Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / How Scott Mayer Turned Nine Months of Learning Staffing Into Employee-Owned QPS Employment Group

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How Scott Mayer Turned Nine Months of Learning Staffing Into Employee-Owned QPS Employment Group · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Scott Mayer, Chairman of the Executive Board
0:21
at QPS Employment Group. They are an employee owned
0:24
staffing and recruiting firm founded in 1985, headquartered
0:28
in Wisconsin and dedicated to building meaningful
0:31
relationships through exceptional service.
0:34
They specialize in light industrial, office, clerical,
0:38
skilled trades, and professional services helping both clients
0:42
and candidates succeed. Under Scott's leadership, QPS
0:46
transition to employee ownership, ensuring the
0:50
company's culture and values continue to thrive.
0:53
Scott has spent over 40 years in the staffing industry, beginning
0:57
in A1 Room Office in the Milwaukee suburb of Hales
1:00
Corners. Over time, he has grown QPS into
1:04
a nationally recognized firm, earning widespread recognition
1:07
providing quality staffing solutions.
1:10
Known for his passion, community engagement, and dedication to
1:14
excellence, Scott's leadership has played a key role in shaping
1:17
QPS and fostering A supportive work environment.
1:21
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2:10
All right, back to our guest today, founder of QPS
2:13
Employment, Scott Mayer. Thanks for making the time to
2:15
Share your story today. Well I just heard your ad and
2:18
I'm wondering is QPSA customer or why aren't they yet?
2:22
Let's talk a little bit more afterwards.
2:25
I appreciate that. Thank you.
2:27
OK, so you founded QPS over 40 years ago.
2:31
How did you get your start in the staffing field?
2:36
Well, it actually started in high school.
2:38
When my best friend's dad started a company, this is now
2:42
in the early to mid 80s, it was a summer jobs for youth program
2:48
and we were hiring and firing and training and managing kids.
2:52
As a kid myself, I was responsible for all of that.
2:55
It was a summer program where kids were hired to go door to
2:58
door and sell a coupon book for a charity and they made a
3:01
Commission off of it. So as a kid I learned how to
3:05
hire, fire and manage. Never knew I would apply those
3:09
resources down the road, but I learned that as a kid.
3:13
Then I went off and did college for two years.
3:16
Didn't do it real well. Played basketball.
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We had practice at 6:00 in the morning, 6:00 at night, and of
3:21
course I'm a young punk so I had to go out at night.
3:24
Turns out there wasn't so much time for school, so I kind of
3:26
failed out of college and sitting on the street.
3:29
What am I going to do? When I look back then we had
3:32
help wanted sections in the local newspaper and I found a
3:36
staffing firm. Back then they were called
3:38
temporary help service looking for kind of a girl Friday to
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kind of do. Odds and ends at the firm
3:44
applied, got hired. They taught me everything about
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the industry and nine months later after they kind of didn't
3:50
treat me great or pay me well, I parted ways with them and sat in
3:55
my parents basement and decided to open a one room office and
3:59
start my own little staffing firm.
4:01
Well, this all happened pretty quickly, so let me go back to
4:04
high school. The connection from high school
4:07
to the staffing industry was just sort of cutting your teeth
4:10
on, you know, learning how to manage people, hire them, fire
4:13
them, kind of get, you know, your feet wet at a very young
4:16
age of sort of those critical core components that would
4:19
become important later on. Yeah, You know, I had obviously
4:23
no idea at the time. It was great to have a really
4:26
good paying job as a 15/16/17 year old kid and it was cool
4:32
being able to be like a manager hiring and firing.
4:34
And I had no idea that someday that would really be the
4:37
backbone of what I did for a living.
4:39
So it really built who I was because I had no dreams or
4:44
visions of doing this for a living.
4:47
It just kind of pushed me in that direction, having a base of
4:50
learning how to run a business, hire and fire and staff and do
4:54
personnel. Why were you given so much
4:58
responsibility at such a young age, do you think?
5:01
Well, part of it is again, my best friend's dad started the
5:05
company so I had a little bit of an end, but I had to start like
5:08
everybody else and I was given coupon books and a subdivision
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to go. If you can imagine today it'd be
5:15
hard to walking door to door, walking in strangers houses
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telling him about this amazing coupon book for $5.
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If they would buy it, they would support a local charity as well
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as kids in the summer. And the coupon book had all
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sorts of cool coupons in it. So I started selling and I was
5:32
actually really good at selling. And again, because my best
5:35
friend's dad ran the place, eventually it grew to the point
5:39
where my best friend's dad needed additional help kind of
5:43
running the place. So again, my best friend, his
5:47
son and myself were tasked with come summer too, you guys go out
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and do all the hiring and firing and managing and we kind of took
5:55
over the business and he went off to do something else.
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So we really were given the opportunity to run the business
6:02
and it wasn't rocket science. Again, back then you put an ad
6:05
in the local paper. Summer jobs were back in 198384.
6:09
You could make $1015.00 an hour, which was unheard of.
6:13
But we had tons of kids coming in.
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We got to pick and choose who we hired and sent them off with a
6:19
team leader to go out around the metro Milwaukee area selling
6:23
coupon books and managing it and you know, it just slowly built
6:27
from there for several years. Would you describe yourself as
6:31
somebody who's naturally confident?
6:32
Because now I'm hearing that you went to work for a staffing firm
6:37
for a grand total of nine months before deciding you knew enough
6:41
to go out and start your own firm.
6:44
Well, first of all, I didn't know what I didn't know, right?
6:46
I mean, I was a young punk. I had never envisioned any of
6:50
this. I mean, I truly, I was scared
6:53
after I failed out of college. What am I going to do?
6:55
I mean, I have to go get a job. Am I going to be a garbage man?
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I mean, I really, I wasn't great scholastically, but I'm a good
7:03
talker, you know, I guess I was a good salesperson selling the
7:07
coupon books door to door. So it naturally kind of just
7:11
came to me. Is there something similar that
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I can go and do? And it was by the grace of God
7:17
that I saw an ad in the paper for a company that was looking
7:20
to hire somebody to kind of just fill in gaps.
7:24
Ultimately taught me the entire business of staffing and work
7:29
there. Never had any inspiration to
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leave. Actually, my dad owned his own
7:32
business and he'd always say don't ever own your own
7:34
business. It's such a bear to do.
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And of course we never listen to our parents.
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But it was never my motivation. I would have worked there
7:41
forever, but they didn't treat me great and they really didn't
7:46
pay me good. Again, this was 1985 and they
7:49
were paying me 6 bucks an hour, so I know that sounds horrible
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today. It wasn't quite as bad back
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then, but it it wasn't, they weren't really doing a good job
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taking care of me. If they would have took care of
7:59
me, I never would have left. I'd have been there forever.
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I had no vision to do anything on my own, but they taught me
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everything about the business and we kind of hadn't agreed
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upon parting a ways after these nine months.
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Remember, I'm 19 years old at this point and I'm just
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thinking, hey, I've got some ideas how I think I could do it
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better because again, I'm a 19 year old arrogant punk.
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I think I can do it better than these people were doing it that
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were experienced. They were a franchise of a
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national chain and I thought I could take their ideas and
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enhance them and start my own deal and go from there.
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And that's what I did. And so you started this company
8:35
and it was a smashing success right out of the gate, right?
8:38
Yeah, you're reading the wrong notes.
8:40
No, I had two partners early on. One lasted a week, another
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lasted a couple years and it just wasn't for him.
8:47
No, we're in A1 room office. I honored my non compete so I
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could only do permanent placement.
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I couldn't do temporary because back then non competes were very
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enforceable. Plus I'm an ethical person.
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I really do try to honor commitments and I made that
9:02
commitment signing that non compete.
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So I worked for a year outside of temporary and you know, I'm
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living at home. This is before computers.
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This is only at the dawn of the fax machine, which nobody even
9:15
knows that anymore because we're long past that.
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So literally we started the business in A1 room office with
9:21
a friend's $5000 investment and I've made no salary probably for
9:26
the first two or three years. And it was touch and go trying
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to find customers. Can you imagine being a 19 year
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old kid? I'm going out saying use this
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staffing firm. I would never say it was mine
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because who's going to want to work with a punk that owns his
9:40
own place? So I just said I was a sales
9:42
Rep, which I wasn't lying. I was a sales Rep for this firm
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and I got a couple tiny opportunities that slowly pieced
9:50
together and by the grace of God, I think it was year two or
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three. Kraft Foods had a big contract
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in Waukesha, WI and Kraft Foods also bought a big chain called
10:02
Tombstone Pizza and relocated a plant to Sussex, WI.
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And I got both of those contracts and at that point we
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are off to the races. Although we weren't out of the
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woods, but we had some light and some opportunity to really scale
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and do some business as a tiny little business start up.
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How did you land those big contracts?
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Scott Mare, sales Rep for QPS Quality Placement Service, was
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the name back at the time. And I went out and said I can do
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it differently. I can find you really good hard
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working people. And back then we're kind of in a
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recessionary time, if you can imagine.
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I put an ad in the paper. This wholesome Foods at the time
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again, 1986 or 7, was paying $15.00 an hour for no skilled
10:47
general labor. I had lines out the door.
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I had hundreds of hard working people to choose from to place
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and I found a way to find more people than my competitor that I
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used to work for. And you know, I found a niche
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and a way to find tons of people.
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And when you have tons of resources, you apply them to
11:08
your customer and they fall in love with you, and they were
11:11
customers forever. So what were some of these
11:14
things that you were doing differently?
11:16
How were you able to find more folks than they were?
11:18
Yeah, that's the secret sauce. You know, hard to remember back
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to when I was 19 and 20 years old, but I think it was
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something simple, like sharing more information in the
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newspaper. You know, I know the competitor
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that I work for would put very generic tiny ads in the paper
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and I would put a bigger ad in and I would really better
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describe the job and make it sound much more appealing than
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what the competition did. And when it sounds appealing,
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guess what? You get lots of candidates.
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When you get lots of candidates, you can pick the best of the
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best, place them and look like an absolute hero.
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And I made these two companies, I mean, forever.
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They would tell people that if it wasn't for Scott Mayer, I
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don't know if we'd be where we are.
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That's how impactful I was by founding, finding hundreds,
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hundreds of really good workers to build a base for these two
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companies startup operations. So prior to landing those big
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contracts you, you know, barely getting by, you're not paying
12:19
yourself anything. Ever a thought to just throw in
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the towel? No, I, I wouldn't know what else
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to do. I had nothing else.
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And I knew that I could make this work.
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I knew, you know, I had AI was a collector as a kid.
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So I collected coins, cards, beer cans.
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There was a point where I was selling off all of my personal
12:40
valuables to try to make enough money to put gas in the car.
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I mean, it was truly, you know, probably 3-4 years before I ever
12:50
started making a little bit of money.
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But again, living in my parents house, I had very, very, very
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little expenses. That was on the dawn of the cell
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phone era, although back then it wasn't a cell phone, it was a
13:01
car phone. And I went and landed a contract
13:04
with the local cellular telephone car business and I got
13:10
one of the first car phones ever put in the car.
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So I and I got it for free. So again, I'm a sales Rep and I
13:16
lived really cheap and lived at home and my parents fed me and
13:21
had a roof over my head and I didn't have to make any money
13:24
for the first couple years. And I didn't, we barely made
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enough to, you know, pay the rent and afford applications and
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stuff like that. But then it started to turn
13:33
after these two accounts. But in between that time before
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you got those big contracts, never a thought to throw in the
13:40
towel, was it? Was it more just out of
13:43
desperation? Because like you said, I don't,
13:45
I don't know what else to do. Like this is the only thing I've
13:47
got going. Or was it just like the supreme
13:51
confidence and knowing that your sales skills are eventually
13:54
going to land some big fish and you'll be all right one day?
13:58
Yeah, probably all of the above. I wouldn't know what else to do.
14:02
And I knew that I had a little bit of time to try to make this
14:06
work. I mean, the competitor I worked
14:08
for, I knew I was could do better.
14:10
And I knew that he was successful.
14:13
And I just knew that I needed a little bit of time to get
14:16
grounded and get a few accounts and one adds to another adds to
14:21
another. And I knew in time.
14:23
Yeah, there it was a 0 failed mission there.
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I had nothing else I could possibly do and I was stubborn
14:29
and I didn't know what I didn't know.
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And I was probably a little arrogant thinking I can make
14:34
this work. There was never, ever a thought
14:36
of anything else. OK.
14:38
So Scott, 40 years later, I'm sure that the business has
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evolved in all kinds of ways. Let's maybe pick a couple of the
14:47
waypoints between, you know, 40 years ago and today, October of
14:52
2025, moments that were key inflection points where maybe
14:56
you took the business in a little bit of a different
14:58
direction or had some key realizations.
15:01
Well, you know, again, back to early on, there were points when
15:05
we became a staffing firm. What a staffing firm does is
15:09
again with Tombstone Pizza, we send them people, we pay the
15:13
people we're technically of the employer and then we send a bill
15:16
to Tombstone for 200 people times 40 hours a week for, you
15:21
know, $50,000 a week. Well, we need a Tombstone to pay
15:25
that invoice because I can't wait.
15:27
I have to pay the people every single week.
15:30
So early struggles were, am I going to make payroll this week?
15:35
And those people need to be paid.
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And by the way, the state and federal government wouldn't
15:40
appreciate me missing payroll. So I mean, the early struggles
15:44
were, can we get the payroll met?
15:46
So that was number one of the early struggles after we got off
15:49
the ground. You know, moving Fast forward,
15:52
another big day in our history was one of my other two founders
15:57
that eventually became owners in the company had a massive heart
16:01
attack and died. And he was such an integral part
16:04
of the business. To lose him was one of the most
16:08
critical points in the history of the company.
16:10
So that was a big issue to get over.
16:13
And then, you know, kind of bringing us to date is the ESOP
16:17
when we decided and it started with Mark passing away, he kind
16:21
of told us we're not going to be here forever.
16:24
Let's figure this out and let's do something.
16:27
And I thought I was always told people famously that I'm not
16:32
going to sell the manpower, one of the bigger competitors in the
16:35
nation world and I'm not going to sell the private equity.
16:38
So what other options are there to pass it on to family?
16:41
I've got a son that's a professional race car driver, a
16:44
daughter that's that's an actress.
16:46
They don't want the firm. I'm not going to sell it to
16:48
manpower or private equity. The only other real viable
16:51
option was to do an ESOP. And I've always said the
16:55
employees act like they own it. They bleed QPS blue.
16:59
Why not let them own it? So after Mark died, we decided
17:02
let's do employee stock ownership plan.
17:05
And to date they own the company and I report to them.
17:09
OK. So let's go through a couple of
17:11
these things together. First, that cash flow issue that
17:14
you were describing early on, you get this big contract, wow,
17:18
that's really exciting. But like you pointed out,
17:20
there's a gap between when you've got all these, you've got
17:23
all the expenses upfront, right? Those employees need paid on a
17:26
weekly basis, right? There's all the payroll taxes
17:29
that you owe, etcetera, etcetera, everything that goes
17:31
along with that. But you've probably got maybe at
17:34
best net 30, probably net 60. With your client and they knew,
17:39
you know, when I negotiated the agreement, they got an inkling
17:43
and I tried to keep it as close to 30 as possible.
17:46
I didn't have any money. So I actually got a line of
17:49
credit from the bank that we're still with today.
17:52
Now it wasn't for much. It was a really expensive line
17:54
because I'm risky, right? And it was for 25,000, but that
17:59
covered one or two payrolls and I had saved up some previous
18:03
earnings to help. So it was it was tight.
18:05
I used every dollar I possibly could.
18:07
And again, I was on my hands and knees about once a week praying
18:11
to God please let that invoice get paid.
18:14
I can remember one time going out and seeing the customer and
18:17
seeing an invoice sit on the top of his stack of papers and I'm
18:21
like, I had a pretty good report again.
18:22
I'm like that piece of paper there.
18:25
You think you could take care of that for me because we're
18:27
struggling here. We got to pay everybody and they
18:30
had no idea how really fragile it was.
18:33
They looked at me as a vendor. But when you build a
18:36
relationship, and that's what I'm all about, is relationships,
18:39
people go out of their way to do business with people they like
18:42
and they cut breaks to people they like.
18:44
There's two quick points of interest there that built this
18:48
company. They liked me and they would
18:50
give me breaks and when they liked me, I could say things to
18:53
him like, hey, pay that bill, dude, come on.
18:56
And you know, he didn't just drop everything and do it, But
18:59
he probably after I left, made sure to take care of it because
19:02
there were times where we made payroll by, you know, a couple
19:06
hours. So that was early on struggles,
19:09
very, very real because again, early on a bank I hadn't
19:13
incredibly high rate, and I still have the letter from that
19:16
bank, which is our still present banker.
19:19
I framed it because I had to pay a $500 fee even to apply for a
19:23
line. And today we have, you know,
19:26
below prime rates. Back then it was above prime
19:29
rates. And again, it was only for
19:30
$25,000, but it was a week's worth of payroll.
19:34
And you take what you can get and you scrape by and scratch
19:37
and get the rest of it. So yeah, that was a very early
19:40
challenge was making payroll week after week.
19:43
Yeah, I like that. Story The next story I don't
19:46
care for quite as much, but your partner passed away.
19:50
Sudden heart attack. How recent was that?
19:53
April 26th 2018 to be exact. This was my best friend that his
20:00
dad hired us when we were kids. So it came full circle and he
20:03
eventually joined QPSA year after I founded it and came on
20:09
to head our sales and eventually I warded him.
20:12
Stock in the company and he was an integral part.
20:15
He was more important to the company than I was.
20:18
He he he was an amazing, amazing man.
20:20
And yeah, so he passed away in 2018.
20:25
And a quick, fun story for you because we got to have some fun
20:27
about this. I got one letter.
20:29
Plenty of people gave me their condolences, but I got one
20:33
letter in the mail from Jonas Priestling.
20:36
He's the chairman and CEO of that company.
20:38
I talked about earlier, Manpower.
20:39
He sent me a really nice letter and a couple months after I got
20:44
a hold of him and I said, hey, can I buy you lunch?
20:47
So he invites me to his club and we met and we're talking and all
20:51
of a sudden he gets to the point lunch.
20:52
He's like, so why are we having lunch again?
20:54
Are you you want to sell to me, don't you?
20:57
I'm like, I laughed at him and I said no, actually my saying
21:01
behind your back is I'm never selling to manpower.
21:04
I came just to thank you for that letter.
21:06
Fast forward to 2025, he is a near and dear friend of mine and
21:11
we lunch and talk regularly. And yes, he's a competitor, but
21:15
because of Mark, he brought us together and we're good friends
21:18
to this day. I love that.
21:20
Isn't that a cool story? That's a really cool story.
21:23
How did you get through both the personal and the business side
21:27
of that painful transition? And it's both your best friend
21:31
and your business partner gone in the blink of an eye.
21:34
It changed my life. I, you know, like the Greatest
21:38
generation knows where they were when World War 2 started, right?
21:42
Pearl Harbor. We know where we were at 911.
21:45
Well, in my personal life, I know exactly where I was when I
21:48
got that call that morning after the night before that he passed.
21:53
It changed my life forever. Not in a great way.
21:57
You know, I'm thankful that he didn't suffer.
21:59
He was in heaven before he hit the ground and it's a loss that
22:03
I'll never get over. He was truly my best friend and
22:06
one of my 2 most intimate partners at work and I had to
22:11
carry on. So I've semi adopted his four
22:14
children. I try to stay in touch with them
22:16
and, you know, recognize birthdays, anniversary, stuff
22:20
like that. So I'm carrying on for him.
22:22
I can never replace him, but I can be a little bit of a stepish
22:26
dad, his widow as a friend that I see regularly and take care
22:31
of. And there was a big, huge, huge
22:33
void at work. He knew from him, family
22:36
history, that he wouldn't be around forever.
22:38
So he was already having that in the back of his head.
22:41
So he was already starting in the very, very early stages of
22:45
training. What would be his replacement
22:48
when he was going to hopefully retire and have a few years
22:51
didn't work out that way. God had other plans, but he had
22:54
somebody in mind who is today our head of sales and has taken
22:59
his place. And, you know, she'll never fill
23:01
his shoes. She's doing an amazing job.
23:03
But, you know, his shoes couldn't be filled by me or 100
23:06
other people. So it's been a tough transition.
23:09
But, you know, we're a big company and nobody's
23:12
irreplaceable. And, you know, we move forward
23:15
and we've continued on and, you know, we're trying to be better
23:19
for it. How long did it take to make the
23:22
transition into an ESOP employee stock own?
23:25
Probably somewhere between six months and a year.
23:29
We have an amazing CFO and my other partner who's still alive
23:35
today, the operation side of QPS.
23:39
So their sales, there's OPS and then there was me.
23:42
So the operation side of it, him and our CFO took the ball and
23:46
ran with it. They did all the heavy lifting.
23:48
I didn't have much to do with it.
23:50
That's not my thing. I'm a sales guy, remember?
23:52
So they took it and I got to give props to our CFO because he
23:57
did this and he found a way to balance the middle.
24:00
He was fair with Dan and myself as sellers, and he didn't take
24:06
advantage of us, but he was also fair to himself and all the
24:09
fellow owners. He could have tilted it one way
24:11
or the other. Just like when my partner died,
24:14
he had to value the business to pay off Mark's estate.
24:19
And I believe and I told him be very fair and do right by him.
24:23
Don't nip him in the bud and take a couple bucks, don't
24:25
overpay, just do what's right. And we have an amazing guy that
24:29
did that. So he did the same thing with
24:30
the ESOP. He helped with a team of
24:33
attorneys and Dan, my other partner to come up with an
24:36
appropriate valuation. And it took six months to a year
24:40
to really get it in place. And then 2020 we converted to an
24:46
employee owned program and now we're our fifth year in and it's
24:50
going amazingly well. Everybody loves owning the
24:52
business. They have some say and they get,
24:55
you know, I mean who has it's basically kind of a retirement
24:59
deal. Like you know, back in the day
25:02
when you would see pensions and stuff like that that's
25:04
resurrected with Esops. Every employee has a pension
25:09
when they retire, you know, work and retire from QPS, they will
25:13
have an amazing number. And based on how long they're
25:17
with the company and how well they continue to grow the
25:20
company, it's not unreasonable after 20 years and doubling the
25:24
business, if that's what they do, to retire as
25:27
multimillionaires. And that's my goal, yeah.
25:30
Do you since that time, since the ESOP transition has taken
25:35
place, what if anything, have you noticed in terms of
25:38
operational difference? Has turnover decreased, Has
25:42
throughput increased? What, what, What can you kind of
25:46
put your finger on? Yeah.
25:47
So in the life of an ESOP, we're still at the early stages.
25:51
So people are seeing value. I mean, there's people with
25:54
hundreds of thousands in their plan already and there's people
25:58
with 10 or 20,000 and new employees have nothing.
26:02
So it's early yet, but they understand the culture.
26:06
We are very employee owner driven.
26:08
I think that, you know, 'cause he has have to also factor in
26:13
that since we converted, we've had, oh, I don't know, Kovid and
26:18
our industry's been in a recession.
26:19
There's been some really wacky things that have happened to the
26:22
outside world. So that all flows through to us.
26:26
But absent that, I would absolutely think that it's cut
26:30
down on turnover. I would absolutely think that.
26:34
Remember I said people bleep QPS blue and they always act like
26:37
they owned it. So now they actually do.
26:39
So I don't know that I see them working harder because they
26:43
really work that hard to begin with.
26:45
But now they truly do own. And I think that everybody's
26:49
stepped up a tiny bit and they act a little bit more like they
26:52
own it. And you know, we're seeing it.
26:55
And, and I think honestly, our industry has been in a recession
26:59
for a couple years. So it's not just QPS, it's been
27:02
our entire staffing industry. I believe if it wasn't for our
27:05
employee owners and we'd be down much more than we actually are
27:09
today. Can I prove that to you,
27:11
Anthony? No, Sir.
27:12
But I absolutely believe that we would be hurting more as a
27:16
company than the industry is. And, and we're not as bad as the
27:19
industry and we're hopefully pointed up.
27:21
We're looking for better days to come.
27:25
So paint a picture for us the services that you guys offer now
27:30
who your typical client is, the geographies that you serve, give
27:33
us a sort of state of the union for the company today.
27:36
Sure. Well let me start by saying
27:39
everyday robotics and automation takes away more jobs from us.
27:44
Presently we have immigration issues.
27:47
We only take people with two forms of ID.
27:50
Doesn't mean that they're all legal, but we're doing the legal
27:54
thing and taking the 2 forms of ID.
27:55
So we have immigration issues, we have automation issues, we
27:59
have robotics issues. We have challenges in our
28:02
industry. So really let me start by saying
28:05
our company truly needs to reinvent themselves and we're in
28:09
the process of trying to do that.
28:11
There will always be factory jobs, understand that, But it's
28:15
changing. It looks different.
28:17
It's a very different environment than 40 years ago.
28:20
40 years ago, we would literally sometimes have to take a pulse.
28:24
And I'm being a little facetious, and if there was a
28:27
pulse there, we could send somebody to work to packet
28:30
widgets or box boxes. There's not a company that we
28:35
work with today that doesn't have massive amounts of robotics
28:38
and automation. We cannot send a dummy out
28:41
anymore, not that we ever did. But there is no such thing as
28:45
general labor anymore. You walk into a factory today,
28:48
they're no longer dark, dirty, or dangerous like there were 40
28:52
or 100 years ago. So things have changed.
28:55
We used to have temporary jobs where companies would call us
28:58
and say I need 10 people for six weeks for a project.
29:02
That doesn't happen anymore. With the increased intelligence,
29:06
with artificial intelligence and automation, there's less
29:11
bubbles, if you will, in manufacturing and staffing.
29:14
So when we get a call it's usually for long term full time
29:18
people. So things have changed and
29:20
continue to change and we've got to evolve and kind of renew who
29:26
we are. There's other industries that
29:28
maybe are better, like we're really, really close to getting
29:32
into data centers. And that's the big thing today
29:35
is all the big box data centers from Google, Microsoft, AWS,
29:41
what not, you know, we're on the verge of getting in them and
29:45
that's going to help reshape who we are.
29:47
We'll always have staffing, manufacturing, labor in our book
29:52
of business, but it's going to change.
29:54
We're going to get more into engineering and contracting and
29:58
we have to constantly up our skill set just like our
30:01
employees have to come with a better skill set in order to be
30:04
placed today. So when you talk about getting
30:07
into Dana's data centers and engineers that kind of a thing,
30:12
are these like direct placements?
30:15
Is it still you're going to be the employer of record and place
30:18
them for medium to longer periods of time?
30:21
What's that model? Look like yes, both.
30:24
We will do some direct tire, we'll do some temp.
30:27
The big thing, there's no secret everybody's dying for
30:30
electricians, electricians, electricians.
30:32
So we need another half a million electricians in the next
30:36
decade that we need to produce from the tech schools and high
30:40
schools and stuff. Even the closest to general
30:44
labor would be like cable wiring, but that's in the
30:46
electrical field. So the big thing is to help get
30:50
them up and running, wired and electrified.
30:53
And then when we get that done, then we'll find out where we can
30:56
be of use to them going forward after they're established.
31:01
But again, so many are still building and in the building
31:03
stage. So we're in the early steps of
31:06
those relationships and hopefully they'll evolve.
31:09
And what's interesting, remember when the iPhone first came out,
31:11
we didn't know what we didn't know.
31:13
We didn't know that we needed that.
31:15
We used to pick up a phone and actually talk on it.
31:17
Now we hardly ever do. We're at the point with the data
31:22
centers that they don't know, that they don't meet us and
31:25
they're learning that we are a resource for them like that
31:29
first iPhone or smartphone. I think that we will become very
31:32
intricate in the data center industry as that moves forward
31:37
and we'll see where it goes, but it's really still at the early
31:40
stage for us and our industry in that industry.
31:43
So when you do, when you say data center, I think of a a more
31:46
highly skilled, highly compensated role.
31:49
And we've mentioned like, you know, engineers, like, you know,
31:52
like a six figure kind of a role.
31:53
Is my head in the right place or is there need for people that
31:58
would be at the lower end of the wage scale on those facilities
32:01
as well? Sure.
32:03
I mean, you know, they're talking about millions of square
32:05
feet and only hundreds, maybe 1000 or thousands working there.
32:11
So it's not going to be 10s of thousands when you scale how big
32:15
the place is, it's going to look empty.
32:17
OK, first and foremost, but there still needs to be somebody
32:20
turn the lights on. Got example because the lights
32:24
are on 24/7. There still needs to be
32:26
janitors. There still needs to be main
32:28
building maintenance, cleaning, you know, once you're done
32:32
wiring, you got a rewire, you know, 'cause everything ages out
32:37
so fast in that industry. So that computer that, you know,
32:40
is getting that data center cloud going, by the time you end
32:44
with the five thousandth computer in that data center,
32:47
you're going back to #1 and replacing it because it's aged
32:52
out already. I mean, so I think there'll be a
32:54
cycle of constant change and upgrade and repairs and
32:59
replacements. A lot of work happening in those
33:01
babies. So there's still that.
33:03
I don't think even the Microsoft's know and we're all
33:06
learning and we'll see where it goes.
33:07
But the point is we are and going to be a big part of that.
33:12
And that's helping us to reinvent ourselves because
33:15
again, the package you're calling saying I need 10 people
33:19
because I got widgets to pack it for package for the next 6
33:22
months, that doesn't much exist anymore.
33:25
So we're really, truly trying to reinvent ourselves and stay
33:28
current. Are there other elements of that
33:31
reinvention that you're looking at?
33:33
We specifically talked about data centers, something else
33:35
there. You know, actually the next
33:39
point I would say is looking within us.
33:43
You know, the AI is so live now that we're doing recruiting and
33:48
interviewing with bots, which amazes me.
33:52
OK, I'm an old dinosaur. I don't want to talk to a robot,
33:54
but most kids wouldn't even know that they're talking to a robot.
33:58
So, you know, we'll always need recruiters to make the end
34:02
decision. But the initial screening is
34:04
happening with a lot of AI. So we're reinventing ourselves
34:07
also internally with our technology.
34:10
But back out in the field, it's, you know, the data center is one
34:14
piece, but there's always going to be, you know, we do a lot in
34:18
the food industry. There still needs to be people
34:21
to take the pizza off the line and put it in a box.
34:24
I mean, a robot can do most of that, but it still needs to get
34:28
driven to a warehouse and stored and then pulled and put on a
34:31
truck. So, you know, food is our
34:34
biggest industry and thankfully because we're in Wisconsin,
34:37
we're a food industry heavy type deal.
34:40
We do meat packing. We do, you know, food
34:42
processing, so the food industry will always have plenty of
34:47
humans in it, but, you know, not the way it had been in the past.
34:51
Say more about the role that AI is currently playing and where
34:55
you think it's going in the next 6 to 12 months.
34:59
Where's the limit? You know, when it's interviewing
35:03
candidates, when it's screening? Remember, I've been doing this
35:06
for 40 years. So we have 40 years of data.
35:09
We have millions, and I'm not kidding, millions of
35:12
applications within our system. It's hard to sort through all
35:16
those as a human being. The AI can sort.
35:21
You need 10 engineers. It will screen and find 50 good
35:26
resumes. It will then call those 50
35:29
people and interview them. The bot will interview those 50
35:33
and find the 10 good ones and then give those 10 to a living
35:38
human being that will then take those 10 and put the bow on it
35:43
and get them placed out at the customer.
35:45
So I, I don't know how much more we'll use in AI from a
35:49
recruiting standpoint than that, but that covers 75% of the
35:54
legwork when it does the initial screening and interviewing.
35:58
So nobody's getting laid off at QPS, but you know, we won't need
36:03
as many new hires in the future because the robotics is handling
36:08
it and people don't even know that they're getting interviewed
36:11
by a robot. It's that real.
36:13
And it's only going to get better.
36:15
And I'm curious how familiar you are with sort of the mechanics
36:20
of it when you say that the AI is actually placing the call.
36:25
So it's dialing, my phone rings and the AI is saying, oh, hey,
36:30
Anthony, we've got your database on file.
36:32
This is QPS. We'd like to ask you a few
36:34
questions to see if you're interested in and qualify for
36:37
this role. Is this how it's taking place?
36:38
It's just like you and I talking right now.
36:40
I don't know that you're not a robot.
36:42
You could be asking you. You are no different.
36:45
No, no disrespect. A robot could replicate and have
36:49
questions and also being able to respond.
36:52
Here's how crazy it is. It will respond to me.
36:56
So as the candidate, I start talking to you, the robot, and I
36:59
get sidetracked a little bit. You know, I'm having a tough
37:03
day. My girlfriend's just arguing
37:05
with me all the time. The robot will say, well, that's
37:09
unfortunate. I hope that you can work out
37:11
your problems with your girlfriend.
37:13
But can we get back to talking about your last job and the six
37:17
months you had experience at ABC Company?
37:20
Why did you leave after six months?
37:22
Well, I left after six months because my girlfriend kept
37:25
yelling at me that I was putting in so much overtime.
37:28
OK, I understand that. I mean, you couldn't tell it's
37:32
in real time doing like you and I would do to shift and answer
37:37
because there's nothing canned about it.
37:38
It's literally like we're talking right now.
37:41
It would could talk about, you know, the Green Bay Packers, how
37:45
we beat the Arizona Cardinals the other day.
37:48
It could respond to that and then get you back on track.
37:51
It will not ignore your question about the Packers, about the sun
37:54
today, if it's warm and sunny or snowy.
37:57
And it'll get you right back, but not in a strange way.
38:00
It just like you and I, if you don't like what I'm saying,
38:03
you're going to redirect me. Same thing.
38:05
Honest to God, Anthony, that's how crazy it is.
38:07
And it's only going to get better, if that's possible.
38:11
So what does your day-to-day involvement look like today,
38:13
Scott? Scott's day-to-day today, I'm
38:16
Executive Chairman of the Board. So we've literally brought in
38:20
the next Gen. of leadership. As I mentioned earlier, we have
38:23
an amazing CFO that we've had for a while.
38:26
We have ACEO that's been with us for about 5 years now.
38:30
He's doing an amazing job. We have a whole next Gen. of
38:33
leadership that has taken over. So I'm at kind of 20,000 feet
38:37
helping steer and guide, lead the board and lead the CEO.
38:41
The CEO reports to me as well as the rest of the board and we
38:44
give them direction. I'm still a sales guy.
38:47
So occasionally I find an account or hear of an account
38:51
and go out on a sales call, stop at a branch.
38:54
But the long and short of it is I'm not involved actively in the
38:58
day-to-day. I actually have a fairly
39:01
impactful job that I'm also working on.
39:04
I'm trying to work with our present administration on coming
39:08
up with some immigration solutions to keep the hard
39:12
working people that are non criminals working.
39:17
Not a lot of people understand this, but if we could wave a
39:20
magic wand and take out every illegal immigrant in our
39:23
country, our country would shut down.
39:26
They're on roofs, they're landscapers, they're in
39:28
factories, farms, fields. And I'm working from the top of
39:34
the administration through a congressman that's carrying
39:38
this. We're trying to come up with
39:39
some legislation to get some worker visas to stop the madness
39:44
with the hard working people that are here really trying to
39:47
go to work everyday. So that's kind of part of my job
39:50
right now. That and steering QPS cuz we're
39:53
not in the best of times economically we're doing good,
39:56
not doing great. So we need to get better and.
40:00
As I mentioned earlier, I have a son that's professional race car
40:02
driver, a daughter that's an actress, and they each take a
40:05
little of my time as I'm trying to make sure they don't get
40:09
eaten by sharks. Can you say more about the
40:14
immigration reform that you're working on?
40:16
Particular details that you hope to be fleshed out?
40:19
Maybe a timeline when we might see some changes?
40:23
Sure. Working on it every day.
40:26
And we have a congressman in Wisconsin, Derek Van Orden, who
40:30
has taken the task upon himself and drafted an initial bill.
40:35
And then there's myself and gaggle of other business leaders
40:41
from DC through Wisconsin that have beat the bill up, if you
40:46
will, and tried to do some puts and takes.
40:49
And we're tweaking it. And then we've got a follow up
40:51
meeting in a couple weeks and we're going to Polish the bill
40:55
up. And then once Congress gets back
40:58
in session at some point, hopefully soon, they will take
41:01
the bill. You know, the reality of is we
41:05
can't do amnesty. We can't do anything.
41:09
That is like throwing the rope over everything.
41:12
So we're going to start by coming up with something more
41:14
simple. What's the most security issue
41:18
thing we have relative to immigration today and how it
41:21
would affect us is the food source.
41:23
So we're going to tweak the bill to have it be in the food
41:28
processing field only. So if we start with a very
41:30
narrow line, maybe we can go more people on board.
41:34
We had a meat packing place in Omaha, NE that had 200 people
41:39
taken out that were good hard working people.
41:41
The company shut down. That particular plant is no
41:44
longer cutting up cows and pigs. If we do that at scale and you
41:49
go to your grocery store and you can't find a steak in the
41:53
refrigerated section of the grocery store, or we take too
41:57
many people picking vegetables, or the farmers all rely on
42:02
immigrants to milk the cows because it's such a hard job.
42:05
If you can't get milk or potatoes or lettuce in your
42:09
store, that becomes a national security issue.
42:12
We don't want it to get to that point.
42:14
So we're going to start by aiming this bill around strictly
42:18
food processing. Maybe we can all agree on that.
42:21
And if we can get something like that through in some way, shape
42:25
or form, and we show that it works, maybe then we can spread
42:29
our wings a little further and go into other areas of industry
42:33
that need immigrant help. And do you see this because you
42:38
mentioned worker visas, Do you, do you think that is sort of the
42:42
approach that will be taken? Yes, absolutely.
42:44
Yes. No amnesty, no citizenship, just
42:48
the ability to do it for two years and have it be the ability
42:54
to be be automatically renew as long as there's a quick
42:57
background check on you and you remain clean.
43:00
Now a misdemeanor. How many speeding and parking
43:03
tickets I've gotten, You know, if you base it on that I should
43:06
have been deported, you know, I'm 61, so 50 years ago or
43:10
something. But outside of, you know,
43:12
anything of substance, you know, hopefully we check people out
43:16
quick after two years and give them another two years and
43:19
another two years. And believe it or not, if we
43:22
seal a border and we don't deport anyone, every year we
43:26
become short by two and a half million people.
43:29
Because think about that. People age out.
43:31
You know, people in farms, factories, fields, they die,
43:35
they get injured, you know, they age out, need to retire.
43:38
We literally need two and a half million new people a year.
43:42
And again, Bill Gates kids, it doesn't matter the pay rate.
43:45
You're not going to get his kids.
43:47
You're not going to get my kids to work, go work in a farm, a
43:50
factory or pick apples in the state of Washington.
43:53
Doesn't matter the pay rates. There are certain jobs that, you
43:57
know, Americans just typically don't want.
44:00
And that's where we need to be able to have other resources to
44:04
help us out. Well, it might be fascinating to
44:07
have you back on in a few months with some hopefully positive
44:11
updates. And all this because it's top of
44:13
mind. For everybody right now, it sure
44:16
is. And this is really my number one
44:18
thing right now outside of QPS and God and my family.
44:22
I have taken this on and I feel because Can you imagine a hard
44:26
working person doesn't know if he's going to come home to his
44:29
family, that he's lived in a house with his kids for 20
44:33
years, never committed a crime. That guy, just because he's not
44:37
got everything processed with paperwork, isn't a Shard to come
44:40
home at night. How scary that has to be for
44:43
hard working legit people. And I'm trying to slowly but
44:48
surely address that. And I hope that we can figure
44:51
that out because it's a sad thing right now.
44:54
And to be selfish, we need these people.
44:57
We really, really do need. Our country could not function.
45:00
They are that ingrained in our country.
45:02
Again, roughing, landscaping, concrete work farms, factories,
45:07
fields, we have them everywhere. And the good hard working ones
45:11
we've got to take care of. And that's my mission right now.
45:14
Absolutely. Yes, Sir.
45:15
What's the biggest point of resistance that you're running
45:18
into with all of this? People in the administration
45:24
that don't understand the real world and think that we can wave
45:29
a magic wand, get rid of them all.
45:31
And there's just plenty of people sitting on their couches.
45:35
You know, you look at so back into the labor industry, the
45:39
workforce participation rate, it's at like 67% right now.
45:44
And that sounds low, but that takes people from 15 to 85.
45:48
If I'm 15, I probably should be in school.
45:52
If I'm 85, I probably should be, you know, at home in a nursing
45:56
home or something. When you look at the prime
45:59
workforce participation rate, that's at about 90%.
46:04
There's not a lot of room there. The point is, there's not
46:07
millions of people sitting on the sidelines going.
46:10
If it wasn't for that immigrant, I could be working.
46:13
There's jobs for everybody and those for the immigrants too.
46:18
So if we could look at it more accurately, we never look at
46:22
prime workforce participation rate, which tells a better
46:25
picture. That's from 22 to 65, I believe.
46:31
We just look at the workforce participation rate, which is 15
46:34
to 85. It's a stupid number because it
46:36
makes it look like we're lazy and sitting around doing
46:38
nothing, and that's actually not accurate.
46:43
What's your superpower, Scott? I have a really innate ability
46:49
to read people, which has helped me to find really good people,
46:55
hire really good people, and my secret sauce at QPS was finding
46:59
and hiring really good people. I'm taking really good care of
47:02
them. I somehow know how to read
47:04
people. I'm not that smart, but that's
47:06
been my gift from God is being able to read people pretty
47:09
quickly. Not always.
47:11
I'm not perfect, but pretty good at it.
47:15
We talked about the challenge of losing your best friend and your
47:19
business partner several years ago.
47:22
I wonder if maybe there's another life challenge, maybe
47:26
even something on the professional side specifically
47:28
that you want to get into. Sort of explain how you got
47:32
through it, what you learned, and maybe even why you look back
47:36
on that time with a bit of gratitude.
47:38
Well, what's interesting is I am a serial entrepreneur.
47:44
I presently have two highly successful businesses that I'm
47:48
Chairman of the board. There's another one that I'm
47:51
involved in complex security solutions, security software,
47:55
hardware and QPS. But if you look over the last 40
48:00
years, I started kind of like Mr. JC Penney.
48:05
I had been involved in probably 6 or 8 other companies that were
48:10
not successful for one reason or the other.
48:12
Our CEO likes to pick on me. I apparently like the peas.
48:18
I've been in printing pizza, packaging placements, the good
48:22
one. But there's been some businesses
48:24
that started with peas that haven't worked for me.
48:26
So looking back, I've had some failures in life and what I'm
48:32
grateful for is the people that I surrounded myself with.
48:36
I had QPS and obviously my other business complex, honest, hard
48:40
working people that never, ever cheated me and cared about the
48:44
business, cared about me because the businesses that fail, many
48:48
of them revolved around cheating and my lack of experience and
48:52
not doing it right. So I'm not going to, you know,
48:55
blame everybody else. I have to take responsibility on
48:58
those failures. But the whole package, the full
49:01
thing at QPS, having really good people, taking really good care
49:06
of them and having them really care about the business and
49:08
treat it like it was their own and it is their own now.
49:12
Because I have plenty of failures in my life and most
49:15
people do. And so through those failures,
49:18
I'm going to guess that you've gotten even better.
49:21
You've enhanced that ability to read people like, oh, I made a
49:25
mistake with that one. I'm going to make a mental note
49:29
of, you know, what may have been sort of the red flags early on.
49:32
And and as you look back on all of that, what are some key red
49:37
flags that maybe you didn't notice when you were first
49:40
getting started that you're more attuned to now?
49:43
Oh, big time. That's an easy one.
49:46
You have to earn trust. You can't be granted it and then
49:51
prove it. And I was taught that by our
49:54
forever CFO. That was my cousin that said I
49:57
wasn't ever going to make it. She's the one that said never
50:01
trust me, even talking about herself, always have checks and
50:04
balances to keep me in line. And she never stole and she
50:07
never would. But she was trying to teach me a
50:10
life life lesson. And she actually found a couple
50:12
of those indiscretions in some of the other businesses by just
50:18
caring about me and looking where she wasn't asked to look
50:21
and finding things. So, you know, looking back, I
50:24
trusted people before they proved to me that they could be
50:29
trustworthy and they took advantage of that.
50:31
And I hadn't set up checks and balances to keep them from, you
50:36
know, the best way to create a cheat is to give them an
50:38
opportunity. But if you have checks and
50:39
balances in place, we're all on it.
50:42
You know, typically we're all honest, hard working human
50:44
beings, but we have a sinful nature.
50:46
If you give me a chance to cheat, sometimes people will.
50:49
If you don't want me to cheat, make sure there's checks and
50:53
balances and that will keep even this honest people honest.
50:58
So the big thing is to have checks and balances and who you
51:02
work with and what you do forever, but especially early on
51:06
until you get a level of trust that becomes earned and not just
51:10
granted early on because you selected them to work with for
51:13
some reason. So checks and balances have
51:17
systems in place that make it much harder for people to follow
51:22
that sinful nature. What about personality traits
51:26
that you might notice where you're like that man or woman?
51:30
I'm going to keep a closer eye on there because they said or
51:33
did something that or they're acting in such a way that makes
51:37
me a little bit more suspicious of them.
51:39
Yeah, so one example I had somebody that eventually found
51:43
out he was addicted to gambling and to my ignorance he was a
51:47
customer for a long time and had become a friend and said let's
51:51
break away and start a business competing with this customer,
51:54
which looking bad probably shouldn't have done but I did it
51:57
cuz he said he was mistreated by his employer and we started the
52:01
business and I let him run it. Now that makes sense.
52:04
I also gave him the checkbook to write checks, and he wrote
52:08
checks to his gambling people to pay off his bills.
52:11
So everything would have went correctly if I would have been
52:16
intelligent enough to have checks and balances.
52:18
Meaning, you know, you can run the place absolutely, but you
52:23
can't write the checks too. So, you know, as much as it was
52:26
on him for stealing, shame on me for giving them that
52:29
opportunity. That was early on and one of the
52:32
lessons I learned was you need checks and balances because
52:34
maybe that would be a strong business of mine today if I
52:37
didn't give him that opportunity and shame on me.
52:40
But that was a lesson learned as having checks and balances don't
52:43
give him the power and the checkbook.
52:46
It's a tough combination to put the two together.
52:50
How about? Some daily habits practices that
52:53
you engage in that either help get your day started or keep you
52:57
on track as you go. You know, I start every day on
53:00
my hands and knees thanking God for everything and praying and I
53:04
get up early and start working right away.
53:07
You know, I get the shower out of the way and get going right
53:11
away. And you know, I still work hard.
53:14
I, I'm still going from 7:00 in the morning.
53:16
I refuse to go a minute after 7 at night. 12 is enough for me.
53:21
You think I'd be at the point where I could start enjoying
53:24
life, but apparently I'm wired in the way that my dad taught me
53:28
old German. Just keep working and apparently
53:31
I like what I'm doing because I keep going everyday.
53:34
I'm right now in North Carolina, my son again being a
53:37
professional race car driver. If you want to make it NASCAR,
53:40
you got to live in Charlotte. So we bought a place down here.
53:43
So periodically throughout the year, we pack everybody and
53:45
everything up and come down here for a couple months.
53:48
So I'm working down here as hard as I work at my home base in
53:51
Wisconsin. And next week when I get back to
53:53
Wisconsin, we'll pick it right back up and keep working.
53:56
I got plenty on my plate to do. If you were going to recommend a
54:02
favorite book or a podcast that's been really helpful to
54:07
you and your career arc, what would that be?
54:11
Well, you told me to be honest and you told me to share my soul
54:14
here. I've never watched a podcast in
54:17
my life so I can't recommend any there, sorry.
54:22
You know I still get 4 newspapers a day.
54:25
Again, I'm an old dinosaur that I'm trying to stay up on it but
54:27
I like. What are your newspapers?
54:29
What do you like to? Read New York Times, Wall Street
54:31
Journal for Entertainment, USA TODAY and then from Wisconsin,
54:35
the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Those are my 4 papers I read
54:39
every day. You know, again, I told you I'm
54:42
not that smart. I'm not a huge book reader.
54:44
I read the Bible over the course of every couple years.
54:48
Beyond that, I can't tell you a book that has inspired me.
54:53
I've read some cool true story, but as far as from a business
54:57
standpoint, it was all learning in the trenches.
55:00
I mean, early on, what I didn't share is we had some mentors.
55:03
My partner Mark, the guy that passed away, he was an amazing
55:07
networker. He had a competitor early on
55:09
that mentored us. Why?
55:11
What competitor would? I have no idea, but that's how
55:14
talented Mark was, that he found somebody and the guy liked them
55:17
and helped us. So, you know, we didn't have
55:20
books. I mean, there were books, but we
55:22
didn't study books. We had the real world that we
55:26
learned in. And I guess my thing is I pay
55:29
attention and I learn on the job, on the go, and I try not to
55:33
make the mistake more than three or four times.
55:35
And I learned my lesson and kind of go from there.
55:37
So again, going back to school, I wasn't great scholastically,
55:41
which transitioned to the real world, you know, not not that I
55:46
don't read because I had to read Derek's Bill, obviously.
55:50
So I read when I have to. But you know, honestly, I'm
55:53
fairly busy. Do I have time for a 400 page
55:56
How to do Business book? First of all, I'm too old to do
55:59
it. If I haven't figured it out yet,
56:01
I'm in trouble. But I was going.
56:02
To say you should write your own.
56:04
If anything, you should be writing the book.
56:05
You know, I have had multiple people tell me that I have a
56:09
pretty unique story because, you know, as you're aware, the other
56:13
thing that I had a little success in in life is I became a
56:17
professional race car driver. I needed to Indianapolis and
56:20
Indy cars and sports cars did the 24 Hours of Daytona.
56:24
I did get a chance to race. I've had an amazing life.
56:27
I've been blessed beyond belief. And the cool thing in life now
56:31
is I'm all about giving away. You know, I want to die broke
56:34
because the last time I was informed I can't take it with
56:38
me. So, you know, I'm really trying
56:41
to be as charitable as I can and and give away in my lifetime
56:45
rather than after I'm going somebody else giving my stuff
56:48
away. So I've had multiple people say
56:51
that, you know, there's probably a cool story to be written and
56:54
maybe someday somebody will, with or without my help.
56:58
Now, you had mentioned multiple times early on that your son is
57:01
a professional race car driver. I think I missed the part where
57:04
we're talking about you going for your own STEM.
57:07
Where did that fit into the whole career space?
57:10
Well, when I was a little boy, my mom and dad, my dad had a
57:14
lawn and garden dealership business and they came across
57:17
some motorcycles and snowmobiles.
57:19
So think about me at six or seven racing competitively
57:23
snowmobiles and motorcycles. Then our family was very middle
57:27
class, grew up, went away from it.
57:30
And after I grew up and got QPS going about five years in, I
57:35
started to get a little bit of an itch beyond entrepreneurial.
57:38
And I had friends, one of our other early customers that's
57:42
still a customer to this date, they owned an IndyCar team.
57:45
And actually their claim to fame, their family won the Indy
57:49
500 three times in their life. So they had connected me with a
57:54
team and I did some open wheel racing as a 25 year old and I
58:00
started doing it just like a weekend warrior.
58:05
I started winning and one thing led to another.
58:08
They connected me with an IndyCar team that hired me to
58:11
race for a couple years back in 2003 through 2005.
58:15
And then in 2006 I broke my neck in a streetcar and that ended my
58:20
IndyCar career. And then I did about a decade in
58:22
sports cars again. Think of the most famous race.
58:26
One of the most famous races in the country is the 24 Hours of
58:28
Daytona every February. And you got it guessed at
58:32
Daytona. I did that like 10 years
58:34
straight from 2007 to 17. And along the way I had a son
58:39
and he start racing when he was four years old and he has had a
58:43
steering wheel in his hand since six months old.
58:46
And at four, he was racing competitive go karts and he
58:50
never stopped. By the time he was 12, he was in
58:53
a full bodied, full size stock car.
58:56
And he started racing in NASCAR at 18 the day he turned 18.
59:01
And today, he's still in the championship hunt in the 2025
59:05
season to win the championship in NASCAR.
59:09
That's phenomenal. The apple doesn't fall far from
59:12
the tree. Apparently not.
59:13
It didn't hurt that I live on 100 acres and we built 1/2 mile
59:16
paved racetrack at home. So he got to lots of practice in
59:22
the backyard. Most kids don't get that, but
59:24
that was one of his benefits, so sure.
59:26
So we had him and again, nothing normal in my family.
59:29
I can't have a daughter that's an accountant.
59:31
They're an engineer, She's an actress.
59:33
And her first movie is coming out starring Mel Gibson in
59:37
theaters, I think December 5th. So I've got it.
59:41
What's it called? I believe it's called The
59:43
Hunting Season starring Mel Gibson.
59:45
She started with small parts. She's already got 4 movies under
59:49
her and four more lined up over the next year.
59:51
So we have two budding professional.
59:55
People in our and what are their names so we can.
59:57
Look at Sam Mayer. Yeah, he's got quite the social
1:00:00
media following, Instagram X Facebook, etcetera.
1:00:05
And my daughter is Sara Mayer, the actress.
1:00:10
So Scott, I've just got one more question for you.
1:00:12
But before I ask it, I want to do a few quick things.
1:00:15
First of all, anybody who wants to get in touch with Scott, he's
1:00:18
given us permission to give out his personal e-mail address,
1:00:20
whichishisfirstinitialsandhislastnamemayermayersosmayer@qpsemployment.com, and obviously their website for
1:00:31
the company, qpsemployment.com. Also, as a reminder, if you want
1:00:35
to get more employees access to benefits that won't hurt them
1:00:38
financially and carries a financial upside for the
1:00:40
company, reach out to add back benefits.com.
1:00:43
And finally, if you'll take just a moment to leave us a comment
1:00:46
or review on your favorite podcast app, we will be forever
1:00:49
grateful. OK, last question for you,
1:00:52
Scott. You and I reconnect one year
1:00:54
from today and you're celebrating something big.
1:00:57
What is that big thing you hope to be celebrating one year from
1:01:01
now? Oh, absolutely.
1:01:02
Immigration reform 100%. Nothing close.
1:01:07
Scott Mayer, QPS Employment I want to be the first to thank
1:01:10
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
1:01:12
I really appreciate it. Thank you, Anthony.
1:01:14
I hope six months from now you have me back to talk about
1:01:17
immigration reform or something, so I'm here.
1:01:20
I'm already looking forward. To and I can't wait to hear more
1:01:22
about your business, so look forward to talk to me about that
1:01:25
soon. All right, let's make it happen,
1:01:27
folks. That's a wrap on another episode
1:01:29
of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us
1:01:32
today.