Faith Over Fear: Brad Walters’ Story of Business Transformation | Auto Industry Series

Intro: Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes how they’ve overcome adversity and explore current challenges they’re facing.

Anthony Codispoti: Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Kodespode and today’s guest is Brad Walters, General Manager of Paramount Automotive with 18 car dealerships in North Carolina. Their founder, Benny Yount, took a job at Paramount Auto Sales. Years later he would buy the business and over time grow it into a strong collection of brands and locations. Now under Brad’s leadership Paramount has seen significant growth and recognition for successful leadership in the automotive sector. With more than eight years as a general manager Brad has guided teams to meet ambitious sales goals while staying focused on customer satisfaction. He previously worked as new car sales manager at Hendrick Honda Hickory and also owned a business in the automotive industry. His broad experience has given him a deep understanding of what it takes to thrive in a competitive market but his career in the automotive industry almost came to an early end because of some big challenges that we’ll hear about. And along the way Brad actually realized that he’s not really in the car business at all.

If you’re confused it’ll make more sense as we get into this episode. But before we get into all that good stuff today’s episode is brought to you by my company Add Back Benefits Agency where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee, per year and extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today the managing partner of Paramount Automotive Brad Walters. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today. Sure. Hello. Good to see you again.

Likewise. All right Brad so tell us about the early days of being first around the car business and then in the car business with your father. What was that like?

Brad Walters: You know early on and this was years ago I’m talking about 1989 and even before that when you’re considering washing cars and moving cars and before I could even drive you know my father’s been in the automobile business his whole life therefore pretty much my life. And so early on you know I was just around it you know didn’t appreciate it for what it was it was just a way for me to to make a little extra money and and to be around my dad so that was that was the early part of the car business and then eventually after college and you know I was had an opportunity to actually work in the car business and it wasn’t something I grew up wanting to do Anthony it was just something that I was around and you know after a short scent playing baseball in college and then getting on academic probation it was kind of he had an opportunity for me if you understand what I mean he wasn’t paying to go back to school so he had me an opportunity working with him and so that’s how I actually got in the automobile business which so I didn’t really choose the automobile business it kind of chose me in that regard.

Anthony Codispoti: So short stint playing baseball academic probation what happened there?

Brad Walters: What happened at school? Yeah it’s you know baseball went to UNC Charlotte to play baseball for a short time and quite frankly if I look back Anthony that was a you know in the recruiting process I should have had a little bit more discretion where I wanted to go had a couple opportunities and I feel like I ended up choosing the wrong one this isn’t this is this is not anything on any particular person but the fit was not good for me you know and and my dad was you know to his credit was never really somebody that pushed me to play sports I enjoyed playing sports so that was a that was a competitive outlet for me I was kind of a quiet kid but I had an outlet in competitive baseball and I did that from the time I was little to an opportunity in college and at that point in time when I got to a point where I didn’t feel like it was a good fit that was pretty much it for me you know I didn’t have the same reason he didn’t push me to play was the same reason he didn’t push me to stay and so I look back on that and you know you certainly think well it wouldn’t have been different maybe if somebody would have given a little bit of resistance on my end in terms of hey you sure you really want to do that and and from that decision to the academic probation was you know kind of caused me to like lose a little bit of interest in pursuing that and again that’s that’s that’s that’s me so that decision was on me and and once that was taken place you know my dad came to me like most dads would and said listen I have an opportunity for you you know just the school you know I’m not sending you but I’m not paying if you’re not interested I’m not paying you if you’re if you’re really not focused on what it is that you want to do so how about you doing this and then you can determine whether you want to go back to school or not and so it was kind of a it was kind of a temporary thing but it ended up being a permanent thing

Anthony Codispoti: and tell me about then the early days of coming out of college and into the family business was it something you took to right away was it a good fit for you

Brad Walters: you know what it was you know my dad didn’t think it would be but he was giving me an opportunity because I remember him saying hey he had just bent in that regard and said hey Brad you know he sat me down he looked me in the eyes one of these serious talks and he’s like you know the car business is not for everybody son and he said if if you don’t do well in this he said it doesn’t make you a bad person doesn’t make you a failure he said but it may just not be for you and he said and we’ll find you something to do so I had a really caring loving dad you know he’s like me as a father I don’t make all the right decisions with my kids but our intentions are always there and and his intention was always there so at that point to give you a little bit of background I was not someone who talks like I do now I’ve learned to talk but I was not but I the competitive outlet was playing sports I was very comfortable in that arena and so what I had to determine real early on was could I get could I be competitive enough in this adult environment to be successful and so I was really uncomfortable for a time but if you’re an athlete or any athletes listen to this no as you’re coming up you start looking around and you go okay well if that person can do it I think I can do it you know and it’s not an arrogance it’s just a natural okay well other people are doing it it’s not brain surgery you know I don’t have to have a rocket science degree to do this so let me go see if I can do this and so slowly but surely the competitive part of what we do which is very competitive it’s intense what we do for a living came to surface and I actually was pretty successful after about 66 months or so I was seeing some pretty good success yes

Anthony Codispoti: and so in those early days as you put it you weren’t somebody who talked like you do now yeah safe to say there was some shyness going on that you had overcome very much

Brad Walters: I don’t I don’t think it’s self-confidence so to speak because you know we’re all confident in certain arenas but it was just you know at that time I was 19 maybe going on 20 and all of a sudden my peers were you know very much older and my customers at that point in time were very much older so there was a little bit of intimidation factor of hey what’s this kid going to be able to do that’s going to influence me to spend money with him and in 1989 and 1999 or excuse me 89 to 90 you know it’s not as transparent as it is current day you know we there was a lot of um well non-transparent times you know what the situation where you could look online and look at cars so it was really more about the relationship you could build with the folks in front of you and persuade them to spend money with you and so in that regard you know that was where the uh little bit of shyness so to speak came in because you know it’s an 18 year old kid and you’re trying to talk to 40 year old 50 year old 35 year old people you’re you know and telling them how they should spend their money you know you had to grow up really quick in terms of what you knew and how you used the skills that they were that I was being tall

Anthony Codispoti: yeah at that point your life you just hadn’t had that much life experience especially as compared to a lot of the customers that you were interacting with

Brad Walters: correct so you feel your way through that but at the same time you know when you when you’re in meetings and you’re listening I was well trained so that you know that that was a key to my early success was hey I was trained well and so you know if you can if you can follow the thought process of the training and if you can consistently do what they’re training you to do then certain amount of success was going to come and it’s with any sales and you’re in it you know you kind of like you know you build a book of business over a period of time based on your relationships and and really the experience that you give the customer

Anthony Codispoti: and so that competitive spirit kicked in you’re following the the good training that that you were provided you started to get more comfortable and more successful and so then paint a picture what these next several years in the car industry looked like for you

Brad Walters: yeah I sold cars for a good five years which I enjoyed that you know I you know it was as a single person and somebody was you know in the dating world at that point time as a young person you know was making above average income and you know those first five years were if I look back you know the bookends of my life have been really good you know the the beginning of the time and the last the first five years and the last 10 years have been really really good because at that time I was really learning and as you’re building something as your competitive you know you you have a lot of self motivation to continue to get better and better and better and at that point in time for the first five years I was able to do that and I had no other responsibilities I don’t mean financial responsibilities but responsibilities inside the business I mean the responsibilities were what I handled you know in my customer base I didn’t have to work through any other individuals in order in order to make a living so you know once you make a once you make that jump into management now all of a sudden you’re utilizing other folks to bring along so that you can then make income so you know at that first five years I really enjoyed selling and at that point time when you’re when you’re successful in our industry the next move is okay well how about let’s try in the finance office you know you move kind of like that’s just a natural progression you go from a salesperson to the finance office and then from the finance office to the sales desk and then from the sales desk either general sales manager general manager dealer principal whatever is your whatever it is your end goal is but so that’s the first five years were very very good for me and in that five years I grew a lot you know and I and as a 22, 23, 24, 25 year old guy you know you learn a lot in that period of time and so the first five years were you know a learning ground very just you know cutting my teeth and and getting comfortable in the industry itself

Anthony Codispoti: so good five years of success in the sales part of things then did you follow that traditional progression and move into the finance office what was that like

Brad Walters: I did it it was interesting because even in our world you don’t know what until you have to actually make a living doing that particular role and what I mean by that is you eat what you kill in our business I mean you you know you don’t eat there’s no pay plan for not selling cars there’s no pay plan for not selling product you know so you know you until you actually get in the seat so to speak in finance and have to make a living based on selling extra product to customers making sure to secure their loans properly and all those types of things you kind of have an idea of what it is but until you get in there you really don’t know the ends and outs so that’s a whole different experience so it’s not like the first five years it prepared me in a way but it doesn’t prepare you specifically for that role and then how everything’s you know you know then you have influence on sales people that you’ve been working with for a period of time you know your peers all of a sudden now your peers are or someone that’s you know kind of reporting to you so to speak and you’re having to recruit them in order to to get you in yourself in a position to be successful in that particular office and and and and having having not if you do not navigate that peer scenario very well they can hurt you and not help you so fortunately again I had some really good guidance from people above me that you know earned the respect of the people that I worked with therefore when it was time to become a leader you know I wasn’t going backwards or trying to figure out how to repair things that I had done while I was their peer so those those transitions were good so you know the respect I had earned there not not from any other thing other than just treating people like I would want to be treated and just staying in my lane and and being successful as far as numbers are concerned so the next you know the F and I office was interesting but

Anthony Codispoti: and so did you continue the progression up to become general manager was there an opportunity for you to you know have your your own dealership

Brad Walters: yeah my dad at that time was partners with another gentleman here at North Carolina and also so I worked my way up into finance office and then after a few years went to the sales desk and so from the sales desk I went to be an a general sales manager at the time we were a chrysler dealer at Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ram my dad ended up leaving that partner purchasing of another dealership Chrysler Dodge dealership in Lenore North Carolina and so we were there um about was back in oh pussy oh eight that’s when we made that room to to no I’m sorry hang on a minute I get my oh eight was when we were having trouble that was when things started going

Anthony Codispoti: I was gonna say that’s that was when the the downturn

Brad Walters: started yeah it was in 2001 2001 we went to Lenore yeah okay so this for seven years there we were my dad had his own store there in Lenore yeah

Anthony Codispoti: and and did you ever become involved as a as a partner yourself

Brad Walters: I never was a partner with him Anthony but you know I was a general manager for that store for

Anthony Codispoti: and and then you may already sort of alluded to 2008 there being uh some trouble what what was that about

Brad Walters: yeah well you know in 2008 you know that was you know the economy had turned a little bit south I’d say you know that’s probably an understatement but south during that period of time and as a Chrysler dealer you know Chrysler in fact all three except Ford I think Chrysler and Chevrolet were both bankrupt at the time and during that bankruptcy you know when you were a Chrysler dealer and you needed let’s say you were in our case we were a little under capitalized at that particular time so when you’re under capitalized and then you have the situation where you’ve got residential property that banks are now calling notes on because they you know they don’t know what’s going on all they know is in 2008 and 2009 you know the banks were having their own issues so not only were the banks needing to be bailed out Ottoman bill dealers were going bankrupt and these bankers at the time I didn’t know exactly what was going on but they wanted to accelerate losses that’s what they were doing when they were getting bailed out by the government they wanted to accelerate losses go ahead and get them on the books clean them up and let’s move on kind of a clean slate scenario so we were kind of caught off guard when you have banks coming to you and basically saying hey we know you’ve been paying your mortgage you know on this particular property on time for however many years but at this point time we’re calling that wow you’re welcome to get some financing somewhere else but hey we’re calling the note okay so then when you go into another

Anthony Codispoti: bank so hang on a second Brad you weren’t even behind on your payments oh no okay

Brad Walters: go ahead it’s gotta understand the landscape here no no no we had gotten to that point so but but when you’re trying to figure out how to shop them you know a business mortgage on property and you’re a Chrysler dealer there was no bank you know again if we had been more if we had to build somewhat under capitalized and went over part of a stronger group or something like that but you know in an individual situation there I mean we’re just trying to make it where we were and so that put us in a really kind of a tough scenario to the point where my dad just basically says listen I’m not going to lose everything that I’ve worked for so we’re going to close and so so we ended up closing that particular dealership and my you know and again I was not a partner so what that put me in a position was okay well at some point in time I got to find a job because my income is getting ready to be you know eliminated in terms of that this concerns that’s to be honest with you that up into that point my life you know that’s where my real life started you know in terms of my story really starts when everything kind of goes away up into this point you know my life had been really you know kind of you know I want to say ideal but it really had not meet a ton of resistance Anthony up into that point and you know not because of any other thing other than I had a really good opportunity with my dad I had really good mentors I had good training I had really good industry I had I had learned I had progressed but at that period of time everything that I thought the the trajectory I was heading completely changes and that’s when you find out a little bit about who you really are and so at that point time you know when you come to that realization you figure out okay well now what you know and and again we talked about this off camera when you when you’re put in a situation like that you really just have to determine okay take inventory of where we are and who I am because at the time you know I have three young kids a wife she’s you know not working at the time so it’s a it’s a situation where you know it all falls on me which is great I mean I never have not wanted that you know it’s just the realization of it was okay well my income’s going away in this particular lane where do I go from here and you know I’d always worked for my dad which is great and I had built a lot of other good relationships as well but you know it’s it’s different you know when you’re you’re you’re basically 19 years in one direction you really never worked for anyone else so okay it’s time to go to work and

Anthony Codispoti: everything you had known up to that point was familiar it was on a certain trajectory a certain path you kind of had you felt like you knew where things were going like you you were following this progression and then very quickly the the rug kind of gets pulled out from under you

Brad Walters: yeah that’s right and again the lesson in this to me and to everyone listening to whoever’s listening is is the blessings come in all kind of different ways you know they just come in really really interesting ways and you know had you known and I think back in my life where I’ve learned the most which is 100 during the times where it’s the toughest and would you want to go through those times no you don’t want to go through I mean if you knew ahead of time you would just you know you just abstain and just say no I’m not going to do that and not and take another route but always on the other side of those things is when you actually grow and and can sustain growth because it’s it’s it’s you learn a lot about yourself you learn a lot about your faith you learn a lot about your family you learn about your friends you learn about everyone around you how they act during a you know and listen hey I’ve I’ve had wonderful friends wonderful relationships and you know and you know even in tough times if I needed to go to somebody and to get a little bit of help or here you know I had I had wonderful I had wonderful friends who were able to do that the issue is you don’t want to do that as an adult I mean that’s the last thing you’re interested in doing so during that period of time Anthony that I had to determine okay well what do I have to offer from this 19 years of moving in this direction and now I’m not exactly sure where to go from here so what do I have to offer well I have the skills that I you know I had accumulated over a period of time I had the experience and so and I had the will to work so those three things kind of propelled me into okay well let’s start walking you know I don’t know where I’m walking to you know pray about it and you’re like you know hey I don’t know it’s really devastating I mean I mean if I’m really open internally and and what I found out though during that period of time and I learned so many lessons was the actual thought of losing all these things and the inevitability of it and and when you’re looking at your circumstances was much worse than when you actually lost it oh interesting because once you lose it there’s no fear of losing at that point time again going back to well what do I have to offer

Anthony Codispoti: and I can the fear of the thing happening was worse than the thing happening itself oh absolutely and what and speak more specifically about what you were afraid of losing income income

Brad Walters: home cars you know what never really considering losing my wife you know I have a beautiful wife that’s hey we’ll be next year or actually this year since 2025 we’ll be married 30 years so we’ve been together since 1992 at the anniversary I don’t have three kids and they’re you know I had a son and in 25 months later we had twin girls so I’ve got three children while within 25 months of each other they’re adults now and doing well so but I but you know I never I never thought about losing her or them but just our our lifestyle as it was so never lost a home never lost her car you know Lord provides in all kind of different ways so you you kind of just move on you don’t feel so you don’t really have time I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself too much you know it’s kind of like I was put in a situation where it’s like okay it’s just me you know I mean yeah I can ask her to go to work or but I got to figure out what to do because I got to provide for this family you know and my children were very young and you know they never I tell them this story that I’m telling you now they have absolutely they really weren’t affected very much by this they had no idea what’s going on and so but at the same time you know I get to tell the story now and and I know I talk and I go on but I really it’s therapy for me almost talking about this story because it’s it it impacted my life in a great way and when I did move to the next step which was I went for a short period of time we had a property that we rented it already rented up the street and so for a short time I went into the independent automobile dealers dealers arena for a period of time and kind of just sold some used cars as an independent dealer until I got to the point where hey you know I need to go get up like a real job you know because I didn’t have enough money to sustain that so what I did at that point time was one of the people that I called on to actually buy these used cars that I was selling was the Honda store in in Hickory, North Carolina and so I got to know the managers there and then I got to know the general manager and he and I you know as a relationship built as all things go you know it’s like hey is there an opportunity and and there was and so when that came about it was a great learning process for me because I got to learn under someone other than my dad you know another side of a pretty good size corporate dealer body so you know Rick Hendrick has a lot of stores and you know what a wonderful listen they have a wonderful business and I enjoyed working there and so but I think you when I talked earlier you know I’d always had my influence from my dad and you know and there’s a not his fault or anybody’s dad’s fault necessarily but you tend to want to please your dad you tend to want to please your parents and throughout this whole time that I was working in this business I tended to skew more of what I thought he wanted me to be as opposed to who I really was in my in in my personality and in the way that I did things you know now you can ask a lot of things selling because you’re really on stage anyway I mean you know you don’t have to you don’t have to be you to sell you know you just have to be somebody that someone wants to listen to and you have enough you have enough of the things that they want in order for you to move forward so you know I have to necessarily be authentic to be a good salesperson

Anthony Codispoti: so what were some of the things that you learned about yourself and maybe a different way of approaching things working for Hendrick

Brad Walters: it’s it’s the authenticity that if I could look back and say okay what was the difference maker from that point on from 2008 on would be that I finally got to a point where I was just okay with me you know in terms of of how I wanted to treat people how I wanted to do things I kind of got an opportunity going to another place to just be me because no one knew me beyond me because it

Anthony Codispoti: was so what was the real Brad Walters like under

Brad Walters: yeah previous been here always been a natural encourager I’ve always been a natural coach you know it’s like that when I played baseball you know I really was the one that you know it was very easy for me to want the success of other people and and you know I never wanted to be successful at the expense of someone else ever you know and and to the point where you know I just really look after my teammates and I’m not patting myself on the back this is just natural it was natural for me to do that and so I wasn’t always that way because my dad’s personality is different than my personality and and he had really built a business I mean he was really he was one of the guys that hadn’t you know they grew up very very poor was able to get into the automobile business and and just take off and and and this this is one industry it’s a little different now because it’s so much capital needed in order to to be very successful but back in his day you know you had a lot of opportunity you know you know you didn’t have to be so capitalized that that people would give you an opportunity on franchises and new franchises were coming out I mean you know these a lot of these franchises that you know now Honda Nissan all they they weren’t even franchises back when he got into business and so as it’s grown they’ve had opportunities Benny’s very similar in that regard you know Benny and my dad are close at the same age and Benny had an opportunity you know starting out as a I’m talking about in a small dealer here in town is an independent dealer and was able to work his way into an opportunity at a new car franchise and then from one new car franchise became many new car franchises and you know it’s just a that’s a wonderful story in and of itself but my dad’s personality and my personality were different because we were coming from totally different places we’re two different people he’s coming from a place of where he started to then and I’m coming from a place of where he kind of gotten to and where I started on my own and so I really felt myself because I didn’t know you know in early on I’m thinking okay well in order to sell in order to be a part of this I may have to be somebody that I’m not naturally because it’s a young man you don’t understand that you know what you’re doing on the ball field is the same same thing that’s going to be going on on the showroom floor you don’t understand that because one’s more intimidating the other I grew up on my like playing baseball it was very natural for me okay then all of a sudden I get into the showroom floor of a lot of older people who I don’t know a lot about and and I think it’s a totally different arena and and it’s not but for for years and years and years I thought I had to be a certain way in order to gain influence in order to gain leverage in order to be successful and it didn’t need to be that way it I needed I I would have been much more successful had I just been me from Jump Street and used my use what natural abilities that I was given which was you know I like to encourage you know I like to coach I like to sacrifice from a teammate I like to do I could have taken all those things and and rolled them into what am I doing for the customer and what am I doing for the company and I never put that together

Anthony Codispoti: until so I want to I want to kind of pause for just a second before we move forward with the story and kind of sum up what we’ve heard here because it’s it’s kind of an interesting arc right so the first several years of your life you were on this good path you know there’s sort of the blip with the college and whatnot but you get into the car business you’re finding some success you’re doing the things the way you think your dad wants them to be done and then all of a sudden 2008 2009 hits the rug gets pulled out from under you and the the really interesting thing that you said here is this is where my life story really starts up until this point I didn’t really have resistance or friction and it’s so interesting to me to hear you say that it was that resistance that friction that you ran into that really started to I don’t know this new chapter in your life allowed it to unfold and and so as you’re moving through this difficult time and realizing man I’ve got to get up I’ve got to walk I have got to find you know new gainful employment I’m terrified of losing everything that I have and the other interesting thing was you sort of get to this point of realizing that hey it was the the fear of losing the thing was actually much scarier than losing the thing and let’s hang out here on this thought for just a second because you know I really want to call people’s attention to this because I think so much of the the stress and the anxiety that we sort of cause ourselves in life are you know worrying about things that may happen in the future and many of them never do right and with exceptions we are generally safe in the present moment but that stress that we put ourselves on that’s what wreaks wreaks havoc and you’re kind of living proof of this right

Brad Walters: yeah and it’s you know it’s a lot easier looking back you know you know as you see that but you know you can’t get any traction without friction I mean and you don’t know that until you have it and then and then realize okay well through this friction it’s it’s requiring the best of me you know so whatever that best is you know whether it’s okay well you know I really need help and you know I rely on my faith to help me you know I pray to God and I want the wisdom I want the right steps but you know again you know he keeps us in that he keeps us in the faith part of it too you know I mean I man has his plans but God directs his steps so you know you just kind of have to just you know stick with with the plan and the plan is very basic you know hey I need you and you know open doors for me well that’s when the doors started opening and again I didn’t know this you know as I’m looking back it’s much easier to connect the story you know and and so when I’m looking back and I’m thinking okay well you know the only thing I had to offer was me you know and I didn’t have you know and so what I had was my personality and I’m just thinking okay well open to this point I’ve had some success but I also had some defeats but when was I most successful I was most successful when I was when I was free to be me So let’s try it a different way. So that’s why I mean all that up into that 2008 and nine kind of set the tone for me is to give up on being someone else and start being me. And the fear a lot is driven by what other people think Anthony. And again, that’s the fear. What are people gonna say?

What is it? Because you have an idea, this is what I’m gonna be doing. And this is what I will provide for my family. You’re constantly looking, okay, well, that person’s doing this. And again, I go back to my beginning, which was, hey, I look around and say, well, they can do it, I can do it. So there’s a fallacy in that. The issue is it’s okay to look at that on the surface, but really it’s my race to run. It’s no one else’s race.

So if you can just be you and just run your race and concentrate on what it is you’ve got in front of you and make the best of it. That’s when things start getting better for you. Not looking to the sides and looking to other people or looking back at what you did, but hey, what’s happening to me right this second? What can I do to improve where I am right this second?

Not worried about later, I’m worried about today and how I can be successful today. And that’s where I was. I was crawl before you can walk and then walk and then do a little bit of running. But I never get out over my skis anymore in that regard because I understand that I have to get back to, all right, what am I doing right now?

Am I distracted or am I doing the best I can do today to maximize what I’ve been given? And that is people. I’m given the opportunity to make an impact on people every single day.

That is such a gift. And I don’t know how well I do at it, but I know I do better at it now than I did up until 2008 or not. That’s what I know. So.

Anthony Codispoti: So a couple of things I want to tap into here. You kind of go into this idea of your identity. Your identity was like for a lot of us, it was attached to what you were doing, right? What your business was, what your career was, what your, how you were earning money. And there are all of all the other stresses that are going on around you.

One that should be relatively minimal, but isn’t is right. What are other people thinking of me? And probably also to a certain degree, what am I thinking of myself? I used to be in this box over here. I was this guy, I had this title with this company.

And now that’s gone away. Now, how do I frame myself? What box do I fit into? And how are other people going to view me as I’m sort of looking for that next box? Yeah, that’s correct.

Brad Walters: Yeah, the identity is, is, is so important. You know, and again, I guess that’s what I’m saying when authenticity is that who am I really, who was I created to be?

And what, what do I do to maximize that? Because I am of the opinion that, you know, every gift that I have, every experience that I’ve had is designed for other people. Because everything that I can do that can help anyone needs to be utilized. You know, so every talent that I have, every, it was given to me, not for me, but for other people.

And so as I keep in mind every single day that I’m, and I’m studying, I’m trying to get better, I’m self-improving, I’m doing all these things. I understand the reason I’m doing it so I can give it to someone else because I can’t give what I don’t have. And if I’ve got people that are looking to improve their life or make more money, because, you know, I’ve had a lot of success with young people. And I think the reason I’ve had success with young people, and I don’t know this to be true, but this is just a gut feeling, is I am very impassioned about my youth and how I wasn’t authentic and how that stunted my growth. Even though, you know, the end is going to be better than the beginning.

You know, it really didn’t have to be that way. And if I can, if I can really tap into, hey, I know you want to be successful. We all want to be successful.

But what does that look like? You know, and if I can keep them from doing some of the same things that I did that kind of got me unfocused and off the right track, then that’s, that’s my lot in life. I mean, I am very happy with just being the person that went through some of this stuff so that I can then help some other folks and not go through it. That, that’s, that’s where I am every single day.

Anthony Codispoti: It sounds Brad, like this path really led to a kind of a foundational shift in how you view personal relationships. Absolutely.

Brad Walters: 100%. And I would have never known that had I not gone through it. I would have never, the wisdom just wasn’t there. I mean, it just, I mean, it was again, just not a lot of substance there, to be honest with you. I love my family, you know, I love people, but I didn’t know how to leverage those two things. Into what I do for a living. I thought it was separate.

You know, and a lot of people think it’s separate. You know, you got your family life over here and you got your business life over here and you know, you got to be this way here, but you can be this way home. And, you know, I found that, no, I mean, I can, I’m going to be the one person and I’m going to be the same person at home. I’m going to be the same person with my friends and I’m going to be the same people that work, you know, and my dad was really good at being different. He was really good at being different. I mean, he was one way at home and I mean a good way. Not any, but once you hit that payment, it was a totally different day.

Anthony Codispoti: He went into character. He went into character. And that’s what you did for a long time and it worked for you. But there was something that felt uneasy about it, especially as you’re going through this transformation and you realize as you’ve got this sort of new work opportunity, there’s a different approach here and one that feels more comfortable to me, more authentic to me to be somebody who is looking to give first, what can I help you with? What can I do for you? And that seems to be a big part of what let some of these doors continue to open for you. Yeah.

Brad Walters: And Anthony, also, you know, mostly the most of the people that you’re around in the world tells you that you got to take care of yourself. I mean, you, I mean, you got to, you’re the one to take care of it. It doesn’t tell you that, OK, by taking care of others, you and yourself are going to be taken care of. So it’s you’re doing some of the same things. You’re just doing it with a totally different perspective. You know, like I’m doing, you know, I didn’t change how I sell automobiles. I just changed the approach that I took every day of why I sell automobiles.

Anthony Codispoti: You know, and I want to pause for a moment on this, Brad, because this this foundational transformation that you went through, it almost seems a little unlikely to me because you’re going through a very scary and difficult period. And like you said, like the natural human instinct is you got to you got to take care of yourself, survival, right? I got to take care of me. I got to take care of my wife. I got to take care of my three small kids.

And so to me, the natural reflexive instinct would be, I’m going to keep doing things in a very transactional way. And how can I get more for me? And, you know, how can I get a safe place? But but somehow something flipped in you to where when you were in this, I don’t know, almost backed into a corner kind of a place that you did something that it almost seems non instinctive to say, hang on, how can I help you? I’m in a huge place of need, but how can I help you and you and you?

Brad Walters: Well, again, it’ll go back to my faith, you know, and because I’ll dive in that for a little bit. I mean, and, you know, the Holy Spirit led me to do that. It wasn’t it wasn’t me, so to speak. And I didn’t know exactly how, you know, but what I did know was and it goes back to this as well, you know, and I’m getting into I’m getting into some stuff. You asked.

So here we go. You know, tithing helped me a lot. And because I told my wife, you know, we had gotten to the point where it’s like, okay, financially, we were just in a, you know, we’re just barely getting by, you know, behind, barely getting by. And I said, Jennifer, I’m going to take full responsibility of where we are. I mean, I just got to take full responsibility of where we are.

That’s what you do in order to get better. I said, but what we’re going to do, we’re going to do this God’s way this time because I’ve done it my way and my way has been another mess. I said, but we’re going to do it God’s way this time. I said, I’m going to be available for other people. I’m going to give to other people what I have to give. I said, and we’re going to tie us. I said, and we’re going to tie us and we’re going to tie us because I had to say it several times because it was a situation

Anthony Codispoti: where that’s a hard time to make that commitment to tie them. Natural, you know, it’s very unnatural. And in fact, it is supernatural. So once I started doing that, Anthony,

Brad Walters: I saw what God will do with a tangible thing like money to the point where I can live much better on 90% than I could on 100% with the right attitude and the right heart. That’s what changed. And that’s what changed my life. And that’s what got me so sold out on the process of continuing that particular methodology methodology, because it’s all about giving, you know, and I understood at that point in time, the reciprocity is real. You know, and so the more you give, the more you get.

But the issue is you can’t give to get, you know, it’s just a really, really nuance to giving. And so once I started seeing that, then it gave me the confidence to still be me because I felt for the first time in my life that I was living the way I should be living and I was stress free in that regard. Now you still have your problems.

Don’t go away. They just become different. You know, they don’t, they’re just obstacles to either go over, go through or go around. They’re not, they don’t stop you.

They just slow you down. And so I started looking at obstacles different. I started not fearing so much of the future and understanding if I keep this process going, if I’m faithful in this area and I’m faithful in this area, then he will 100% be faithful in the other areas. And I don’t know exactly what that looked like at the time, but I can tell you this, I can tell you from 2008 and 2009 to 2025, my life is unbelievable compared to what it was up into that point in terms of home life. My relationship with other people, my relationship with God and how I feel about myself. So I’ll leave it at that.

Anthony Codispoti: That’s incredible. What does it look like for you on an ongoing basis to lean on your faith and to let God lead? Like is there, and I’m talking sort of, I guess, nuts and bolts, like are you sitting down to prayer and kind of listening for a voice? Are you sort of like listening for a gut instinct to the different options you’re considering? Like what does this look like for a man of faith?

Brad Walters: You know, I don’t hear voice. I never, I mean, you know, I hear some internal nudging, I guess, the Holy Spirit will bring back a thought or bring, but I don’t, I don’t hear any original voices.

I’ve just had that experience. But what I do, Anthony, you know, I get up every morning at five, 15 to spend time with him. And that’s where it’s in devotion. I write, I write out my prayers. I’m not a good, surprisingly not a good talker when it comes to prayers. I run out of steam and I run out of things and my thoughts don’t flow like they need to. So what I found work for me is I journal and I journal my prayers. And what’s interesting about that, it becomes a gratitude journal and it also becomes things that I want to accomplish journal as well are in my prayers, things I’m concerned about, things I would, you know, that, that, that I have as goals, things that he’s put on my heart. Um, and I end up being able to refer back to those journals. I continue to write, also get to check off a lot of things that, that he’s allowed me to accomplish. And as I look back at the things that I’ve accomplished, because you can really get, you know, in everyday life, you can forget all the things that you forget, all the blessings that you asked for that were answered. I mean, how quickly can we forget?

Hey, you know, will you please do this and boom, we do this and then you moving on, you know, it’s like, okay, what’s the next thing? And then you forget. So the journaling has helped me a lot. That’s what, and he’s spoken to me through my pen so many times because I, I, I start writing and I really write a lot of things that I go back and, and read. I’m thinking, God, did I write that? I mean, what was I going through at the time?

You know, and, and that doesn’t even sound like me, but that’s just always fear taking over my pen. And I learned that for me in it. You know, and people do it different ways.

Some people, you know, some people are really in tune and, you know, they can, they can prophesy and they can do all their stuff. Listen, he keeps me in the dark for a reason. You know, he knows I’ll get too far out there. You know, so, you know, every day is a step for me, you know, and, and I like it that way.

You know, it keeps it adventurous and it keeps me humble because I don’t know what’s coming my way. And, and so many things I’ve been able to accomplish that I never dreamed that quite frankly, I think I had given up on, you know, during that period of time, one of the things we didn’t hit on was. Dreams that I had that I gave up on. And that’s a tough place to be, but they were the wrong dreams. They were the wrong dreams.

And so now I only dream and that’s the truth. I’d like to do some things, you know, financially and I’d like to do things that my wife would like us to do, but that’s secondary. And I’d love to, I’m sure we’ll accomplish those things.

I don’t even doubt that. But I really, really, really want to impact people. And that’s really the only reason I kind of, and this may not impact a soul.

This particular podcast because of me, not because of you, but it may not impact anyone. But my desire is always to impact someone and tell them, Hey, you know, it’s okay to be you. It’s okay to find yourself in a situation where, you know, you know, it’s okay. It’s just okay. And whatever, whatever you, whatever you find yourself in, whatever situation it is, just remember that you, the friction is necessary for the traction.

So if you really want traction, just expect the friction. Don’t run from it. You know, I have to remind people around here, especially managers and leaders are my company. It’s like, Hey, the day that we don’t have problems is the day we don’t, we’re not needed.

So embrace, embrace them. You know, problems aren’t negative. Problems are a part of life. And how do you get better without solving problems? And, you know, the people who solve the most problems make the most money. If, so if you’re after money, learn how to solve a lot of problems. So, you know, and again, that’s, that’s what I try to do every day. Solve problems.

Anthony Codispoti: So Brad, let’s move kind of present day. Uh, how did the opportunity at Paramount open up?

Brad Walters: That’s another God thing. You know, I was at Hendrick and I had formed a relationship with a guy that was a former dealer here in town. He would come by and he would still buy some cars from us. And, and so I hadn’t known him only by reputation. I’d never met him.

And so I met him a few different times. And again, I tell people, you’re one hand shake away from your life changing. I mean, you’re one person, you meet one person and it can change the trajectory of your life.

You just, just meet people and be kind to people and do that because you’re really just, you don’t know how close you are to like your life really changing. But I had formed a relatively short relationship with this guy, but it was a good relationship. He told me several times, he’s like, Hey, I got a friend of mine that you really need to meet. And he said, you guys would really, really hit it off. And I’m like, well, who’s your friend? And he said, Ben Yon, I didn’t know anything about Ben Yon at the time.

Um, you know, and, but they were friends and good friends. And I stiff armed it for several times, Anthony, because I mean, I, I was really happy with what I was doing. I was just getting back on my, you know, financially getting back to where, you know, we could live and have some breathing room. And I really liked my team and, you know, it was just, I was really, felt like I was making a difference. So I enjoyed working there.

And he kept after me and kept after me. And I finally said, well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to listen. I said, but I’m not interested in like going up to the, his place of business. I said, I had to be at a kind of an obscure place.

I just listened in the conversation, but I’m not interested in leaving. So he did get us introduced and I met Benny at, he’s got a classic car place here in, here in town. It’s got some unbelievable classic cars. I mean, this is really awesome place, but he had an Anthony.

This is pretty cool. He’s got a replica inside his classic car place of his original office and building for the independent store when he started. And so he said, meet me over there. So we went in that office and I mean, I’m talking about wood paneling, old carpet, just one phone on the desk, just, just good old, you know, just independent cars. So we met in that office, just he and I. And we really hit it off. Like really, we connected really well that meeting. And we set up another meeting and Nick Kincaid, who is my boss, and he, he came that time, Nick and Benny, both, and we talked to him. And so we probably met three or four times because again, I was not interested in leaving, but there was something about that connection with those two guys that I just knew that I needed to pursue it.

And so I talked to my, to Jennifer, my wife, and I’m like, listen, I really feel like the Lord’s leading me to go work for these people. And she’s like, uh, I don’t, he’s not telling me that at all. And I said, well, pray about it. I said, because I just have that feeling. And I said, I don’t, anytime I’m uneasy in my spirit, I feel like there’s a decision that I need to make one way or the other, but it was a, it was a real stirring in my spirit. And I, I really have a, had a real piece about it.

And I told her, I said, Jennifer, I wrote a real piece about this. I said, I really believe God’s got a place for me there. And I said, because I, and in the back of my mind, I knew with Hendrick, I was going to have to move and my kids at the time were in middle school. And that’s just, that’s all, that was a big decision for me. And so that was in the back of my mind.

And then he’s got these locations here in Hit Creek. And so I said, I really have a, I just really had a piece about, and I did. And so the rest is history. And I told him I would come here. And so he said, we have a place here at our Porsche Volvo Volkswagen store.

And he said, I would like you to run that store. And I’m like, well, I have no idea about a Porsche. I know I don’t like Volkswagen. And I’m thinking to myself, I said, I don’t like Volkswagen. No, nothing about Volvo other than they’re ugly.

And, you know, Porsche is cool. I said, but I do know people. I said, so. And again, it was a real leap of faith. It was a real leap of faith. But I’m going to tell you how God works. Benny sat down with me the second day I was here. And he said, Brad, I have a, he said, I have a vision for that store and for you.

Okay. Now, keep in mind, I met this guy maybe four times and I’ve spent my second day and I’m not thinking anything other than I got to get to know these people because I’m going to have to have a lot of help. And he said, I’ve got a vision that he said, you’re going to change the culture of that store. And he said, and from there, he said, I can see the culture changing through all our other dealerships. Now that’s him saying that. That’s a big deal.

This guy’s been in business at that time for 40 years and I’m two days in. And I’ll be honest with you, Anthony, at that time, that didn’t really, it didn’t like send like major shivers down my spine or anything like that because I was seriously nervous.

Anthony Codispoti: You felt like you ran over your head a little bit. I got a job. And I’m, you know, here I am. But as I look back, that vision has come true.

Brad Walters: And that is God. That’s it. You know, and I’ve just been, and that’s why I’m really, I really want to emphasize I’m just a, I’m just a vessel on some of this stuff. Because I mean, he had the vision.

Nick’s got the leadership and they’ve allowed me to be me. And, and, and, and affect their employees. And that is such a blessing. And that all stems from that. Tithing. And we’re going to do it his way, because I couldn’t have orchestrated any of this. I, you know, in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have orchestrated.

Anthony Codispoti: You know, Brad, I’ve heard stories that kind of have a similar thread as yours where man, somebody feels like they’re just hitting their head against the wall. They’ve hit rock bottom. Things are not working.

And there’s this moment of complete and total surrender that takes place. It’s like what I’m doing is not working. I don’t know how to do this anymore. I give up, I hand this over to a higher power. Yeah. And that seems to be where the, the flow of changes really starts to begin. Yeah.

Brad Walters: That’s my story. You know, I don’t know if it’s everybody’s story, but it can be. But that’s my story. And, and I can’t, you know, I just look back and think to myself, I just can’t. If I try to take credit for it, I couldn’t take credit for it because it’s just, it’s just so unlikely.

You, you said it earlier. It’s just, it just seems unlikely and it is unlikely. And, and because there’s nothing special about me.

Zilch. I mean, there’s, there’s really not, and sometimes I have to think to myself, you know, I don’t know how I got here. But then as I go back through this, I’m thinking, man, what a blessing.

You know, I, you know, talking about journal, I started journaling, you know, years and years ago and I look back and there were some really tough times, you know, and I’m, I’m dating things in my Bible and seeing how, how the steps are coming, but it’s good for me to talk about things like this, because I don’t get to talk about this very often. You know, because I’m busy or, or, or, or somebody doesn’t have the context of, you know, it takes a long time to get context to this and you got to be close to my age to even understand, you know, some of this stuff, you know, the, and I understand that I can’t lay all that on a 21 year old and say, listen, this is how it’s going to be. And you know, you just have to be there for them when they hit the friction and just encourage them to say, Hey, you know, that’s necessary. It’s necessary.

Anthony Codispoti: You know, and the other thing that I understand is really important to you. And I’ll share something with the listeners here before, you know, we got on air, I shared the intro with Brad that we had prepared for him and it almost kind of blushed a little bit and was like, yeah, that’s all fine and accurate. But I really want to make the point that this isn’t me. Right. I’m a cog in this wheel. This great wheel with lots of wonderful team members around me. I couldn’t do this. Let’s hear it in your words because I know that was an important point that you wanted to make.

Brad Walters: And again, it goes back to our owner, Benny and Nick and Kate. I cannot tell you they have been such an inspiration to me and allowing me again to have, I mean, it’s their business and, you know, to allow me to have influence in their business. And, and, you know, from that, I just have a lot. I have such good people or we have such good people and, you know, they’re the ones doing the heavy lifting, you know, and it’s really hard for me now at times when I feel like I’m, you know, because I spent so much time in the trenches in this business and I love that. But my role is so different now.

And I kind of just, I’m back looking at all the people doing the heavy lifting. And really the only thing that I bring to them is some, you know, some experience and wisdom and some, and some inspiration every once in a while and making sure that the behaviors and that we’re moving in the right spot, you know, and, but at the same time, Anthony, I can’t pour that into a 25 year old. I mean, a 25 year old don’t have those experiences. A 25 year old doesn’t, he hasn’t been through a lot of what the older, you know, people like me have been through and that’s our role now. You know, that’s people like me as I roll now to say, okay, this is my experience. This is what I’ve learned. And, and this is how you can be successful quicker and have a more balanced life with your family and have, and have a career that takes you to the moon.

Anthony Codispoti: So let’s spin this around a little bit. And from a customer perspective, people who are coming into Paramount Auto Group or, or, you know, they’re considering coming in, they’re looking for a car, you know, because of the way that you approach things and because of the team that you have surrounding you, including the ownership and leader, the other leadership group, what would customers notice from their perspective about how Paramount is run differently? Okay.

Brad Walters: Well, a lot of companies say this and it’s just a poster on the wall, but we really, really practice GR 101, which is the golden rule. We really treat people the way we want to be treated, whether it costs us money or not, we’re always going to endeavor to do the right thing.

Period. And I think that comes across to our customers. That’s why we’ve been able to build a business.

That’s why we’ve been able to keep a lot of our clientele and continue to add to it, Anthony, because we really believe that. And some of the checks that you see that I write or that we write that we do that, you know, for things that we’re not necessarily responsible for, but we feel like it’s the right thing to do. You know, because in our world, you can hide behind an as is form.

You can hide behind a lot of technicalities that, you know, we’re not legally responsible after a ticket, but we’re obligated to our clients and we were okay with that. You know, again, it goes back to similar, hey, we’re give the law of rest process is real. We believe it. We practice it. And, you know, although we’re a business and we’re pro, you know, we’re for profit, you know, there’s, there’s still a level of stewardship that we have that certainly is not just with our employees, but with our customers. I mean, you know, because it’s a, you know, people buying automobiles, they, you know, they have a certain idea about who we are and how we do business. And, and we really try to be transparent and we let them understand that, hey, we’re going to do the right thing. I, we’re just going to do the right thing.

And I get to prove that. Um, and the phone calls that I get to the customers I get to talk to the phone calls with the issues that and our, and our leaders are also compelled to do the right thing. And they don’t have to ask me, you know, a lot of times we get counsel on this because we, we, we love counsel. You know, as we, we like to talk about things and do it, but we always at the end of the day and I’m not just, it’s not lip service. We always at the end of the day, you’re going to do the right thing.

Anthony Codispoti: And Fred, is there maybe a particular story and anecdote that you could give us that would help to illustrate that?

Brad Walters: Well, there’s a lot of different situations in terms of automobiles. We sell a lot of used cars in it as well. And, you know, used cars could be out of warranty, but we really, really do our best to make sure that all these things, we give you an example. Anthony, if you bought a car from me and it was a pre on car, you would know it as much as I know about the car. We would tell you exactly, Hey, this is what we’ve done. This is what we know. And Hey, if something takes place, we want you to leave here. And the only thing you got to be concerned about is, Hey, where I get my next oil change at some point in time, and I just want to drive it, enjoy it because I’m not interested in you leaving here and having to take it somewhere to get it fixed.

Bring it back to me and get it fixed. I mean, you know, you’re taking your time. You’re doing your research. You’ve got your budget. You, you need someone to trust.

So when you come to do business with us, we’re those folks and we relish in that. Okay. If something happens in two weeks from now, 30 days from now, 45 days from now, and you’ve got, Hey, it’s got a problem. And I think it’s within reason to say, Hey, you know, that’s not something we could have seen, but Hey, Anthony did this and he did this. And this is how it was done. We’re going to take care of that for you, Anthony. And that’s, that’s the stuff we do. We do it a lot.

And I find that people aren’t looking to take advantage of us. People are just really looking for someone help to help them, you know, because it’s a major purchase. You know, these are important, you know, people, they can’t work without transportation. You know, they can’t transport their families without transportation. And they need reliable transportation. And I’m not saying everyone should do it the way we do it. We just feel like it’s the right thing to do.

And so, you know, there’s a lot of businesses that do it different. And we pay for that reputation too. But we just don’t do it that way. And I tell a lot of people that, that our salespeople and different things, because they don’t understand a lot of times why we’re, you know, Hey, yes, costing us this amount of money, but it’s the right thing to do. Well, well, I don’t understand, you know, because I did everything right.

Yes, of course you did everything right. You know, we’re not, but we’re also not punishing what we feel like would be our customer that trusts us to do it. So we’re going to take care, care of that particular scenario. And we enjoy doing that because we feel like, Hey, it’s kind of like the tithing part. I go back to the time and, Hey, we’re going to give it.

It’s just, we’re just going to have to take care of the rest. And, you know, we’re so fortunate and so blessed and we’re, um, we love doing what we do and it makes it so much easier to come to work when I know I can pick up the phone or somebody’s calling me that I can solve their issue. You know, there’s very few times that I get on the phone and not able to help someone.

And, and, and when I find I can’t help someone is generally, I don’t think I could ever help that person, you know, because there are those folks too, you know, that, that, you know, you’re never going to satisfy. But for the most part, it’s just really freeing to be able to just come in every day and, and, and be on the same page with everyone to, Hey, we’re just going to take care of the customer. You know, at some point in time, we’ll get taken care of, but we’re just going to take care of the customer.

Anthony Codispoti: Brad, I just have one more question for you. But before I ask it, I want to do two things. First of all, for those listening today, I know that you like today’s content. Please hit the like, share or subscribe button on your favorite podcast app. I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch with you, Brad. What would that be?

Brad Walters: Well, I got a cell phone. So that’s the easiest way to do it. And I don’t mind. Here you go. 828-850-1970. That’s my personal cell phone. So I text and call. Like I said, if I can make an impact on somebody, that’s exactly what I want to do.

Anthony Codispoti: Very generous. We’ll make sure we include that in the show notes. Last question I have for you, Brad. I’m curious what you see the big changes coming to Paramount in the next couple of years, whether it’s growth plans or adoption of new technologies or something else that’s shifting.

Brad Walters: You know, Anthony, we have some of our brands are going to be looking at building new buildings, our Porsche store brand, our Genesis brand. You know, so, you know, we’re doing a lot of work.

We built a new Ferrari store in Charlotte and we’ve got some anytime you’re dealing with Ferrari and Porsche and the higher ends. And this is just part of it. You know, you’re always going to be, there’s always going to be some demands in that way to, to, to improve your facility and things of that nature for the customer, which we completely understand. But that’s the, you know, we’ve got buildings to build and I don’t necessarily have any franchises on the horizon, new franchises, but you never know. This business can change at any point, but we just really concentrate on the foundational growth of our people. And if we can, we just prepare, you know, prepare for growth and the best way to prepare for growth is just to be better at what we already do. And that way grow the people that are with us in that way. When we do expand, which we will, I’m sure. And when we do expand, we have the people that we can put in place that are ready for an opportunity and do it our way.

Anthony Codispoti: Brad, I want to be the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Brad Walters: Oh, you’re welcome. You know, again, I just thank you for reaching out to me and you make things easy. So you’re a nice man.

Anthony Codispoti: I appreciate that, folks. That’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.