91. Started a $1.5M Car Dealership on a Credit Card

0:00How does one go from flipping BMX bikes in school to launching a million-dollar car dealership on a credit card? What does it take to turn$400 into a Ferrari? Craig Stoll knows, and his story is one you don't want to miss. Buckle up as we dive into the world of cars. Whether you want to know the secrets to buying them cheap or want the blueprint to start your own dealership. I get calls from all over the country and I ship nationwide because I make YouTube videos. It doesn't happen overnight, nor do I want it to. It's just slow and calculated growth opened doors for me. Any entrepreneur that's starting your business, do the math.

0:34figure out what everything costs going into it. Don't learn after the fact. Being a yes person instead of a no person is going to get you very, very far. When everyone in the world wants to say no because they don't feel like doing something and you say yes, someone will notice that. Someone will appreciate that. Whether it's your employee or you are the employee, someone's going to notice and respect that. I'm your host, Alex Freeman, and here's Craig Stoll on the Upflip podcast. Craig, thanks so much for joining us. Hey, I'm excited to join you. I love doing stuff like this. So to get us started, can you tell us when and how you started Flying Wheels?

1:09Yeah, sure. I actually started a car dealership long ago, right around 2008 in Florida. I was working for someone else 70 hours a week, and I've always done things like this. Like you had said, BMX bikes all the way to cars my whole life as a side hobby or side hustle. Decided I wanted to do it on my own. If I put that many hours into my own business instead of working for someone else, I thought there's no way I could fail. And here we are today. So I started a business in Florida, car dealership out there. I sold it when my wife got pregnant so we could move home. And I started again in 2010.

1:37So Flying Wheels has been 2010 to current and steadily growing since. So like you said, you've been doing all kinds of stuff since you were a kid. What do you think it was about your upbringing that gave you that entrepreneurial spirit? I didn't realize it until recently. My son's 13. So he's into buying and selling sneakers. He buys bicycles and he cleans them up and fixes them. It's fun watching him. I really enjoy that. it's like being a kid again. And it brings me back to when I was his age. I really had no interest in that until I wanted things. Once I got a want for things and it wasn't just bought for me, I figured out ways to earn them myself.

2:10So if I needed money, I figured out what I needed to do. Working for$4.75 an hour, back when that was minimum wage, if I want to age myself, wasn't cutting it. I would want a bicycle that all my friends have. My parents refused to buy it for me. So I'd start off with something smaller or get something free from a junkyard or on the side of the road, fix it, clean it, trade it. or sell it in the one advertiser way back then, which would be today's marketplace, and use that money to roll into the next bicycle. Bicycle to four-wheeler, four-wheeler to dirt bike, to my first car, to paying for college and starting my own business and so on and so on.

2:43It's just a snowball effect. Talk to me a little bit about starting that first dealership. How much capital did you have and what were kind of those startup costs? Sure thing. So I had no money. I was 23 when I started and my wife and I were girlfriend at the time were just starting out. And like I said, I was working 70 hours a week for someone else and there still wasn't a lot of money to be made. So I didn't have a lot of working capital. What I did have, I used towards my startup costs. I had about$10 ,000 and I figured I could get that done for around$10 ,000 to get everything started. And I did, but there were a lot of hoops to jump through and it was about eight months worth of work to get my dealer's license and find my location and get the correct bonds and take the classes, everything that was involved.

3:21It was tedious and a lot of work. And once I got my license, I realized I'm broke. I have no more money. So I took a credit card loan, not in advance. Credit cards, when you get your paper statements, they'll give you cash advance checks. And for a fee of$125 and 0 % interest, they'll give you a loan. As long as you pay it back within that certain timeframe, I'm warning everybody, pay it back. You're going to get in trouble if you don't. So I bought my first car with that credit card advance. I bought my second car still using that credit card advance. Now we're talking 0 % interest for like 12 months.

3:54So I had about 11 months to buy cars with that money before I had to pay it off. And by the time I got to that deadline, I was rolling at that point. And I could pay off the loan, have my own cash and just buy my own stuff slowly, inexpensive cars, whatever I could afford and work from there. That's obviously just a huge leap of faith. And a lot of people are afraid to take that leap? How did you overcome that fear and actually get yourself to do it? I've never really had that fear. I mean, everybody has doubts, doubts themselves, and then you grow confidence as time goes on and everything's a risk, but I've never really had that fear.

4:28And like I said previously, I was working 70 hours a week for someone else. And if I put that much time into myself, if I invested that much time into myself, learning, moving forward, the risk really isn't there. I already know there are other dealers out there. They're surviving. I've done this my whole life as a hobby anyway. Why not just do it full time? So I didn't really have that fear and that risk when I jumped in. I kind of had a little bit of confidence with myself, maybe too much confidence. On that journey, what's the biggest mistake that you've made as a business owner and what did you learn from it?

4:58I make a mistake every day and I learn from every mistake. And one of the questions you would ask me previously was what mistake I made and what I learned from it. I learn from my mistakes every day and I move forward. And without making those mistakes, you would never learn. I wouldn't say I've really ever made a gigantic mistake. Probably my biggest mistake would be I didn't start soon enough. I wish I did it earlier. I have a YouTube series that I fully wish I got into it long ago and I kind of procrastinated on it. You know, I'm behind where I would have liked to be because of procrastination.

5:27So that would probably be my biggest mistake was waiting too long to do things. Maybe having just a little bit of fear of jumping in and going forward. Hey, Off-Up listeners. You know we're all about diving deep into the real stories behind great businesses. Well, let me introduce you to another podcast that's had a massive impact on many businesses, including ours, Perpetual Traffic. They've been delivering cutting-edge digital marketing strategies for years. And with the rising cost of customer acquisition, they're more relevant than ever. Perpetual Traffic recently had Ryan Deese on the show.

5:58He's basically one of the founding fathers of digital marketing, and he went deep into the art of messaging. how to connect with your ideal customer, and gave a sneak peek into the marketing trends of 2024. It was super valuable. But what we appreciate most about Perpetual Traffic is their mission. That is to help businesses achieve their vision and make an impact on the world through digital marketing. So if you're looking for the latest strategies to grow your business, go check out Perpetual Traffic on your favorite podcast app or simply click the link in the show notes. Trust me, it's worth a listen.

6:27Craig, I want to ask about customer service in the sales process as a car dealership owner here? Because there's obviously a stereotype of the pushy car dealer. How do you approach sales to break that stereotype and show customers that you do things differently? That's an easy one for me. And I can just start by saying, I've bought cars from car dealers before and I've been in timeshare shows or presentations and I despise them. I just strongly dislike high pressure sales. I don't like the feeling it gives you where you just feel obligated and pressured to buy something. I've never liked that.

7:00And for that reason, I've always been 100 % opposite. I'm a very cool, level-headed salesperson. And I say salesperson extremely loosely. If you want it, you're going to buy it. If you don't want it, you're not going to buy it. I don't want to push you into something you don't want. But I do want to show you the reasons why you would or would not want said vehicle. I was a training manager in Florida before I started this business and it was business to business and door to door and it was hot. And we were taught to be a little pushy and be able to overcome objections. And I actually did better by just being relatable.

7:32Listen, I know you don't want me here. I know you're a business owner. You don't have a lot of time. Let me just tell you what I have to offer. If you don't like it, I'll leave. If you do, then I'll keep talking. So something like that was far more relatable to somebody than me just saying, why don't you want this? Well, what if I could do it today? What do I have to do to get you in this car today? That stuff is so cheesy and me not doing it has always helped me with my sales. What advice can you offer for developing those sales skills so that you aren't being in a high pressure environment, but you are still maybe putting the product forward in the best light?

8:02So this works in just about any industry. I observe and I ask questions. People like to talk about themselves. They love to talk about themselves. So if you just listen, they'll tell you what they want to hear. What's their hotspot? Is it, I have children? Okay, well, this car is safe and it fits car seats. Are there decals on their car? Maybe they like fishing and let's chat about fishing. What clothes are they wearing? Do they have pets? Okay, well, now that I know you have two gigantic dogs, maybe a Suburban is a better fit than a Tahoe because it's a little bit larger for your dogs. So being able to relate to a customer and fit their needs is a little bit easier than just trying to say, I have this car.

8:37This is the one you want. Has that ability to relate to people been something that you've learned or is it sort of an innate thing that you've just always had? I think I've always had it, but the skill has grown over the years. So being able to have a conversation has always helped me, which is kind of tough because a lot of people don't have conversations. Most of the stuff's done through text message and through emails now. I think being able to have conversations is big. And just great example that I'll say really quickly, I was at dinner with some friends and one of the husbands, I don't know him very well, and he wasn't much of a conversationalist, let's say.

9:07So I introduced myself and I asked questions until I found a hotspot. What was something that he got more engaged in that question than others? Now I know what we can talk about. Okay, good. I know a little bit. I have a little bit of knowledge on that topic. Let's have a discussion. Now we are talking instead of just having that awkward silence between each other. And it helps build relationships. Any questions you can offer that we should all maybe have in the back of our mind to kind of get that kickstarted? Don't go for the weather. Hey, nice day out there. I'm going to rain tomorrow. don't do that stuff.

9:37Observe. Like I had mentioned previously, I noticed somebody had a car seat in the back of their car. Oh, do you have a son or a daughter? How old? I have three. Stuff like that. Observe. Just use your surroundings and discuss from there. As kind of an extension of this conversation, you may mention you've bought cars before. So now you have been on both sides of this transaction. What, in your view, are customers looking for from the car dealership? And how do you make sure you provide that at Flying Wheels? Every customer has, I would call it a hotspot. What are they here for? Somebody yesterday, they wanted$1 ,500 off the price of a car.

10:09They were not coming in unless they were getting$1 ,500 off before they even look at that car. I know that's his hotspot. Another person, if they talk about, oh, I was in a car accident in my last car. It saved me. I felt so safe in that car. Now I know this person cares about safety. So that's what I want to make sure I focus on, find a vehicle that's safe for them. I had mentioned it either. I have two big Mastiffs. Oh, okay, well, now I know what type of vehicle you want. So to be able to provide the correct customer service, you have to know your customer in order to do so. You just have to ask questions, genuine questions, not, hey, let's have a fake conversation questions.

10:43Ask questions that help you learn about the customer's needs. And that's how you learn what they're looking for in a car dealership. It's not always price. It's not always reliability. It might be something very specific to them. And part of the job is to figure out what it is. What does the marketing mix look like for your car dealership? It changes regularly, especially after COVID. So it was when I first started, it was Craigslist was free and we would just blast on Craigslist as much as possible. And it was free and I was young and new with no money. So that's what made it great. Facebook Marketplace is that new Craigslist and it's free and everybody's on it.

11:17It's a lot of work to use Facebook Marketplace. But as my business grew, I'm everywhere. So I'm on cars.com, CarGurus, AutoTrader, Kelly Blue Book. Everywhere people look, you'll find my eyes. But the free ones always seem to work the best, but they're also, again, the most work for me. So with that in mind, what does the typical advertising spend look like? And I guess I ask that question both in terms of monetary and in terms of manpower and hours. Emails are the most work. Responding to emails, especially if you're not doing it quick enough. People are hot, either impulsive. I'm looking at this now.

11:49I need to have an answer right now because if it's Saturday and you respond Monday, it's too late. They forgot about that car and they probably already bought something on Sunday. So that's difficult. And I'm paying for every single lead. So whether it's cars.com or CarGurus or Autotrader or free on Facebook, all of those leads cost me money or time. So every time I don't respond to one, it's a dead lead and a waste of money. I started on free websites and that's what I focused on. I spent all my time on the free websites because I needed to keep my costs down, my overhead low. Now I'm everywhere because my budget has grown, because my business has grown.

12:21And that's what I always say to young entrepreneurs. don't dive all in. You don't need to have a million dollar business right away. You don't need to buy into every single vendor right away. They're expensive. Start with one, see how it works. Test the waters with another. A lot of times they'll give you free trials for 30, 60, 90 days. Try them out. They're not returning. Get rid of them. And I have no problem firing my vendors even to this day if they're not performing. How does social media factor into all this? Well, you're talking to a YouTube car salesman. So as far as social media performs, it's my life.

12:52I get calls from all over the country and I ship nationwide because I make YouTube videos. And it's not even specific. I make a Corvette video. A viewer will see a truck in the background and they'll call me the next day. Hey, I saw that F-150 in the background of your video last night. Can you tell me a little bit about it? So I ship nationwide because of it. That is not the traditional car dealership. Social media before is big now and it started to get big for car dealers and COVID, but I've always done it. Hey, this is what I have. This is what I learned. I always thought it was interesting to put stuff out there, see what it's like.

13:20I like to see what it's like for other people in their industry. And I like to show what it's like in my industry and people like to watch it. And as I had said before, no pressure, they now feel comfortable. They have a personal relationship with me because they know the business. They know me. They watch my videos and they feel comfortable enough emailing us about a car because they trust everything I've said over the past year or two, three years that they've been watching. So they know they'll get what they expect when it shows up at their door on the other side of the country. So social media is a big part of my business.

13:46Let's talk about your YouTube start over 325 ,000 subscribers on YouTube. How do you grow a subscriber base on YouTube? This isn't easy. So everybody, when they see what I have or what I do or our income on YouTube, they go, oh, I'm going to start that. It is not easy. I've been doing this for seven, eight years. And you as a podcaster and having your own YouTube channel know the same. It's not an overnight success. And I don't want it to be an overnight success. I learned along the way. I started because I wanted to put a Corvette engine in a Nissan 240, which was my drift car. And it was a lot of work to do the research and it took me months.

14:18So I vlogged everything. This is what you need for brake booster. This is what you need for wiring harness. This is how you mount the transmission. And I video those things and people started asking questions for the next video. So I'd make my next video based off what they wanted. And then they'd ask about cars in the background or, Hey, can you take me to an auction? So I do an auction video and I basically piggybacked one video off or another by listening to what my viewers wanted. You want to see this? Good. That'll be the next video. Oh, you have questions about that? Perfect. I'll answer those questions in the next video.

14:44And I respond to comments and I engage. I try to keep my videos engaging. That's what helped grow my channel. It wasn't, here's the car I have for sale. It was, hey, this is me. This is my life. It's not just the car dealership. Then once you have grown that following, how then do you start to convert that following into revenue, either by making them paying customers, buying cars and shipping them across the country or through other means? How do you go about doing that? It used to just be car sales. That's all it was. We buy cars, we fix them, clean them, we sell them for a profit, rinse and repeat.

15:15And that's it. As social media grew, a lot of other doors opened for us. So we now have YouTube revenue, which takes a lot of pressure off the sales. I don't have to always be selling as much as I did to cover that overhead because we have YouTube revenue. We have media partners. So people will reach out and say, Hey, Craig, will you try this jump pack for us and see if you like it? If you like it, we'll pay you to put in a video. So that helps out a lot as well. But the sales are our main priority and people see all over the country. And if they're looking for something, they email us and we'll find that too most of the time or at least try to find it for them.

15:46And same thing, we ship it all over the country. Other people, as I mentioned, I just listen to what people want. I had people constantly asking me, Craig, how do you start your dealership? Will you mentor me? I don't have the time for it. So I created a course that teaches people step by step how to start your own dealership, how to get your own dealer's license or just how to buy and sell cars legally without a license. Startyourdealership.com. if you don't mind a shameless plug, teaches everything I wish I knew when I was 18, 20, and 23 when I was starting the business. If I could teach myself back then what I would want to know, that's what I created a course for.

16:17So we get income from that as well. This is going to bring us to a section of the show that we call our Fan Blitz questions. And these questions do come from our YouTube community. Listeners, you can go join that community by going to youtube.com slash upflip, and you can pose questions to future podcast guests. So Craig, I got six questions we're going to try and get through in about a minute. Are you ready? I'm going to preface this. I didn't even read these questions, so I'm going off the cuff on these ones. Let's go. Here we go. Okay. First one is from JJ Barker. He wants to know some of the niche business opportunities that you've discovered in your time.

16:47The courses, I love teaching people. I love educating, which is why I make the videos. So startyourdealship.com is so fun for me because it's a lot of one-on-one stuff. I love brand partnerships with products that I actually like doing. So if I use the product, I love promoting those products. That's a great income stream that I never would have expected before. Colonel Korn wants to know, how did you start flipping BMX bikes, were BMX bikes your hobby? Colonel Korn, I love the name, first of all. Two, I had a bike that my parents bought for me. I used it. I had fun with it. It wasn't the bike I wanted.

17:16So I sold it and I bought a used bike that needed work. I bought that used bike, fixed it, clean it, sold it until I just kept turning them over. One after another, if I bought it for 25, I fixed it, cleaned it, sold it for 50, 50 to 75. And it was always low dollar amounts. And then I'd move on and on, keep searching. But that was part of the fun for me. Space sleeps is asking if the Ferrari you bought a dream car or do you have other dream cars? I have so many dream cars. This was one of them. I have two red cars in my garage. My Dodge Viper is my dream car. The Ferrari is the dream car. I met the goal and it was more about the goal than the car.

17:50And I have plenty others, so we'll keep the series going. Hugh Galmo wants to know, how much capital do you advise somebody starts with if they want to get into a dealership? Overhead is key, not capital. Yes, you do need working capital. You have to keep your overhead down. Don't throw all your money at everything. Figure out what you need, what you don't need. Every industry is different. It's going to require a different amount of capital. You'll have to figure that out on your own. I did mine with$10 ,000 and a small, small loan to buy a car. Keep your overhead low. 2288 asked if you use a specific floor plan for the dealership.

18:19I don't use any floor plans. I hate owing people money. I pay all my debts off as soon as possible. I did have floor plans when I started out on cars that I really wanted that I couldn't afford, but I don't base my business on floor plans. Last one in the FanBlitz questions from Chris Espoir, who wants to know, what are the social benefits of owning a luxury car versus a standard car? I would prefer a standard car over a luxury car because I went to the beach in the Ferrari the other day, parked it outside, and I couldn't enjoy myself. I was constantly looking over the edge as people were taking photos of it or people were poking their heads in.

18:50Had it been a Corolla, I would have had a great time with no stress. I would much rather a reliable daily driver than a luxury car. That's going to do it for the FanBlitz questions. If you've been listening to the Uplit podcast for a while and you like our episodes, hit pause now and leave us a quick review on Apple Podcasts or a rating in the Spotify app. It will help other aspiring entrepreneurs find the show and hear these nuggets of gold from our guests. Craig, I want to talk about networking and mentorship now. You said you don't have time to mentor specifically folks. You started the course, but I want to start first at if you have a mentor, do you have somebody that you turn to.

19:23For sure I do. Yeah. Yeah. And it's absolutely a few people in my family. So anybody that watches my videos knows Papa Al. Papa Al was an auto tech teacher. He's my grandfather. He comes down the auction with me every single week. He's the car guy. He was a Ford mechanic in the sixties, an auto tech teacher up until 15 years ago. He's taught me a lot about cars and he still is teaching me every day. Little wisdom tips. My father was the entrepreneur. He owned a business when I was young. He had me when he was young and was forced to start doing what he needed to do to survive and support us. I've learned a lot about business through him and I still call him daily when I have questions or as you had asked before, what mistakes do I make?

20:01If I make a mistake, I call him or if I think I'm going to make a mistake, I call him, get his opinion, at least so I'm not just making decisions on my own. I have another opinion helping me out. You mentioned this in the Famblitz questions, how much you enjoy the teaching aspect of the content that you're making. What are the benefits of sharing your knowledge with other entrepreneurs? I think it's relatable. Number one, I have a lot of emails and DMs about people saying, oh my God, that was hysterical, or thank you so much. I really needed this video, or I wanted that update about the automotive industry.

20:29Thank you. And they appreciate it. When somebody appreciates it, it's rewarding for me. Just selling somebody a car isn't always rewarding. They buy a car, they pay me, they leave. I never hear from again, which is actually a good thing. If they call me, it's usually because they have an issue that I have to take care of. So there's nothing truly rewarding about it. Educating people and having people be appreciative is what's rewarding. And that's why I enjoy it. And you've spoken at industry events like the National Auto Dealers Association convention. How have you landed those kinds of opportunities?