Mastering Customer Service in Chauffeured Transportation: Insights from Tom Halsnik

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In this episode, James Blain sits down for a candid one-on-one conversation with Tom Halsnik from Walsh Chauffeured Transportation. They explore strategies for creating value for clients, maintaining consistent service quality, and effectively managing passenger interactions. In this episode, you’ll hear how Tom:

• Entered the industry in 1991 by driving a limousine for a client who had lost his license due to DUIs
• Initially operated without a formal company, handling overflow work from other businesses
• Became one of the top chauffeurs at Julie's Limousine by excelling with difficult clients
• Transitioned to working as a private chauffeur for the founders of Outback Steakhouse
• Eventually started his own business, Black Pearl Limousine
• Merged his companies under a single brand, streamlining his business operations

Connect with Tom Halsnik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-halsnik-69886445/
Visit Walsh Chauffeured Transportation : https://walshlimo.com/

At Driving Transactions, Ken Lucci and his team offer financial analysis, KPI reviews,  for specific purposes like improving profitability, enhancing the value of the enterprise business planning and buying and selling companies. So if you have any of those needs, please give us a call or check us out at www.drivingtransactions.com.

Pax Training is your  all in one solution designed to elevate your team's skills, boost passenger satisfaction, and keep your business ahead of the curve. Learn more at www.paxtraining.com/gtp

Connect with Kenneth Lucci, Principle Analyst at Driving Transactions:
https://www.drivingtransactions.com/

Connect with James Blain, President at PAX Training:
https://paxtraining.com/

Episode Transcript

James Blain (00:25):
Hello, everybody.
And welcome back to anotherepisode of the ground
transportation podcast.
I am really excited today.
We are actually doing a specialone on one episode with Tom
Halsnick from Walsh ChauffeurTransportation.
In addition to being anincredible operator, a member of
the membership committee for theNLA, and The Florida limousine
association secretary, Tom'sactually a really great friend

(00:46):
of mine.
So I am very excited to have himon the show.
I'm very excited to kind of talkabout his background and help
you guys learn a little bit moreabout him.
Tom to kind of launch us outhere.
Can you tell us a little bitabout how you got in the
industry?
Kind of how you got to where youare.

Tom Halsnik (01:02):
Sure.
I'd be happy to.
But first, let me thank you forinviting me to be here.
I really do appreciate it.
We always have greatconversations, so it's nice to
be able to do it and have itrecorded for posterity's sake.
Um, so, but, uh, but yeah, I, Istarted, believe it or not, back
in 1991, um, had a friend'smother who worked for an

(01:22):
accountant and he had a clientwho had lost his driver's
license because of too manyDUIs,

James Blain (01:29):
Oh, geez.

Tom Halsnik (01:30):
back in the early nineties was saying something,
because you know.
It wasn't as penalized as it isnow.
Um, so I was in college at thetime and they said, Hey, you
need somebody to drive himaround, take him to his
attorney's office, take him tolunch, pay you, you know, I'm
like, Oh, cool.
I get to drive a limo.
That's, that's a lot of fun.
I'll do that.

(01:52):
So that's how it started.
And then he bought another limoand he says, Hey, maybe we
could, um, you know, rent theseout and, you know, you can make
a little money.
I'll make some money on the carsand stuff.
I'm like.
Okay, sure.
Sounds good to me.
So instead of setting up anactual company, we just
basically took the overflow fromother companies.
We said, Hey, we're here.

(02:13):
You know, if you have anythingyou don't want or you get
overbooked, give it to us.

James Blain (02:17):
Affiliate game.

Tom Halsnik (02:19):
Exactly.
So I was affiliate stuff rightfrom the beginning, and that's
what we did.
You know, I took people out.
And because we were like, A twocar operator, basically.
We had no, like, base radiophone or anything.
I had a, I had a Motorola brickphone that was the owner's, and
he would like, Okay, it's threedollars a minute.

(02:39):
Unless somebody is bleeding,don't use it.

James Blain (02:43):
So, so did you get to skip the pager phase or do
you have the pager

Tom Halsnik (02:46):
No, I had, I had the pager too, but that came
later on.
That came later on.
We had this, I mean, basically,when you went off, you had your
phone for emergency, but youwere on your own.
There was no communication,right?
So, and, and people paid in cashback then, you know, so so it
was great.
So I'd come back, he'd get hiscut.
I'd get my cut was great.

(03:06):
Plus he'd pay me for the week.
Probably the money I madeprobably, took care of my pay
and maybe a little bit more for,for him, but he didn't really
care.
He was kind of a trust fundbaby.
So, um, which is how he got intotrouble with, with alcohol and
stuff.
Cause he had no job and plentyof money so that was, that was
his thing.

James Blain (03:25):
So is that where the Walsh comes from and Walsh
chauffeur transportation?

Tom Halsnik (03:29):
it's not actually, actually.
Um, so that was in Orlando causeI grew up in Orlando, moved to
Tampa in 93, went to universityof South Florida, which is
located here in Tampa and didn'treally get into limos until
about back until about 95 when Istarted with a company here in
Tampa called Julie's limousine,which was one of the more

(03:50):
popular ones because Julie wason the radio.
With Ron and Ron radio show.
And they did a ton of work andthey were pretty well known.
And so over the years I kind ofrose up the ranks and, uh,
after, uh, not long, probablyfour or five years, uh, I was
one of their top chauffeurs.
I would, you know, train peopleand, uh, she would give me all

(04:13):
the celebrity work, alldifficult clients.
And that's kind of really whereI started.
Cause you know, if you know me,my, my demeanor is pretty,
pretty calm.
Um, it's not a whole lot that,you know, gets me going or, you
know, flaps me or anything likethat.
So I would get the clients thatnobody else liked.

(04:34):
So, and I did great with them.
Cause you know, I kind offigured out when to talk, when
not to talk, you know, you just,you were like just straight
professional and, you know, andit was funny because.
Over time, and it became achallenge for me is to turn
those difficult clients intoreally good clients that, you
know, they would, they weredifficult with other drivers.

(04:56):
They never tipped and I wouldturn them into these nice people
tipped all the time.
Just,

James Blain (05:03):
Make all the other drivers jealous.

Tom Halsnik (05:05):
yeah, you know, and that was kind of my, my claim to
fame, you know, and, and Ienjoyed it.
And so.
Um, so that's where I startedand then I worked for several
different companies and finallyin 2008, uh, you know, during
the recession, which is probablynot the best time to start, um,

(05:25):
I actually went into as, uh,working as a private chauffeur
for the founders of OutbackSteakhouse and that, and that
lasted for about, oh, aboutseven years.
But in the, in the meantime,that's when I started my
business because.
Um, you know, I just was like,well, I'll start my own
business.
And really how I ended my careerwith them is because they didn't

(05:46):
really like me having my ownbusiness.
They felt like it was a conflictof interest.
And I'm like, no, it's not.
I'd never once told you, no, Ican't do it.
Can't drive for you.
So I left them and that's kindof when my business took off.
Um, and, uh, you know, it wasoriginally called Black Pearl
limousine because of the historyof, pirates in the Tampa Bay

(06:07):
area.
And I thought it was somethingthat was unique, come to find
out.
19 other companies have thatsame name.
So in fact, there's one in SouthFlorida that I occasionally get
their parking tickets.
I've gotten sometimes they're 1099s.
So, you know, it's too close.
And so that's when I, one of thecompanies that I had purchased,

(06:27):
cause I'd purchased a couple ofcompanies.
One of them was a Walsh airportservice and it had been around
since 95 started as an airporttaxi service.
Had a lot of really goodclients, Citigroup, JP Morgan,
uh, Bausch and Lomb.
So it came with a lot of reallygood clients.
And that's primarily what I wasknown with, in the corporate

(06:48):
stuff.
So that's of where I went withit.
And over time, because it wasWalsh airport service, we kind
of got pigeonholed into justdoing airports.
So when I started buying limosand that kind of stuff, people
thought that all we did was justairport stuff.
And I'm like, no, we do more.
So that's during COVID.
So I was operating threedifferent websites, had three

(07:10):
different marketing plans.
I'm like, now's my chance.
Everything's going into one.
We're doing Walsh chauffeuredtransportation, one website, one
phone number, streamline thewhole thing.
I know guys that are still usinglike multiple sites.
I'm like, it's a waste.
It's a waste of time.
It's a waste of money, effort.
So that's when everything gotkind of, you know, put together.

(07:31):
but yeah, so that's how I endedup where I'm at now.

James Blain (07:34):
Well, and it's, it's really interesting because
I hear a lot of talk right nowabout limo versus black car
versus chauffeur versus busversus motor coach.

Tom Halsnik (07:44):
It's the same.
Yeah.

James Blain (07:45):
it is, and we're heading towards a point where,
and I say this all the time, theground transportation industry
is what it's going to be, right?
We're going to have.
Taxi, limo, bus, shuttle, anyempty.
I see everybody kind of beingunder one roof, but there's a
lot to be said about the name.
Cause like you said, if you'vegot a name that kind of ties you
to one segment that can hurt youto a certain extent.

(08:07):
And so I find it really neatthat you were able to get in
there and kind of figure thatout and keep that because I see
a lot of companies that strugglewith that name.
They're not sure what to do withit.
They've got like five differentvariations of it.
They're running differentwebsites.

Tom Halsnik (08:20):
Well, and their mistake is the fact that they
think that their actual namemeans something.
And what, well, you know whatI'm talking about.
You're laughing.
Cause you know what I'm,

James Blain (08:30):
I know exactly what you're talking about,

Tom Halsnik (08:31):
because they think that that, that means something
I'm like, no, they could, youcould call it abracadabra limo.
It's not the name of yourcompany.
It's you.
They're doing business with youand the service that you
provide, you know, that's whatthey're coming back for.
They could care less what it'scalled.

James Blain (08:50):
Look, naming something is I'm a car guy at
heart, right?
I grew up loving cars, right?
I'm a Mustang nut.
I've still got the first MustangI ever bought.
My very first car sitting in thegarage.
But when it comes to namingstuff, I go back to this old
story of Carroll Shelby isstanding there with somebody and
they said, Hey, we got this newrace Mustang.
We got to come up with a namefor it.

(09:11):
You know, what what are we goingto call it?
And he goes, How far do youthink it is from here to that
bar?
And they said, what?
They said, how far it is do youthink it would be here to that
barn?
I don't know about 500 feet.
No joke.
That's why it's called a GT 500.
Cause the guy thought it wasabout 500 feet at the end of the
day.
Right?
Just like in our business,people are buying it because it
says Shelby on it.
And because they've learned toknow that brand Shelby didn't

(09:32):
mean anything.
It was just his name.

Tom Halsnik (09:34):
Another good story along that same line, you know,
cause I worked for the foundersof Outback Steakhouse, right?
You want to know how they gotthe term Outback Steakhouse?
They didn't know what to callit.
And the movie, uh, CrocodileDundee was big that year.
So they said, yeah, we'll justcall it Outback.

James Blain (09:50):
yeah.
No,

Tom Halsnik (09:51):
meant, it really meant nothing.
And then once they started,they're like, Oh, well, I guess
we've got to pick out somedecor.
I guess we'll go with Australiandecor.

James Blain (09:59):
that's awesome.
I,

Tom Halsnik (09:59):
Yeah.

James Blain (10:00):
I didn't know that one.
And it's funny because, youknow, you've made a great point.
A lot of this is understandingthat your brand is about more
than just a name, right?
It's the experience you giveyour clients.
It's the things you do for them.
It's the way you make them feel.
Which makes me come back tosomething that I, you mentioned,
and I, I, I'm fairly sure everysingle one of our listeners
wants to know how you did it.

(10:22):
Right.
You said you were taking thosedifficult clients.
And turning them into the bestones.
What I want to know is, were youactually changing them?
Or is that something where youwere able to figure out their
needs?
How, what were you doing?
What was your magic there?
What, what does everybody hereneed to know to make this work?

Tom Halsnik (10:40):
I think part of it is just recognizing what
people's needs are.
You know, you kind of.
You see how they, how theyoperate, what their expectations
are.
And it's a matter of figuringthem out.
The reason why most driverscouldn't do that is because they
couldn't figure them out.
But over time I saw theirtendencies.
I saw what they liked.
I saw what they didn't like.

(11:00):
And so I was able to just kindof dial that in to where every
time I saw him, I already knewwhat they liked.
I knew what they didn't like.
And so once they got to a pointwhere they were comfortable and
they knew that I knew what I,what they liked, We kind of hit
it off

James Blain (11:14):
and it's funny because that's something we talk
about a lot, right?
You don't, obviously we're notin a room, but reading the room,
you know, figuring out exactlywhat that passenger wants,
exactly what they need and howto meet those needs.

Tom Halsnik (11:26):
and that's the hard part about this industry.
And, you know, we have a lot ofpeople in and out of this
business, but you know, it is anart form.
It takes a certain type ofpeople to person to be
successful in this.
And it's just being able torecognize those kinds of things.
It's just the customer service.
Understanding what people wantand being able to read people.
You know, I've seen a lot ofguys that think that, you know,

(11:47):
because you pick them up at justgigantic mansion, that they
should tip you an ungodly amountof money.
And I'm like, you know,

James Blain (11:53):
That's not how

Tom Halsnik (11:54):
if, if you tailor your service, depending on what
size of house that, you know,they live in, you're going to be
sadly mistaken.
You have to give everybody thesame love, the same great level
of service.
I should say,

James Blain (12:08):
Oh,

Tom Halsnik (12:08):
nine times out of 10, it's the people.
Because the guy that lives inthe house, he's used to that
service.
So you're basically meeting hisexpectations.

James Blain (12:17):
Yep.

Tom Halsnik (12:18):
The people that don't do it very often, the
birthday parties, the, theweddings, those are the ones
that don't get treated the waywe treat people, you know,
taking their luggage, rollingout a red carpet, you know, how
we handle them, how we talk tothem, how we make them feel
special.
Those are the ones that whenthey get done.
You know, they're like, hold on,hold on, you know,

James Blain (12:39):
Yeah.

Tom Halsnik (12:40):
and, and, you know, you, you gotta be able to, to
read them, but also understandthat it's not the people that
you would think that tip you themost money.

James Blain (12:49):
You know, when I was a kid, I worked at a car
wash and it was, it was a greatexperience for me as a kid,
right?
Cause you're getting cash,you're getting tips, but I was
really lucky in that kind of allof my experiences growing up and
working have somehow bled insomehow helped, you know, now
that we're, you know, now thatI'm president of PACS doing
training, they all kind of hadtheir own little thing they

(13:09):
added.
And the interesting thing that Ifound there is.
You know, you would have thisbeautiful, nice Mercedes come
through and the guy would giveyou like two bucks.
You'd have an absolute beater,right?
You'd clean it.
You'd get it perfect.
You might get 20 bucks and thenyou might get a football player,
right?
That comes up all gaudy.
He doesn't want to talk to you.
He doesn't want to do anything.

(13:29):
And the next thing you know, hethrows a hundred bucks in your
hand.
Right?
And the, the big thing therebeing is you never knew what you
were going to get.
And so, You couldn't tell by thecar.
You couldn't tell by the person,but what I found is if you go
and talk to some of thesepeople, right.
And obviously being a carwashkid, you didn't get a lot of
time to talk, but it was a lotof times what we found is.

(13:51):
It really kind of wasn'tsomething you could figure out.
You're not going to be able tolook at somebody and tell you're
not going to be able to, youknow, see them and know
instantly whether or not you'regoing to get a tip.
But what we figured out as kidsis if you just busted tail on
every single one, at the end ofthe day, when you counted it
out, it would even out and youcould tell this was a hard day's

(14:13):
work and yeah, there'd be daysyou'd bust your tails and they'd
suck.
But there'd be days that youdidn't give it a hundred percent
and it would show up in yourtips.
So I think this industry hasthat same mentality.

Tom Halsnik (14:24):
yeah, but, but that's also, you know, you're
busting your butt, it becomesnormal.
You know, it doesn't seem likean effort because that's what
you're used to doing.
You know, my driver's always,you know, I don't drive that
much anymore, but when I do, Iget tipped on every single run
and they're like, how do you dothat?
And I'm like, It's because I'vedone it for so long that it

(14:45):
comes naturally for them.
They have to think about whatthey're doing.
They have to think about theconversations that they're
having.
And I try and train them.
I'm like, if all you're doing isholding the wheel and taking
them from point A to point B,that doesn't deserve an extra
tip.
It doesn't, you know, engagewith them in conversation.
Now, some people don't want to,but some people, and most people
are inquisitive and curiousabout the area they're at,

(15:07):
what's going on locally, youknow, that's the experience part
of it.

James Blain (15:13):
There's a huge difference, right?
And I've talked about this onthe podcast before.
There's a huge differencebetween being ready and willing
and providing the informationand knowing when to do it and
then knowing when not to.
And you've already nailed it,right?
It's reading the room.
If you've got, and I talkedabout it in another One of our
episodes, one of my favoritetrips ever is one when I didn't

(15:35):
talk.
Right.
And I love the sound of my ownvoice.
I don't know when to shut up.
Um, but you know, we weredriving back from the airport,
right.
I was coming back from my veryfirst ever limo show.
This is maybe the second orthird time I've ever ridden in a
limo.
And the guy looked in the rearview and he saw I was dead
tired.
And instead of, you know, hereached for the radio.
I'm like, Oh God, he's going toturn up.
He turns it down and he lets mekind of relax.

(15:55):
You know, that one stood out tome because he read the room.
I probably would've had aconversation with him.
I don't know that I would've hadthe energy, but he was reading
the room and, you know, that isso important in what we do.
Let me ask you, Tom.
So you've done training, right?
You've got tons of experience.
You've, you've come up, youknow, as a chauffeur, how do
you, what are the tools you usewhen you're training somebody?

(16:18):
How do you get these guys up tospeed?
How do you help them understandit?
And more than just tips, right?
For you now as an owner.
Those tips that experience thatreally translates to repeat
customers that only want to useyour company.
So how do you train these guys?
What does that look like?
What's your formula there?

Tom Halsnik (16:36):
Well, I used to train them myself because I had
a lot of experience.
Okay.
And what I realized is theyweren't getting consistent
training.
So, and shameless plug, Istarted using the PACS training
system.
Um, and you know, yours wasconsistent.
It's measurable.
It was.
And when my drivers went throughit, they're like, but we already

(16:57):
knew this.
They're like, this is all thestuff you taught us.
And And I'm like, yes, but now Iknow that you've completed this
module in this module.
So I know what you've done whenI train people, it's like
anything, you know, if you'redoing, you know, uh,
storytelling time, every timeyou tell it, it's going to be
different, you know?
And you don't want thoseinconsistent messages.

(17:18):
You want them to have consistenttraining.
And so everybody gets the samemessage.
Everybody gets the same methods,all that kind of stuff.
And you know, it's been donebecause sometimes, you know, and
when I train, because it's Tome, I think there's a lot of
training that goes into thisbusiness.
So I would only train them onthings that they were
experiencing at the time,because really it doesn't make

(17:40):
sense until you actuallyexperience it, right.
Like if you're doing a plainside pickup, well, if you've
never done that, why would Itell you about it?
So before you do that, I go,okay, this is what you're going
to do.
This is how you do it.
So when they go and they do it,It clicks and everything makes
sense.
And they go, Oh, okay.
Now I know how to do that.

James Blain (18:00):
Right.
And

Tom Halsnik (18:01):
But your system, you know, you get to see it
visually and hear it.
So, um, you know, I think thatmakes, you know, makes more
sense.
Cause I can't.
I can't replicate that when I'mtraining people, I have to wait
for it to happen.

James Blain (18:14):
let me ask you something.
One of the things that hasalways been huge for me is the
shift from a trainer to a coach,right?
And that's probably one of thebiggest things that we've always
strived to give operators or thetrainer, whoever's using PAX, is
to shift them from being atrainer to a coach.
Because if I take you to anairport and I show you the

(18:34):
airport and I tell you all aboutit, and then we leave, I'm not
in the position of, okay, here,let's, I want you to, you know,
we'll use an FBO.
For example, I want you to takethis module on the FBO.
You're going to see how it'sdone.
You do everything.
I'm going to drive over to theFBO.
I now want you to walk methrough what you do right now.
I'm coaching you.

(18:55):
I'm not trying to tell you, haveyou seen that shift in yourself
for using that?
Have you been able to kind ofmake that pivot?

Tom Halsnik (19:02):
Well, when you said between a trainer and a coach,
the thing I was envisioning fora coach is reinforcing those
things that they've learned andkind of being more of, um, for
lack of a better term, like acheerleader, like, you know,
They know those things and Iknow they know those things, but
when they do a good job and acustomer recognizes them for

(19:22):
that, make sure you pass italong, you know, make sure you
thank them for the work thatthey did that day.
Make sure that, you know, youshow appreciation to them.
So, you know, because everybodywants to be appreciated and it
just develops a betterrelationship and it reinforces
all the things that they'velearned, you know?

James Blain (19:40):
Oh, absolutely.
And, and I've said it before andI'll say it again.
We are a firefighting industry,right?
As, as owners, a lot of time isspent on what is most on fire
right now.
And how do I get those flames todie down?
And the second, second, I've gotthis thing under control.
It's like, Oh, look, new flamesare bursting out over here.
And so you really have to makeit a point to do that.

(20:01):
You, you have to give that bracebecause if you're running a
squeaky wheel company, You'renot going to get to where you
need to be, right?
You're not going to have themreally kind of motivated.
So is there a certain thing thatyou found that is kind of like
your key to success or kind ofwhat, you know, obviously coming
up through that, you've got somany different things to pick
from, but is there somethingspecifically where you can point

(20:22):
to and say, you know, I wish Iwould have done that sooner.
I wish I would have figured thatout sooner.

Tom Halsnik (20:26):
I, well, I wish I would have gotten involved with
the NLA sooner and go into theshows.
I mean, it wasn't until it,believe it or not, I mean, I
know a lot of people know who Iam in this industry, but I've
really worked on my brand and,and, and made myself available
and made myself part ofconversations.
But I really didn't get involvedin this until 2017.

James Blain (20:47):
Wow.

Tom Halsnik (20:48):
member.
I did not attend shows.
But I wish I would have gotteninvolved sooner because I
thought because I was achauffeur that I knew the
business inside and out.
And even though I have a collegedegree with a, you know,
business background andeverything like that, things had
changed.
Okay.
Between the time I graduated in96 till, you know, 2008 when I

(21:09):
started my own company.
So I was running it, but I wasrunning it based on the
knowledge I had as a chauffeur,which is not business, which is
not business knowledge.
It's customer service knowledge.
And I nailed that.
Okay, but the accounting, themarketing, the, you know, the
finance, all that, I kind oflost touch with all that stuff.

(21:29):
So I was running my company andI was just kind of at this
plateau and I'm like, why am Inot getting to the next level?
Why am I just right here?
I need to get up here.

James Blain (21:38):
Right.

Tom Halsnik (21:39):
How do I do that?
And it wasn't until I startedgoing to the shows and going to
those sessions and getting thoselittle nuggets of knowledge that
I would bring back that thingsstarted going up, you know, and
and that's really what I wish Iwould've done it sooner, you
know?

James Blain (21:55):
So you said 2017 is when you joined the NLA.
2008 is when you make the leap,right?
So we're talking roughly nineyears if I did the math right.
So, what do you think you wouldhave been able to do with those
nine years if you would havemade that leap earlier, if you
would have gone and found that?
Because it sounds like you werekind of just operating, and we
call it kind of operating as anisland, right?

(22:15):
You kind of had all yourknowledge, you kind of had what
you're doing, you're operatingas an island.
What do you think would havechanged?
Or how do you think, what do youthink you could have done
different with those nine yearsor the growth there?

Tom Halsnik (22:25):
I probably would have been farther along, you
know, I probably, you know,because those were good years,
you know, because I startedduring the recession.
So obviously coming out of therecession, those were great
years.
And even though they were greatyears, I was just kind of
stagnating because of the stuffI didn't know.
I probably would have beenfarther along.
Um, I probably would have alarger company.

(22:47):
Um, you know, I, I wouldn't havebeen struggling that's for sure.
And not that I was struggling.
financially, I was struggling toreach my goals.

James Blain (22:56):
will tell you, you know, I have, I have friends in
this industry that are one caroperators.
I have, you know, friends and,in this industry that are, you
know, 200, you know, people ontheir staff, huge companies.
And the one thing that I haveseen, and even with, you know,
the mentors that I have in theindustry is a lot of it also
comes down to kind of, you know,Personal growth and being able

(23:16):
to get to a next level.
And I can tell you, one of thethings that Brett Barinholtz
talked a lot about wasmentorship.
And I think that's somethingyou're kind of alluding to here
is that having those people thathave gone down those roads and
having them help you is huge.
So, you know, one of the neatthings though, is you've
actually taken a further,because now you're on the

(23:37):
membership committee for theNLA, right?

Tom Halsnik (23:39):
Right.

James Blain (23:40):
So, you know, I guess, let me ask you, if you've
got someone listening andthey're saying, Hey, I'm not
where I want to be in mybusiness.
You know, I might be anassociation.
I might not be, what can theystart doing that you were able
to figure out and do that'sgoing to help them.

Tom Halsnik (23:56):
Well, there's a lot to be said for finding somebody
that's in a level where you wantto be and figuring out what they
do, whether either directly orindirectly say, Hey, how did you
get to where you're at?
Can you help me?
It's finding those mentors, youknow, because sometimes you
don't have to build the bridge.
Sometimes you just need somebodyto hand you the instructions,
you know,

James Blain (24:17):
Point, point to it over there.
Right.
Just you're walking the wrongdirection.

Tom Halsnik (24:20):
Yeah.
And here's the pitfalls.
Here's, here's the mistakes Imade.
Don't do this.
Okay.
You know, because it is, youknow, there's either mentors or,
you know, there's peer groups.
I mean, there's, there's severalpeer groups I'm involved in and
we talk regularly, there's stillpitfalls that we have.
There's still issues that wehave, and we kind of figure them
out.
Everybody goes, okay, that's agreat idea.

(24:40):
I think I'm going to do that.
This worked for me.
This didn't work.
Okay.
but when you're an island andyou don't know anything and you
don't know where to reach out,it's, it's a lonely place,

James Blain (24:51):
I can, I can tell you, I think one of the things
that I learned early on is thatit's really easy to see a
problem, solve a problem, see aproblem, solve a problem.
And sometimes, especially on thebigger problems, you will spend
all this time figuring out howto build that bridge.
And.
You know, you might talk tosomeone that's been in the

(25:12):
industry and they'll be like,Oh, well, you know, you could
have crossed the one over thereand been done with it.
i've been guilty of that.
I know my mentor's been guiltyof that.
and i'm a very type apersonality so i'm notorious for
doing stuff like that

Tom Halsnik (25:24):
right?

James Blain (25:25):
so

Tom Halsnik (25:25):
we all are.
I mean, you know, we all thinkthat we're, you know, the only
one that can solve our problemsand that's not always the case.

James Blain (25:34):
No, it's not.
Well, and let me ask you, youalso, you know, you're also
really involved in a statelevel, right?
Because you're, you're part ofthe membership committee, which,
you know, we're going to keepsaying it again and again and
again, you guys had a massivewin in Florida with being able
to get your legislation passedfor your permitting.
What would you say, you know,what's the difference between

(25:55):
the NLA and the state?
I hear people say, well, I'mpart of the state association.
I don't know to be part of theNLA or I'm part of the NLA.
So I don't do anything at thestate level.
Clearly you're really active inboth.
What's kind of the differencesbetween the two and what's the,
what's the benefit you get fromeach.

Tom Halsnik (26:09):
The differences between both of them, the NLA is
something where you get a lot ofreally good business knowledge,
the connections that you make inother parts of the country.
Those are the folks that you cantalk with that give you, you
know, unfiltered advice.
Okay.
Because They don't operate inthe same market as you.
There's no, there's no silverbullet as to, you know, you

(26:32):
know, how to operate in yourmarket.
You're not talking with yourdirect competitors, Right.
So the flow of information ismuch more freer.
Um, you know, and when you'retalking about a local
association, yes, yourcompetitors, but you operate in
the same market.
So when you put your voicetogether, you can get things
done like we did with thereciprocity bill.

(26:53):
Um, Because that was somethingthat had been tried and we've
been working on that forprobably decades.
Um, and you know, when, whenyou, when you work on local
issues, you need local people.
to, to work on that stuff.
It's not something that the NLAcould do and they can't work on
every state, every city.
It's just not possible.

(27:14):
It's not financially possible.
It's not physically possible.
So in your local one, that'swhere you handle all that.
That's where you want to createyour level playing field for
everybody.
Yes, you can be competitors, buteverybody still needs to operate
on a reasonable and levelplaying field.
So in the state of Florida, Whenthey first started, and that

(27:35):
started as a, as a state, butoriginally there was very few
people that lived in Florida.
So what the state did was gave alot of responsibilities to the
counties.
Okay.
there's 67 counties in the stateof Florida because the
population is growing andbecause of technology and
because of, you know, wherewe're at as a society, we

(27:57):
connect more.
Okay, so a lot of the localjurisdictions, the state needs
to take over.
So there's more uniformity.
Okay.
So as the population grows, thestate is taking back a lot of
this.
Um, the, the legislation, theoversight for a lot of those
things, and they needed to takeit over for the transportation

(28:17):
industry.
The problem was it was stillhandled County to County.
So there was a lot ofconflicting rules, conflicting
permitting processes, duplicateprocesses.
For, for companies that weredown in the South Florida area,
they would have to have 11different permits on their cars.
They had to get permitted forthree different airports.

(28:40):
Two different cruise ports,drivers would have to get like
three different backgroundchecks every year at their own
expense.
It was redundant.
It was very redundant.
So when we, uh, you know, putthe regional associations
together into the one FLA,that's when we really found our
voice.
We were able to hire lobbyists.

(29:02):
Um, uh, Randy down in Fort Myershad a connection with one of the
legislatures who sponsored ourbill.
And that's really where it gotstarted.
Um, because, and they had alwayspromised, you know, that they
were going to get to us.
When Uber came in, I went to alot of those workshops and
meetings and I dealt with a lotof the County issues and, and

(29:24):
they kept going, well, we got todeal with them right now.
Cause this is popular.

James Blain (29:28):
Did

Tom Halsnik (29:29):
We'll get to you

James Blain (29:29):
to them?
Did that, did any of thepermitting, right?
Did they have to have the windowstickers or did they just kind
of skate through all of it?

Tom Halsnik (29:36):
they skated through all of that.
They basically wrote their ownlegislation.
They did whatever they wanted toface They had a lot of money to
do

James Blain (29:42):
right.

Tom Halsnik (29:42):
But, but when They got done Yeah, but when they got
done, it never got back to us.
So that's what we did.
We kind of forced the issue andeverybody agreed they needed to
take care of it.
And so we finally, Got, youknow, did the right things and
got the right people in place,got it done.
And so that's what we had passedlast year.

(30:03):
There's still a little bit offoot dragging and delaying
because the counties, you know,the ones that had their own
permits had their owninspectors.
They had their owninfrastructure of people that
they employed.
To write tickets to doinspections to do all they don't
want to give those people up.

(30:23):
So, you know, you go, look, you,you've got to do this now.
And they're like, well, that'snot the way we see it.
You know, so there's still ourattorney has to deal with them
going, yeah, this is the way thebill is written.
This is what you need to do.
Um, and we're still in thatprocess because, you know,
we're, we're to the point nowwhere some of the companies down
there have to keep the actuallaw in their glove box.

(30:46):
So when one of the inspectorssays, Hey, You know, you're
violating this.
He'd go here, here's the lawthat says that I'm permitted in
this county and you're supposedto recognize it.

James Blain (30:57):
You know, we've seen that happen.
There's a couple of things worthmentioning, right?
So, so obviously being intraining when they did the entry
level driver trainingrequirement, um, for new CDL
drivers, we saw a lot of similarthings.
And that in that world, more sothan getting rid of people, it
was getting people to understandit.
So one of the things that theentry level driver training
requirement has is if you get aclass B for the first time, you

(31:21):
upgrade from B to an A, you getan A.
Or you do a school bus, apassenger or a hazmat, you have
to go through and you have to doentry level driver training.
But things like getting an airbrake restriction removed,
things like that, you don't haveto do entry level driver
training for.
And I would have customers ofours that would say, Hey, I got
to get this guy's air brakeremoved.

(31:41):
And I'd say, great, just takehim to the DMV, take the vehicle
and do it.
And the DMVs would say, well,no, you have to do entry level
driver training.
And so it got to the point wherethey had to do the same thing,
right?
They had to go in and say, Hey,we get, you're trying to follow
a federal law.
But read this pamphlet fromFMCSA that says when it applies
and just, just be aware this isnot a time it applies.

(32:03):
And I think the other side ofthat, and this is something
that, that we've seen in ourindustry before is we also
become a source of revenue,right?
That they are getting revenuefrom us in terms of permits.
You know, you see the fightshappening with congestion
pricing in New York.
You see things like that.
These are, these are revenuegenerators for the county, for

(32:26):
the state, for the airport, forthe city, for whoever's

Tom Halsnik (32:28):
We've moved past safety to the traveling public
and gone into direct revenuegenerating.
Yeah.

James Blain (32:35):
Yeah.
And, and it, you know, you kindof seen the same thing happen,
right?
You know, we, you see, you know,speeding tickets or DUI
checkpoints, you see thesethings, yeah, they, they serve a
good purpose to society, but atcertain points in times, there's
also an argument to be made ofif it's not done in service of
the public and service ofsafety, then at that point it

(32:56):
becomes revenue generation.
And as we've kind of seen withsome of these industry
disruptors, TNCs and whatnot,sometimes they're able to use
money to grease the wheels tonot have to kind of get it paid
one piece at a time.
They're able to come in and getsweeping legislation and write
one big check.
So let me ask you what, youknow, it sounds like I already

(33:19):
know the answer of, of, youknow, was it worth it for you
guys?
I feel like the answer is yes.
You know, you are makingprogress.
Thank you.

Tom Halsnik (33:26):
Yeah.
We're definitely makingprogress.

James Blain (33:27):
One of the things I hear, especially with the little
guys is I don't have time to beinvolved in that.
That's bigger than me.
The bigger guys are going totake care of it.
It's going to get done.
I'm too small for it to matter.
I'm too early on in thebusiness.
You know, you hear all thoselittle island mentality things.
Um,

Tom Halsnik (33:43):
you can't see the forest for the trees kind of

James Blain (33:45):
yes, yes.
So, so I guess what would yousay to that person, right?
Obviously, you know, for you,it's been huge being involved in
these associations, a big partof getting where you're getting.
What would you say to thatperson that still got that
mentality

Tom Halsnik (33:59):
They're probably not going to see it until they
run into a problem like what Idid.

James Blain (34:02):
until you hit the tree?

Tom Halsnik (34:04):
Yeah, you hit the wall.
You're like, what am I, what amI missing?

James Blain (34:08):
Right.

Tom Halsnik (34:09):
and some people will never get it.
They'll drop out of the businessor they'll just stay at the
level they're at.
And some people will be like,there's got to be more.
I've got to find the answer.
And then they'll get to thatnext level.
On the local level, we'll, we'retrying to reach them and, and
explain to them the benefits ofbeing, you know, a part of.
The NLA or the FLA, um, youknow, a lot of it is what we're

(34:31):
trying to do is do more socialmedia stuff to where there's
more engagement because we'resuch a large state.
Um, we can only get togetherlike twice a year.
So.
You know, we, and we need tocreate more value for people to
become members and show themhere's the value of being a part
of this.
So we need to get moreengagement.
And I think, you know, we're allon our phones.

(34:53):
We're all connected throughsocial media.
So I think doing that reachesthose people who are, they're in
their cars, they're waiting inthe cell phone lot, you know,
they're waiting outside of arestaurant for a client.
Well, they can engage right fromthere.
You know, so that's one of thethings that I've been working on
developing is, is having those,those mechanisms to discuss

(35:15):
business things all the time,you know, and hoping that, you
know, somebody will be like,wow, that I, I learned
something.
I didn't, I didn't know that I'mgoing to, I'm going to use that,
you know, and then they startgetting it and they start
because let's face it, you know,rising tide raises all boats and
that's what we want to do.
You know, because it's thepeople who don't know what
they're doing.
That's given our industry kindof a, you know, a bad look, you

(35:38):
know, there are people areconfused between us and the
TNCs.

James Blain (35:44):
And I think you've hit on something that's really
important, right?
And that's the, the rising tidelifts all boats.
I think we are at a point in theindustry where anybody that's
got a scarcity mentality is at adisadvantage because I think
we've, when you know, when Ifirst got into the industry,
yeah, I remember, and Bruce hastold this story on the podcast
before, right?

(36:04):
You know, we, we had a guy cometo our booth.
I got 75 idiots, right?
How can, how can you fix them?
And we were in shock.
And.
The, the size of the industry,the shape of the industry, the
look of the industry haschanged.
And we're at a point right nowwhere the industry is stronger
working together.
Yeah.
You might have some overlap inbusiness.
Yeah.

(36:24):
I might take some of yourbusiness.
You might take some of mine, butoverall, what we're seeing is in
the markets where, you know,and, and obviously, you know,
you there's rules to befollowed, but in the markets
where the companies are gettingtogether, they're saying, Hey.
You know, I've got overflow atthis time.
You've got overflow at thattime, right?
I'm going to need affiliate.
You're going to need affiliate.
You have vehicles that you haveavailable that I don't have in

(36:47):
those markets where they'reworking together.
They're able to do a couplethings.
The first is they've got areally tight grip on quality.
Right.
Because they knew who they'reusing, uh, nothing.
And, and we talked about thiswith another association
recently.
One of the things thatabsolutely just crushes my soul

(37:08):
is when I see someone get onFacebook and just blindly who's
here and they take the firstoption.
There's no vetting.
There's no nothing now.
Hey, I'm all for connecting.
I'm all for getting online.
I'm all for finding new people.
But I can't tell you how manytimes you'll see someone get on
and go, Hey, I need something intwo hours in this place.

(37:29):
And the very first person thatcomments is getting the work.
You know, I, if you think aboutthat from the side of your
client, I don't care if it's amotor coach, I don't care if
it's an SUV, I don't care whatit is.
If we get there, right.
And it's complete train wreck.
Ultimately.
We're not going to be mad at theaffiliate because we trusted you

(37:49):
to take care of us.
And so I think that's, that'ssomething that I see a lot and
that I don't, I

Tom Halsnik (37:56):
hope that they're not doing that.
Like the first answer.
I would hope they're doing alittle bit more vetting.
I mean, I know I do.
Sometimes it's easier to postand get responses than it is to
start making 50 phone calls.
And I look at who's recommendingwho, and have I heard of that
company or that ownershipbefore, you know, because
sometimes, and this happens alot.

(38:17):
I mean, we're all connected onFacebook by the owner's name.
I don't even know half thecompany names that, that they
even own.
So I don't even know what citythey're in sometimes, but, Oh
yeah, I know this guy.
I've heard of them.
Oh yeah.
Okay.
So sometimes it's just a quickerway to get a response,
especially if you're lookingsomething within a couple hours.
Because let's face it, it couldtake you a while to make phone

(38:40):
calls for that.

James Blain (38:41):
no, absolutely.
And I think part of that, andthis is something that we talked
a lot about when, when I wastalking with that other
association was, you know,having a process to vet them.
You know, PAX training, if yougo on to our website, you go
into resources.
There's a company directory.
You can see point blank.
Are they an active PAX trainingmember?
Right?
You can do the same thing in theNLA's directory, right?
You can do the same thing acrossvarious different methods to try

(39:04):
and vet them.
Now, you know, is that is thatgoing to be?
You know, better or worse than,you know, all of the other
methods out there.
It depends on what you're tryingto figure out, but you've got to
decide what that process lookslike and you've got to have it
in place.

Tom Halsnik (39:16):
That's part of that cross reference vetting though,
too.
I mean, yes, somebody is goingto give you a name and a number,
you know, on, on, on socialmedia, but you know, yeah, you
should be going to those placesto double check if they're a
member.
Are they a PAX train?
Are they doing this?
You know, those kinds of things.
What software are they using?
All those things are great.

James Blain (39:35):
Well, and I, I think there's something to be
said also about therelationships that you build.
Right.
I think knowing, because one ofthe things that I see online a
lot as well is when somethinggoes wrong, the way that that
owner at that company is goingto handle it is completely
different.
And especially if you havesomeone, you have a
relationship, you have someone,you know, they're going to do

(39:56):
whatever it takes to make itright.
That's completely different thanif you've got someone that
you've done minimal bedding,right?
You don't know anything aboutthem.
If I know that even if somethingdoes go wrong, you're going to
bend over backwards in yourmarket to take care of it.
That's what becomes a huge deal.
And I'm sure that's somethingthat you was important to you
guys having started kind of inthat world.

(40:18):
And obviously I don't want youto throw yourself under a bus.
wAs there ever a time when youwere kind of early on and you
guys were You know, in thatplace, getting that work where
you guys were able to go aboveand beyond, or maybe you had to
jump in and do something and itturned a, it turned a corner or
turned the tide for you.

Tom Halsnik (40:38):
There was a lot of times that, you know, you would
do something you've never donebefore and it worked out.
And then there was some timesthat didn't quite work out.
And, you know, you knew you werein over your head.
Um, but it's nice to have thoserelationships to be able to
reach out and go, Hey, I'mhaving a problem, you know, can
you help me, you know, andhaving those relationships with
the other people that you'reworking with, because, you know,

(41:01):
at the end of the day, it's allabout the customer and it's all
about the result.
It's not about how you gotthere.
You know, so if you're havingdifficulties, let somebody know
about it, you know, cause youmay not be able to solve the
problem, but they may be able tofix the problem on their end,
you know?
So it's having thatcollaboration with the people
you're getting the work from,you know, that really helps and

(41:23):
being honest,,

James Blain (41:24):
that's probably one of the biggest things.
When I talk to people aboutthings that go wrong with
affiliates, a lot of times thelack of honesty and
transparency, you know, I, andit's really funny, you know,
Brett Berenthold set up, youknow, all I care about with my
affiliates, I'm not worriedabout price.
Don't screw up my client.
Right?
And if something goes wrong, youcall me, you tell me we start

(41:45):
fixing it.
Now.
I don't want to find out later.
Right.
I think that to me is hugebecause we're in a logistics
industry.
You got to have the right guy inthe right car at the right place
at the right time, saying theright thing, doing the right
thing, and it doesn't alwayswork out.
And so I think

Tom Halsnik (42:00):
And we all know things are going to happen, you
know, and it's not, you know, Ialways tell people, I'm like,
when you have a service failure,it's not usually one thing that
happens.
It's usually.
Two, three or four things in arow that happened that you
couldn't possibly predict thatthat's what screws it up.
You can only hope that you havea good enough relationship with

(42:20):
that client to seek forgiveness,you know?

James Blain (42:23):
Well, and I think that goes back and I feel like
kind of our theme here is.
Join your association, right?
Because a lot of that goes backto if you're parts of these
associations, if you spent thetime with these, you know,
operators, if you've built thoserelationships, it's a completely
different experience when youknow the person on the other
side of the phone, right?
When you've spent time withthem, when you've had lunch or

(42:44):
dinner or whatever it might bewith them, there's a much bigger
attachment than somebody with arandom account that came to them
through the internet.

Tom Halsnik (42:52):
Yes.
But on the other side, there'salso the drivers.
And if they're not properlytrained or they're not using
packs, you know, they should bealso communicating with their
office or whoever that, youknow, either things are on track
or things are off track and youneed to know about it because
I'm behind schedule.
You know, an accident happened.
I'm stuck on a bridge, you know,any number of those things,

(43:16):
because if they're not honestwith you, you can't really fix
the problem.
And they're the ones on thefront line.

James Blain (43:21):
and, and there's two parts to that, right?
When we talk about that, youknow, cause we do dispatcher, we
do CSR training.
As the chauffeur, you two thingsas an owner, you can't make an
environment where they'rescared.
If they're scared to tell yousomething's gone wrong, they're
not going to tell you and it'sgoing to make more things go
wrong.
So as an owner, as an operator,you've got to have an

(43:44):
environment where if somethinggoes wrong, You understand you
give them a little bit of gracethat chauffeurs got to
understand that if something'sgoing wrong, if they see
something they need to beproactive and they need to get
ahead of it.
And then, as a dispatcher, yourdispatchers have got to be
watching that board, right?
If they see, hey, this isrunning over this turned into an

(44:05):
as directed, you know,something's happened.
I know there's no way that.
You know, my chauffeur in 53, itcan't possibly get across town
to get to the next pickup thatdispatcher, whether or not that
chauffeur is called, whether ornot they've even figured it out.
If you, as the dispatcher, don'tfigure that out and rework it,
or if you, as the owner, don'thave dispatchers that figured

(44:27):
out and rework it, that's whereyou start getting those
cascading failures that you'vetalked about.
And having a team that has thatlittle bit of productivity and
foresight is huge.
And I talk about all the time.
Training is proactive.
If you're not proactivelytraining and teaching and
developing people, and like yousaid earlier, ongoing, being a

(44:48):
coach, that's where you start tosee those types of failures.

Tom Halsnik (44:52):
Yeah.
But, and also too, it's not justthe, you know, as it's happening
kind of coordination, it's thepre trip planning too, because
somebody should be doing aschedule that gives the driver a
chance to make things happen.
If you're not leaving enoughtime in between, if you're not
leaving enough time for a flightto be late or accounting for

(45:13):
traffic, you know, the drivercan't possibly be.
Successful if the schedule isnot done right now, things will
happen, you know, and that'swhere there's a little bit of
experience that goes into that,you know, trip planning stuff.
But the driver should also belooking at it too.
I mean, I'm guilty of it too.
I've done schedules and I'mlike, yeah, that should work.
And then the driver calls me upand he's done a little trip

(45:35):
planning.
He goes, you know, I looked thisup and I'm not so sure.
And I've had to go, you know, Ithink you're right.
You know, but there's thatconversation that needs to
happen in that pre tripplanning.
I think a lot of people don'teven do anymore,

James Blain (45:48):
Now, and it's funny because, you know, now we're,
we've, we've hit my hometerritory, right?
Now we're hitting me where Ilive.
We got to be careful or we'llend up recording a whole nother.
Second part of this episodemakes a two hour episode, but it
absolutely comes down to thatbecause you've got to think
about every link in the chain,if it breaks the whole chain
falls.
Right.
And so as that driver, as thatchauffeur, right, whoever you

(46:12):
call them, whatever, you've gotthat set up as they plan their
day out, they need to be lookingat the routes.
They need to be looking atwhat's going on.
They're the

Tom Halsnik (46:20):
job and the next job,

James Blain (46:22):
Yeah, and then same thing with the dispatcher.
The night before when thedispatcher was planning that
out, they've got to do it.
And, you know, especially if youdeal with airports, one of the
interesting things about ourindustry is it doesn't matter if
the flight's delayed 20 minutesor two hours.
Most passengers are still goingto expect you to be out there

(46:43):
waiting for them.
Why?
Because they don't care aboutany other trip you're doing.
It doesn't matter if it's a busand there's 50 people coming, or
if it's a car and it's just oneperson.
They assume they're your onlypassenger.
They assume no one else mattersbut them.

Tom Halsnik (46:59):
and that's, that's the problem I have when you hire
TNC drivers is because they havethat taxi mentality.
The only thing they care aboutis the job that they're on.
And when it's done, they'relike, okay, what's next?
I'm like, you're in thelimousine business.
You're not only doing this job,you're monitoring the next job
and the traffic to get to thenext job and the flight for that
next job.

(47:19):
There's a lot going on and, and.
If you're not trained properly,you're not setting yourself up
or the company up to besuccessful either.
You should be looking ahead.

James Blain (47:28):
I think one of the big things there, you know, I, I
grew up as a boy scout, right?
I had be prepared beat into me.
I, I mean, I, I travel, I gotta,I've literally got a small
umbrella in my backpack.
Why?
Because I know that if I'm inFlorida, it's going to rain.
And if I'm in California whereit never rains in Southern
California, the one day I'mthere, it'll rain to remind me,
be prepared.

(47:49):
I

Tom Halsnik (47:49):
I'm probably the only one.
I store emergency ponchos in theglove box.

James Blain (47:54):
but, but a lot of that that's foresight, right?
And I can tell you one of myfavorite limo stories.
Um, Was, you know, we had anoperator, uh, that was doing a
funeral and during the funeral,it started raining and, you
know, the chauffeurs were overthe vehicles, right?
He all of the transportation wasover there and, you know, the

(48:14):
owner happened to be there onthis one.
He said, guys, grab theumbrellas, everybody grabbed an
umbrella.
I don't want a single head overthere getting red and everybody
grabs the umbrellas and they runover and they do it.
Look, they could

Tom Halsnik (48:24):
Yep.

James Blain (48:25):
could have just gotten the vehicle and not got
wet, but they understood that,Hey, their preparation and
taking care of those people onthat day is going to gain them a
client for

Tom Halsnik (48:34):
100%.
Done that exact situation.
Yep.

James Blain (48:37):
So, so as we kind of wrap up, you know, I kind of
want to ask you what, you know,and, and obviously we've talked
about associations, but.
If there was one thing you couldgo back, right.
You know, and, and you can tellme at what point you go back to,
right.
Whether it's when you'redriving, you know, the guys that
started out back, whether it'swhen you first started driving,
but if you could hop in theDeLorean, right back to the

(49:00):
future and go back in time,catch yourself and say, Hey.
Here's your Ray's Almanac,right?
Here's your secret that you needto know.
What would you go tell yourself?

Tom Halsnik (49:09):
I probably would say just to get involved
earlier, much sooner than I did.
You know, I mean, that, that'sreally about it.
I mean, I love the industry andI don't know that I would.
Go back and say, hey, don't dothat, you know, because I've
realized there's a certainpersonality and we all have it.
We all like to, you know, haveour hair on fire.
You don't know what's goingnext.

(49:30):
I mean, I always tell people,I'm like.
There is no way I could sit in acubicle and do the same thing
every day.
from nine to five.
I would kill myself.
I love, I love the randomness ofit.
I love you never know what'sgoing to happen.
The stressful situations, the,you know, the, the resolution of
certain events, the fact thatyou, you have a beginning,

(49:52):
middle and an end, like somepeople, their job, they do the
same thing month after month,year after year.
There's no beginning.
There's no end.
I'm like, there's nothing.
Be satisfied about with me.
There's with this business.
It's like everything has astory.
Every having has a beginning,middle and end, whether it's a
convention, a wedding, anairport trip, there's always a

(50:13):
beginning and a middle and anend and getting to the end is so
satisfying, especially when it'ssuccessful and the people like
love it and they write goodreviews about you and you know,
all that stuff that'ssatisfying.
I can't imagine working in anoffice where, you know, you get
your employee review every sixmonths and they go, yep, great

(50:34):
job.
CNN six months later..
I love that daily, like, youknow, affirmation for lack of a
better term, you know, thatthings were successful, it's
intoxicating.

James Blain (50:44):
think, for me, I, I, I relate to that completely.
I, I don't know that I could dothe cubicle ever again.
Once, once I got that smallbusiness bug, once you're
solving problems, you'reconstantly growing.
For me, at least, one of thebiggest things is I always loved
Jim Rohn.
And one of his famous quotes isit's not what you're getting.
It's what you're becoming.

(51:05):
And I can tell you if I'd, ifI'd spent that, and I've been in
the industry almost 10 years,right?
Not even holding a candle to youyet.
I'm just trying to be like you,Tom, but you know, almost 10

Tom Halsnik (51:15):
before you know it.

James Blain (51:17):
for me though.
It was, I just, I don't think Iwould have grown that much as a
person if I'd been sitting in acubicle.
I think having, you know, beinginvolved in the industry, having
a business has helped me grow.
And it sounds like you're kindof in that same boat.

Tom Halsnik (51:31):
And people that don't own businesses have no
idea what we go through.

James Blain (51:35):
Oh no, no.
I, you know, I've, I'vementioned it before.
My, my father in law loves tosay that, you know, he started
his business in his basement.
He had pretty, you know,practically nothing.
At one point he was living in acorner of his His business and
people will come up to him nowand go, Oh, you're, you're an
overnight success.
And he goes, yeah, but youdidn't get to see how long the
night was, you know, they didn'tget to see the 15, 20, 30 years

(51:59):
of hitting my head on the wall,wondering whether or not this is
a good choice.
So

Tom Halsnik (52:05):
you know, inventors that say, yeah, everybody
remembers your success, but theynever remember how many times
you failed to get to thatsuccess.

James Blain (52:13):
absolutely, absolutely.
Well, I, Tom, you know,obviously we're, I'm lucky
enough to call you one of myfriends, so we could do this all
day.
I can't thank you enough forcoming on.
Um, you know, obviously I thinkwe'll have to do another call.
I think,

Tom Halsnik (52:30):
uh, I was just going to say, I'd love to do it
again.

James Blain (52:33):
yeah, no, I would love to have you on for another
episode.
I know that obviously, you know,you and I.
Get to do all kinds of coolstuff together.
Maybe we can do a live episodesomewhere at one of the
association events.
thank you to everybody forlistening again.
I've got, you know, Tom Halsnickover at wall show for
transportation in Tampa with me.
So I'm super excited to havehim.
Um, Man, anything else you wantto leave us with before we check

(52:54):
out

Tom Halsnik (52:56):
I would just say get involved.
If you're passionate about yourindustry, then be passionate
about it.
Don't just be your own Island.
You're never going to, you'renever going to be successful.
If you're your own Island, getinvolved with the rest of the
group.
You're going to love it.

James Blain (53:10):
and subscribe to the podcast?

Tom Halsnik (53:12):
And subscribe to the podcast.
Click the link above here, Down

James Blain (53:16):
Down below around.
No, absolutely.
I think, I think that's probablythe most solid advice we could
end with is get off your Island.

Tom Halsnik (53:22):
Yeah,

James Blain (53:23):
All right.
Well, thanks again, Tom.
Thank you everybody forlistening.
We hope you'll join us again onthe ground transportation
podcast.
Thank you for listening to theground transportation podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,please remember to subscribe to
the show on apple, Spotify,YouTube, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
For more information about PAXtraining and to contact James,

(53:44):
go to PAX training.com.
And for more information aboutdriving transactions and to
contact Ken, Go to drivingtransactions.com.
We'll see you next time on theground transportation podcast.