Just went Italian
07-18-2017, 11:54 PM
#41
Agreed completely. Nothing ventured nothing gained. "going for it" All words I live by. Reasonably, of course. I'd never put the stability of my company in front of frivolous purchases. We are putting in an offer on my dream home.
http://www.har.com/31-n-fazio-way/sale_87116450
This should be our last major purchase until I sell my company, then it's off to Maui by the time I'm 45. Lord willing. Gonna retire and enjoy golf and who knows after that. Maybe start another software company to compete with the software company I plan on selling. haha. Fk it. Why not right? But, I'm with you. Life is too short. For those on the GTR forums know, I had a stroke 2 years ago. After that, I changed completely how I did things. And I just said, look, if I win more than I lose, than I'm winning. Do I take losses? Hell yea. But at the end of the year, as long as bills get paid, my employees are paid and I have value in my company, then I'm good and maybe, just maybe I can live life and not have to work anymore. But, whatever. Until then, it's hammer down and on the grind every damn day. And I'm exactly like you. I remember when I started back in 04. I never thought I'd see $100k. Then, when I made my first $100k, I thought I made it. Then, it got to the point to where if I didn't make $100k in a month, I was bitching at people. haha. I mean, it's crazy how business just takes you places. But anyhow, my story is just my story. Just enjoy the ride and if people want to join you and have the like vision, then they are welcome to come on board and make it happen with me. If not, got no time for ya.
Congrats on your biz btw. Love hearing about people who build companies up.
07-19-2017, 12:42 AM
#42
Congrats!
Great sounding car and a very nice all around GT car (it actually doesn't need all the tech equipment to be enjoyable.)
Great sounding car and a very nice all around GT car (it actually doesn't need all the tech equipment to be enjoyable.)
Last edited by White Out; 07-19-2017 at 12:59 AM.
07-19-2017, 01:13 AM
#44
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
The thing that makes us who we are is we are strictly tech only. We file no docs, no paperwork, no nothing. It's all done via software and tracked by the FCRA. So, honestly, we don't do much around here other than submit docs online and click a few buttons and blamo. A satisfied client. The dealership has access, the client has access, I have access, my attorney has access, and the credit bureaus have access. So, we all can look at one client, see the action being taken, then accepting the results or deny the results, then we file suit against the big 3. At no charge to the customer. We charge the dealership. And our attorney's charge no retainers because they get paid on the back end after we file suit. It's complicated, but the software makes it into one nice shiny little system that runs pretty smooth.
We are trying to get this software app friendly. That is our next step. But, funding for that is something we aren't ready for.
Being a biz owner is fun. Well, 10% of the time. The other 90% is spent disagreeing on stuff that you actually agree on. Too many people with too many backgrounds that have the same common good, but they have different visions on how to get there. If everyone would get on the same page, business would be so much better. But, that's not how it works. We are humans. We have egos. My idea isn't accepted as word. My attorney's think they know everything when they don't. The FCRA has the last shot, when in reality, they don't. We just sue them. And the customer just sits and waits it out until everything is fixed. Which benefits the dealerships because we increase their sales by 30% month over month. Same goes to our Real Estate side. We basically at the end of the day play with data and information.
Last edited by txapezl1; 07-19-2017 at 01:21 AM.
07-19-2017, 03:17 AM
#45
Melting Slicks
That is an awesome house. Once you get moved in you should post up some photos of the cars in the garage.
Seriously, it's absolutely stunning. 
07-19-2017, 04:04 PM
#48
Epic house, congrats.
Having spent long vacations on Maui, I'm not sure I could retire full-time there without some sort of job to keep my mind moving. A nice house or condo on the beach would be great to spend 2 or 3 months out of the year but I need me my racetracks!!
Having spent long vacations on Maui, I'm not sure I could retire full-time there without some sort of job to keep my mind moving. A nice house or condo on the beach would be great to spend 2 or 3 months out of the year but I need me my racetracks!!
07-19-2017, 04:45 PM
#49
I sell and manage auto dealership software. It's all credit based software. We implement it, my staff runs it. We basically are a concierge service credit software system for dealerships. We just launched last year, so we are just now getting it going and it's catching on. But, it's an sister company of my software that I've owned for the past 14 yrs. It's just strictly for auto dealerships. I also run software systems for the Real Estate industry as well. It's a credit software that syncs my clients directly to the 3 credit bureaus using the FCRA as our guidelines. I basically use the FCRA and my lawyers and we file suit against the 3 bureaus to get them to take action on our clients behalf. Needless to say, I'm constantly busy and so our my attorney's.
The thing that makes us who we are is we are strictly tech only. We file no docs, no paperwork, no nothing. It's all done via software and tracked by the FCRA. So, honestly, we don't do much around here other than submit docs online and click a few buttons and blamo. A satisfied client. The dealership has access, the client has access, I have access, my attorney has access, and the credit bureaus have access. So, we all can look at one client, see the action being taken, then accepting the results or deny the results, then we file suit against the big 3. At no charge to the customer. We charge the dealership. And our attorney's charge no retainers because they get paid on the back end after we file suit. It's complicated, but the software makes it into one nice shiny little system that runs pretty smooth.
We are trying to get this software app friendly. That is our next step. But, funding for that is something we aren't ready for.
Being a biz owner is fun. Well, 10% of the time. The other 90% is spent disagreeing on stuff that you actually agree on. Too many people with too many backgrounds that have the same common good, but they have different visions on how to get there. If everyone would get on the same page, business would be so much better. But, that's not how it works. We are humans. We have egos. My idea isn't accepted as word. My attorney's think they know everything when they don't. The FCRA has the last shot, when in reality, they don't. We just sue them. And the customer just sits and waits it out until everything is fixed. Which benefits the dealerships because we increase their sales by 30% month over month. Same goes to our Real Estate side. We basically at the end of the day play with data and information.
The thing that makes us who we are is we are strictly tech only. We file no docs, no paperwork, no nothing. It's all done via software and tracked by the FCRA. So, honestly, we don't do much around here other than submit docs online and click a few buttons and blamo. A satisfied client. The dealership has access, the client has access, I have access, my attorney has access, and the credit bureaus have access. So, we all can look at one client, see the action being taken, then accepting the results or deny the results, then we file suit against the big 3. At no charge to the customer. We charge the dealership. And our attorney's charge no retainers because they get paid on the back end after we file suit. It's complicated, but the software makes it into one nice shiny little system that runs pretty smooth.
We are trying to get this software app friendly. That is our next step. But, funding for that is something we aren't ready for.
Being a biz owner is fun. Well, 10% of the time. The other 90% is spent disagreeing on stuff that you actually agree on. Too many people with too many backgrounds that have the same common good, but they have different visions on how to get there. If everyone would get on the same page, business would be so much better. But, that's not how it works. We are humans. We have egos. My idea isn't accepted as word. My attorney's think they know everything when they don't. The FCRA has the last shot, when in reality, they don't. We just sue them. And the customer just sits and waits it out until everything is fixed. Which benefits the dealerships because we increase their sales by 30% month over month. Same goes to our Real Estate side. We basically at the end of the day play with data and information.
I had a business that was somewhat similar, I was on the collections industry and realized that companies acting as third party collectors could not communicate electronically with their clients, online payments were not secure and the owners of the debt (hospitals) could not manage their account statements in real time from the third party collectors. We put together a software package that integrated everything and collectors and debt owners could communicate via VPN and could do direct wire transfers and see the amount due and collected etc..
We were killing it had roughly 10,000 clients in 2000 and up until mid 2000's things were good, but the FDCPA made it much harder to manage and states started regulating our industry like banking and it became to painful so we sold to a large company that was then acquired by SFDC.
What I do now is work with companies implementing Salesforce.com and help them build out their external integration and manage their marketing and sales alignment and process. Huge demand as companies want to see direct ROI for all their marketing channels in one place.
08-04-2017, 11:00 AM
#50
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Interesting business, I can attest that the best way to not get anything done is to get an attorney involved. No offense to any attorneys but they have killed more deals then I can tell you in my career.
I had a business that was somewhat similar, I was on the collections industry and realized that companies acting as third party collectors could not communicate electronically with their clients, online payments were not secure and the owners of the debt (hospitals) could not manage their account statements in real time from the third party collectors. We put together a software package that integrated everything and collectors and debt owners could communicate via VPN and could do direct wire transfers and see the amount due and collected etc..
We were killing it had roughly 10,000 clients in 2000 and up until mid 2000's things were good, but the FDCPA made it much harder to manage and states started regulating our industry like banking and it became to painful so we sold to a large company that was then acquired by SFDC.
What I do now is work with companies implementing Salesforce.com and help them build out their external integration and manage their marketing and sales alignment and process. Huge demand as companies want to see direct ROI for all their marketing channels in one place.
I had a business that was somewhat similar, I was on the collections industry and realized that companies acting as third party collectors could not communicate electronically with their clients, online payments were not secure and the owners of the debt (hospitals) could not manage their account statements in real time from the third party collectors. We put together a software package that integrated everything and collectors and debt owners could communicate via VPN and could do direct wire transfers and see the amount due and collected etc..
We were killing it had roughly 10,000 clients in 2000 and up until mid 2000's things were good, but the FDCPA made it much harder to manage and states started regulating our industry like banking and it became to painful so we sold to a large company that was then acquired by SFDC.
What I do now is work with companies implementing Salesforce.com and help them build out their external integration and manage their marketing and sales alignment and process. Huge demand as companies want to see direct ROI for all their marketing channels in one place.
Had a lender yesterday call me from Phoenix. Interested. But, he had a massive ego. Has 20 loan officers and I'm like.......um, congrats. I have over 500 national agents working for us. So, he thought his system was what was needed when in reality, he needs to run ours. But, it was too much for him to handle mentally as it hurt his feelings and he'll continue processing his Real Estate clients how he's always been doing it. Not to mention, I'll increase his close rate by 30%.
If someone could come up with a software that can link the Real Estate software to ours directly, where they merge, then the whole firm can have access to our software, then that will change the RE game. I mean, right now, we can integrate some things. Take example Boom Town. Great RE CRM. If we could come together in heavenly matrimony, it will change the whole industry. But, that takes millions and brains and coders and developers and that's just too many people with too many ideas that will most likely NOT come together for the common good.
It is what it is. The dealerships are eating this up, so that is my focus. Some of these Real Estate folks can be booshy as all get out. But anyhow, good job on the sell. One of these days, I'll have my companies built up, then I'm gonna exit and enjoy my last years playing golf and being a freaking bum.
08-04-2017, 11:31 AM
#51
Melting Slicks
Since you guys are talking about your businesses let me tell you a little bit about mine. I own 2 used car lots and I do a Rent To Own program. How that works is there are no credit checks and no income verification. Say I own the car for $5000 the customer puts down $2250 and then pays $395 a month for 30 months. We have vehicles with down payments up to $7000 and sell a bunch of those to. They get a 2 year 26,500 mile warranty with it also. It is set up like a lease so the vehicle stays in my companies name while they are paying for it. This makes it a hell of a lot easier for me to repo it. It works out great because the ones I repo I have cleaned up and rent them out again. So far the record is 8 times selling one vehicle. So that's 8 down payments plus a few payments in between. Don't get me wrong some times we have customers that total their vehicles a couple months after they get them and we might lose a little but at the end of the day we always win. We had a customer turn us into the attorney general one time because we took her car because she let her insurance cancel and drove for almost a month without insurance. The Attorney general looked at our contract and started giving us **** until we told him the previous attorney general wrote the contract. We definitely get some interesting people..
08-04-2017, 11:50 AM
#52
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Since you guys are talking about your businesses let me tell you a little bit about mine. I own 2 used car lots and I do a Rent To Own program. How that works is there are no credit checks and no income verification. Say I own the car for $5000 the customer puts down $2250 and then pays $395 a month for 30 months. We have vehicles with down payments up to $7000 and sell a bunch of those to. They get a 2 year 26,500 mile warranty with it also. It is set up like a lease so the vehicle stays in my companies name while they are paying for it. This makes it a hell of a lot easier for me to repo it. It works out great because the ones I repo I have cleaned up and rent them out again. So far the record is 8 times selling one vehicle. So that's 8 down payments plus a few payments in between. Don't get me wrong some times we have customers that total their vehicles a couple months after they get them and we might lose a little but at the end of the day we always win. We had a customer turn us into the attorney general one time because we took her car because she let her insurance cancel and drove for almost a month without insurance. The Attorney general looked at our contract and started giving us **** until we told him the previous attorney general wrote the contract. We definitely get some interesting people..
Last edited by txapezl1; 08-04-2017 at 11:53 AM.
08-04-2017, 12:06 PM
#53
Melting Slicks
We don't get a bunch of the $7000 down ones. The average down payment is $3500. Basically the more expensive the vehicle the more they need down. It's amazing how quick people can come up with money when they need a car. We get the people that have screwed all the lenders and now we are their only hope. We do regular financing also. I advertise NO CREDIT CHECKS and we get a lot of people that think their credit is bad then we do regular financing for them at still make a bunch because they have to have a car. I like to keep about a 40/60 split with us doing more Rent To Own because I make more..
08-04-2017, 01:38 PM
#54
^ Agreed and nice on the SaleForce. And the crazy thing on our end is once a dealership or Real Estate firm or Mortgage Lender gives us their clients info, we honestly don't even have to do any follow up as obviously the software does all of that for us, but, dealerships and RE firms already have their own CRM, so they can plug in their own client data and keep track of their own clients via their CRM instead of HAVING to use ours. Ours is pretty much a back up as far as client data goes, but it's 1st when it comes to the progress of their online dispute statuses. So much can be done using tech, but humans tend to fk it up. haha. I deal with it every day.
Had a lender yesterday call me from Phoenix. Interested. But, he had a massive ego. Has 20 loan officers and I'm like.......um, congrats. I have over 500 national agents working for us. So, he thought his system was what was needed when in reality, he needs to run ours. But, it was too much for him to handle mentally as it hurt his feelings and he'll continue processing his Real Estate clients how he's always been doing it. Not to mention, I'll increase his close rate by 30%.
If someone could come up with a software that can link the Real Estate software to ours directly, where they merge, then the whole firm can have access to our software, then that will change the RE game. I mean, right now, we can integrate some things. Take example Boom Town. Great RE CRM. If we could come together in heavenly matrimony, it will change the whole industry. But, that takes millions and brains and coders and developers and that's just too many people with too many ideas that will most likely NOT come together for the common good.
It is what it is. The dealerships are eating this up, so that is my focus. Some of these Real Estate folks can be booshy as all get out. But anyhow, good job on the sell. One of these days, I'll have my companies built up, then I'm gonna exit and enjoy my last years playing golf and being a freaking bum.
Had a lender yesterday call me from Phoenix. Interested. But, he had a massive ego. Has 20 loan officers and I'm like.......um, congrats. I have over 500 national agents working for us. So, he thought his system was what was needed when in reality, he needs to run ours. But, it was too much for him to handle mentally as it hurt his feelings and he'll continue processing his Real Estate clients how he's always been doing it. Not to mention, I'll increase his close rate by 30%.
If someone could come up with a software that can link the Real Estate software to ours directly, where they merge, then the whole firm can have access to our software, then that will change the RE game. I mean, right now, we can integrate some things. Take example Boom Town. Great RE CRM. If we could come together in heavenly matrimony, it will change the whole industry. But, that takes millions and brains and coders and developers and that's just too many people with too many ideas that will most likely NOT come together for the common good.
It is what it is. The dealerships are eating this up, so that is my focus. Some of these Real Estate folks can be booshy as all get out. But anyhow, good job on the sell. One of these days, I'll have my companies built up, then I'm gonna exit and enjoy my last years playing golf and being a freaking bum.
08-13-2017, 11:18 PM
#55
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
We should talk! I'm also an inventor and have helped create some amazing technologies leveraging cellular and Bluetooth for relators. I have some developers I work with that are former ibm and dell coders. Would like to hear more about this integration with realtors and your product.