Ep. 26: Adam Scalise

A native of Erie, PA, Adam and his wife relocated to middle Tennessee in 2008 from Cleveland, OH. We start from his roots in a blue collar town to being apart of the renaissance of the banking industry back the to business owner and everything in between.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
All right, welcome to another episode of the Encado podcast.
We have a very special guest today. Actually somebody me
and Steven knew but didn't know we knew or forgot
we told each other we knew. Small world, Small world.
It is mister Adam Scales. Thanks for coming in today, sir.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh, thank you for having me. I'm enjoying my first
podcast here and ready to go, so let's do it. Awesome.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
We're sitting here looking at a coffee cup of him
and his kids, you know, so he's ready to go.
We'll get into the family aspects of it. But Adam
is an affectionate worker over there at Oakworth Bank, which
is how we got connected, and we've done a lot
of business together, but got to know him all aside
a little bit through some lunches and meetups and just
our ideologies matchup. So looking forward to kind of going down, uh,

(01:08):
going down this track. Let you guys get to know
the the myth behind the legend here. We were just
talking about his kids and their their their sporting superpowers
that they have and so we'll get into a little
bit of that. Steven actually coached his kids a little bit, yes,
so that's how each other. So that's that's how we'll

(01:28):
we'll talk. But Adam, we appreciate you coming in. Uh
a product of Erie, Pennsylvania.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I believe that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
So I've I watched a show on Erie. It was
called Undercover Billionaire and the guy went to Erie started
a barbecue whatever. But that he kept talking about how
because he was you know, billionaire walks into a blue
collar town right there on Lake Erie and he's like,
these people are tough. It's cold, it's windy, the wind's

(01:58):
coming over the lake. It's just like he's like, it's
not necessarily a tough place to live, but it's tough.
It's just a tough So what was it like growing
up in that area?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
It was? It's so Erie p A Is a very
blue collar kind of town. A lot of the jobs
when I was growing up there were through ge through
the manufacturing piece, so they have a large locomotive manufacturing
arm there. So a lot of blue collar work, a
lot of union union type companies. And yes, to your point,

(02:28):
we're scrappy, very scrappy, and when it comes to hustlers
work hard and you have to figure out life pretty
quick in Erie, Pa. So I would not change it
for the world. Sure, my brother and I grew up.
It caused my brother and I to be very close
and we are still to this day in a tight

(02:48):
knit family. Being Italian, a lot of Italians in Erie
and grew up in that section of little Italy in Erie,
so around my you know folks that had similar values thoughts.
So it was great, it was great. Wasn't changing for
the world.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
So with UH and we talked about sports. I'm guessing
you played sports growing up.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I did. I played, Yes, Yes, played a lot of sports. Wrestled,
loved wrestling, played hockey, believe it or not, because hockey
is a big sport. There did a lot of skiing.
One thing fun fact about Erie is that in high
school and middle school you can choose to be on
ski club as part of your physical activity. So yeah,

(03:31):
it was awesome. So I from third grade on I was.
I started skiing when I was in third grade, so
I really took a liking to it, and believe it
or not, being a bigger guy, typically when thinking you
see me on the slopes. But UH still to this
day pretty passionate about skiing. And then you have football,
so definitely into the physical sports as well, and I
learned a lot in football. In seventh grade. No one

(03:55):
wanted to volunteer to go up against the big guy
that was in eighth grade, so I just threw my
hand up and it turned into a starting position. I
was one of the only younger folks on the team starting,
So that taught me real young that you have to
like you know, you can't fall down to your fears,
and you just need to dive in sometimes when you

(04:16):
feel it's the right time.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
You talked a little bit about your brother. What were
your parents like?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
So grew up in my ma sing single mother raised us,
so we saw her first hand hustle. She's single mother,
going to school part time selling cars. We spent a
lot of time at our grandparents' house while she was
doing that, and that was when we were really young,
so we saw her going. She was driving to Cleveland,

(04:42):
Ohio three days a week to attend day and night
school to get her degree and then selling cars part time,
so we literally saw her hustling. Twenty four to seven
fast forward, she ended up getting her degree from John
Carroll University as a courts denauger for and started one
of the It was one of the largest courts stenography

(05:04):
companies in PA and was got to a point where
she was subbing out business and taking a percentage, so
kind of got that entrepreneurial piece as well. So started
at the bottom and just grew right up. So seeing
her do that was huge. My brother to you know,
he's a successful attorney here in Nashville, healthcare attorney. So

(05:27):
we saw that. We saw that you have to work
hard to get what you really want.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
And that's so my It's I always like talking to
people from towns where like factories and those blue collar
jobs are from because that's where my family's from. It
was all g GM plants, so both sides. My mom
is from Northern Indiana, my dad's from East Indiana. Both
from GM plants. Worked in you know, the whether it

(05:54):
be Delk Electronics or the paint factory. They that's where
they came from. Most of the time, my dad was
the only one to get out. He's actually now gone
back as in his retirement, but he was the only
one to get out. Is is that kind of the
environment you grew up in where most people stay. You
get a job, you kind of work your life, You

(06:16):
do your blue collar thing. And go And if that
was the case, what made you decide to like, hey,
I'm gonna I'm gonna go, you know, into Indiana Wesleyan
to go to school, like I'm gonna try this, I'm
gonna leave.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
It's a good question, and it's the history is it's
definitely unique. So I was slated to I was a
journeyman out of high school. I did not know what
I wanted to do for a living, and I refused
to just go to college just to go to college.
So I was a journeyman in the Union as an

(06:51):
electrician my first year out of high school, and I
learned very quickly that I'm not good with my hands.
I think four months into it, I had I had
an injury with a knife on my hand and they
needed stitches. And I knew at the time, like this
is just not my thing. But everybody was like, hey,

(07:12):
you should be a journeyman, an elect you know, electrician,
great great profession, you know, and and the union great
benefits and all that, and I just knew it wasn't
for me. So I learned that quickly and I basically
went home. I was doing a job in West Virginia
with a group of guys. Got home after getting stitched up,
and I told my mom, I said, this just isn't

(07:35):
for me, and I need to do something else. And
I think and I learned a lot when I was
in West Virginia because I was very I was on
my own a lot, and I lost the human communication piece.
So I was up on a scissor lift all day
bending conto it. And I learned quickly that I do
love the human interaction. I like helping people, and I

(07:57):
like just being around people in general. So I needed
to make a different, a career change. So I decided
at that time, believe it or not, I said, I'm
gonna I want to be a physical therapist because I
want to help people. I want to be around people,
and I think that's the best avenue. So started school
in Erie at the community College and learned after taking

(08:21):
an accounting class that I wanted to get into finance.
So took all my miners were keynesiology and biology and
all that. So I definitely gave took the hardest route.
It's typical in my life. And you know, decided I
wanted to get into finance. So I pivoted over to
finance from finance and business management from physical therapy. So

(08:43):
I had no clue what I wanted to do until then,
and then I had my eyes laser focused on that.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Gotcha, what made you choose? I mean, Indiana Wesleyan is
not a big school. I went to a small school
as well, very very specifically because I wanted to graduate early.
I wanted to get out. I didn't want to deal
with I was more of an introvert, and then I
was kind of beyond my years. I guess it kind
of grew up the same way you did, single, single mom, household.
Then I was with my dad by myself, so it

(09:10):
was like you just grow up quick. So it was like,
how do I get to market as quickly as I can?
How do I start making money? And how do I not?
And I work in the lumber yard every summer to
remind me stay in school. So what made you choose
that school? Because not many people, I mean, I know
about it because my family's lived all around it. But
what made you choose that particular college?

Speaker 2 (09:30):
The small classrooms, the intimate settings. I knew I needed
it as a growing up. I wasn't a great student,
and I don't think that was a that wasn't a
byproduct of just of not having the ability. It was
just applying myself. So I had to do a lot
of I had to pillo a lot of catch up,
and I knew that. And meeting with the counselors and

(09:51):
having discussions with just the folks that were part of
that university. I knew that that would be the setting
I needed to get the degree, get the and really
not just float through class. It wasn't. I was at
a stage where it wasn't about the parties and you know,
meeting you know, all kinds of people. It was literally
about getting your degree quickly and cost effective because everything

(10:16):
I was doing, I was paying for it out of
my pocket while living on my own.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
So I remember every year I'd go into the financial
a guy's office. His name was Eddie. We were like, Eddie,
how do I do this again? Next year? I think
I spent like fifteen grand on a four year degree.
I just badgered the guy. I was like, you know,
my parents, I have money. You know I'm here on
my own. How do I get grants? How do I
have to pay him back? So I just yeah, it's

(10:39):
it's weird because you want better for your kids, but
then you know what you went through and it made
you who you are, so you want to you want
them to have some kind of resiliency, but it's like,
how do you?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
But we'll get to that later.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
But I'm just like it just it always hits me
when I'm talking to people that kind of work their
way through something that like none of it was easy.
But then we have our kids and we're like, oh,
I want them to have to go through what I
went through. But that's why everybody loves us, you know,
they love our character.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
It came from that.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, it came from that ball busting approach, that hustling.
And I love all the conversations we have about hustling
because it's like, I mean, we could pick up a
dollar anywhere we want to, and then again we'll get
into there and getting way ahead of myself.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
I would second that because it's kind of same deal
like you, And that's I didn't know that about your
story that you grew up in a single mom household,
because you know, shout out to all the single moms out.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
There doing there, Yes, single parents everywhere.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah, because they're killing it. But seeing that example, and
again I tell everybody this. I'm very thankful for those
experiences and those hardships and those challenges, you know, whether
if it was getting into college on my mom's twenty
thousand dollars a year income, right, having to get those
grants and having to work every day at Capital City
Market in high school seven days a week for just

(11:52):
a couple of hours, making five twenty five and I
have to get a fifty dollars check and I was
the king, you know what I'm saying. But it's it's
funny because you again, you try to shelter your kids, like, hey,
I don't want that, but we are who we are
because of those experiences. Right, So there's there's a medium
there for sure.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
For sure, definitely, definitely, definitely.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
So you get done with Indiana Westland, and now it's
time to go to yet another blue collar town, Cleveland. Yes, Now,
have you met your wife yet? Or I had not? Okay, good,
all right, So we're we're we're done with with with school.
Did you how'd you find your first gig up in Cleveland?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
So first this is you're gonna find this very interesting.
So I moved to Cleveland and at the time, my
brother had had just graduated law school there and so
that that's what drew me there. Him and I, like
I said, we have been tight since we knew knew
each other since we were born. Uh. So to that point,
I moved there and the job market wasn't that strong

(12:51):
at the time. So I was my brother had just
bought Alexis and and he shouldn't have bought Alexis. He
was over his head, this is yeah, yeah, yeah. And
so he connected me with the gentleman that sold him
the car and had a good discussion with him. So
basically I was set up to start selling Lexuses and

(13:14):
at the Lexus dealership. But uh, a couple of weeks
before start date, I had met it just randomly. Uh,
there was a I was going to a bar with
my brother and the bouncer who checked us at the door,
we started talking to him. We were new, I was
new to town, so I was like, hey, great to
meet you, et cetera. Let me buy you a beer.

(13:34):
You know, we hit it off and he's like, man,
he's like, you're a good guy. He's like, I work
at Charter One Bank. I'm an assistant manager. I do
this at night. I want to get you in front
of our HR to see, you know, if there's an
opportunity there. So that is how I struck the banking cord.
So I was ready to sell lexuses. So ended up

(13:55):
meeting with HR and you know, went through all the
channels with Charter One and started as a teller. So
started as a teller, making five and a quarter an
hour and had all the bills that you would normally have.
But I knew when I started, when I saw the
banking profile and how aggressive the sales piece and finance side,

(14:16):
I said, this is perfect for me. This is like
my calling. So I grinned and barritt it as a teller,
if you will. They used to call me the man teller,
you know. So I'm working Saturday drive through the whole
nine years once again going back to the hustle factory. Dude,
whatever I had to do, I basically told my manager,

(14:37):
whatever you need me to do within this building, I'll
do it to show you that show you my worth.
So didn't make very much money to get started, but
that's how I got into banking.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
I was.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
I ran a teller window in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
That's awesome. One thing, yeah, and one thing I wanted
to follow up on that is a lot of these stories,
at least from the success portion, was there was this
ability at a young age to I'll do whatever it takes.
And it wasn't about the money with the generation, maybe
not of any fault of their own. It's how the
market is when you just can't find good people, you

(15:13):
overpay and you get them in and you don't crack
down on them, and blah blah blah. I wonder, and
I'm not trying to make any of your comments controversial,
but I wonder if you're seeing the same thing because
you're obviously have young the younger generation work for you.
I do, Steven does in all our businesses, and I'm
trying to I'm trying to figure these things out. So

(15:34):
sometimes all these podcasts, I'll be like, oh, here's a
philosophical question I think I can answer with these three
guys or these us and Steve and if we have
a lady over there, and I'm just kind of wondering
why that's not a thing anymore. And it's it's very
interesting to me because you know, when we do podcast days,
Steven will sit in his office and I'll sit in

(15:54):
my office and I'll be like, well, how many people
do you are you trying to hire this week? He's
like ten, because five Mark going to show up and
I'm just like where what is going on? But it's
the key to everything is to not have the dollar
bills the lexus. Go buy the Lexus first, and like,
I'll do whatever you want. And I remember the first
job I had, the guy said I can't afford you.

(16:17):
I said, well, will you just pay my gas money
for me to drive to Hillbilly? From Hillbilly Melt Juliet
over to Franklin. And I was like and I was like,
just pay my gas and he's like, okay, we can
do that. And that guy got me my first job,
which got me to the next thing, got me to
the next thing. So anyways, you don't have to comment
on the generation now, but just that what did that

(16:38):
instill in you that like, hey, I just got to
do whatever it takes.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, it definitely goes back to my younger years when
I when I did take that chance and it worked
out for me. But to your point, I knew I
had to build the foundation and it wasn't about money.
It was about investing in myself, so I wasn't investing
in cars and all that stuff. It was a true

(17:02):
I knew I had to invest in myself to basically
be the top tier banker that I wanted to be,
and I knew in my head if I did the
right things, good things would come. But to your point,
I definitely agree. And it's funny when I interview folks
to join the bank and at this bank previous banks,

(17:23):
I tell them the story. I'm like, you know, you're
fresh out of college and we're bringing you in as
an analyst and you're working on you know, looking at
companies that are looking for acquisitions, things like that, working
twenty plus million dollar companies. When I started, I was
running a teller window of cash and checks asking for ID.
Can't yell that so customer facing. So there is an

(17:46):
appreciation that I have, and I do try to share
that story as much as I can. But to your point,
I think the market has just totally changed, and I
do think the folks that are younger than us have
financial ties that they shouldn't have, maybe necessarily with college
and all that stuff. So my advice to the younger crowd,

(18:10):
I hate the fact that I'm middle aged now and
I can talk to the younger crowd because I want
to be the younger crowd. Is that you know, definitely,
definitely be conservative with your funds and look big picture
because that'll give you more flexibility to grow and be
who you want to be.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a there's a kings Leon lyric about
you know, he sees some kids smoking. He's like, they're
too young to smoke, But I'm too young to tell
him that they can't do it, you know what I mean. Yeah,
So it's kind of we're in that weird spot right now.
And you know, we've we've been able to have this
great I don't know, because all the boomers retiring and stuff,

(18:49):
we've all got to succeed at a younger age, which
is great. But but yeah, it's it's it's just an
interesting conundrum we're facing right well.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
I think there's been this cultural shift too that you know,
the instant gratification, the having access to everything on your phone,
and it's wild when you interview people that are straight
out of college, like, you know, out of college, if
I got a thirty five forty thousand dollars job offer,
like I'm the I'm the man, I'm the king, and

(19:17):
now like people are expecting to make six figures right
out of school, and it's I get the times change
and inflation and the value of the dollar has changed,
but it's like, man, you got to you got to
start here before you get there. And I've always preached
to my team too, is you know, take on the things,
take on the extra task and the extra responsibilities before

(19:38):
you're in that seat, right and you do that, and
it's going to be tough at first, but you want
to become that obvious choice and be able to step
in that way whenever opportunities do arise. It's like homeboy's
already doing X, Y and Z, so why not go
ahead and just plug him in? And now you're now
you're where you're supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
So it's an easy transition if you're already kind of
doing the thing right now. And I find that anytime
I'm asking somebody to do a little bit more, they're like, well,
does that come with more money? You know? I'm like, well,
I didn't think of that, but I you know, and
then you have to start that whole thing. And then

(20:16):
you're like, well, I'll just do it myself. Like, I
don't want to deal with this every time I give
somebody another you know, so it is an absolute conundrum.
But anyways, so we're in Cleveland. We're hanging out with
our brother who's got his lexus, and uh, you know,
you're not you're you're like got the itch for the banking.
Have we met we met the wife yet, had.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Not met the wife yet? Initially, Uh there and then
when I when I had first gotten there for the
first couple of years. So got in, got in the banking,
started started at the teller position and ended up preferring
a lot of accounts from the teller window, and quickly
moved over to the desk, if you will. But one
interesting thing I had to do. It's goes back to

(20:56):
taking a chance. I had to I pivoted. I was
a full time employee, full benefits, et cetera. There was
a part time desk position open at the downtown main
office where our CEO sat and everybody, anybody who was
within the organization, and I knew at that time that
I needed to get in front of those people, so

(21:18):
I took there was an open part time position, so
I sacered in that I don't recommend this, But I
sacrificed my personal benefits, health insurance and everything to take
that and a pay cut to take that part time
position so I could just get in front of the
right people to climb the ladder. So once again goes
back to investing in yourself, not necessarily the bank account

(21:40):
in the beginning. And that was the one of the
best career decisions I've ever made. And at the time,
my mom was like, you are what losing your benefits?
Just keep the health insurance. Like, I'm young and healthy.
I've been to the doctor area in four years. So
it was a risk, but ended up paying dividends and
still to this day, I don't I would be where

(22:02):
I am, but it wouldn't have been as quick.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Right, So what were the keys? I mean, what happened
during that time being that part time?

Speaker 2 (22:09):
So during that during that time, Number one, it taught
me to I had to step up my game. I
had to be on every day because at the time,
our CEO, Bug Coke, he could come through the lobby
and did quite often along with all our ceo, every
head of retail, et cetera. So it made me regardless
of how I woke up, if I woke up in

(22:29):
a bad mood or just having a bad day, or
even got bad news, I had to show up one
hundred percent because the way I represented the retail piece
of the bank downstairs also gave me access to the
technology and the ability to say, hey, put my hand up,
let me pilot this. This technology, this sales force at
the time was new technology when I was there, so

(22:52):
to that point, it just gave me exposure to the
right folks and ended up getting mentored by our head
investment banking person at the bank, which taught me a
little bit about commercial banking, investment banking, et cetera. So
opened many doors. I didn't want to bring that up.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, yeah, for sure, showing your age or adam salesforce.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, yeah, they've rolled out. It was a pilot at
the time. It was not a public company or anything.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
I mean, I talked about the first firm I was at,
we were still using paper and people were just like
like what, but you know, hey, technology just turned on,
like somewhere around two thousand. It was right after the crisis,
you know, right before right after two thousand, it was
like technology just took off. And then right after two
thousand and eight two thousand and nine, it just went

(23:41):
everything went crazy. There was no need for paper companies
or Doneder Mifflin anymore.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
That's right. I remember sitting in a conference when they
were rolling out online banking, and I was turning to
the folks I worked with, and I said, I would
never set my account up online, Like why would I
open that door?

Speaker 3 (23:58):
You know?

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Security wise?

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Now?

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Wow? Yeah, every morning, the first thing I do is
log into my account on my phone through the app
with a face ID. So times have changed, yea.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Indeed, talk about waking up every morning you're talking. I'm
glad you kind of went down that road a little bit.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
You know.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
People ask me all the time, and we've talked to
several guys about this. Ladies too, when you like, not
everybody wakes up in a good mood every day. And actually,
if you've grown up with trauma, a lot of people
in single family households, we grew up with trauma. Sometimes
you don't want to deal with it, but we do.
And people ask me, they're like, oh, it's got to
be some type of superpower. I'm like, I don't know

(24:38):
that it is. I think it's just everybody has a
different motivation. You know, my motivation is different, Steve's different yours.
But let's talk about that kind of when when you
are feeling that way, because it doesn't change. Our kids
are kids. We got kids now, we got other stuff
to deal with. We got first world problems, but there's
still problems. And so it's like, you know, God forbid,
you know, they start hitting puberty and all the other stuff.

(25:00):
But I think Steven's already in. You may be in
as well. I'm still got a few years of goodness
to go. I haven't hit puberty yet. Okay, well it's
kids kids, yeah, ye, But anyways, what is what? What
can you say to that? I mean, you don't need
to be inspirational necessarily, but what it's just a grind
sometimes just get up and do it.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
It really is. It's a grind, and you really have to.
You have to play personally. I play the mental game.
I kind of step talk to my You have to
talk to yourself. You have to. You can't let because
I tell myself that emotions changed throughout the day. Right,
I'm gonna I'm gonna be excited. I'm gonna be up, down,
up and down all day because you know, you could
win a deal, you could lose a deal. You could

(25:42):
hopefully you're hiring somebody, they could back out, et cetera.
There's just life happens, right. I heard a good good
saying things just don't go your way, and that's so true.
So I think it's a mental game. And I and
for me. So when I wake up and you're you're
you're one hundred and ten percent correct. Though there's mornings
I wake up and I'm like, man, I wish I
could just stay in bed all day, Like I don't.

(26:04):
I don't want to talk to people today. I don't
want to deal with this to that. And I know
I have a calendar that has probably an hour of
freedom between eight and five, so I know it's so
it's jammed up. So that can bring on some anxiety.
But you have to you have to talk to yourself.
You have to take a step back and say, hey,
I'm gonna do one step at a time. I'm gonna

(26:25):
do my eight am, and then i'm gonna do my nine,
and then i'm gonna do my ten. By the time
you get to about your ten, you're feeling great, you know,
and you feel good about yourself because you knew what
you climbed out of in the morning, So staying in bed,
I know that at five o'clock I am going to
be extremely disappointed in myself. It's kind of like missing
if you skip a workout, or you you know, you

(26:47):
eat that donut when you shouldn't have. You just you're
disappointed in yourself. So I think I'm my own big
I'm the biggest judge of myself, and I hold myself accountable.
I would rather have the feeling of getting out of
the bed and going through each step than the five
o'clock why did you not do your job today? So
that's that's what I think.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
I love that because I try to do something that
myself at five pm will thank me for this morning,
or do something today that myself will a week from now,
a month from now, i'll be grateful, thank you past
Steven for doing that thing. Because again, that's that's a

(27:29):
beautiful piece right there, because I think that's really what
it's about. And the self talk is big too, because
and I'll probably talk more trash to myself than I
do others, you know, especially in the morning, like Adam
knows me and how I coach, and I coach hard,
and you know, I coach myself even harder, say some
very inappropriate things to myself. Should maybe be thrown in

(27:49):
jail for that.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
I don't know. I listen to a podcast with I
don't know if you guys ever follow or heard of
David Goggins, but I heard him before he was David
Goggins because he lived with uh Jesse Itzel or whatever
his name is, you know, live thirty days with him,
didn't reveal his name until later. And now he's just
taking off as this guy he's got a filthy mouth.

(28:12):
But he's like that's I'm like, you're the guy in
everybody's head. Yes, that's custing us out every morning, and
it's that side of us that's like, get up, do
your thing, stop being a whatever, whatever, whatever, because we're
trying to keep it clean.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
You know.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
We got some moms listening, but you know, it's like
it's crazy, and my wife's like, why are you talking
to yourself like that. I'm like, I have to, like
there's no way around it, because if I don't the
I just won't do anything and then I'll be even
more in a bad spot. So I think you have
to go to those dark places to like say all right,

(28:47):
we're gonna we're just gonna do it today, and we're
gonna we're gonna embrace the suck. And I think that
embracing of it is what separates us from all these
other people, and that that you could be having the
worst day and nobody knows it because you're you're you
don't have to prepare for that, you're staying ready all
the time. Could you just make these incremental decisions that
compound each.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Other so exactly. And I'm a huge, huge goggins.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, he's a wild man. He's crazy wild. Yeah. That book,
that book, I was like, who is this guy? And
then and then he finally came out and he's just
taken off. But anyways, he's a I mean he's the
same thing, blue collar, single family, same thing, same exact thing.
And he's like, you know, big guy, and he's like,
I just got tired of sucking. Flip the switch, man.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
And then that's that's why I love his stories, because
like he was overweight, obese, not doing anything with his life,
Like why why can't anybody just flip that switch one day?

Speaker 1 (29:44):
And it's all so yeah, and I think why this podcast.
I know that I'm tooting it, but you know, not
meaning to and and necessarily that way. But I think
one of the things is is that there's a point
where everybody we talked to your talent runs out or
you didn't have it to begin with. I always say
I didn't have it to begin with, so you must

(30:05):
When that part hits and your talent runs out, you
either fall apart and you just become the high school
hero that works at the plan and does this thing,
which is fine, but that guy's usually depressed and he's
had his moment of glory. And where I'm sitting, I'm like, well,
that's where all the work begins, is when the talent

(30:25):
runs out. So obviously your work ethics been there, You're
you're working in Cleveland. And then let's talk about what
was that transition like to move down to Nashville, Because
you went blue collar, blue collar, blue collar Midwest certain
type of people, and then you come down to Nashville
to come hang out with a country music folk and

(30:48):
then you get outspread and it's it is still blue collar,
but it's a different blue collar because you're below the
Mason Dixon line. So was what went into that decision.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
That's right. So I got married in in O seven,
so I hadn't met Jackie my wife, UH in Cleveland
and O seven and or excuse me and O four
hope she doesn't listen to this Jackie. Yeah, So uh
O seven got married and moved to Nashville six months later.

(31:17):
So what had happened is kind of goes back to
my brother definitely does. He had left Cleveland about six
months before. Uh we had gotten married, and we had
no idea about Nashville. That said, we were at the
time when we were about the when we were we
had decided that the Cleveland market was challenging for me
for on the banking side. It was just it was

(31:39):
a tough time. It was seven, So I was I
was set up to transition with with the company I
was with to Chicago. So we were ready, like we
were set up to move to Lincoln Park, ready to go.
Visited my brother. I missed my brother, like it was evident,
like I needed to be by the guy. But visited
him down here in Nashville, and we thought like, oh

(32:01):
my gosh, I can't believe this guy moved here, Like
I'm like, what is my brother thing? Before we got here,
and we visited for four days and drove back up
to Cleveland and looked at each other and we're like,
do you want to move there? I'm like, yeah, I'd
love to move there. Like so we actually train in
ninety days from moving to Lincoln Park, Chicago, pivoted to

(32:22):
moving to Nashville. Didn't have the company I was with,
Charter One ended up being bought by Citizens Financial Group,
but didn't have presence down here. So that basically took
me about sixty days of interviewing and calls and facts
or emailing resumes that we were past facting at that point,
and ended up landing a job at sun Trust as

(32:45):
as a business banker. So got the job, loved the
city started, you know, we'd visit on the weekends and
kind of scope out the areas, and we just fell
in love with Nashville. But to your point, coming from Cleveland,
I had friends that just couldnt believe I was moving
down to Nashville, Tennessee. But now those same friends are like, man,

(33:07):
did you have a crystal ball? Yeah? Yeah, so that's
what That's how we got down here. But I have
to I have to give credit to my where credits
do my brother had jumped, had made the initial jump,
and yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's okay, we'll give them credit with credits due. Yeah,
still does he still have that lexus?

Speaker 2 (33:26):
No, No, he's into a maserati now. So guy, he
never learned his lessons. But it always it all.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
I mean, but you think about it. He became an attorney,
you became a successful banker, and it's like all from Erie, Pennsylvania,
all from single single mom, stenographer, own business.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
That's right. We were the we were the poor kids, man,
I mean, I can't put it any other way. I
was we were the kids that stood in the lunch
line and they looked at the list and get the
free lunch, you know, and and the embarrassment. Yeah, all
that comes you carry it, You carry it. So yeah,
we start at the ground year on floor. Your brother's older,
I'm assuming, yes, three years ahead of me. Yeah, so

(34:05):
I can I can sense the admiration for your brother.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
So let's let's talk a little bit more about him,
just because of man, he's something somebody you obviously look
up to and just kind of what he means to.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
You and I do he kind of he's as he
got older, you know, granted, now, if you want to
come see a good wrestling match, you come to our house.
When we were young, like front yard wrestling, we always
uh yeah, both being like more but but to that
point we always hugged afterwards. And even as young kids,
we never had and I always looked at he he

(34:34):
stepped up and really as he matured, naturally kind of
knew he filled the void of not having my dad around.
So that that was helpful. That was huge. So I
knew Number one, we just have this bond like like
a twin twins. We're not twins, but like twins would have.
But like even at a young age, like he would
he'd tell me like, man, don't do that. That's stupid.

(34:57):
Like you know, friends are smoking or throwing a keg party.
You know, he's like, man, stay away from that, stay
away from those people. Or you know, when I did
start college, it was like I was telling my like,
oh too, I'm too dumb to do that, Like I
shouldn't do this, I should go back and just like no, man,
keep doing it, you know, and get tutors and and

(35:18):
he called financial aid for me and help me with that.
So I mean, he was pivotal in keeping me progressing.
He I mean, God bless him. He had it in
him cause he was like when he was like in
third grade, He's like, I want to be a lawyer
and super smart and just accelerated through school really well,
whereas I had more challenges. So but back to it,

(35:40):
we have that bond and we always knew, like like
my mom instilled in us, like you guys will the
only you know, you will always have each other, and
you you can rely on each other like when the
dust settles, like you could have fifty friends, but you
can call your brother at two in the morning if
you got a flat tire or you're just having a
bad day. And that really stuck with us. So to

(36:01):
this day where like we always talk, we're always texting.
He lives like very close to me. Nephews and our
kids are extremely close, same age. So but back to it,
he really stepped up and kind of filled He did
fill that fatherly role that I needed and I needed
a lot more guidance than he did, thank God, because

(36:22):
because he was the fear you know, he didn't have
an older brother. He was the guy. So so yeah,
to this day, I'm indebted to him and would do
anything for him and vice versa.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
That's cool how he set the tone for for you man,
having that older brother to hold you accountable and guide
you in the right direction. And and and again he
he did his thing, and it's like, I want that,
I want to do that. Yeah, that's that's beautiful. And
I'm sure there's a little competitive piece today.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
We're so competitive. We are like competitive. Yes, yeah, there's
been Monopoly boards flipped over times.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, game consoles it's turned off.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
And oh yeah I gotta go. Yeah, yeah that's right.
Yeah Madden we turn it off midstream.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
That's awesome. Yeah, I think as it's interesting, Me and
my sister grew up in separate houses. She live with
my mom, I live with my dad. But as we
got older, are it's like, I mean, our trauma and
it's the only thing I know to call it has
brought us together and now we're super close. And I
think it's cool that relationships like that are still going on,
they're still happening, and it's it's you know, because yes,

(37:31):
would you have chosen it? Probably maybe, maybe not, but yeah,
there's something in him, right time, right place for you.
And even we've had we had another guy on here
who him and his brother were really big into powerlifting
and stuff, and I think it probably saved the younger
brother who we interviewed by following his older brother, because
he was a wild the wild one and was like, hey,
I or the wanderer. Let's call it the wanderer. He

(37:54):
never did anything while because his brother was right there
three years like, don't do that crap, Go the gym,
Go the gym, and so it's it is one of
those things. Let's go back a little bit into that,
since we're on the brother and you situation, where there
are times growing up where you guys had to you know, seck.
Obviously the monetary thing, probably certain things you couldn't do,

(38:16):
but the times where you just sat and kind of
watched other people do things, have fun, go party whatever,
and your back here grinding, Yes, what was that like
growing up? Some people really resent that part of their life.
Other people are like, no, I'm so grateful.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
You know.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
It's really set the tone. And where it set the
tone I think the most is because you got that
was our social media before social media is if you're
sitting over here on this side watching all these people
have a good time and you're envying them, you want
their life. Then that messages you up if you can
get around it and get your mind in a good spot,

(38:51):
and you're like, no, I'm gonna keep grinding right here.
Then as social media came out, it never affected me,
like I just never got on. I was just like, oh, okay,
I'm not this is not really a big deal to
me because I sat there and watched it, and I
remember so many workouts down in this guy's buddy of
mine's basement, Greg Taylor, and no windows, and it'd be
like nighttime on a Saturday and we're eating like Tony's

(39:11):
pizzas and the whatever, watching some kind of Cliffhanger on
DVD and working out and that was just what we did.
And but you know, I go back and I'm like,
did I miss out on something? And all these people
that were at those parties like you didn't miss a
damn thing, you know, Like I wish I was with
you in the grind. And so anyways, talk a little
bit about that. What was it like seeing that having

(39:34):
the discipline at the time with your brother's help to
say I'm just gonna grind this out.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, So definitely at the time yes, a lot of
a lot of jealousy going on. Seeing outside, you know,
I'm working, you know, trying to make money, trying to
make ends meet, and yeah, seeing the individuals out having
the good time, I kind of felt like I was
that whole that college party, you know, our upper high
school party, that piece was at the time I was.

(40:01):
I was definitely jealous and felt that I had that
taken away from me and I shouldn't have. But in hindsight,
that was the best thing that could ever happened to me.
So there was. At the time, it was rough, but
as I but then I did to your point, I
noticed that I was progressing and others were stagnant. They
were standing still, and they were still doing that and still,

(40:21):
you know, still, and that stuff gets I also noticed
that stuff gets old, and what I was doing didn't
get old because I was bettering myself, uh not only
mainly into it as a person, but also it helped
financially too, because I wasn't used to having money. And
you know, you know, the I tell people, I tell
my kids that we took one vacation my whole childhood.

(40:45):
Within it was like with my uncle road trip to ocean.
You know Ocean Beach, Maryland, Ocean City, Ocean City, Ocean City, Maryland.
So one vacation and I didn't the first time I
stepped foot on a plane. I bought the ticket with
my dishwashing money, Yeah, to go ski in with a
friend whose parents paid the further log yeah, the rest

(41:06):
of the way. So so I did feel like I
felt like I missed out on a lot, but it
also like fast forward, like I'm giving you know that,
we talked, given that to the kids, right. I wanted
my kids to be on flights and go see this,
see the country. And so yeah, there was a lot
of a lot of missed, a lot of a lot
of missing out, But the grind was worth it. It

(41:28):
was worth grinding instead of instead of doing those things
because that's what got me to where I am.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, I'm same, right, I think we can all relate
to that. Having single moms and vacations, that wasn't a thing.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Right.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
If I got to go on vacation, it was because
a friend invited me on vacations, right, because it wouldn't
be on that because my mom was working daytime, doing insurance,
doing nursing, waiting tables, whatever she could do to you know,
to put food on the table or bring roles from
Santa Fe home so I could hammer those, which was
my favorite thing of all time. But again that's that's

(42:03):
where that that gratitude for for those moments and A
that example from from our moms and and then B
having to go through those hardships and riding my bike
to Capital City Market every day sixteen years old, riding
a bike to work, you know, couldn't afford a car,
and mom had the car because she was at work.
So that's there's there's beauty in those moments for sure.

(42:24):
And and you know, like I said, finding gratitude in that,
I think it's pretty easy in my opinion, it really is.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Yeah, it is, indeed, Yeah, it's Uh, it's just always
interesting to sit down and talk to like minded people
because there's so few that I feel like, you know,
you get the fomo, but does the fomo eat you alive?
That sort of thing, and it's a it's a very
I like now, I don't think that, like we take
our kids everywhere, Like I don't want them to ever

(42:51):
feel like they have to save up for an experience.
They want stuff, they got to buy it, like that's
the that's the deal. Yeah, they got And they were
so confused when I took all their cash and I'm like,
what's going into the bank. Well, the bank's right here,
it's in the drawer. I said, no, it's going into
a real bank. And so it's it's like there's like
a little ledger. So anyways, it's it's so interesting. You

(43:12):
get these little moments where you know, one of them
will get something done fit and the other one's like,
well that was her, that was a gift. She earned
that for doing this, this and this or whatever. And
then the other one's like, well can I buy it?
And you're like, okay, we're starting to see something here
instead of like can I just have it, they're like no,
can I buy it? I'm like okay. So I'm finding
different ways and instill. That's on the stuff side, But experiences,

(43:34):
I mean, I'm like, take them everywhere. Do it. There's
no there's no reason why you wouldn't. And some and
everybody you know that's from that generation of our parents
generally had an aunt and uncle that kind of did
that for them, because my parents grew up poor too,
but my dad had an uncle and aunt that would
just get in one of those paddy wagons and dry

(43:55):
them all over the country during the summers.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
You know.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
So that was cool that you know, you had, uh,
I guess it was an uncle or you know whatever
to kind of at least expose you to something to
know that there was something bigger out there.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
Yeah, so we're in Nashville. There's some bumping around going on.
We're gonna get into the kind of the banking, which
used to be seen as kind of like this before
the crash was like this. It had got a real
bad rap in a sense. It was like feed driven.
There's a lot of vehicles in there that people didn't like,
you didn't need. If you ever need a good summary

(44:27):
in my opinion on that whole industry before the crash,
go watch The Big Short because they explained it very
well on what what people were doing. And even now
we it was. It was great for me to come
out of college during that during that recession, because like
me and Steven were said, we were like, I think
Steven moved to Florida for a job, Yeah, just to

(44:50):
get a job, And then I think I took whatever
this firm gave me, and I started. I graduated early
just so I could take the job. And so we
we got the benefit of starting out in the sub
like worst recession anybody ever seen in their lifetime, and
we're just like here we are. You're dealing with that.
You're in the industry that's tanking, and now you're in Nashville.

(45:10):
So let's talk about what that was like. And then
we're going to get into like how banking has changed,
but how you with the banker with now have been
able to kind of go back a little bit in
time to the good days of banking that I'm like,
this is great, this is how it should be. You know,
this is where it's at. So what was it like
going through that?

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yes, so I remember we to your point, I remember
when bank we just had a target on our back basically,
so new to the market, Nashville was a little different
back then. It was this is a tight knit community
and it was it was a hard The barrier to
entry it was was pretty high as it relates to
getting into the business community. So you had that challenge.

(45:51):
And then on top of it, you have protesters outside
of the building, the one percent thing, and I'm sitting there,
you everybody listening to this podcast has heard my background
and I'm like the farthest thing from one percent, So
kind of it was definitely a unique time. It gives
you multiple types of emotions personally. But to that point,

(46:11):
it was a challenge. It was an uphill battle, you know,
going out to companies and turning off lines of credits,
et cetera. It is a very challenging time, that challenging
conversations to have with business owners. So it was it
was it was hard to put it. Put it frankly,

(46:31):
it was very hard and and while still trying to
grow your business and finding those unique opportunities. But it
came back to I'm going to do five more than
everybody else, right, I'm going to make ten more cold
calls every day. Actually, cold calls weren't weren't very popular
where at the institution I was at, and I basically

(46:51):
got that system up and running at a local level
through leadership. But to that point, I I've always been
able to maneuver the through the uniqueness of the markets
or whatever it may be. And still it kind of
goes back to you hustle, you do the right activities.
I call it the blocking and tackling. Do the pushups.

(47:11):
You're you're going to be successful. But so that was
the most challenging time I had ever had in banking
because of the target on our back. Banks all the
banks just not really willing to lend. They had their
necks out there on mortgages, et cetera. So you had
you're fighting on both sides, fighting on trying to get deals,
the good deals, and then you're also fighting internally to

(47:33):
get the good deals done. So it was a very
challenging time. But once again, the grind turns into who
you are. And looking back, I mean, naturally I didn't
I would never wish that economy on us or any
other country or market, but to that point, I grew
from it. So once again took a negative situation, turned
it into a positive and and out hustled it.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
And then we fast forward a little bit and then
we have this Silicon Valley bank goes down. Everybody starts
freaking out again, and then we have inflation, which we
hadn't seen and forever all these things are happening again.
I noticed the bank starts shifting, and you we've worked
on several acquisitions together, and you know what my pain

(48:19):
points are, but they just stopped. They just stopped lending.
If it wasn't collateralized to the hilt where it wasn't safe,
then they wouldn't do it. And then now what's happened
is they basically shut down the linds. Some of these
banks have shut down their lending arms. And now they're like, wait,
we're not making any money because all of our loans
are at three percent, and so then it's like, well, wait,

(48:43):
well we got to go. So but they've already lost
all the deals because all things kept happening. They thought
inflation was gonna kill M and A, and of course
it didn't because private equity has been stashing money. You
had PPP, you had e ERTC. The smart people saved
all that money and they're still living off of it.
It's crazy. So then you decide, Hey, I'm gonna go

(49:04):
to this bank that nobody's ever heard of out of Birmingham.
I never heard of it. You're gonna work with businesses
that banks shutter, like cannabis and and and air balls,
which is basically service businesses that don't have any collateral.
You're gonna you're gonna start opening your doors to having
conversations with these people. What was that move like or

(49:26):
and again i've never heard you bash a bank, don't
expect you to do it now. I think it was
the industry, and I think there was something in you
that said, I can't be me in this space. So
what was that? What was going on during that time
where you're like, I gotta find a spot where I
can go back being myself.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Yeah, yeah, And definitely to your point when never bash
the competition, there's everybody has a purpose in the in
the industry, and in my opinion, there's enough enough fish
out there for all of us to catch them. So
to that point though, in the larger institutions, and I
understand the thought process, right, instead of having fifty commercial
bankers out there selling your products, advocating for your brand,

(50:07):
et cetera, you have thousand or you know, a thousand
or whatever whatever the head count is across the country.
So you have to keep a more strict setting.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
I e.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
Those we always use like you know, it doesn't fit
in a box. If it doesn't fit in the box,
I can't I can't sell it. So that is a
frustrating place to be because you're working with it you're
calling number one. You're you're trying to get into a company, right,
and you mate, maybe it takes eight months a year.
There's deals. It's taken me two and a half three

(50:37):
years to close, like just from start to start to finish.
So you get that all that invested time and then
to find out that, oh, it's a great company, but
it doesn't fit.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
It can be frustrating on the sales side. And it's
also it's a it's a brand. You're delivering of your
own brand, Like I tell my folks that I work
with in myself, like I'm delivering the Atomsklee brand. They're
delivering the Joe Smith brand in addition to the organization.
So those challenges and where I was career wise, I had.

(51:10):
I had built up the knowledge of the higher middle
market type knowledge of acquisitions, investment banking style transactions, and
something I always thought was like, why don't we bring
this to the lower middle market companies? They they can
benefit from it. It's an underserved market and it's a

(51:32):
it's for lack of better words, it truly is a
win win because you can help those businesses grow to
be upper tier middle market companies and the bank wins
through through revenue, new new relationships, word of mouth, et cetera, branding,
all that good stuff. So I knew I needed to
get to that place and Oakworth is that place. It's

(51:56):
I tell this this story with with everyone that I
talked to about Oakworth who has that question. And I basically,
when I'm interviewing with the firm, had the opportunity to
go down to Birmingham meet with our CEO and founders
and basically got in the car and was headed home
and I called my wife, Jackie, and I said, Jackie,
You're not gonna believe this, but I'm switching over to

(52:19):
Oakworth because yeah. She was like, yeah, we were kind
of on cruise control and she's like, are you sure
you know? And I got home told her the story
about how the individuals, how the how the organization operates,
how it was built. It was built No. Eight, which
is very impressive in the banking world, and just how
they operate, the culture, working with good people, nice people,

(52:43):
little stuff like that is huge. But to your point, Casey,
getting things done, being able to be creative, innovative, structured
deals outside of like, oh, I have this this sheet
that I have to go off of and if it
doesn't meet one of these the criterion here, then I
can't do it. Was was, no, let's think about this.
Let's let's get together as a team and really talk

(53:03):
about how we can make get this deal done because
we know the company's good, we know the individuals behind
it are good, and we bank people. We banked the company,
but we bank the people. We don't, you know, So
to that point, that was very uh that that was
a hook for me. And and it's proven. I've been there.
I've been with Oakworth for two years now, and it's

(53:25):
it's it's shown to be true. And and we've grown
the relationships and brought in great relationships and aren't quite
frankly able to do deals that never could have gotten
done at other institutions just because of what I spoke
to earlier.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
Let's talk about how selfish you are for taking one
of my softball players to go pursue your career at OKWA.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
That's right, that's rights.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
Bringing up PTSD here.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Whenever they were moving, he took the new job.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
And what I guess it wasn't too long after that
that y'all, y'all made the move to Brentwood.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Yes, that's correct. Yeah, the drive is a drive back
in y back, go back to when I moved here
and you all are from here, so you know better,
way better than me. But you could make that commute.
But yeah, the drive was challenging and family time.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
I know, I know Oakworth needed you, but I needed
Ava more's so's I still I so haven't forgiven you, guys,
but I understand at the end of the day.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Well, you've been crucial Steven that I told you earlier.
You got her into softball and she's never leaving it.
She's already talking about going to U two year old
miss and playing softball. So she almost fell out of
it and you kept her in. So I thank you
for that.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
I love it the times and places. Yes, So yeah,
going back to the beginning, Steven news Steven coach's daughter
in softball, So that was uh. And to me and
Stephen forgot that we told each other we knew the
same guy, so it was just kind of like, oh,
and then I forgot to tell Adam that even Steve
was going to be here this morning. So it's just
a reunion going on.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
It is because I don't I don't know if I've
seen you guys, maybe since y'all have moved.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
The power of social media and keep up with everybody's
you know, bo and Ava and all the all the
great thing that they're doing and sounds like they've kind
of plugged themselves into the community down there and are thriving.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Yes, they love it, and yeah they're doing really well.
Love playing the sports, trying to instill in them the
hustle mentality, and you can do that through sports and
hit cracking the books too, So those are the two
crucial pieces. But I do think the fundament we're laying
good for the groundwork is being laid and through coaches
like yourself.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
Thank you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
Well. I think that's the great piece because your background
and I don't know Jackie's story and how her growing up,
but you know, I think we can all agree that
we're doing this to our kids as we tell them
about those times and the things and the hardships and
the things we had to go through and the blessings
that they have that are bestowed upon them just because

(55:48):
we climbed out of that, but still not losing those
core values of what made us who we are. The
hard work, the dedication, the battling through adversity, embracing the
suck that. I think those are all good things and
whether than just we've all been semi successful in our
endeavors instead of just giving them that silver spoon and
letting them be little little turds like you know, they're

(56:11):
still held accountable and to a standard.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Right.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
So I love that and I see that in your
kids because it's yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, yes, sir, no, sir.
When when whenever we had practiced AVA, you know, she'd
be out there with with with her issue, with her
arthritis and stuff and giving it up one hundred and
ten percent, cry and running around the bases like that's
kids just don't do that that have a silver spoon

(56:35):
in their mouth. But mm hmm I digress.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Yeah, no, And and to your point, you know one
thing I did with the with the kids that when
I when we were able to do it, is I
took them. So my family, my great grandfather, great grandparents
basically came from Italy, So I took we did a
New York City trip and I took them to Ellis Island.
We looked up my grandfather the boat he came over on.
Because my thing is is is and I want this

(56:59):
in their and is like, we're fighting for the next generation.
Like what I'm doing right now is not for Adam,
it is for them. And I tell them, I'm like,
you need to live, you know, in a better, better
situation than we have right now. I expect it so
growing from you know, Joseph Scalice who came over here

(57:20):
alone and eighteen years old on a boat, had no
clue what was going on, came through Ellis Island. I say,
you know, that's how we started, and now we're progressing
like that is. I think that's impactful and it's important
to show your kids that because they just think it
started with this like where we are today, and it
really didn't.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
So yeah, the history really represents itself if you really
go back and look at that. Taking back to kind
of something you said kind of just in a sentence,
but I think it's wildly important. Right now. Nashville was
not built for as many people that live here. The
trendsit here is awful. It's it's is bad, but it's

(58:00):
still it's it's tough to get through the people have
become more aware of living and working in their communities
the same place you up and moved a great community,
probably had friends over Mount Juliet, a good coaching whatever.
And then you're like, hey, and you said for family time,
that still is not the norm with guys that hustle

(58:24):
and run and gun like we do because we're chasing
either the dollar, a career move whatever. What was it
that made you say, because I've done the same thing.
I live like a mile from my house. I mean,
I live, I work, This office is a mile from
my house. Everything's here, doctor's office, everything's right here. People
are like, well, why'd you move down there? I'm like,
cuz I don't want to spend all my time in

(58:46):
the car. And I remember my dad getting home when
my parents were married after I go to bed, basically
or the same thing. So what was it that instilled
in you against all the things that you could have
went and grabbed in your career and different things like that,
say well, I'm gonna move to where the bank's at
because that's where I can get more family time.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Definitely, yeah, it's a great question. It definitely goes back
to meet my childhood and I want to make sure
I fill the voids that I grew up with with
my dad not being around. So like getting home to
play catch with bo or get Ava ready for a
softball game, and you know, have some hits outside and
and we do. You know, we have a couple of dogs.

(59:26):
So I try to take the dog, you know, grab
one of them every night and do a little dog walk.
Actually my I can't steal the ideas my wife's ideas
like dad, dad and dogs, Dad and dogs. So I'll
take Ava and then I'll rotate with Bo. I try
to do it every night. So those things, that's that
is more important to me, because honestly, like I was
in Mount Juliet, we're like, to your point, we were

(59:49):
set two point seventy five percent fixed mortgage for thirty years.
I gave up as a banker. Yeah, bad, that hurt,
But to your point enough, it's riceless to be able
to do those things, and I wasn't able to do
those I was getting home. It was dark out, and
quite frankly, when you sit in a car for an
hour and fifteen minutes after hustling, truly hustling for eight

(01:00:10):
to ten hours, it's you know, you're not in the
best shape when you get home, you're not your best self.
So I want to be the best version of myself
when I get home too, because I know I'm still
on until nine o'clock there when they're going to bed.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
No, I understood, understood kind of. As we get towards
the end of this, I just looked and I'm like,
we're in an hour and I'm just like, wow, we'll
just chill, just keep chilling. There is this thing and
I want you to speak to it. Where uh, there
was a point in time where a lot of the
bankers or so called bankers have become like sales concierge guys.

(01:00:44):
You start talking about your company with them, they look
at you like a deer in the headlights, or they're like,
I got to go talk to an analyst or whatever,
one of the things that like immediately it's like if
one of my guys calls you, you you know they're
company inside it out? What is Why is that shifted?
Do you think in the industry so much to selling vehicles,

(01:01:07):
selling this, selling that instead of truly getting into that.
Because I remember telling you that was one of the
biggest things. You understood the due diligence package I put
together where most of the time I sent it to
the guy they're like, Okay, well, yeah, this looks great.
I'm going to go send it to my analyst, and
then my analyst tells me yes or no. And it's
like Jonah Hill and Moneyball. Before he gets to Brad Pitt,

(01:01:28):
he's like he's like saying three or four things through
five different people. When he gets to the GM's gyms like, no,
you know, didn't deal with that with you. And there's
very few out there that are actually in that. They're
actually business people. So what do you think. I mean, yes,
just speak to that. Why you you've gone a different
direction than that, because obviously it's made you super successful

(01:01:49):
in the industry. But I'm watching these guys now flounder.
They're scared. They're like they got to go out and
get business because they didn't invest heavily enough in their
people and their customers. And like you were talking about,
we bank people, and all of a sudden, they're like,
if a banker can't do something for you, you go
somewhere else, you know, right, loyalty As you know, this

(01:02:11):
is transplant city now, yes, it's wide open. What's that
been like as you've kind of had to stay the
course of like I'm going to be a legitimate person
in this industry that understands how business works.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Yeah, that's a great question. And you know we in
banking it's it's pretty much these days viewed as a commodity, right,
So if you're viewed as a commodity, it goes back
to differentiating yourself, just like you all do in sports
and your businesses as well. So I knew and and
oak Worth, the organization Oakworth Capital Bank I'm with, really

(01:02:46):
focuses on the bankers knowing the fundamentals and knowing what
they're doing and having the tools and ability to make
decisions on the fly based on that knowledge. But back
to your point of I knew that I had to
learn banking process inside and out to be able to
differentiate myself and bring that knowledge to the table. And

(01:03:07):
quite frankly, I was always getting feedback like you know,
you know what we're talking about. Usually you know, you know,
the bankers a deer in the headlights, they would say,
and you know about like an esop, you know how
it works and the inners of it and the pros
and cons and the industries that maybe benefit from it.
So it's really sharpening your sword, right, getting that knowledge,

(01:03:29):
reading those industry, that industry data that's free out there
in the downtimes or on the Saturday mornings when it's
me and my cup of coffee versus looking on Facebook
to see what everybody did last night. So all those
little things add up, but it goes back to differentiating yourself.
And in our industry, you have to differentiate yourself and

(01:03:51):
you have to have that knowledge. And there's a lot
of sales pressure in our industry as well, so you
do have a lot of churn and burn, like hey, Casey,
you know, I see you have a client here, this
is what we can do. Boom boom boom, see you later,
kind of take it or leave it. Whereas you have
to get more. It's a more intimate discussion, it's more detailed.
It's because the business is as you know better than

(01:04:14):
I do. You both know that that's like a child
of the business owners, so you have to deliver in
that regard. It's like a nurse coming in and saying, well,
I think your son has this, this, and this one.
Who knows, we'll figure it out. I guess you know,
so you do. You have to show that you're the
expert and differentiate yourself, and quite frankly, I'm not. I'm never.

(01:04:34):
I don't want to be the cheapest. I want to
be the most value add at a reasonable cost. And
that's what I expect personally from vendors that I work with.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
People kind of don't care about the cost. I've watched
people that as we've switched over to you, that we
pay more at Oakworth, but they don't care because it's
not a big thing. The reason they complain so much
about fees because they weren't getting any value. So when
you get zero value, you don't want to pay for nothing.
But when you get what you want, you you blank check,
you know what I mean. So that and we've never

(01:05:06):
even talked about that. I've never had to come to
you once about hey man, we gotta knock these fees down.
It's like, no, get deal done, Get deal done. So anyways,
but yeah, any closing thoughts there, Steve.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
Though, No, I've obviously known you for a couple of
years man, and and this was this was really cool
to get to know you on a more intimate level.
As it relates to your career. So I appreciate you
coming in. I'm glad Casey could get us reconnected.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
It's it's awesome to see how successful you are. And
you know we're written for me from Mount Juliet, so yeah,
your thing money.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate you all having me
and it's It's one thing I learned just sitting here
today is that never judge a book by its cover, right.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
You never know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
You could assume somebody came from, you know, a background
that was peaches and cream roses, and here you don't
know the backstory, and you never know what somebody's been through.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
We get so much of that when we just sit
down and talk to people, and we've done it with
people like on this wall is telling you about them earlier.
I learned stuff about guys I was supposed to be
best friends with my whole life, and there was deep
dark things, like my best friend growing up was scared
of the weather. Never knew that till we interviewed his dad.
And we interviewed his dad, He's like, oh, yeah, he
was scared of the weather. That's why he wants the
Weather Channel all the time. We were like We just

(01:06:21):
thought he was a nerd and wanted to be a meteorologist, so.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
You just never know what's gonna come up in his room.
It's awesome, but hey, it's uh. You know you guys, keep.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
Listening, keep giving us good feedback, keep keep listening to
us while you're on those long runs there, and we'll
uh because we know a few of you do that.
But we appreciate all the support and we will talk
to you guys next time. Adam, thanks again for coming
him in. Thank you