I was a fireman very early on in my life and a police officer, so I'm very militaristic, clean.
Richard Rawlings
So I think you want to keep a keen eye on things. Grab it and go. Sure, you check your financials, but don't be afraid to take a jump. Learn the trends.
I want people to come to town and come by the shop and buy a T-shirt, then go by the bar-and-grill and have a hamburger or go hear some music. I want to be a destination - the destination.
That's been the secret to 'Gas Monkey': Move fast. I opened the first restaurant within a year and a half. Most people wait five years. I always move quickly, and in today's market, no matter what you're in, you can recover from a mistake faster than you can recover from not doing.
If you feel like it's going to work, do it. If it doesn't, get out as quick as you can.
I get the team set up good and then I'll let them do their thing. At the end of the day, if you put the time and effort into interviewing and finding the right people for a job, you've got to let them do that job.
I've always wanted to build a '37 Lincoln Zephyr.
You see the hair and the clothes, I look flamboyant. But I'm not the guy with the lake house and the boat. I don't own a home, or a plane. Really, all I want in life is beer in the fridge and a hot rod.
I'll have everyone from 90-year-old ladies wanting to come up and kiss me on the cheek and say they love the show to dads bringing their newborns over wearing onesies.
I've been into cars my whole life, I've always bought and sold a few here and there on the side, as kind of a hobby.
I went dead broke - twice! - trying to get Gas Monkey up and going. And when I say broke, I mean sleeping on my sister's couch and can't pay-the-rent type broke.
Look, I'm still a goateed guy with a bunch of tattoos, but I've got a poodle and not a pit bull. I don't kick boxes and I don't scream at other people.
I used to watch some of the other motorcycle shows on television 10 or 15 years ago because I was a gearhead and I'd be depressed at the end because I can't afford a $200,000 motorcycle.
My style is very hands-on. I own everything we do or the vast majority of everything we do. I don't do a lot of letting people just use my name like a lot of people in my position would do.
I could've gone to Harvard twice, the money I lost on cars.
Building brands and helping people figure out their identity - as far as a business identity and everything - was kind of my niche.
My goal in the beginning was to build a lifestyle brand around what I love to do, which is motorcycles and cars. That was our main goal from the very beginning.
Getting a TV show and getting on to Discovery was the main goal when I started the company in 2004.
I'm a brand type guy and we want to make sure that 'Gas Monkey' is out there in every arena that we can be. I'm also never short on ideas and I usually try to get them out there at all times.
We have a massive following and a loyal following. We've never bought a follower or any of that stuff that brands do, it's all organic.
Everyday has its challenges - keeping up with the business, and we are a real business, unlike a lot of the reality shows. We build all the cars. It has its challenges, but at the end of the day, it's not a bad way to make a living.
I wanted to have the no. 1 show on the Discovery channel. I went for it for a very long time, and I was knocking on every door in L.A. that would answer, and sleeping in front of Discovery's office, probably. It wasn't working, so I decided to regroup and take a break from knocking on doors.
I used to have a five-year plan when I was younger. But that's changed. Technology is changing every day. So you have to live in the day. You have to see what the opportunities are, and go for them.
I kinda thrive on the chaos which is my life. I have a good time when I can, but work is what I enjoy the most.
Realistically, my favorite thing really is going out and seeing the different problems that people have in different geographical areas. Not just from a standpoint of the area that they may be in or the city they may be in but the different kind of car culture or motorcycle culture there is.
We've stayed with the business and even though we have the arguments and disagreements that eight guys in a building trying to do a job would have, we try to keep that off the cameras because it's too much drama. Really what it is is we have eight guys who are having fun doing what they do.
I really like the variety and I like to do the bulk of our cars as cars that people can understand and relate to and afford.
Vehicle donation programs have existed forever, but the typical model loses a lot. There had to be a place to store them, people who could only go out so far regionally to pick them up.
Everything I do in business moves toward eliminating brick and mortar. Call us up and anywhere in the contiguous United States, we'll get your vehicle and take care of it.
We said we could do a full episode - find the car, build it, complete it and shoot it - in two weeks.
I like the art of making money more than the money.
If you don't have to have a partner, don't take one. If you do need one, look for a partner who can complement your weaknesses with their strengths. If you are at odds, you are never going to get anything done.
