. Right, That's how I pulled myself out, not once, but
twice. Because I'm a dumbass. I ain't keep it going the first time,
you know. That's all this is with Like, Okay, if I
can do this right, what else can I do? If I can take
that process and put it into a book, what else can I do?
You know? It's a it's a constant challenge, It's a constant game.
Remember one stripe, as soon as that as soon as that second stripe appears, you look, it's gone, right and you got to start over.
Man, is a constant renewing. That's what I love. In correlation to
coffee, Like you can have a really great cup of coffee, but that you're back at you need to refill. Once that cup is empty, it's
time. It will get you another one. You're not going to live off
of that one good cup. And as a matter of fact, every time
you're producing a new cup of coffee, you want it to be better than the last. You wanted to hit all of those taste points that you enjoy.
You wanted to give you the energy that you're expecting to get out of it. And inside of that it's still that experiential faith that helps you have
faith to go to that next mountain. Once you get to the top of
this one that was so daunting, it looked so big, so intimidating, and then you conquered it and it's now below your feet, it makes you say, I want that one. I want to see what's up on that
one. And that's something that solutionaries get to enjoy because they've persevered, they
fought through, they've gone to the top of the mountain, they've messed up their knees, they've got down to the nitty gritty in their claws, and they got a lot of grit that they've gone through, and we continue to keep pursuing to the top of that mountain. So, frank, inside of
this assent that you've been consistently on as you continuously grow, what has been the hardest lesson you've had to learn in going forward and growing that empathy is the greatest superpower that anyone can have. Oh amen, Empathy, Seriously,
it's figuring, it's realizing, figuring out and understanding where the other person is coming from, whether that be the customer that you're working with, whether that be your manager, whether that be you know, your audience right now, the people that are watching, figuring out in your mind where that person is coming from, why they're there, what happened to them, what are they looking for, what are they looking to achieve? What are they look at?
What's their goals? Man? You know, is what's their gas?
What's really going to get them going? That empathy is the most it's probably
the most underrated superpower that exists, seriously, because if you can just figure that out in every interaction that you're that you go into, whether it's look, So let's use one that everybody can. I'm gonna make this quick.
Let's use one that everybody can relate to. Okay, you're working for a
manager that sucks. This guy or gal is, yeah, everybody can.
This guy or gal is a complete ass, complete talking down all the time, never well, always like this, yeah, go back out there again, you know, or whatever whatever it is, rewinding and getting into that person's head, observing quietly, observing and understanding where that person is coming from, and then getting on the same page with that person. Great New Solutionaries
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showing them that you understand where they're coming from without actually saying, hey, look, I realize that you, for some reason, believe that this is the best that your life's going to get, that you're not going to ascend to any other spots. You have this idea in your head and you're struggling
with this every day. Or the fact that, Okay, you're a jerk
off to us because the GM who's a bigger jerk off than you are, is a jerk to you, and he's only that way because the owners a jerk to him. Gosh, Or the fact, okay, break it down
a little bit more. The fact that your kid doesn't want to go to
school and it's got a belly ache. Good, yeah, belly ache.
Got a belly ache because they got a test that they didn't study for, or project that's not done, or there's some kid at school who's given him shit for no reason. You know, get into get into the empathy of
the other person, realize it, and then you can change what you're saying, how you react, how you handle it, how you deal with it, whatever the case may be. But empathy is the greatest superpower man,
and it's so underrated. It is so underrated. So many don't talk about
it. Self awareness, you know, that's a big one, the whole
you know, Oh, you got to push through all that. All that
stuff is great. Don't get me wrong, you know it's all great,
But man, empathy is it's like rather you are speaking my language empathy all day long. Wow, I mean, just all jokes aside. It's it's
facts. It's it really is when you're able to have empathy for other people
in this world, and it's a skill, like not a lot of people have it naturally. You know, sometimes we have some were some awareness about
it. But when you really break it down like he just did right there,
it's so true because here's the bottom line, basically of all of this.
You could only fix what you have control over and which you have control over in that situation is how you think you can't change the way they think you can help them, but you can't change it. They have to figure
that out on themselves. But you, as a human being can have empathy,
understand where they're coming from, and then change your language. Man,
Frank, your brother, you need to write a book about just that, because that is just exactly That's something we could talk about for days, hours on hours, talk about different situations and different people and how it can affect and change the lives of other people. You're on the money, and that's
why I believe women in the business are really blowing up right now because they have more of a natural awareness to empathy right and when they're able to do that, they communicate way better with people. It's unreal totally. I mean,
this is why. This is why females in sales, just in general,
but especially in automotive, this is why females are complete slayers, amen, complete And it's just like the look. It's just like the guys.
If they can keep their head in the game, just like a guy, because that's what that's what kills us every time. That's what kills the salesperson
is their head gets out of the game, or they get them or they get their head too into the game inside of their own head spinning their spinning bullshit around and they're over and over again. You know, I've been guilty
of that myself and past. Yeah. Right, we all have, man,
we all have. But that this is why, because women have this
innate instilled superpower, right, power called empathy that they could that they can lock into and that they can grab a hold of, you know, a lot faster and a lot easier than guys do that. That's that. Look,
that's just the way it is. We want equality, blah blah blah
blah blah. Yeah, I'm there with you, okay, But but at
the same time, there's feel humans in them. Yes, you know what
I mean. When they are America, they are a miracle workers. They
do miracles and they and they they deliver so many things. They man,
it's I tell you this, this subject is amazing empathy. Like I honestly
want to just talk about this forever, but obviously we are times. So
I I really just wish that people can understand what he's saying. And if
you don't understand, reach out to Frank. He could talk to you about
us some more reach out to us. We love it, I promise you.
Empathy is the future. If you start to work on your game with
that in understanding and it becomes, like we said, it's work at first, but after you do it for a while, it's like anything else.
When you train and you truly have passion for it, it becomes part of you, becomes part of your resume, becomes part of who you are as a person towards other people and today's world, folks, if you don't have empathy for your clients, you're not a real salesperson anymore. It's people want
the real They don't want this face coded like you know, scripted words.
They want to know that you're listening to what they're saying, understanding where they're coming from and where they're trying to go. And when you're able to do
that, you can solve their problem. You know, we believe Lou and
I we don't sell cars, we don't help people. We solve transportation problems.
And when we do that, that is the first step to having some empathy out there. So Frank, thank you very much for bringing that up
today. That is something that is key for most of us to learn.
Once you do, you will excel in life period, whether it's sales, relationships, friendships, whatever it is you're going to sell. So thank you
so much for that. So fifth question for you, my friend. Fifth
question, Fifth and final Sadly, I don't want I'm gonna cry, but this cry. We can do this again. Man, we're friends. I'm
looking forward to coming out and visit because I'm gonna go swimming in his pool because if you all haven't seen it on the home, he's got a beautiful pool in the back. He's got a beautiful family, his wife, he
definitely married up. He's done really well for himself. Say that, amen,
you really you have a beautiful you have. Your life is just amazing.
And I know you have a lot of appreciation and all that type of stuff with what you have because you've been there, you've been to the bottom, you've been to the top. You know what the deal is, and
you're still rising up to the top. So I'm excited about that. But
your fifth question, and of all the things that you've been doing, you know, we've talked about your why today, We've talked about you know, how you got in this business. We talked about you know obviously you know
the people that have helped you get up there. We talked about your biggest
lesson learned empathy, and then now we need to talk about your greatest reward, the greatest reward from everything that you've done in your life up to this point in the car business, in life. It doesn't matter where it's from.
What has been yours reward? The fact that I have that I have
a voice, man, That's really it. The fact that I have a
voice. And the greatest reward actually is the fact that I have the choice
every day to employ this voice this audience, whether even if it's just an audience or one it doesn't matter the fact that somebody's listening. All right,
that's a huge, huge reward and the constant challenge of what are you going to do with it? If you have an audience, what are you going
to do with that audience? Are you just going to try to monetize it
and just try to turn it into, you know, into dollars and cents, or are you going to try to turn it into something bigger? Are
you going to try to turn it into a movement that helps people? Are
you going to try to turn it into a ton of one on one little two minute you know, little two minute interjections and little two minute seeds that you plant. The constant challenge of what are you going to do with that
voice? That's the greatest gift because that keeps me going, that keeps everything
going. Business dies after a little while. Look, you know, entrophy
is going to kick in and everything's just gonna wind up pulling apart every transaction, every single you know, every single deal that you do. Sooner or
later, it's gonna pull apart. You know, entrophy is going to kick
in and it's gonna fall apart on you. But your voice, what the
fact of what can you do with your voice, with your audience, with other people's attention? What can you do with that? Can you turn it
into money? Can you turn it into money as a byproduct of pouring into
others? Right? Can you? Can you help? Can you help somebody
who constantly woke up every day and felt like they weren't good enough, or they couldn't do it, or like the cards were stacked against them, or their life was just a house of cards and the wind was coming about ready, they just blow that shit all over, you know, that challenge, you know, that constant challenge. You'll hear and I've read this a million
times, but you'll you'll read and hear interviews with people that are in there like eighties, nineties, right, even like a hundred, and they'll always they'll always refer back to whatever it was that they're like, their purpose, their reason to keep getting up in the morning. And once they give up,
that's generally when they pass. That's generally when the when the game is
over. The fact that having an audience constantly challenges me to Okay, what
are you going to do with this today? How are you going to take
this to another level? Go back to that part again with you know,
you realize the more that you do, the more you realize that you can do, the more you realize what your opportunities really are. You think they're
this, but in reality, man, your opportunities are like I can't even make my arms this big. You know, they're they're huge. So that's
the That's all I got to say about that, man. That's the bottom
line. The fact that you know what a gift to be able to have
an audience, to have influence, and to be able to use it for whatever it is that I want to use it for and the fact that the constant evolution of it keeps me in check to make sure that I'm using it the right way for others. So many notes right now, Like in my
head, I've there's so many takeaways from this interview, and I'm so excited to go off the rest of this day and use some of those takeaways to help my team get better, to help myself get better, and help my family love more. And I'm you're an amazing person. You're somebody that we
were so honored to have on the show. I mean, really, you
know, all jokes aside, I know we were talking about We're gonna make a joke out of it. We'll say that we had a corner you inside
place and all that stuff. The fact of the matter is it wasn't never
that, you know, and I know that you know you always had intention to come on the show. You're a busy person. We're busy too,
you know our schedules, we only do it so many days a week, you know, so on so forth. To be able to get you on
today has been a highlight of my year so far. Honestly, you know,
I've get to meet a lot of great people, but to have you on man. Honestly, thank you so much for your time today. What
you talked about today was needed. People need to hear this. Thank you
so much for sharing that. My audience definitely needed to hear that. It's
this voice is huge. This you're echoing so many things, but you're also
bringing so much to the table with you if you're talking about folks. If
you haven't read his seven minute set up yet, make sure you go out there and get it. It's on Amazon, it's everywhere. It's a great
book. I plan on getting mine signed. I definitely have to because it's
going to be an amazing thing. Frank is just an outstanding human being.
Whether you're in a car business, whether you're in life business, if you're a stay at home husband or wife, whatever you are, there's always opportunity to grow, Folks. Remember that there's always opportunity for something more. You
could be the best person at home. You can make sure that you learn
how to do these things, whatever it is, be the best, and remember only worry about what you have control over and at your own attitude and who you are, and make sure that you fertilize your own yard. Man,
Frank, you really honored us today. Brother, you're the bomb bros
Man. It's an honor to be here. Look bows to you. It's
an honored it's an honor to be here. And YouTube knuckleheads listen to me
right now, don't you dare stop what you're doing. Don't stop what you're
doing. Don't give up. You're gonna get It's good. You're at that
point right now where it's going to start to come, you know, the doubts you're going to start to come in your mind. What am I doing
this for? What's the point do this every day? One day? One
day there's nine hundred people watching, the other day there's nine, you know, Like, why in the world. Don't give up? That's the whole
thing. Man. I never tell people good luck. Luck luck is bullshit,
right, Don't give up, that's the thing. Don't give up.
If it's right for you, if it's you're calling, if it's what you want to do, if it's what your heart and your gut and your brain tell you, it's what you need to do. Yes, don't give up,
just don't. We need to hear those words right now because we're in
a big pivot, so you're saying things at the right time for us, we look forward to I got your number. If there's things I need,
I'm going to reach out to you because you're better and I will and I honestly will always honor that and I would always make sure people know that Frank Lopes was definitely on our way to our where where we were trying to get to, and without him, we wouldn't be where we're at right now.
And it's facts, man, Honestly, without people like you out there putting out those videos during I remember when COVID happened. You were putting out those
amazing videos every night, man, and it was just such something I anticipated to watch. I couldn't wait. I could not wait for Frank to drop
some knowledge, and I was taking notes. I took that opportunity that last
year to grow. I wanted to grow so much. I was like,
I am here. I have so much extra time, never doing this twenty
years, never had this much extra time, Right, What can I do with it? Why? I could learn, I can grow, I could
build up my network. I could do everything and try to connect with people
that I feel like are on the same frequency I'm on and I want to be friends with them. It was cool mentors become friends, become family.
So I appreciate you. You are now part of our family, my friend.
I tell you the Car Guy Coffee Crew, we love you. You
are definitely on Car Guy Coffee Approved. That's it, CGC approved. My
friend. I have arrived. I have arrived. Now you have. Let's
put this in a boat real quick and send you you all with a to go cup. Folks, the seeds that have been sown by Frank Lopes and
all of us as a community have grown into an incredible batch that has brewined solutions for the entire auto industry. You have put seeds in the ground that
are helping us produce fruit right now that's encouraging and has great flavor for many.
And we're doing that all. We can not to mention. You're ending
it by sowing a seed inside of us for that moment that that doubt tries to creep in. In the future, we will pull from that seed that
will become fruit we can eat from, and we honor that. Brother.
We can't wait to see where this relationship goes. You are an incredible solutionary
that we cheer on. We are thankful that we get to join arms with
and folks, if you haven't gotten anything at all, be an empathetic person that lives with that one stripe in mind and empties your cup every single so many words of wisdom today that into your cup and sip on that. You
know what I'm saying, So, folks, love you all. I'm Fredlin
Arts to Subprime here and I'm Ramirez, the car guy, and we are here with our friend and our family member that Frank Lopes came brewin solutions to bring a great message love hope to each and every one of you. Keep
brewing solutions, everybody. We love you all. Frank, We love you,
brother, We appreciate you. Anything else to say before we head out,
that's it, man, I love you guys. Keep doing what you're
doing. And hey, you're watching right now and you're thinking, you're thinking
in your mind that you know what I can do that, I want to do that. How do I do that? Do it? And do it.
There's plenty of space, man, there's plenty of space for everybody.
There's plenty of bandwidth, there's plenty of time, There's plenty of it.
Man, You're not going to be competing with anybody. The only person that
you compete with each and every single day is the person in here, amen, the person that talks shit in here, right, That's the only person you're competing with. Not me, not Fred, not Lou No way,
man, You're not competing with us. You're competing with yourself. Don't hold
back. Go for it. Do it. You can do it, You
should do it, You need to do it. Don't be selfish and be
scared. Don't be selfish and trying to play it safe. Go for it
right. I love you guys. M
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