Wake up, Buy Here, Pay Here people. It's a beautiful day. Go grab yourself another cup of joe and say hello to Jim and Michelle Rhodes on the Buy Here, Pay Here morning show. Take it away, you two. good morning hello everyone welcome to another white hat wednesday yes been doing these since june of twenty twenty two it's a lot of episodes talking about the white hat thing and today's an important one because we're kicking off something yeah yeah any announcements before uh No, just for our good friends that are friends from Florida. They came in this weekend and or came in on Monday. They're at a conference up in the Park City area. And it is Adriana's birthday today. And so I just wanted to just wish her a public happy birthday. Yeah, we were we were unable to be able to be together. Tomorrow's my birthday. I was going to say that. Gemini babies. For those of you who do astrology, all the good stuff is true. Yeah. Yeah, send the birthday wishes to Michelle. Send any gifts to me, and I'll make sure she gets them. Yeah, usually my birthday is during the conference. I should probably share my Venmo account. Oh, yeah, okay. Send me memes on puppies. Right, right. Yes. So there's that. And the conference is this next weekend. And oh, thank you, Karen. I shared it just as you did. Oh, you did? Okay, I'll put it back up. Yeah, the second round of White Hat Way certification starts on Sunday. That's right. And wraps up on Monday prior to the kickoff conference. for NIADA's expo and convention. And we will be, again, at the convention. We have a booth. It's booth number one, two, one. And we have a fun game that we're doing with our founding sponsors to win a thousand dollars cash. So, you know, find one of our founding sponsors and participate. Yep. please come see us yeah yeah look forward to that and then I speak on wednesday morning around success tools which I think will be important important this is um this is going to be um some useful so I just give a little teaser I'm asking dealers if they can bring nine numbers all you got to do is pull together nine numbers and I can give them a real good snapshot of their profitability and their cash flow so uh should be an interesting tool Meg Jones also, who is one of our team members, is going to be speaking on Tuesday at two. She's on a panel. She's on a panel. And it's kind of the same. I think that they're bringing the conversation from Buy Here, Pay Here forum, dealer forum. from last fall to the national conference. And so it's, uh, she's going to be there. And so I'm looking forward to best ideas and practices that they brought out of the forum. So yeah, it should be great. I look forward to that as well. And, uh, so shall we get into our subject? Absolutely. Um, So, shall I? Yes. We are kicking off today in a public way, the White Hat Way community. And it's not a hard thing to understand in that the White Hat Way community in its simplest form is just a coalition of of people who share these principles and this sort of code of honor that is the White Hat Way brand. But this is about much more than the brand. This is about much more than being good guys and good gals. This is about just everybody rallying around this idea that as an industry, we can do better in a lot of areas. And in particular today, we want to talk about just kind of the idea of joining forces. Yes. One of the things that we talked about a couple of years ago was starting the BHPH Nation. And this is, this is, there are elements of that that have been woven into this. It just made more sense than just doing the Buy Here, Pay Here Nation. This is the White Hat Way community. It's much more inclusive. Not just Buy Here, Pay Here, Lease Here, Pay Here. Mm-hmm. This is it's and so a lot of the elements that we talked about for the nation by her parent nation will be a part of this, but in from a different angle. So a different perspective. So those of you who remember hearing about that when we were like, this is something we're going to build. This is that but better. Yeah. Certainly more comprehensive. More comprehensive, and it's more aligned with the mission and all of that of White Hat Way. Buy Here, Pay Here Nation was just a collection of all dealers, all vendors, which this will be as well too, but it's going to be under a banner of ethics and values and success of the consumer and all of those kind of things. And Michelle and I always say that we know there are a lot of ethical dealers out there operating businesses in the way that White Hat Way proposes or what we subscribe to. And so we know they're out there. This is just a way for us to bring them together and to shine a spotlight on them and to... Kind of pull together the elements that we know can be brought together for the benefit of those folks. And for us, it's largely about shining spotlight on those folks. Yeah. And we talk an awful lot that there's a lot of dealers out there that live in a silo. They just kind of loan man all of that. And we really, really encourage that dealers get involved with peer groups and those kind of things. But this is, you know, those of you out there that have been involved in a peer group, right? so much value from something like this. Think of all the value points and the things that you have gained from perspectives and ideas and all of that. And this is around the squiggly lines. And most of the peer groups are around very straight line things. This is around squiggly line stuff. And so we know that there are a lot of dealers out there that really, their primary way of doing business is being honest and really working with the customer and being helpful to the customer and doing all that they can to help our customers be successful, not just in their loan, but just like elevate their success in, in, in those kinds of things. So this is, this is, um, uh, uh, community of bringing people together to, to, to be able to have the higher conversations, not just around cash in deal or, you know, I just, this is around how are we, uh, how are we, uh, moving the needle on success of consumers. Because there's all this underwriting stuff that we can do that is very, very straight line. But I just don't see an awful lot out there that is other than just a dealer, Lone Ranger out there working on how do I help our consumers and our community and all of that. And this is bringing people together under a banner of Yeah. And bringing resources, you know, we're supported at White Hat Way by three really stalwart founding sponsors. And so let me take a minute to kind of mention who they are, because I think everything that we do in this community will be, you know, can be anchored back to the support of, you know, in the order that they came to us. LHPH Capital. OK, this is a company which probably soon will. They won't appreciate the name that I would choose for them, but they're soon to be probably LHPH and BHPH Capital, which is not going to work. But you get the idea. They're also, they're moving into the BHPH. Yeah, Jimmy Rambo just joined them. And it's just funny. We've spent time with the team. I mean, the entire team at LHPH Capital. Great people. Yeah. Really great. Everybody says that. Yeah. I mean, they just, yeah, they're, they're really great people. And we, you know, we talk an awful lot about knowing the people behind the product and we've gotten to know Jimmy when she, when he was with a different company. And so when we heard that they were coming together, it's like, oh my gosh, that makes sense. yeah they're just really really great people and they they just have um they really want to see the success well and they're you know to understand who they are like when you if you are at niada and you walk up to lhph capitals booth I want you to understand who you're talking to you're talking to people who have been in the industry for decades they started out in the leasing business in california terry badler their founder was very much involved in helping to rectify a big ethics problem they had in leasing in the state of California. Right. A lot of the playbook for that kind of stuff. And so you're talking about somebody who's been living this whole thing about, um, you know, ethically conducting business. Uh, so that's, that's who that company, that's where they're founded. Like they, they come from that sort of fiber. And so I think it's important when you, when we talk about long game, LHPH capital is playing a long game. They're solid people, solid, you know, financial, um, company and looking really at making a difference in the industry and being a solution to many. And so certainly, uh, We aligned and they joined us quickly in White Hat Way because they align on the trust and transparency and the elements that White Hat Way stands for. So we're thrilled to have them. Next came Dealer Re. Dealer Re is a reinsurance agency. Been around thirty years. Tim Bird is somebody I've known for probably ten years or more. And, you know, again, you meet quality people who really you feel. When you meet them, you feel the connection around some of these core elements about being trustworthy and not putting profit over the long game and making customers happy long term. Yeah, that's one of the things is that they play the long game. And they're very family-oriented in the business and just have... Their, that ethics and values are forefront. Oh, sure. In how they communicate who they are. Yeah. And same thing with their company to a person. It's really- Quality people, just, you know, all of them interested in supporting White Hat Way and the story and success that is White Hat Way. So we're thrilled to have Deloree. And then the third and final founding sponsor is Pastime, the GPS company. And, you know, that's also a company. I don't know if you saw on LinkedIn today that Corinne is celebrating twenty years just herself at Pastime. Yeah. okay and so this is the company that's also been around for thirty plus years and I think again if you walk up to pastimes booth at the niada convention it's important to recognize that who you're talking to is they're one of the first two companies and they're the only one of those two that's still around that was early early automotive subprime financing providing a solution to dealers They're, they're now a very large, successful global company. Yeah. They, they still recognize that their roots came from buy here, pay here. Yeah. And they are, this is why they're at the NIDA convention. And I can say that their business is much larger than just buy here, pay here. I mean, it's, it's, it's, and not even just independent or whatever, it's fleet management and just so many, they just really want to help people be able to keep track of the assets. And they have a very personal story around buy here, pay here, and that experience of the customer. And Corinne actually, Corinne's father was one of the founding founders founders of Pastime and the stories that she's told around, we've been in the shoes of the buy here, pay here consumer. And that has always stayed with them. And I think that's why they stay, that they keep a really deep roots in NIADA and buy here, pay here specifically. Yeah. And pastime just continues to lean in around these things that provide better solutions to dealers, that provide better solutions ultimately for consumers. Because, you know, I can tell you that, you know, Chris Machika over there shares the outlook. And this has been an interesting thing for me as a coach in navigating this space for, you know, a couple of decades now. You you see that GPS becomes that that obviously is attached to the car, which is the collateral, and it makes it really about the collateral. And Chris, from from the earliest times I remember meeting with him and really Corinne's dad stand before that, I remember having conversations with those people. around these things as a coach and somebody was writing articles around the subject is like, you know, of course we need GPS. And I think what we, what we have an opportunity to do is to make sure that GPS is there as a backstop and that we're able to work through things in a way that, um, avoid the need to use GPS as a recovery tool. We know that's why it's there. Uh, pastime shared with me that they now have tools, uh, available in their system where the consumer can see benefits of having the pastime device in the vehicle. So it's just understand that when you're talking to pastime, you're talking about people who are very invested. They have invested a ton of money in our industry and over the decades. There are people who really believe in the long game and high integrity people. But also there are people who have invested in their own technology so heavily that you're going to have a hard time finding anybody who's developed a product that is more comprehensive in technology. I know we need to get back to the subject. We wanted to just talk a little bit about some of the founding sponsors because they are the founding sponsors of this movement. Well, let me give you another reason that it's relevant. As somebody who's done what I've done for twenty years, you meet people in the industry, you meet dealers, and you hear directly from them the stories, sometimes without them knowing about any affiliation, you hear the stories about, I didn't trust so-and-so, I had a bad experience over there, I had a bad experience over here, I had a great experience over here, these guys are always taking care of me. So when you hear those stories from dealers, you begin to develop an understanding about who Who are the trustworthy players in the space? And that's what, and the really cool thing is, is that, and this kind of goes into, um, like the next talking point for the podcast is the Lone Ranger problem. Um, that the, that our founding sponsors understand that, uh, That they, you know, they are, they will always be founding sponsors, but they would love to see other vendors within their space step in, step forward and be a part of this. And, you know, it's an interesting thing as I, and I look back on a more of a business level and a lot of the things when we are coaching are, dealers, that there are three elements that always come up. One is capital, one is reinsurance, and one is protecting your assets through a GPS product in the car. So it's just like they're very foundational to a lot of businesses, these three things. And so, yeah, we're really super, super grateful. But that Lone Ranger problem, You know, uh, so many, um, so many dealers out there, you know, they're, they're doing, they're doing their thing in, in, um, in their communities, but they're just doing it alone. We had a dealer on, um, a few weeks back and has, has been involved in a dealer, a group for a really, really long time. Doesn't put a lot of money into marketing and the traditional forms of marketing. He puts money in his community. And that his philosophy around this, it was interesting because he was, and I'm drawing a blank on, it was last month, but that in his dealer twenty group, he would talk to the dealers about this is what we're doing. And they're all like, you're crazy. This is, you know, you should be doing it this way. And then as they got to know him and saw the success he was having, by doing something different where he never, he just, he's like, I don't lose cars anymore because people self repo. And then they come back and all of these things. And so, you know, so many dealers are out there doing it alone. And this white hat way movement is giving a voice to those kind of people. practices and dealers and you know best practices that are out there and um you know it's it's we don't we don't need to to feel like we're alone or that we want to hold everything so close to our chest because that's you know the secret sauce is why but it's like what imagine yeah what as if all of these lone rangers came together yeah and imagine how we can shift a whole segment of our community. Yeah. I think, so keeping this in a white hat context, like there's, there's peer groups and there's, there's the Lone Ranger aspect of, because to me, the Lone Ranger piece is two different things. There's, or there's two different ways to think about that. There's, There's a Lone Ranger who's a new dealer who's out there kind of winging it and figuring out business on their own. And I think what dealers will hear me say in the room on next Wednesday when we speak at NIEDA is that. the whole thing about going by the seat of your pants, it's, it's not going to work so well next year and going forward in this industry. So that's the dealer who's kind of by themselves, figuring it out, asking really tough questions and that really deserve a long answer, but they're operating on short answers in a, in a Facebook group. And like, that's, that's one version of Lone Rangers out there just kind of winging it and figuring it out as an entrepreneur. Then there's the, the, Lone Ranger, who is a true and true white hat operator. They might not yet wear the white hat certified seal, but they're a white hat operator. And they've been making investments and doing the hard things with customers and playing the long game with customers. But they could use some help from... a coalition of like-minded people to support that sort of message so that from a campaigning standpoint, from pure messaging standpoint, they can get some help in getting the word out about how that way of doing business is different and why consumers can be drawn to that. So this is what White Hat Way can do as a community that a dealer would have a hard time doing for themselves. Yeah, and there's a lot of support out there for dealers that are looking for improvement on straight line things. I mean, there's a lot of support out there. There is not a lot of support out there for dealers that are looking for ways to do the squiggly line, the heart piece, the... And coming together with ideas and best practices around the squiggly lines, the intangibles. I hate it when we call it an intangible because it does weave into the tangibles because you do see, just like the dealer is like, we don't lose cars. And that's because they lean heavily into the squiggly lines. and you know community and connection and you know communication and and just the outreach of of how can we help you how are things going yeah um that most dealers just feel like I don't want to do that that scares the crud out of me because then they're going to tell me something's wrong and then I've got another can of worms that I have to repack and yeah you know I don't hate that we use the word intangible and intangibles and here's why it's, it's relevant. It's important to talk about it. It's challenging to talk about it. I accept the challenge. Like one of the things that I said in the certification course in February, and I'll say it again this weekend, we accept the challenge of, of working to make the intangibles more tangible. And just because we're talking about something that's more than buy here, pay here more than day-to-day practices, It still has to be able to tie back to their practices because we still expect our dealers to be profitable, successful, generate profit, generate positive cash flow. Why? Because they've got to stay in business. You can't serve customers who truly need help in their community if we don't stay in business. So we've got to help them from an operational standpoint. So it's both. It's not intangibles only. It's both. But we're helping tie together businesses. why the intangible element is so important. So let me also kind of help folks think about when they think about this white highway community, I want to, I want to paint a picture and forgive me. I'm going to have to manage a little bit of emotion around this, but I want you to fast forward to the day when you've got a group of dealers in a room. Okay. So it doesn't matter the environment. I can picture the environment that will take shape as we move forward with white highway as a community. And as a, as a certified brand, if you will, um, But I imagine a scenario where there is a group of dealers standing and maybe they're in a cocktail reception. But what they know is that every dealer in that room that they're talking to shares the principal part that is White Hat Way. So that's the part that makes your community different going forward is that you know that every dealer, every vendor that you're dealing with in that community shares this outlook that when we operate our businesses based on principle and we think long-term, our chances of success are much higher, mostly just because we're aligned. We're more synergistic because we're on the same page about how we want to do business. And so this is why I think we're still going to talk about straight lines and inventory and all the stuff that is the buy here, pay here business. But we all know that at the core of that, At the anchor of all of it is this idea that we all in that community are playing a long game. We all support one another. We're all cheering for each other's success around principles. Being an independent dealer doesn't mean you're an isolated dealer. Right. And, and I, and this is, there's, there's a, there's a, a mindset that I, Jim and I, we've talked about many times and, and I still don't fully understand that. The mindset. Yeah. And that is that I don't want to be a part of a smaller group of dealers, of other dealers that are nearby. Yeah. And I'm like, I really don't understand that. You may never, hon. I know, I know. It's something I would urge you to accept because we just see in our industry, there'll be people who, not everybody's going to be drawn to this way element, right? Not everybody's going to be drawn. That's okay. We're going to continue to invite. We're going to continue to hold the doors open. One of the things that, you know, is kind of a concept that we, have lived by and now we're stepping it up because the, the phrasing with a little help from chat GPT, and I don't know if others out there are using it, but you know, we've had in our appendix W for two years now, the, the idea of trust and transparency and honesty and all the things that, you know, way subscribes to, but now you think about radical transparency. Okay. So, and I think about inclusion, that's another anchor point in our, on our, uh, So this is something we keep saying is our community at White Hat Way is not an exclusive community. It's meant to be inclusive. It's meant to anybody who shares these principles and has a desire for, you know, I would say one of the key things for me that always comes back to the same thing. do you care about the ultimate success of the consumer that we serve of course most of us as vendors yeah we're thinking about the success of the dealer and of course we're going to do that and if we add to that we all want to see the customer also be successful that's one of the key separators well and it's I think that every every dealer out there wants the loan to be successful yeah And what we're saying is the consumer, if they're successful, if they are offered tools or whatever to help them be successful, the loan will be more successful. Yeah. And so it's, it's like going deeper. It's, you know, we, we see where, you know, and a lot of things you putting a bandaid on doesn't take care of the problem. And so, or the, the, the root cause, well, the loan success, the root cause, the loan success is the consumer. And it's not just an underwriting because it's the person behind the loan that is paying the loan that you want to support. And we talk about underwriting and all of these really very... And it's important. Don't get me wrong. It's important. But taking that step even further into it. And it's like the success of the consumer. That's what this is about. Not the success of the loan. Only because if the consumer is successful, the loan will be successful. And you will also change the relationship with the consumer. And that's one of those long game kind of things. And I think you have to be careful, Michelle, when you describe that, because I think dealers might hear that and conclude, well, what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to be more than a dealer. I'm supposed to help. I just think what we're talking about is providing resources and supporting the success of the consumer, certainly through your arrangement as an accountant. as with them as an account holder is is we start there and we make resources available that can ultimately serve them in other ways but I'm not I'm not trying to solve every problem in a customer's personal life that's not who we are supposed to be as a business but it's like I think it's just recognizing that we when we recognize the the The idea that customers are, to use Tommy Brandes' word, they're survivors. They're in a tough credit sector because of circumstances. Sometimes it's pure irresponsibility. More often, it's a set of circumstances that they didn't foresee. They didn't create. It just kind of fell on them. And so this is where I think empathy comes in. Like we want to approach our customers with empathy and help them to be successful in terms of what they do. And so this is what the work that White Highway is doing is one of the big pieces that's really exciting for us right now is the technology element. You're going to see us bringing technology to the industry on behalf of the white hat way community and, and others will benefit. I just mean that we're, we're driving that under the white hat brand because it's important for people to recognize what it represents and that it's anchored in this sort of cowboy code of honor. And the empathy piece for me is kind of one of the cowboy elements of the cowboy code of honor that doesn't get talked about is cowboys are sort of Part of the code, and maybe it's unwritten, is that they step forward to protect and defend those who aren't in a position to defend themselves or, you know, less advantaged, right? Yes. So this is part of what this represents and why the empathy is like it's active empathy. Yeah. You mentioned Tommy Brandes. Candice Bryce, who's a friend from Nebraska, great dealer, she talked about the knowledge gap. And so I was kind of thinking that there's a lot of organizations and all of that. And the knowledge gap is around just finance. Right. you know, how do you, uh, the moving pieces, how they work together and why they matter. And, um, and, you know, just giving, helping the, the, that gap is they just don't teach the same kind of things in school or at home that, that, Our grandparents were taught. And so that knowledge gap is a big thing. And we see there are organizations out there that are disconnected from our business that are attempting to educate. But we're bringing forward education through the dealerships that the dealers would be able to give their consumers access to, which is woven into the experience of something that it's part of this agreement. And it's part of... it's part of this part of their journey where, you know, there are, yes, there are a lot of organizations out there that are ready and able and willing and have great curriculums and all of that, but they're disconnected. And so it's a different way that a consumer needs to make a different conscious choice to step in on something like that. But when you bring them into um, like a dealer that is, that is belong to the white hat way community, it steps into, um, uh, you know, more of a, not the Lone Ranger, but like we're, we're trying, we're working on helping all of our, our consumers to have that, uh, to, to bridge that knowledge gap. That's right. One of the things that, of course, we have been working on the AI side. Folks have heard us talk about that. You'll see us rolling out material around the whitehatway.ai domain. Don't go there yet. There's no website there yet. But we have the domain. We have some artwork put together to begin to tell the story and draw people to the White Hat Way thing. We have meetings today and contracts going out around technology. um, that, um, are going to be a significant impact and benefit for the industry at large. Right. And, uh, and obviously we'll be doing it under the banner, banner of white hat way that all the work that happens there is kind of, that's the core piece. I, I, I wanted to just kind of get back to this idea that, um, if in fact, if you'll, um, I've got my screen ready to share, if you'll show that I'm going to, I'm going to take folks through because it's time for us to help folks understand it's all great. How do we, how do we get involved? Yes, and just a big shout-out to Meg Jones, who's over our marketing and her help in her team in redesigning our website. We appreciate them bringing their time and talents to the White Hat mission, and so this is part of what we want to illustrate. So when you hit whitehatway.com, You can see that the landing page there hits or the opening page says a community of folks who are conducting business with heart and acting on their desire to make a difference. And then you can hit get involved right there. You can also. Which is a way to get involved in the White Hat community. Right. And so White Hat Way is a mission. It's a brand that stands for something. And here's some details about that. what it is, an uncommon code of honor. And so you get a feel for kind of what those things that we referred to as part of our Appendix W. There's a little short video about us from, that's an old one. But again, get involved. Like the collective, we can leave the industry better than we found it. That's what this is about. When you hit the join the community page, you're going to say, oh, I picked the wrong one. There may be an issue in that one. But let's try this one. When you hit that, it's going to ask, click to sign up. You're going to put in your name. You're going to put in your role in the industry. And then you're going to indicate phone is optional and your email. And by checking this box, I consent to receive mission aligned updates, newsletters and related correspondence from White Hat Way and so on. So this is really it. Join the integrity movement. So I want to make sure people understand when we ask them to come join the White Hat Way movement, You don't need a credit card. There's nothing there that asks you for payment for anything. You're just saying, yes, I want to keep track of that mission. I want to be able to contribute to that mission where there's opportunities. And this is for vendors. This is for dealers. This is for affiliates. This is for, you know, you can be an independent contractor. If you have an interest in seeing the White Hat Way mission continue to build momentum. Mm-hmm. Drop your email in there. Let's keep you in the loop. Let's make sure you are informed about how the White House movement is moving forward. Absolutely. And let's just keep you involved. And the, yeah, it's, it's, it's. You can take down that share if you want. Oh, okay. Thank you. It's being involved in White Hat Way community, emails, that kind of stuff. It will really help a dealer to see if they're not able to catch up on podcasts, all of that. You're going to see over the next week a lot of social that's going out about join the community, join the community to be able to bring more and more dealers and vendors and all of those into awareness and And, um, and through those, that communication, I mean, there's going to be like, these are the things that are happening. Here's the tools that have just been created. All of the things I know I'm going to get emotional. Okay. We've been doing this. For three years, we've been the podcast. And this is our way of giving to our community. It's one way. Well, it's one way. And so the richness of... conversation or of tools or of things that joining the community is going to give you a closer access to all of the things that are happening and how how things that will help a dealer, things that will help a vendor, things and all of the efforts and the missions and the things that we've been driving forward to truly make a difference. And I do, I just want to, on this, I know we're not closing up quite yet, but this, thank you. Thank you to all of the dealers and all of the vendors out there that have reached out independent of any kind of marketing thing or whatever or step in. and it's like we know we know your heart and and and that there are it's a growing number of dealers that are like oh this is this is um what will help um, or that, that will help, uh, that, that the idea of coming together with other dealers, not around, um, the loan structure or, you know, those kinds of things, but around the things that matter to them. And I just am so grateful for all of those dealers that reach out or that, that come in, you know, I'm hoping that people will come in and swing by the the booth and just have a conversation. And I just am so grateful because there are a lot of dealers out there that are, um, this is, this is, uh, uh, I was about ready to do a biblical reference, but this is nourishment to them. And I'm just really, really grateful for the opportunity that we kind of like, we should do this thing to be able to bring some of these messages to the dealers and elevate the industry. Yeah. I would say that the snowball has momentum. Yeah. Okay. And what you can also expect, and you can hear this commitment from me, we're going to continue to tell the story and build the brand that is why I weigh that is going to continue. People are going to be naturally drawn to the message that is White Hat Way as a campaign, as a movement. So you can expect that that is going to continue. I'm not surprised that some people would be slower to come to the theme because they have some skepticism. It's okay. Whenever it makes sense, we want to have you come be part of a community that is really kind of standing on principle and making a commitment to play the long game and making a commitment to make sure that they do everything reasonable to... make sure their customers are successful. So this is all part of what the community is. And we, there are a lot of people out there. Oh yeah. Well, and it's, I, and I, the, one of the, the filters when, when we're working on different products or, or whatever, that it's like, what, what is the benefit? What is, what is the benefit? And so, you know, we, we, we've been taking notes and bringing notes to, to, to the podcast more, which I appreciate tangible aspects. So sharing resources and best practices in a very public way. Amplifying trust-first marketing efforts. Yeah, the trust-forward thing is important. Yeah, and there's a lot more that we can help unpack around know messaging and it doesn't you know it's that that's like all dealers it's there's there's a different way of messaging and um creating industry credibility that supports access to capital better vendor terms and more Yeah, let me tell you an actual story, and we don't need to say the people, but I can just tell you, when you start to think about how can ethics and principles and all these intangibles come into play for somebody in their business, like actually something that can show up on their bottom line. Let me give you a story. Lender says to me, Jim, I believe if you can get to a place where you can offer white hat certification, as long as we can understand what that curriculum is, we can begin to offer those applicants a lower rate, an adjustment to the rate. What's that going to be? Half a point? But that's very tangible indication that- You're going to be able to start because of your certification. Why? Because lenders, we've known, we've known this forever, that lenders lean pretty heavily on character. They need to know that they're doing business with people of character. And if they don't know them, then there's like a massive gap it's like there's so much trust that they're putting out there, that dealer. And it's, you know, yeah. To be clear, that's a vetted certification. What we're talking about today is the community, but it starts here. We support the community. We provide a track for people to jump into the certification. And we don't currently have a way to certify businesses. That will come down the line right now. We're certifying individuals. And so that can be vendor individuals, dealer individuals, you know, so that's right now. We've got vendors in the room for this event coming up. Oh, yeah. The next one on here is raising the bar through shared standards, not regulations. Right. And so, you know, this is a movement of raising that bar. Thank you, LinkedIn user. A much needed initiative, trust, and support can really elevate the industry. I agree. Thank you. And then the last one on my list was providing consumers through joining this community. We... we will be providing consumers a clear way to identify trustworthy operators. That's part of the seal. I know we say that all consumers are the same. There's a lot of truth in the knowledge gap and those kind of things. We know that all consumers are the same. We also know that our industry is riddled with mistrust. from both sides of the table and well-established deep mistrust. And so we have, we have, um, I know that there are consumers out there that long for the ability to know who they can trust. Sure. And that we also know when you really dealers, when you think about your customer base, our customers, you know, we talk about the rotten ones, but they are not the majority. They're not even the average. And so the majority and the average of our consumers are, want to get through. They, you know, they have every intention, they hit roadblocks, all of those kinds of things, but they also are looking for somewhere to turn that they know they can trust that they're not going to get taken advantage of. And so this is also deal structure has zero to do with that. This is about how do we, how can we as, as, um, as industry providers, um, show tangibly that, to our customers that you can trust us. It's like, it's, and, and if there's, if there's a misalignment, let's have a conversation about it. And so we, and, and not that, not that we're, you're going to step in and you're just going to be taken advantage of because the only thing they're worried about is getting the money. And, and that is an important thing, but it is, it's also the success of the consumer. Sure. Very good. I, I think we can move toward wrapping up. I think, so again, I would just say, how do you get involved and why would you get involved? It's like the reason you would get involved is because we want you to join the conversation. We want you to commit, you know, to be available to add your perspective and your suggestions to the thought, mostly near term. We want you to just accept the newsletter and keep informed about what it is that we are doing. That gives you an opportunity to sound off and add resources and contribute to the thing. Just a reminder, you know, that's going to be a very inclusive thing. We're going to be working to pull together all the resources that are available. As long as they align around this mission, then, you know, we're going to be happy to have folks involved and contributing, you know, their different ideas. resources and talents to the, to the grand effort. And so, because, you know, we know you and I, as the founders of White Hat Way as a movement, we don't do it alone. We, it takes, you know, it takes a lot of support for a lot of people and to keep this snowball kind of going. And so, but it does feel good that we've got momentum and now it's, it's starting to kind of pull together. And the reason it does is because it's a, it's a, it's a story and a mission that resonates. It's something that, you know, as people say, it's, it's needed. Yeah. And it's refreshing for those that have been thinking that they are Lone Island in this. It's like, this is something we can all join together and do this together. So if you missed any of this broadcast, we encourage you to go back and listen to the whole thing. Share it. There's only so far that we can reach. And- And we know that a lot of dealers out there that listen have other dealer friends that may not listen because they aren't aware or whatever. And so if you have a business, whether it be a dealer or a vendor or whatever that you truly admire, please pass this information along because it is really, it's a beautiful opportunity right now when just in a world where distrust is, is just, we are, it's in every way you turn and we are riddled with distrust and we have an opportunity to, to really, um, be an industry, be a group of people that can move that needle with those in our communities that need it the most. So, you know, just really, let's step into something bigger than ourselves. We don't have to do it by ourselves. We're, you know, we are working diligently to add more What the heck was that? I do. This is the right one. Hey, everybody. Again, happy Wednesday. Happy birthday, Adriana. Happy birthday, Michelle, tomorrow. And we will see you on Friday. And actually, we may be doing a recording. We may be doing... Jim may be going fishing. Yeah. I won't catch a fish, but I'm going fishing. Maybe not. We really appreciate your guys' support because we know that you have a lot. You're busy. Have a great day. And, again, thank you for all that you do in supporting White Hat Way and The Morning Show. Thank you. Enjoy your Wednesday.
