Let's dive in. All right, good. Welcome back to another episode and a special guest today. Of course, Hélder Rosa, who's a brilliant business mind, but also a really awesome family guy too., I saw something that I'll tell about in just a minute because I also want to point out that he's a really good looking guy. He's got a great haircut. He's one of our special guests here at the salon. And we also have the honor and the privilege of doing your beautiful wife too, who's a special person. And I know you're a real family guy. I watched a little video you did with your kids for Father's Day.
And one of the things your daughter said was that you instilled in her was put God, always put God first and do the right thing when nobody's watching. That was touched my heart that you're a true father in a special way. Yeah, the foundation is important., the foundation when it's built and it's rock solid, you never got to look at it, right? Yeah. It'll keep things upright. And that's what my wife and I'll attest, beautiful wife, indeed. Yeah. Very fortunate to be married to Laura.
But yeah, the foundation, our faith is our North Star. So that's the most important thing. Yeah, that was cool. I like that. You're welcome. Thanks for coming. Thanks for giving up your time, especially at season now. You drive from the south side to the north side and it takes a little while for you to get up there. I appreciate you taking some time. My pleasure. I'm honored to be on the show. Thanks.
So a Boston guy originally, what was your upbringing like? What had you be who you are? What was it like for you growing up?
Yeah, so I grew up in Boston, a suburb just north of the city. My parents are immigrants from an island of Madera. Most people don't, never heard Madera Island, but Madera is off the coast of Lisbon by the Canary Islands and the Atlantic. Some parents are immigrants from Madera. I have two brothers, one of three siblings, the middle child.
Is the middle child usually the troubled one or the middle child? Yes, they say the middle child is the golden child. I'm not sure about that.
Yeah, so I grew up and ended up after college, just kind of got into the car business just by accident.
Oh, is that a passion for cars?
No, my passion, I would say, comes from serving people. I worked various jobs growing up. I won at McDonald's my first job. Is that right? Working at McDonald's, serving people, right? Yeah. How old were you?
My first job was at 16. Yeah. And we had a family friend who ran several franchises and, I had the ability to get to work and that was my first job.
And from there I worked in supermarkets and, again, customer facing, customer service.
And then when I got out of school, it was just kind of like, what am I going to do now? It's a business major, but just had a passion for dealing with people.
So I actually applied for a job. A company was called New England Copy Specialists.
So as an outside sales rep selling copiers and fax machines in and around the Boston area.
And my territory that was assigned to me had this giant Mercedes dealership on the outskirts of the city.
And I went in and was looking to establish that account.
And the general manager at the time, it's hilarious, I walk in there with my black velvet suit
Thinking I'm a hotshot in my briefcase.
So I, they asked who was in charge of the copiers and fax machines and that sort of thing. So they put me in touch with him. Long story short, that day I was offered a job. I think I was there for several hours, offered a job to sell cars.
You went in to pitch them on copiers and fax machines. Yep. And you interviewed them, they interviewed you. Yeah, this guy totally put me together. Great salesman. It's awesome. He says, look, look at that showroom. Look at those beautiful cars.
Do you want to do that? Or do you want to come knocking on doors trying to sell boring fax machines and coffee machines?
I said, well, he's got a point. I said, I have no experience. He goes, you don't need any experience.
So that was the start of my journey in automotive. Well, that's cool. I worked for that company. If I remember anything, it was less than two weeks.
I resigned and they're like, where are you going? I'm like, I'm going to get in the car business.
And the rest was history. Wow, that's awesome. So where and this is outside of Boston. Yes, a suburb north of the city, Linfield, Massachusetts. Okay. Where is that from? Wellesley. That's the only part I know because I had a cousin who lived there and we still up to Wellesley. Is it near Wellesley? Yeah, Wellesley was more and more central, centrally located in the city, Linfield, which is where I worked, was more of the north end.
So tell me about that region because the north end is where the good stuff is. All the Italians, of course, the good stuff, the great food, those that have last names that end in a vowel and drink a lot of espresso.
So where is the area where the bakery is? Michael's bakery? Yes. That's in the north end. That's in the north end. Okay. Yeah. So the north end is all the Italians. Okay. South end, all the Irish. Oh, okay. Okay. And then the Portuguese, like me, we're all out in Fall River, New Bedford. So we're out. The Bedford. New Bedford.
Every once in a while, the Boston accent comes out.
So that, so Fall River is where in relation to that then where's Fall River is more north or south rather closer to it, closer to Rhode Island. So like right there on the Rhode Island border, you got Fall River, New Bedford. You got some big Portuguese population out there still today. Okay. All the fishermen. Oh, yeah. Okay. You ever go back? To... Yeah. Yeah. My parents now spend, I say unfortunately, love to see them more often, but they now spend about eight months out of the year. So in fact, we're working on hopefully going to Europe in June to visit my folks. Oh, nice. It's been a couple of years since we were there the last time. The kids love it.
They love and enjoy going out there. Do they? Yeah. So we can get out there once every couple of years and then in the interim, my parents will come to Naples. Do they come here now when they're not there or do they go to the... They'll go to Boston because I still have two of my brothers in Massachusetts. So they try to split up the time. Okay. And then when you go over there, you stay in that area, Madeira? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We stay in the city and their house is more up in the northern part of the island. Madeira is an island. Okay. More up in the middle of the island and the city is down in the marina area. Some big commercial hotels. The Ritz Carlton is there.
So they have some really nice properties there in Madeira Island. All the big cruise liners come in. It's a little fun fact for anyone listening is Google or I should say YouTube Firework Display in Madeira Island.
They've won the Guinness World Record of I think the longest or the best Firework Display in New Year's. It's pretty impressive. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that. And what else are they known for there? Shellfish? Is shellfish a big deal there or is that a different part of Portugal? Yeah, not there. And it's the wine, Madeira wine. Okay. Most people are pretty familiar with Madeira wine. Okay. Which is an after dinner wine, more of a dessert wine.
It's like a port? It's like a port wine. Exactly. Yeah. Real sweet. And bananas, believe it or not. Really? Yeah. It's tropical looking there? Very tropical. Really? Yeah. Yeah. The tropical islands, winters get around 60s and summer 80s. So what are the months your parents are there? They usually leave right after Christmas time and come back around June. Okay. They spend the summers here and then they're back there. Yeah. During the holidays.
And so you, let's go back to your, that first job. That was a Mercedes dealer, the first? Yeah, that was a Mercedes dealer selling cars. So what was the experience like for you to sell your first car?
That's funny. There's still, I think most dealerships still have this tradition when you first, your shirt and tie., that's your, that's your uniform, so to speak. And when you saw, after you sell your first car, they cut your tie off. Oh, is that right? So I remember that day. And, back then we're using flashcards. And so just when I think about, we're going back now 20 years., you didn't have all the technology that you have today.
You know, a little roll decks of flashcards. That's how you manage your client base. Okay. But yeah, it's been a great, great business for me. Yeah. So you started at the top tier, you started in the luxury Mercedes being, one of the nice brands. Yeah. I was very fortunate. Like I said, just kind of walked into that opportunity, being able to represent a brand like Mercedes. And I worked, I sold Mercedes from, I was back in early 2000s and we made the trip out to Cleveland, which, we discussed and that was Mercedes up until 2019.
So, three quarters of my career have been representing the Mercedes brand.
So what was, was it the same owner that you moved to? So you were working for, Moreno opened in Cleveland. Right. Yeah. Bernie, Bernie opened up the Mercedes dealership in Cleveland in May of 2005. And that's when you moved. That's when I moved. Okay. Because you were working with him. I was working with Bernie in Boston for a former dealer and that was about four years. I think I was hired sometime in like 2000, 2001. Okay. And Bernie at that time was running about a dozen dealerships for the company we worked for. And he spent a lot of time at the dealership that I worked at. Did a lot of training with me and the team. It was very present. Yeah.
And then he just one day decided to resign from the company.
Which was a big deal because he was the thing. For many people. Yeah. Yeah. It was very influential in the company and we all were just like, what happened? And then it was several months later when everything came back full circle that he bought a dealership in Cleveland, Ohio, a Mercedes dealership. Yeah. And that's kind of famous with his story because he leveraged everything that he had in his life, right? He just put all he had into being able to buy his dealership. It's all about taking risks. Yeah.
And, yeah, he left a company that was paying him really, really well. It's very successful. But found out about that opportunity in Cleveland. That was up for grabs and he went on all in.
And then he was choosing thoroughbreds to work for him and he, he never actually approached me directly. This was through another acquaintance that had reached out to me. Okay. Probably saw me as a young, young Boston guy. No kids, no, other than my family, right? But yeah, pretty easy pickings, I guess. Yeah.
I was honored and I thought about it and spend a whole lot of time thinking about it to be honest., as I said to you, when I thought risk and reward risk is I go out there. It doesn't work out. I can jump back into U-Haul with my furniture and drive back. Yeah. And it's not going to change my life. Yeah. The reward in my eyes was endless. Yeah.
And I would never look back. Certainly turned out. Yeah. Worked out well. Well, what was it like making the transition from the Northeast to the Midwest? I mean, two different markets. Two different markets. It's funny as I sit here and I look back and I think about when we first got there as it wasn't only me, it was Bernie and there was actually in total five, five or six of us that moved from Boston to go work on to Bernie's leadership.
So here we are, the five or six of us from Boston, Northeast, Midwest, never step foot in Ohio. Yeah. I remember at that time, my brothers are like, where are you going? I'm like Cleveland. They're like, oh, the land of LeBron James, which at that point I was never really kind of in tune with LeBron James, I guess. Yeah. But that was a big deal. Yeah. And so anyway, here we are in Cleveland. And what's funny is it's much more laid back and passive. Mm hmm., and you're from the Northeast. Yeah. Folks from the Northeast, a little bit more. Yep. Vocal. I move at a faster pace with a sense of urgency. Yeah.
And when we first got there and here we are interacting with clients, they're like, wait, guys, slow down. Slow down. One, you're talking to a guy. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it too fast too. Like what's your agenda? Like you guys, like you're trying to pull something up. It's like, all right. It took us a while to really just take two steps back. Yeah. Slow it down. Yeah. So that was that was an adjustment and not pronounce my eyes like that.
It's funny when I now when I listened to, someone from Boston, I'm like, meaning, is that really what I sounded like? So I had to refine my speech. The Midwest culture. Yeah. Slow down. Don't pronounce my eyes like that. Everything worked. Does it come back when you go up north when you go back to you? Yeah. You feel like you got to be part of the, you gotta be part of the circle, right? Right. Right. They'll pick on you. They'll pick on you.
Yeah. I remember hearing stories from my father because when we moved here from Philly, this area was predominantly from the Midwest because I 75 came from the Midwest. Ninety five came down from the Northeast. So they were on the East Coast, the Northeasterners and Midwesterners were on this coast, which was now it's more a bigger mix, a better mix of Northeast and Midwest. But he would say the difference was in the Northeast.
If they didn't like their haircut, they would tell them, I don't like fix it. This is not what I like. And Midwest, they might say, oh, it's, it's fine. It's fine. Yeah. And then they never feel it's fine. Yeah. It's not so fine. Yeah. So that was something to get used to for sure. But yeah, you know where you stand with someone from the Northeast, right? A hundred percent. Yeah. Some can appreciate that. Yeah. I'd be one of them. Let,. Yeah. Yeah. Just you just no, no questions asked. This is where we are. Yeah. So that was a big adjustment to make weather wise, not not so much. Was it cold colder in Boston? It's pretty cold too. I mean, cool. Yeah.
The difference Cleveland, you have this, this term that they call the Lake effect. So when, that weather, the snow comes in because of the Lake, we were Northeast Ohio. So when the weather, that snow belt comes in, it sticks to the lake. It sticks around for a while. It just goes in circles. So when the snow comes, it'll sit and linger for days as opposed to in the Northeast, the nor'easters, as they used to call them, they would move in, drop a pile of snow and then move on. Okay. Yeah. And in Ohio, the difference in Cleveland anyway, is again, the snow just sits and lingers for days. Yeah. The other thing is very little sunshine. During the winter months. Yeah.
Which is brutal. Yeah. In the Northeast, it was again, climate similar, but more sun in the Northeast. Yeah. Right. And who doesn't love the sun? We need that. Oh, we do. After living down here. That's why we live in Naples. Right? I know. Yeah. So, but yeah, so weather was predominantly, very similar outside of the gray skies and snow that would just sit and linger.
What's that like for a dealership with snow when you have cars that are outside? It's the worst. Yeah. It's, you talk to anybody up in the Northeast or, the climate where there's snow. Yeah. Cold weather. It's, it's tough. Yeah. So we're very lucky to be here in sunny Naples, Florida. Yeah. And when you get dumped on with snow, I mean, you gotta go out and clean them. You gotta clean them all. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it'll melt after, again, there's no sun. Yeah. The sun isn't melting the snow. Yeah. Yeah. It takes, takes a while. Then you get ice. That's even worse. Oh, right. The windshields are all covered in ice. So I, yeah.
I remember when I had to break the news to my three children that were moving from Ohio to Florida. And the first thing I said to them is guys, and, there's tears and they're crying. I said, you never got to put on a winter jacket anymore. Not that they were shoveling snow anyway, but. Yeah. You will see, you'll never have to deal with the snow anymore. Yeah., and for them, of course they love it. And building snowmen, going sledding, and that's all fun. But yeah, you never got to put on a winter jacket and you're going to have a pool. Yeah, you can use the pool. All your, it was the tears were gone. Moving near Mickey, moving near. Yeah. So that was an easy sale.
It was an easy sale. Yeah. And that was COVID year. Yeah. I was just like, oh, I'm going to make a I'm All right. Yeah. That was during COVID and the dealership, the Ferrari store was at that time. We sold the company in 2019, late 2019.
And I had worked under the new ownership who bought us, who bought the dealership in Ohio.
And then I had found out about the opportunity here in Naples.
So in 2019, when we sold, I want to say late 2019, I think COVID was just kind of starting to make its way. And then in 2020, early 2020 is really when it hit full force. It was very unfortunate. We had to furlough lots of people and let people go. So here I am working for this new company.
And then we had to deal with COVID.
And it was different there than Florida in terms of being able to be open, right? Yeah, I hadn't been to Florida. The dealership down here wasn't even, at that time in early 2020
Which we're talking January, February of 2020.
That's actually when I had just found out about the Ferraris dealership opening here in Naples.
So I hadn't, I mean, I had been to Naples previously, but this was all pre-COVID. So I wasn't really sure what was happening in Naples during the COVID or Florida in general.
And then it wasn't until April, May of 2020
When I was told about the opportunity to come to Naples.
I couldn't fly down. My wife and I couldn't fly down, but we had been here previously and we knew we loved the area.
So we just, we made a decision. We didn't really think too much about it. We said, one, it's COVID. Nobody was leaving the house. Yeah.
And quite frankly, the opportunity was just too good to pass up to move down here. Yeah. So we bought our house sight unseen. Is that right? We enrolled our children into, still two at St. Anne's. Great, great parish, great school. In fact, at that time, all three of my children went to St. Anne's. So yeah, we did everything from afar
And it all worked out perfect. And the dealership here didn't open up when you first moved here? Were they already open when you moved here? No, they weren't open. So we were under construction.
So when I decided to join the company, they had said that there was an opportunity to go and operate the Ferrari dealership in West Palm Beach. So under our rooftop, we have another sister store, the Ferrari Maserati dealership in West Palm Beach. So at that time, they had asked me to go and operate that dealership while the Naples dealership was under construction.
Okay. So we actually moved from Cleveland to West Palm Beach. And we're very grateful. We had a friend of ours who had a condo in Juneau Beach, which was just kind of north of West Palm area, right on the water. It was beautiful.
So we made the trip. We went from Cleveland to West Palm. We were living in Juneau. I was operating dealership in West Palm Beach.
Meanwhile, the Naples dealership was under construction. Our home was under construction. So I actually worked in West Palm from May through the end of the year, right around December.
And the dealership was able to be open. We opened in, yeah, we actually officially opened in January of 2021. Okay.
And when you were working in West Palm, the dealership during that COVID year could be open. You were allowed to be open. Yeah. Right, they didn't close down. Hair salon's closed in May. We were closed for 56 days, I remember that. And I don't remember how the other businesses opened up. In 2020. In 2020, yeah. Yeah, so the Naples location hadn't been open. I was worried that the construction was gonna pause and that we had workers from all over the country here working. Yeah, it's a beautiful deal. I mean, they did a phenomenal job. It's a beautiful building. Yeah, thank you. First class. They did a very, very nice job. It doesn't look like a typical car dealership.
Not at all. More of like a museum. That was the intent.
So yeah, so we were open in West Palm. Everything was wide open
While everybody else was under lockdown. And I think that's what triggered most of that migration during that time, right? Absolutely, yeah. I was so grateful to Ron, to Santa's. I remember the day that he announced we had been closed for 54 days and he announced on a Friday, it was my wife's birthday, May 8th. He said, on Monday, the 10th, you can open back up again as hair salons. There were no restrictions. It was up to each individual. It was up to us to decide how we wanted to do it our way rather than saying you have to do it this way. And so it was, we were blessed to be here as everybody was.
That's what caused everybody to come here because we could make our own minds up and determine whether how it was gonna go and how we were gonna operate. So forever grateful for that. Because I still know so many salon owners around the country that were stuck in states that kept them closed for so long they ended up closing, losing all our staff. And we were closed just enough time. We got a PPP loan and we were closed for just the number of weeks that the PPP loan covered everybody. So we didn't have to lay anybody off. We were lucky to have that and just to be in beautiful Florida. So that worked out good for us too.
As well as the people coming here getting a lot more from the Northeast and people saying they've had enough of it up there and they're between the taxes and the lack of sunshine and the cold and all those things. Yeah, we're very, very grateful and very lucky to be down here. Yeah, so it was a gift for our area to get your family down here too. So we were blessed to have you guys come here. Yeah, the community's been arms wide open and we do love it. We love it down here. When I look back, the first year and a half, I remember I'm working and my wife
And my three little children, we just literally uprooted them and brought them down here. My life really hadn't changed much. I was still working and she's at home with the kids.
So there was some time there within that first year and a half, it was very touch and go. I thought at one point we were going back to Ohio because my wife was a little homesick.
But that didn't last long. We've met some great families. We have some great, great friends. And that's what life's all about. It's all about you can be in a beautiful place here like Naples, Florida, but without the proper surroundings, your connections and things like that.
A beautiful place that could wear on you after a while when you don't have anybody around you. So yeah, so we're very, very grateful for the friends and for the community at large. And your wife's family's Ohio or-- My wife's family's from Ohio. Okay, so you guys met there. She's born and raised in Ohio. Yep, we met there. And we raised our three children. And so five, so we moved them down here. We had eight, nine year olds.
Did you say you have twins, younger twins? Yeah, I got boy, girl, twin. And then I have a daughter. Is that running the family or-- No, no, it doesn't run in the family. It's a surprise to you what happened. Yeah, yeah.
So my oldest daughter, Gianna, she's freshman at St. John Newman. And then our twins are middle schoolers at St. Anne's. So I think, I feel like we moved them down at the right age. We were right on the cusp there of, maybe they were felt left out or they were leaving all their friends. And it's great to see here we are almost five years later, they're still in contact with their friends when we go to Cleveland, they reunite with their friends. Nice. Yeah, so they're great, great kids. And your wife's family there. So do they have cousins there too from that area? Yes, my wife's entire family. They're all in Cleveland.
And then quite frankly, that was the hardest part. It wasn't leaving the doom and gloom of Ohio, the snow. It was, again, it's all about people.
It's all about people. So leaving her family behind, that was tough.
But here we are. And we can hop on a plane, you fly direct frontier out of Fort Myers.
The easiest, I think the easiest airport to fly in and out of Fort Myers, easier than Cleveland. I think Cleveland's out in the tumbleweeds, but it's actually a busier airport than Fort Myers. So hop on a flight, you're there in three hours. Yeah, you just don't wanna go this time of year, I guess, right? You just wanna stay away from there in February or March. It's cold there too. Yeah, it's kind of the spring, although-- Oh, okay. I think they're-- They call it spring. They're getting hit. Probably Midwest is getting hit today with a snowstorm. Are they really? From what I saw. So you never know.
That's the thing, it's like over there, your summers are, they're short-lived.
Spring is late March, but they're still getting hit with a snowstorm. Maybe even in April, if not May. Wow, that leg effect, right? That leg effect, it's brutal, brutal, brutal. (Both Laughing) So what was it like making the transition from, so always a luxury high-end brand, but making the transition from Mercedes to Ferrari?
Did you work in some other brands other than Mercedes when you were with-- Yeah, we had all high-end brands. We had Aston Martin, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Maserati.
And so making the transition to Ferrari, learning the brand was probably the biggest challenge. Because it's a whole culture. Yeah, they operate very different than the brands that I represented previously.
But the transition was easy because, pardon me
We built our business around people.
And teams, winning teams, pardon me, may sound cliche, but having a vision, a mission statement. And so going back to how we started the conversation about having a foundation and being faith-based and building a business, it should be no different. How do you build a foundation?
You gotta have a vision
And then you build your team around that. And so as much as it was, yes, a huge transition from most of my time in Ohio was spent running a Mercedes, a large Mercedes dealership
To now a much smaller, more boutique-like brand, Ferrari.
But I took the same principles, which is we're gonna build a team
We're gonna set a mission, a vision
And that's what we're gonna do. And regardless of what brand you represent, that's the core. Because to me, the brand's secondary, the cars are secondary, probably no different than what you do really, really well here.
I can say it's your people, I can feel it when I walk in the door. The end result is I'm gonna walk out with a nice haircut. That I know, Dave does a great job. Yeah, yeah. But it's from the early interaction with your
Kind young lady who offered me an espresso this morning.
So again, to me, those are the important things, and that's what makes businesses successful.
Are the people. So the transition, I guess, was easy because I was sticking to the recipe that I know that made us successful in Ohio.
And I'm gonna just basically do the exact same thing. Doesn't need to be that, it's not that complicated. I think people just over-complicate it. But not everybody's into people and serving people and really building a business around a team.
I get that.
Well, from what I see, it's more of a
From what you've built and what that brand builds, and maybe other brands too, but what I see, it's more of like an experience for somebody who's watching you interact with, I don't know if he's a current customer or a possible user. Yeah, he's a customer of ours. Is that right? Just kind of by coincidence bumped into him this morning. Yeah, and it was
There was a genuine relationship there that I could see that was different than just
You sold him a car, but there was a, it was like community, like neighbors, I don't know. You just, a different kind of relationship than just a customer. It was interesting to see, because who would have thought, nine o'clock this morning that you would run into somebody and you guys are talking about his car, what he's looking for, I don't even know what the conversation was, but I heard you saw the relationship. Yeah, it's funny, when I think about myself, my kids ask me, "Dad, what do you do for work?" I'm like, "I'm a car salesman."
How much lower does it get than that?
But, as I instill, hopefully these things that they'll carry on is about being kind to people, again
Listening to people, being a great communicator
And serving people. Yeah, that's a really awesome thing. I mean, that's at the end of the day, what I do. We have an actual vision statement.
I have these little vision statements that I've made up for my team, any new hire that comes in, they need to know that vision statement by heart before they walk in the door. So early interviews, and in short
At the very end of our mission statement is to build and forge lifelong relationships. That's the end of my vision statement.
And so everything we do in the dealership is all about building and forging relationships.
So we have an actual vision statement, and then we actually have, I took, think of the 10 commandments. Yeah. So I took the concept, which has a negative connotation to it, right?
Thou shall not steal. So reverse that into a positive.
Our first is thou shall have fun.
That's our very first commitment.
Thou shall love thy product.
We have actually 12.
I added two more.
But anyway, without getting into all the details, that's essentially, that's the culture at Ferrari of Naples. That's the culture we built in Cleveland.
Now we took a underperforming, the dealership that we acquired back in Ohio
Was actually on the verge of shutdown. In May of 2005, when I made the trip with Bernie and four or five others
We took over a dealership that was literally gonna shut the doors down.
And Bernie bought it, and we said, we're gonna make this the best car dealership in the world.
It's about just setting a massive expectation.
And that dealership today, I've now been gone for 20 years
And it's actually not in Cleveland, it's in a suburb of Cleveland called North Homestead, Ohio, which is 15 miles west of the city, in a small little town. That dealership today is the largest selling luxury retailer in the Midwest. Wow, wow. And so when I look back and I say, there was nothing, there was no silver lining. It was about, again, going back to having a North Star, having a foundation, and then building everything around that.
And that's what I brought here to Naples. And here we are four years later, soon to be five
We actually last year in 2024, Ferrari of Naples was recognized as the
So they have what they call Testa Rosa. I think anybody that's familiar with Ferraris knows the Testa Rosa, is the iconic model within with Ferrari. So the manufacturer awards dealerships with Testa Rosa awards.
And those Testa Rosa awards, there's different categories.
One being the pre-owned, as a Testa Rosa pre-owned manager.
So it's a global recognition Testa Rosa award for the pre-owned manager. And there's many variables that go into becoming the Testa Rosa award winner.
We won that in 2024.
So we were awarded for I have Naples, the pre-owned Testa Rosa award in 2024, which is a global recognition. Oh, wow. Not just US. Not just US. So worldwide. So we were recognized and my team just has embraced
All the ingredients that I've put out there. Those are the ingredients team. Yeah. Let's go build it. Let's go build it. This is how we're gonna build it. And they made it happen. So it's a pretty impressive victory. Yeah. That's a testament to something because I think what you were saying, I find it really interesting because your team went into Ohio
And you represented the same brand
That was almost out of business in the area.
And it was the same brand, but turned it completely around into being number one in the region with the same brand. That's clearly a testament to the operations and the team that took what was already there and not doing well and took the same thing and turned it into that. Yeah, it's about building a vision and just the old
It's not what you say, it's how you do it. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool because I thought this conversation
Would be more about the car. And I get now, I completely get now who you are and what's different about you and the way you work is that
It's kind of like what we say here and it reminds me a lot of that because yeah, we do haircuts. Yeah, that's what we do. We cut hair.
But we're more than that. We have to be more than that. We have to give people an experience that has them want to become a place to get their hair. As I'm walking in here, I look over and I look to my right as I'm across the street and there's a salon two, three doors down. And I'm like, wow, there's a salon there and then there's Rob's like right next door. So when you think about that and you sit in there
You've never stepped foot into either one. You're gonna go to the right or to the left.
Right? So, and then it's, okay, I'm going to the left.
How did they make me feel when I went in there? And then maybe perhaps that person leaves and says three weeks or four weeks, you gotta get a haircut every four weeks, right? Yeah, okay. So four weeks later, I'm gonna go to the right. Maybe I didn't have such a great experience. Sure. Or I did and you know what? Sometimes people just want to shop, right?
So now I gotta go that way. How do they make me feel?
The end result, I would think most stylists are gonna cut their hair the same. I'm sure there's some variances. Of course., when I think about my wife who, Dave cuts her hair. She always talks about her interactions with Dave and she has a connection with him. Yeah.
So I'm sure for the listeners, you hear this all the time. It's not about, it's about the connections. It's about the people, but it needs to be real. It needs to be genuine. And I think that's the biggest thing because you can walk into a place and yeah, they say it, but do you really feel it? Yeah, a hundred percent, yeah. Yeah, it can be a moniker on a wall. And, like we always talk about like
Do you want fries with that? That comment that they give you at McDonald's all the time or whatever, it's not an authentic statement. It's something they have to say. It doesn't come from their heart. You probably already ordered fries, but they have to say it anyway. They have to say it like robots. Right, right. There's no authenticity to it. And people who appreciate that genuine relationship can see right through that kind of stuff. So I pride myself on, and I give all this credit to my parents who raised me the way they did about integrity, respect, transparency.
And so it's in my core. And so I make sure that I build my team
With those that are like me. Yeah. And I'm sure as a business owner, you realize you think people, they kind of feed you the line that they're, yeah, that's me, I'm ready. And then you realize, no, no, you're not really, you're really not like that. Yeah.
So the old actions speak louder than words. And I think that is really what our team is all about. At Ferrari. Yeah, yeah, that's clear. And there's a line I like to use where I say, take ordinary and make everything that is ordinary, extraordinary, the littlest things, right? Someone's coming to pick up their car. You can hand them the keys, hand them the manuals, show them how things go or operate, and then see you later.
Versus let's make it an event. Let's make it special.
Yeah, like there was a video of a, I forget what the color was called, but it was like a blue, but it was called something different. You had a cover on it and you pulled the cover off for the new owner. It was a beautiful car
But it was an experience that person was getting. It wasn't just coming to pick up a car. It's the little things too, right? It's the littlest things. And I always say in luxury, and it should be quite frankly in any business. It's all about how well you can manage all the millions and millions of details that go into the execution of whatever it is that you're doing. Sure, yeah.
Yes. And so.
Yeah. Yeah, down to the littlest thing. Like, we can cheat. We know when somebody's coming in. We know that there's a 10 o'clock appointment coming in.
Instead of sitting back in the back room waiting for somebody to come back and say, "Hey, your 10 o'clock is here. Why can't we be out front waiting for them at the front door with their cappuccino espresso?" You actually, it was brilliant what you did. As I was talking to that gentleman
Waiting for my espresso. So the young lady there offered me an espresso. She was gonna get the cup, the standard cup by the espresso machine. You said, "No." Now, whether or not you had a special cup for me
I don't know, but I'll tell you, it sounded really good. He goes, "No, I actually have a special cup for him." And she came and brought me the special espresso cup. And then here we are, I'm having a conversation with coincidentally happened to be a client of ours.
You had never met him. You knew he wanted espresso and you just, you were quick. And you said, "Nope, I actually have a special cup for him as well." And it's, those are the things that, hey, look, as little as it may seem, or I would say him leaving, I certainly felt good that I had my own special cup.
Yeah. So kudos to you. Well, thanks. And I know that's what's made you successful. Well, thank you. And you pointed to something earlier too, and in your upbringing and in our Italian heritage, everybody, my father who started this company many years ago
And my mother worked here as well
It was like a cocktail party. It was no different than when they had a party at the house because we always had people at the house. And in the Italian family, it was just
Everything was an event around food and they were always serving people. We always had random people at every holiday who I had no clue who they were, but they always invited people who didn't have family. You had no idea who these people were, right? Every year, it was different people. My parents are the same thing. Like, "Who is this person? I just met him last week, but we're gonna feed him and he's serving some alcohol." That's right.
Always that way every year. I just never knew who was gonna be there. And there was always somebody different. And it was our job to make sure they had a great time and they enjoyed themselves. And it didn't matter. And let me tell you, those people keep coming back. Don't they? Oh, 100%. In business, it should be no different. Yeah, that was it completely. It was just like, we're serving. And you talked about that was who you were and who you are and what got you into that. And it wasn't ever about the cars was secondary. The first part was-- Yeah, and I love the cars.
I can't, I mean, look, there's something to be said for those, for someone who's never driven a Ferrari. You just gotta get in it. You can't even explain it. It's just, you just gotta get in it and listen to it and the feeling you get and everything else. But leading up to that, it's all these little things that we just talked about. Because the one phone call that comes through, you don't answer it right away. The young lady or young man on the phone isn't pleasant.
What's sad is when you think about it, is these manufacturers, in my case, you have a brand like Ferrari
Who makes incredible vehicles.
And all it takes is one person to fumble the littlest thing. And you think about all the time and energy, R and D that goes into making this car.
And all it takes is one person to fumble something. Yeah.
And everything else, nothing else matters. Yeah, destroys everything. Or throws it all out the window. Yeah, I see that on
I catch myself reading those Facebook food groups, restaurant groups, and there's always somebody on there blasting a good restaurant because some girl at the front was inappropriate or said something that was not nice to somebody. They were just, they weren't thinking. Yeah. And it ruins the whole experience for the people. And then they write this book about everything else because it taints the rest of the visit. And think about everybody else that reads that same review. Yeah, yeah., I'm a big proponent of that. I love eating, I love going to restaurants, trying out different restaurants.
The first thing, like my wife, anytime she talks about or anyone talks about wanting to go to a restaurant or where's the pizza spot, I'm like, you know what, I got it.
I will find the spot. And what do I do? I just go on a Google, right? You look at the reviews. Sure. You just start reading the reviews. The first thing you do is you wanna look for somebody that's five or up or fours and then how many reviews, right? Is it just one or two people or is there a following there of good or bad? Yeah. Right? You're gonna get some bad. You're gonna get some negative feedback. And I'm open to it, by the way. I love negative feedback. 100%. Bring it, give it to me. Yeah, yeah., I-- Please tell me, right? Please tell me., I have, and we're so fortunate to have the clients that we have
Especially our clientele, business owners themselves
They're successful. And quite frankly, most of them, in fact, I would say all of them, they are so willing to one, share their success stories and two, share their faults and critique you. I actually ask them. I jump on the phone with customers and I say, I don't wanna know about the good things. Give me the bad and the ugly.
And we train on that. Yeah. So many are afraid to hear that. They just try to avoid it. They just don't wanna look at it. It's like, oh, they write it off so quickly as, oh, they're just XYZ or they're just-- Yeah, always find an excuse. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They blame it on something else. And you can't please everyone, but you know what? You want those people that are very difficult. Those are the folks that keep you on your A-game. Sure, sure. They make you better. Otherwise, you just get complacent. Yeah, 100%, they make you better. They, yeah, there's those ones that
Make you a little nervous sometimes, but at the same time, they keep you on your toes, like you say, and they keep it.
Some of our biggest breakthroughs come from some of our biggest breakdowns, our biggest failures, these things that we have that go wrong
Where we messed up and we figure out
We gotta make some changes. Always gotta continue to evolve and change and COVID and we have hurricanes and recessions and all the things that we have to deal with here over time that we have to be willing to make changes and be different and I don't know ever, just because we've been in it a while for our business, I know that today we're not gonna be the same as we were yesterday and tomorrow, we're not gonna be the same as we were today. And you don't wanna be, right? You wanna be able to feel like you're growing. Yeah, we have to. Yeah, and evolve just as a human being and do the team around me.
I know that they'll stick around longer if I make sure that they grow financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically, professionally. If I keep them growing and stretching in all ways, they won't wanna go anywhere else. They'll wanna be here as long as they can continue to grow here. People work for a purpose here. When I sit and talk to my team and I ask them, let's be honest with ourselves, what do we love the most about our business?
Unanimously, it's about the people, it's the customers.
Yes, I think there's no doubt there's a level of
Cachet that comes with saying, I work for Ferrari, right?
But after a while, that could wear off. Yeah, sure.
And when you really ask and you get in their hearts and you say, tell me what you love the most about working here. It's my team and the customers that we serve.
So, we've spent a lot of time talking about that, but if there's anything that-- No, that's what it all is. I mean, I think that really-- And even outside of work, right? Sure, yeah. Just in general, just life.
You get to the end, it's like, who are you surrounded with? Who's next to you? Yeah, yeah, and it's one of the things, how you and I met through Stefan, that he's always got this great circle of people around him. Everybody I've ever met that he's introduced me to is just good human, good soul.
And when you have that circle of positivity, good energy, good people, the right people doing the right things.
I mean, that's the whole, that's why we do the podcast. So, Genesis is behind the podcast, right? 100%, a spotlight on good people, good humans in our community, good people.
And that's the gift when I get to spend time with somebody like yourself who has the value structure, the belief system, the integrity to be who you are and to do life the way you do life. I mean, that fills my life up. It fills Zach's life up and we can-- Zach's the man, by the way. He is, right? He is, yeah. He's Johnny on the spot. Yeah, man. Yeah.
Free what? Free stories. Free stories, yeah. Yeah. I'm blessed to have him, but he's another good soul. But just having these good, and David, and we just having the right people, and Stefan, I always honor and love because he has introduced me to some great, great people. And he continues to do that too. But I remember the first time we met
I thought, well, there's somebody who's gonna give Stefan a little bit of competition with how he dresses because he's a big pack of dress. Like, yeah, you gotta go., I envy this attire though, yours, because I gotta do this every day. It's like I'm on stage every day.
(Laughing) You see me on the weekends, no, there's no, I am dressed down. Yeah, but you do it well. You got it going on well, because I was like, oh, he's got a little competition there. Yeah, I'm going good.
What is the, not being, so I was talking to a friend of mine last night, really good friend of mine who, we had dinner at Gumbo Limbo last night, which was beautiful. Great spot. Yeah, it was beautiful. It's funny you say Gumbo Limbo. When I look back, my wife and I, this is before we moved down. There's sorry to be story beater here. I'm just gonna- I love it, that's what it is. But for those listening, maybe you've never been to Naples, and you're just looking for maybe the hook. Yeah. You're contemplating, you wanna move to Naples, and you're not really sure, go to Gumbo Limbo. Yeah. Not only you're on a beautiful Ritz property, but you literally have great food.
You're sitting on the beach. Yes, so beautiful. Looking out of the bay, enjoying great food. And I just remember my wife and I, when we came down here
And we're sitting there, this was many years ago, and we're sitting at Gumbo Limbo, just looking out and eating, and I think I picked up the phone and called a friend of mine who I'd worked with, and I said, "Why do we work in Cleveland?"
Naples is absolutely beautiful.
Anyway, it's probably a little long, long overdue, that story, but nonetheless, great spot, by the way. And it's still there. It's 100% what it is, yeah. No, it is, it reminded me., I live here, and we were there last night saying, "We live here, this is where we live." Right., it was so beautiful. I mean, last night was just, it was just the right temperature, the sun, the people there, it was beautiful, the food was great, the company was great, it was awesome.
And then I knew I was coming to talk to you today, and he's a car enthusiast, and I said, he said, "Well, Ferrari's out of my league, but I've always had this intrigue about this." But they're really not, for those listening. Yeah, is that right? Oh, we have some crafty little acquisition
Proposals we can put together. Is that right? Sorry to interject. No, no, no, no, no. I gotta make sure I gotta drop that hint. No, because I, who is that car for? Is it four? Now, he's an enthusiast, he's a passion, I mean, he invests in his cars, but for some reason he had this. The one car he told me about that he's been in love with since he was a child was the F40. Is that the one that everybody, is that one of the big ones? Yeah, it's one of the quintessential, there's the F40, there's the F50. Yeah, and what is the process? Because there was only, what, 1,300 of those made.
Yeah, I don't know if there's ever a true, the production numbers that are truly accurate, but those are not readily available anymore, other than on the secondary market. There's now what they call the F80, which is the, that was just actually introduced late last year.
And so you have, 40th anniversary, 50. Oh, okay, okay. So then you have the F80. Okay, so what is the process like to buy a Ferrari different, because it's not the same as buying a car off the street, right, it's different? No, actually, most people, there is this, misconception that not
You can't just get a Ferrari, a new one. And that's actually not true. There are certain models, our range models
That anyone off the street can get one.
Where it gets a little tricky, is that you only get so many.
You know, so, the dealership might see seven or eight new Ferraris a month coming in. They're all pre-ordered.
You know, they take anywhere from two to three years to come in. So we only get allocated a certain amount of cars.
So that becomes part of the challenge, where when somebody might come in, they're not readily available.
So for the most part, those all new Ferraris, for the exception of, like I mentioned, the F80, so there are certain limited series cars. So we're talking limited production cars, that are only given to those true Ferrari ambassadors., so what defines the ambassador? The ambassador is someone that's been with the brand
For long periods of time. Not only are they collectors, they might be into racing. Ferrari actually has their own racing circuit. We're not talking Formula One, we're talking ladies and gentlemen racing against ladies and gentlemen.
So there's many different, it's not just cars, there's the Ferrari lifestyle, that clients can get involved in. And so those that have been around the brand, that participate in all those various activities in the cars, generally get those limited series cars.
So there is that component, where not just anyone can get a limited series Ferrari. Now there's, and we're going back to the earlier conversation, we're very active in the pre-owned world. So there are many sought after cars, like an F40 or an F50, or a LaFerrari for example, that they no longer make new ones, but we have the ability to find pre-owned vehicles. We scour all over the world.
So for anyone looking for a very unique Ferrari
Like those that I mentioned, we do have the ability to source those.
A friend of mine who I work out with at the gym
Was going through this
Well, he's always had it in his heart to have a Ferrari. And he started looking a couple of years ago, I think he met you, he talked to me about it at the gym. And when his wife, or soon to be wife, found out that he was looking at that car, she put the squash on it, she wasn't too happy about him
And his abilities in a car like that, she was worried about him wandering off, because he looks too good in a Ferrari.
His experience, so he didn't end up buying, but he met you, Spiros is his name, Greek guy.
And he just had a great time with you, had a great time meeting you, talking to you the whole experience, he knew you right away.
He didn't end up getting one yet. Yeah, he had one, right? I think in his lifetime he asked that one.
Whatever one he was looking at wasn't available right away where he was gonna, but you had offered him, I think there's something he said, you had offered him something else in the meantime, until the car he wanted was available, which I thought was interesting, because it was like you had a backup plan for him, and to get him into the car that he wanted, but you had something else for him., it's funny, when I think about this, who needs a Ferrari?
No one needs-- Needs. No one needs a Ferrari. You wake up one day and there's this emotion that there's one guy on the right side telling you, I just need one because I want one. Yeah, right. Then there's a guy on the left-hand side saying, you don't need one. You need one like a whole net.
So it's funny when we think about these clients that come in and they're willing to wait, those that are the true passionistas, as we call them, are willing to wait for new ones. But it's just natural to say, hey, how about let's look for one now, or as we like to use the bridge car, find a bridge car. Because you wanna satisfy those emotions that are coming at you today, saying I want one, I need one. Okay, how about this right now? Yeah, yeah. Right?
Because very easy, the guy on the left could talk you out of it. Yeah.
You wait three years, who wants to wait for one? Nobody wants to wait for one. So it's in the heart right there, you're ready. So it's like, yeah, we offer, we have very diverse selection of pre-owned, very hand-selected, pre-owned Ferraris, quite frankly, any kind of car. We sell Porsches, Lamborghinis, McLarens, anything within the exotic circle we sell.
So yeah, of course, we always wanna offer up the now. Yeah, well, I was thinking this morning, I was like, gosh, this
Because there's so much emotion behind hearing and seeing a Ferrari on the road. I mean, just the sound of one and just seeing one, it's just such an eye-catcher always, just immediately, I was like, oh, we're gonna go talk in the laundry room at the salon instead of being sitting, it would be so cool to do this inside of a Ferrari or inside the dealership, because your dealership is so beautiful. Our next one, next episode. Yeah, yeah, and we gotta get, Zach, you gotta do some great B-roll up there. Come on, Zach, you gotta step up your game.
(Zach Laughs) I mean, you're...
Yeah, so you gotta put some beautiful cars in the B-roll in this and some footage from up there, which will be really neat, but I just, I think of the emotional experience it's gotta be when somebody sits in one of those, it just feels that, the vibration of that car. I have a Tesla, and I'm, I'm not, my wife calls me a turtle, I'm not a fast runner. I think Stephan, Stephan rubbed off on you, didn't he? I had, he got rid of it. He had one. Yeah, he did, I know. He got rid of it, he ended up with, what's he got now? Oh, he actually came to us, he came to us. He traded in his Tesla. Oh, is that right? He bought a Bentley. That's where, oh, that's his car, that's right.
Yeah, I was surprised he, because I saw, yeah. I'm not sure, I haven't seen him in a while, so Stephan, I hope you're listening, and I hope you're doing well, man. Yeah, right.
But, our brand is actually more of a, it's a luxury product. Yes, there's cars, but we have people that come from all over the world that come into our dealership. They just wanna buy a hat, they wanna buy a Ferrari pin. They wanna buy something with the Ferrari insignia on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So our brand is much more just the cars. We are a luxury brand.
So whether you're driving the car, or you're wearing a Ferrari cap, Ferrari shirt, it's just the feeling, right? I feel good wearing my shirt, my hat.
Certainly driving in the car.
I always kinda think of like a Harley-Davidson. How many guys wear Harley shirts or the chaps? They may not even drive a motorcycle. They just love being associated with the brand. And that's what Ferrari's all about. Yes, that luxury Italian brand and way, yeah.
So is there a culture or a way around Lamborghini, the way there is around Ferrari? It's Ferrari kinda have a better-- We just have, we have much more history. Oh, is that right? Yeah, when you think of Ferrari, most people associate the brand with F1 racing.
And the passion comes from racing.
If you go on and you watch a F1 race
Just look at all the Italian flags, the whole country shuts down, right? It's like, it's a big to do.
You don't see that, no disrespect to Lamborghini, but you don't see that with Lamborghini.
So, yeah, so Ferrari just has the history, lot of it coming from their racing history. That's their DNA. Yeah.
And for those that haven't watched, really, the Ferrari, the latest Ferrari movie is a great one, although that's more about Enzo's story
Than there's also Formula One, the series. Every once in a while, yeah, depending on time, where the races are, we'll play them. But the best movie probably is Ford versus Ferrari, if you wanna get a real sense of the history of Ferrari. But the Formula One series are great to watch too, because you really get, I was never really a Formula One guy until I quite frankly joined Ferrari. And it is pretty remarkable. Again, I represented luxury brands, but there really isn't anything like driving a Ferrari. And again, it has nothing to do with, now the looks, they are pieces of art.
It's just the feeling you get when you drive one of these things. Like you said, the sound, the speed is just absolutely incredible, the way the car handles at those speeds.
And you just, you smile ear to ear. Like there's just, like what people say, that's why I can't describe it. And anybody that comes in that's really interested in driving, you just gotta get in the car. Yeah, that's cool.
It's like a
It reminds me of going to Disney World as a kid, like get excited about, I mean, what it must be like for somebody to own one, like when they get to drive it for the week, on whatever days they drive it. Like it's gotta be like- Yeah, Enzo Ferrari really evolved. Enzo Ferrari, our founder
Who was an engineer by trade, who was building race cars.
And to, in order for him
To actually run his racing team, he needed money.
So he built road cars. And that's really how Ferrari evolved. Oh wow, oh wow. Yeah, he was big into racing and was a mastermind with building high powered engines and putting them on the track and was super successful. But then there came a point where he needed more money.
And so he started building road cars. Oh, okay. And here we are today. Our cars on the road are race cars., the DNA behind the nuts and bolts of a Ferrari road car is all the technology, every, the passion that comes from Formula One is now infused in a road car.
So it's, from sitting inside the car, the steering wheel and watching how the revs, we have all the revs on the steering wheel. There's different settings and I guess I'll end there. So for those that are interested, you gotta just come experience. You don't wanna hear me talk anymore. I think I've been talking for about an hour and a half now. No, I love it, I love it. I saw even on the website, they have coaching for driving, right? Or they have a-- Yeah, we have classes. So part of, again, the Ferrari lifestyle of the cars, there's all the events., when you're a client, you're invited of some very, very exclusive events all over the world.
Then there's the element of racing. Of course, that's our DNA. So Ferrari has certain programs like the Ferrari race classes that one can pay, you would pay to join or take a class. There's several classes. They're held all over the country.
And rather than use your car, you would pay to use one of Ferrari North America's cars. So they set up at various tracks all over the country
And you would go and sign up for one of these classes and you get to drive a Ferrari road car on a racetrack with a professional instructor. Wow.
And we have a lot of our clients that are new to brand that have never stepped foot in a Ferrari
Will actually go and race, or race, I should say, sign up for one of the race classes. And then that's how they get the bug. They get hooked. Yeah, it hits them, right? Yeah, yeah. Because it's one thing to drive them on Interstate 41. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's another thing to actually put it on a racetrack. Yeah, it really gets you. And then there's a whole nother level of appreciation for what these cars are capable of doing. That's so cool. Wow. Love it. Well, I'm looking forward to, I might have to go with you when you look there. I'm trading that test. So the pendulum will swing in the complete opposite direction.
Well, it's my father-in-law, my late father-in-law. Although we make hybrids and soon to be electric. Yeah, I was gonna ask about that. Yeah, so Ferrari will announce their first ever electric car later this year. But over the past several years, we do have a mild hybrid that we offer
Which is just absolutely extraordinary. The amount of power that those electric motors put out
It's incredible. Well, my father-in-law would say one of the things that was missing though was the rumble. That's what he didn't like about my Tesla. He's like, "Well, yeah, it's fast, but it's missing that." The emotion. The emotion, right? Yeah, exactly. Tesla, you don't hear anything. It's just like a catapult. It just throws you forward.
Ferrari does the exact same thing, but you feel it, hear it. And it just runs right through your body. Yeah, that's the missing. That's what's different about it. And yeah, it's not the same. That's how we always talked about it too.
Well, I have some rapid fire. Oh, here we go. So we talked about food some too. And you've lived in some great food areas.
So in terms of favorite restaurants, start with Naples. Oh, that's a tough one. Favorite restaurant in Naples.
I would say if somebody asked me, I love Italian food.
And by the way, I don't know what you're Italian. So I don't know if you call it sauce or if you call it... I'm from the gravy. The gravy, so affiliate they call it. But Laura, if you're listening, your sauce is the best.
Second choice would be... She makes the original sauce. She's got the original sauce. She's got the original sauce probably passed down from her, certainly I know her grandmother, but... No kidding. Oh wow. But my... And meatballs? Did she do meatballs? Not meatballs, chicken color. She does actually meatballs, but she does. Her sauce has actually, she infuses some sausage and ribs in there. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh gosh. I didn't know that. Her sauce is legit. So we have to talk about...
Maybe next time you see Laura. Maybe you guys have a look. Yeah, instead of paying for a haircut, she'll just bring you a tub of sauce. That's it's done deal.
(Laughing) But no, I guess just my love for Italian food, just red sauce and pasta, the first restaurant that comes to mind for me would be Molto.
What's your favorite there? What do you want to like to order there? Start with a little pizza. I love pizza. That's my cheat meal. I eat pretty healthy throughout the week, but my clutch... Yeah, your comfort food. Yeah, my comfort food I'd say would start with maybe some pizza. But any of their, just their pastas. I love seafood. So I think they have one that's like a spicy sauce with some, probably some shrimp or some shellfish of some sort. But that would be my go-to. Okay, how about in Boston?
Ooh, I haven't been home recently. Yeah. But if I were to go to the North end
I'm sure and by name, just not registering right now, but I'd say there's got to go wrong. Hard to go wrong to go to the North end. There's so many great restaurants and we're talking Boston proper, but this is restaurants, great restaurants all over. But I would go to the North end. And quite frankly, I don't know that there's many spots that are not going to make someone happy. Yeah. They're going to deliver all of them.
Yeah. And when you went to Cleveland, I obviously was your family's, your wife's family was the number one, but was there a restaurant? There's Johnny's, there's Johnny's, Laura's, my brides, good friends, family friends started two Italian restaurants.
There's two actually locations in Cleveland called Johnny's. Okay. And so I'd say Johnny's would be my go-to spot. All right. In Cleveland. I haven't ever been, but when I go, I'll be there. A lot of history. Yeah. They've been around for years. Okay, Johnny's. Johnny's. Okay. Johnny's on Fulton and Johnny's on 9th Street. Those are in the city or outside? Yeah, yeah, one's in downtown and the other one's just kind of in the outskirts. Favorite part of being a dad?
Just being their go-to and just loving them. Like, that's a tough one. I just, I love being their like role model. I just wanna be the one that sets the example for them
And just provide them with unconditional love and support.
And just, you gotta be tough on them and discipline them. But just trying to, my satisfaction is molding these kids to just be great members of society.
And we're having so much fun at their age right now. We got middle schoolers and a freshmen. Growing up and their babies and toddlers, like you don't really, it's hard to, more so I think for a dad to relate because they're so attached to their mom. Of course. But if I think back the last few years and the impact that I think I'm having on them just makes me feel great. And that's just, just again, just molding them to be good humans. Yeah, it shows. I appreciate that. Yeah, definitely. When I hear people that, they're little hellions when they're around two of us
At home, but there's
When they're out with friends or they're with their parents, friends' parents, and then just getting that feedback that your kids are so polite and they're just great kids, that's just music to my ears.
What was your first car? My first car was a Honda Civic hatchback
With a rolled back odometer that I think I bought at the auction for 1,500 bucks.
And here we are in Naples and my daughter who's now has her permits like, "Yeah, well, I want my first car to be a G-Wagon." Of course, in Naples, right? Nah, nah, you got a lot. Let me tell you, let me show you a picture of my blue Honda Civic that had a rolled back odometer.
What would be playing in your car, music, podcast, or silence when you..., I'm a big listener to podcasts
And just the law of attraction. So I'd say you're probably gonna find a podcast.
And there's quite a few
Ed Mylett is one I love listening to him. Yeah, yeah, he's a, Stefan turned me on him, actually went to see him in Fort Myers. Oh, in Fort Myers, yeah. I had a ticket with him, it was awesome. Yeah, he's a good human being. Really good, yeah.
And I actually listened to another one, it's called "All In." This is more of it's a business, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, listen to that. "All In" podcast with Dave Crue, Berg and those guys, that's a great... Yeah, and the one Sax, who just went to be on the administration. He's over in DC with Perino. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. And otherwise, I do, I've grown to love
And I think maybe it's that Midwestern thing in Ohio, when I used to listen to, in Boston, right, as a kid, you listen to techno music, going to clubs, I moved to Ohio, slows me down a little bit., I do love country music. Yeah., who doesn't love on a Sunday when it's my day to chill, just put on a little Morgan Wallinger. Yeah, I've grown to appreciate country, I didn't early in life, but later in life, I appreciate it. On Sundays, we do this workout at the CrossFit gym, and the guy who creates the wads will sometimes put on a country playlist, and it fits, something about it, yeah, I've grown to really...
And let's face it, I mean, I don't know if you have younger kids like I do, but, my kids take hostage of my phone that's connected to my Apple CarPlay, and they're rolling through Spotify, so they won't listen to podcasts. No, come on, start. Yeah, they think I'm old, and it's boring, so, they're putting on, they're putting on their stuff. But they actually, they like the Morgan Wall, my daughter, who I drive every morning to school, she's good with that, so, anyway. So you drive her to school every morning, it's just the two of you then. Yeah, so my wife, who takes on a brunt of, the duties at home, and she's a Saint Rock, she's the best.
But I do what I can, and so we have two coming to St. Anne's in the morning, one going to St. John Newman, so I take the St. John Newman route, since that's all my way to work, and Laura takes the twins to St. Anne's, so John is my, she's my passenger every single morning, so. Yeah, no, that's nice, because you get one-on-one time, and, she can't escape you're together, that's a good time together, that's awesome.
What's a hidden talent most people don't know about you? I don't know, man, you stumped me there.
You know, I'm big into fitness, I actually competed
I was a bodybuilder many years ago. Is that right? Probably don't look at it, I lost a lot of weight, but I would say like just nutrition and working out is something I really want to enjoy, and I guess if you want to view that as a talent. Yeah, for sure, yeah, cool. But yeah, I competed competitively years ago, and won some contests, so. Yeah, that takes a lot, because you got to deal with diet, you got to deal with discipline. Yeah, it's the discipline part that I love, and structure, and so I would say if there's a talent, like I'm very disciplined and regimented, and. Yeah, cool, how would your kids describe you?
I would say they would say I'm a hard worker, I'm never around, they know I'm working
You know, I'm not out screwing around, hanging out, drinking at bars, I do enjoy golf, but I don't, like on my time off, I'm with them, or I try to be with them as they get older now, they want to drift away with their friends, but I would say my dad's a hard worker
Because I do this for them, and they know that. Yeah, and what do you do, well, you go to Europe, what else do you do with your family, that family time you would say, in Naples? Naples? Yeah.
We like to, again, faith being a big thing, we take them to church, on the weekends, I cherish my weekends with them, so typically it's church
My son, who's playing football right now, plays basketball, in fact, all three of them are very active in sports.
You might find me out in the street, throwing a football to my son, or. Patriots fan, or? Yes, the roots are still there, the Boston roots are still there, although I will say Cleveland's a big sports town, so although we don't catch the Browns games here in Florida, we do find ways to access the Browns games, so we still have some Cleveland Browns in us as well, but, and then here in Florida, we're either, my son, who's a pretty avid football fan, we're making trips to Miami or to Tampa, so we go watch both, but yeah, we love just, again, them playing a little one-on-one basketball with the girls, or with my son throwing the football.
He plays football? He plays for the Gators, yeah. Oh, he's a Gator, okay, awesome, awesome. At Fleishman. At Fleishman, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, awesome.
If you weren't in the automotive world, what would you do?
You know, I love what I do
And as we spoke for the last hour and a half about serving people.
So if I wasn't in, say, automotive
It would be some other line of business of just serving people, and what that is, I'm not really sure, because I love what I do.
So I've never really even thought about, what would be, what's my alternative?
Because I'm so committed to what I'm doing right now, but again, I would say it would be some line of work that just serves others, whatever that may be.
That's beautiful, what a perfect way to end, I love it. Well really, really, this has been so cool for me. Well, I appreciate you having me. And likewise, I mean, you're, I can, from the first time I met you, just know that you're, you're a good man, good soul, and everybody you surround yourself with around here, I know has the same beliefs, so keep up the good work. Hey, likewise. And I'm gonna make sure I fill that special cup that you gave me on the way in. That's yours, baby, every time, yeah. Every time I come in, I'm gonna hit up Dave and say, where's my cup? That's right, it's got your name on it. I appreciate you, brother. But yeah, thank you again. My pleasure.
And I really do appreciate you having me on the pod. Yeah, gosh, it's super cool for us and really nice to get to know another great soul in our community, and we're blessed to have you in Naples, and especially raising the family you're raising to see who's gonna be a part of our community because you've done a damn good job on your family, so. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks again, buddy. All right.