Pete Ruffing of Two Men and a Truck

Tracy Hayes  1:03  
Hey, welcome back to the show. It's Tracy here. Got my good friend Pete roughing with two men in a truck. And Pete has been in the real estate industry for quite a long time. Currently, his wife run the local franchises of two men in a truck, which we're going to hear more about. What I want to hear a little about Pete and his experience in the real estate business. So Pete, I want to start off with you and a little background on you. Yeah, you're graduating from high school or college. Where are you at and and what is your what is the first industry? What is the first jobs that you get involved with at a young age? 

Pete Ruffing  1:33  
Well, I my senior in high school. I was an exchange student, so I lived in Australia for a year. Oh, that's awesome. And so when I got back, you know, my talked with my parents, and they thought, you know, let's not jump into college. I was living in East Lansing at the time, was going to go to Michigan State for a degree in hotel restaurant. They have a great school up there. And, you know, they said, hey, you know, just get back into things here, family, friends, all that good stuff. Find a job. Well, I got a job in the restaurant industry. So the first 10 years of my life, you know, out of high school was in corporate hospitality. I worked with Gilbert Robinson out of Kansas City, and then saga Corporation out of California, and that was led me to Indianapolis. I got transferred down there as a manager. So first 10 years of my life was pretty interesting. And, you know, hotel restaurants, running hotels restaurants met some fascinating people that used to come through the hotel in Indianapolis. We were, we had a grand opening for the NBA All Star game. Oh, cool, yeah, the Simon brothers, who owned the Patriots at that time, had built a hotel, and they wanted to get get it open in time. So we got it open, and next thing, you know, I'm in. I had to take a call one time from a client. Okay, so this is, like, our first weekend, and you know, we have the place is just packed, and the room service guy comes over me. Says, Hey, Mr. Fing, I need you to talk to somebody upstairs. Not happy. I said, Okay, so I get on the phone and I say, Who am I speaking with? He goes, Hayes and Tommy Hindson.

Pete Ruffing  3:15  
I was like, Holy crap,

Tracy Hayes  3:18  
yes, coach, former Boston Celtics for those younger folks,

Pete Ruffing  3:23  
exactly. But, you know, I met Robert Plant, you know, we used to get the groups that, you know, the musical groups and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, it was a fun 10 years. But you know, in that industry, you're going to top off if you don't own it, right? It owns you, you know, you're working, you know, really tough hours, little bit of burnout. Yeah, so a friend of mine was working in new home construction, and he said, you know, you ought to give it a try. So, you know, I did some interviews with some new home builders there in Indianapolis area. And, you know, somebody took a flyer on me. And, you know, because I obviously didn't have any, you know, new home experience. So I had to start out as a, as an assistant in a model home, well, in a sales area, yeah, you're in a sales area, yeah. I mean the hospitality industry. I mean sales. I mean it was, No, it was, it was excellent. You know, in fact, once you know, I was, you know, managing people further in my career, the hospitality industry was a great resource for new home sales people, because, you know, if you want to make a tip, you don't have any choice but to go up. And

Pete Ruffing  4:34  
you don't have any choice but to go up and speak to that person at the table to get, you know, say, hey, you know, what do you folks want to eat? You know, let's have some fun so you can earn that tip. So you have to develop a personality, which was all encompassing in that regard. And it was, it was a great source for me later on, when I was managing and recruiting people that would come to me from, from the hotel restaurant industry.

Pete Ruffing  5:00  
Because, again, you just, you know, you don't find too many introverts in front of the house, right? You know, as far as that industry goes, if you do, you're going bro. 

Tracy Hayes  5:07  
So you entered in the sales as an assistant. Yep, you're spending every weekend in the home construction model, absolutely. And I was, you know, it was a pretty quick, I caught on pretty quickly, and the guy that I was working for, because all I could do, you know, was develop the rapport with the people coming in and then push him up to this fella who who made the sale. So he loved it, you know, because I was, you know, I was, I was under his assistant for about six months, and then the opportunity came for me to take over a neighborhood on the west side of Indianapolis, which, which was, you know, you ever heard the term ignorance is bliss? That's what this was. Because it was a neighborhood nobody wanted in the, you know, in the company, they were like, no, no, I'll pass. I'll pass. And I was too, you know, young and dumb to, you know, to know about that opportunity to show yourself. Oh, yeah. But in the site agent world, I think a lot of people don't understand, well, you know, I guess there's different levels of site agents too. When you're sitting in the shiny new model, right, why can't it sell? Right? And then you're, you're putting in, yeah, it's a shiny new model, but it's not the most desirable neighborhood there, so you kind of have that working against you.

Tracy Hayes  6:23  
What did you What did you learn? How did you turn it around? Because I assume you're going to tell me a success story,

Pete Ruffing  6:28  
yeah, yeah. Well, you know, this neighborhood backed up to, I 465 which was, you know, a six lane beltway around Indianapolis, you know. So, you know, I had 12 to 15 homes had literally backed up to a major interstate. And you know, what I learned early on was garbage in, garbage out. I was a big proponent of and I kind of discovered it. There was the I used to listen to Zig Ziglar, Dennis Waitley, Earl Nightingale, you know, on my drive to work, which was a half hour one way, I made sure I was, you know, listening to positive stuff, so when I got out there. But the probably the biggest thing that helped me, besides that, was the enthusiasm I had for the neighborhood. And that enthusiasm is contagious and and the people coming in felt that, and, you know, we were able to, you know, to knock that out. I was, you know, sales person a month, six or seven months in a row, and again, it was just, you know, I was loving what I was doing. It was 1988 this is when interest rates fixed rate were 12% right, believe it or not, you know, so you were selling adjustable rate mortgages. You know, it was a two person sales office, and, you know, I was very fortunate. The guy I worked with didn't have a work ethic, you know. So, you know, it was easy for me to go, Hey, Rob, time for, you know, it's kind of, you know, time for you to go home, you know. And I think

Tracy Hayes  7:56  
salespeople, I think sales people. It's funny when working with other salespeople, because I you and I have talked about this before, and the the work ethic in the great thing about sales, especially when, in our market right now, in real estate, is hot. Obviously, when I'm in the mortgage side, every time the phone rings, or, in your case, every time someone came in that door, there was an opportunity to make 1000s of dollars and to you know, especially as a young person, that you don't have anything and you want a little nicer car, and you'd like to not rent or, you know, you'd like to take your date out to a nicer place on Saturday night, you know, to come in a little earlier, work a little later, especially during the week, to take it those opportunities, sure, and unfortunately, at 51 now, I still do it. Almost 51 still do it. Because obviously, now I've got kids, and now I want them. I want to, you know, to leave them. And, you know, if they want to go do something, they want to go to Disney World for the weekend, go, yeah, that's what you guys want to do. So, so the work ethic, so how did things develop there and with the with the builder?

Pete Ruffing  9:00  
Well, I think what you have to, you know, it was always tough, because you did give up your weekends, because that's when people came out and looked at homes. I mean, that's plain and simple. So you kind of just made the adjustments. You know, you got used to having a either a Tuesday, Wednesday off or a Thursday, Friday. But, you know, it was, for me, it was, it was like, so new and so fun. It was like, Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do everything I can. And again, part of that was Louis learning and listening to these tapes and and anything that was, you know, they would bring in speakers, you know, for the company, you know, taking all that in and really trying to be a sponge and gaining that knowledge, but having that work ethic, which is, listen, I didn't have to be the work till till noon, you know. And you know, if you can't, you know, find a job that you work 12 to six, five days a week and not make the most of it, then you know, you're letting an opportunity get past you

Tracy Hayes  9:59  
well for. Were, well, at that point, you're even, you're brought with 30, you're young 30s right now, right? Yeah, to be able to, you know, to sleep in, take care of your chores or whatever, go to work and still and have success, make money, you're on top of the world. Are you and Brenda together? Yet here when, no, you're a single guy,

Pete Ruffing  10:17  
yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was one of those things. Was like, you know, you take advantage of it, and that's what I did. And, you know, that grew, I grew in that industry. I grew with that company, you know, so, you know, over my 25 years in new construction there, I did everything from, you know, again, start as a, you know, as a sales assistant, became, eventually, later in my career, Vice President sales and marketing. For a long time, local home builder. There we were doing 500 homes a year, and then worked for a custom home builder. Built a big home around homes and, you know, did all that kind of stuff. One of the neat things that I was able to do. There's a Home Show in Indianapolis. It's one of the oldest. It is the oldest Home show in the nation, and one of their claim to fames. Or you know what they've done to separate themselves. It runs for 10 days. But they have what's called a centerpiece home where a builder will actually come in the fairgrounds there in Indianapolis and build a full scale home and, you know, you get to walk people through it. And just, you know, one day when I was a sales manager, I said, I wonder, you know, if they'd ever let a production home builder, because it was always kind of a showcase for a custom home builder, you know, the guy that builds a handful a year. And you know, they said, Yeah, we'd love to talk to you about it. So I was able to get that venue for Davis homes, and I had a first right of refusal built into the contract. So if it worked out well, I just didn't want it to be a one year thing, right? And it was just phenomenal, because you're, you know, we were putting really about, you know, 30,000 people through a home that people would line up and wait for hours to walk through this home. You know, it was professionally decorated. One year we had Pottery Barn. One year we had Spiegel when they were still in business. We had an Eddie Bauer home. And these were big drawing cards and, and that was kind of the kickoff to the selling season there in Indianapolis, right? So, you know, I kind of got to jump on all the builders in that regard, because it was, it's a well covered event.

Tracy Hayes  12:29  
So we're here in Florida. What is the selling season in Indiana, Indianapolis, I'm sorry, what is the selling season in Indianapolis?

Pete Ruffing  12:37  
It's funny, because it was the, it's early spring, and then, you know, summers, you know, kind of dipped a bit. Then it would pick up in the fall, but we would do 30% 40% of our business in February, March, April.

Tracy Hayes  12:51  
Is it the stereotype everyone likes to think that, oh, business picks up because, as the schools are going out, people are selling their homes, or, obviously, you know, as August comes around, people are trying to buy homes to, you know, get in for the schools. Is that? Is that stereotypical there? Or,

Pete Ruffing  13:06  
yeah, there is a little bit of seasonality, you know, obviously up there in the northern climates, you know, people just, you know, I think for for Indianapolis, the Home Show, because it had been such a tradition there, like the Indy 500 you know, it had been there forever. People kind of had mentally said, okay, oh, the home show's here. Okay, let's start, you know, let's ramp up the you know, let's ramp up our search. And you know, you could see it, you know, my traffic would increase what you know, at this time, not just the traffic that walked through, that that home. But the, you know, we would drive traffic from there out to our different models. We had probably 20 different communities in the greater Indianapolis area. And, you know, that was kind of when it would just kind of Ignite for everybody. Wow.

Tracy Hayes  13:56  
Yeah, wonderful. Step back a little bit, yo. You know, one thing I did when I'm creating a podcast, you listen to a lot of other podcasters, and now I've actually become hooked now, and I go to work out, I'm I'm pulling up some of the and I actually learned of a new podcast just in the last 24 hours. And I've listened to a couple of his shows, and they're great. But step back a little bit to you're the you're the assistant, or, you know, or you got your first community, and you're driving 30 minutes. The personal development, obviously, you, you were taking audio cassettes and listening to zig Ziegler amongst others. In getting that positive attitude. How, how does that change you for that day? Emotionally, having a positive energy, wise, in that in that in that person, how important was that you think, to your your

Pete Ruffing  14:43  
success? Well, I think it's, it was huge, because, you know, when you're when you're sitting in a model home in Indiana. Now, I know that might not be the case right now for a lot of people in this booming market, but you know, literally, you'd be like the Maytag repairman. You know, you wouldn't see anybody for, you know, a week. And then when they did show up, they showed up at five to six,

Tracy Hayes  15:07  
right? You're like, you've already taken a couple dozers, and

Pete Ruffing  15:10  
you're ready, yeah? And you're like, ready, okay, the lights have already kind of been turned off. And you're like, Okay, I'm gonna get ready and put this bay behind me, yeah? And all of a sudden you've got to flip it, but, you know, you know, you sit there and say, Okay, that's what I'm here for. You know, that's what, you know, they came out here, regardless of what time to take a look at the model home and learn more about my community and and you really had to be kind of a self motivator, you know? Because when you're out there by yourself, you know, you had to sit there. And I had a I had a good memory, and I would just go through my registration cards, and I would, I, you know, I would have name Association. I would have someone that came in three months ago, but because I had kept a notes on him, I could say, Hey John, welcome back. And they would, I'd love the expression on their face, because they're like, That is That is awesome. Yeah. They were like, yeah, how the hell, or excuse me, how the heck did you remember my name from three, four months ago? And you know, I was blessed with that, you know, ability, but that's also one of the things that I focused on.

Tracy Hayes  16:14  
Do you believe just on that particular setting? And you think about the great people in history now and in the past, politicians are obviously got to be good at it. I think CEOs also in memorying people's names, whether you're writing it down on a cheat note, if you want to call it a cheat note, and on a three by five card or whatever, but you did it, or you actually, just plainly have the ability to memorize someone's name, because that's probably my worst thing. And one of the reasons why we're talking about that, I was talking about the book stimulus there, because that part of it's going to be that, you know, memorization of people's names, how important you think that's been at that time success, and how have you taken it to even today in

Pete Ruffing  16:57  
your Oh, sure. I mean, I think you know people, people appreciate that and recognize that they're like, Okay, hold on a second. You know, this guy knows my name. You know there's you just it. You always kind of want to make yourself stand out, obviously, in a positive way. You know you want your your hopefully, your community, your model home, helps you stand out. You know, the reputation of your builder helps you stand out and differently and uniquely against your competition. But I think, you know, when people came in and and, you know, I was able to sit there and ask them questions, remembering conversation I might have had with them a few months ago. It was like, okay, hold on a second. And I did. I generally cared. I I really liked how people getting to a decision, you know, they didn't always, you know, go with me, but you know, again, you're young and dumb. I learned long ago, you know, when I first thought, you know, I would take these, you know, personally that someone didn't buy a home for me, and I was like, it would, I would twist myself up in it, you know. And just through maturity and being in it, you go, you know what, I'm not going to sell a home to sell a home to everybody that walks through that door. That's, you know, my mentality was, oh, yeah, you're going to buy a home for me, you know. But the reality, more or less like a hard sell, yeah? Thought Process, yeah. And I was, you know, quite honestly, I was the opposite, you know, I kind of positioned myself as, you know, more of, you know, I'm going to provide you information, you know, if you can get because people want to buy from people they're comfortable with. I mean, I don't think that changes, you know, I think they can narrow down a location of where they want to live and their price range, but once you make kind of much, you're a semi finalist. You know, it's your it was my job to make them comfortable with me and the information I was providing

Tracy Hayes  18:43  
that is so amazing that you brought that up this morning, because, you know, I told you I got a new podcast last night. I was actually on LinkedIn and and this gentleman said he's, you know, I won't mention the podcast here, but it was about real estate. I'll listen to him, because that's what we're going to be doing. And I started listening. And one of the people, the second interview that he did, I was actually listening to this morning, this woman got involved in real estate in 2007 or eight, I think it was obviously, you know, the bottom drops out. Her husband loses her business, his business, and they're there. And she was at the brink, at the bottom of the bucket, as far as life concerned. House was almost foreclosed on a couple of times. She's got three kids. But the thing that she she said, was the key to her success is exactly what you're talking about right now, the personalization you know, we're all out looking for. And she says she does not use the term lead or client. There she is. Outlook. She works her past customers. She works her friends, her families, and creates the relationship that you know, sending, whether sending them birthday cards, reminding, you know, maybe these aren't people she interacts with every day, but saying, Hey, I remember you happy. Birthday, whatever it is. She works that, and then she said she's made the statement that sticks to me right now, and this is in so many words, not a quote, but close to it, that when someone's buying a home, it's the same point in their in their life, just like having a child, sure, maybe getting a new job, getting married, it's a life event. That's a life event. Yep, before for 99.9% of the people buying a home, they're only going to do it, you know, handful of times in their life, if not, if some people only want absolutely and that she created that relationship and made it more than they were just a client. And thank you. You know, move on. I don't want to talk to you anymore. She wants to create friendships. And looking at some of the people that even even you and I know, I know a couple real estate friends of mine, they are really good at that, yeah, and they're out having dinner with them, and they're out, you know, afterwards, like, didn't you close on them four months ago?

Pete Ruffing  20:56  
Yeah, you know, part of it was the friendly competition we had as well. You know, the salesperson of the month. You know, you look back on it and you go, I was really trying that hard for a plaque, seriously, a piece of wood with some brass on it. But I remember when I was, I was selling condominiums for the same company I had started with, and it was the last day of the month, and it was between me and one of the other old pros for sales person a month. And I needed, once, I needed a sale, I needed, actually two sales, and it was the end of the month, and I'm like, going, Okay, how's it gonna happen? And even the owner of the company at that time, who basically had never rolled out to the model homes on us. He rolls out on a Sunday. He was actually a pilot, and he was across the street. That's, there's a small airport. He kept his plane there. So he thought he'd pop in and say, hey, you know, good luck. And I hear, you know, the competition and all that stuff. So it's, you know, my models close at six o'clock. It's about three o'clock, and three gals come in and, you know, they they want to look at the condominiums on building. I said, Okay, so I take them down, I show them a couple different models, and I find out, just through again, through the conversation, that they're that, that two of the three are actually looking at condos and want to buy at the same kind in the same complex. So all of a sudden, I'm like, really? And so I showed them. They fell in love with two different units that were in the same building. And I asked them, I said, Well, I said, you know, are you you might want to take these off the market? You know, you can see the activity is pretty strong here. And they said, Okay. And I said, so you're both ready to, you know, you want to do the paperwork? And they both said, Yes. And I said, Well, do you mind? It'll just be easy. It's a two page document. Can we just write the contracts together? And they said, Yeah, that we're totally good with that. Close friends, I'm sitting there going, Okay, this is probably, you know, besides the fact I'm going to get sales person month, I'll probably be the first one who's ever written two contracts simultaneously. So, you know, those are kind of the stories that stick with you, you know, right, that you had fun with.

Tracy Hayes  23:14  
So let's change gears a little bit. And director, so when do you meet your wonderful wife here?

Pete Ruffing  23:20  
Yeah, yeah, actually, we met in the industry, and, you know, the home building industry. And you know, from there, we had worked with a big custom builder. I left the production arena and wanted to get into something, you know, that was probably less volume. You know, we were doing 500 homes a year. And you know, I had a friend that I had made, who had had gone on and started a custom home building company. They wanted to grow it, and it was kind of a natural progression and natural fit. So we actually did that. I actually got them into the home so we got our, you know, at that time, into the home show, stole it from my former employer. So kind of felt good. And then I was offered the position the president of a company, custom home company, and then, and that was a couple years before the crash back in oh seven and oh eight, right, yeah. And then went to one, and then the market in Indianapolis, I mean, it really tanked, you know, the top 10 builders were basically 2008 ish, yeah, okay. We're, you know, there it would. It had been strong for, for a number of years, there were a lot of farmers in the outskirts of Indianapolis getting, you know, very wealthy from the developers that were coming. Jobs were plentiful. Oh yeah, yeah. We were a top we were typically a top 15 market and nationwide. And when the bottom fell out, it fell out. You know, there was a builder from California who walked on about $4.5 million worth of deposits then on undeveloped plots and just said, we're out of here. They took their losses and just went back to California. And I had a friend of mine up in Northwest Indiana who. Who was doing some resort condominiums up there, south of Chicago. And actually, I had three people that stayed with us and me, and me and a buddy built out two custom homes. And then we did a custom bath remodel that, you know, we were able to, you know, stay afloat. And that was

Tracy Hayes  25:19  
a broom. So when you went over to the custom builder, your your friend and became president, what how many, how many homes were they having in production at any one time, went to this period

Pete Ruffing  25:29  
of down. We went from 500 you know, with the production builder, down to, I mean, the custom, the custom build, yeah, 1512, to 15, going on any half million to 800,000 and then. And then we did a home around home. One of the best homes I was ever associated with, with one numerous sports, was $2.5 million home around a

Tracy Hayes  25:51  
home. You go over and you guys got 1215, homes at any one time going on custom builds. And then the bottom 2008 comes down. So where are you I mean is we were down to one or two homes in skeleton, yeah,

Pete Ruffing  26:04  
no. I mean the company, the company was part of a division of a commercial developer, retail space developer, and basically they had to shut everything down. And, you know, so we were, we were left high and dry. What was a lifesaver for us is we had two people that I had developed a rapport with whose contracts they were released from, and we were able to they let us build the homes for them. They released the blueprints and the rights to them. And then we had some you've ever heard the term, I can't remember now, but we had a gentleman who wanted us to do a bath remodel in his home on crooked Stick Golf Course up there, and it was a half million dollar master bathroom, I'm not kidding, and it was a cost plus it was actually out of the three projects, two custom homes and the bathroom model. We made our best margins on the bath remodel and building the homes. But, you know, that was a brutal time for a lot of people. You know, I had a lot of friends that, you know, lost their jobs, and, you know, it was tough. So we felt very fortunate. So how does

Tracy Hayes  27:13  
this lead into killing to Brenda? Because that's what, that's what was the questionnaire, where did you meet your bride?

Pete Ruffing  27:17  
Yeah, we met when we were at Davis homes. You know, she was in the marketing department, and, you know, so that industry brought us together, and we've been together for 20 some years, obviously home building. And now we're, now we're with two men in a truck here. So

Tracy Hayes  27:35  
we, I mean, a lot of lot of Shop Talk

Pete Ruffing  27:39  
goes on. Yeah,

Tracy Hayes  27:40  
that's really how my Jennifer and I got together, as is, we were running retail stores for telecommunications, and it was talking shop, and we were both managers and talking about employees and that sort of thing. And that kind of, you know, got us hanging out together, made it a little more comfortable and subject to talk about. Well,

Pete Ruffing  27:58  
it's, yeah, it's, it's actually been very beneficial because, you know, we, it's hard for us to, you know, turn off business, you know, and it has been. But I can tell you some some great ideas and some great strategies happen, you know, when we were sitting around having dinner or something, right?

Tracy Hayes  28:15  
Well, that, actually, I mean that one of the questions I'm gonna, I'm gonna jump to it, since we're kind of on that subject, you, because you and Brenda, you've got your daughter and your son in law are all involved here locally. How does from the positive side, you see a lot of things come out when you guys are just hanging out at the pool and cooking out with the grandkids, some ideas of what you do. And then what are some of the things when you guys have disagreements, how do you guys deal with that at any level the family, whether it's Jeremy or Riley or

Pete Ruffing  28:46  
Sure, well, we bought we're coming up on our fifth year anniversary in two days of buying these franchises and moving down from Michigan. The three of us, excluding Brenda, worked for the home office a two minute truck that's based in Lansing, Michigan. So when these opportunities came to us, it was a tough decision. You know, we had family and friends up there. We miss them. We don't miss the cold weather. But you know, it was, you know, it was some, some growing pains initially, because, you know, we took over some franchises, you know, that needed some help, you know, they needed some polish, you know, polishing up. And I think even though we've we had some hiccups, we each have our own kind of silo that we we focus on Brenda's, you know, before she was kind of, when you're a small business owner, it's no different. A lot of times you wear different hats, right? Depending on on, you know, what day you're looking at. You know what I mean, or what, what marketing,

Tracy Hayes  29:45  
the payroll to sure production.

Pete Ruffing  29:47  
Yes, we're so we're very fortunate. Jeremy's background was, was always operations. You know, Riley's was always sales and sales management. My daughter, Riley Brenda's was always marketing, and I was a sales. And marketing. So, you know, we all kind of had our own discipline, so to speak, and being able to stay focused on that in each one of those individually, we certainly talk and, you know, cross collaborate. You know, I helped Jeremy out with operations, you know, I'm part of that part of the business. You know, I'm a part of a little bit of everything, but, you know, I focus on, you know, the sales part of it, the, you know, going out and meeting clients. You know, I'll go out and do an estimate and get it to our customer service rep. So, you know, I that's one of the things I love about what I do, is getting to meet the various people that we get to to conduct moves for so really rewarding.

Tracy Hayes  30:42  
You mentioned you worked. You were at corporate, Riley, your daughter, was at corporate. And I assume they Jeremy and Riley met at two men, yeah, I would imagine, yeah. What so? What transitions you? 2008 Yeah, the collapse you saw this few homes. What transitions you to make it over to two men? What invited

Pete Ruffing  31:05  
you? What? It was a good question. I was working for a marketing firm up in Lansing, Michigan, and, you know, the and Riley got hired over at two men on a truck at the corporate and again, just through, you know, listening and and, and the way she was excited about the company, right, you know, and the more I learned about it, the values, how it was started, it's a great story. It's a great family, you know, I spot opened up for Franchise Business Consultant. So I got hired in there, and I had was responsible for, you know, monitoring franchises in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and so, you know, I was doing some travel time, yeah, and, and, you know, it's kind of the, you know, the outside in perspective, you know, a lot of times people get so focused on the grind of of, you know, what Their business is. They kind of, they, they get myopic and, you know, they don't have that outside in perspective. And I think that's one of the things that I was able to bring to them, is, is maybe a fresh set of eyes on their business, and say, Hey, what do you Well, you know, maybe consider this, or maybe consider that, or this is kind of how I'm looking at it, and that. And it was, I enjoyed doing it. You know, I really love, I love that

Tracy Hayes  32:25  
I've got a couple questions in that area that I jotted down that I wanted to ask you, and why I listened to you. The second question actually came up the two men in the truck. Now this is what you're what time period are we talking about here, that you're working as the franchise,

Pete Ruffing  32:41  
and I was, we're 2015 2015

Tracy Hayes  32:45  
Okay, so at that time, and I guess even today, are there still regions of the country where there's opportunities for two men in the truck franchise? Sure, yeah, the those that are listening, that might

Pete Ruffing  32:59  
be, yeah, no, I think, you know, there's some spots that are opened up on the Northeast Corridor. A lot of people don't understand. We're the largest local moving company in the world. Now. We move people across the states. We're going up to Connecticut. We're, you know, Arizona, California, we're all over the United States. I have Jacksonville, St Augustine, but there's opportunities like, you know, someone's just ready to retire. You know, this, this company has been around for 35 years. Okay? So you have different age stratus, you know, you have people that have actually been in the business and have franchises, you know, well, you know, close to 30 years now, they might not have a legacy, they might not have a family. Or, you know, somebody that wants to take wants to take it over, right, you know. So those opportunities become available, you know, next year we'll be celebrating the silver anniversary of two men on a truck in Jacksonville. So, you know, as a brand, we've been in here in Jacksonville, 25 years in Northeast Florida, right? For, for, you know, 25 years, 15 and when this St Augustine franchise was initiated. But there's, there's all kinds of opportunities, you know, there's not many, but up in the Northeast Corridor, there are, you know, I think there's a map I stay focused on Jacksonville and St Augustine and, well, my

Tracy Hayes  34:19  
next question, so you're out there, someone's interested in you mentioned Alabama, Mississippi floor, someone's interested in being a two minute truck franchise E and what are you when you go down and you interview them or talk to them about it, what are you? What are you looking for? Because obviously, I think today, everyone Chick fil A, like everybody, wants to be a Chick fil A, but sure you got to sacrifice for that. I mean, they don't just take anyone who has the money. Oh, okay, we're gonna, right. We'll put up a store for you. What is two men in the truck looking for? You know, then when you were there, and has it changed today? But what are they? What are they looking for in a franchisee, and what should a franchisee be prepared? For when taking on a two minute truck franchise from scratch, or, in your case, you know, taking out someone who was sort of underperforming.

Pete Ruffing  35:09  
Sure, you know, besides the obvious, which is, you know, the financial ability to start a franchise and sustain it. You know, you got, you have people that are owner operators. You have some, there's some people in our our system where, you know, they own maybe 10 franchises, but it's part of a larger organization. It's just part of their portfolio. You know, when you distill it, you know, you keep it simple, stupid, right? You know, the old kiss theory is, you know, at the end of the day, it's our job to put a truck in a driveway, you know, and move the people's belongings from point A to point B. Sometimes it's point A, B, C, D, because we have multiple stops, you know, I need you to pick this, you know, couch up here, drop this couch at my kids house or whatever, right? But I think they have to come into it with their their eyes wide open. I think, you know that, I think when you look at Commerce, and you look at E commerce, you know, I think the moving industry is pretty well insulated from Amazon isn't going to be able to, you know, get two drones that can, you know, pick up a 200 pound couch. You know, there's always going to be the need for two men, literally, in a truck, you know, I think the advances are going to come from technology, you know, maybe, maybe some of that, but at the end of the day, you know, you got to be able to put a truck in a driveway. And I think when they're looking at new franchisees, is what kind of enthusiasm, what, you know, what's their long term goal? You know, when we went through the interview process, through the management group up there, you know, you know that they want to say, Okay, how long you you know, how long do you guys think you want to do it? You know, part of it was, you know, the opportunity was to, you know, kind of create a legacy for Riley and Jeremy and my grandkids. You know, that was real exciting. That was, you know, for an old man, it's going to be 62 in a couple weeks, being able to have that

Tracy Hayes  37:06  
opportunity, and the fact they're so involved in the business, unless they just get burnt out for some reason. Hopefully, you know, they enjoy what they do and absolutely want to continue on,

Pete Ruffing  37:16  
absolutely, you know, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's a great business, you know, we we love Northeast Florida. One of our core values, the two minute truck, is giving back to the community. We have the movers for moms campaign, which, you know, we help a couple different women shelters. Here. We're, we're just getting ready to kick off a monthly movers for meals campaign. We're actually partnering with win Dixie on that. So that's cool. We're really we're we love where we're

Tracy Hayes  37:43  
at. So knowing the story of you know literally it started with a woman, a single mom, right? If I'm not mistaken, and literally started with two men in a truck. Is the rear the core values of two men in the truck, because I know you and Brenda are all involved in a lot of different charities at all different levels. Like you said, we're doing the movers for moms next month. We're helping you out, and then we're happy to do that. Is that some of the core values absolutely requirements,

Pete Ruffing  38:15  
yeah. And it's really fun, because, you know, it's such a great story. Mary Ellen sheets, she was a single mom 35 years ago her two sons, the actual first two men, brig and John. They had a pickup truck, and they, you know, they went around moving stuff during the summertime, you know, for fun, you know, I don't want to say for beer money, for disposable income, but they both, they both went off to college up in Michigan, and the phone kept ringing. And Mary Ellen, you know, was like, hold on a second. You know, I'm working for the, you know, state of Michigan, right? The phone's ringing. So she calls and gets permission from John and Brigg to hire a couple guys and to buy a truck. And they said, Yeah, go for it, mom. And 35 years later, you know, there's over 35,000 or 3500 trucks, excuse me, you know, close to 10,000 associates. And that first year, she made $1,000 her profit was $1,000 she wrote 10 checks for $100 each to different charities, and she gave it all away. And, you know, you look how it's come back to her, that's one of our that's there we, you know, we have, we have various core values, but the giving back to the community, it's, it's so important, you know. And that's what's really cool about aligning yourself with, you know, they're a great family, you know. And and you all kind of have that shared value, you know, the movers for moms is a is a national campaign. Every franchise in the system, you know, participates, yeah. So the way we can do that, we, you know, on a national level, you know, we work with disaster relief organizations. We. You know, hundreds of 1000s of dollars to the American Cancer Society. On a local level, we work with the St Augustine location. We work with the St John's Veterans Council. We help them with the Reeves across America. We do their stand down, where we help with the homeless veterans. You know, it's, it's fun for us to do, because these nonprofits that, that, you know, fight for every dollar to make a difference, you know, having literally two men in a truck to help them with their various events, right? But also having the horsepower to make these collection efforts, because they do such great work. They, you know, they really do impact lives in such a positive

Tracy Hayes  40:43  
and I, you know, I've asked, you know, because, you know, Brenda's evolved in that a lot. And of course, my referrals go referrals go directly to her so in our conversation. And you know, I think people underestimate the who you are influencing when you are involved in those charities at different levels, and when you you look at the big corporations, or, you know, here in Jacksonville, got the Jacksonville Jaguars. So you know, the big the big stuff, the people that are involved in that, you don't and have a passion for it, they don't broadcast that, right? It's out there. So when you're involved in that, what you know that you're willing to give time a truck, you're collecting these things for them. There's other people who don't have time, but they write a check. You don't know who those people are, and when they know you're involved in that, whether it's a realtor or just a homeowner. In your case, that's part of your marketing and part of your heart, right? I mean, it's not just marketing. You have the power to do it, and it's kind of great that you can do it within your marketing plan, but to give and influence those who, who are the silent givers, sure out there, who may be moving and going, You know what I'm going to call two men in a truck, because, you know what, when I was a single mom, and you know, they donated some things, and I'm doing well. Now I need a mover. I'm going to call two men in a truck, because they were there for me five years ago, whatever

Pete Ruffing  42:08  
it was, yeah. And we're very, very fortunate to, you know, we have such a history in this market. Like I said, we're going to go 25 years, silver anniversary next year. And, you know, I meet these people myself personally when I'm in their homes, and they want us to do a move for them again. You know, you don't how many times I've heard that you guys have moved me three or four times, you know, when we're out at events, you know, and we're doing a collection, we're doing stuff the truck at the Clay County Fair a week from Wednesday. And when you're out there, and people you know come in and come up to you and say, Hey, you guys move me. And are you moved my mom or something, right? And and they see, because, again, it's just part of our family is giving back, right? It's, you know, again, we love Northeast Florida. And when you know, when you when you get to see and understand and meet these people that run the food banks, that run the crisis centers, you know saints that they are, they just Yeah. They just Yeah, absolutely. They just, you sit there, and it's so easy for you after you get to know these folks and the work they do for for the people here that need it the most, right?

Tracy Hayes  43:25  
That transitions me into the next thing. And kind of our kind of final segment is two minute truck St Augustine, Jacksonville, I think you guys go all the way out far west to Lake

Pete Ruffing  43:37  
City. Yeah. Our franchise location, Tracy is from the Florida, Georgia line for the northern border, all the way down to Palm Coast, and then obviously the coastline out to Stark but you can obviously guess where the majority or moves are happening, or in the higher, denser population,

Tracy Hayes  43:57  
sure. So I've gotten to know you guys over the last few years and talking about but for the listeners here on it, you and Brenda are running so you call the shots. What? Why should someone besides dollars just taking money out of it? Because, I mean, obviously there's people always looking for the cheap deal, and I'll get into that in a minute. But what it what do you guys demand out of your employees? What is the culture that you've created locally here, and the standards that you provide that a homeowner, when they call you, they know they're going to get well

Pete Ruffing  44:32  
it there's lots of things that that kind of separate us. You know, anybody can go out and, you know, for the most part, get a truck and, you know, call themselves a mover. I think what separates us, you know that some of the questions a person that needs a moving services company who should ask is, you know, our movers and drivers are our employees. You know, we don't use day laborers, right? You know, our employees have to pass a background check and a drug screen. We're a drug free workplace. You know, it's, it's important and that that we are licensed. You know that we, you know, we're, you know, we do things the right way. There's other movers out there that do that as well. But there's, there's a majority that don't, you know, some people are running into situations, unfortunately, where they hire a company where the movers and drivers are independent contractors, and when you invite someone like that onto your property, you're taking on liability if something was to happen to them. For instance, you know, when you're working with us, that's one of the things that you know you don't have to worry about. You know,

Tracy Hayes  45:41  
that's, that's a unique thing, because I heard something I was saying. I was talking to my wife about this. So someone shows up to your house and they're, they're moving furniture, falls and gets hurt in your house. Yeah, they could actually heard things from workman's comp make a workman's comp claim on you because you've hired him, because, in this case, you're talking they're independent contractors. Are they actually completely insured? Are they paying workman's comp? What is, what is kind of the open liability that

Pete Ruffing  46:13  
someone No, that's huge. That's the biggest thing you know, that the workers comp claim for us, if they were to get injured. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, that's something that that liability falls upon us as their employer, if they're an independent contractor, that falls on the homeowner, because you, in essence, have invited them onto your property,

Tracy Hayes  46:32  
right? And they may not be if you didn't ask them for their insurance policy,

Pete Ruffing  46:36  
right? If you didn't ask if you're licensed and, you know, bonded and insured, right? Yeah, you're, you know, you're in trouble. So yeah, you're, you think you might be saving a couple bucks on a on a daily rate, but you know, the potential risk is there for something far greater than, you know, a couple 100 bucks savings on the move. So you know, those are the things that you've got to be, you know, cautious of.

Tracy Hayes  46:58  
They say the two quickest ways to get rich is win the lottery or sue somebody, right?

Pete Ruffing  47:03  
Yeah, absolutely, you know. And in this day and age of legitimist, yeah, you know, you've got to be

Tracy Hayes  47:09  
extra careful, because the two men in the truck name being national, like that, like any big corporation, the names out there makes people think they have more money, right? So, you know, so the mom and pop still can get sued, sure, and they may, they may not have anything. So then they're going to go after your homeowner's policy, which is the next thing that could possibly get

Pete Ruffing  47:29  
something out of. Well, you know. The other thing is, you know, from a mover driver perspective, for instance, when you're working for, you know, a moving company where you're treated as a 1099, you know, a lot of these guys aren't aware that, you know, their taxes are now on them, you know, and that there's no employer contribution, then there's no withholding. So you know, our applications are going to uptake here in the next month or two, because some of these guys that are working for movers have done their taxes and realized that that, Oh, they got to pay something, yeah, they got to squirt the ink, right? And you see a surge after tax days. It's true. It's true. That's the reality. You know,

Tracy Hayes  48:14  
I think I know the answers I'm gonna get in my my soapbox, just for a few seconds here. So you're a real estate agent, okay? And personally, I'm biased. I refer two men in a truck to all my mortgage clients, because I assume the realtors not saying anything, and it's just a suggestion. Hey, are you looking for a mover? Call two men in the truck, Brendan and Pete will take care of you. They call. They call. You know some people, obviously, you know, sure you know the statistics of how many people use a mover when they actually move. But you're a real estate agent, you're, you're, you're getting paid very good money, if you're not giving it away. I see a lot of real estate agents giving away their commissions. I do not understand that, but you're going to get paid good money, and especially in a market like this. You someone calls you say, Hey, will you list my house? It's not even on the market for a day, right? You didn't have to do an open house or anything. You didn't even have to advertise it. You just put it on the MLS, more or less. Yes. Okay. Now you had to handle the back office stuff, which you can do from home, sitting on your in front of your computer, you know, handling the documents so you see value in what you're getting paid your commission. You think you're a high value person. Why would you recommend a moving company that operates like that? Or Hey, call my Billy Joe Bob mover. Why would you not if you're first class real estate agent, which I imagine every real estate agents consider themselves first class I hope they do. Why would you not recommend a first class insurance company a first class mover to take care of your clients and seal the deal? Sure. Why would you not do that? Now they may not use the mover. They may choose Billy Bob, but let them choose Billy Bob. Why do you want to put your reputation on Billy Bob? Instead of someone like, Yeah, I'm

Pete Ruffing  50:02  
saying, Sure, yeah. Well, no, I mean, referrals are huge, obviously, you know what? When you ask, what are some of the other factors that might separate us is, we do a lot of metrics. We do a lot of measurements. Each mover is graded. You know, we have a survey that's filled out, and we know who are. We know who our top people are, regardless of the metrics, because you just know, you know your people, but our guys are graded. You know, we asked the clients, you know, please tell us down to their uniform. You know, how was their appearance? You know, it's real important. You know, people are opening their homes up to us, right? They've got to feel comfortable

Tracy Hayes  50:44  
exposing their belongings to you, trying to hide in the box,

Pete Ruffing  50:48  
right? Absolutely no. I mean,

Tracy Hayes  50:50  
you're, I'm sure you got stories. That's a whole nother episode on things you've seen in people's eyes.

Pete Ruffing  50:55  
Yeah, yeah, we don't have enough time today. But no, that's hugely important. And again, that's kind of what separates us, I think, from a lot of people, is, is that referral and and I think that's one of the things that I bring from my background, is knowing that when I was an on site sales agent, for instance, if I believed in a mortgage program with my buddy brought Boston at first Indiana, boom. You know, nine times out of 10 that that client of mine was going to go with them. Why? Because I referred them. They had, I had established that trust. And we don't take those referrals lightly at all that, you know,

Tracy Hayes  51:36  
that kind of tells me, because you're talking about the the move, the moving family. I have a question here for someone who's never used a mover before, maybe they're first time home buyers or just move themselves when they were younger, sure now they want to considering a mover. They're for whatever reasons now they financially can do it. They're older, whatever it is, what are three things that every consumer should be looking for when looking for a mover.

Pete Ruffing  52:03  
Well, I think first off is their reputation. How long have they been around? You know, ask around, ask their family and friends. Hey, what do you think of this? We just moved a beautiful home from out of Marsh Landing, and he was out having coffee with one of the presidents of a huge development company here, and he had already a staff, he had already called us because we moved their neighbor, his neighbors six months ago, right? And they had a great experience. And he says, he said, you know, Pete, he was telling me this. He says, Pete, I just for, you know, just for a laugh. I asked this gentleman. I said, I'm getting ready to move. Who should I call and with, you know, first name out of his mouth with two men in a truck, right? And so always ask your friends and family, you know, first and foremost. But again, ask if they're licensed, are they bonded? You know, I think those are the questions. I hear it myself. People go to if you want to or not, you love it and you hate it. Google reviews, right? You know, people take a look at our reviews, you know. And it's, I think it's important, because I've had that played back to me, Tracy, when I'm in people's homes. Well, we called you because we we read the reviews, you know. And you know, there's not one silver bullet, you know, there's, you know, there's lots of different things that will get someone to pick up the phone to call a mover, because in the end, moving sucks, it does. I tell that to people, and that's, you know, they no one's no one's disagreed with me on that,

Tracy Hayes  53:35  
yeah, I tell people in especially as you know now, it's, it's heating up. We've had probably the coldest winter here in Northeast Florida, at least, for some reason, it stayed in 50 degrees longer than normal. But now it's starting to heat up. Why do you want to exhaust yourself, physically, mentally? You're sweating. You're sweating on top of your furniture. You're trying to keep, keep, you know, keep that off and then just, just from a health standpoint, you know, no, no, not everyone's working out in the gym and everything. Hey, yeah, we can go lift all this stuff on a Saturday and move and your your peace of mind and so forth. That's exhausting work. June, July, August. I mean, really, probably starting from here all the way through October is, I mean, I'm sure your guys are, you're told, you know, hydrate, hydrate, because it's like playing an NBA basketball game on a Saturday for 10 hours, absolutely when they're moving that furniture, and absolutely. So it was

Pete Ruffing  54:29  
even more of a challenge with covid, because when they were all messed up, can you imagine, you know, you know, moving a couch down three floors or up three floors, 90 degree heat with mask on. So, yeah, it's crazy. It was tough, tough

Tracy Hayes  54:43  
work I want to get into. I'm going to transition here, because we've been going for a while. But, I mean, this has been a great interview, no doubt, and a lot of information for all and for the real estate agents out there that are listening to the podcast. Two minute truck Pete and Brenna here in Northeast Florida. A they prioritize a realtor referral, sure. So when they tag that that they know Sally Smith from Keller Williams, or whatever it is makes that referral, they're there because obviously, they want to continue to earn your referral business. They're going to prioritize your clients. But I think one of the greatest things in having done marketing with Brenda and listening to her speak about two men in the truck with moving season coming on top of a ultra hot real estate market every weekend, moving because with the new construction, and then when an existing home does come up, it's sold instantaneously. You want your mover to show up on time, right? Especially if you're selling your house in the morning and buying the new house in the afternoon. Yep, and they're, you know, to rely on that mom and pop, and instead of going with a first class operation whose reputation is national, that they're going to show up on time, right?

Pete Ruffing  55:53  
Yeah? Well, we get calls all the time, you know, I see they come across, you know, my my phone and that where people need a mover today because their mover didn't show up, yeah, you know, and that's like, that's, that's just a mortal sin, you know, not being able to when these people, the stress that people are under from moving, it could be, it could be a closing I got to get out of here, because I got to get the house clean, You know. It could be, you know, their, their lease is up. You know, any number of you know, it's, it's endless.

Tracy Hayes  56:27  
Do you find, I imagine the answer to this is yes, but think about the situation, because I don't think people think through everything completely. When you're doing a move, when you guys are going out there and looking at it, your guys have done this enough times you know how long a move should take, sure, after you, after you observe. Okay, we're gonna move this stuff. This should take somewhere between here and here and to be able to schedule the next move accordingly. If they're, if they're able to do two moves in a day, if it's, you know, a couple average, smaller moves or something, where the mom and pop, who knows, they get exhausted. This is Florida, not that it's immune to other areas of the country, but we have a reputation here in Florida that there's a lot of people who they get some cash in their hand and they disappear for a while, right? You know, until they're out of cash and they come back and work some more. Sure, that's what you're risking every time you that you go out there and a move, especially when you need to make it timely, but I'm going to skip in here. This is what we call our my two minute warning questions. You can elaborate on it if you want, or just a yes or no or the straight answer, but we asked this of all my guests,

Tracy Hayes  57:34  
is it more important to who you know or what you know?

Pete Ruffing  57:38  
I think it's more what you know? Because I think you know, if you, if you, if you have knowledge of what you're doing, then then the doors are going to open up for the conversations to happen, and then you're going to find out you know who it is you need to know.

Tracy Hayes  57:52  
Okay, sales or operations.

Pete Ruffing  57:59  
Well, back in the day, when I was a home builder, we used to tell the construction guys when they would start, you know, griping about how many homes we were selling, we said that there's no sales. There's no nails, exactly. So it starts with sales. Sorry, guys,

Tracy Hayes  58:17  
you you've been in, you've been involved in a more or less mom and pop from the building side, sure, right? I mean, they, they did volumes, but it was run by family to now, you're running a franchise, you're out there, I want to start a moving business franchise, or Mom and Pop.

Pete Ruffing  58:36  
Well, you know, again, the franchise system brings so much to the table and support. You know, we have a crew, although they're working remotely up in Lansing, you know, I had my laptop crapped out on me last week, so I had to get a new laptop. And, you know, for this old man, what you know, the technological, you know, advances of getting my post, you know, my passwords and all that stuff. You know, I was able to send an email, and I got a call back in about 10 minutes, the support you get in a franchise system is, I think, unequaled. You know, you have people that you can support you in a variety of ways. You know, with our cause marketing, we have a whole marketing team up there that's creating graphics for us and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, yeah. I would, I would, I would say franchise

Tracy Hayes  59:21  
in my life, experience in the mom and pop world, and different things that I've done, the mom and pop spend a tremendous amount of money in trial and error, sure, especially marketing, sure. I mean, you do the like, whether it's creating the time and energy to create that logo and get it produced on whatever you're doing, yeah, absolutely. All right, I'm gonna add actually. So I knew you were from Michigan, but I knew you guys always talked about Indianapolis, but also I'm gonna add another name in here, colts, jaguars, or the lions, lions.

Pete Ruffing  59:53  
Oh, okay, I know, I know, but I can't, I can't. Go against my line, especially now that they've, you know, made some, some fraud front office moves that might might be paying off for us.

Tracy Hayes  1:00:07  
But I think you guys been saying that since beginning of time. Coach, James, front office. James, General Manager,

Pete Ruffing  1:00:15  
but, but I can tell you that it was, it was quite fun living in Indianapolis during the, you know, Peyton Manning regime, you know, he was a great person. You know, I don't know you have him and his wife contributed millions to a children's hospital there. He he's still a vital part of that organization. But you know, the team they had put together there, they were just fun to watch and easy to get behind and support.

Tracy Hayes  1:00:40  
Right? What is on your Brenda and your travel bucket list?

Pete Ruffing  1:00:46  
Travel bucket list? Okay, so I'm planning a trip to Ireland for us. That's my mom's and she's not with us anymore. Hasn't been for 24 years. But you know, I'm, I'm almost 5050, my dad was from a German heritage, and my mom's Irish, and so I bought some books. I'm doing some, you know, some, some study. And I'm when I, when I do a trip, I I plan it out. I I like the surprise to be kind of pre planned, rather than the the other one, right?

Tracy Hayes  1:01:17  
It's funny when I tell people I live in St Augustine. Now, obviously, I'm not from St Augustine, but I live in St. I was like, Oh, that place is so great. I'm like, You mean that little town that sits, you know, 10 minutes off 95 I thought everyone passed. I mean, when, every time I came to Florida, I mean, I'm on 95 you know, obviously, remember Daytona when I first started coming to Florida. Parents had friends in Palm Coast. My parents moved to Naples. I really didn't know anything about St Augustine. But when, every time I talk to people from don't live around here, say, Yeah, I live in St. I was, Oh, beautiful. What do you love about St Augustine?

Pete Ruffing  1:01:50  
I think I love, I love that. I mean, I, you know, we had over the nights of lights, you know, the big event they have, you know, annually, we went down there and spent two nights. It was, it was a staycation, you know, we talked about, you know, let's run up to Charleston, or, you know, let's run over here. And, you know, we really, truly haven't explored, you know what, what's right underneath, what's right underneath us? It's really, you know, a half hour drive away. So, and, you know, we, we participate, when they have them, in the St Patrick's Day parade, you know. And we sit, you know, we get to walk around a mile with our Truckee, and, you know, handing out, you know, goodies to the people along the parade route, you know. And you kind of go down a couple side streets, you go, Oh, that's cool. Oh, I didn't know that was there. And the other thing is, exactly

Tracy Hayes  1:02:40  
that is so true down there, and there's a restaurant hidden around the corner you didn't

Pete Ruffing  1:02:44  
know about, well, yeah, and it was, I think, Food and Wine Magazine or Southern Living, but voted St Augustine, you know, one of the best southeastern United States cities for restaurants, right? I mean that that old St Augustine and across the island is loaded with with really, really good chefs that that are really producing some fine stuff. I

Tracy Hayes  1:03:07  
think if you took every Friday or Saturday night, 5252 nights of the year and said, I'm going to go to a St Augustine restaurant, you could pretty much go to in there. Some of them are owned by a conglomerate, but they have the, you know, where they own three or four restaurants in the area, but they each have their own atmosphere. Each have their own flavor and the uniqueness of St Augustine. And this has been a great interview with Pete, with two men in the truck. I'm going to wrap it up. Pete, any last minute thoughts?

Pete Ruffing  1:03:40  
No, just thanks for having me. You know, we're very excited about our partnership with jet home loans. We also have Atlantic storage on board for the movers for moms campaign. We really appreciate you guys, you know, helping us out with this cause marketing for Betty Griffin center and Hubbard house. They do such great work. So thank you so much for your participation in that.