Scott Simons joins us in this episode of "Humans that Build," where we delve into the intricate journey of entrepreneurship and the profound impact of the automotive industry on individuals and communities alike. The primary focus of our discussion revolves around the importance of mentorship and the imperative of taking decisive action to achieve one's aspirations. Scott, with his wealth of experience, articulates the significance of living within one's means and preparing for unforeseen circumstances by saving and investing wisely. He shares a poignant narrative about the legacy he aims to leave behind for future generations, underscoring the role of family and community engagement in his entrepreneurial endeavors. Through this conversation, we explore not only the triumphs associated with building a business but also the resilience required to navigate the challenges that life presents. The conversation between Adam Marburger and Scott Simons serves as a profound exploration of the entrepreneurial spirit, particularly within the automotive industry. Scott recounts his humble beginnings in Bluefield, West Virginia, illuminating the socio-economic challenges that shaped his aspirations and pursuits. He emphasizes the importance of mentorship and personal growth, attributing much of his success to the guidance he received from influential figures, including Grant Cardone. The discussion delves into the significance of taking actionable steps towards one's dreams, with Scott advocating for a proactive approach to financial management and investment, notably the principle of 'paying oneself first'. He underscores the role of the automotive industry as a transformative space that not only fosters personal success but also cultivates community engagement and support. As the dialogue unfolds, it becomes evident that true entrepreneurship extends beyond mere profit; it encompasses the profound impact one can have on others' lives and the legacy one leaves behind. Through Scott's narrative, listeners are encouraged to reflect on their journeys, embrace challenges, and remain resolute in their pursuits of excellence.

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes the significance of inner development before external achievements can be realized.
• Listeners are encouraged to pursue mentorship as a vital element in their professional journeys.
• The discussion highlights the necessity of taking actionable steps towards one's goals, rather than merely contemplating them.
• The guests reflect on the changing dynamics of personal relationships as one progresses through their career.
• The automotive industry is portrayed as a transformative space that provides second chances to many individuals.
• The conversation stresses the importance of community involvement and giving back as a fundamental value in business.

Links referenced in this episode:

• SimonChevyGMC.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Simon Chevy GMC
• Grant Cardone

This is Adam Marburger.

And this is Humans that Build real conversations with real people.

Not just about what they've built in the world, but what had to be built inside them first.

No hype, no shortcuts.

Just humans doing the work.

Humans that build.

Real people.

Real work.

Welcome to another episode of Humans that Build.

This show is designed to share stories from those making an impact in their community and in the world today.

I've got a gentleman that I've known for a really long time.

Dear friend followed him in his journey.

When you think of entrepreneur, this is a guy that you totally think of.

So, Scott Simons, welcome to Humans that Build.

Hey, Adam, thank you so much for having me on, bro.

This is going to be a lot of fun as you know, nothing.

Ask anything you want.

We'll go whatever topics you want to go down.

I have known you for a long time, and I really admire all this success and stuff that you're.

That you're seeing.

And I've watched it all unfold from you, building a very big company, successful company.

So I'm super proud of you and thank you for having me on this.

This will be a lot of fun.

Well, yeah, no, and just.

I always love chat with you.

You know, if you really think about it, time just.

It escapes us because you and I know you remember this.

Maybe you do.

We're both getting a little older now, but when I started my company, you were one of the first dealers that I sat with.

Me and Steve.

You were the last dealer that I was in a meeting with with Steve before he passed.

And I remember we went out to Virginia.

We stayed in Stanton.

Right.

Not Stockton, Stanton.

You're right.

You're right, bro.

You sound like a local.

Got it.

We went.

It was Fat Tuesday, and we went out and had steaks and, you know, we had a nice night together.

And, you know, I remember that like yesterday.

That was.

And wow, fast forward.

My company's grown.

You've stepped out and built yours.

It's pretty amazing, right?

How time flies.

I know.

And then, you know, Steve, you know, passed away, you know, sudden.

And, you know, I'm glad I got to meet him because he left an impression on me.

And I know, I know that still hurts you that he's gone.

I know how close y' all were.

Oh, yeah.

It just made me realize, you know, tomorrow is not promised.

I just recently lost my dad.

Yeah.

And as we get older, you know, we deal with it.

Steve was obviously very young.

Yeah.

Too young.

And Just losing my dad and I just remember we had a great time.

And I think even before that, about 17 or 18, if I'm not mistaken, we met or linked up at rte, I think.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

So we've.

Yeah, we, brother, we've known each other for, you know, for that many years.

In the auto industry, that's like dog years.

So if it's like eight years, it's really like 60 years.

Oh, God.

Hey, God bless automotive retail.

So let, let's.

We're going to talk automotive.

We're going to talk all things entrepreneurship.

You know, like this show is designed to, to share stories and impact.

I love impacting the younger generation.

I like, I even posted something this morning that, you know, my mistakes.

I look back on my career and if I could change a few things, would I. Yeah, there would be a few things.

But I realized I was the reason I didn't have the things that I wanted because I was running with the wrong people, doing all of the wrong things.

And I look back, not in regret, I look back and share the stories with the younger generation.

Like today, I was stating that if you want to win, decide first identify what you're really good at and what you like, then.

Then study an industry where you align with that and then find a mentor in that industry that is crushing it.

And then make a decision if you want to be an employee in that industry or a business owner.

And the last thing, take freaking action.

Would you agree that most of us in this world are taking no action?

Like, that's the missing ingredient in my opinion, Scott?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I couldn't agree more.

I agree with everything you said.

I think having a mentor is extremely important.

Luckily for me, one of my mentors is Grant Cardone.

And I met him when he was selling CDs out of the back of a vehicle.

And that was early in my career.

I've been in the auto industry over 30 years and I just knew there was something special about him.

And so, you know, obviously I learned underneath.

Grant, you know, ended up hiring him as a, you know, trainer, and then he got into real estate and then I ended up investing in, you know, funds like 1 through 12.

I think he's up to 30 now.

You know, he's got billions of dollars underneath there, but he's been a mentor of mine, you know, about saving your money, paying yourself first.

And I think some people, when they hear that term pay yourself first, they think that that means, like, you're not paying other people.

No, that actually being business owners you and I eat last.

We don't eat first.

But the term pay yourself first means before you pay all your bills, make sure that you set money aside.

So if, if young people are listening to this couple vice, the couple bits of advice I got from Grant, if you're in commission sales or if you have variable paychecks, which we do, live your life based on your worst month, not your best month.

Beautiful.

So a lot of people were making, I knew sales reps for me that were making a quarter million dollars during COVID And I said to him, and I begged him and begged him, I said, adam, I said, guys, gals, save your money.

Pay yourself first.

Put money away.

This is not normal.

This is not normal.

And they didn't listen.

And they took their lifestyle.

So if they made 100, they took their lifestyle to 100 or more, then 150, 200, 250.

Well, then when the correction came, their pay went down.

Some of them left because they couldn't afford to live.

And I said, guys, where else are you going to go?

I mean, the problem is not you.

It's not.

You've got it.

You've got to adjust.

And so, you know, Grant says, pay yourself first.

And anybody, if you could take money out of your accounts and have it go.

Because we typically look at our bank accounts and we say, okay, well, we can afford this, we can afford that.

Well, if you have money going to retirements and money going to real estate, which I know you're involved in real estate and other things, and then you see a little bit in your bank account, you immediately get more conservative.

And I learned that from Grant Cardone.

And I even had people tell me, hey, Grant Cardone is a fraudster.

He's going to rip you off.

Well, just one of the deals I did with him.

I got back 5x of my investment, and I still get residual income because I didn't listen to other people.

Now, have I invested and lost money with other people that I trusted?

Sure, of course.

Part of the game.

But the, the life lessons I learned from Grant about, you know, paying yourself first means.

Means save, you know, learned it from him and my dad.

Save your money and, and have it go into these automatic accounts.

And then guess what?

When that happens, your production has to go up, you know, but.

But don't go and just spend it on the new, you know, Gucci shoes or, you know, you and I both wear Rolexes.

Well, well, we can afford them.

You know, I'm not being, you know, we can afford the things that we Buy if I can't pay cash.

And another thing he said, if I can't buy two of them with cash, I don't buy.

Yeah, so.

So those are things.

And I mean, I was so lucky to have a mentor like him.

I was very fortunate.

But I agree with everything.

It's action.

I mean.

Yeah, you know, here's the thing too.

Like, first of all, that advice was insane.

Like, if the younger generation, hopefully, you know, I'm sure plenty will hear it, what you do.

And I'm on the back half of, I'm closer to 50 than 40.

And you know what?

Praise God that I lost it all, all of it.

Self made millionaire 31, lost it all.

And then I got it back.

And it was a challenge to get it back.

And it hurt.

It was very painful.

And it's still.

You and I both know true entrepreneurship is understanding how you can make payroll.

Right.

How am I going to move this and hedge this bet and this?

And I've been there, I've done that.

But the thing is, once you get a little older, you get wiser, you get more conservative, you make better decisions.

So my point to this rant is what you do in your 20s and your 30s and most of your 40s will determine your life later.

Like, if you could just take that advice, Scott, if everybody could take your advice in your 20s, pay yourself first, set it aside, don't touch it, put it in a 401k, get a financial advisor, interview a few of them that you trust that have a back, that truly that have a history of doing well in the market.

Right.

If you do that in your 20s and your 30s, you're going to look back in your 40s and go, wow, you know, why do we not though?

Where do you think?

Why is it?

And I know, I'll give you an example.

My daughter, she's going to be 16, she's brilliant.

She spends every dollar of her paycheck.

And I'm coaching her.

I'm trying, I'm just not, I'm challenged with her right now.

She gets her check and the next day it's all gone on target online crap.

What do you say about that, Scott?

Help me with that.

I think you've got to give her obviously a little bit of grace.

I think we've all, especially at 16, you know, we didn't make the best decisions.

I know between my 13 and 17, being in the area I was in, I was a wild child, got in multiple fights, got in a lot of trouble.

And I grew, luckily I grew out of it.

And I tell you, I was such a bad person at those ages that when I moved from Virginia to West Virginia, from West Virginia to Virginia, the sheriff came and knocked on our door, asked a deputy, asked my dad and I to go down and to meet with him.

And my dad goes, what?

Is my son under arrest?

What's wrong?

What did he do?

So he told my dad that I had been in drag racing cars, in fights, and that I'm lucky that I hadn't been to jail, that I had ran across state lines from them, and that they're going to be watching me, and if I mess up at all, I'm going to go to jail.

That's how I was introduced from moving from one state to the other.

Most of it was true.

He was true.

I got in multiple fights.

Like, one kid got 17 stitches and this and the other.

And I was an aggressive kid, and I just had it filtered in the right way.

But, you know, what we got to do is just try to.

Try to lead by example and try to help them.

You know, like, you know, the doordash.

You know, the doordash charges.

You're sitting there thinking, now for someone that's got the money, you know, getting stuff delivered to you makes sense when you're making a lot of money, but when you're not, and our children are not making a lot of money and they're doing doordash, they're paying triple for a burger.

You know, they just make something at home.

But, you know, you're not going to change that overnight.

But I'll give you an example, and this is what I want people to hear.

I always saved and maxed out my 401k and my wife's.

For the most of my career, I have been an intrapreneur.

Intrapreneur means I'm an entrepreneur that works for somebody else.

So even when I work for cma, I. I was an employee.

Now I had partnership, but I was paid as an employee.

Well, ever since I was 22 or 23 years old, I've maxed out my 401k.

Now, Grant Cardone would tell you not to do that.

I knew just to max it out, and if they added anything to it, that was fine.

Well, when I first started, it was 6,000.

Now it's like 24,000, whatever it is.

Right.

Well, so did my wife when we first got married.

She's like, scott, I'm not making any money.

Like, if I max this out, like, what's my net paychecks?

I Said, we will figure it out.

We'll figure it out.

Trust me.

When my mom.

When my wife left that investment banking firm, she got a check in the mail for like seven figures.

And she said, what's this for?

I said, remember all them years?

I said, follow the course.

Make.

I said, that's your 401k.

And she said, are you kidding me?

I said, no, because I watched it all.

She didn't even know.

And now, obviously, we talk about money and everything, but we just acted like it didn't even exist.

Well, we've done that for over 30 years now.

I don't suggest that to everybody, but did she want to do that?

No.

And I said, we'll figure it out.

We ate, drink water, ate ramen noodles, learned all these cheap things, how to live for my dad.

We would go get water, get splenda, get lemons and make lemonade.

And then when we left, we would take the ketchup and stick it in our pockets.

And when we ate something at home, we'd squeeze the ketchup out.

I can live really cheap.

It's just not a very fun way to live.

But I tell you, it is just a different world than what you and I grew up with.

But we can't.

We can't give up.

And we don't want to be one of those old farts that say, well, we walk to school with snow up to our rear ends both ways.

So it's a fine balancing line because if they.

If we try to do that, they'll tone us.

They'll just tune us out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The generation today is wildly different.

Well, the world's different.

You know, the world's different.

You know these things.

You know, our kids, you know, we.

They get on TikTok, they believe what TikTok says, and they, you know, it's.

As a parent, it's challenging.

We'll just say this now.

I want to talk.

I'm gonna.

We're gonna reverse engineer your career here.

So you're now the dealer principal of Simon Chevy gmc, which, by the way, congratulations, you're having insane success.

I just watched an interview that you're up 115 gross profit with only a 4% increase in your expenses.

And you did it in like half of a year.

We're gonna.

We're gonna break that down here in a minute, which is insanity to me, by the way.

Yeah, but let's go back.

So you're a dealer.

You've been through.

You.

You've been in this auto industry forever.

So let's talk about the Scott Simons.

How'd you get introduced to auto?

We all have our own special story.

I'd love to hear that.

How did you get into the industry?

Tell us a little bit about your path to being a full blown entrepreneur.

We'll talk about some real estate second here because I do want to chat a little bit about Grant real estate here in a minute, but let's, let's take you, let's go through your journey in automotive, if you don't mind.

Scott.

Yeah, sure.

So, Adam, originally I'm from Bluefield, West Virginia.

Welch, West Virginia.

That area is known as one of the poorest county United States.

So My dad was one of nine, my mom was one of nine, and they had two children.

My brother is 18 months older than me.

He's a doctor in Texas.

Everything our parents did was to get their two boys out of this poverty.

The lowest life expectancy of any country in the nation.

Any county in the nation.

It is the lowest life expectancy, the poorest county in the country.

And so my brother was much smarter than me.

And growing up, he always wanted to be either an accountant or at first an accountant.

He ended up being a doctor.

Me, I would notice things like we shared a house with our aunt, my parents, my dad never made more than $32,000 a year.

He worked five jobs.

My mom was a lab supervisor.

My dad would save all his money and go get my mom's check and put it in the bank.

So we lived out of scarcity.

And I didn't understand some things growing up when one, my dad was just scared and he saved everything.

And I remember going to church at a Catholic church.

I was an altar boy and I saw a guy wearing really nice clothes and we were going out and getting an 86 celebrity we paid $300 for and had Bondo hanging out because the tech school fixed it as a project.

And I remember seeing a guy pull up in a brand new car, nice clothes, and I said, what does he do?

And I think I was, I don't know, 11, 12 years old.

And they were like, he sells cars.

And I said, that's not his car, that's the dealerships.

Because how do I get to drive a car like that and wear clothes like that?

So that age sparked my interest in the auto industry.

Then my dad, when he would purchase cars at 15 years old, I would go to the dealer and negotiate the deal.

So that was with Charlie Cole in Bluefield, West Virginia, which is, you know, they're friends of mine So I saw it as a way to get out.

One, I can make unlimited income.

Two, I could drive nice cars.

Like, I've always liked nice cars.

You and I both like nice cars.

I've always loved.

Everybody's got the picture of either the Duke boys in the room, the General Lee, or the Countach in there, you know, we all had those.

Or the Ferrari, you know, that Tom Selleck drove, you know.

So I saw that as a way of getting out.

So I finished with my four year degree in two and a half.

I finished my MBA in a year and a half.

My dad thought for sure I was going to go get some job on Wall Street.

And I said, I'm going to go sell cars.

Adam.

My dad looked like I had told him that.

Like I had some real, like, rare illness.

He looked at me angry and said, you're going to go sell cars.

Why did we pay.

Which my parents paid for my school and my brother's school.

Why did we pay for all this school?

I said, well, Dad, I want to own a dealership one day.

And the only way I can get there is I can't go from not owning a dealership.

I got to start at the bottom.

I got to start off in sales or wherever they'll hire me.

And I got to work my way up.

So I interviewed.

At that point, I was living in Radford.

I know Charlottesville, Virginia, working for a loan company, one of those loan companies where you charge people high interest, like a payday loan.

And I learned how to read credit bureaus.

And I learned about finance because I learned more working there six months, and I learned six years worth of school.

Okay.

There was an ad out for salesperson Saturn of Richmond.

I applied and I went there.

They're like, what?

Why are you applying?

You have a master's degree.

And I said, well, I like to sell cars.

I like to own a car dealership.

One day, literally, I got laughed in my face.

And it was Johnny Cates.

Jim Milner was my gm and a guy named Huddy Hyman.

And Johnny said, we're going to give you a shot.

I said, that's all I'm asking for.

Went into sales.

Got trained at a Saturn store.

Best training in the world.

Saturn had the best training in the world.

Customer experience.

We didn't negotiate on prices.

Quickly went into finance.

From finance, I became a finance director.

They didn't pay any money.

I didn't know I wasn't.

I didn't know what I didn't know.

So then I left there, went to a Pontiac GMC store.

But what I figured out was manufacturers only care about how many new cars you sell.

What's your csi?

And then profits third.

So what I did was at the Saturn store, I got to know GM financial gmac.

And then when I went to a Pontiac GMC store, I got to know GMAC there.

And I would get people done that other people couldn't get done because I wouldn't give up.

And I put them in a new Sunfire and I put them in a new, new Aztec.

In our Pontiac GMC store, if you would sell one Pontiac gmc, they would sell four Chevys.

So in Richmond, we were the last store.

We were the dead last.

We went from eight to second.

So people started asking, how did y' all sell all those new cars?

Well, they got this finance guy that can get people done.

And.

And so that built up a name for me in the industry and then built up a name with the manufacturers.

I left there, became the general manager, finance director, then general manager of Harrisonburg Honda, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The store was not performing.

We took it from not performing to beat in every store in town.

Then we started beating the stores in Richmond.

Carter Myers and Liza Borsis.

We were beating their store in Richmond.

They came to visit the store to see what we were doing.

They ended up buying a competitor.

30 Miles down the road, a person connected us.

I left, went to work with them as a partner because that's what I wanted to do, because I told everybody, I want to be a partner when I left this store.

Imagine taking this store that was beating everybody, beating her with their asses, and then taking your team down here.

So 47 of my 103 people went 30 miles down the street.

We then started beating everybody's ass there.

And then my goal was to buy every store in town.

We bought the Volkswagen.

We.

I took over Volkswagen store.

We bought the Nissan Subaru store.

We, the Chevrolet Chevrolet CD Jar store went out of business, and they gave us the CDGR store at the open point.

CMA at that point in 86 years, had five or six stores.

In 86 years, I was store 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

And now they have 26.

They went to 26 stores in 14 years.

And I've been here for.

We just completed our.

We're about to complete our seventh month.

Wow.

So let's.

You've got an incredible Path and journey.

And you know, I, I can relate to something that you said when your dad looked at you like you had some rare illness, you know, I left, I dropped out of college.

Kudos to you for finishing, by the way.

So I dropped out of college.

I was in my microeconomics class and I'm selling cars.

So I.

The deal my GM made with me was I sold cars on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and I went to college full time on Tuesdays and Thursdays day school.

And I remember sitting in my economics class and I could remember all of my customers last names for some reason, most stock numbers and it was easy to remember the commissions.

So just obvious.

That's a lot of do re me.

I had a lot of month left, went home and I told my mom, I said, hey, I'm leaving school, I'm gonna go all in on the auto industry, I'm gonna do this forever.

And she looked at me like I was crazy.

I said, mom, trust me, trust me on this.

So I can relate to that.

And I will say this,.

And I.

Know you're gonna agree, the automotive industry, not only does it bless families and communities and changes lives, it changes lives.

Lives.

The automotive industry gives individuals second, third, fourth, fifth chances.

It's the most forgiving industry I've ever seen.

Whether you're an ex con, you're divorced, you got dui, you did something you're not proud of in your past, or something happened that was out of your control.

The automotive industry does a good job of forgiving.

And there's great leaders in this industry that could almost rehabilitate that individual and changed lives.

And I know you've seen it firsthand, how many lives have been changed because of this industry.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

I think sometimes the people that are the most talented have went through the most.

I mean imagine I was at a company 14 years and then all of a sudden basically was out.

Yeah.

And I mean that, that literally was not the path that I expected my career to go.

Right.

But I'm so thankful that it did because I'm a better car dealer, I'm a better person, I'm a better human.

And it made me rise to levels I didn't expect.

And I think some of the people that had the most trauma in the past, as long as they've gotten over it and some people self medicate, they do whatever.

But I think the people that have been through, like, like we're, we're battle tested.

Like, there's not much where the loss of a friend or loss of a family or, or whatever the case we dealt with, we've had losses.

I mean, I opened up three gyms in Florida and through some with us, with some RT people that I trusted that turned out to be not.

Not.

It wasn't what we were told.

Now we didn't perform either.

So I'm.

I was a grown man.

But we lost $1.3 million between three of us.

A lot of money.

It's a lot of money, you know, But I've also made some wins.

But the loss is like, I get pitched all the time to invest in things.

And if you noticed, I don't go to many events anymore.

I'm not in Arte anymore.

I'm not in Apex anymore.

No.

No disrespect anybody.

I'm not in.

I'm completely focused on Simon's Chevrolet gmc, just like you're.

You're focused on Ascent.

And then it's.

It's that in my family, my circle has gotten closer and tighter because also when you do leave somewhere your true friends and true family and the people that you've helped climb, they then no longer know who you are.

It's this goodness.

This right here.

For those listening and hearing this or even watching, this is freaking some Hot topics right here.

There is nothing further from the truth.

It's amazing as we age, the people that we think are our people really aren't our people.

It's amazing to find out how many haters in disguise that were there all along.

You know, sometimes the path to the top can be freaking lonely, man.

Like lonely and dark.

You know, everybody sees.

You know, like, you talk about a Rolex, like everybody sees like a watch or like a cool car or.

Or a fun family vacation, but they don't see the Depression, the crying, the darkness, the aloneness, the people that just betray the living crap out of you, man.

And let me say this.

It's all part of the plan.

I think as we grow, people fall off.

And I think having a smaller circle is much better as you age.

I literally was just having this talk over the weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with a couple of my buddies.

It's like, I love having people all over the country like you.

If I was near you, I could say, scott, let's go grab dinner.

You and I are gonna have dinner.

It's gonna be awesome.

I'VE got a lot of people like that all over.

But in my local community here, that's home, I got a handful of people.

Man, I got such a tiny little.

You know why that is?

People that don't even know you will cheer you on, that's never met you.

And then the people that are there close to you, like I was close to the people that I worked with at cma.

Now, whether they were told not to speak to me or whatever the case may be, like that, that, that are.

That won't even acknowledge my existence.

But you know what?

I don't even really worry about that now.

You know, you go through a little bit where it's pain, you know, some pain there.

But then you say, well, Scott, obviously it bothers you.

Brings it.

You bringing it up.

No, it doesn't.

It's just I just.

I tightened up my circle and my circle really is sure is my family first and foremost, which should always come first.

Your spouse first, then.

Then your children.

Not your children, not come before your spouse.

Spouse first, then children.

And then it's the team that I have here, and I'm building one hell of a team here.

I've had people that come with me.

I have more people that worked with me previous that I'm looking to buy other stores because I have more people that want to work for me than I have availability.

So I'm just stacking them up and I'm out there spending any time I have.

My wife and I drove Sunday, no Saturday, through a storm.

Left the dealership about mid afternoon.

Man, we drove through one of the worst rainstorms I can remember to South Carolina to go look at two dealerships that we may make offer on.

And you know, some people say, well, Scott, you've arrived, you know, quote unquote, you bought your names on the building.

You know, you're 100% owner, no partners, own it all.

On your own.

No.

You're in real estate.

You own everything.

Yeah, but I got a bigger dream.

Like, I want Simon's Automotive Group to be here long after I'm gone.

You want your company to be here long after you're gone.

And I've got more people that want an opportunity and the, the true people.

Like, like even when I went through that transition.

You Brian Benstock, Shoot, I can name about five of them, six of them that were.

Hey, bro, you need anything like this, you kind of left kind of quick.

Is it?

Is it good?

And of course, whenever you leave something quick, the.

The rumors are, oh, he must have had an affair?

Well, yeah, whatever.

I've been married with my wife for, you know, since she was 17.

I was 15.

Well, he must have stole from him.

I never stole a dollar from anybody.

There's nobody can listen to this podcast and put in the comments that I owe him money.

I've ever stiffed them out of money, ever.

Ever.

I've never not paid somebody.

There's not a human on this planet that can say, scott Simons did them dirty.

You could look me in the face because they're a liar.

A liar.

But.

But when you go into that transition, I would get my haircut in the local town, and the guy that cuts all the dealer's hair would say, you.

You want to hear the latest rumor about you?

I said, yeah, man, go ahead.

Oh, the feds are about to kick down your door.

Oh, is that the newest one?

Because they'd already said that I was.

I stole from the company, which was.

Okay.

That I had an affair.

That.

Oh, I ran a side company out there.

So.

Okay, what's the newest.

Oh, the IRS is after me.

Okay.

I said, what's.

What's next?

You know, what's.

What's next?

What.

What's.

What are they gonna say about me next?

Oh, Oh, I was gonna.

I was losing my house that I just sold in two days.

What a beautiful.

I saw that listing.

My God, what a.

Sold it.

Sold it in two days.

And we were reasonable on what we asked, and we bought a beautiful home here.

Congrats.

You know, like, you know, I.

Because I was smart with my money.

I did.

I didn't.

I don't.

I was debt free when I bought this dealership.

Like, I leveraged my own money.

So 6.9 million.

I borrowed 2.8 million from myself, the company.

This dealership is paying back the 2.8 million.

My goal is to make the money I put down back in a year and a half to clear the 2, 8.

Yes.

So that's when you talked about earlier.

We were up 115% in gross profit, but our expenses only went up 4%.

You know, part of that is a strategy, and part of that is just being terribly efficient and getting production out of.

Out of what we have here.

But.

So that's.

The goal, is to start a group that way.

If my children are.

My daughter just started working with me.

She's doing a dealer exchange right now, Adam.

Okay.

She's literally at a dealer exchange.

Doing a dealer exchange right now.

She's doing her social media.

She's starting at the bottom because I'M gonna, you know, I'm gonna teach her the right way.

She doesn't get a pass because she's my kid.

She's actually going to, she's going to have to go through a gauntlet, you know, because I want to make sure she's battle tested, because I'm not going to be here forever, you know, and, But I want to leave something that affects the communities, you know, the 28, 29 people we employ.

You know, I have a guy just walking by that just picked up a check for a baseball team, you know, so I want to leave a legacy that, you know, that name means something.

And my dad that just got buried, Adam, he came from very poor upbringings.

And I was so proud the day we all sat outside and cried when he saw his name on the building.

Not my name, his name.

Simons.

When my dad died, he got buried in a Simon's pullover and a Simon's polo.

He wore it everywhere when he was sick in the hospital and he threw up in there fighting for his life.

They tried to cut the shirt.

He said, do not cut this shirt.

He asked my mom to go in the sink and wash it so he could put it back on.

And the man is buried in a Simon's pullover.

And he got to see his name on this building.

Only for six months, but he got to see it before he passed three weeks ago.

And that was one of his dying wishes, was to be buried in that shirt.

That's how much it meant to him.

So now it's my responsibility and hopefully our children's responsibility to carry his name and his legacy.

A hit.

So it's bigger.

It's bigger.

It's much bigger than you.

It's much bigger.

This is, I mean, this is some real legacy type stuff is what this is.

I, I, what you said, I mean, I'm tearing up just listening to that story about your dad.

But what you said about your daughter and not giving her the easy pass, like, I love, that I want and I don't know what.

You know, my firstborn is a lot like me.

We joke, call each other twin.

I don't know if she's going to go to college.

Right now.

She's talking about going to college, and I'm going to support whatever she wants to do.

But I've talked to each one of my girls, my older girls, about the University of Auto Sales.

Like, I have local clients here that get out of high school, maybe in the summers or at least a year.

I want them to sell cars.

I Think, everyone.

I'll echo this to the younger folks that are out there, even, you know, here, if you're your 30s, 40s, and 50s, and you want a career change, the automotive is a wonderful place for you now, especially the younger generation.

From selling cars, you're learning communication stills, you're learning accountability, you're learning salesmanship.

You've got structure, you've got organization.

You're dealing with difficult individuals and situations.

You're dealing with paperwork and administrative work.

You're dealing with compliance.

I mean, Scott, do you think there's any better first job for any young individual on the planet than car sales?

I don't think there is.

I think probably before they turn 18, they should come in.

If any of your girls want to come work with me, they can come where they can mentor.

They can come work for me summers, anytime.

They're welcome.

Anybody in our network that wants us in, like, I have a young man right now mentoring.

His dad worked at Jeff Gordon Chevy.

He owns a.

An event place here, like for weddings and stuff.

He came here and he.

And, you know, the local community been very supportive of us.

We've done.

It's been awesome.

He came in and said, I have a grandson that is going to college, and I don't want you to give him pass, but would you let him come here, work for you?

Well, his young man's name, Corbin.

Corbin, right now is back straightening up our parts department, and he did a DX for us the other day, and he's here just learning the lingo and he's a sales assistant.

But I do that a lot because I want to expose the youth to this wonderful industry that not only changed my life, changed your life, it changed a lot of people's lives.

That's going to pay dividends in the future.

So it's a way also of giving back.

So, yeah, I strongly suggest it.

But what I will give you advice on this is I pushed it.

So I had my daughter in commercials.

I had my son in commercials.

My daughter graduated from Liberty, got a degree in the medical field in, like, business administration.

In medical.

So medical business administration.

I let her go to get her first job.

And she contacted me and she said she lives in Northern Virginia.

She said, dad, I may want to talk to you about the auto industry, but I don't want to do sales.

So, okay, I want you to present to me why I should hire you.

Now.

When she was growing up, I said, morgan, you ought to come work for your dad.

You ought to come work for your dad.

And because I pushed, she pushed back.

Okay, so she sold me for about 30 minutes on why I should hire her.

I said, morgan, you don't want to do sales.

But you just sold me on all the reasons why I should hire you.

And what are you going to do for this company?

That's sales, honey.

So don't get all wigged out about someone saying it's sales.

You sell every day.

Everybody that listens to us is a salesperson.

If you're selling your spouse on an idea, where are we going to dinner?

If you want to go somewhere where they have an IPA and she wants to go somewhere where they have good wine, you've got to sell her on the fact of going to this place, because you may like that dessert.

But so we sell all the time.

And I think learning entrepreneurship.

Sales, Automotive sales.

Sales.

Automotive sales is a great place.

And I think what a lot of people will do is we get into it because of a mistake a lot of times because it's a low barrier of entry, but then we fall in love with it.

And once we get it in our veins, it's in your veins for the rest of your life.

You will always be around the auto industry.

I will always be around the auto industry.

No matter whatever else you get insurance involved in.

Yep.

You're always going to love the.

And get excited when you walk in that front door of that dealership.

You're always going to get a tingle.

Your.

Your blood pressure is going to go up.

You're going to walk in here just a little bit faster with a little bit bigger of a smile on your face because you're walking into where you.

Somewhere you love.

You know, it's.

It's.

And I want to talk about some of your other deals, but before I do that, like, when I take vacation, I don't know if you struggle sometimes.

I hate explaining.

It's weird.

I hate explaining to people what I do.

I own this company.

I own this company.

I don't want to sound like a freaking, you know, douche canoe.

Like, I don't just say, I'm in business.

Sounds kind of snooty, too.

So you know what I've been doing?

Like, I've been doing this for, like, two years now.

I just tell people I sell cars.

What do you do for a living?

I sell cars.

No kidding.

What dealership you work for?

Well, actually, I own a company that helps people sell cars.

Like, but, like, that's.

I sell cars, man.

It's so much easier just to explain.

I sell cars now.

I want to talk.

Let's.

I want to talk about the individual that is an employee that has dreams and aspirations of.

We can call it a side hustle.

I don't like that term, but I'm going to use it because it's a term people understand.

I look at it as another stream.

I live in a world of buckets.

I want multiple buckets that feed my family income.

That's just how I'm.

That's how I operate.

Can't change my mindset.

Grant Cardone also heavily influenced me as a young adult.

I love Grant.

Some people say that.

I think most people like Grant.

I mean, Grant says it how it is and he backs up what he says.

That's just my opinion of Grant Cardone.

Grant Cardone is the reason I went all in on real estate.

So with that being said, what advice would you give the individual that is a Safe and secure W2 where your needs are met?

We're doing okay, but has the dreams and aspirations of another bucket.

What encouragement.

What advice would you give to somebody that knows they want more, that hasn't taken that step?

Yep.

So what I would do is first of all, live your life based on your worst month, not your best month, which is what I stated, you know, near the beginning of this, of your show.

That's so extremely important.

Also put some money in your 401k.

You don't have to max it out, but put 5%, put 10%.

And then you're going to have to.

One, it's going to reduce the amount of taxes you pay.

Now.

Not unless you do the Roth, which you can either do the Roth or the other.

You got to talk to a financial planner to see what's best for you.

So I would put money in that bucket.

If I was just starting out, what I would do is if I was single, I would buy a starter home.

I would then find two people that would want to come rent for me, which is this is what I did in Richmond.

And then I had those two people pay the fixed expenses of that rental property.

So I'm the homeowner.

I buy a small condo, three bedrooms, small house, small townhouse.

And then I've got three bedrooms.

I'm living in one.

I'm going to move in two people that are a positive influence.

Not someone that's going to have me out bar chasing every night.

Not someone that's going to, you know.

And I may have a girlfriend, too, and the girlfriend can come stay or visit or whatever the case may be.

Or if you're a Female, a boyfriend.

Right.

But I'm going to charge them what the fixed expenses are.

And then we're going to split the utilities, they're going to pay my rent, my mortgage on that house.

And then once I go buy a house, if I get married, I'm then going to keep that as a rental property.

So that's what the first advice I would give someone that's not advice.

So that's what I'm going to do first and foremost.

Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to start learning about a Grant Cardone or maybe an Adam, that someone that's really smart in real estate.

Let me give you an example.

Back home, there's a gentleman that owns most of downtown Harrisonburg.

So I was in CrossFit with him.

Which CrossFit?

Jiu Jitsu.

The gym is a good place to find entrepreneurs, especially if they're there at 5 o' clock in the morning, like at a group workout, rolling on a mat.

That's a lot of successful people.

Boxing is a lot of successful people.

Right.

So that's a good network.

But say, go to the gym.

And I was at, I was at CrossFit and the guy that owned, I researched him, that owned a lot of Harrisonburg, I just went up to him and I said, sir, my name is Scott Simons.

It's very nice to meet you.

You know, I'd like to go grab dinner or something sometime.

And I just, you know, just friended him in there, you know, that didn't do it off the bat.

And I formed a relationship with him.

Once I formed a relationship, I said, hey, sir, I've got good credit, I've got a little bit of cash.

If you know of any opportunities out there that I would be a good fit for it as an investor, I would love to talk.

A year and a half went later and he's called me, hey, Scott, let's meet.

Hey, no problem.

I've got this investment downtown.

And he showed me his portfolio.

I said, okay, how much can I put in and who do I wire the money to?

He said, what do you mean?

He said, I've already researched you, I know you're successful, I want to be involved and I won't even be a pain in your ass.

That led to five, all from a connection at CrossFit.

And I said, and so I just get mailbox money from this guy.

And he just let me ride his coattails to the point where I called him and said, hey, you got any more opportunities?

And most of them performed well.

One of them didn't.

He said, I'm surprised I haven't heard from you.

I said, hey, man, it's gambling, but you got any more opportunities, let me know.

I invested in the first 12 Grant Cardone deals.

So what I did was.

And when I stepped away from cma, even without their.

Their little buyout, I didn't.

I did not have to work another day in my life because I had all this.

I. Simon's Enterprises Inc.

Which is the S Corp, owns all these companies that pay me back cash flow once it builds up.

Simons Enterprises, Inc.

I talk to you, you've got a business idea.

I rank you and the people you would be at the top, and I just say, hey, you want to partner on something?

And then once that builds that capital builds up to, say, 100 grand.

I've already got four opportunities that then goes out, and then it's a separate LLC that's owned by my S Corp. Then that money comes back into my S Corp.

So to buy this dealership, the 2.8 million was borrowed from Simon's Enterprises Inc. And then this entity is paying that entity back.

So my parent company owns all the LLCs.

The reason why you do it that way is if I have a negative loss and if I don't have this S Corp, I can't write off a negative loss.

Against a passive gain.

Yeah.

I mean, against an active gain, it has to be a passive.

So the S Corp is the company that owns everything.

Yeah.

And see, I learned all that through, like, Grant Cardone.

I learned that from doing research people much smarter than me and building wealth.

On top of that, I have life insurance.

I can borrow against.

Infinite banking.

A lot of people say it's a scam.

Not necessarily.

If you get with the right person.

Right.

And then I have real estate that I can leverage, so every asset I own, I can borrow against.

So if I needed to come up with millions of dollars, I could do it and not have to come to a bank.

Yeah.

And I learned all that.

I'm a guy that didn't crack a thousand on my SATs.

I'm a horrible test taker.

If you check my base intelligence, I have to read stuff multiple times to understand it.

But there's some things I'm blessed with a ton of common sense, and I'm wired to perform.

So when you're wired to perform, you're not weird like a lot of people in Arete that weren't scam artists were wired that way.

Andy Forcel is wired that way.

You're wired that way.

So what they'll do is they try to put us in a box and tell us we're weird, we have something wrong with us, and you're never going to live a normal life.

No, I'm just different than you.

Like, I can't chill.

I can't relax.

I try, I struggle.

My wife loves to chill.

But.

So what I'll do is I'll go on the beach for a little bit, and then when she's not paying attention, I'll pull out my iPad, and then I'm looking at real estate in the area just for fun.

Or I'm looking at this next opportunity.

I'm engaged.

Yeah.

Or I'll go rent a jet ski.

And next thing I know, she said, where you going?

I said, you want to go ride jet skis with me?

I no, I don't.

I said, all right, I'm gonna go do parasailing, and then I'm gonna do jet skis, and then I'll be back in like three hours, four hours.

Okay?

Because that's what she loves to do.

This is what I love to do.

And, you know, it's entrepreneurs.

It's like.

I think it gets to a point where it truly.

My opinion, my experience, it truly becomes a hobby.

Like entrepreneurship on its own is a hobby.

Like, I have zero.

There's no.

When do you plan on retiring?

At what age do you want to be done working?

Oh, yeah.

See, I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's.

I know what it's like losing a family member when they stopped work and they start losing their mind.

I pray that for my kids sake that none of that ever happens to me.

But I'm working till I'm dead in some capacity because.

Because entrepreneurship and serving communities and giving people opportunities and seeing the impact it is here.

Let's make no mistake, small business owners are the ones that are keeping this country floating, man.

Small business owners are the ones that are donating to little league baseball.

You're in dealerships.

I know there's a lot of company.

We like to serve our community through our gym.

I know for a fact you're serving your community through your dealership.

But car dealers in general give more than most businesses I've ever seen.

So that's one thing, too.

And I know we don't have enough time to go through the negative stigma of the auto industry, but I think we've done a good job the guys like you and the guys, the people that I work with, we've done a good job of changing this industry.

I think we are getting the credit that we deserve.

Finally, the auto industry blesses so many people.

It's, it's.

I don't know what another industry that blesses communities like the auto industry.

I really don't.

We are, I mean, car dealerships throughout the country.

The first thing I did when I got here, Adam, was, okay, what's this area known for?

You got to think.

I came to White Bull, White Bull, North Carolina, did not know a soul.

I did not know one single person besides the people that I brought with me.

And first thing I did said, okay, what is big in this area?

Our baseball team, Whiteville High School.

This is Small Town Baseball USA, population of 5,000 people.

We got two, we got two, two, two major leaguers right now.

They're in the championship game of a high school game today, which will be their 10th.

I immediately said, okay, what do I need to do to get involved?

Well, here's a white vole diamond club.

Okay, I want my sign out.

I want to be one of the.

They have the top spot open.

I didn't know how I was going to afford it, you know, through the company.

I said, all right, done.

All right.

They said, well, you can come out throughout the first pitch on youth day.

So then I contacted the youth that said, what can I do to help?

They said, there's two teams that aren't sponsors.

I said, I'll sponsor both of them.

So then they said, come out throughout the first pitch.

I had not threw a baseball in 30 years.

I took a little 8 year old out in the outfield, was throwing.

I couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a base fiddle.

That ball was going all over the place.

That kid, I ran that kid to death.

So what I did with opening pitch because I didn't want to embarrass myself, I palm the ball and flipped it.

And the guy said, you look like you were throwing a football.

I said, you know why?

Because I would have probably killed somebody if I'd have reared back and through that baseball.

Because I said, I've been out there warming up, but guess what?

Everybody saw me out there.

I've been to the ball games.

My wife and I went to a veteran show here.

There's a veterans park.

We were out there for eight hours.

I looked like a tomato shaking hands, meeting the community.

Now there's a bunch of other places.

My wife, when I would have Preferred we lived 10 minutes from the beach in Wilmington.

We would much rather been on the beach.

And by the time, oh, my competitor dropped his vehicles off and left.

Left.

He didn't even stay.

So here was his vehicles.

I met every person.

I think there was 150 cars come through car show.

They had to pass by me.

My wife was on one side, I was on the other.

I said, I'm Sky's the Simons.

Thank you for being here.

They thought it was my show.

I said, thank you for being here.

I'm the new dealer, but, you know, I look like a tomato.

The Vogue school had career day.

I took out a Corvette out there.

Z06 Corvette.

They said, you're crazy for bringing us out there.

Took two real nice vehicles.

3400 Kids came by that car.

And I talked to them between 50 and 100 at a time, and I said, come around me.

Do not.

Please don't touch the car, because if y' all touch it, it'll dent.

And they.

They believe me.

So not a lot of them touched it.

But I opened it up, I started a form, and they said we were mates.

Guess what?

My competitor in town dropped his vehicles off and left.

Yeah.

And then he's wanting to know how we went from selling the previous dealer 24 units to we.

We have a chance to hit 100.

And then parts and service have tripled.

That's because we're going and shaking the hands and winning the community, you know, So I had to start from scratch.

But you know what?

I love doing those things.

Yeah, I love going and.

And giving back to the community.

Tomorrow, Iron Hill Baptist Church did a fish fry.

Let's go, baby.

Go get yourself.

I bought 20.

I bought 25 of them.

This is like the eighth meal that I bought from a local church and fed my team.

I said, guys, don't buy lunch.

I'm getting y' all fish fry on Friday.

So I feed my team and then I give to the local community.

I've done, I don't know, eight of these so far in six months.

So now they all know if you do some fundraiser, go see Scott.

He's going to feed his team.

That's 200.

It's what, $250.

Best $250 I can spend.

I feed my team, and I support a local church.

It's, you know, it's.

I didn't understand this principle in my early 30s.

I think I started figuring out on my mid, and I definitely get it now.

You got to give to get.

If you serve others and you do it with the right heart condition without expecting anything in return, but just doing it because it's the right thing to do.

It's amazing how the universe just rewards you for that.

Scott, we're running out of time here.

Actually, I try to keep these at 40, we're at 55, and I could talk to you for five more hours and I know you got a business to run.

So promise me this, you'll come back so we can continue this talk.

There's a lot more of Scott Simons that I want to share.

How can individuals get a hold of you?

How could individuals work with you?

How could individuals potentially invest with you?

How could individuals follow you on socials?

Just share all that information if you could so people can find you.

I appreciate the opportunity, man.

I always love talking to you and you know how much I respect and admire you and everything that you've done and consider you a dear friend and yeah, take me up on that offer.

If any of your tribe want to come down and work with me, I, I mean that.

I'll, I'll treat them like family and I'll, I'll teach them what I know.

So take advantage of that.

But, yeah, I'm on LinkedIn.

Scott Simons.

I'm on Facebook.

I'm on Instagram.

If you message me, I will get back to you.

My email is Scott E. Simons.

There's only one M. The dealership is Simon Chevy GMC.

So you can go to SimonChevyGMC.com if there's anything I can do for you.

Even if you just want to ask me a car question.

I mean, I just had a guy back home, had his truck broke down at a shop I sold him.

He was out of warranty in, in December.

He.

The truck is 48,000 miles and it needs an engine $12,000 repair.

They said, sorry, you're out of warranty.

You didn't buy a service plan.

He called me, said, man, he's a police officer, trains canines.

He said, man, you've always treated me right.

I know you're in North Carolina.

I said, brother, let me do some research.

Send me over your repair orders.

I contacted, we contacted GM.

GM is going to cover 70% of the repair.

I said, I'm coming to get it.

So I'm butting it up.

I'm coming to get it.

I have a transporter there because that's where I'm from.

Pick it up.

I work numbers out of him on a brand new truck.

He is getting a brand new truck delivered him today.

So I traded his vehicle.

I'm going to repair, cost him nothing out of pocket.

I'm absorbing the difference.

I'm just going to put it into the trade.

And he, without even leaving his house, is getting a brand new truck delivered.

Him and the dealer I took it from don't even know what just happened.

So I get a repair, I get a sale, and then I get to sell his truck.

And the bottom line is I took care of a customer.

That's what it's all about.

And you have a loyal customer that will send you more customers that you will get to service and sell in the future.

So, Scott, I can't thank you enough.

I love you, brother.

You've been such a blessing to me.

You've been there for me since the beginning when I started.

I've got your back for life and I know you've got mine.

So thanks for sharing your wisdom and for those tuning in to humans that build.

Thank you for all the support.

I get a lot of messages.

I'm getting a lot of positive input and feedback.

I do this for you guys.

I just want to bring people like Scott to all of you so we as a team can just get a little bit better today than we were yesterday.

That's what it's all about.

So, Scott, have a blessed day, my brother.

And we'll talk soon, sooner than later.

Humans that build, real people, real work.

See you next time.