0:02

You're listening to a

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soda con sessions by effective

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live from a soda con 2023.

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Thanks for tuning

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the next episode of a soda con

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sessions presented by effective

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and we had a chance to catch up

0:15

with Tony Lucas, who is the pre

0:15

owned director over at Kassa

0:20

Auto Group and you've got a

0:20

really cool history. So you were

0:23

born and raised in Brazil, born

0:23

in Brazil, and then you you move

0:26

to the United States at what age

0:26

18 years old. Okay, and one of

0:29

the things that really resonated

0:29

with me that, you know, kind of

0:32

hit home was everything you do

0:32

is to prove that others can do

0:37

it, too.

0:39

Yeah, I mean, third

0:39

world country born and raised in

0:42

Brazil, first language,

0:42

Portuguese come to United States

0:46

without knowing English. I

0:46

started as a as a porter

0:49

restaurants and cars, you know,

0:49

picking up cigarette butts and

0:53

all this stuff. And now, and

0:53

very quickly with this dream of,

0:59

man, if I can just learn enough

0:59

English to sell a car that seems

1:02

pretty cool, you know, yours fun

1:02

to me just like a fail cars and

1:07

share. You know, I got to do all

1:07

your changes and moved on to

1:12

learn a little bit of the body

1:12

shop and sanding Bondo. And so

1:16

you really have done a lot. Oh,

1:16

yeah, yeah, I fell in love with

1:19

the business so fast. And

1:19

honestly fell in love with the

1:22

opportunity to be in a great

1:22

country. And, you know, a great

1:26

business I just thought was so

1:26

cool. You know, I was born in

1:29

Brazil seemed like this cool

1:29

cars and stuff that we don't

1:32

have down in Brasilia. Now all

1:32

of a sudden detail on them.

1:35

Yeah, I was too

1:35

eager to see all the cool cars

1:37

all the time. I know,

1:38

you're just too exciting to me. And I fell in love with the business. You

1:40

know, and just, I was born that

1:45

dream of like, Man, I just want

1:45

to sell cars and you know, get

1:51

involved with all the businesses

1:51

and very quickly notice, like, I

1:55

won't be able to do that if I

1:55

don't learn English. So that was

1:58

kind of like a challenge. And

2:00

how did you learn English?

2:03

By doing it caches,

2:03

you know, going out and doing on

2:06

the beginning of gesturing and

2:06

like, in you know, in learning

2:09

music and movies and things like

2:09

this, and friends, and I just

2:14

really want it really bad. So,

2:14

to your point. Throughout my

2:19

life, I very quickly realize or

2:19

lead on whenever I accomplish

2:26

all these things. And, and, you

2:26

know, done a lot. I realize my

2:31

existence I exist to show people

2:31

that everything in life is

2:35

posture, you know, like, it

2:35

doesn't matter where you come

2:37

from doesn't matter. What you

2:37

don't know, you can learn. You

2:41

know, everything's possible. Yeah.

2:42

So what about your

2:42

experience? Like, was there a

2:45

culture shock when you first

2:45

came to the United States?

2:48

Absolutely. You

2:48

know, a lot of challenges there.

2:54

Being an immigrant, for whatever

2:54

reason, the very beginning,

2:58

there was things that knew, but

2:58

I couldn't explain. I couldn't

3:02

see him, you know, can walk

3:02

through the subject, whatever.

3:08

And very quickly, people like he

3:08

doesn't know. And I was like,

3:11

Well, I know, I know how to

3:11

explain this in Portuguese. But

3:16

nobody, you know, at the time,

3:16

there was sometimes there was,

3:21

you know, struggle and upset and

3:21

like calm and like, you know,

3:25

but now I'm very grateful for

3:25

the for that journey, that it

3:28

was a great last and legal

3:28

journey. And life is good.

3:31

Yeah. So Tony, one

3:31

of the things obviously we stand

3:33

for here to SOTU is

3:33

collaboration, not just like on

3:36

your own team, but also

3:36

throughout the industry at

3:39

automotive retailers across the

3:39

country. Yeah. One of the names

3:41

you brought up was David Long.

3:41

Yeah. All things use cars every

3:44

Friday. Yeah. And you tune in

3:44

every week, don't you? Yeah. But

3:48

it's cool that you can get

3:48

together with a couple 100

3:50

people, every Friday morning.

3:50

Let's see for you. It's 8am.

3:54

Right. Yeah, yeah. So

3:55

8am or 7am? Or seven

3:55

past so Mountain Time? That's

3:58

right. Yeah. So 7am

3:59

your time? Yeah. Everybody can get together for an hour, every week and just

4:01

grow together. Yeah. And kind of

4:05

like learn new things. So what

4:05

what was it first that got you

4:08

into clubhouse for all things used cars,

4:10

you know, to the

4:10

same my whole path and career in

4:15

life. I believe that you can

4:15

always learn you feel when you

4:20

can learn from anybody. You

4:20

know, like, I'm sure if I go out

4:24

to my lot right now and get in

4:24

my Porter and ask him some

4:28

questions about my sales

4:28

operation. I bet I can learn

4:30

some things from him. So

4:30

whenever I heard that, man, some

4:34

people getting together to talk

4:34

about use cars, and you know,

4:38

like people from all kinds of

4:38

like, you know, vendors and

4:41

dealers and commenters with a

4:41

new comment that does a ton of

4:45

different people. It just got me

4:45

really excited because that's

4:48

what I believe in. It's like a man I want to hear. I want to learn. I want to hear what

4:50

people have to say. It's what

4:52

you stand for. And it kind of

4:52

kind of kind of get addictive

4:55

where it's like man, I can't

4:55

wait for Friday to tune in and

4:58

see if I can pick up something

4:58

you No. Yeah, you know, I think

5:01

it's like everything else. Less

5:01

things are not all that great.

5:05

And they things are like this

5:05

jams are like, Oh man, that was

5:09

so good. You know, you play

5:09

mentum and I mean, I've learned

5:13

a lot out of the out of the

5:13

clubhouse. I think probably

5:17

David or any of those folks know

5:19

Yeah. And it's also

5:19

cool Tony to have all things use

5:23

cars every week and then to have

5:23

an event like this we can get

5:25

together in person and meet

5:25

people you've been connected

5:27

with online for like ever. Yeah,

5:27

so I mean, I've always seen you

5:30

in all things use cars. I've been tempted them LinkedIn for a while, but it's so cool to like

5:32

officially meet you and be with

5:34

you. There's just something

5:34

about like the impersonal aspect

5:37

that I love. The growing the

5:37

networking, the true

5:39

collaboration, like, I don't

5:39

know, I just I feel like you're

5:42

my brother and I just met you, you know,

5:44

I feel like even

5:44

David Long and I never met him

5:47

in person. early on. It sounds

5:47

like we'd like hugging. It's

5:51

like we know each other for a long time to

5:52

go crazy, though. Right? That's and it's always that growth and collaboration

5:54

together every week. Yeah, yeah.

5:57

Well, what has been one of your

5:57

favorite things about a soda con

6:00

so far? I know. We're only about

6:00

halfway through day one. We

6:02

still got the rest of today and

6:02

then tomorrow. But what has been

6:04

one of the favorite things

6:04

you've had or a key takeaway

6:07

you've had?

6:08

Honestly, I I've

6:08

been in a lot of these

6:11

conferences and I've spoken some

6:11

podcasts like this and I think

6:16

what it's the most attractive to

6:16

me Yeah. When I'm going to

6:18

another state of the union it's

6:18

division. Right? love people

6:23

more than you love cars I that's

6:23

what I believe in. That's why I

6:28

exist so love people show them

6:28

that everything in life is

6:31

possible. That's what a company

6:31

value we value of people, you

6:36

know, we we we do business to

6:36

redefine the car business by

6:40

respecting people loving people

6:40

do a try. So I think the message

6:44

of just capture me love people

6:44

more than you love cars. I mean,

6:48

it's just so simple. But, you

6:48

know, every every conversation I

6:52

have with anybody from from

6:52

automotive to union, you always

6:55

the message has always come back

6:55

to people in that's just

6:59

fantastic to me.

7:00

Yeah. So obviously,

7:00

there's a lot of things there.

7:03

It's, it's the fact that people

7:03

really, they might seem like

7:06

problems most days, but they're

7:06

not. It's actually they're the

7:09

solution to everything they are

7:09

and the fact that you can go

7:12

through and connect with them.

7:12

And I'm not even talking about

7:15

building your team, but like the

7:15

customer experience to you look

7:18

at the entire customer

7:18

experience from the moment that

7:21

they contact you to go through

7:21

with that and even have the

7:24

right vehicles. So I gotta ask

7:24

you this too. As a pre owned car

7:27

director, what does your day

7:27

look like? What is your week

7:29

look like? What is your month

7:29

look like? Man? That's That's

7:32

because every there's a lot

7:32

Porter out there right now that

7:35

just start in this industry.

7:35

Yeah, that wants to be where

7:37

you're at?

7:38

That's right. That's

7:38

a cool question. I get asked

7:41

that a lot, especially when they

7:41

heard Oh, man, like from Brazil,

7:44

no English reporter to use

7:44

codirector and all these things.

7:48

You know, like, they asked, How

7:48

do you get there? I'm not gonna

7:54

lie to you, I never really have

7:54

the silver bullet answer that

7:57

people typically expect. It's a

7:57

lot of hard work. Sure. You

8:01

know, it's a lot of hard work

8:01

and dedication. So my day looks

8:04

just like that. It's, it's busy.

8:04

It's a lot. I don't sleep as

8:09

much as people do. Or you

8:09

should. But, you know, I'm just

8:14

so passionate about the

8:14

business. I spend my time. You

8:19

know, like, a lot of people will

8:19

disagree with me on this. I

8:22

really don't have a balanced

8:22

life. I really don't. It's all

8:26

mixed up. Like my personal life

8:26

with car business life. It's all

8:29

mixed together. Yeah. It's

8:29

because you love it. So you

8:32

won't work any other way. For

8:32

me, you know, like most people,

8:35

I think in life, they find jobs.

8:35

And they they jump from one job

8:38

to the other and, and when they

8:38

they die and they live life like

8:41

this or some other people find a

8:41

career, right which is

8:44

beautiful, they some volume that

8:44

you they stick with it, and to

8:47

grow it and they some people

8:47

define a calling and and I think

8:50

that's what I am life. I I think

8:50

that's my calling to build

8:53

people up your two careers. Like

8:53

you said, you know, a port is

8:57

important to me, because that's

8:57

why I started. I know, you know,

9:01

whenever I talk to a port,

9:01

sometimes they don't even know

9:03

they don't even know what's

9:03

possible in life. You know, like

9:06

they don't know their gene. You

9:06

know, I think I exist to show

9:10

that to people like you, you

9:10

know, you can't they some more

9:13

in life, they scream out there

9:13

graders always available. So my

9:16

day to yeah, I'll wake up in the

9:16

morning. Very passionate about

9:20

this first thing I do. I'm

9:20

looking at emails and looking at

9:23

some wholesale transactions and

9:23

things like this and I drink a

9:29

lot of coffee. You know? You

9:29

know, I just we have a stores

9:36

and just last week we just

9:36

acquired for more. So like I'm

9:41

all over the stores from El Paso

9:41

to New Mexico and drive around

9:47

and you know, he's just he's

9:47

just very busy all throughout

9:50

the day.

9:50

Yeah. And that's what your day looks like your week looks like Wash, rinse,

9:52

repeat. What would you say?

9:55

Let's say look back on your

9:55

entire career transition from

9:58

order now. pre owned vehicle

9:58

directors. So what were some of

10:02

the hardest struggles during

10:02

your entire career, and then

10:06

we're also some of the highest highs you've seen,

10:08

highest high and

10:08

most struggle, I think, break

10:15

through the barrier of those a

10:15

place there, where I really

10:22

believe that a porter in United

10:22

States without knowing English

10:28

was the very best that could do.

10:28

And I was very grateful for

10:33

faith grateful. I think

10:33

Gratitude is the first step on

10:35

that on this whole thing. And I

10:35

was very grateful for, but that

10:38

was a barrier right there.

10:38

Right. And I think that was the

10:40

biggest struggle is just to

10:40

maybe I can learn this language.

10:45

And maybe I can learn some

10:45

things about this business, and

10:48

maybe I can become better than

10:48

everybody else. Yeah. Right. And

10:51

breaking through there was it

10:51

was a challenge and very

10:55

passionate about I think a lot

10:55

of people, a lot of people out

10:57

there have the show in and then

10:57

some folks have a beautiful

11:01

life, you know, the warning a

11:01

good family, they go to college,

11:05

I've talked, we have we have a

11:05

big college in town, I get to

11:09

talk to some college students,

11:09

sometimes we see some resumes

11:12

and stuff and, and sometimes I

11:12

talk to them, they just

11:15

graduated from college, they

11:15

still don't know, they still

11:17

don't know what they're going to

11:17

do with life. They don't know,

11:20

they don't have any trainings,

11:20

and they don't know what you can

11:22

do with it. So I think they

11:22

struggle with most people is

11:25

knowing that greater is

11:25

available. I mean, maybe your

11:29

dream is too small. You know,

11:29

like, you know, I remember I

11:33

remember, I used to journal in

11:33

the beginning of the year, and

11:35

like everybody else, you do this

11:35

new New Year's resolutions and

11:38

stuff like that. And I used to

11:38

put something down when I had a

11:41

few my heart's like, Man, if I

11:41

just get close to this, you

11:45

know, if I just get close to

11:45

this, it's gonna be cool. I'll

11:49

be very honest with you

11:49

nowadays, like, especially on if

11:52

I'm doing my New Year's

11:52

resolution and writing down my

11:55

on my journal, I write down

11:55

something like Go ahead for the

11:58

year. And the feeling that I

11:58

have now is like, maybe this is

12:01

too small. Maybe can be better.

12:01

Very true. It's a mindset that

12:07

changed. There was a very big

12:07

thing in my life. I think high

12:11

high if I will To be honest,

12:11

they some great things that

12:19

happened in my life. Those are

12:19

40 under 44. Magazine and and

12:24

graduated from nada Academy a

12:24

year ago. Yeah. Some cool

12:30

things, but if I be honest with

12:30

you, I think everyday that wake

12:33

up, and I just realized what a

12:33

what a life I leave now and the

12:39

opportunities that have in life,

12:39

the opportunities I have to, you

12:42

know, to pour into people and

12:42

build some careers and everyday

12:47

is a high.

12:48

That's right. I live

12:48

a very high it's so hard to pick

12:51

because there's so many.

12:52

Yeah, it's a

12:52

beautiful life. I love it. Yeah.

12:56

I love it.

12:56

That's great. So one

12:56

final question. There's a lot

12:59

Porter out there that may be

12:59

listening to this or maybe

13:01

someone that has lap porters at

13:01

their dealership that just

13:03

started. What advice would you

13:03

give to yourself? Day one is a

13:06

lap Porter.

13:12

Don't limit yourself

13:12

and whatever you think you are,

13:15

right. Understand that greater

13:15

is available. Whatever you think

13:24

there is, there is a place that

13:24

gratitude, live live a life of

13:29

gratitude is really special. And

13:29

you know, my mom taught me this

13:33

in Brazil with all the struggles

13:33

that we had. She always told me

13:36

like, man, the best ROI, it's on

13:36

gratitude, you know, like it.

13:41

It's good. But there is a there

13:41

is a place that you just limit

13:47

yourself as like, I'm grateful

13:47

with this. I'm content with

13:51

this. And maybe it's not gonna

13:51

get any better than this. That's

13:54

a lie. That's a lie. That's a

13:54

lie. Stop lying to yourself. It

13:59

can be bad or it can be greater.

14:03

Just do it. Just do

14:03

it right. Dream bigger, you can

14:06

go out and get it done bigger.

14:06

Tony, thank you for taking a few

14:09

minutes out of your day here to

14:09

sue con. It's a huge honor to

14:13

officially meet you. I'm looking forward to seeing you in clubhouse every week. But man

14:14

thank you so much for

14:17

Thank you for having

14:20

Thank you for listening to this. So to concession by effective if you

14:22

want more content like this, you

14:26

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14:26

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14:28

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14:28

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14:39

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14:39

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14:42

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14:45

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14:45

get it for free by going to us

14:49

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14:49

time.