May 22, 2025 • 45 mins
What does it take to scale a business to 150+ locations through 28 acquisitions? For Ira, CFO of GO Car Wash and a recent CFO of the Year, it starts with culture. With over 30 years of experience, Ira shares how transparency, structure, and people-first leadership have fueled Go Car Wash’s growth from day one.
In this episode, Ira breaks down why culture matters more than cost savings in acquisitions, how finance teams can become true business partners, and why being "controller-ready" opens new career paths. Plus, you’ll hear how custom sneakers and open board decks help keep teams aligned and engaged.
Tune in to The Confidence Curve for a refreshing take on scaling, culture, and financial leadership—delivered with insight and just a touch of stand-up comedy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Confidence Curve with Ashley and
Rick Bowers, where personal andprofessional journeys define
the art of scaling withconfidence.
Whether you're a businessleader navigating change or
someone seeking personal growth,this podcast offers insights
and actionable advice to helpyou thrive.
Now let's dive into today'sconversation with our incredible
(00:26):
guest.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to the Confidence Curve with Apex GTS
Advisors.
My name is Ashley Bowers and myco-host, rick Bowers.
We are here today with Ira.
He is the CFO of Go Car Washand we are so excited to have
you with us today on the podcast.
We can't wait to get to know alittle bit more about you and,
specifically, the amazingculture that you're building and
scaling inside that business.
(00:50):
But why don't you kick us off?
Give us a little bit of yourbackground and what you're doing
these days with Go Car Wash.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, sure, thank you for having me.
It's great to be here.
You know I'm on my 30th year inaccounting and finance and
mostly work for high growthcompanies.
I started I like to tell peopleI started my career in banking
but I lost interest.
But I did start in banking andthen quickly moved to public
companies.
I worked for Republic Servicesand United Rentals.
(01:18):
After a little bit of timemoved sort of in the private
company and then with Isagenixand moved over to private equity
where I really found a homewith American Vision Partners
and currently I'm with Go CarWash.
American Vision Partners was aroll-up, so a little bit of
taste of integration etc.
And the last six years was isGo Car Wash, where it was a
(01:40):
startup in 2019.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Awesome.
So what's your favorite fromthe different things?
Do you like from the startupand the growth that you've done,
or were one of the other oneskind of fit better?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, I think from a startup perspective it's great
because you get to do everythingfrom the beginning and it's
yours, and so there's a littlebit of benefit there.
I do like that you can build itthe right way as opposed to
having to re-engineer things.
It's sometimes even harder, butyou do take a lot for granted.
You know when you start upthere's no infrastructure.
You know the computers go downand you don't have a computer
(02:16):
guy.
You are the computer guy and sothere's a lot of those
challenges.
But I think sometimes, when youdon't have to rebuild and you
can just set it from thebeginning, you could set the
strategy.
For us at Go it was huge to beable to set the culture, as you
(02:37):
mentioned, and from thebeginning and really set the
tone for how you want thecompany to run, whereas if it's
already sort of an establishedcompany, it takes a little bit
of different management to beable to do those things
management to be able to dothose things From startup to
over 150 locations in a prettyquick time frame.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
What are some of those lessons that you learned
that you might want to sharewith some other entrepreneurs
out there that are doing thewhole startup and scale phase of
their business?
You?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
know you do take a lot for granted.
That that's the first thing,but I think the biggest thing
with a startup and when you wantto be able to scale big sizes,
you have to have standardprocesses, especially multi-site
.
So you have to have the sameprocesses, you have to you send
them down to train up everybodythe same way and then you just
(03:16):
manage the variation.
So that's the first thing.
The second thing is you reallyhave to build an infrastructure
that is set up for bigger thanwhat you think you need, and to
do it earlier.
It doesn't mean it's going tobe more money, it's just the way
you set things up to be able tobe at scale.
And so being able to do thatfrom the beginning was super
(03:38):
helpful.
We were able to.
You know we're not at 500 carwashes, but that was sort of the
thing in our mind was build itfor 500.
And that helps you in a lot ofdifferent areas.
So those, those were some ofthe biggest things.
And then you know thecommunication cadence is so
important, both on operationsand finance and sales, because
(03:58):
when you are smaller, the needdoesn't feel you important at
that point.
If you have 10 sites, you knoweverybody there you've talked to
them all the time.
The key is to set thosecadences up, whether it's teams
meetings on a regular basis,slack to be able to communicate,
because then, as you say, youknow, quickly add sites, you're
(04:21):
able to scale and not loseanything.
But it's setting up thatcadence when maybe you don't
feel like it's necessary becauseyou can talk to everyone.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Do you think it's helped?
You put a focus on that,because you're here in Arizona
and you guys don't actually havesites in Arizona, right, and so
you've kind of had to deal withthat gap right from the
beginning, whereas sometimespeople start a new business,
it's in one place and then theygo to other locations and now
it's like wait, how do weduplicate the culture in other
states and other cities?
100% agree, okay.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yes, and the fact that you know we started in
Kansas City with sites and weknew this would be a field
facing business, that we knew wehad criteria for what markets
we want, and this goes with anybusiness that you might be
acquiring You'll have criteriathat fit your acquisition
pipeline, but you don't knowalways where they'll be, and so
(05:10):
for us it was really importantto set those up, because we had
Kansas City locations, then wehad Vegas locations, texas
locations, and so right from thebeginning it was a field-facing
, remote business, and so thatdefinitely helped facilitate
that cadence that we set up andmake sure that once we added
other sites, it just became partof our regular operations.
(05:34):
It's just what we did, sure.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Sometimes, in certain companies that we've talked to
or worked with, you ask aboutmission and vision and they'll
be able to rattle it off rightoff the top of their head.
Some companies, um, it's like,yeah, we have it, we don't
really focus on it too much.
When I mentioned that in ourconversation earlier this week,
you're like, yeah, this issomething that we really focus
on.
So with, in the spirit oftransparent communication and
(05:59):
communication, all theselocations and, would you say,
1900 employees.
How do you make sure everybodyis bought in and a part of the
mission and vision of Go CarWash?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah.
So you know I get prettyexcited about it, as I mentioned
with our shoes.
So you know we have Go Car Washcustomized shoes for award
winners and socks and things.
And we get pretty excited aboutour mission, vision, values.
And it's one thing to just sayit and then there, pretty
excited about our mission,vision, values.
And it's one thing to just sayit, and then there's another
thing to do it.
So some of the things thatwe've done is it starts with
hiring.
So you have to hire.
(06:33):
You don't have to hire likepeople, but you have to hire
people that fit your culture andthat will help and integrate
other businesses into yourorganization.
But you have to hire peoplethat fit your culture.
Things we do to keep the cultureis we have team-wide calls,
like a town hall type call,where we try to be transparent
(06:58):
with where we're looking, thingswe're interested in things,
we're building resources, we'readding.
We also want them to understandwhere else in the country we're
at.
You know, one of the things wehave an employee base of 1,900,
is that they could work anywherein the country.
Almost we have 10 differentstates we're in, so there's a
lot of opportunity.
So we share this.
(07:19):
On calls like go-big call, andwe try to share as much.
Now, transparency is really hugebecause it builds trust and it
builds confidence in thedirection that you're going.
So we want these people to knowwhat we're thinking.
Obviously, there's a few thingswe can't share, but for the
most part, we want them to knowwhat we know and where we're
(07:41):
going and we want to get theirthoughts and feedback on it.
So it's been a big thing for us, and where the culture has
really been important is we had28 transactions for 100 sites
and as you bring on newteammates, the culture is so
important.
Some of the teammates don't fitthe culture and they just
(08:04):
self-select themselves out, butthe majority of the teammates
are looking for something biggerthan just a three car wash
chain in our example, and sothey're looking for a culture
and then they fit right in andit just it makes the integration
and trans, you know, mucheasier for us, and so that's
where it really really pays off.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
How have you really looked at scaling the financial
systems, obviously having thefinancial background where
they're supportive of the growthand everything that you're
trying to achieve, and at thesame time don't kind of push and
break the whole operation?
I mean, that type ofacquisitive growth can obviously
put strains on an operationalmodel as well as a financial
(08:45):
model.
And so what have been some ofyour tips and tricks and maybe
some things that didn't go sowell, as you were integrating in
the sites and scaling thefinancial systems at the same
time?
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, I think from a financial perspective in our
group in particular and it couldbe in any businesses you want
to hire people with the skilland the will and you want to
hire people with talent.
Obviously, everybody's going tosay that, but a lot of times
when you start you think youdon't need that kind of talent
at that time.
And I take a different approach.
(09:15):
It's incrementally a little bitmore maybe, but the rewards are
much bigger and that personwill scale with you.
And so number one is get thebest talent.
Number two culture that talent.
And so these people arelearning what you know and
they're evolving and developing.
And with a system perspective,just like I mentioned with the
(09:35):
field standards, you buildstandards within your accounting
organization.
So standard checklist, standardprocedures, and as you get
systems integrated, you makesure that your accounting system
talks to your other systems.
That's so huge.
And then you'll add someautomation and that will free up
a lot of time for you actuallyto be business partners.
(09:57):
Because you're freeing up, youknow administrative, you know
tasks and you can be more of abusiness partner.
So we tried to put in someautomation.
We have systems that integrateand then we train up people to
be able to do everything, and Ithink that's allowed us to have
people who can do multiplethings and that's allowed us to
(10:19):
be able to continue to keep upwith the growth.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
So, as mentioned before, 28 acquisitions, what
are some of the myths ormisconceptions that people have
about kind of that?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
process.
Well, you know, first thingthey think is this acquisition
does business like us and so theintegration will be a little
more seamless.
That's not true.
Everybody's business isslightly different and, even if
they do it, very similar, whichcould be great for the culture
(10:53):
and the fit.
The integration is notnecessarily easier unless you
have the cadence ofcommunication and the culture
set up and you're wellestablished in terms of those
things.
The other thing people think is, when they acquire someone
smaller, that they're going tosave a ton of money in the cost
structure.
And that's actually not alwaysthe case either.
(11:14):
Often you will provide morethan maybe what the smaller
company was, for examplebenefits for employees.
What the smaller company was,for example Benefits for
employees, you might have.
That you might insure for more.
Because you're bigger, youmight have richer recognition
plans.
So the cost doesn't necessarilygo down.
(11:37):
But there are areas where nowyou're bulk purchasing and so
you could save some money there,and then where the real bang
for the buck is is on the topline.
You know you're able to put insome investments that can then
draw, you know, higher returnson the top line, which then
trickle through.
So I think one of themisconceptions is you know we
(11:59):
can do it cheaper, and that'snot always the case.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, I did a handful of acquisitions during my years
in real estate and I almostfelt like the ones that had the
most synergy from culture andjust thought process and
everything were actually thehardest integrations, because
every time you turn you're like,oh, that's like a really good
idea, right?
And so then you're secondguessing yourself constantly.
Well, wait, should, should webring them into?
(12:24):
how we do it, or maybe should wedo it the way they do it, and I
feel like the best success iswhen we had a little bit of mix
of both.
We learned from each other andwe made some improvements, and
it seemed like the teams cametogether a little bit more in
those instances as well, justbecause they didn't feel like it
was only one sided.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I think we've evolved throughout.
Right, we've taken bestpractices from all the different
acquisitions.
We think we had a good basis onhow to run car washes or
ophthalmology, whatever it was,but, you know, getting a lot of
smart systems, differentprocesses and integrated into
(13:06):
our system, so, no, they're huge.
I mean, as we acquired thesebusinesses, they are successful
for a reason and so we can learnfrom them as well.
So, yeah, no, we definitelytook on a lot and, you know,
made us better as a company.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It seems like you've worked with some pretty amazing
leadership teams throughout yourcareer.
You know, sometimes I know thatfinancial executives can find
themselves kind of put into abox a little bit and not always
brought up to the strategictable for all the different
decisions.
What do you think the mostunderrated skill of a CFO is
today?
What's kind of overlooked?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, I think business partnering is a huge,
huge skill that a lot of CFOsmay.
If they do have it, they'revery successful.
If they don't, then maybe notas successful.
And for me and my career Istarted at, you know, republic
Services.
In terms of my, the biggestpartnerships that I had was
where I was a controller formaybe five locations and I had
(14:02):
general managers at thoselocations.
And so every day you're workingwith these folks, you're
building relationships.
You understand what it takes toget what you need done, but
also get what you know, helpthem get what they need done.
And I think you know we we satin a room once.
It was, uh, you know, thegeneral manager and I, we were
with the districts and thedistrict said you know, ira, we
(14:25):
never gotten an expense reportfrom you.
Up here, who's signing off onyour expense report?
And I said, well, john's mygeneral manager, he's my
business partner, he's signingthem.
So they said John, you know,we've never gotten an expense
report from you.
He said, well, ira's mycontroller, he's my business
partner, he's signing them, orhe's my business partner, he's
signing them.
And they said no more, no more.
(14:45):
But you know, that's the kindof business partnering that you
have and, lucky for me, thatthat's sort of the structure
that they had, and so that waswhere I was able to learn.
Guys like James Culver and MarkKlatt back in the Republic days
really were great role modelsfor me on how they were able to
acclimate to whether it's salesor ops or any department, so I
(15:09):
was able to just learn from thema little bit and then, you know
, learn the skill.
A great example would be and Iknow a lot of people probably,
especially in accounting andfinance was the Sarbanes-Oxley
timeframe, was theSarbanes-Oxley timeframe, which
was very hard for accountantsbut equally as hard for ops
(15:29):
because it was an internalcontrol thing and they weren't
used to that and while we'reused to it, we weren't quite at
that level and so those and thenthat was when I was at Republic
Services and so embracing thatand not running from it and then
relying on those relationshipswith operations made us really
(15:50):
successful to be able to thenimplement these internal
controls that were, you know,big public company like that has
to pass, and so you know it'sit's.
That's just one example, butthe whole business partnering is
really an underappreciatedskill that I think has been huge
(16:12):
for me in my career is theresomething in that that you've
been able to pass along to yourteam?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Can they kind of learn and grow from that
specific skill that you've beentalking about?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
So one thing that I'm a firmbeliever in is and obviously
it's about people.
But as we develop people, wewant them to be.
I always say I want you to becontroller ready.
Okay, so my accountants have tobe controller ready, which
means that they're not onlybooking entries, they're doing
(16:45):
P&L reviews themselves, sothey're financial analysts.
And then, one step further,they're the ones conducting P&L
reviews with field managementand going through those P&Ls as
a business, sort of pushing themin the direction of a business
partner, and so they'reconducting those calls and
building those relationshipswith operations.
(17:06):
And so that's sort of how we doit.
I think if you don't want to bea controller, that's totally
fine, but I think it should beyour choice and not that you
lack the skill or experience,and so we're trying to get
everybody to be control or ready.
And then also, I thinktypically people will stay a lot
longer with you because they'redeveloping, they're getting
(17:29):
these other skills.
We try to rotate tasks toenrich people on different
things.
Somebody might be sick of it,the other person's excited to do
it, and so we try to do alittle bit of that and I think
that creates some tenure withyour team in a good way, and so
I think in becoming controllerready business, partnering with
ops are some of the things we doto try to keep that within our
(17:53):
little mini culture inaccounting and finance.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Let's brag on you a little bit.
So you were recently named CFOof the Year.
Obviously, that comes with alot of support and nomination
from your teams and your leadersand your community.
You know the people who workwith you and around you.
So what does that mean to youand how did your team help make
that possible?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, it was very humbling because you look around
the room and there's a ton ofreally talented, hardworking
people.
It's a good crowd, it's a goodcrowd to be in for sure, and so
it was really humbling.
This is a team award and I wastelling my team and we all say
we won and it's great because wewon you know it wasn't me, we
(18:36):
won.
You have eight playersperforming.
It's a team award, right?
If they're not developing andbeing able to do these things,
we can't provide other thingsoutside of accounting and
finance.
So that was really great, thatit truly felt like it was a team
award, which was great.
And then what personally wasgreat about it is it was I have
(18:59):
a daughter in law school now anda son just finishing second
year at ASU, and it was greatfor them to see that the
sacrifice that I've made overthe years is being recognized.
And it's just great for them intheir development and as they
start to think about how hardthey want to work or things they
want to accomplish, to be ableto see that, and so that was
(19:21):
great.
And then, lastly, just as youknow from a CFO and accounting
mindset, it was great to havethe recognition to see that
there's a lot of great workbeing done by controllers, staff
, accountants and CFOs thatlargely will get unrecognized.
And this was a night that wecould recognize all that hard
(19:43):
work.
And even the people that didn'twin, they were recognized for
what they've accomplished andthe hard work they've done, and
their teams know that they'resitting there because of the
contributions they've made.
So it was really great for justsort of the accounting and
finance field in general.
So that was really cool.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Yeah, it's kind of exciting.
It gives some encouragement tothe team, like there are things
out there that you can strivefor, and it's kind of what are
those things you want to beknown for?
And kind of, how do you build astrategy, set goals to kind of
get to that point and reallybring it in as a piece of your
culture as well?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, it's just a great reinforcement to, you know
, the team concept of you know,if we, some of our, our, our
values are caring, continuousimprovement, fun, and so you
know these, this, the fact thatwe care about each other and
we're supporting each other,that these kind of things could
be recognized, so it justreinforces what we're trying to
(20:45):
do.
It it was, it was a great nightand, uh, you know, back back to
work the next day yeah, neverends right.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
That's why we do it.
So, okay, you've mentioned theshoes a little bit, um, but tell
us a little bit more about theculture and the Go-Getter Awards
.
And you've mentioned Go Shine.
What's all that about?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yeah.
So our vision is to be the mostadmired car wash company, and
we say while enriching the livesof our teammates and customers.
And we say teammates firstbecause we feel like if we
enrich our teammates, they'll,in turn, enrich our customers.
And we say teammates firstbecause we feel like if we
enrich our teammates, they'll,in turn, enrich our customers.
(21:26):
And so some of the things wetry to do is to recognize some
of the people in the field forthe day in and day out of work
they're doing.
We have some of the hardestworking people in the industry
and so to be able to recognizethem on a call with the entire
company, to be able to say, hey,you're nominated for a
Go-Getter Award, and then youhave a chance to win some
sneakers that are, you know,customized for Go Car Wash.
(21:48):
These are the kinds of thingsthat just reinforce the culture
that we have.
And the Go Shine, you know, welike to say it's your time to go
shine, and it's really to shinefor the customer.
Right, this is your time.
We enriched you to now do thisfor your customers, because
these are the folks that areseeing people every day and
(22:12):
washing cars every single day,and so we want them to carry
that sort of customer servicetorch, and so let them go now
and enrich the customers.
So it's been great.
We have a lot of different swag, different things we're trying
to incorporate.
We had a trade show justrecently where we brought some
of the winners and able tocelebrate them sort of at a
(22:33):
trade show, which was great Someof them never been and for them
to be recognized.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
And we're going to continue to do that because I
think you know if you want tobecome the most admired company,
regardless, you know you haveto enrich the teammates, and so
we're going to continue to dothat, okay, so one of the things
that we talked about too is ismaybe, maybe in a lessons
learned or a maturity in yourcareer kind of a thing, but
(23:00):
catering to, not catering to thesweet seat, maybe in a lessons
learned or a maturity in yourcareer kind of a thing, but
catering to, not catering to theC-suite.
Say that easy was somethingthat you learned and it really
ties back to a culture piece, Ithink as well, where the people
that are doing the work are asimportant or more important than
making sure the C-suite ishappy.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah, no, it's so hard when you're a young manager
learning how to manage people.
Where should your emphasis beon?
Whether it should be on uppermanagement or people who report
to you, and how do you balanceit and how do you navigate?
And there's no real lessons tobe learned is the way to do it.
(23:42):
And so I think early in mycareer I might have pandered to
the C-suite a little bit toomuch, or upper management, so
don't pander to the C-suite, butI think it goes a little bit
past.
That is, it's also theperception more so than the
reality, but I think it's justequally as important.
And so a couple of things thatI learned was you can create a
(24:05):
culture within your organizationthat's consistent with the
bigger organization, and so, nomatter what the noise is, maybe
on the peripheral, but you alsohave your own culture within
accounting and finance, and Ithink that really puts the focus
back on your team and peoplewho report to you.
And so it takes a little while,and I think early in my career,
(24:26):
you know, I might have been toofocused on pleasing upper
management and not quitemanaging the team the way I
should, but growing pains way Ishould, but growing pains and
you know it's a great lesson tobe learned because I think it
takes on a lot of differentfacets besides just listening to
(24:46):
your team.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
It's so much bigger than that and once you can sort
of understand that and balancethose priorities, you're so much
better at your job and it's somuch more enjoyable, really is I
had a uh a meeting earliertoday and it was with one of my
high potential coaching clients,so helping them kind of
understand the people, skillsand the things that they need to
(25:08):
kind of move into that nextlevel up.
And one of the things we talkedabout today was was grit or
grittiness?
And I said to him I said whatdoes that mean to you?
And he, well, making sure I dothe things that need to be done
and show people that I can dothese things, versus having to
tell somebody and I said so, thepeople that do things and when
(25:30):
the boss is around, and thenwhen the boss isn't around,
they're standing in the corner.
He's like, yeah, not that.
And so it's like helping theyounger people understand that
it's like it's important to dothe things when nobody's
watching, and so I think that'sjust something that that that
level of team needs tounderstand is that you never
know who's kind of seeing it,from where, whatever angle, but
(25:51):
that's kind of that mentalitythat you just build into you
know one of our values.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Is integrity right and it's uh, it's.
It goes beyond just.
You know right and it goesbeyond just.
You know right from wrong it's.
Are you doing the right thingswhen no one's looking?
And you know, a lot of times noone's looking right, especially
if you have some trust built upamongst your supervisors.
And so we always say that youknow the results that we have at
(26:15):
the end of the month are notdue to anything we did at the
end of the month.
The results that we have at theend of the month are not due to
anything we did at the end ofthe month.
This is doing something everysingle day.
Whether it's accounting recons,you know accounts payable,
making sure things are codedright.
Or, if it's on the operationsside, you know making sure the
equipment's running, making sureyou're providing the best
(26:35):
customer service, sales, makingsure that you give the right
pitch because you think thatpackage is the best package for
those folks, and so you're doingthis every day.
Often nobody's looking, but ifyou can do the right things when
no one's looking, you're goingto do the right things when they
are.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
So good habits.
So you mentioned transparency afew times today Obviously a big
believer in that and the valuethat it brings into the
organization a few times todayObviously a big believer in that
and the value that it bringsinto the organization.
How do you practice anddemonstrate that transparency on
a regular basis?
Because there takes a littlebit of vulnerability right in
order to do that.
Lots of trust to be completelytransparent.
But what does that look like?
(27:12):
How does that show up for youin your day to day interactions
with your team?
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah, I think first you got to be authentic, right,
and I think that resonates withpeople.
What we do and what I think isimportant is we have a weekly
call, whether it be Echo CarWash or American Vision Partners
, wherever I've been, and nowit's teams and you're on camera.
But what we do is we go throughboard decks.
(27:36):
Now, if I have to take a fewout because I can't share, I'll
do it, but for the most partI'll take them through the board
deck, or I'll take them througha presentation I did, or I'll
take them through the managementpackage that month because
their piece is a part of it,right, but they may not other
than see because they'vecontributed to it.
(27:57):
They may not see some of theschedules.
So we usually take, you know,either one week a month or
sometimes two, depending on workis to share that with them.
So they'll always see the boarddeck and they'll often see
something different.
You know, every other week forthem to see what's going on and
(28:17):
whatever I can share, I thinkit's other week for them to see
what's going on and whatever Ican share.
I think it's important for themlike mentioned
to build confidence and trust inwhat we're doing and for them
to see this is what we'retelling other people or this is
what other people are seeing ofyour product, and so that's a
lot what we do and I think theteam enjoys it do, and I think
(28:40):
the team, the team enjoys it.
We we've had, we've beenfortunate to have, really, I
always say and and skill andwill are like the most important
thing in a teammate and we'vehad some really good promotions
within the organization and, forexample, there's one that was
accounts payable specialist,finishing his degree and
recently promoted to staffaccountant, and I said to him
(29:04):
wasn't that great that I showedyou how the cash flow statement
worked when you were in accountspayable?
Because my accounts payableteam are more than people just
paying bills.
These are business people.
These people are runningprojects, they're running
programs like card programs, andthey're doing a lot more to
develop themselves.
And my accountants, as wementioned earlier, are financial
(29:26):
analysts and business partners.
So we try to share that kind ofthing.
So you know, joked a little bitabout you know, wasn't it good
that you saw that?
Because you never know when youmight utilize something.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
There's a lot of truth in that, though.
I mean part of what we dothrough Apex is I facilitate
peer advisory groups, and so CFO, CEO, HR groups, key executives
and what we started all hearingamongst those 14 groups of the
facilitators through ArizonaGrowth Advisors, and everyone
was saying there's this gapright on there for mid-level
management.
(29:58):
They just don't have peoplethat are ready to promote.
Culture is there, the will isthere, but skill development
they've grown up in theorganization and one of the
biggest things was the financebasics and understanding, you
know, and P&L versus a balancesheet, versus a cash flow
statement, and we actuallykicked off next level leadership
and this month we're doingfinance basics for managers from
(30:20):
the Harvard business review andtaking them through and having
them do a balance sheet on theirpersonal life and, and you know
, do a cashflow statement onyour personal life.
And so I hate to see that onmine but like, the numbers mean
something right, you knowsometimes, depending on the size
of the organization, there's somany zeros that it's hard for
people to really connect with itemotionally.
So those numbers in your ownbank account definitely have a
(30:43):
connection, regardless of whatthey are and so but it is.
It's just that development isso critical for people and you
know everyone's always worried.
You know well, we developpeople and they leave.
You know what happens is likewell, if you don't and they stay
, you know what happens theretoo.
So I know I didn't get thatquote exactly right, but we all
know the quote so yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
So what happens if they don't leave right, if they
don't develop?
And they don't leave, and theystay?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, what do we do then?
So a question I always like toask is what advice would you
give your younger self?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
You know, I think patience is super important.
Early in my career I wasn'tsure what way I was going to go.
I started in banking and Iwasn't sure if I'd stay in
banking or sort of move intofinancial analysis and
controllership.
But what I told people I wasjust at WP Carey speaking and I
(31:42):
told the students there look,don't latch on to something so
early meaning in my career Iwent back and forth between
financial analyst andcontrollership, depending on the
need of the company that Iworked for, and I think that
flexibility really helped me.
So that's the advice that Igive to people now For myself
(32:07):
really was patience.
Just, you know, sometimes Idon't have the most patient
outlook, but you know, justreally be patient, continue to
learn and that will work out ifyou've got the will and the
skill.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So we had talked a little bit about your staff
accountants and kind of why it'simportant to give them more
training than just doing thebasic accounting.
So what have been some of thesuccesses of your accountants as
they move into different rolesin the organization?
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yeah.
So I mean you develop folks andhopefully you're able to evolve
their careers within yourorganization.
We've had several people thatwere in accounts payable I
mentioned one and we've had apromotion to all the way up to
senior now, and so we've beenable to progress careers.
(33:05):
Assistant Controller was astaff accountant at one point.
We have had people leave theorganization.
For example, we had our VP ofFinance Corporate Controller
leave to be a CFO, and so thatwas a celebration.
I mean, she was ready, she putin the time, she was amazing and
that was the right thing.
(33:26):
And so when we talked about it,you want people to feel free to
talk to you about opportunities, and I thought that was a great
opportunity for her.
Other people have left tobecome assistant controllers,
other roles.
It's like in the NFL where theyshow these coaching trees, where
(33:46):
the Bill Walshes of the worldhad all these head coaches all
over, or Belichick, or you knowsome of these head coaching.
They talk about the coachingtree and so for me, I don't want
to lose people.
Hopefully I can keep theircareers going, but at the end of
the day, we need to keepevolving people.
I would want that Just the same, that they would want that, and
(34:08):
so I'm as proud to know hey,there's this many controllers
that are, you know, floatingaround the accounting and
finance profession that Iactually got a chance to be a
part of their career.
Maybe good, maybe bad, maybethey learn not to do things
certain ways, but you know, justthe coaching tree the coaching
tree.
So I think it's great andhopefully, with changing up, you
(34:31):
know responsibilities and tasks, that you keep enriching people
to keep learning, and I saydon't switch jobs if you're
still learning.
You know, be patient, make sureyou're ready.
You got all the tools in yourtoolkit before you're ready for
the next jump, but at some pointyou know that's the logical
next step and we should becelebrating something like that
(34:55):
versus you know beingdisappointed, and you should
have relationships with peopleonce they leave the organization
.
And that's just my outlook.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Yeah, I think that's why communication and
transparency and the culture isso important, because then these
things are being discussed, asopposed to all of a sudden.
It's a shock, and are you goingto get a full two weeks and a
person in those kind of roles?
I mean, sometimes you need amonth, you need longer than that
.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
You guys probably see this in your business all the
time.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
It shouldn't be a shock.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
If you have the culture in place and you have
the communication channels inplace and people trust each
other, then it shouldn't be ashock in those and they come
tell you that they have anopportunity that they fought off
for six to eight months andfinally listen to it and you
they think it's a greatopportunity.
You, you probably should bethinking, yeah, I'm surprised
(35:47):
it's lasted this long yeah right, my like, proudest, like
leadership moments.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I had my controller come to me and he sat down and
he's like I hate accounting,like what?
And he's like I hate accounting, I don't want to do it anymore.
I'm like are you resigning?
And he goes well, I hope not.
And I just looked at him in thatmoment.
You just know you must have animmense amount of trust between
(36:13):
the two of you because, hey, youhave the and that was the top
level position in theorganization for finance at the
time, and so so you must havesome trust there, right?
And I'm like what do you wantto do?
And he's like I want to be adeveloper.
I was like oh, I'm like Ididn't even know you knew how to
code.
He's like I don't, and I wasjust literally scratching my
head.
And he's like I want to learn.
(36:35):
I know I'm going to have totake a step back, but this is
what I want about this.
And he's like she knows, shedoesn't know I'm having this
conversation today, and so I waslike go have the conversation
and then come back and we'llfigure out.
You know what's what I was like, but this is like there's a lot
(36:55):
of risk in all of this, youhave the keys to the kingdom.
It has to be done right.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Like you know, we're going to have to really work
together on this and we togetheron this and we did, and I mean,
he's still at that organizationlike 10 years later, um, in the
developer, rather that, yeah,you have a good teammate, that
is a skill and a will, and theywant to switch roles but still
be with you, yeah, yeah and havethe trust like he just as
(37:20):
easily could have.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Feels comfortable, yeah talking about it yeah, just
as easily could have goneoutside, so it was pretty
awesome.
You know, I think one of themost rewarding things in all of
our careers is when we get todifferent points where we can
give back in some significantways, and we know that there's
something that you've beenworking on in that capacity.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about the scholarship
that you're doing?
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah.
So we're really excited,Kristen and I, both graduates of
ASU, and my daughter graduatedand she's at the law school at
ASU and my son in his secondyear.
So four devils.
And you know, other than thesports that we love, we're also
just big fans of the school andwhat they've done.
And you know for me inparticular, wp Carey what
(38:03):
they've done to the businessschool and how I was afforded
some great opportunities.
When I came out I really thoughtthe rigor that I had as an
undergrad and I did my MBA theretoo but was really good and it
set me up to be able to learnquickly once I started working.
And I appreciated that even thenbecause I knew there were
(38:25):
others that didn't have thatrigor or experience that that
business school put me through.
And so we also know it'simportant to be able to provide
opportunities for others in thecommunity to get a quality
education and culture, thatinnovation that our school is
all about.
And so, kristen and I, thisyear we set up it's called the
(38:48):
Future Leader Scholarship Fund,and so it's going to be
available for scholarships tothe WP Carey School.
People can reach out to the ASUFoundation.
It'll start in the fall andit'll be a four-year scholarship
and we're going to continue itindefinitely, so we're super
excited that we can do that.
(39:09):
People at ASU have been amazingand so we're looking forward to
they'll make the decisions, butwe'll be able to meet the
candidates and the people whoget the scholarships, and so
we're just super excited to beable to provide that for the
community some resources andopportunities for others.
(39:29):
So it's just something we'resuper passionate about.
It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Absolutely amazing.
That's wonderful andcongratulations on that
milestone.
It's huge.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
Yeah, it's exciting to be a part of ASU.
I mean you and I met on thealumni board and council.
It's been a lot of fun.
There's so many things that ASUdoes that most people don't
know about, with the differentscholarship programs and all of
that.
And they have the AlumniLeadership Institute every year,
which is growing all the time.
(40:00):
They just had the Sun Devil 100,which is the top 100-led
businesses by Sun Devil alum,which is a pretty cool program.
The numbers in that program,like how many people are
employed by Sun Devil-ledcompanies and how much revenue
they generate, and all of it,it's phenomenal and ASU being
(40:21):
the largest university in thecountry, those kinds of things.
It's just people don't realizewhat's happened out here and how
it's grown over the last longtime since I graduated.
Yeah, same, here same here Arewe going to date you at this
point and they continue to dogreat work right.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
They're not satisfied at any point.
You know, crow himself has beenthere longer than most school
presidents normally are, but hebrings the energy like it's his
second day on the job.
And then of course, that's partof culture and you see these
folks and when we're there forboard meetings etc.
(40:58):
You can't fight the energy.
It's just amazing how you justget energized every time you're
there what they're doing.
And it's just amazing how you,you, just you just get energized
every time you're there whatthey're doing.
And, um, it's really excitinglike last night.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
The board of regents put on a an event last night at
the sun devil stadium in thesantan board club with over 200
people there.
It was a leadership panel ongrit and it was just amazing to
kind of see the, the energy inthe room and the things that the
panel talked about.
So it's a it fun like I said,fun thing to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Absolutely so.
Stereotypically, we don'tusually connect comics,
comedians and accountants.
However, we would be a hugemiss if we didn't turn it over
to you, just for a little bit,for a little bit of CFO humor.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Thank you for encouraging what my wife is
embarrassed about.
No, I was.
Just recently someone wasasking me about inflation.
They think because you're infinance, that you're up.
You know, you know all abouteverything going on in the world
.
And so I just said inflation isso out of control.
I said a picture's only nowworth 100 words.
(42:10):
Ceos, you know, budgets are sotight they're playing miniature
golf.
You know, you got companieslike ExxonMobil.
Things are so bad over therethey had to let 25 congressmen
go.
So put my money in Fidelity.
I lost 25%, but it's betterthan my buddy.
He went in fidelity.
He's down 50, so, uh, anyway,um, just you know, look, I think
(42:34):
I manage through humor and Ithink it's a great way to just
to move through, to be able tohave some humor, humility and
just just enjoy people.
And so you know I use it as, um, you know, a cornerstone to
make introductions and just getto know people.
And so it's been a big part ofmy life and, um, it's done some
(42:59):
stand-up from time to time, butyou know those days are mostly
over Busy, running car washes.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
I think it keeps to the transparency topic though.
We're human, we're all real,we're all people and just makes
people more approachable if theycan see different sides of us
especially sides that aren't soserious too, Shows some
vulnerability, which a lot ofpeople struggle to do.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Yeah, there's nothing more vulnerable than going on a
stage and telling a joke andnot knowing if it's going to
work or not.
So, and they don't all work,yeah, absolutely Well.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
we've really enjoyed having you as part of the
podcast.
Appreciate your time, yourenergy, your insights.
It's been amazing.
If people that are listeningwant to get ahold of you, how
can they reach out?
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Yeah, they can reach me out on.
Linkedin is a great place.
I'm active on there, so feelfree to reach out.
With regards to scholarship,the ASU Foundation can point
them in the right direction, and, yeah, that would be great.
I love connecting with people.
You know, seems like everycouple weeks I'm having coffee
with somebody to get to knowthem and I just enjoy, you know,
(44:05):
seeing what other people aredoing and getting to know other
people that you know might notbe in your bubble of your work
or where you live, and so I lookforward to getting to know more
people.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Great, awesome.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely Thanks, rick.
Thank you again.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Thanks for tuning in to the Confidence Curve.
We hope today's episode leftyou inspired and ready to
embrace your journey confidently.
Remember whether you're leadinga team, growing your business
or pursuing personal growth,each step forward builds your
curve.
If you enjoyed today'sconversation, don't forget to
(44:44):
subscribe, share and leave us areview For more insights and
resources.
Visit us at apexgtscom.
Until next time, keep climbingthe curve.
Welcome to the Confidence Curve with Ashley and
Rick Bowers, where personal andprofessional journeys define
the art of scaling withconfidence.
Whether you're a businessleader navigating change or
someone seeking personal growth,this podcast offers insights
and actionable advice to helpyou thrive.
Now let's dive into today'sconversation with our incredible
(00:26):
guest.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to the Confidence Curve with Apex GTS
Advisors.
My name is Ashley Bowers and myco-host, rick Bowers.
We are here today with Ira.
He is the CFO of Go Car Washand we are so excited to have
you with us today on the podcast.
We can't wait to get to know alittle bit more about you and,
specifically, the amazingculture that you're building and
scaling inside that business.
(00:50):
But why don't you kick us off?
Give us a little bit of yourbackground and what you're doing
these days with Go Car Wash.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, sure, thank you for having me.
It's great to be here.
You know I'm on my 30th year inaccounting and finance and
mostly work for high growthcompanies.
I started I like to tell peopleI started my career in banking
but I lost interest.
But I did start in banking andthen quickly moved to public
companies.
I worked for Republic Servicesand United Rentals.
(01:18):
After a little bit of timemoved sort of in the private
company and then with Isagenixand moved over to private equity
where I really found a homewith American Vision Partners
and currently I'm with Go CarWash.
American Vision Partners was aroll-up, so a little bit of
taste of integration etc.
And the last six years was isGo Car Wash, where it was a
(01:40):
startup in 2019.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Awesome.
So what's your favorite fromthe different things?
Do you like from the startupand the growth that you've done,
or were one of the other oneskind of fit better?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, I think from a startup perspective it's great
because you get to do everythingfrom the beginning and it's
yours, and so there's a littlebit of benefit there.
I do like that you can build itthe right way as opposed to
having to re-engineer things.
It's sometimes even harder, butyou do take a lot for granted.
You know when you start upthere's no infrastructure.
You know the computers go downand you don't have a computer
(02:16):
guy.
You are the computer guy and sothere's a lot of those
challenges.
But I think sometimes, when youdon't have to rebuild and you
can just set it from thebeginning, you could set the
strategy.
For us at Go it was huge to beable to set the culture, as you
(02:37):
mentioned, and from thebeginning and really set the
tone for how you want thecompany to run, whereas if it's
already sort of an establishedcompany, it takes a little bit
of different management to beable to do those things
management to be able to dothose things From startup to
over 150 locations in a prettyquick time frame.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
What are some of those lessons that you learned
that you might want to sharewith some other entrepreneurs
out there that are doing thewhole startup and scale phase of
their business?
You?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
know you do take a lot for granted.
That that's the first thing,but I think the biggest thing
with a startup and when you wantto be able to scale big sizes,
you have to have standardprocesses, especially multi-site
.
So you have to have the sameprocesses, you have to you send
them down to train up everybodythe same way and then you just
(03:16):
manage the variation.
So that's the first thing.
The second thing is you reallyhave to build an infrastructure
that is set up for bigger thanwhat you think you need, and to
do it earlier.
It doesn't mean it's going tobe more money, it's just the way
you set things up to be able tobe at scale.
And so being able to do thatfrom the beginning was super
(03:38):
helpful.
We were able to.
You know we're not at 500 carwashes, but that was sort of the
thing in our mind was build itfor 500.
And that helps you in a lot ofdifferent areas.
So those, those were some ofthe biggest things.
And then you know thecommunication cadence is so
important, both on operationsand finance and sales, because
(03:58):
when you are smaller, the needdoesn't feel you important at
that point.
If you have 10 sites, you knoweverybody there you've talked to
them all the time.
The key is to set thosecadences up, whether it's teams
meetings on a regular basis,slack to be able to communicate,
because then, as you say, youknow, quickly add sites, you're
(04:21):
able to scale and not loseanything.
But it's setting up thatcadence when maybe you don't
feel like it's necessary becauseyou can talk to everyone.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Do you think it's helped?
You put a focus on that,because you're here in Arizona
and you guys don't actually havesites in Arizona, right, and so
you've kind of had to deal withthat gap right from the
beginning, whereas sometimespeople start a new business,
it's in one place and then theygo to other locations and now
it's like wait, how do weduplicate the culture in other
states and other cities?
100% agree, okay.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yes, and the fact that you know we started in
Kansas City with sites and weknew this would be a field
facing business, that we knew wehad criteria for what markets
we want, and this goes with anybusiness that you might be
acquiring You'll have criteriathat fit your acquisition
pipeline, but you don't knowalways where they'll be, and so
(05:10):
for us it was really importantto set those up, because we had
Kansas City locations, then wehad Vegas locations, texas
locations, and so right from thebeginning it was a field-facing
, remote business, and so thatdefinitely helped facilitate
that cadence that we set up andmake sure that once we added
other sites, it just became partof our regular operations.
(05:34):
It's just what we did, sure.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Sometimes, in certain companies that we've talked to
or worked with, you ask aboutmission and vision and they'll
be able to rattle it off rightoff the top of their head.
Some companies, um, it's like,yeah, we have it, we don't
really focus on it too much.
When I mentioned that in ourconversation earlier this week,
you're like, yeah, this issomething that we really focus
on.
So with, in the spirit oftransparent communication and
(05:59):
communication, all theselocations and, would you say,
1900 employees.
How do you make sure everybodyis bought in and a part of the
mission and vision of Go CarWash?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah.
So you know I get prettyexcited about it, as I mentioned
with our shoes.
So you know we have Go Car Washcustomized shoes for award
winners and socks and things.
And we get pretty excited aboutour mission, vision, values.
And it's one thing to just sayit and then there, pretty
excited about our mission,vision, values.
And it's one thing to just sayit, and then there's another
thing to do it.
So some of the things thatwe've done is it starts with
hiring.
So you have to hire.
(06:33):
You don't have to hire likepeople, but you have to hire
people that fit your culture andthat will help and integrate
other businesses into yourorganization.
But you have to hire peoplethat fit your culture.
Things we do to keep the cultureis we have team-wide calls,
like a town hall type call,where we try to be transparent
(06:58):
with where we're looking, thingswe're interested in things,
we're building resources, we'readding.
We also want them to understandwhere else in the country we're
at.
You know, one of the things wehave an employee base of 1,900,
is that they could work anywherein the country.
Almost we have 10 differentstates we're in, so there's a
lot of opportunity.
So we share this.
(07:19):
On calls like go-big call, andwe try to share as much.
Now, transparency is really hugebecause it builds trust and it
builds confidence in thedirection that you're going.
So we want these people to knowwhat we're thinking.
Obviously, there's a few thingswe can't share, but for the
most part, we want them to knowwhat we know and where we're
(07:41):
going and we want to get theirthoughts and feedback on it.
So it's been a big thing for us, and where the culture has
really been important is we had28 transactions for 100 sites
and as you bring on newteammates, the culture is so
important.
Some of the teammates don't fitthe culture and they just
(08:04):
self-select themselves out, butthe majority of the teammates
are looking for something biggerthan just a three car wash
chain in our example, and sothey're looking for a culture
and then they fit right in andit just it makes the integration
and trans, you know, mucheasier for us, and so that's
where it really really pays off.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
How have you really looked at scaling the financial
systems, obviously having thefinancial background where
they're supportive of the growthand everything that you're
trying to achieve, and at thesame time don't kind of push and
break the whole operation?
I mean, that type ofacquisitive growth can obviously
put strains on an operationalmodel as well as a financial
(08:45):
model.
And so what have been some ofyour tips and tricks and maybe
some things that didn't go sowell, as you were integrating in
the sites and scaling thefinancial systems at the same
time?
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, I think from a financial perspective in our
group in particular and it couldbe in any businesses you want
to hire people with the skilland the will and you want to
hire people with talent.
Obviously, everybody's going tosay that, but a lot of times
when you start you think youdon't need that kind of talent
at that time.
And I take a different approach.
(09:15):
It's incrementally a little bitmore maybe, but the rewards are
much bigger and that personwill scale with you.
And so number one is get thebest talent.
Number two culture that talent.
And so these people arelearning what you know and
they're evolving and developing.
And with a system perspective,just like I mentioned with the
(09:35):
field standards, you buildstandards within your accounting
organization.
So standard checklist, standardprocedures, and as you get
systems integrated, you makesure that your accounting system
talks to your other systems.
That's so huge.
And then you'll add someautomation and that will free up
a lot of time for you actuallyto be business partners.
(09:57):
Because you're freeing up, youknow administrative, you know
tasks and you can be more of abusiness partner.
So we tried to put in someautomation.
We have systems that integrateand then we train up people to
be able to do everything, and Ithink that's allowed us to have
people who can do multiplethings and that's allowed us to
(10:19):
be able to continue to keep upwith the growth.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
So, as mentioned before, 28 acquisitions, what
are some of the myths ormisconceptions that people have
about kind of that?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
process.
Well, you know, first thingthey think is this acquisition
does business like us and so theintegration will be a little
more seamless.
That's not true.
Everybody's business isslightly different and, even if
they do it, very similar, whichcould be great for the culture
(10:53):
and the fit.
The integration is notnecessarily easier unless you
have the cadence ofcommunication and the culture
set up and you're wellestablished in terms of those
things.
The other thing people think is, when they acquire someone
smaller, that they're going tosave a ton of money in the cost
structure.
And that's actually not alwaysthe case either.
(11:14):
Often you will provide morethan maybe what the smaller
company was, for examplebenefits for employees.
What the smaller company was,for example Benefits for
employees, you might have.
That you might insure for more.
Because you're bigger, youmight have richer recognition
plans.
So the cost doesn't necessarilygo down.
(11:37):
But there are areas where nowyou're bulk purchasing and so
you could save some money there,and then where the real bang
for the buck is is on the topline.
You know you're able to put insome investments that can then
draw, you know, higher returnson the top line, which then
trickle through.
So I think one of themisconceptions is you know we
(11:59):
can do it cheaper, and that'snot always the case.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, I did a handful of acquisitions during my years
in real estate and I almostfelt like the ones that had the
most synergy from culture andjust thought process and
everything were actually thehardest integrations, because
every time you turn you're like,oh, that's like a really good
idea, right?
And so then you're secondguessing yourself constantly.
Well, wait, should, should webring them into?
(12:24):
how we do it, or maybe should wedo it the way they do it, and I
feel like the best success iswhen we had a little bit of mix
of both.
We learned from each other andwe made some improvements, and
it seemed like the teams cametogether a little bit more in
those instances as well, justbecause they didn't feel like it
was only one sided.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I think we've evolved throughout.
Right, we've taken bestpractices from all the different
acquisitions.
We think we had a good basis onhow to run car washes or
ophthalmology, whatever it was,but, you know, getting a lot of
smart systems, differentprocesses and integrated into
(13:06):
our system, so, no, they're huge.
I mean, as we acquired thesebusinesses, they are successful
for a reason and so we can learnfrom them as well.
So, yeah, no, we definitelytook on a lot and, you know,
made us better as a company.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It seems like you've worked with some pretty amazing
leadership teams throughout yourcareer.
You know, sometimes I know thatfinancial executives can find
themselves kind of put into abox a little bit and not always
brought up to the strategictable for all the different
decisions.
What do you think the mostunderrated skill of a CFO is
today?
What's kind of overlooked?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, I think business partnering is a huge,
huge skill that a lot of CFOsmay.
If they do have it, they'revery successful.
If they don't, then maybe notas successful.
And for me and my career Istarted at, you know, republic
Services.
In terms of my, the biggestpartnerships that I had was
where I was a controller formaybe five locations and I had
(14:02):
general managers at thoselocations.
And so every day you're workingwith these folks, you're
building relationships.
You understand what it takes toget what you need done, but
also get what you know, helpthem get what they need done.
And I think you know we we satin a room once.
It was, uh, you know, thegeneral manager and I, we were
with the districts and thedistrict said you know, ira, we
(14:25):
never gotten an expense reportfrom you.
Up here, who's signing off onyour expense report?
And I said, well, john's mygeneral manager, he's my
business partner, he's signingthem.
So they said John, you know,we've never gotten an expense
report from you.
He said, well, ira's mycontroller, he's my business
partner, he's signing them, orhe's my business partner, he's
signing them.
And they said no more, no more.
(14:45):
But you know, that's the kindof business partnering that you
have and, lucky for me, thatthat's sort of the structure
that they had, and so that waswhere I was able to learn.
Guys like James Culver and MarkKlatt back in the Republic days
really were great role modelsfor me on how they were able to
acclimate to whether it's salesor ops or any department, so I
(15:09):
was able to just learn from thema little bit and then, you know
, learn the skill.
A great example would be and Iknow a lot of people probably,
especially in accounting andfinance was the Sarbanes-Oxley
timeframe, was theSarbanes-Oxley timeframe, which
was very hard for accountantsbut equally as hard for ops
(15:29):
because it was an internalcontrol thing and they weren't
used to that and while we'reused to it, we weren't quite at
that level and so those and thenthat was when I was at Republic
Services and so embracing thatand not running from it and then
relying on those relationshipswith operations made us really
(15:50):
successful to be able to thenimplement these internal
controls that were, you know,big public company like that has
to pass, and so you know it'sit's.
That's just one example, butthe whole business partnering is
really an underappreciatedskill that I think has been huge
(16:12):
for me in my career is theresomething in that that you've
been able to pass along to yourteam?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Can they kind of learn and grow from that
specific skill that you've beentalking about?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
So one thing that I'm a firmbeliever in is and obviously
it's about people.
But as we develop people, wewant them to be.
I always say I want you to becontroller ready.
Okay, so my accountants have tobe controller ready, which
means that they're not onlybooking entries, they're doing
(16:45):
P&L reviews themselves, sothey're financial analysts.
And then, one step further,they're the ones conducting P&L
reviews with field managementand going through those P&Ls as
a business, sort of pushing themin the direction of a business
partner, and so they'reconducting those calls and
building those relationshipswith operations.
(17:06):
And so that's sort of how we doit.
I think if you don't want to bea controller, that's totally
fine, but I think it should beyour choice and not that you
lack the skill or experience,and so we're trying to get
everybody to be control or ready.
And then also, I thinktypically people will stay a lot
longer with you because they'redeveloping, they're getting
(17:29):
these other skills.
We try to rotate tasks toenrich people on different
things.
Somebody might be sick of it,the other person's excited to do
it, and so we try to do alittle bit of that and I think
that creates some tenure withyour team in a good way, and so
I think in becoming controllerready business, partnering with
ops are some of the things we doto try to keep that within our
(17:53):
little mini culture inaccounting and finance.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Let's brag on you a little bit.
So you were recently named CFOof the Year.
Obviously, that comes with alot of support and nomination
from your teams and your leadersand your community.
You know the people who workwith you and around you.
So what does that mean to youand how did your team help make
that possible?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, it was very humbling because you look around
the room and there's a ton ofreally talented, hardworking
people.
It's a good crowd, it's a goodcrowd to be in for sure, and so
it was really humbling.
This is a team award and I wastelling my team and we all say
we won and it's great because wewon you know it wasn't me, we
(18:36):
won.
You have eight playersperforming.
It's a team award, right?
If they're not developing andbeing able to do these things,
we can't provide other thingsoutside of accounting and
finance.
So that was really great, thatit truly felt like it was a team
award, which was great.
And then what personally wasgreat about it is it was I have
(18:59):
a daughter in law school now anda son just finishing second
year at ASU, and it was greatfor them to see that the
sacrifice that I've made overthe years is being recognized.
And it's just great for them intheir development and as they
start to think about how hardthey want to work or things they
want to accomplish, to be ableto see that, and so that was
(19:21):
great.
And then, lastly, just as youknow from a CFO and accounting
mindset, it was great to havethe recognition to see that
there's a lot of great workbeing done by controllers, staff
, accountants and CFOs thatlargely will get unrecognized.
And this was a night that wecould recognize all that hard
(19:43):
work.
And even the people that didn'twin, they were recognized for
what they've accomplished andthe hard work they've done, and
their teams know that they'resitting there because of the
contributions they've made.
So it was really great for justsort of the accounting and
finance field in general.
So that was really cool.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Yeah, it's kind of exciting.
It gives some encouragement tothe team, like there are things
out there that you can strivefor, and it's kind of what are
those things you want to beknown for?
And kind of, how do you build astrategy, set goals to kind of
get to that point and reallybring it in as a piece of your
culture as well?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah, it's just a great reinforcement to, you know
, the team concept of you know,if we, some of our, our, our
values are caring, continuousimprovement, fun, and so you
know these, this, the fact thatwe care about each other and
we're supporting each other,that these kind of things could
be recognized, so it justreinforces what we're trying to
(20:45):
do.
It it was, it was a great nightand, uh, you know, back back to
work the next day yeah, neverends right.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
That's why we do it.
So, okay, you've mentioned theshoes a little bit, um, but tell
us a little bit more about theculture and the Go-Getter Awards
.
And you've mentioned Go Shine.
What's all that about?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yeah.
So our vision is to be the mostadmired car wash company, and
we say while enriching the livesof our teammates and customers.
And we say teammates firstbecause we feel like if we
enrich our teammates, they'll,in turn, enrich our customers.
And we say teammates firstbecause we feel like if we
enrich our teammates, they'll,in turn, enrich our customers.
(21:26):
And so some of the things wetry to do is to recognize some
of the people in the field forthe day in and day out of work
they're doing.
We have some of the hardestworking people in the industry
and so to be able to recognizethem on a call with the entire
company, to be able to say, hey,you're nominated for a
Go-Getter Award, and then youhave a chance to win some
sneakers that are, you know,customized for Go Car Wash.
(21:48):
These are the kinds of thingsthat just reinforce the culture
that we have.
And the Go Shine, you know, welike to say it's your time to go
shine, and it's really to shinefor the customer.
Right, this is your time.
We enriched you to now do thisfor your customers, because
these are the folks that areseeing people every day and
(22:12):
washing cars every single day,and so we want them to carry
that sort of customer servicetorch, and so let them go now
and enrich the customers.
So it's been great.
We have a lot of different swag, different things we're trying
to incorporate.
We had a trade show justrecently where we brought some
of the winners and able tocelebrate them sort of at a
(22:33):
trade show, which was great Someof them never been and for them
to be recognized.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
And we're going to continue to do that because I
think you know if you want tobecome the most admired company,
regardless, you know you haveto enrich the teammates, and so
we're going to continue to dothat, okay, so one of the things
that we talked about too is ismaybe, maybe in a lessons
learned or a maturity in yourcareer kind of a thing, but
(23:00):
catering to, not catering to thesweet seat, maybe in a lessons
learned or a maturity in yourcareer kind of a thing, but
catering to, not catering to theC-suite.
Say that easy was somethingthat you learned and it really
ties back to a culture piece, Ithink as well, where the people
that are doing the work are asimportant or more important than
making sure the C-suite ishappy.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah, no, it's so hard when you're a young manager
learning how to manage people.
Where should your emphasis beon?
Whether it should be on uppermanagement or people who report
to you, and how do you balanceit and how do you navigate?
And there's no real lessons tobe learned is the way to do it.
(23:42):
And so I think early in mycareer I might have pandered to
the C-suite a little bit toomuch, or upper management, so
don't pander to the C-suite, butI think it goes a little bit
past.
That is, it's also theperception more so than the
reality, but I think it's justequally as important.
And so a couple of things thatI learned was you can create a
(24:05):
culture within your organizationthat's consistent with the
bigger organization, and so, nomatter what the noise is, maybe
on the peripheral, but you alsohave your own culture within
accounting and finance, and Ithink that really puts the focus
back on your team and peoplewho report to you.
And so it takes a little while,and I think early in my career,
(24:26):
you know, I might have been toofocused on pleasing upper
management and not quitemanaging the team the way I
should, but growing pains way Ishould, but growing pains and
you know it's a great lesson tobe learned because I think it
takes on a lot of differentfacets besides just listening to
(24:46):
your team.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
It's so much bigger than that and once you can sort
of understand that and balancethose priorities, you're so much
better at your job and it's somuch more enjoyable, really is I
had a uh a meeting earliertoday and it was with one of my
high potential coaching clients,so helping them kind of
understand the people, skillsand the things that they need to
(25:08):
kind of move into that nextlevel up.
And one of the things we talkedabout today was was grit or
grittiness?
And I said to him I said whatdoes that mean to you?
And he, well, making sure I dothe things that need to be done
and show people that I can dothese things, versus having to
tell somebody and I said so, thepeople that do things and when
(25:30):
the boss is around, and thenwhen the boss isn't around,
they're standing in the corner.
He's like, yeah, not that.
And so it's like helping theyounger people understand that
it's like it's important to dothe things when nobody's
watching, and so I think that'sjust something that that that
level of team needs tounderstand is that you never
know who's kind of seeing it,from where, whatever angle, but
(25:51):
that's kind of that mentalitythat you just build into you
know one of our values.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Is integrity right and it's uh, it's.
It goes beyond just.
You know right and it goesbeyond just.
You know right from wrong it's.
Are you doing the right thingswhen no one's looking?
And you know, a lot of times noone's looking right, especially
if you have some trust built upamongst your supervisors.
And so we always say that youknow the results that we have at
(26:15):
the end of the month are notdue to anything we did at the
end of the month.
The results that we have at theend of the month are not due to
anything we did at the end ofthe month.
This is doing something everysingle day.
Whether it's accounting recons,you know accounts payable,
making sure things are codedright.
Or, if it's on the operationsside, you know making sure the
equipment's running, making sureyou're providing the best
(26:35):
customer service, sales, makingsure that you give the right
pitch because you think thatpackage is the best package for
those folks, and so you're doingthis every day.
Often nobody's looking, but ifyou can do the right things when
no one's looking, you're goingto do the right things when they
are.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
So good habits.
So you mentioned transparency afew times today Obviously a big
believer in that and the valuethat it brings into the
organization a few times todayObviously a big believer in that
and the value that it bringsinto the organization.
How do you practice anddemonstrate that transparency on
a regular basis?
Because there takes a littlebit of vulnerability right in
order to do that.
Lots of trust to be completelytransparent.
But what does that look like?
(27:12):
How does that show up for youin your day to day interactions
with your team?
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah, I think first you got to be authentic, right,
and I think that resonates withpeople.
What we do and what I think isimportant is we have a weekly
call, whether it be Echo CarWash or American Vision Partners
, wherever I've been, and nowit's teams and you're on camera.
But what we do is we go throughboard decks.
(27:36):
Now, if I have to take a fewout because I can't share, I'll
do it, but for the most partI'll take them through the board
deck, or I'll take them througha presentation I did, or I'll
take them through the managementpackage that month because
their piece is a part of it,right, but they may not other
than see because they'vecontributed to it.
(27:57):
They may not see some of theschedules.
So we usually take, you know,either one week a month or
sometimes two, depending on workis to share that with them.
So they'll always see the boarddeck and they'll often see
something different.
You know, every other week forthem to see what's going on and
(28:17):
whatever I can share, I thinkit's other week for them to see
what's going on and whatever Ican share.
I think it's important for themlike mentioned
to build confidence and trust inwhat we're doing and for them
to see this is what we'retelling other people or this is
what other people are seeing ofyour product, and so that's a
lot what we do and I think theteam enjoys it do, and I think
(28:40):
the team, the team enjoys it.
We we've had, we've beenfortunate to have, really, I
always say and and skill andwill are like the most important
thing in a teammate and we'vehad some really good promotions
within the organization and, forexample, there's one that was
accounts payable specialist,finishing his degree and
recently promoted to staffaccountant, and I said to him
(29:04):
wasn't that great that I showedyou how the cash flow statement
worked when you were in accountspayable?
Because my accounts payableteam are more than people just
paying bills.
These are business people.
These people are runningprojects, they're running
programs like card programs, andthey're doing a lot more to
develop themselves.
And my accountants, as wementioned earlier, are financial
(29:26):
analysts and business partners.
So we try to share that kind ofthing.
So you know, joked a little bitabout you know, wasn't it good
that you saw that?
Because you never know when youmight utilize something.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
There's a lot of truth in that, though.
I mean part of what we dothrough Apex is I facilitate
peer advisory groups, and so CFO, CEO, HR groups, key executives
and what we started all hearingamongst those 14 groups of the
facilitators through ArizonaGrowth Advisors, and everyone
was saying there's this gapright on there for mid-level
management.
(29:58):
They just don't have peoplethat are ready to promote.
Culture is there, the will isthere, but skill development
they've grown up in theorganization and one of the
biggest things was the financebasics and understanding, you
know, and P&L versus a balancesheet, versus a cash flow
statement, and we actuallykicked off next level leadership
and this month we're doingfinance basics for managers from
(30:20):
the Harvard business review andtaking them through and having
them do a balance sheet on theirpersonal life and, and you know
, do a cashflow statement onyour personal life.
And so I hate to see that onmine but like, the numbers mean
something right, you knowsometimes, depending on the size
of the organization, there's somany zeros that it's hard for
people to really connect with itemotionally.
So those numbers in your ownbank account definitely have a
(30:43):
connection, regardless of whatthey are and so but it is.
It's just that development isso critical for people and you
know everyone's always worried.
You know well, we developpeople and they leave.
You know what happens is likewell, if you don't and they stay
, you know what happens theretoo.
So I know I didn't get thatquote exactly right, but we all
know the quote so yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
So what happens if they don't leave right, if they
don't develop?
And they don't leave, and theystay?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, what do we do then?
So a question I always like toask is what advice would you
give your younger self?
Speaker 3 (31:17):
You know, I think patience is super important.
Early in my career I wasn'tsure what way I was going to go.
I started in banking and Iwasn't sure if I'd stay in
banking or sort of move intofinancial analysis and
controllership.
But what I told people I wasjust at WP Carey speaking and I
(31:42):
told the students there look,don't latch on to something so
early meaning in my career Iwent back and forth between
financial analyst andcontrollership, depending on the
need of the company that Iworked for, and I think that
flexibility really helped me.
So that's the advice that Igive to people now For myself
(32:07):
really was patience.
Just, you know, sometimes Idon't have the most patient
outlook, but you know, justreally be patient, continue to
learn and that will work out ifyou've got the will and the
skill.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So we had talked a little bit about your staff
accountants and kind of why it'simportant to give them more
training than just doing thebasic accounting.
So what have been some of thesuccesses of your accountants as
they move into different rolesin the organization?
Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yeah.
So I mean you develop folks andhopefully you're able to evolve
their careers within yourorganization.
We've had several people thatwere in accounts payable I
mentioned one and we've had apromotion to all the way up to
senior now, and so we've beenable to progress careers.
(33:05):
Assistant Controller was astaff accountant at one point.
We have had people leave theorganization.
For example, we had our VP ofFinance Corporate Controller
leave to be a CFO, and so thatwas a celebration.
I mean, she was ready, she putin the time, she was amazing and
that was the right thing.
(33:26):
And so when we talked about it,you want people to feel free to
talk to you about opportunities, and I thought that was a great
opportunity for her.
Other people have left tobecome assistant controllers,
other roles.
It's like in the NFL where theyshow these coaching trees, where
(33:46):
the Bill Walshes of the worldhad all these head coaches all
over, or Belichick, or you knowsome of these head coaching.
They talk about the coachingtree and so for me, I don't want
to lose people.
Hopefully I can keep theircareers going, but at the end of
the day, we need to keepevolving people.
I would want that Just the same, that they would want that, and
(34:08):
so I'm as proud to know hey,there's this many controllers
that are, you know, floatingaround the accounting and
finance profession that Iactually got a chance to be a
part of their career.
Maybe good, maybe bad, maybethey learn not to do things
certain ways, but you know, justthe coaching tree the coaching
tree.
So I think it's great andhopefully, with changing up, you
(34:31):
know responsibilities and tasks, that you keep enriching people
to keep learning, and I saydon't switch jobs if you're
still learning.
You know, be patient, make sureyou're ready.
You got all the tools in yourtoolkit before you're ready for
the next jump, but at some pointyou know that's the logical
next step and we should becelebrating something like that
(34:55):
versus you know beingdisappointed, and you should
have relationships with peopleonce they leave the organization
.
And that's just my outlook.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Yeah, I think that's why communication and
transparency and the culture isso important, because then these
things are being discussed, asopposed to all of a sudden.
It's a shock, and are you goingto get a full two weeks and a
person in those kind of roles?
I mean, sometimes you need amonth, you need longer than that
.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
You guys probably see this in your business all the
time.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
It shouldn't be a shock.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
If you have the culture in place and you have
the communication channels inplace and people trust each
other, then it shouldn't be ashock in those and they come
tell you that they have anopportunity that they fought off
for six to eight months andfinally listen to it and you
they think it's a greatopportunity.
You, you probably should bethinking, yeah, I'm surprised
(35:47):
it's lasted this long yeah right, my like, proudest, like
leadership moments.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I had my controller come to me and he sat down and
he's like I hate accounting,like what?
And he's like I hate accounting, I don't want to do it anymore.
I'm like are you resigning?
And he goes well, I hope not.
And I just looked at him in thatmoment.
You just know you must have animmense amount of trust between
(36:13):
the two of you because, hey, youhave the and that was the top
level position in theorganization for finance at the
time, and so so you must havesome trust there, right?
And I'm like what do you wantto do?
And he's like I want to be adeveloper.
I was like oh, I'm like Ididn't even know you knew how to
code.
He's like I don't, and I wasjust literally scratching my
head.
And he's like I want to learn.
(36:35):
I know I'm going to have totake a step back, but this is
what I want about this.
And he's like she knows, shedoesn't know I'm having this
conversation today, and so I waslike go have the conversation
and then come back and we'llfigure out.
You know what's what I was like, but this is like there's a lot
(36:55):
of risk in all of this, youhave the keys to the kingdom.
It has to be done right.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Like you know, we're going to have to really work
together on this and we togetheron this and we did, and I mean,
he's still at that organizationlike 10 years later, um, in the
developer, rather that, yeah,you have a good teammate, that
is a skill and a will, and theywant to switch roles but still
be with you, yeah, yeah and havethe trust like he just as
(37:20):
easily could have.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Feels comfortable, yeah talking about it yeah, just
as easily could have goneoutside, so it was pretty
awesome.
You know, I think one of themost rewarding things in all of
our careers is when we get todifferent points where we can
give back in some significantways, and we know that there's
something that you've beenworking on in that capacity.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about the scholarship
that you're doing?
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah.
So we're really excited,Kristen and I, both graduates of
ASU, and my daughter graduatedand she's at the law school at
ASU and my son in his secondyear.
So four devils.
And you know, other than thesports that we love, we're also
just big fans of the school andwhat they've done.
And you know for me inparticular, wp Carey what
(38:03):
they've done to the businessschool and how I was afforded
some great opportunities.
When I came out I really thoughtthe rigor that I had as an
undergrad and I did my MBA theretoo but was really good and it
set me up to be able to learnquickly once I started working.
And I appreciated that even thenbecause I knew there were
(38:25):
others that didn't have thatrigor or experience that that
business school put me through.
And so we also know it'simportant to be able to provide
opportunities for others in thecommunity to get a quality
education and culture, thatinnovation that our school is
all about.
And so, kristen and I, thisyear we set up it's called the
(38:48):
Future Leader Scholarship Fund,and so it's going to be
available for scholarships tothe WP Carey School.
People can reach out to the ASUFoundation.
It'll start in the fall andit'll be a four-year scholarship
and we're going to continue itindefinitely, so we're super
excited that we can do that.
(39:09):
People at ASU have been amazingand so we're looking forward to
they'll make the decisions, butwe'll be able to meet the
candidates and the people whoget the scholarships, and so
we're just super excited to beable to provide that for the
community some resources andopportunities for others.
(39:29):
So it's just something we'resuper passionate about.
It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Absolutely amazing.
That's wonderful andcongratulations on that
milestone.
It's huge.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
Yeah, it's exciting to be a part of ASU.
I mean you and I met on thealumni board and council.
It's been a lot of fun.
There's so many things that ASUdoes that most people don't
know about, with the differentscholarship programs and all of
that.
And they have the AlumniLeadership Institute every year,
which is growing all the time.
(40:00):
They just had the Sun Devil 100,which is the top 100-led
businesses by Sun Devil alum,which is a pretty cool program.
The numbers in that program,like how many people are
employed by Sun Devil-ledcompanies and how much revenue
they generate, and all of it,it's phenomenal and ASU being
(40:21):
the largest university in thecountry, those kinds of things.
It's just people don't realizewhat's happened out here and how
it's grown over the last longtime since I graduated.
Yeah, same, here same here Arewe going to date you at this
point and they continue to dogreat work right.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
They're not satisfied at any point.
You know, crow himself has beenthere longer than most school
presidents normally are, but hebrings the energy like it's his
second day on the job.
And then of course, that's partof culture and you see these
folks and when we're there forboard meetings etc.
(40:58):
You can't fight the energy.
It's just amazing how you justget energized every time you're
there what they're doing.
And it's just amazing how you,you, just you just get energized
every time you're there whatthey're doing.
And, um, it's really excitinglike last night.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
The board of regents put on a an event last night at
the sun devil stadium in thesantan board club with over 200
people there.
It was a leadership panel ongrit and it was just amazing to
kind of see the, the energy inthe room and the things that the
panel talked about.
So it's a it fun like I said,fun thing to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Absolutely so.
Stereotypically, we don'tusually connect comics,
comedians and accountants.
However, we would be a hugemiss if we didn't turn it over
to you, just for a little bit,for a little bit of CFO humor.
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Thank you for encouraging what my wife is
embarrassed about.
No, I was.
Just recently someone wasasking me about inflation.
They think because you're infinance, that you're up.
You know, you know all abouteverything going on in the world
.
And so I just said inflation isso out of control.
I said a picture's only nowworth 100 words.
(42:10):
Ceos, you know, budgets are sotight they're playing miniature
golf.
You know, you got companieslike ExxonMobil.
Things are so bad over therethey had to let 25 congressmen
go.
So put my money in Fidelity.
I lost 25%, but it's betterthan my buddy.
He went in fidelity.
He's down 50, so, uh, anyway,um, just you know, look, I think
(42:34):
I manage through humor and Ithink it's a great way to just
to move through, to be able tohave some humor, humility and
just just enjoy people.
And so you know I use it as, um, you know, a cornerstone to
make introductions and just getto know people.
And so it's been a big part ofmy life and, um, it's done some
(42:59):
stand-up from time to time, butyou know those days are mostly
over Busy, running car washes.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
I think it keeps to the transparency topic though.
We're human, we're all real,we're all people and just makes
people more approachable if theycan see different sides of us
especially sides that aren't soserious too, Shows some
vulnerability, which a lot ofpeople struggle to do.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Yeah, there's nothing more vulnerable than going on a
stage and telling a joke andnot knowing if it's going to
work or not.
So, and they don't all work,yeah, absolutely Well.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
we've really enjoyed having you as part of the
podcast.
Appreciate your time, yourenergy, your insights.
It's been amazing.
If people that are listeningwant to get ahold of you, how
can they reach out?
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Yeah, they can reach me out on.
Linkedin is a great place.
I'm active on there, so feelfree to reach out.
With regards to scholarship,the ASU Foundation can point
them in the right direction, and, yeah, that would be great.
I love connecting with people.
You know, seems like everycouple weeks I'm having coffee
with somebody to get to knowthem and I just enjoy, you know,
(44:05):
seeing what other people aredoing and getting to know other
people that you know might notbe in your bubble of your work
or where you live, and so I lookforward to getting to know more
people.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Great, awesome.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely Thanks, rick.
Thank you again.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Thanks for tuning in to the Confidence Curve.
We hope today's episode leftyou inspired and ready to
embrace your journey confidently.
Remember whether you're leadinga team, growing your business
or pursuing personal growth,each step forward builds your
curve.
If you enjoyed today'sconversation, don't forget to
(44:44):
subscribe, share and leave us areview For more insights and
resources.
Visit us at apexgtscom.
Until next time, keep climbingthe curve.
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