Latest / Towing News Now / Thrive in Towing with End-of-Year Strategies and Safety Triumphs

Transcript

Thrive in Towing with End-of-Year Strategies and Safety Triumphs · Towing News Now

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Remember, this is your podcast.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It's to promote safety, education, positive public relations and networking within the professional and business-minded tone recovery industry.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: This is DJ Harrington, your co-host, better known as the co-doctor, and it's a special one because Wes Wilburn will be with me as the co-host.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Now, you've got to remember, wes is the 40-year Tone Industry veteran and the founder of American Tone Recovery Institute, dear friend of mine, a dear friend of the industry, and I treasure being his co-host on these podcasts.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: So, without further ado, wes, how are you today?
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: DJ, I'm doing pretty good as we're recording this thing.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: We're about a week in front of Christmas.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Our friends will be listening to it just after Christmas when it actually airs.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm happy and excited with Christmas coming taking account of the year that's ended getting ready for the new year.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I'm really good today DJ.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I know when I called the other day it's your sweet wife, april.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: The whole team was out cutting chains, so you've had some big orders coming at the end of the year, huh.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: We're very blessed with that, yeah, it was a great effort.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Everybody here pitched in and helped cutting and moving and assembling.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So yeah we've been busy at the end of the year, and that's always good.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: It's good for my Parkinson's to be moving and doing things as opposed to sitting and at a desk, so that's an excellent situation too.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I'm feeling really good and strong.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, I want to ask you.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Hey, wes, I want to ask you.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I asked my brother, bill, one time At the end of the year when he buys trucks and I said, Bill, why do you do that?
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And he said I'm going to tell you if somebody looks at their records and they know that they have so much money in their budget.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Like we, I buy two or three pickup trucks for the construction company the week between Christmas and New Year's and he actually one year bought three pickup trucks and two gigantic dump trucks but he had to make sure the purchase was done before December 31st because his business year was on the calendar year.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: You know some guys have business years from February or March to March of the next year, but his was the calendar year and that's when he bought his equipment.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: He bought extra stuff.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Does that ever happen to you where you know a towing guy knows his books in December and they would rather have the spending this year and take it off their taxes than for next year?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely that happens.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: We deal with a lot of different businesses that watch things carefully and know that they need to spend and they need to be spent by the time frame.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, we see that often.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I know he'd bought tires, and you know two tires for the trucks.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: He would buy the tires in December because he had a good year and he didn't want to.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: You know, otherwise you're going to pay taxes on the income and that way he had his friends and they're going out oh yeah, absolutely so.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: businesses we deal with that over the last 30 days have bought a lot of different parts and different things usable items, a cable for rollback, a snack box, etc.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Things that they'll know they'll use as a busy winter season.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: They've gone in and bought, got it on the shelves.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: They got the advantage of the tax benefits.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: They also have the advantage of, during their busy season, going in the back room and getting what they need and not having to make a phone call and wait for it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Or, you know, order it over the internet and wait for it.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: So absolutely.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what I figured.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Well, what's happening over there at American Towing Weekend Reinstruction.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a whole lot going on.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I do want to make one more comment to finish that what we just were talking about.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, some people are playing when I think of folks running Towing businesses.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Some folks are running it like it's a game of trackers, wearing about one jump at a time.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Other people are running it like it's a game of chess, taking four and five and six moves down the line.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Those are the people that seem to be more successful in their life, more people that think more people, more people that think more people are better than them.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: And I think that's what's going on at the Institute.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's what's going on at the Institute.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: There's a whole lot going on.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: But before we start talking about that, I want to congratulate Towing Recovery Association of America.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: They got the MOVA resolution passed to the US Senate, which supports the goals of the different states for the MOVA legislation, the most existence of it, et cetera.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: The TNA had a big part in it, so we want to give them perhaps what they do.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: They did a lot of work on it and it's a good thing to help raise awareness.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Of course, everybody listening to these podcasts has heard me talk before.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: That was my position on MOVA.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I think it's a great thing.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I encourage it greatly.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much, stay off that traffic side as much as possible.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Get an automobile hookup loading a vehicle on a carrier.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: 90-some percent of it can be done from that nine traffic side they can use an 8-point guide out.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: At most, folks who use movement monitoring automobiles Put two on that nine traffic side drive like you got some sense of your first exit Safe haven and get off that roadway Again.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I believe in moveover slowdown, but I wouldn't trust my life to these drivers out there to be distracted.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Driving issue is getting worse and worse and that's something that's bigger than moveover slowdown and societal problem.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So I feel about it, dj.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Well, now that you said that, I remember how many articles I've written telling this dispatch person who takes the call.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: And they're asking the person what mile marker you're at and what kind of vehicle and is there anything in the pickup truck or is the cement truck empty or is it full?
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: And then they say to the person, and I want you to know.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: They say to the person do not exit your vehicle on the driver's side.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Move over to the passenger side and get out of the car.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: If you want to sit on the side of the road, don't go out the driver's door.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Work your way over and go out the passenger door if you have to, and then stay safe and get over the other side of the rallying and be safe there.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: And I think the more dispatchers remind the pedestrian, then all of a sudden it makes sense.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: But I agree with you distracted driving today is outrageous.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Not only are people on their cell phones and they're listening to other devices and all of a sudden they go.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Uh-oh, I guess I wasn't thinking that's the problem that we have it.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: And I know our friends at INA.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: They talk about over one lose none, and they just did the state of Alabama in the upcoming magazine article about all the people that showed up for slow down move over Lloyd Alabama being reinforced this year.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah the.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: What did they do in Alabama?
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Hueytown, Alabama, boy, was the name of the town.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: West Passmore.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: I'm a Facebook friend.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: That's how I know about them the best.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: That's how you word that I believe.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: But the man's dedication he had a young gentleman working for him, I think six or seven years ago.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: As I read about it this past week I was amazed how many years have flown by so quickly because I remember when it happened.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: But he's a memorialized young man's situation that worked for him, that was killed on the job and it, you know it struck by vehicle incident and what it's like we see.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: You know we talk about Linda Underwood.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: It's another one that's taken tragedy and turned some energies trying to make a positive out of it.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: The young man is is a memorialized each year there in Alabama and a huge event to raise awareness.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: It looks like it's getting bigger and bigger each year.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: I'd love to find myself in.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Alabama for some reason, to be able to attend it one year yeah it was big.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: there's your even.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: You know Frank Ingram.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: That was one of my neighbors that got killed on 575 working, you know, a disabled vehicle, and his nephew was over there, chris, he was over there and Frank Ingram's your nephew, and so was he and Spencer's dad, matt.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: He came all the way down from Michigan and he went down to Alabama this year.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's another one that's uh putting a lot of energy into trying to make a positive out of a super negative.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, so yeah, it's a shame that we have such a need for this, but we do, and the problem's getting worse.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I was analyzing some, uh, minor duties asked from one of the websites that April found as we were looking up some stuff the other day, and if the list is getting bigger and bigger, you don't need me sitting there talking about that.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Um, dj, we need to take a quick break.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I want everybody to hang around after the break.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: I want to talk about what's going on.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Uh, some things were thankful for the happen this past year and what's going to?
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: What's things to look forward to for 2024, for American.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Teller and our recovery.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: You got it.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: We'll take a break.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Be right back, folks.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: The folks at Purpose Record are record specialists.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: They don't get bogged down with other types of sales like cars, assorted equipment or snow plows.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Purpose record exclusively specializes in towing and hauling.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: From parts and service to financing, they remain focused on providing the best service and customer care to the towing and hauling industry.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Even in these trying times, purpose Record works hard to meet the needs of its customers.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: They are the preferred distributor in North America for purchasing towing and recovery equipment.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: For more information, visit them on the web at PurposeRecordcom or speak toa specialist by calling 636-639-9700.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: That's 636-639-9700.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Celebrating 40 years in the towing industry, that's PurposeRecordcom.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Record, serving the community with quality towing and recovery for over 40 years.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Henry'srecordcom Welcome back listeners.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn and DJ Harrington.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: We do our best the two of us, even though just the holiday season.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: We do our best to bring you informative episodes.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Make sure you download and listen.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, google Play, stitcher, iheart Media, amazon or wherever you get your podcast, and we're up over 13,000 listeners.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Wes, it's only because of friends of yours in the industry that people are telling their other towing friends to tune in and listen.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: So you know we have 386 plus in the European markets listening, but we have a bunch here in the United States and in Canada also.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: So we appreciate each and every one of the 13,000 listeners.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, we definitely do it's very humbling that we've the number of under that and we a big part of it's the work that you put into a DJ and, of course, chuck Gamper, producer.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: And you know behind the scenes where it happens that I'm really thankful for between what April does you're ready for the podcast, what Kim does helping lead the team with the app, we're very, very thankful.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: You know we've had a great year in 2023.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: I want to thank everybody that hosted a class during the year.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Everybody that attended a class, that of course we want to thank the members of the Institute.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Without them, none of this would be possible.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, we're real thankful for what's happened to 2023 and looking forward to a great 2024.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: We had our first school of the year.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: I ended up with Columbus Georgia.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: We're going to be down there working with our friends at Griffith and Griffith our host in the class, CV, Welk, Grant Gray's also helping co-host it, looking forward to being down there with Chuck and Michelle, the great couple.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: They run a really well thought out, telling business.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: They've created a culture of excellence down there.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Dj Remember them from the podcast, don't you?
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: We sure do.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Excellent people, Excellent people.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: So, we're doing a heavy duty.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Q&a.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: We're doing a heavy duty Q&A.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: We're doing a heavy duty Q&A.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: We're doing a heavy duty Q&A.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: So we're doing a heavy duty Q&A, heavy duty, total recovery rotator.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: That's February 3rd and 4th, so I can say Griffith, and Griffith is the main host.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: We had them on for the podcast.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: So you should go back and listen to that great, great couple, something that's.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: We're changing up a little bit, dj.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I talked about this before, but I guess this was probably my first official announcement.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: We are going to be doing webinars three webinars the first Wednesday of each month.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: So just after this thing airs January, the 4th Wednesday at 7pm Eastern time, we're going to do part three on EV electric vehicles learn more about myself.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Now we're also going to have seminars available for viewing afterwards after we reduce the webinars.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: But here's what we learned from the first webinar the people that are meeting themselves, etc.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Are the cause of a lot of distraction during the early portions.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: And then we had a salesman speak up trying to sell a product there in the middle of it.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: So me and Ryan are also recording the PowerPoint without the live interaction webinar.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: And that's what's going to be available for download at a later date, so we're working on getting all that produced right now.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: We hope by the time this podcast airs we should have the first webinars up on our website, and these are free webinars you can go listen to any time you want.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: We've broken up the.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: PowerPoint that we do in the multiple sessions, and on the first Wednesday in January we'll be doing part three and part four of electric vehicles.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: You can go to our website wwweve-clevercom and look for the archive webinars and this has been an ongoing thing and after we get through with electric vehicles, we're going to do rigging, we're going to take all our information and be producing in these little short mini segments and having them online through our website, through YouTube sources like that.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: So we're kind of changing things around DJ.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: So it's the first Wednesday of each month.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: So, like January, it'll be the third.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: That's the Wednesday and February the first Wednesday in February is the 7th.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I got you, I'll see what you're doing.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Thanks for covering for me, dj.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: I said the wrong thing there.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you, yeah, but you got the best one I made for it.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: And just you know like I was going to tell you when you started talking about Chuck and Michelle Griffin down in Columbus, georgia, you know our listeners would remember this was the people who told all of our listeners they were beginning of school, they had all their people together, oh yeah, and they gave $50 for every child that they had.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Like someone guy said, I have three children and I'm going to remind all our listeners we had a lot of people listen to that podcast and it's our time.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: So it's Chuck and Michelle Griffin, g-r-i-f-f-i-n.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And they were the ones who said if you had three children, they gave you actually $150 towards that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: And there are these people at the toe show up in Baltimore that came over when I was passing out stuff on the podcast and talking about the American Children's Recovery Institute doing All of a sudden it was like oh yeah.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: That's where I got the idea of passing out money for children going back to school.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: There's so many ways that we can thank our team members that we never think of, and Chuck and Michelle do a great job.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're right, it's a culture that they've created.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they might own themselves after one of the fast food restaurants.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: You know, there's many places you can go get fast food and any town.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Some do it better than others and I hope we'll just take a minute and listen to their podcast.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: It was a great episode.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: It was a good one.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: So that's one of the big things we're doing this year is changing that and, of course, we're very, very blessed.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: We're going to say a thank you and also look forward to talk about our EV-Clever half.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're both going to have a wonderful job of putting that together.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Currently, there's 702 passenger vehicles and 111 heavy trucks, and then on the heavy trucks, we not only cover the hybrid electric and pure electric trucks.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: We also get involved with factory information and the response guides etc.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: For the compressed natural gas and hydrogen on the heavy truck side.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: So we're thankful that every day they're working on adding information, updating, etc.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: We haven't tried the app.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: We have a 30 days for free, or, if you know you're ready to buy it, you can get a 20% discount just for listening, and then we'll give you 20% discount off of the app.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: You know when I was talking about the.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: TRA.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: They have their legislative action workshop in Hill Day roll call coming up March 5th to the 7th.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: It's all happening in our nation's capital.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I've never been here.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: It's good networking opportunity.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: It does some good public service on behalf of the telling industry, so you should consider it handy.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been there and I'll be there in March myself.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I've already got my hotel room.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: The hotel is the sonata, right across the street from the capital.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to tell you all our listeners, you work during the day and what Wes said it's a networking opportunity because at night time you actually build relationships that you will keep the rest of your life.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: So during the day you'll be working with your senators and congressmen and that kind of thing.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I met Senator Rand Paul there.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: We spoke at one of the luncheons and Senator Rubio from Florida met him with Kevin Fox and it was amazing.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: You know you don't meet the senator A lot of times.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: You meet their aides and that's what happened and Rubio came by the hotel later and just said hi to everybody.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: We met with his aides and that's what Hill Days is all about.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: So the more of you that are listening that can contact TRAA, just go online, the traaorg, and you'll get in.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: All the information about Hill Days is there and I'm glad you brought that up, wes.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: We're happy to bring it up and happy to help them with their mission, All right.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Well, we need to take a quick break.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back after the break.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: The best towing companies offer a combination of great training, efficient operations, along with quality supplies.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: Towing equipment direct is committed to help your towing company stay ahead of the competition by providing the best quality of towing equipment and supplies.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Here's why you should choose towing equipment direct for all of your towing supply needs.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: We provide affordable towing supplies and equipment.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: All towing supplies and equipment are made from the latest technology and we supply products from the most respected brands in the towing industry, offering the widest variety of towing supplies and equipment in New England.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: If you're not using the latest towing equipment, there's a good chance your company has fallen behind.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Savvy consumers can quickly tell which towing companies provide the best service.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: In many cases, the quality of your equipment and supplies can make a huge difference.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Our representatives are knowledgeable in the towing industry, so for the best towing equipment and supplies, count on the team at towing equipment direct.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: Browse our catalog online at towingequipmentdirectcom or give us a call at 910-747-9000.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: That's 910-747-9000.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: We look forward to serving you.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Welcome back listeners.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: And of course, you're listening to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast with West Wilbur and DJ Harrington.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: This is the end of your program.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: I want to thank all of you and please remember to like, review and share everywhere.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for all of you that have helped promote it.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: But if you want to hear an industry expert, let West Wilbur and I know Just go to.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: We have a hotline number that goes right to the podcast center and leave your name and information and so forth.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: The number is here in the podcast center 706-409-5603.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Now that's for the podcast center.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: If you want to know more information about the American Tone Recovery Institute, it's real simple.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: It's online.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Just go to ampowiorg.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: The phone number is 910-747-9000.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: And anything that comes up and you want to talk to people at the American Tone Recovery Institute.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I all mean to give them a holler.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Pick up the phone, as I tell people where it's close to your telephone.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: So let's go back and, West, I'm turning it over to you, my friend.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Thanks, dj, I appreciate that.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: So I want to clear up a couple things.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: I was told by my M studio producer that maybe I haven't made as clear a couple things we're still doing live hands-on classes.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to do as many as.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I was doing three or four or five years ago.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: I'm probably down to about somewhere between 10 and a dozen for this year.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: That I'll still plan on doing, we're working on the details now.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: We hope by the time this podcast day we have several more dates ironed out, if you're interested in hosting a class reach out to me.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Dj, just gave you all the contact information, so don't hesitate If you are interested for doing something that's down to year 2024, even if it's nine months away.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: We need to get the details planned out now so we get that schedule set.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: So the free webinars is just in addition to going to be a lot of the same information, although the issue with the free webinars is no hands-on where we physically go outside and touch things together, considering the concept of some virtual hands-on, but that'll be a little bit down the road, we are still doing live classes.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: So if someone's interested in hosting a class, please reach out to me.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Hey Wes, can I ask, just like to make you believe I'm the listener is there a minimum of how many people?
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Like I know I have eight people here in my company and then if I turn around and I got four or five other people in the area, what is the minimum?
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Because you know, I know there was one up in Indiana that was past.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, that had a lot of people, but do you need 60 people?
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: What's the minimum?
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: 25 to 30 is a good group size to work towards Now we have different towing companies that will pay us a rate and they'll choose to have less people involved because they want their people participating more, and we have a program we'll work with for that.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: But for that open class, talk about 25 or 30 people.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: One of the things is I virtually don't teach any classes by myself anymore.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I'm always bringing someone in and so you not only have the expense of their time but the travel expense as well.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: So I need to get a good size little group together to make something worthwhile.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: So, but we are excited.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: One of the reasons I'm doing less class DJ is if I go every weekend, I get exhausted.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: If I do one a month a show, I have a lot of energy and I'm really excited to do schedules that we're going to be on, work with some of these younger instructors, but I consider it one of the best programs I've ever taught my 31 years of doing this.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: So not you know when I say that I'm not from a country standpoint, but I think between the different individuals that are helping me and my years of doing it and some great host companies, we've got a pretty good formula for some hands-on training.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Again, when I try to say we're better than anybody else, but we believe we have a pretty solid program, I'm really proud of it.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Can I ask this of you, you and Ron Moore, would you two, if I could get a group together in Florida with firefighters and towers and so forth, or in Alabama with firefighters and towers, would you and Ron Moore consider doing a cross-training class?
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we're.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: That's some of the 10 dates we have scheduled right now.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Elkhart in the end on August we're going to be there for firefighter towers cross-training.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: It's one of the classes I enjoy the best, as people have heard me talk about on this podcast before.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: I believe bringing firefighters and towers together are a great step forward for professionalism and making the life of a towing operator a little easier down the road.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: And by doing it these classes with Ron Moore not only do we have the firefighter perspective, but Ron was really involved with Tim's traffic incident management program when the Federal Highway rolled that out.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: He was one of the seven instructors and went around the country sharing the TIMS program but doing the training and training.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: So without all that being said, ron does a nice job of bringing everything together under that banner as we do these cross trainings.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: It's bigger than just the TIMS Now that we do these to a national standard National Fire Protection Association we have standard for firefighters and that was working together.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: So that's the standard that we do that under.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Well, I've been the two of the Ron Moore Wes Wilburn cross training classes with firefighters and towers and that is I learned more in that class.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Those two classes I went to they were phenomenal and you and Ron Moore have a chemistry where you work together so well, wes.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: That's you know.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: If I started thinking about.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: What I would really like to do is something of that nature, because the two of you is just fantastic.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was just a fantastic class and the firefighters felt the same way.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: But all of a sudden there was a relationship working together where the firefighters all of a sudden respected the tower more and the tower in turn respected the firefighter more.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I totally agree with that DJ.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: So I appreciate your kind words about me and Ron working together, so it was a privilege to work with him, and or it really brings a nice touch to things.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think before we end this episode, let's remind all of our people that when they donate a vehicle to the fire department to work on, to help them with their training, the whole thing is the tax deduction and they actually have a form where they can send you back on their letterhead Thank you for donating X amount of vehicles.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: You know a valued act where you could take it off your taxes.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: People that you know, besides doing something good for your community to help your community itself, it's also a tax deduction.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: The trailer.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: But you're absolutely right.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: I challenge all the people listening to this episode, who we are thankful for, but I challenge each and every one of you Do something good for your local volunteer fire department, or your local paid fire department, for that matter.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: If you donate a car maybe make them some cookies or nearby do something good for them.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: They're great people, do a lot of service for the communities.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I also challenge everybody listening to this.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: You got County Year 2024 coming up.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: What is it you're gonna do during County Year 2024 to advance yourself in your chosen career?
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Most folks listening to this are riled in the towing industry directly.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: We have other affiliated folks listening as well.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: But how you're affiliated.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: What you're reasoning for listening to this podcast is Ask yourself today, what is it you're gonna do to improve your horizons for 2024?
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: I'm working for an online course or some sort to take DJ is what I'm gonna do to try to improve myself for 2024.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: 2023, what I decided to do at the beginning of the year was to be more involved in the industry news, and I think I did a better job of filing the industry news.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: What's going on out there?
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: So I don't know.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: I think I've somewhat fulfilled that goal, but for 2024, I'm gonna take some kind of online course to improve myself in many different ways.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: So, to all our listeners, thank you for a great 2023.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: We really appreciate your support Folks that attended seminars, members of the Institute, people that bought our products from us all the different ways people support us.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Happy holidays, look forward to a great 2024.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening so long.