What are some of the things you were able to do to ease the disruptions during the transition of you taking over the day-to-day operations of Bob Ross Auto Group?
One of the things that I was able to do was to gain the respect of the management team. I was 27 years old. All of them were older than me. Fortunately, I had the respect because I had been working with my dad for five years [before he passed]. And that I think exhibits our success and made things more seamless and prevented more disruptions that could have occurred. And over time, they’ve seen that its our team. It’s not just me and them. We’ve had up to five facilities and 150 people. We now have three facilities and 100 people. And there’s no way that I can be everyone at once or touch everything at the same time. So I rely on my team because they are the ones on the front lines and putting our best food forward and represent the brands that we do. I think that I have a unique style in terms of team building. And, of course, you’r enot going to have everyone on the same page; they’re people. But the one thing I require is respect. You don’t have to like me and you don’t have to like the people you are working with. But you must respect the job they are there to perform because we are all intertwined and we must work together at the end of the day.
