January 27, 2020 • 35 mins
Jack’s guest is Wyatt Tucker, the first male of his family to graduate from college. The two talk about how Wyatt, fresh out of school, jumped in to help his father run the business. The process included being fired from the company before he ultimately returned to transition as the new company owner.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi, this is Jack tester and welcome to another
episode of leadership lounge.
I always tell you where I am andI'm in Saint Paul, Minnesota,
and I'll tell you that today isthe first snowfall of the year.
So I drove in today on snowyroads.
It's November 6th I believe, andsitting across from me is a guy
that doesn't know much aboutsnowy roads, white Tucker from
(00:30):
parks, heating and cooling andNorth Carolina.
How are you doing?
Why?
Hey, Jack and Morgan, how areyou today?
Thanks for coming in.
Yeah, a little bit of snow onthe ground today where you walk
through the Skyway to get herethough.
So no, I went outside and wedon't get much snow in North
Carolina, so I enjoy it.
I didn't, I didn't eat any snow,but I definitely was take a snow
angel via.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wanted to, I may.
(00:50):
I took pictures from my wife itto my kids this morning.
They're like, what's that dad?
It's pretty cool.
You know, it's funny, folks thatcome in from out of town,
especially Southern kids, whenthey see snow outside, they'll
sit and look at the window justlike the school kid.
Like, Oh look at that.
But that's true.
No, we had a snow, a littlesnowfall two days ago and this
guy in from Florida my age andhe looked at like a little kid.
I got to go outside and stand init and I said, go ahead.
(01:13):
It looks ridiculous to me, but Iguess it's all what you're used
to.
Yeah, that's true.
But Hey, thanks for coming in.
What brings you to town?
Uh, here for the BPW.
It's a business plan workshop.
All right, so getting yourbusiness plan written for 2020.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Well you've got an interestingstory and I, and I saw you on
the, the attendee list and Isaid, you know what, I'm going
to have you come in and talkbecause you have recently, are
(01:36):
you the second or the thirdgeneration?
Second generation.
Right.
And so you've actually done thetransition from the, your father
started the business.
No, no, no.
He bought her from mr bud parksin 2000.
Okay.
And then he ended up until, uh,in the last year.
And then we finalize a lengthyand fun buy out.
(01:58):
Uh, okay.
This year.
All right.
So now is is your, what's yourfather's name?
Tommy.
Tommy?
Yeah.
Is he still involved?
No.
No, he's not.
Okay.
He's fully retired.
Okay.
Um, he's doing a little bit, uh,he was a state Senator
[inaudible] for eight years.
And so he kinda, um, big oldturn.
Nothing political going on inNorth Carolina?
No, not at all.
Not at all.
So, uh, but he's helping with,uh, doing some consultant work
(02:21):
and helping out, uh, somenonprofit stuff up there and
probably got it.
Well, that's interesting.
So I want to talk about this.
So let's, and, and, and we'vetalked about this very briefly.
I don't know where this is goingto go, but we just said, look,
in a transition, there's thingsyou learn in a transition.
There's emotions you feel,there's things you look back on
and say, wow, that was reallycool.
(02:41):
And there's things you look backon and go, Oh boy, I wish I
could have avoided that.
So we're going to go there.
Okay.
Is that all right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So when did you come into parks?
So I came in in a fall of Ohseven.
Okay.
What we'll do then?
I was a 22.
All right.
No, excuse me.
No, no, no, I was, yeah, 23actually college kid.
Yeah, college kid.
(03:01):
I was the five-year guy.
So it was I by the way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's true.
And I was the first male Tuckerto graduate from college.
So that was kind of my interviewprocess or whatever to get in
the business with that did sodid you come right out of
college?
Right into parks?
I did.
No kidding.
Well you agreed to do that ordid you take something fun like
(03:24):
yeah, I was a turfgrassmanagement major.
Um, okay.
Which is natural for heating andair conditioning guy.
True.
Very true.
So I thought that, uh, you know,after, cause I played baseball
in my life, I played baseball incollege and everything else.
I thought it'd be awesome to bea groundskeeper.
Sure.
At some major league ballparkone day.
And Carl, yeah.
(03:45):
I was the guy who reads, keepCarl from Scotty show.
Yeah, yeah.
Name for, you know, we wanted todo that for uh, you know, that
was my goal or vision do thateither golf course or baseball
field.
But, uh, I think at that timeand fall of, Oh seven dad had
his biggest year ever and I wassix and then, cause they were
primarily new construction,which I know is a Nexstar cuss
(04:08):
word around here.
We'll get to that in a littlebit.
Um, so we did it.
He did that, uh, in Oh six, Ohseven started at last, a, a
counter to kind of need somehelp and transition in that.
But the main focus for me, whyhe wanted me in there was his
parks had primarily been a newconstruction business since
1973, but before dead body, hewas a factory rep for ICP and
(04:31):
one of his biggest customers wasDewey Morris Jenkins.
Yeah.
And so dad going and calling onthem and having a relationship
with Dewey and everything else.
He saw the replacement side ofit.
And that was what he kind ofvisioned me saying, Hey, why,
look, I've made a good livingdoing new construction, but I'm
going to give you an opportunityto take zero change outs, zero
(04:51):
service calls, you know, outsideof a warranty here and there
after the first year warrantywith the builder, never call us
again.
Right.
That was kind of the philosophyback then.
Hope to true.
True.
And saying, Hey, you know, hereyou go.
Yeah.
So you came in with no businessexperience and dad said, I want
you to basically start a newdepartment.
(05:13):
[inaudible] yeah.
In 2007.
Yeah.
And so he, uh, you know, being agreat communicator said, Hey,
here you go.
This is a good communicator,isn't it?
No, no.
Well not one mission, right.
He is a politician.
He likes to talk.
But, um, so sent me to, you know, Sandler Institute to, uh,
learn sales and everything else.
And I had worked on the, duringthe summertime between like
(05:36):
baseball, everything else.
I'd work in the summertime andhelp him start out washing
trucks and doing things likethat and, uh, really saw that
side of taking care of thecustomer and doing things that,
you know, that was where Iwanted to focus in.
Were you okay with that?
Makes you excited about thisopportunity?
Yes, I was.
Okay.
So keep going.
Yes.
So went through, went throughthat.
(05:57):
Obviously the recession came andwe went from 130, I think
employees down to 29.
Um, one way very remarkable thatmy dad was able to take, you
know, totally all newconstruction, getting paid
builder 60, 90 days, lose allthat work, lose all those
employees and didn't have toshut the doors.
(06:19):
And he, um, you know, didn'ttake a paycheck for two years,
but he was able to, you know,stay in the recession and
everything else to get throughthat, which I, I still to this
day thinks quite amazing.
No one him and knowing hispersonality, um, for him to do
that.
During that though, um, did youtake a paycheck during their sex
(06:39):
?
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I had to head to all right.
Uh, but during, during thatwhole process, he and I kind of
butted heads.
I didn't kind of see the bigpicture.
I was really wanting to grow ourdepartment or division and
didn't see it.
And so we, uh, he told me to getout.
He, he fired me in December ofOh nine.
Um, and I said yes.
So I went on down to Wilmington,North Carolina thinking I was
(07:02):
the man, had my state license,everything else and I was just
going to open up a shop at thebeach.
How old are you then?
So that would be, I don't know,25 26.
Okay.
You knew it.
Oh man.
Had had everything.
So to charge true cash, my 401kran like a, I think maybe two or
three service calls, you wouldsay moved to Wilmington.
(07:25):
Yeah.
For six months.
Right.
Ran two calls in six months.
Something like that.
You just party or what?
Yeah, I did actually partied andlived on the beach and just
kinda didn't take life serious.
I had a, you know, thought aboutgetting, you know, Duke going
and working for somebody else orgoing back to school or doing
something like that, but 401kjust kind of lived on it.
(07:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was a, a lot of fun.
But then so turn, flip side,January, 2010 I was down there
for about a few months here.
Give her their cake.
Why remember all that?
But uh, dad said, Hey, I'm goingto run for state Senate.
I need you to come back.
So you fired you.
(08:06):
Yup.
And then, and then brought meback cause he had a couple other
guys come in and try and run thedepartment and everything else
and they really didn't do a goodjob.
So why didn't you hear I'mbetter how you this, we'll call
it, I'll call it a sabbatical,you know, whatever you want to
call it when you're down therein the beach drinking beer.
And that, my, uh, you know, my,my poop does stink, right.
(08:27):
That I'm not, I'm not thatawesome and that I don't have it
all right.
Uh, it was very humblingexperience and learned that, uh,
you know, business is difficultand it's really hard to get
something off the ground.
So I really admired that.
You know, parks always had doneabout 10 or 12 million new
construction.
You could get it to that like,wow, that was, um, that's an
(08:49):
accomplishment.
And then, you know, on the, onthe flip side of that is that I
had a better opportunity ofgetting something the ground
inside parks instead of outsideof parks.
Right.
So what led you, if I can ask,what led you to, to walk away
the first time or not, or to beasked to walk away.
What was the, what was thedynamic?
What was the riff?
I'm just gonna say it and youcould say it's none of your
(09:10):
business Jack.
Yeah, no, it, it, it is, uh, mydad and our, a lot of like,
okay.
And sometimes that can be isgreat, but it's also bad too.
So we were really butting headsand um, you know, we had at that
time a lot of like, what doesthat mean?
Because opposites attract andthen, yeah, let you know, he, I
thought that, you know, my poopdidn't stick and I was awesome
(09:32):
and dad thought that, Hey, youknow what, I've given my son an
opportunity, he's not reallydoing it well.
He's kinda, you know, justcoming to work everyday going
home and you know, he's taking,he's taking it for granted I
think.
Title.
Yeah.
A lot of entitlement.
Yeah.
Good point.
You might've thought that aboutyou and upon reflection, was
there some yeah, I think therewas.
(09:53):
Okay.
I think there was, I was, youknow, pretty much immature and I
could see, I see his sidelooking back on it and um, but
we were just clashing and didn'tget along and fought all the
time.
And he just kinda said, hang onone little father son thing too,
right?
Yeah.
My dad and I had a father.
Yeah, I remember.
And for call.
Yeah.
That's tough.
(10:13):
Very, very tough.
Very tough.
So came back, you know, tailbetween my legs and what did it
start, if I can ask you, you area little humbled, a little more
appreciative of what you had atparks, maybe realizing that this
was a unique opportunity thatyou had.
How would your dad evolved?
We mean your absence.
(10:35):
What did, was he a differentperson or did he approach things
differently or was he, or do youjust kind of warm to the way he
did things?
I think internally he did, buthe never vocally said what did
you, what did you internally forthink?
Well, he, the, the departmentkind of that I was started and
everything that's kind of fellto the wayside a little bit
after you left.
Right, right.
(10:56):
Okay.
And they'd had two or threesales guys and, and he was, he
was having to take all theseangry phone calls from customers
and anything else.
And so he never told me this,but I think he also kind of
appreciated me coming back.
Yeah.
Well, you know, I, I would thinkthat, you know, your family and
(11:16):
maybe there's a higher, therecould have been a higher degree
of commitment, even in your ownunique way as a young man.
Right.
Versus an employee.
Right, true.
Well, and it could be as simpleas, as he's tired of my mom
complaining that I wasn'tworking there.
And he said, son, come back andtell your mom, you know, well,
shut up and leave me alone aboutit.
You know?
I do think it could be some ofthat too.
(11:37):
Mom was in your corner.
Oh yeah.
She wanted you back home.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
She, she did, she did thepayroll every single week for 18
years manually.
Okay.
Pretty, pretty impressive.
So she's in a business then sheknows what's going on.
Right.
Yep.
Very cool.
Very good.
So you came back in a 10, 10 andthen what happened after you
(12:00):
came back?
Well, I knew I had, this was mylast shot.
My dad will give you a secondchance, but he didn't give you a
third.
So I really had to take it kindof serious.
And and do those things.
So, uh, eventually got married,we started growing in the
business, uh, was attendingLennox events at that time.
That was kind of only what weknew about.
Fast forward a little bit, uh,met will and Shannon during that
(12:22):
whole process, the plantainsfrom w Fayetteville,
Fayetteville golf tournamenttoday?
I think.
I think so.
Yeah.
I think so.
Anyways.
Good folks.
Yeah.
Great.
Folks did that and then we wereat somewhere somehow and they
said, Hey, you know why?
Um, we think you should look at,you know, joining Nexstar yeah.
Um, cause you want to grow andeverything else.
(12:43):
And dad was kinda gone.
So he's, he's in Raleigh fromMonday til Friday.
Senator.
Correct.
And very hard to get ahold ofand doing things and kinda
needed some processes.
You running the whole businessat this time?
No, I wasn't on the serviceside, correct?
Correct.
Okay.
Let me ask you a question.
You said, I want to delve intothis a little bit further.
So you said you came back andyou said this was my second
(13:04):
chance.
And with Tommy, my father,there's no third chance.
I knew I had to kind of get it.
What, so what, what behaviorallydid you do different, if
anything?
Or just describe the differentwhy at round two versus round
one, you know, think before youspeak, I think.
Okay.
(13:24):
Right.
And actually respect him as abusiness owner, not just dad,
can you challenge every singlething or you are challenging
every single thing as a fatherbefore kind of being rebellious
and thinking, I, you know, right, right.
Had it all figured out.
So, you know, coming back andbeing humble, doing that, I
really started to respect himand listen and just do what he
(13:45):
tells me to do.
And I finally had lies in it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And move on.
Kind of grow up.
That's cool man.
That's so good.
I, that's a great story.
And I met your father, he's agreat guy, you know, and uh, but
I understand the dynamic, right.
And it's so easy to, to say,Hey, business is business and
(14:05):
family's family and boy, I can'timagine.
Yeah, I, you know, but I likethat old school mentality of
that too.
You know, I think that someowners are, some dads are, they
see Rose colored glasses,they're their children.
Yeah.
And, and are kind of don't takethings as reality.
They're right.
(14:26):
And know that they're going toface the hard facts.
Right.
And Ambien in him being an ICICP rep and being in contractor
stuff, he had seen some second,third generations.
And so he, he needed to give methat tough love.
Right.
So that I, you know, cause thatwas as big as fear and we'll,
we'll get to that later aboutthe transition to doing that
was, is, you know, just being amess up, you know, um, he didn't
(14:47):
want me to be and that, I thinkthat was what he thought that
choice was at the, and we movedon.
Cool.
All right, well thank you forsharing that.
That's very cool.
And that's a great message inthere, but we'll keep going.
Cause I want to, you hadmentioned, so you have, you
bumped into will and ShannaBlanton at a Lennox event and
they were talking up next door.
So you looked into it, youjoined.
Yes.
(15:07):
Right?
Yes.
So let's give people a snapshottoday.
What year was that?
That was 2013.
Okay, so that was six years ago.
Yeah.
So describe a parks today, thenwe'll go back to the transition
so people kind of know where youare today and then we'll go back
to kind of when your transitionto business.
Sure.
Today we're about 16, 16 and ahalf million.
(15:29):
Okay.
Uh, about 60, 40 still newconstruction and then 40%
replacement.
Okay.
Um, I'll HAC all these facts.
I'll answer that in your marketis it says Indian trail.
Charlotte.
Charlotte market.
Okay.
Right outside.
Got it.
Yeah.
So in that great market.
Yeah.
So we, but we've kind of stayedat between 10 and 12 million new
construction penalty accounts.
(15:50):
And then we just kind of, youknow, the, the remainder has
been the service replacement andeverything else.
So about exceed 60, 40%.
So 6 million, 7 million ofservice replacement restaurant,
residential new construction.
Correct.
Got it.
So when did you decide, how didyou, when did you and your dad
tar start talking abouttransition?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
[inaudible]
Speaker 1 (16:12):
that's a good question.
I think, uh, probably 2017.
So you came back in 10 and youjust were a foot soldier,
correct?
You weren't, did, did you ownany of the business?
I didn't own any of thebusinesses, kind of a sales guy.
Okay.
Uh, I was a comfort advisor.
I'll use showing the incomestatement where, you know, our,
our controller, that was one bigfundamental piece and Nexstar
(16:33):
saved us was we had a really,really overbearing controller
time and I really, what Ithought he wanted was to, you
know, eventually when this, wellmy dad was gonna get out to buy
it from him.
Okay.
Go ahead.
His eyes on the business.
Right.
So he kind of kept everythingvery, very close.
So never got to see any of thatstuff.
He kind of resent you.
(16:53):
Yeah, he did.
I think so.
And looking back, you know, uh,my would knee, right?
I mean if, if we met today,maybe different.
Yeah.
But, um, he, you know, old tapesas my dad would say, I think our
controller had some old tapesand prior tapes.
Yeah.
Like, you know, old tapes,meaning it's hard for him when I
(17:15):
made a mistake or did somethingto look back.
Is this, you know, the, theimmature Wyatt tapes in his head
of what you are like theWilmington beach Wyatt, correct.
At 19 year old.
Why or why not?
The slightly more discerning 28year old.
Why it's true that yes.
Got it.
All right.
Okay.
All right.
So you are a sales guy sellingreplacements kind of cause I'm
(17:38):
managing that department.
Right.
You're trying to do it allslowly grown it.
Is that fair?
So in 2017, what happened?
Who came to who?
Well, dad, um, he, he was readyto get out.
Yeah.
And um, we were really[inaudible] ask, how old is your
father at this point?
My dad's seven years old at thispoint.
(18:00):
Um, and, you know, count backwith math and dates.
I'll, I'll let you help me withthat.
But uh, you know, he, he wasreally saying I'm in protection
mode and why you're in growmode.
Got it.
And that's kinda mentally hit,went there.
Yeah.
Why wouldn't you?
It's true.
Yeah.
It's not, it's not.
Yeah, I get it.
Right.
So, uh, that started it.
And um, he came to you withthat, with that frame of
(18:23):
reference.
Yes, he did.
Yes he did.
And, and, and therefore, sofinish that sentence.
Um, I'm in protection mode.
You're in growth mode.
Therefore what?
Therefore, you know, if you wantto buy me out or you want to, do
you want to take over all theshares and do that?
I need to see a business plan.
I'm not sure why it in astructured deal that I'm okay
(18:46):
with uncomfortable with.
Okay.
So he, he, he just said you needto do that, right?
Very black and white old school.
Did he, did he help you with itor did you have to come to him
with a fully baked plan?
I had to come to him with afully baked plan.
He was always that way.
Hey, presented to him and thenlet him make a decision.
How did you create it?
(19:06):
Uh, just relationships andpeople that I've met their next
door.
Okay.
So you, you crafted a businessplan.
Of course you're here writing abusiness plan.
So you're correct and now youknow, I do this, this routine,
but things would come in.
Yes.
And then you had to figure outhow to pay.
He obviously didn't gift it toyou.
Right.
So you had to pay for it.
Yes I did.
So he had some funding sourcesfor that.
Yeah.
Had the cash in your 401k again?
(19:26):
No, no, I hadn't talked to a,had talked to a bank.
So you know, I think thatthrough that, getting that
business plan, I learned a lot.
Right.
You know, I basically learn, youknow, I had to get over the fact
that Hey, I'm paying for myinheritance.
You know, I felt like I thoughtthere's an entitled mindset that
it's very, it was very easy togo there.
Sure.
And you know, I had to learnthat, why you need to make this
(19:49):
business profitable enough causeyou don't have that kind of
money in your 401k or savingsaccount to buy the business.
So take the, take the profit andwhat you learned and what you've
[inaudible] all the stuffthrough the next star.
Look at it as, Hey, to get abank to sign on a note to help
you get your dad out and dothose things.
You take that hard work in thatprofit that you made is this is
(20:11):
for you to buy it out insteadof, you know, the entitlement of
saying, Hey dad, I got you tothis point.
Right.
Why can't you just give it tome?
You know what I'm saying?
I do.
I do.
I do.
That's an, of course in theory,I'm, I, this is a terrible
thing, but I'm going to say it.
So you, you pay your, yourfather for it and you know,
parish authority passes.
(20:32):
I'm assuming you're still on air.
You still get it, right?
Yeah.
A little bit later, you know, alittle bit later.
And of course there's othersiblings involved in it.
I don't know how that works, butyeah, we won't go there.
This podcast.
No, for sure.
Well, we all have that, right?
That's what a,
Speaker 3 (20:48):
yeah, it's all we all got that.
No comment.
No comment.
It's all good.
So you had to, to, to puttogether a plan.
So you, you did, you wrote abusiness plan.
So had you, did you knowanything about new construction
at this point?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, so looking at that data, it's 16 we, he made a
very good decision, in myopinion.
He kind of fired the controllerand did his typical, Hey, you
know, I listen to you and yourmom.
You don't have to deal with it.
I'm going to Raleigh.
He didn't technically say that,but that's what he did.
So I had to really get in anddig in and learn the business
and thank goodness that I hadbecome the business.
(21:23):
Plenty of workshops.
I had to research the next staror we wouldn't be in existence
today.
You had to learn that business,correct?
Correct.
So by 2017 talking with a bankand and talking with, you know
how I prepare and do all thisnext door got me there to be
able to understand that.
Okay, well of course, next door.
Does it recommend you run a newconstruction business?
(21:43):
They do not.
They do not.
That's another podcast.
Sure.
Yeah.
When we learned from thatexperience, we'll come back here
five or six years.
Yes sir.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Anyway, it's all good.
Um, no, uh, so, so you, youwrote a plan, got some funding,
sat down with dad and said, hereit is.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah.
So that was a 2017[inaudible].
Well, we still had 2018 in thebile didn't happen until 2019.
What happened?
2018 cold feet.
My mom, you know, this was ouridentity.
Like I said, she 18 years andevery mom's involved to correct
this is, this is her identity,her life, she'd been doing it
for every week for it.
(22:21):
Correct.
Is she saw when my dad boughtMr.
Parks out in 2000 she saw whatit did to him and just the
parks.
Yes.
He had nowhere to go.
Well, no, my dad, like, youknow, the stress of having the
debt, running a business,everything goes to your father.
Right, right.
And so her being a mother, youknow, seeing that, you know, I,
(22:41):
I paid a substantially moreamount of money than my dad did.
And you know, my wife doesn'twork in the business.
Uh, she was very concerned anddidn't understand quite why my
dad was doing this this way.
And that was a lot of who shewas trying to challenge your dad
or you?
I think both.
I think both.
Cause dad didn't have a, hedidn't have a plan after if this
(23:03):
happened, you know, I kind ofsaid no, no, no, no.
Um, well may have eventuallybeen, but it wasn't at that
time.
Yeah.
And they're very black and whitepeople and I, and they knew, I
think deep down in their heartthat wants this happen, that
they were going to have to beout.
And so my mom had a little bitof that.
Oh wow.
Cause she's seven years younger.
(23:23):
My dad, this is her identity.
She's not going to be able to goget a job anywhere else.
So she had to deal with that.
But also she was concerned abouther son with the stress and the
pressure and everything going tobuy out.
And then my dad, um, you know,now what, he's retired from the
Senate, he's, he's gonna sellhis business.
You can only Burt on so manytimes, you know, in certain
parts of the year.
(23:44):
What do you do now?
So all of that, there was a lotof family dysfunction and
dynamics in 2018.
Yeah.
Um, what, did you just need tosit on things?
Did you just did it like, I'mgoing to sit and think about
this.
Did you keep talking or did youjust give each other space?
There was times where we talkedand where we didn't, you know,
my dad did promote me to generalmanager to which, so that kind
(24:07):
of shut me up for a little bit,you know, cause I was still
pushing.
I'm a let's get it done.
Let's, let's, you know, whilethe iron is hot, um, time kills
all deals.
True.
I heard that from somebody.
Yes.
Tom Swift told me that once,that that's a pretty cool
statement is drills.
If you'll wait to take longenough time, you can kill
anything.
Right.
And, and so we had a, uh, allonsite Gresham came in one night
(24:30):
we went to dinner.
Okay.
And you know how Gresham is?
Sure.
Russian Mars, one of ourbusiness coaches.
Yes.
And he kind of pushed my parentsand saying, Hey, what would it
take for you to trust why it, uh, to, to, you know, buy the
business and you do thesethings.
Cause that was my dad and mom'sbiggest fear was trust.
Well, not the trust that Iwouldn't screw it up.
(24:53):
Did the seller, they were there.
They, they're worried that it,it'd be you wouldn't make it
right.
Yeah, I get that.
But they never had an answerwith Gresham on what it, what
needed to happen.
Detail for them to be okay to,to, to make it happen.
Uh, so that, that was very eyeopening for them.
(25:13):
It's interesting though, thebank was paying you, paying your
father.
Yes.
Right.
So he wasn't holding a note.
No, no.
Well, he had the first originaldeal.
He has a, uh, small promissorynote at the end.
Right.
Not the whole thing.
I have the bad days.
Um, and so the, the part of itwas, is my mom, you know, she
was like, Hey, why don't youjust pay your dad a certain
(25:34):
amount of money for the rest ofhis life and be done with it and
get the bank out of Israel?
And so dad said, you know, Hey,okay, but if he screws it up,
then I don't, this is, this ismy retirement, this is this all
I got.
And so he, he was not going todo that deal and he stuck to his
guns lap to right.
Yeah.
Right.
And so he didn't, he didn't wantto do that.
(25:55):
Yeah.
I don't blame him.
Yeah.
That can be a challenge.
So what, what so Gresham'spushing and what would it take?
And there was no answers.
So then therefore what happened?
So I finally just had to takethe reality and somebody told me
one time said, Hey, why peoplebuy businesses every day?
You know, you're scared aboutthe money.
I kind of had gotten down onmyself about it.
The deal is kind of stalled.
(26:16):
How am I going to do this?
A little bit in Thailand came inlike, man, why am I paying for
my inheritance?
All of those internal thingsgoing ahead.
But somebody said, Hey, why lookevery people buy businesses
every day?
Why can't today be yours?
Yeah.
Wow.
You know, some that's simple.
So we got over that and, andwent to the, uh, did all the
(26:37):
hard work to get everythingtogether for the bank and dad
and I, we had, uh, two meetingsand we did it in a public place
about talking about the priceand how it would lay out and
what it would do.
You mentioned public placesthat's significant.
For what reason?
So that we didn't, you know, noshouting, yelling like, no, just
(26:59):
, yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
You know, kept a business.
That's good.
That's good.
Personal reflection.
There'll be better meet at arestaurant here where everybody
knows us so that we don't get intouch.
Right, right.
Yeah.
Somebody else can call nine oneone if they had to, but no, my
money's sent Tommy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, so we got, we got to theagreement.
(27:21):
I had talked to people thatwere, that were helping me out
with it and said, Hey, the, Ithink that's a reasonable price.
Yeah.
I think the request of your dadis fair.
So then the bank, you know, wehad draw up all that for them,
had attorneys and blah, blah,blah, and uh, you know, got it
done.
What did w when was it done?
Do you remember the day?
The whole a hundred percentshares transfer.
(27:42):
Everything else was June, July1st of 20, 19 2019 this year.
I, you feel that day broke?
I bet, right?
What do you mean?
Oh, broke?
I mean broke like I don't haveany money.
Yeah, well that and like, okay,now what?
Like, Oh, like the dog chasingthe bus and finally caught the
bus.
(28:02):
Oh no, no, I do with it.
Right.
Like my dad kind of like, whenwe got up and we walked out, I
think we're kind of led down,you know, a little bit like,
this is it, you know, there wasno like, you know, big song and
dance.
There was no, you know, we was alittle melancholy.
For your father, maybe[inaudible] I bet.
(28:23):
Yes.
Yes, it was.
I can see it.
Yeah.
And he, uh, you know, he, we hada month or two prior, once we
knew everything was approved andit was just kinda, you know,
paperwork, blah, blah, blah.
We had a breakfast for him, foremployees and I was kind of an
emotional time, you know.
Um, so we had already done that,but when we signed it and got
everything finalized, it was alittle melancholy, you know,
(28:46):
cause he's still my dad.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the, you know, I have toimagine, you know, in that
moment that there's gotta be somany different emotions from
pride to maybe regret on somelevel or, you know, just
confusion.
Yeah.
You know, you probably, you get,it's not one word.
You know, like he'd go hunting,you shoot a deer.
(29:08):
Like I feel great man.
Right.
That's awesome, man.
But this has gotta be so complexon both sides of this thing that
you sometimes probably didn'tknow what to say.
That's true.
Right?
Like I feel five things.
He's feeling five things.
So there's, what the heck.
You talk about nice day out,huh?
Geez.
When did it, so did, did the,uh, how long did it take you
(29:29):
when you started in the businesson July 2nd now going forward?
Did it feel, or is it yetnatural?
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Is it yeah, yeah, 2019 you know, they kind of had
moved away, you know, fromJanuary cause we agreed to a
price in January.
And so he kinda was, was outthere was a possibility here
running for that congressionalseat there that, you know,
district nine thing that, thatwhole, all that stuff.
(29:57):
So the gerrymandering going ondown there, I never really got
into politics but that, so thatwas a big deal.
Um, and so they were out andthat kind of was a transition,
you know, then we had to dealwith my mom and she got real,
real sick and so we kind of wentto the deal through the deal and
we had switched payrolls and sowe did a lot of dynamics.
(30:19):
So June 2nd wasn't like, okay,like now what?
Like what am I going to do?
Where it's like, we got a peergroup coming up in October, dad,
see I gotta get back to work,you know,
Speaker 3 (30:28):
so it did, it did it.
So he was, he really wasn't inthe business that much.
So he was kinda, there was aWyatt show at that point and
some people were uh, orientatingwith you and no one was going to
Tommy behind your back chattingabout stuff you are, you are
really running the show.
Correct.
Right.
So there wasn't a, didn't golike that.
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Well thinking on that, if there was a, I just
briefly want to speak on this.
My dad came to the, you knowthe, your event in December.
The pheasant, huh?
Yeah.
My president.
Yeah.
And not to get emotional, but wewere sitting in Sioux falls,
South Dakota, six o'clock on aSunday morning and he said, son,
I'm proud of you.
And that was one of the fewtimes that he had said that or
(31:09):
done that.
And the reason it was is he knewthe peers that I associated with
through next star.
And he had met everybody on thathunt.
Correct.
And he knew I was with good guythat would take care of me and
helped me.
And so that was a, that was aproud moment in my house
Speaker 3 (31:26):
that well that makes me feel good that we had a great
time and Tommy sure enjoyedhimself.
He did, you know, and, and uh,you know, he told me something
that hunt this.
He said, I'm sitting backwatching all this go on and
watching your dogs work andwatching everybody hunt.
And I just, that's what I justlike to do.
So I can just see him justprobably just sitting back, not
(31:47):
he, he was talking about doing apheasant hunt and he was kind of
on a high point just kind ofwatching the action.
But, um, I guess what I'm sayingis he was doing the same thing
on a broader sense with you as ason, integrating with smart,
high quality business owners andseeing you engaged in
conversations that he probablynever thought you'd have.
(32:07):
And that, that dump kid inWilmington who's right, you
know, having a beer on thebeach, you know, that kind of
stuff.
And all of a sudden, here's thismature young man.
Correct.
You know, hang out with goodfolks.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah.
Cause he didn't go to manyevents or do anything.
So it all[inaudible].
Yeah.
Right.
So that was good.
That was a big deal for us.
I bet.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
So that was a, that was what they call it.
Corner Turner.
Huh?
Well that's, that's so cool.
That's so cool.
Well this has been a fascinatingjourney, a fascinating story.
And uh, how's the businessdoing?
Business is
Speaker 1 (32:40):
doing good.
Um, timing's everything.
So 2019 for me has been wildride and don't have time to get
into all that.
But I think the other thing thatheld my parents to the fire
about getting the deal done andeverything else was we had, we
had a peer group and I had askedour formal peer, correct.
Correct.
And I had recruited a lot ofpeople and some people told me,
(33:02):
you know, maybe why this isn'tthe best time to do it, but I'm
not that way.
Like, Hey, if we committed,we're on the sheet, we're going
to do it.
Yeah.
Um, did that help?
That did help it.
It was the perfect timing forme.
Yeah.
Cause you're starting a new, anew chapter.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Sure.
Right.
Right.
And you again, you get someincredible people coming in
there.
Yes.
Eyes on the business, you know,to give you some advice and
counsel for free.
A lot of work.
But you know,
Speaker 1 (33:26):
so anybody listened to this out there, you know, as
brutal as it may sound andeverything about what happens at
a peer group.
You know, I got the two bottlesof lube sent to me.
That's some funny stories aboutall that unusual for you.
Yeah.
A little bit, a little bit.
Uh, but uh, you know, sign up.
Yeah.
It's a great thing.
And people do care and there'sno secret sauce or anything.
(33:50):
Just do what they tell you to doand it, it all works out.
So, um, I owe a lot to theorganization next door and I had
a lot of the people that came.
Yeah.
Um, and, and just everybodyshortly after that followed up
with me, made sure I was okay.
Um, I kinda, it was my awesometime of, you know, people were
(34:11):
looking at me and next door nowis as an owner before the son of
the son of the boss.
And I felt like this was myhazing event of, you know,
transitioning from, Oh, you'rejust general manager.
Why it's a, you know, you kindajoined the boys, now you, you
own your own business.
I think there's nobody saidthere's a sense of respect, but
I felt like there is now, causeI can, I can come to the table
(34:33):
the same as, you know, all theother guys that I associate with
and that was a hazing process.
But you know, now, now I feellike I'm in and just going to do
what they tell me to do.
I've heard about it
Speaker 3 (34:44):
four different rites of passage on this conversation,
which is so cool.
We go from this entitled kid toa good steward of a company and
an employee and getting throughthat and then having your dad
say he's proud of you and thenhaving your peers walk through
and kind of make thattransition.
And that journey is fascinating.
Well done, man.
(35:04):
Thank you.
Well done.
What a great story.
Yes, I will do this again.
Okay.
Because your story is stillbeing written and it's a darn
good one.
And congratulations to theTucker family too.
For those folks who might listento this on not every business
successfully transitions and ittakes a lot effort from first,
second, third, and all thosefolks.
I know it's not easy.
(35:26):
And uh, we, we discovered in 35minutes what took a lifetime to
accomplish.
Right?
And more to tell.
So I thank you.
Thank you, Jack.
All right.
And thank you all for listening.
It's very interesting.
Episode leadership lounges, Jacktester with Mr.
Wyatt Tucker, and we will catchyou next time.
Thanks so much.
Hi, this is Jack tester and welcome to another
episode of leadership lounge.
I always tell you where I am andI'm in Saint Paul, Minnesota,
and I'll tell you that today isthe first snowfall of the year.
So I drove in today on snowyroads.
It's November 6th I believe, andsitting across from me is a guy
that doesn't know much aboutsnowy roads, white Tucker from
(00:30):
parks, heating and cooling andNorth Carolina.
How are you doing?
Why?
Hey, Jack and Morgan, how areyou today?
Thanks for coming in.
Yeah, a little bit of snow onthe ground today where you walk
through the Skyway to get herethough.
So no, I went outside and wedon't get much snow in North
Carolina, so I enjoy it.
I didn't, I didn't eat any snow,but I definitely was take a snow
angel via.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wanted to, I may.
(00:50):
I took pictures from my wife itto my kids this morning.
They're like, what's that dad?
It's pretty cool.
You know, it's funny, folks thatcome in from out of town,
especially Southern kids, whenthey see snow outside, they'll
sit and look at the window justlike the school kid.
Like, Oh look at that.
But that's true.
No, we had a snow, a littlesnowfall two days ago and this
guy in from Florida my age andhe looked at like a little kid.
I got to go outside and stand init and I said, go ahead.
(01:13):
It looks ridiculous to me, but Iguess it's all what you're used
to.
Yeah, that's true.
But Hey, thanks for coming in.
What brings you to town?
Uh, here for the BPW.
It's a business plan workshop.
All right, so getting yourbusiness plan written for 2020.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Well you've got an interestingstory and I, and I saw you on
the, the attendee list and Isaid, you know what, I'm going
to have you come in and talkbecause you have recently, are
(01:36):
you the second or the thirdgeneration?
Second generation.
Right.
And so you've actually done thetransition from the, your father
started the business.
No, no, no.
He bought her from mr bud parksin 2000.
Okay.
And then he ended up until, uh,in the last year.
And then we finalize a lengthyand fun buy out.
(01:58):
Uh, okay.
This year.
All right.
So now is is your, what's yourfather's name?
Tommy.
Tommy?
Yeah.
Is he still involved?
No.
No, he's not.
Okay.
He's fully retired.
Okay.
Um, he's doing a little bit, uh,he was a state Senator
[inaudible] for eight years.
And so he kinda, um, big oldturn.
Nothing political going on inNorth Carolina?
No, not at all.
Not at all.
So, uh, but he's helping with,uh, doing some consultant work
(02:21):
and helping out, uh, somenonprofit stuff up there and
probably got it.
Well, that's interesting.
So I want to talk about this.
So let's, and, and, and we'vetalked about this very briefly.
I don't know where this is goingto go, but we just said, look,
in a transition, there's thingsyou learn in a transition.
There's emotions you feel,there's things you look back on
and say, wow, that was reallycool.
(02:41):
And there's things you look backon and go, Oh boy, I wish I
could have avoided that.
So we're going to go there.
Okay.
Is that all right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So when did you come into parks?
So I came in in a fall of Ohseven.
Okay.
What we'll do then?
I was a 22.
All right.
No, excuse me.
No, no, no, I was, yeah, 23actually college kid.
Yeah, college kid.
(03:01):
I was the five-year guy.
So it was I by the way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that's true.
And I was the first male Tuckerto graduate from college.
So that was kind of my interviewprocess or whatever to get in
the business with that did sodid you come right out of
college?
Right into parks?
I did.
No kidding.
Well you agreed to do that ordid you take something fun like
(03:24):
yeah, I was a turfgrassmanagement major.
Um, okay.
Which is natural for heating andair conditioning guy.
True.
Very true.
So I thought that, uh, you know,after, cause I played baseball
in my life, I played baseball incollege and everything else.
I thought it'd be awesome to bea groundskeeper.
Sure.
At some major league ballparkone day.
And Carl, yeah.
(03:45):
I was the guy who reads, keepCarl from Scotty show.
Yeah, yeah.
Name for, you know, we wanted todo that for uh, you know, that
was my goal or vision do thateither golf course or baseball
field.
But, uh, I think at that timeand fall of, Oh seven dad had
his biggest year ever and I wassix and then, cause they were
primarily new construction,which I know is a Nexstar cuss
(04:08):
word around here.
We'll get to that in a littlebit.
Um, so we did it.
He did that, uh, in Oh six, Ohseven started at last, a, a
counter to kind of need somehelp and transition in that.
But the main focus for me, whyhe wanted me in there was his
parks had primarily been a newconstruction business since
1973, but before dead body, hewas a factory rep for ICP and
(04:31):
one of his biggest customers wasDewey Morris Jenkins.
Yeah.
And so dad going and calling onthem and having a relationship
with Dewey and everything else.
He saw the replacement side ofit.
And that was what he kind ofvisioned me saying, Hey, why,
look, I've made a good livingdoing new construction, but I'm
going to give you an opportunityto take zero change outs, zero
(04:51):
service calls, you know, outsideof a warranty here and there
after the first year warrantywith the builder, never call us
again.
Right.
That was kind of the philosophyback then.
Hope to true.
True.
And saying, Hey, you know, hereyou go.
Yeah.
So you came in with no businessexperience and dad said, I want
you to basically start a newdepartment.
(05:13):
[inaudible] yeah.
In 2007.
Yeah.
And so he, uh, you know, being agreat communicator said, Hey,
here you go.
This is a good communicator,isn't it?
No, no.
Well not one mission, right.
He is a politician.
He likes to talk.
But, um, so sent me to, you know, Sandler Institute to, uh,
learn sales and everything else.
And I had worked on the, duringthe summertime between like
(05:36):
baseball, everything else.
I'd work in the summertime andhelp him start out washing
trucks and doing things likethat and, uh, really saw that
side of taking care of thecustomer and doing things that,
you know, that was where Iwanted to focus in.
Were you okay with that?
Makes you excited about thisopportunity?
Yes, I was.
Okay.
So keep going.
Yes.
So went through, went throughthat.
(05:57):
Obviously the recession came andwe went from 130, I think
employees down to 29.
Um, one way very remarkable thatmy dad was able to take, you
know, totally all newconstruction, getting paid
builder 60, 90 days, lose allthat work, lose all those
employees and didn't have toshut the doors.
(06:19):
And he, um, you know, didn'ttake a paycheck for two years,
but he was able to, you know,stay in the recession and
everything else to get throughthat, which I, I still to this
day thinks quite amazing.
No one him and knowing hispersonality, um, for him to do
that.
During that though, um, did youtake a paycheck during their sex
(06:39):
?
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I had to head to all right.
Uh, but during, during thatwhole process, he and I kind of
butted heads.
I didn't kind of see the bigpicture.
I was really wanting to grow ourdepartment or division and
didn't see it.
And so we, uh, he told me to getout.
He, he fired me in December ofOh nine.
Um, and I said yes.
So I went on down to Wilmington,North Carolina thinking I was
(07:02):
the man, had my state license,everything else and I was just
going to open up a shop at thebeach.
How old are you then?
So that would be, I don't know,25 26.
Okay.
You knew it.
Oh man.
Had had everything.
So to charge true cash, my 401kran like a, I think maybe two or
three service calls, you wouldsay moved to Wilmington.
(07:25):
Yeah.
For six months.
Right.
Ran two calls in six months.
Something like that.
You just party or what?
Yeah, I did actually partied andlived on the beach and just
kinda didn't take life serious.
I had a, you know, thought aboutgetting, you know, Duke going
and working for somebody else orgoing back to school or doing
something like that, but 401kjust kind of lived on it.
(07:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was a, a lot of fun.
But then so turn, flip side,January, 2010 I was down there
for about a few months here.
Give her their cake.
Why remember all that?
But uh, dad said, Hey, I'm goingto run for state Senate.
I need you to come back.
So you fired you.
(08:06):
Yup.
And then, and then brought meback cause he had a couple other
guys come in and try and run thedepartment and everything else
and they really didn't do a goodjob.
So why didn't you hear I'mbetter how you this, we'll call
it, I'll call it a sabbatical,you know, whatever you want to
call it when you're down therein the beach drinking beer.
And that, my, uh, you know, my,my poop does stink, right.
(08:27):
That I'm not, I'm not thatawesome and that I don't have it
all right.
Uh, it was very humblingexperience and learned that, uh,
you know, business is difficultand it's really hard to get
something off the ground.
So I really admired that.
You know, parks always had doneabout 10 or 12 million new
construction.
You could get it to that like,wow, that was, um, that's an
(08:49):
accomplishment.
And then, you know, on the, onthe flip side of that is that I
had a better opportunity ofgetting something the ground
inside parks instead of outsideof parks.
Right.
So what led you, if I can ask,what led you to, to walk away
the first time or not, or to beasked to walk away.
What was the, what was thedynamic?
What was the riff?
I'm just gonna say it and youcould say it's none of your
(09:10):
business Jack.
Yeah, no, it, it, it is, uh, mydad and our, a lot of like,
okay.
And sometimes that can be isgreat, but it's also bad too.
So we were really butting headsand um, you know, we had at that
time a lot of like, what doesthat mean?
Because opposites attract andthen, yeah, let you know, he, I
thought that, you know, my poopdidn't stick and I was awesome
(09:32):
and dad thought that, Hey, youknow what, I've given my son an
opportunity, he's not reallydoing it well.
He's kinda, you know, justcoming to work everyday going
home and you know, he's taking,he's taking it for granted I
think.
Title.
Yeah.
A lot of entitlement.
Yeah.
Good point.
You might've thought that aboutyou and upon reflection, was
there some yeah, I think therewas.
(09:53):
Okay.
I think there was, I was, youknow, pretty much immature and I
could see, I see his sidelooking back on it and um, but
we were just clashing and didn'tget along and fought all the
time.
And he just kinda said, hang onone little father son thing too,
right?
Yeah.
My dad and I had a father.
Yeah, I remember.
And for call.
Yeah.
That's tough.
(10:13):
Very, very tough.
Very tough.
So came back, you know, tailbetween my legs and what did it
start, if I can ask you, you area little humbled, a little more
appreciative of what you had atparks, maybe realizing that this
was a unique opportunity thatyou had.
How would your dad evolved?
We mean your absence.
(10:35):
What did, was he a differentperson or did he approach things
differently or was he, or do youjust kind of warm to the way he
did things?
I think internally he did, buthe never vocally said what did
you, what did you internally forthink?
Well, he, the, the departmentkind of that I was started and
everything that's kind of fellto the wayside a little bit
after you left.
Right, right.
(10:56):
Okay.
And they'd had two or threesales guys and, and he was, he
was having to take all theseangry phone calls from customers
and anything else.
And so he never told me this,but I think he also kind of
appreciated me coming back.
Yeah.
Well, you know, I, I would thinkthat, you know, your family and
(11:16):
maybe there's a higher, therecould have been a higher degree
of commitment, even in your ownunique way as a young man.
Right.
Versus an employee.
Right, true.
Well, and it could be as simpleas, as he's tired of my mom
complaining that I wasn'tworking there.
And he said, son, come back andtell your mom, you know, well,
shut up and leave me alone aboutit.
You know?
I do think it could be some ofthat too.
(11:37):
Mom was in your corner.
Oh yeah.
She wanted you back home.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
She, she did, she did thepayroll every single week for 18
years manually.
Okay.
Pretty, pretty impressive.
So she's in a business then sheknows what's going on.
Right.
Yep.
Very cool.
Very good.
So you came back in a 10, 10 andthen what happened after you
(12:00):
came back?
Well, I knew I had, this was mylast shot.
My dad will give you a secondchance, but he didn't give you a
third.
So I really had to take it kindof serious.
And and do those things.
So, uh, eventually got married,we started growing in the
business, uh, was attendingLennox events at that time.
That was kind of only what weknew about.
Fast forward a little bit, uh,met will and Shannon during that
(12:22):
whole process, the plantainsfrom w Fayetteville,
Fayetteville golf tournamenttoday?
I think.
I think so.
Yeah.
I think so.
Anyways.
Good folks.
Yeah.
Great.
Folks did that and then we wereat somewhere somehow and they
said, Hey, you know why?
Um, we think you should look at,you know, joining Nexstar yeah.
Um, cause you want to grow andeverything else.
(12:43):
And dad was kinda gone.
So he's, he's in Raleigh fromMonday til Friday.
Senator.
Correct.
And very hard to get ahold ofand doing things and kinda
needed some processes.
You running the whole businessat this time?
No, I wasn't on the serviceside, correct?
Correct.
Okay.
Let me ask you a question.
You said, I want to delve intothis a little bit further.
So you said you came back andyou said this was my second
(13:04):
chance.
And with Tommy, my father,there's no third chance.
I knew I had to kind of get it.
What, so what, what behaviorallydid you do different, if
anything?
Or just describe the differentwhy at round two versus round
one, you know, think before youspeak, I think.
Okay.
(13:24):
Right.
And actually respect him as abusiness owner, not just dad,
can you challenge every singlething or you are challenging
every single thing as a fatherbefore kind of being rebellious
and thinking, I, you know, right, right.
Had it all figured out.
So, you know, coming back andbeing humble, doing that, I
really started to respect himand listen and just do what he
(13:45):
tells me to do.
And I finally had lies in it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And move on.
Kind of grow up.
That's cool man.
That's so good.
I, that's a great story.
And I met your father, he's agreat guy, you know, and uh, but
I understand the dynamic, right.
And it's so easy to, to say,Hey, business is business and
(14:05):
family's family and boy, I can'timagine.
Yeah, I, you know, but I likethat old school mentality of
that too.
You know, I think that someowners are, some dads are, they
see Rose colored glasses,they're their children.
Yeah.
And, and are kind of don't takethings as reality.
They're right.
(14:26):
And know that they're going toface the hard facts.
Right.
And Ambien in him being an ICICP rep and being in contractor
stuff, he had seen some second,third generations.
And so he, he needed to give methat tough love.
Right.
So that I, you know, cause thatwas as big as fear and we'll,
we'll get to that later aboutthe transition to doing that
was, is, you know, just being amess up, you know, um, he didn't
(14:47):
want me to be and that, I thinkthat was what he thought that
choice was at the, and we movedon.
Cool.
All right, well thank you forsharing that.
That's very cool.
And that's a great message inthere, but we'll keep going.
Cause I want to, you hadmentioned, so you have, you
bumped into will and ShannaBlanton at a Lennox event and
they were talking up next door.
So you looked into it, youjoined.
Yes.
(15:07):
Right?
Yes.
So let's give people a snapshottoday.
What year was that?
That was 2013.
Okay, so that was six years ago.
Yeah.
So describe a parks today, thenwe'll go back to the transition
so people kind of know where youare today and then we'll go back
to kind of when your transitionto business.
Sure.
Today we're about 16, 16 and ahalf million.
(15:29):
Okay.
Uh, about 60, 40 still newconstruction and then 40%
replacement.
Okay.
Um, I'll HAC all these facts.
I'll answer that in your marketis it says Indian trail.
Charlotte.
Charlotte market.
Okay.
Right outside.
Got it.
Yeah.
So in that great market.
Yeah.
So we, but we've kind of stayedat between 10 and 12 million new
construction penalty accounts.
(15:50):
And then we just kind of, youknow, the, the remainder has
been the service replacement andeverything else.
So about exceed 60, 40%.
So 6 million, 7 million ofservice replacement restaurant,
residential new construction.
Correct.
Got it.
So when did you decide, how didyou, when did you and your dad
tar start talking abouttransition?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
[inaudible]
Speaker 1 (16:12):
that's a good question.
I think, uh, probably 2017.
So you came back in 10 and youjust were a foot soldier,
correct?
You weren't, did, did you ownany of the business?
I didn't own any of thebusinesses, kind of a sales guy.
Okay.
Uh, I was a comfort advisor.
I'll use showing the incomestatement where, you know, our,
our controller, that was one bigfundamental piece and Nexstar
(16:33):
saved us was we had a really,really overbearing controller
time and I really, what Ithought he wanted was to, you
know, eventually when this, wellmy dad was gonna get out to buy
it from him.
Okay.
Go ahead.
His eyes on the business.
Right.
So he kind of kept everythingvery, very close.
So never got to see any of thatstuff.
He kind of resent you.
(16:53):
Yeah, he did.
I think so.
And looking back, you know, uh,my would knee, right?
I mean if, if we met today,maybe different.
Yeah.
But, um, he, you know, old tapesas my dad would say, I think our
controller had some old tapesand prior tapes.
Yeah.
Like, you know, old tapes,meaning it's hard for him when I
(17:15):
made a mistake or did somethingto look back.
Is this, you know, the, theimmature Wyatt tapes in his head
of what you are like theWilmington beach Wyatt, correct.
At 19 year old.
Why or why not?
The slightly more discerning 28year old.
Why it's true that yes.
Got it.
All right.
Okay.
All right.
So you are a sales guy sellingreplacements kind of cause I'm
(17:38):
managing that department.
Right.
You're trying to do it allslowly grown it.
Is that fair?
So in 2017, what happened?
Who came to who?
Well, dad, um, he, he was readyto get out.
Yeah.
And um, we were really[inaudible] ask, how old is your
father at this point?
My dad's seven years old at thispoint.
(18:00):
Um, and, you know, count backwith math and dates.
I'll, I'll let you help me withthat.
But uh, you know, he, he wasreally saying I'm in protection
mode and why you're in growmode.
Got it.
And that's kinda mentally hit,went there.
Yeah.
Why wouldn't you?
It's true.
Yeah.
It's not, it's not.
Yeah, I get it.
Right.
So, uh, that started it.
And um, he came to you withthat, with that frame of
(18:23):
reference.
Yes, he did.
Yes he did.
And, and, and therefore, sofinish that sentence.
Um, I'm in protection mode.
You're in growth mode.
Therefore what?
Therefore, you know, if you wantto buy me out or you want to, do
you want to take over all theshares and do that?
I need to see a business plan.
I'm not sure why it in astructured deal that I'm okay
(18:46):
with uncomfortable with.
Okay.
So he, he, he just said you needto do that, right?
Very black and white old school.
Did he, did he help you with itor did you have to come to him
with a fully baked plan?
I had to come to him with afully baked plan.
He was always that way.
Hey, presented to him and thenlet him make a decision.
How did you create it?
(19:06):
Uh, just relationships andpeople that I've met their next
door.
Okay.
So you, you crafted a businessplan.
Of course you're here writing abusiness plan.
So you're correct and now youknow, I do this, this routine,
but things would come in.
Yes.
And then you had to figure outhow to pay.
He obviously didn't gift it toyou.
Right.
So you had to pay for it.
Yes I did.
So he had some funding sourcesfor that.
Yeah.
Had the cash in your 401k again?
(19:26):
No, no, I hadn't talked to a,had talked to a bank.
So you know, I think thatthrough that, getting that
business plan, I learned a lot.
Right.
You know, I basically learn, youknow, I had to get over the fact
that Hey, I'm paying for myinheritance.
You know, I felt like I thoughtthere's an entitled mindset that
it's very, it was very easy togo there.
Sure.
And you know, I had to learnthat, why you need to make this
(19:49):
business profitable enough causeyou don't have that kind of
money in your 401k or savingsaccount to buy the business.
So take the, take the profit andwhat you learned and what you've
[inaudible] all the stuffthrough the next star.
Look at it as, Hey, to get abank to sign on a note to help
you get your dad out and dothose things.
You take that hard work in thatprofit that you made is this is
(20:11):
for you to buy it out insteadof, you know, the entitlement of
saying, Hey dad, I got you tothis point.
Right.
Why can't you just give it tome?
You know what I'm saying?
I do.
I do.
I do.
That's an, of course in theory,I'm, I, this is a terrible
thing, but I'm going to say it.
So you, you pay your, yourfather for it and you know,
parish authority passes.
(20:32):
I'm assuming you're still on air.
You still get it, right?
Yeah.
A little bit later, you know, alittle bit later.
And of course there's othersiblings involved in it.
I don't know how that works, butyeah, we won't go there.
This podcast.
No, for sure.
Well, we all have that, right?
That's what a,
Speaker 3 (20:48):
yeah, it's all we all got that.
No comment.
No comment.
It's all good.
So you had to, to, to puttogether a plan.
So you, you did, you wrote abusiness plan.
So had you, did you knowanything about new construction
at this point?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, so looking at that data, it's 16 we, he made a
very good decision, in myopinion.
He kind of fired the controllerand did his typical, Hey, you
know, I listen to you and yourmom.
You don't have to deal with it.
I'm going to Raleigh.
He didn't technically say that,but that's what he did.
So I had to really get in anddig in and learn the business
and thank goodness that I hadbecome the business.
(21:23):
Plenty of workshops.
I had to research the next staror we wouldn't be in existence
today.
You had to learn that business,correct?
Correct.
So by 2017 talking with a bankand and talking with, you know
how I prepare and do all thisnext door got me there to be
able to understand that.
Okay, well of course, next door.
Does it recommend you run a newconstruction business?
(21:43):
They do not.
They do not.
That's another podcast.
Sure.
Yeah.
When we learned from thatexperience, we'll come back here
five or six years.
Yes sir.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Anyway, it's all good.
Um, no, uh, so, so you, youwrote a plan, got some funding,
sat down with dad and said, hereit is.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah.
So that was a 2017[inaudible].
Well, we still had 2018 in thebile didn't happen until 2019.
What happened?
2018 cold feet.
My mom, you know, this was ouridentity.
Like I said, she 18 years andevery mom's involved to correct
this is, this is her identity,her life, she'd been doing it
for every week for it.
(22:21):
Correct.
Is she saw when my dad boughtMr.
Parks out in 2000 she saw whatit did to him and just the
parks.
Yes.
He had nowhere to go.
Well, no, my dad, like, youknow, the stress of having the
debt, running a business,everything goes to your father.
Right, right.
And so her being a mother, youknow, seeing that, you know, I,
(22:41):
I paid a substantially moreamount of money than my dad did.
And you know, my wife doesn'twork in the business.
Uh, she was very concerned anddidn't understand quite why my
dad was doing this this way.
And that was a lot of who shewas trying to challenge your dad
or you?
I think both.
I think both.
Cause dad didn't have a, hedidn't have a plan after if this
(23:03):
happened, you know, I kind ofsaid no, no, no, no.
Um, well may have eventuallybeen, but it wasn't at that
time.
Yeah.
And they're very black and whitepeople and I, and they knew, I
think deep down in their heartthat wants this happen, that
they were going to have to beout.
And so my mom had a little bitof that.
Oh wow.
Cause she's seven years younger.
(23:23):
My dad, this is her identity.
She's not going to be able to goget a job anywhere else.
So she had to deal with that.
But also she was concerned abouther son with the stress and the
pressure and everything going tobuy out.
And then my dad, um, you know,now what, he's retired from the
Senate, he's, he's gonna sellhis business.
You can only Burt on so manytimes, you know, in certain
parts of the year.
(23:44):
What do you do now?
So all of that, there was a lotof family dysfunction and
dynamics in 2018.
Yeah.
Um, what, did you just need tosit on things?
Did you just did it like, I'mgoing to sit and think about
this.
Did you keep talking or did youjust give each other space?
There was times where we talkedand where we didn't, you know,
my dad did promote me to generalmanager to which, so that kind
(24:07):
of shut me up for a little bit,you know, cause I was still
pushing.
I'm a let's get it done.
Let's, let's, you know, whilethe iron is hot, um, time kills
all deals.
True.
I heard that from somebody.
Yes.
Tom Swift told me that once,that that's a pretty cool
statement is drills.
If you'll wait to take longenough time, you can kill
anything.
Right.
And, and so we had a, uh, allonsite Gresham came in one night
(24:30):
we went to dinner.
Okay.
And you know how Gresham is?
Sure.
Russian Mars, one of ourbusiness coaches.
Yes.
And he kind of pushed my parentsand saying, Hey, what would it
take for you to trust why it, uh, to, to, you know, buy the
business and you do thesethings.
Cause that was my dad and mom'sbiggest fear was trust.
Well, not the trust that Iwouldn't screw it up.
(24:53):
Did the seller, they were there.
They, they're worried that it,it'd be you wouldn't make it
right.
Yeah, I get that.
But they never had an answerwith Gresham on what it, what
needed to happen.
Detail for them to be okay to,to, to make it happen.
Uh, so that, that was very eyeopening for them.
(25:13):
It's interesting though, thebank was paying you, paying your
father.
Yes.
Right.
So he wasn't holding a note.
No, no.
Well, he had the first originaldeal.
He has a, uh, small promissorynote at the end.
Right.
Not the whole thing.
I have the bad days.
Um, and so the, the part of itwas, is my mom, you know, she
was like, Hey, why don't youjust pay your dad a certain
(25:34):
amount of money for the rest ofhis life and be done with it and
get the bank out of Israel?
And so dad said, you know, Hey,okay, but if he screws it up,
then I don't, this is, this ismy retirement, this is this all
I got.
And so he, he was not going todo that deal and he stuck to his
guns lap to right.
Yeah.
Right.
And so he didn't, he didn't wantto do that.
(25:55):
Yeah.
I don't blame him.
Yeah.
That can be a challenge.
So what, what so Gresham'spushing and what would it take?
And there was no answers.
So then therefore what happened?
So I finally just had to takethe reality and somebody told me
one time said, Hey, why peoplebuy businesses every day?
You know, you're scared aboutthe money.
I kind of had gotten down onmyself about it.
The deal is kind of stalled.
(26:16):
How am I going to do this?
A little bit in Thailand came inlike, man, why am I paying for
my inheritance?
All of those internal thingsgoing ahead.
But somebody said, Hey, why lookevery people buy businesses
every day?
Why can't today be yours?
Yeah.
Wow.
You know, some that's simple.
So we got over that and, andwent to the, uh, did all the
(26:37):
hard work to get everythingtogether for the bank and dad
and I, we had, uh, two meetingsand we did it in a public place
about talking about the priceand how it would lay out and
what it would do.
You mentioned public placesthat's significant.
For what reason?
So that we didn't, you know, noshouting, yelling like, no, just
(26:59):
, yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
You know, kept a business.
That's good.
That's good.
Personal reflection.
There'll be better meet at arestaurant here where everybody
knows us so that we don't get intouch.
Right, right.
Yeah.
Somebody else can call nine oneone if they had to, but no, my
money's sent Tommy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, so we got, we got to theagreement.
(27:21):
I had talked to people thatwere, that were helping me out
with it and said, Hey, the, Ithink that's a reasonable price.
Yeah.
I think the request of your dadis fair.
So then the bank, you know, wehad draw up all that for them,
had attorneys and blah, blah,blah, and uh, you know, got it
done.
What did w when was it done?
Do you remember the day?
The whole a hundred percentshares transfer.
(27:42):
Everything else was June, July1st of 20, 19 2019 this year.
I, you feel that day broke?
I bet, right?
What do you mean?
Oh, broke?
I mean broke like I don't haveany money.
Yeah, well that and like, okay,now what?
Like, Oh, like the dog chasingthe bus and finally caught the
bus.
(28:02):
Oh no, no, I do with it.
Right.
Like my dad kind of like, whenwe got up and we walked out, I
think we're kind of led down,you know, a little bit like,
this is it, you know, there wasno like, you know, big song and
dance.
There was no, you know, we was alittle melancholy.
For your father, maybe[inaudible] I bet.
(28:23):
Yes.
Yes, it was.
I can see it.
Yeah.
And he, uh, you know, he, we hada month or two prior, once we
knew everything was approved andit was just kinda, you know,
paperwork, blah, blah, blah.
We had a breakfast for him, foremployees and I was kind of an
emotional time, you know.
Um, so we had already done that,but when we signed it and got
everything finalized, it was alittle melancholy, you know,
(28:46):
cause he's still my dad.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the, you know, I have toimagine, you know, in that
moment that there's gotta be somany different emotions from
pride to maybe regret on somelevel or, you know, just
confusion.
Yeah.
You know, you probably, you get,it's not one word.
You know, like he'd go hunting,you shoot a deer.
(29:08):
Like I feel great man.
Right.
That's awesome, man.
But this has gotta be so complexon both sides of this thing that
you sometimes probably didn'tknow what to say.
That's true.
Right?
Like I feel five things.
He's feeling five things.
So there's, what the heck.
You talk about nice day out,huh?
Geez.
When did it, so did, did the,uh, how long did it take you
(29:29):
when you started in the businesson July 2nd now going forward?
Did it feel, or is it yetnatural?
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Is it yeah, yeah, 2019 you know, they kind of had
moved away, you know, fromJanuary cause we agreed to a
price in January.
And so he kinda was, was outthere was a possibility here
running for that congressionalseat there that, you know,
district nine thing that, thatwhole, all that stuff.
(29:57):
So the gerrymandering going ondown there, I never really got
into politics but that, so thatwas a big deal.
Um, and so they were out andthat kind of was a transition,
you know, then we had to dealwith my mom and she got real,
real sick and so we kind of wentto the deal through the deal and
we had switched payrolls and sowe did a lot of dynamics.
(30:19):
So June 2nd wasn't like, okay,like now what?
Like what am I going to do?
Where it's like, we got a peergroup coming up in October, dad,
see I gotta get back to work,you know,
Speaker 3 (30:28):
so it did, it did it.
So he was, he really wasn't inthe business that much.
So he was kinda, there was aWyatt show at that point and
some people were uh, orientatingwith you and no one was going to
Tommy behind your back chattingabout stuff you are, you are
really running the show.
Correct.
Right.
So there wasn't a, didn't golike that.
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Well thinking on that, if there was a, I just
briefly want to speak on this.
My dad came to the, you knowthe, your event in December.
The pheasant, huh?
Yeah.
My president.
Yeah.
And not to get emotional, but wewere sitting in Sioux falls,
South Dakota, six o'clock on aSunday morning and he said, son,
I'm proud of you.
And that was one of the fewtimes that he had said that or
(31:09):
done that.
And the reason it was is he knewthe peers that I associated with
through next star.
And he had met everybody on thathunt.
Correct.
And he knew I was with good guythat would take care of me and
helped me.
And so that was a, that was aproud moment in my house
Speaker 3 (31:26):
that well that makes me feel good that we had a great
time and Tommy sure enjoyedhimself.
He did, you know, and, and uh,you know, he told me something
that hunt this.
He said, I'm sitting backwatching all this go on and
watching your dogs work andwatching everybody hunt.
And I just, that's what I justlike to do.
So I can just see him justprobably just sitting back, not
(31:47):
he, he was talking about doing apheasant hunt and he was kind of
on a high point just kind ofwatching the action.
But, um, I guess what I'm sayingis he was doing the same thing
on a broader sense with you as ason, integrating with smart,
high quality business owners andseeing you engaged in
conversations that he probablynever thought you'd have.
(32:07):
And that, that dump kid inWilmington who's right, you
know, having a beer on thebeach, you know, that kind of
stuff.
And all of a sudden, here's thismature young man.
Correct.
You know, hang out with goodfolks.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah.
Cause he didn't go to manyevents or do anything.
So it all[inaudible].
Yeah.
Right.
So that was good.
That was a big deal for us.
I bet.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
So that was a, that was what they call it.
Corner Turner.
Huh?
Well that's, that's so cool.
That's so cool.
Well this has been a fascinatingjourney, a fascinating story.
And uh, how's the businessdoing?
Business is
Speaker 1 (32:40):
doing good.
Um, timing's everything.
So 2019 for me has been wildride and don't have time to get
into all that.
But I think the other thing thatheld my parents to the fire
about getting the deal done andeverything else was we had, we
had a peer group and I had askedour formal peer, correct.
Correct.
And I had recruited a lot ofpeople and some people told me,
(33:02):
you know, maybe why this isn'tthe best time to do it, but I'm
not that way.
Like, Hey, if we committed,we're on the sheet, we're going
to do it.
Yeah.
Um, did that help?
That did help it.
It was the perfect timing forme.
Yeah.
Cause you're starting a new, anew chapter.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Sure.
Right.
Right.
And you again, you get someincredible people coming in
there.
Yes.
Eyes on the business, you know,to give you some advice and
counsel for free.
A lot of work.
But you know,
Speaker 1 (33:26):
so anybody listened to this out there, you know, as
brutal as it may sound andeverything about what happens at
a peer group.
You know, I got the two bottlesof lube sent to me.
That's some funny stories aboutall that unusual for you.
Yeah.
A little bit, a little bit.
Uh, but uh, you know, sign up.
Yeah.
It's a great thing.
And people do care and there'sno secret sauce or anything.
(33:50):
Just do what they tell you to doand it, it all works out.
So, um, I owe a lot to theorganization next door and I had
a lot of the people that came.
Yeah.
Um, and, and just everybodyshortly after that followed up
with me, made sure I was okay.
Um, I kinda, it was my awesometime of, you know, people were
(34:11):
looking at me and next door nowis as an owner before the son of
the son of the boss.
And I felt like this was myhazing event of, you know,
transitioning from, Oh, you'rejust general manager.
Why it's a, you know, you kindajoined the boys, now you, you
own your own business.
I think there's nobody saidthere's a sense of respect, but
I felt like there is now, causeI can, I can come to the table
(34:33):
the same as, you know, all theother guys that I associate with
and that was a hazing process.
But you know, now, now I feellike I'm in and just going to do
what they tell me to do.
I've heard about it
Speaker 3 (34:44):
four different rites of passage on this conversation,
which is so cool.
We go from this entitled kid toa good steward of a company and
an employee and getting throughthat and then having your dad
say he's proud of you and thenhaving your peers walk through
and kind of make thattransition.
And that journey is fascinating.
Well done, man.
(35:04):
Thank you.
Well done.
What a great story.
Yes, I will do this again.
Okay.
Because your story is stillbeing written and it's a darn
good one.
And congratulations to theTucker family too.
For those folks who might listento this on not every business
successfully transitions and ittakes a lot effort from first,
second, third, and all thosefolks.
I know it's not easy.
(35:26):
And uh, we, we discovered in 35minutes what took a lifetime to
accomplish.
Right?
And more to tell.
So I thank you.
Thank you, Jack.
All right.
And thank you all for listening.
It's very interesting.
Episode leadership lounges, Jacktester with Mr.
Wyatt Tucker, and we will catchyou next time.
Thanks so much.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.