Ep65 Jay Grosman - From Dealership Drama to Dream Business: How One Car Salesman Broke Free and Started Over

Jay Grosman  0:00  
So our vehicle finder program took off like wildfire. It's like, oh, well, you mean you can find me a vehicle, and I don't have to go to the dealer, and you can deal with all the shenanigans and put it on a silver plier, so I could just go pick up my vehicle, or you could just, like, sell it, send it to our house, and like, yeah,

Suzanne Taylor-King  0:19  
hey, hey, welcome to a podcast where dreams meet determination and success is just around the corner. I'm your host, Suzanne Taylor King, and I'm here to help you unlock the full potential of your business and your life. Welcome to unlock your way with STK, let's unlock your path to success together. Good. Morning. Good morning, everyone. Suzanne Taylor king here for another Friday live of unlock your way with STK and I am super excited for today's conversation with Jay Grossman, who was connected to me through the amazing Dina Wolf, who is in the expansion lab community, and we had such an incredible conversation the first time we met. He's the founder of two companies that are not super related, but I'm excited for you to see the connection, because one of his companies led to starting another company and the incredible rapport we had on our first call because of our common interest in cars. Welcome to the show,

Jay Grosman  1:32  
Jay, thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Suzanne Taylor-King  1:35  
Susan, Oh, you're so welcome. I'm going to share this live into my Facebook group, the IDEA Lab for entrepreneurs, if you're not there, whenever I do a live or a training or a podcast or a conversation, I always share extra bonuses in that group. So you want to watch from in there, because that's where all the extra goodies are shared, and I'm sure Jay will have some wisdom for us, maybe, maybe just a little bit. So how did you get started? Jay? Tell us a little bit about your auto business.

Jay Grosman  2:15  
It started in a land far, far away. I decided after five years trying to go through school, and I finally got out with this thing called a college degree I was trying to think of like. And you know what would be like, the most trusted profession I could ever get into, because my parents really taught me a lot of great things when I was growing up, and one of them was integrity and honesty and all these different things. So I was like, you know, why don't I just become a car salesman? You know,

Speaker 1  2:51  
trust for profession

Suzanne Taylor-King  2:52  
a little oxymoron there. I think

Jay Grosman  2:57  
it really is. And so in 1996 I actually started in the car business, wow, and yeah, and I was in the top 1% probably out of easily in Missouri, maybe in the country. I was very, very good at and one of the things that I noticed as I was going through like being a car salesperson is, believe it or not, my morals and ethics did not align with what my higher ups were trying to teach me, and I stayed in there for 18 years. I didn't feel like, you know, once you have a skill set, and I think everybody can, you know, just like, relate to this is when you're in that comfort zone and you're making a lot of money, you're like, Well, I don't know what else I'm gonna do, right? And unfortunately, that's how I felt. So I started, like building my own business within a business, I got so good that I could really kind of dictate how I wanted to do things, and my boss has kind of let me do it. And then one day, my life changed for ever, and my boss says to me, I'm leaving the company. Wow, yeah. And I was like, wait, what do you mean? You're leaving? He goes, Jay, I'm telling you right now, your life is never going to be the same. And just so everybody knows, I was working on a one income, living in one of the most, you know, cherished places to live in, St Louis, very high end, I could buy anything I wanted. I support a family of four, and all of a sudden, he's like, I'm leaving, and I'm thinking, oh, gosh, you know, he's. Oh, crap, I didn't believe so this is where my life changed forever. So his office used to be in this Cadillac building where I sold, you know, new Cadillacs, Volkswagens and Mazdas, and then I also sold pre owned vehicles. Well, he lived in his office, and I, one day, I walk into to the building, and his office is always to the left, and it's completely bare. Wow. And I'm getting chills talking about this story, because I knew that he wasn't lying to me, and I had to make some tough decisions. And you know, when you're making a multi six figure income, you go into basically somebody telling you this. I still gave it a shot, and I kept going at that same dealership and and I worked in so the dealership group that I work for is in the top 12 in the entire country. And so I'm thinking, Okay, well, in my mind, I had three choices. Number one, I stick with this dealership, and I did. I stuck with it for a little while, and I also watched my pay go from a multi six figure to, like, almost, I don't know, a third of what I was paying. Oh, it was, and it happened within four months.

Suzanne Taylor-King  6:37  
What caused that change?

Jay Grosman  6:41  
Well, anybody knows the car business, you basically have what you buy the vehicle for and what you sell the vehicle for. And as a salesperson, I make a percentage of the gross profit. I made 30% Well, if we're using an example of like, we buy a vehicle for 10, we sell for 15, because five grands about the average markup on just a basic car, that would be a really good profit. However, they have what you call a pack. And what a pack is is pure profit that a dealer has to make before they pay us measly sales people. So the pack kept increasing, increasing, increasing, increasing, all the way to the point where, on paper, it would show they own the vehicle for more money than so basically there was no more margin left. So they there is no more gross profit.

Suzanne Taylor-King  7:37  
So was this across the board, like the auto industry changed.

Jay Grosman  7:43  
So that's an interesting so that leads into my next piece is that I kept seeing it change. So then my second option is, oh, well, I'll just go to another dealership. But in my mind, if they're doing it, and they're a they're the biggest dealer group in Missouri, then everybody's going to do it, yeah. So then my third option was, is I start a whole new company concept that nobody's ever heard of, and make things really difficult on myself. So I chose option three.

Suzanne Taylor-King  8:18  
Oh, I love the difficult road. I love that. And in your mind, when that idea came to you, what did it feel like, like, were you, oh, yeah, that's totally gonna work. Or were you skeptical of this new idea?

Jay Grosman  8:37  
Well, yeah, I mean, so what I did was in that time and that four months, right? So I kept seeing it, drop, drop, drop, drop. I decided to stick my foot in, in, in the water just a little bit, just to see how things would go, to try to make an educated decision. Calculated risk, whatever you want to call it. So I started working on the side. And these people that would come in the dealership, they were like, Oh, I can't take that for my car. Oh, that's way, way too low. I'll sell it myself. So one day I said to this guy, I said, Hey, how about I sell it for you? And he's like, What do you mean? They were literally and, you know, for all the car people out there, this was a really, like, rare car. Was a oh four Chevrolet tracker. They don't even make them anymore. This thing had like, 30,000 miles on it, and they were gonna give them $3,000 for this thing, and Kelly Blue Book was 10, and that's what he's like. He's like, Well, you know, I could Kelly Blue Books 10 grand. I'm like, Yeah. And that's exactly what they're going to sell it for. They're going to quit. They're going to make six grand, seven grand, yeah. And he goes, Well, I can't do that. So then I said, How about if I. I love 40. And I said, I'll tell you this, I'll give you, I'll give you $500 more. At that time I was just throwing out, like, and he just did it, and I sold it for, like, $6,500 so I made $3,000 and I sold it two days, wow. And so that. Then I kept doing that. And I even told my boss I was doing it because I was so frustrated. I'm like, hey, I need, like, a base salary or something. Because, like, if you're not allowing me to make commission, this commission is really fun, and you can make money, but when you restrict people to make money, that's not fun. Yeah. So I wind up selling this vehicle. And then I kept doing it over and over. And over, Suzanne, and it's like, maybe this could work. And then me and my buddy Joe said, Hey, let's go into business together. And then it went downhill from there. I mean, actually uphill, I should say uphill from there.

Suzanne Taylor-King  10:58  
Okay, so I see massive potential with this. And many, many of my friends, family listeners, know that I have a little Porsche. Well, Volkswagen Porsche, Audi obsession, right? And I have decided when my son gets his driver's license, I'm getting the Porsche I always wanted. And there's, there's some strict requirements of what I want. And I have an ad outline right here of the car. I have the Lego version over here. I have aI pictures of me driving it, standing in front of it, like I'm manifesting the hell out of this, right? So much so that when I met you, you had something very close to what I wanted wasn't exactly what I wanted, and you were introduced to me right in this time of my life. And I'm like, Oh my God, he's the guy that's going to bring my car to me. My car might be in California, like it might be in Florida. I don't have to look here anymore in New Jersey, right? And this idea that it's getting closer and closer and closer to me, so many people are looking for a very particular car from their past, and I think it's fascinating what you do and how you've grown this into an actual business because of did? Did it come from a love of cars per se? In the beginning?

Jay Grosman  12:51  
Well, my dad always was really into cars. We always had like different cars, and he was so particular about the cars, and I'll never forget, he took me to nursery school and a Corvette. He had a 1978 red Corvette. I absolutely love this car. I said, you know, one day I'm gonna have a Corvette, too nice. And so when I was in the dealership world, I wound up buying Corvette, and I could buy it cash. So super easy. The kids were really young at the time. Yeah, and I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. So I'm like, you know, I'll keep it for like, six or seven months. And then I bought a viper, and I've always just had like this. I love like, I I like to be, I'm a very unique person. And I, you know, I'm, I'm a customized person, is what I call it, telling me, yeah,

Speaker 1  13:49  
so

Jay Grosman  13:51  
I, I buy this Viper, and that was really cool. I mean, people would take pictures. And I really just kind of wanted to be like. Wanted to be proud of like and what year was that? It was in 1998 I bought it was 6500 miles two years, made $1,000 on it, sold it with 9900 miles on it, some gal from Arizona flew in, took a rental car to my house. So hot then, gosh, oh, it was, it was just, it was an amazing car, but I almost killed myself in it one day because it doesn't have a lot of traction around corners and especially in the lane. So I did a 180 in the middle of the street, and I for the Viper to go nice. And ever since then, I just I love cars, and I think it's more I love people more, and I love being like a superhero. I think that is my passion. Was Suzanne. Is that I, I do not like when people are taking advantage. Of and I have a mantra that I don't think profits a bad word. I think unfair is and when it becomes unfair, that is where my superhero cape comes on. And I'm like, This is not okay, because this person does this once every five to 10 to 15 years, and they go buy a car, and these car sales people, if you use an analogy, they are the top like it's like having a top attorney that you're going against in the state when you're trying to buy a car, you're going to lose if you don't have an advocate. So I wanted to be that advocate for people, and I wanted to share my vision and bring other people into the company that felt the same way.

Suzanne Taylor-King  15:45  
I love, I love that, you know, because I think morals and values aligning with what you do for a living is probably the single greatest thing you know, for happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction and making more money, there's nothing, nothing worse than being out of alignment morals and values with where you work or who you work for, or even if you're doing something for yourself. You know, all right, I'm I have a list of cars for you, okay? And we're going to talk about that, and then we're going to get into what else you do. So first, my first love is a 1967 Buick Electra convertible. And when I tell you, it was my dad's baby, this car, it was burgundy, really dark, rich burgundy, black interior, black convertible top, and I can remember top down, no car seat, bouncing around in that car. It was amazing. And the best feature of that car was the horn. The horn of that model, instead of beeping, was an air horn, and it in, it went,

Jay Grosman  17:22  
ooh, oh yeah,

Suzanne Taylor-King  17:25  
and oh my god. I thought it was the coolest thing when I was a kid. All right, so that's number one to put on our list for finding that. And then, of course, the 1985 86 911, Targa, white, black or burgundy interior, preferably turbo. Then there's one other that's been on my mind, and I would love to find one a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco, and it needs to be the VR six version. And I had one of those. And I the biggest regret of my life was, or not, of my life, of my car life was selling that before I moved to California, and I should have just driven it across the country and kept it so what do you think of my list?

Jay Grosman  18:35  
Interesting, pre eclectic list. Yeah, like a lot of variety. Yeah, I know enough to be dangerous so on those cars. So what's really great is, when you start a company, is to put people in place that really, really know their stuff when it comes to cars. And I've got somebody in place that takes care of all of what we call our vehicle finder program, as a buyer's agent, nice, and there's really nothing off the list that he won't go look at. The only thing was off the list is someone came to us last week and said, Can you find a bus for us? So that's like, Yeah, that's probably

Suzanne Taylor-King  19:12  
not our a bus, a bus, like a Volkswagen

Jay Grosman  19:17  
bus. Oh, no. Like a bus, like for senior community, you know, around I'm like, probably not a good, good fit, but yeah, I mean, there really isn't anything that we can't find. And you know, the gentleman in our company is so patient. He has over 20 experience. And what I love about him too, he has the same ethics and morals, the same what we call core values. Then one of our core values is being integrity. He likes to wear that superhero cape, and I love it. He does not let dealers push, push him around, and he is an advocate for our our clients.

Suzanne Taylor-King  19:57  
I love that. And how did you find him? You

Jay Grosman  20:03  
Well, what happens is, is when you have a business and you reach capacity, so our vehicle finder program took off like wildfire. It's like, oh, well, you mean you can find me a vehicle, and I don't have to go to the dealer, and you can deal with all the shenanigans and put it on a silver pliers. So I could just go pick up my vehicle, or you could just, like, sell it, send it to our house. And like, Yeah, well, a lot of people like that, and we do it on the new and pre owned so they were, they were coming to me, right? Because at a startup, you do everything yourself, and then I'm like, Man, I gotta bring on some people. So what I did is I put an indeed ad out, and I said, I'm going to bring on five people. It doesn't matter where they live, yeah, and I know I'm probably going to keep two of them, because people are just going to fall out. And that's exactly what happened. Wow, five. I kept two, and those two stayed for a long time, and I still have one of them. He's been with me for almost five years, and I've never met him. Suzanne in person.

Suzanne Taylor-King  21:13  
I love that. I mean I have, I have five or six team members that help me with my one on one clients, from automations to content creation to graphic design, branding and podcasting, and those five people I have never met in person, but when I tell you that I feel so comfortable, and there's so much trust there that when you when you meet someone, and the morals and ethics line up, and you work well together, like I don't, I think it transcends this virtual environment and you know, my husband has said to me, I went to my mentor's house last year. I'm in New Jersey, near Philadelphia. She's up in Boston, and she was having this weekend gathering at her house, and she just said, You're the only one from far away, come and stay. And I told my husband, and he was like, Have you ever met her? And I said, Yeah, every week for an hour on Zoom. And he's like, and you feel comfortable going to her home and staying there, I said, If I feel comfortable referring $100,000 clients to her, then yes, I feel comfortable going to her house. And I think this idea of rapport and trust, I think no matter what you did for a living, Jay, I would refer business to you because we've already established a common bond and conversation, and I think that makes you different in this in this industry.

Jay Grosman  23:17  
Thank you. I appreciate I feel that too, and even my, my client services director, she's going to be a partner of this company one day, and she is absolutely amazing. I've never met her either in person. Yeah, I just just, I always I also have another saying, actions speak louder than words. Don't tell me we're going to do me do this. Show me going to do this. Yeah, prove it to me. You prove it to me, then I believe you. And she has over and over and over,

Suzanne Taylor-King  23:57  
yeah, and I, I think I like what you're saying from, you know, remove the ego out of it, right? I don't have to prove anything, but I do have to show what I know, what I value, and who I am as a person, in order to have conversations with people that you know, like we're not talking business per se here. But I think what is really, really important in no matter what business you're in, is to be able to connect with people at a human level, virtually or in person, and working on those skills, rapport, conversation skills, more importantly, listening skills. It's the number one thing that most people don't do, and when you started this business. Like you listened, you listened to your customers issues, and you created a whole company based on that. That's the message today, for sure.

Jay Grosman  25:13  
Yeah, I always tell people this, because then, you know, I've my other elevating business solutions. And I have people that are, you know, oh, I've got this great idea, Jay, I've got this great idea. I'm like, okay, all right, tell me about it. Oh, it's, it's, it's gonna, I'm not gonna say, because then this person's probably listening, because it's not a very good idea, in my opinion. But it's like, oh, it's gonna do this, this, and this, and this. And I'm like, and do people want this, oh, I think they do. You think they do? Well, what makes you think they do? Well, I mean, all I think they do, and just because you think they do doesn't mean they do. And then what you'll do is you'll spend so much time building this business that has no value to anybody, but it has a value to you, right? And you learn from your mistakes and failures. That's another thing that,

Suzanne Taylor-King  26:12  
yeah, yeah. I think that the listening to your customer, and there's a lot of talk in business about picking a niche, right? I don't necessarily agree with that. Right in the beginning, pick a problem to solve, pick a problem to solve, and then you figure out, after you work with 100 or so people solving that problem, what common characteristics do all those 100 people have? Who were the PIA ones that I never want to talk to again, who were the incredible ones that referred more business to me, and let's focus on those, but until you help 100 people? And listen, you really don't know who that person is.

Jay Grosman  27:06  
Yeah, it's, it is so true. It's really, really tough, like, when you're starting a business, and, yeah, coming up with everything you know, and just, just know that, like it's so exciting to start a business, but I think one of the things that I've learned more than anything is that failure is a great opportunity to learn a lesson. Yeah, just don't keep repeating

Speaker 1  27:33  
them. Yeah,

Suzanne Taylor-King  27:36  
yeah. I think being willing, willing to fail. I just had that conversation with somebody that he wasn't going to launch his offer until June 30, and I said today, that was my only response with what he was telling me, I was like today. What do you mean? Just be that offer today. You already are that offer. Every time I talk to you, don't say you're waiting till June 30, right? Just, and that's the hardest thing to do as an entrepreneur, is just start and test. Be willing to fail. Be willing to look like an idiot too, like I don't care. I've I've launched more things that didn't sell then I've launched things that did sell, and I've still done very, very well. Let's talk about your your other business, because this is so intriguing, the overlap here, and many people wouldn't see it just looking at you, yeah.

Jay Grosman  28:51  
So I think of the things in my life that really light my fire, and it's hard sometimes to really determine what really lights your fire, until you're intentional about really looking for that. And I had this coach, and I did it was a purpose exercise, and it's basically how to find your purpose in life. And what I got out of that meeting was I like to inspire, elevate and uplift people. That is what lights my fire. And so I'm thinking to myself, Well, I'm really, really good at a lot of things. I'm good at operations. I'm very good about processes and procedures, like building i auto agent from the ground up, and like having every one of our processes and procedures documented, and then having processes in place to update, whatnot. But that then I was like, Man, I love leading, and I love co. Coaching, and I love like sharing all of my failures as well as successes, and teaching others how to get to a place little bit faster. You know, when you have a coach, you'll get there faster. Doesn't mean you won't make mistakes, right? But you'll get there faster and and, man, that's just really what I love doing. And I'm like, if I think you want to start a second company, and I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to do, so I was like, Okay, well, I'll be more like a fractional CEO. I'm really good with that, but I also like the just the one on one coaching with those the CEOs and the entrepreneurs that they're all faced with those same problems, just sometimes they're bigger problems because there's more money involved. Yeah, and then in November of 22 when people didn't even know what AI was and chat GPT, that was the very, very first day that chat GPT came out, and I came absolutely obsessed with AI, not just like it, I mean, obsessed where every single thing I could put my hands on, I was learning about it, and I'm like, this is going to be the future. And one of my other coaches said to me, Jay, I want you to think about how I auto agent works now and how you could implement AI, because I've always two steps ahead of everybody else that that's one of the things about me I have, like this crystal ball. Even when I started I auto agent, I knew that one day and I and Mark my words, and we can keep this, you know, this is recorded. Dealerships the way we know it are going to be eliminated, yeah. And I knew that in 2014 when I decided to start I auto agent. And I also know that if you don't start learning AI now, you will be left behind. And the other thing I learned, too is we are not the knowledge anymore. AI is the knowledge. They are smarter than us. There are AIS right now. They're free that anybody can have that is smarter than Elon Musk, but what you are responsible for now is being that engineer, that architect, to get that answer that you're looking for. Yeah, and that is why I started elevating business solutions, because I take all of that I help those business owners that have hit the wall. They're wearing all the hats they don't know how to get to the next level. We implement AI help them streamline their processes without adding a big team or a bunch of overhead that is unnecessary.

Suzanne Taylor-King  32:54  
I love it. I love it, and it's so just so in theme with what I've seen, I started AI right around the same time, two years ago, just found a great mentor in Jonathan mast and and really just saw he has an AI agency model, and I have explored that. I have a team of people who have different AI specialties. But what's most intriguing for me, as a geek who likes to learn technology platforms, someone asked me a question about using AI to create online courses. Here's my example. And I said, Sure, Which way would you like to do it? They didn't know. I said, Okay, well, here are our options. You know, to use a platform that will create the course from a sentence. It'll be very generic, third grade reading level, and then you can add your assets and your videos, or you can use a more in depth process that follows a structure with chat GPT that goes more into your intellectual property, combining it with AI's intelligence, and you'll get a much more expensive, robust course that you could use as a coaching program as well. And then the third option is to take all of your intellectual property and use AI to create the assets, the resources, the books, the PowerPoints, the all of those things to go with, I'd say an over $10,000 offer, and the person looked at me and was like, I didn't even know any of that. Like. As possible, and this, this idea of being that what's possible, I started to call conversations with people. Do you want to explore what's possible? And if I know what's possible, I love that crystal ball thing that you said, because I feel like I see that. I can see this like overhead view of what's coming and what's going to be possible. What is possible right now that many people don't even realize is possible?

Jay Grosman  35:33  
No, I tell you, me and Dina are going to do a master class together, because she does the marketing, and it's built great as the implementation. And so I just decided I run a business professionals group on Wednesday mornings, and a lot of great people there. And one day a speaker actually canceled, so we didn't have a speaker. I'm like, You know what? I'll do it. I also do improv, by the way, too. I've been doing improv for, like, well, almost four years now. I love it. It's great for business too, by the way. But anyway, so I'm like, you know, I'm just gonna improv it. I just grabbed three different things that I could teach. I did. I show them like, hey, SOPs. I created a prompt for Blue Ocean Strategy for these people that are like, in this really commoditized type of world, nice at an elevator pitch, because people all know how to tell people what they do and get interested. I did those three things, and people were absolutely blown away by it. Yeah, I mean, and this is stuff that I'm like, I could do this with my eyes closed. Well, I keep

Suzanne Taylor-King  36:45  
thinking, everybody knows how to do that kind of stuff. There's a there's a book I just read called micro scripts. I can't remember off the top of my head who wrote it. And it's basically, you'll love it, Dina will love it. And I had aI write a summary for me, but then I read the summary, and I said, Oh, I need to read this whole book, so I got it. And basically the idea is short marketing messages that people identify with you. One of my favorites for myself is I believe coaching is custom and CO created with my client. That's why I don't have a program or modules or chapters or whatever, and I have a bunch of them for all different types of people, for all different situations, networking events, talks that I give, and so this idea of having about 20 micro scripts for your business, the book is phenomenal. Gives you frameworks. Well, I took the frameworks and put them into chat GPT with my custom GPT that knows all about me, all about my offers, all about my knowledge and what I do. And I said, create 20 micro scripts for me, and I did it in front of my AI mastermind group. And everybody was like, Oh, my God, you you just took a book and made it practical, and that's what we're talking about, like, make it practical and actually use it. And if you do that workshop, I'd be happy to put it in front of my people, because so that will,

Jay Grosman  38:40  
oh, that would be amazing, yeah, because Dena and I, it is going to be a combination of in person as well as recording while and we, you know, we get, you get personal things happening in your life. I've got, you know, to be vulnerable. I've got some issues with my mom right now. We're moving a senior community. I've got issues with my kids, and it's like, we're putting it, like, in the fall we're going to do this because people are on vacation right now, and like we were trying to get it really quickly, but it just was it just it wasn't going to happen, because everybody's on vacation too, and you're not going to get as many people to watch it. So, yeah, that's really Suzanne. We have so much in common. It's just saying, like, I preach this all the time. People don't realize, like, Okay, well, there's a million, there's a million type of AIS out there, language model, whatever. And, like, the reason why I do use chat GPT is exactly what you said. It knows who you are. It knows all about you. It even knows more about you than you know about you. That's what's really scary.

Suzanne Taylor-King  39:52  
I asked it to roast me the other day. Try that. It's really funny. Oh my gosh, that would be fun. I have a wrong. Yeah, well, I have a prompt that my

Speaker 1  40:02  
ops that would be, I love being roasted. Actually, it's

Suzanne Taylor-King  40:06  
hilarious. And it's, you know, in the style of the the roast on on TV, you know, and explains a couple comedians to pull their style like, I love Nikki Glaser. I think she's hilarious, and it totally channeled one of those roasts on me. I laughed out loud. It was hilarious.

Jay Grosman  40:30  
Oh yeah, that's what we do in improv. So once a year, we roast all the all the casts of improv, and it's so much on like, I love being roasted. Yeah, I do. I'm sensitive. But like, roasting is, you know, it's, it's really cool. And Nikki Glaser is from St Louis. Oh, is she really, I didn't know that. Yeah, she went to school about, like, less than 30 minutes away from me.

Suzanne Taylor-King  40:55  
That's amazing. Well, I just think that the message I would like to really emphasize here is that I'm a business coach, I am an AI advisor. I'm a tech consultant that has a lifelong love of cars, and then I meet someone like you who has all of those same things, and a lot of people would say, Oh, well, that's great that you get along with Jay. But why would you share his workshop when you do something similar? Why would you encourage your people to sign up for something of his when he does something similar. And the message I want to get across and that I want to attract more people who understand that it's not about competition, it's about shared morals and values and your ideal clients who are going to choose you, hire you. They're the ones meant to work with you. And the more people that you can meet and and collaborate with, bjv partners with who have the same outlook on people. I mean, there's more you and I could stand in front of 100 people, and some people would choose me, and some people would choose you to be their teacher, right? And we do it on our own. I attract 20, you attract 20, but together we could attract 100 and I just think that's the message more entrepreneurs need to keep in mind in their networking, in being in a mastermind group with 10 or 20 other people, they should all be people who have That attitude, wow.

Jay Grosman  43:01  
That's powerful. I'll tell you. Suzanne, we're so aligned, because the business professional meeting that I run, we have multiple insurance agents, we have multiple real estate agents, we have multiple financial planners, and I say all the time. Number one, there's also different niches too. So we've got insurance agent that loves doing life insurance, and he does like this juvenile life insurance. And then we got these other people that are like, Oh, well, I don't, I don't even do, like I do. I do regular auto insurance. It's like, Yeah, but I specialize in commercial insurance. And it's like, and not everybody meshes with everybody. Yeah, some people don't want to work with men. Some people don't want to work with women. Some people don't want to work with you know? I mean, everybody can sit there and segment everything out, but you are so right. Like, that is, that's what I try to get through to people all the time, like, Listen, don't be, like, intimidated, because there's another real estate agent sitting in there, because, guess what, they're not

Speaker 1  44:03  
you, right?

Suzanne Taylor-King  44:06  
Well, where do you do you think that comes from? Lack does it come from? I'm not good enough to be in the same room with four other realtors. I'll never get chosen. Feeling or is it just years in business and you know, you just stop worrying about stuff like that?

Jay Grosman  44:31  
I think a lot of people have self limiting beliefs. They have insecurities, and I think we all have self limiting beliefs and insecurities, but it's all about like, recognizing that you do have that and not letting it take over your life and try to do things to help yourself in those in those areas, I don't really know the answer to it, other than it is an insecurity for people like I had. They say, I hope that other. Real Estate agent doesn't show up today. It's like, okay, well, really do. Or I hope that other insurance agent, they they seem to like him more than they like me. Your perception, that doesn't mean it's

Unknown Speaker  45:13  
reality. Yeah,

Jay Grosman  45:17  
yeah, yeah. That's a good point, though it really

Suzanne Taylor-King  45:20  
is, yeah, I think, I think that's the homework. I think when, if you want to be a better connector, you want to have your people introduce more aligned people, it comes from being a little vulnerable. I didn't always think like this. I didn't always understand what we're talking about, but I got to that point, and I don't know where it happened or when it happened, but that's when the doors opened for me, when I embraced that. So I love that you feel that way too.

Jay Grosman  46:03  
Yeah, I mean, we are so aligned. And I gathered that the very first time we spoke, and I'm like, I just want to keep talking to Suzanne, because she just is very real. We have the same like, we're just very aligned. They're just, I call it synergy, or whatever you want to call it. I mean, it's just just amazing,

Suzanne Taylor-King  46:23  
well, and just to think, I got in trouble the whole time I was in school for talking too much,

Speaker 2  46:32  
no, oh, really, and no for not paying attention. Oh, well, I had that

Suzanne Taylor-King  46:39  
issue too often. Stand, you know the pencil sharpener that used to be at the window like, Okay, I would stand there sharpening a pencil from here down to here, just to look outside the window. But every report card and thank goodness my son's not home listening to this because he's a straight A student, uh, every report card from first grade to at least 10th when they stopped writing in comments on your report card, excessive talking every single year, and I would get in trouble for it and hold like and, you know, now I make a living because I talk and listen and listen, but it's pretty crazy.

Jay Grosman  47:36  
Yeah, I can I feel the same way in, you know, I do speaking presentations all over as well, and I, and I love I love talking, and I love sharing. But going back to school, they didn't have, like, the classifications like, oh, you know, Jay just, Jay just didn't pay attention. It's like, oh no. Jay probably had ADHD, because both was but, but it's always Jay had, I had. I was in the lowest classes for math, reading everything, and my mom used to sit at the kitchen table. Jay focus. Shay, focus. And I remembered all those times that she did that for me, and how she helped me truly get through school, and now that she's going through what she's going through now, I don't ever forget that. Yeah. And much as she doesn't want to leave her house right now and go on the senior community, it is, it is. She is an unsafe environment. And I said, Mom, you know what? Sometimes, you know, you told me things when I was a kid that I didn't like, but I had to do it. And I said, Now the situation's reversed. Sometimes you're going to hear things you don't like, but you've got to do this, because I'm looking out for your safety and your well being,

Speaker 1  49:03  
Jay, that's beautiful,

Suzanne Taylor-King  49:07  
and that that really resonates with me as an only child who took care of both of her parents. So thank you.

Jay Grosman  49:16  
Yeah, you're welcome, and I hope I mean, at some point we, you know, we're all going to leave this earth. We don't know when we're going to leave this earth. So we try to do the best we can, to give ourselves the best shot of having the quality of life by the end of our lives. And again, we learn from seeing failures. I saw my dad deteriorate and he he actually passed away three months after I started. I auto agent, and my mom passed away three months after my dad, yeah, and I saw two people that never took care of themselves. They never ate, right? They didn't exercise, they didn't do any of those things. And. My dad didn't have time to spend with me, to go to my games and go to my performances. And I said, I'm never gonna be that dad in that sense.

Suzanne Taylor-King  50:11  
Yeah, well, I think that can be such a powerful motivator as an entrepreneur to do things differently, and my parents were wonderful, wonderful parents, but I wanted my life, with my son, with my husband, just what we were creating together to be different than being so overworked and just this different level of health as well. And I think that's why I studied nutrition when I was a dental hygienist, it wasn't for coaching, it was for myself and my patients, of course, but look how that served me as I transitioned into being a coach, and I still routinely give nutrition and supplement advice to My clients who are struggling with things like focus, who are struggling to get enough hours in the day to work, and I have them work less to get more done. Like that's not a coincidence to me that you have gone through that and that you're going through it now. It's lessons for your future self and for clients. And thank you so much for being vulnerable and sharing that with us. Really, really impactful.

Jay Grosman  52:02  
You're welcome, and I hope it does inspire, uplift and elevate. You know, people that are listening to it is because at the end of the day, we all wear a mask, and some people are okay with taking off their mask, yeah, and I, I am one that what you see is what you get. I wear my heart on my sleeve, yeah, and some people will not take off their mask. And I think when you are taking off your mask, you're going to start realizing there's other people that are going through the same things you are, but you have to be open to be talking about it, because it is therapeutic. Yeah? Find out you are not the only person in the world that are that's going through these types of things.

Speaker 1  52:51  
Yeah, yeah. Perfect spot to

Suzanne Taylor-King  52:56  
wrap up. Jay, thank you so much for this conversation, and I know by the comments I see coming across. Thank you, Gordon, just how impactful entrepreneurs take a lesson from Jay and I today. And you know, of course, if you're looking for a special car in your life, too, Jay can help with that. But more importantly, let's take away who, who Jay is as a person from this conversation. Thank you so much. T, F, B, y, as my son says, What does that mean?

Speaker 1  53:34  
Thanks for being you. Ah, I didn't know that one.

Suzanne Taylor-King  53:39  
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if we made it up or not, but it's how we sign our cards around here in the king household, T, F, B, y,

Jay Grosman  53:51  
well, thanks for having me.

Suzanne Taylor-King  53:53  
You're so welcome. How can our listeners get in touch with you?

Jay Grosman  53:59  
Well, obviously, if you want to buy a vehicle and need some help finding a vehicle, you just go to, I like integrity, auto agent.com, and just put the criteria that you're looking for by clicking buy, and then you can call us at 636-614-3711, and, of course, elevating business solutions.com. You're struggling with hitting the wall and need some help to get to that next level without adding a big team. Talk to me, or if you're struggling, just building your SOPs standard operating procedures.

Suzanne Taylor-King  54:38  
Love it. Thanks, Jay,

Jay Grosman  54:40  
thank you. Suzanne, have a great day.

Suzanne Taylor-King  54:45  
Thank you for tuning in to another empowering episode of unlock your way. I hope you found today's discussion inspiring and you're ready to take your business and personal growth to that next level. If you're feeling as fired up as I am. And eager to unlock that full potential, I'm here to help you on your journey and provide that personalized guidance tailored to your unique goals and challenges. Simply book a one on one coaching call with me, and we'll dive deep into your business aspirations and see how we could co create a roadmap for your success, and whether you're striving to scale an enterprise or just getting started, I'm here to support you every step of the way. To schedule your coaching call, simply visit the website at unlock your way with stk.com click on the book a call button, and we'll turn your dreams into that reality. Subscribe and review on your favorite podcast platform and on YouTube, plus, you can join over 800 entrepreneurs in the IDEA Lab Facebook group. Let's make success as an entrepreneur happen together until next time I'm SDK, keep dreaming big, stay focused, and most of all, have fun while you're doing it.

Speaker 3  56:15  
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