It's a Real Job with Bruce Miller

Michael Cirillo: I mean, I know you guys got to talk to our guest today, Bruce Miller.

Unknown: This is Auto Collabs in Louisiana a little bit And.

Michael Cirillo: I've got to know this cat a little bit through some other. You know groups that were a part of just one of the coolest dudes I'm really excited to see. You know like this is a guy that wears his faith on his sleeve. You can tell it runs deep in his DNA. He cares about his family, he cares about his people And and, and I think I think we're going to see a lot of that today And I mean you know he's always wearing that hoodie, all gas, no breaks, but and I really hope this- happens.

Kyle Mountsier: You know what. You know what strikes me about that slow down here real quick, because he's got this hoodie. I meet him. He's got the hoodie. It says all gas, no breaks, and he's like yo, yes, real relaxed, super chill way relaxed lean back in his little in a stance, you know, and it's like all gas no breaks, you know.

Michael Cirillo: So the juxtaposition of that, It's on the inside balances that I mean like this is a dude that used to be executive leadership at franchise stores And now he's like flat brim hats Hoodies.

Paul J Daly: Yeah, He's just like yo, he's a sleeper. He's like that, he's like that Honda Civic that back in the 90s, like the kids would trick out and pull up, They went to the windows or anything And then off the line. They would just dust anything that came next.

Kyle Mountsier: Do you guys remember that? I remember Absolutely. Yeah, that's great, it's great. Well, we hope you enjoy this conversation we have.

Paul J Daly: Hey, Bruce, thank you so much for giving us some of your time today. We really appreciate it.

Bruce Miller: No problem, glad to be on the show, appreciate it. You guys giving me the invite.

Paul J Daly: So we met for the first time at the digital dealer conference just several weeks ago It feels like a long time ago, but it wasn't that long ago And I was really struck by your, your just genuine, personable demeanor and your like ability to say things very like natural language. I understood everything you were trying to say immediately. Where does that come from?

Bruce Miller: Being in sales my whole life are always you know you have to be an effective communicator, you know. So I guess it comes from that. You know being in sales my whole life. I guess it comes from the confidence that I know who I am and I know what I bring to the table. So I could just say what I want or communicate how I want. It doesn't really matter if you like it or not Or you know I'm saying so. I can freely just explain who I am, talk, talk who I want, be how I want, and communicate how I want, and I don't really care how it comes across because I'm just being me. You know, recently, the last year and a half, two years, open my own business, and now I'm my own, my own business, i can dress how I want, i can talk how I want, i can treat my employees how I want. So I'm on this like just this confidence level where I'm just going to be me, you know. So I guess that's maybe where it comes from.

Kyle Mountsier: Real talk, though by the end of Paul's question I was like is he going to make some funny joke about your Louisiana accent?

Paul J Daly: Because that's just messed up. That was the bump. That was the bump set, actually.

Michael Cirillo: I mean, i've gotten to know you, bruce, and you say treat my employees how I want this and that. And I think you know for some people listening they might think, well, oh you know, here's another boss. No, that's not to be taken in the wrong way. You're not someone that's just rolling in and being like look, i'm the boss. You know that's not how you want to treat your people, so where does that all come from? I mean, you know, like the being authentic to who you are, but you also have this all gas, no breaks. How do you reconcile all gas, no breaks, hustle mentality or whatever that means to you, to also building an environment in your store where people can thrive?

Bruce Miller: It goes by. It comes from being treated the wrong way for 10 years of my career. Just, i was somewhat misunderstood. I was, you know, i was like a Christian car salesperson who didn't drink, didn't go to the strip club, you know. So I was mistreated My first day on a job as a 21 year old salesperson.

Bruce Miller: My ex-my manager can I have off on Wednesdays Because we had church Wednesdays? And he says, no, you're going to have off. Whenever I tell you And from this point on I am your guy I'm like OK, cool, you know like I needed the job, boy boy, i needed the jobs. I couldn't quit. You know, i was like a high school dropout. I was like I barely got hired. I had to hustle my way to get hired. So you know. So I learned for 10 years how to not be treated, how GM Wouldn't pay somebody a five-pound a bonus. You know stores make it 200,000 dollars. You want to pay a five-pound a bonus Deal should. Group don't. Don't celebrate salesperson among dealership groups Don't take their teams to dinner and things like that. So when I became a manager of managers, when I came between running stores for these these last 10 years, i mean, i made, i made a culture of of hey, we do this, you're gonna get this, we're, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna celebrate. We're gonna go to Pelicans games, we're gonna go to dinner, we're gonna, we're gonna have. You know The events, you know.

Bruce Miller: Salesperson comes to me and says, hey, man, i'm a thousand dollars short of my mortgage, but the dude's been working for me for two years. I know my trust, him I love. I give the thousand dollars on. It comes out my own pocket. That's not for the company, you know, and then I don't. The rest of not getting back. But you know what that guy really needed me and I know him and we work every day and I have a relationship With him. So how can I do? how can I not? how can my relationship with you only be transactional? How can I really see what you just be on, what you provide for me? No, so so I've always been that person and I've, like, alienated myself with upper management. By the way I wanted to treat people, by the way I wanted to do things, and so now that I am my own boss.

Bruce Miller: I can do what I want.

Kyle Mountsier: You know that. Go ahead. That is. I Think here's the thing if you listen to like 25 inspirational podcasts, you know a bunch of like thought leadership on how to be a manager. A lot of what you just said Would kind of be like tossed out there as quote-unquote best practices, right, but to put it into play and then to just really really clearly say How can I work with someone every single day and Make this relationship Transactional and not relational, that's, it's like it's a bold statement in itself to like to say that the audacity of someone to do The other is is almost unbelievable to you.

Kyle Mountsier: I love that you're like you take them to pelicans games. I actually know what the pelicans are because I used to live in Pensacola, so I was very close to you, know, i know what the pelicans are across the, across the water there, but like where? Because I think a lot of people think like, hey, this is my work team, this is my work environment. How do you balance the engagement of going? I know that my culture and my people have to go beyond Just work hours or things that we do together to do business. How do you balance the like I'm? I'm still your manager and you still need to do things and and and get things done and have business outcomes With the relational aspect of things, because I think like sometimes people can just fall in the ditch of either side. How do you balance that and not fall in ditches?

Bruce Miller: I'm not the best at it, my managers, tell me My managers tell me all the time Hey man, bruce, you can't treat the sex people like this, or that they have the answer to us So. So I'm not the best at it, but when you make deposits of people's lives, it's easy to make the draws. If you're only making withdrawals, you're going to create this culture where people hate to be there because all you, all you're doing, is just asking, asking, pushing, pushing, telling them what they're doing wrong, making you know these withdrawals and there's nothing in the account. But when you make deposits and you do things right, you you treated them a little bit, you gave them a little bonus, you paid them a little bit early, you paid them. You know you did something that was like beneficial to them And they know that. You know what, man, he didn't have to do that. There's equity in that account.

Bruce Miller: So when I, when I, when I'm, when I'm demanding hey, man, it's the last three days a month. I need a good, i need, we need 10, 12 deals these last three days, i need everybody to buckle up. When I ask, i normally get because I make deposits, because there's equity in the relationships of my employees. I have a lot of equity And I have a see other, seeing other situations where people are asking just like I'm asking. They get nothing because they didn't make no deposits. So so that's that's the main way that I can. I'm given freely from my heart. I'm helping in those areas, but at times when I need I need them, i can easily push them and get, get, get it from them because I made those deposits.

Paul J Daly: Tell us a story like You've. You got this mindset where you're constantly investing into people's lives And you told us already several like little anecdotal stories about you know instances when that has happened. One of the things that we are at a so to fascinated about are all these inspiring stories in the auto industry that we hear all the time, and you know people whose lives were literally changed by their involvement or they're being welcomed into the industry. Can you think of one story from your you know, your last 10 years of that you want to share with us, of somebody's life literally being changed because their involvement in the industry?

Bruce Miller: Mine, you know, but let's get me, you know.

Paul J Daly: But all right, let's do that, let's do that. It's a story you know best.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, man, I came into the industry as a high school dropout, newly married, baby on the way like 30 days later, baby was born.

Paul J Daly: That's in it, man right there.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, back again, 21 years old, and I was like married and I had a baby and I needed a career, a real, real job, you know, and I jumped into the automobile business and it was like love at first sight. You know it was the first month that, like maybe within three months, i made like $5,000 a month. And in 2000,. You know, 20 something years ago, $5,000 a month was like a lot of money And I was used to making $2,000 a month, so I mean two and a half times a normal income in this industry. It changed my life. You know, i would always teach myself people that a good month like it's OK, but if you have like a few good months in a row, it will change your life. You'll start. You'll start looking at different restaurants to eat at, you'll start looking at different cars to buy.

Bruce Miller: And the car business, you know, changed my life. You know it made, it took me from a negative to a positive immediately. You know I was the black sheep I wouldn't add me and my wife's wedding. There's not a single person at that wedding that thought we was going to make it, you know. You know this was more, more, more, more than it did. And you know, i'm at the wedding and I could think now that we would have Christmases at my house and every single person at that wedding was at my house Driving cars. I told them. You know, 15 years later, you know, wow, the car business absolutely flipped the script for me. You know, it made all my hard work, all my passion, all my determination. It turned into life Propitability for me and my family.

Bruce Miller: Month my three kids went to the best school in New Orleans. That's 18 or 20,000 was a month tuition. My oldest son Graduated a four-year degree from Tulane University. I pay for that cash, you know like. You know, he got half off because he was a real smart kid, but I had to pay. You know, a lot of my friends have Rolexes in this and I said, well, i got three kids with private education and Tulane degrees and that's where my Rolexes are. But the car business Absolutely. It set me on a path that that I was not supposed to be on. I was not a college graduate, i was not high school, you know, i was like I didn't have good parents, had nobody coming to save the day, it was only me. And the car business changed my life. I don't know where I would be without the car business.

Michael Cirillo: You said something I want to key in on really early on, and I love this, right, because obviously had a soda. We're launching, you know, our, our TV show, more than cars, which really underscores the stories of how people got into the business and really how it changed their lives. And so You said I needed a real job. Yeah, cool, i think that's so fascinating, right, because there's there's tends to be two narratives out there. There's the like you know, the, the consumer online right, the, the vocal minority minority who Have to complain about the business. And then there's the very real gen pop, who we hear this over and over again Who turned to the retail auto industry for the real job. Like that is a definition in their mind, like this is a real job. So is that how you were seeing it at that moment, where you were like What would an unreal job be to you in that moment?

Bruce Miller: I didn't want to work off. Sure, i don't want to be construction, a frame or painter. You know, working the trade, i was doing something at a bus boy. These are jobs that I had, you know. I was always, you know, so I always had two jobs. I was always trying to, you know, trying to get it to the best of my ability. But this was like a real job like this.

Bruce Miller: First time I ever been to a new car dealership, well, well, when I applied for the job, and walking in and wearing a shirt and tie, and you know, like Not having a sweat all day and I'm having to go, you know, to take an offshore type job where you're going three weeks out, this was what I consider a real job. and he gave me like a real opportunity to make, you know, real, real money. You know all those other jobs like you treat your exchange, your time for money. You know, the longer you work, more hours you get, you get over time, things like that. But the car business, you know you do work long hours but the hours for money exchange is greater and, um, it just was. It was just was something that could be proud of. You know, hey, i'm wearing a shirt, tie and I'm going to work and I mean I sell new cars for a living. It was, it was a, it was a real job. But in my world it was a real job, you know.

Paul J Daly: I like it how, now that you can dress how you want, you don't wear a shirt and tie anymore. That's great.

Bruce Miller: It was good in the beginning, but now I'm free.

Paul J Daly: Well, what happened, i think, over time is your, your definition of a real job like at the moment? right, like that's. We all have these visions and pictures of what we think making it looks like, especially when we're younger. And to you That was like hey, a job We don't have to, you know, trade hours for dollars and I don't have to, you know, use my back in my hands to make a living. And it was like you just had this vision of like hey, this is a path for me that can get me there. And like, as obviously the industry changed over the last 20 years and now Probably more people don't wear ties than do wear ties at the auto industry It's probably pretty, pretty fair to say at this point, but the still what it represents is like the opportunity to Make your own path, the opportunity to, if you apply yourself and you pay attention And you invest in the people around you and you invest in learning the business, there really is nothing stopping you from moving up quick and that and that's that's a real job.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, yeah, look, um, my older son's working for me. But my middle son just graduated high school and He's coming right to sell cars. You know school wasn't for him. You know he kind of you know, adhd dyslexic I guess he's got a little bit of me in them. So testing and the structure of school just really wasn't for him. So I'm not gonna like, just for the sake of what the world wants me to think about a college Degree, i'm gonna force him to go to college.

Bruce Miller: When it was, he didn't do good in high school, you know, but he's charismatic, he's a great person. People love him. He's, he's Can't, can't, keep him down, he's, he's an overcomer. He's gonna excel in a car business, you know, oh yeah, yeah. So he's gonna come sell cars for me and I'm gonna probably share that. I'm probably say, hey, i Started with nothing. Now on the business to have two of my sons working in, i Might, i might smile the rest of the year, you know, cuz it's a very hard accomplishment to me. But that's what I think about the car business that I'm not your ROI on the Rolex University.

Michael Cirillo: You come make it back for me.

Bruce Miller: Son Bruce. He told me yesterday on his VR call. He says hey dad, our cost of market is down 5% the last 30 days when everybody else's cost of market is up 5%. He said why he thinks that's the case. I don't know. He says because of me, you know. He said I'm watching the data, dad.

Kyle Mountsier: That is. That's an unbelievable feeling. I say this all that like I want my kids to desire coming out of high school or college To find the industry, the auto industry, and, if and even if it's not them, like their friends, and that there's such an energy Around, not just what I'm doing in the industry, but like the broader industry, yeah, that it's attractive and it's cool to see. Like your son's going Yeah, this is attractive. And the the last statement there where, like I'm looking in via your son's, not just like a car person, he's, he's almost like a kind of a data scientist. Right, he's getting off of a call, going look at the data, dad, look at how I'm moving these numbers to make sure that profitability exists within our business, like Reframing that for people and going, no, no, you've got to think really, really well. You've got to have like a good head on your shoulders to be able to be profitable in an inventory management system like the auto and Managing like customer expectations and lead traffic and all that type of stuff. It's yeah, that's huge.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, it's gonna. It's like it's great that it's my son. You know, for years I've had other great people, you know, people working for me, young. I always say that between 16 and 25, the dumbest species out there is a male. You know, we're dumb, we make stupid decision, and so for years I would take pride in like, taking those young kids and teaching them about life, you know. And so now it's even more rewarding that that I'm gonna have my two sons.

Bruce Miller: You know, i have a two to two, a 22 year old and a 23 year old salespeople on my, on my staff right now that were friends with my son. I coached them all on travel, baseball and they've been doing really well, making four, five thousand dollars a month. Don't, don't really well. So I took pride in, like, you know, teaching them and helping them. But now, now it's my sons, you know. So I have a 19 year old salesperson. That's a, that's a friend of mine's son. He sent him over here. I have a 19 year old tech, a 19 year old detailer, 18 year old tech. So I'll take pride in taking these young men, you know, and they got a, they've a, saying that an army of you You'd be more afraid of an army of a Sheep led by a lion then an army of lions led by a sheep. Yeah, i want to be the army of lions led by a lion, you know. So I want to take these young men, teach them how to excel in life and see how far we could take this, you know.

Kyle Mountsier: That's a bold proposition. So what's next for you Like? you, you now have your own store. You're leading these young men. What do the what does the next 12, 24 months look like for you Like? what's your vision of what that starts to create?

Bruce Miller: I'm open up another new the economy of scale. I'm open up another useful out within the next 90 days, you know, because a lot of the expenses that I currently have are not going to duplicate. You know I'll make good money from another location because I'm paying for Human resource technicians. You know different things here that I'm not gonna have to pay for there because we're just gonna use it, use it here. So I'll open up another useful line.

Bruce Miller: The vision is to open up to own 10 dealerships. You know whether there's 10 front 10, 10 useful eyes or Mix in a few new core franchises, but that's the vision. You know, when I first started this journey, i went down the path of trying to own a new new core franchise, but I had nothing but my name, didn't have a company I didn't have. Well, now I have two million dollars, a full plan, another million dollars alone, all in my company's name, and if I find one of those small year Rural Newcore franchises, i'm gonna buy it. The next time that that that opportunity comes across, i'm gonna buy that. And then um, put all these used cards underneath that new core franchise to get all the banks, and So it's a whole plan, but the goal is to own 10 dealerships, whether I do it in the next three months, six months or five years.

Bruce Miller: That's the when I was 24, 25 years old, i was like write some stuff down and I was like had this plan to own 10 use collides. I don't know where this came from. I forgot about that plan 15 years ago by climbing the corporate ladder making good money. I forgot that I had a plan to own 10. When I was terminated from my Managing partner position and I was sitting trying to figure out the next step of steps of my life, i was reminded hey, then you want to own 10 new school, i said you want to be a business owner. And so now I have two and I have three before the end of the year and we're just gonna keep going, you know.

Kyle Mountsier: That's amazing. Well, Bruce, i have full confidence You're gonna do that. Hey, maybe someone's listening right now that wants to give you a shot on the new car side, because this audience could certainly use someone with Culture and heart and and pride in leading people that you do. But thank you so much for spending some time with us, bruce. You are a true gentleman and a scholar and I can't wait to see what you do next.

Bruce Miller: Thank you. I'm so grateful to be in the art, the, the Soto universe, y'all. Everywhere I get email. Now I'm a part of the Soto universe, you know awesome, you definitely are.

Kyle Mountsier: Thanks, sir. What an absolutely fun conversation. I love, like The, the heart and the intensity that he had around bringing his sons into The store, like it was a point of pride and joy That he's able to bring in.

Unknown: Yeah, I thought he was gonna.

Kyle Mountsier: Yeah not just that but he's like, and my son's friend is working for me and the the guy down the street, his phrase.

Paul J Daly: And I, this guy who's 18 and this one who's 19? I'm like this guy.

Kyle Mountsier: He's not building a dealership, he's building a mentoring program for young men. Yep, it's unbelievable.

Paul J Daly: Without, without a doubt. without a doubt, there's this element of him understanding what the auto industry can do for somebody and Then just being an advocate like there's literally nothing more a Soto than that story and and that story in the making, honestly, on the way out to and he's like, yeah, i'm gonna tend dealership is like it might happen three months from now, it might happen ten years from now. I was like I think, that is the kind of guy that could make it happen at three months He just says like it's no big deal.

Paul J Daly: I'm gonna open the thing here. I'm gonna do a thing there. Yeah just it's like no, no factor.

Michael Cirillo: I love the master plan of it too. Like he, he knows, like, okay, i'm gonna own 10 stores, i'm using independence to leapfrog into maybe a franchise if the opportunity presents itself. This, this is a guy that's moving so strategically that he almost freeze himself from the day to day Like ups and downs, ebbs and flows of running a business where he's like, yeah, that was today, that doesn't mean it's gonna be tomorrow and I'm still working towards my goal. Like I really get that sense and really appreciate it about So good.

Paul J Daly: Well, hey, i mean that, that, that interview and that time was like I said. There's nothing more ASOTU than that legacy. So thanks for joining us today on this episode of Auto Collapse when we have Kyle Mountsier, Michael Cirillo and myself. We'll see you next time.

Unknown: Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news and automotive retail media and pop culture. You can get it now at a so to dot com. That's ASO tu dot com. If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time, welcome. Collapse.

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