The Ladies of Alpha & Omega Automotive

Intro: [00:00:10] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. Welcome to Women in Business, where we celebrate influential women making a difference in our community. Now here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:32] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Women in Business Radio. This is a very special episode. The ladies of Alpha and Omega. I have so been looking forward to having this show. Of course, I have with me our traditional host for this segment of women in business, Miss Lori Kennedy. How are you?

Lori Kennedy: [00:00:53] Hi, I’m great. This is a twist of events and I’m excited to see where it leads. We have no idea where we’re going today.

Stone Payton: [00:01:01] Yeah. So for for the three people in Cherokee County that don’t know. Lori Kennedy is with Alpha and Omega. She and her husband, Danny or Billy. We’ll talk about that later. Whichever husband you want to talk about is the other owner of Alpha Omega. And we have two beautiful young ladies in here with us who keep the the fires burning over there and keep the shop running. In fact, the first one I’ll mention is Sam, Floyd, Sam and I saw each other just the other day because I took my old truck in there hoping to get it through one more hunting season. And it’s right now in there getting an oil change and getting hopefully an emissions sign off.

Speaker4: [00:01:42] Yes, I did the emissions test and it failed. So we’re doing a smoke test to get it ready for you.

Stone Payton: [00:01:48] So, Sam, we’ll make it. But of course, I trust these folks with our with our cars. With Harleys cars. Well, and I, I may have mentioned to you, we’re getting another car. No. And we’re given we’re given the other the the old one to my youngest, Kelly, and then we’re getting another one. So, yeah, we’ll keep you guys busy and welcoming back to the business radio microphone. Miss Allie Kennedy, how have you been since we talked to you last?

Speaker5: [00:02:11] I’ve been good. I forgot I had a whole baby since. But other than that, I’m good, so I’m okay now. I’m just kidding.

Stone Payton: [00:02:18] And we had the pleasure of enjoying the new edition at Woodstock Business Club. I don’t know. Has the baby shown up at Y Pal as well? Or just.

Intro: [00:02:29] Woodstock?

Speaker5: [00:02:30] Just the business club. When she was younger, like very little, she could come. And then the more I kept bringing her, the older she was getting, and the more I was like, You can’t.

Intro: [00:02:37] Be here anymore.

Speaker5: [00:02:38] She’s just trying to crawl around and meet everybody during the talks. So we had to stop.

Stone Payton: [00:02:44] All right. Since everyone here is with Alpha Omega, let’s lead with this for a moment, if we could, Lori, mission purpose. Tell us a little bit about the business and what you’re really out there trying to do for folks, the community?

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:56] Well, we have three things that I have posted above everyone’s heads, and that is honesty, integrity and quality. And the reason I put it behind their heads is because I want them to be held accountable to that. And they’ve agreed to that when they’ve, you know, signed on to work with us. And we’ve actually had to let somebody go before because we found out they were they had only been there about a week and they had not put some items on a vehicle that they said they had put on a vehicle. And we how we found it and we were like, okay, that was not quality, that was not integrity, and it was not honesty either. So you don’t match up with who we want to be in this community. So yeah.

Intro: [00:03:44] I.

Stone Payton: [00:03:45] So so that one got through but I got caught in the, in the net there. You can take that if you want. I’m kidding. But you must put some real attention and focus and energy into that whole recruiting development process. What is it? And I got I got to admit, just straight up, I’m not good at that. You know, when I’m interviewing people, I don’t feel like I ask the right questions and I feel like I’m too quick to just buy off on whatever they’re saying. How have you gotten better and better at that? And have you kind of figured out a process for recruiting, interviewing, developing, or you still cutting your teeth and learn it?

Intro: [00:04:22] Tbd No, I just can’t.

Lori Kennedy: [00:04:25] I think I mean, obviously all processes can always be improved upon. And the more you do something, the better you’ll get at it, the more often you fail at it. The things you’ll remember you’ll realize that you shouldn’t do in the future. I will say that one of my questions that I always ask people is Why are you leaving where you are and what are you hoping to get in an offer? And I don’t necessarily mean how much money per hour. I mean, like, I don’t want to bring somebody out of the fire and throw them into the frying pan, you know, like, I want if they’re going to come work for us, then I want us to be accomplishing something that they’re not currently getting where they are. If we have the if they say, well, systems and procedures are confusing sometimes where I’m at and I’m like, all right, well.

Intro: [00:05:16] You’re not going to get any better in our shop because that happens on us too.

Lori Kennedy: [00:05:19] So, you know, I just I don’t want to set somebody up to fail. And so I do ask a few questions to make sure that the environment that we’re going to put them in is something that. Will be relevant for what they’re trying to accomplish. Hopefully, like that’s the goal. You know, it doesn’t always work. Unfortunately, staffing is one of the most difficult things that we have happening. Techs are very difficult to find. I probably realize this, but for years and years, white collar was pushed in homes in America and there are very few blue collar workers and in all aspects like electricians and plumbers and mechanics and all of it very limited. So before long and now we’ve got kids graduating from college who can’t find jobs.

Stone Payton: [00:06:13] Right. And and owe a lot of money in many cases.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:17] Yeah. And we can’t we can’t find techs. It’s just a hard industry. So if you’re listening to this and you are looking for change, we would be happy to speak with you.

Stone Payton: [00:06:30] And then when you do land a good one like Sam, like Ali. Are there some things that you make a habit of doing or not doing to keep them engaged, keep them on board, check in that that conversation you had, because that could be a moving target, right? Like now they’ve been there for a while and now they are hoping to get this out of their word.

Lori Kennedy: [00:06:53] Yeah, I mean, I my husband probably deals more with the techs and with, you know, the men on the team. And with the day to day, Ali does our marketing and some HR like she’s kind of an all all purpose but more on the administrative side as opposed to like, you know, she put the cup under your microphone.

Intro: [00:07:17] That was a perfect.

Stone Payton: [00:07:18] Microphone when they got.

Lori Kennedy: [00:07:19] Here. Anyway, she’s she’s more like, you know, thinking through those those types of details. And the only other female that we have on staff is Sam. And Sam runs one of the front counters at our Woodstock shop. And so she probably deals more day to day with my husband, although she does call me and I love hearing from her. And my goal is I know I can’t learn everything at once. I do better if I learn in little pieces. So as things come up, I’ll try to call her and I’ll say, Hey, let’s talk through this today and let’s think through this process or whatever. What what could we do different? What could we how could we make it better? Or this is the first time you’ve seen this. So, you know, I don’t want to give everything at once because then, well, I’ll forget things, but same.

Intro: [00:08:10] Same, you know.

Lori Kennedy: [00:08:11] So we just do a little at a time and hopefully things stick. But I mean, I think my, I have a mentoring heart. Yeah. And my goal is to be available. I don’t, I know, I don’t know all things, but I’ve definitely lived a few years longer than these two ladies sitting across from me. So I might have made several mistakes that they haven’t made yet. And if I can help them not make those then praise, I would love that.

Stone Payton: [00:08:35] Well, I had and thoroughly enjoyed the Sam front counter experience just a couple of days ago. You’re doing a fantastic job. I mean, you’re so personable and you explain things in ways that those of us who you know, I have two tools at my house, a telephone and a checkbook. So I don’t. So it’s it’s very important that I find, you know, people I can trust to to provide these kinds of services. But you had the unique opportunity to interact with both me and Holly, my wife, Holly. And you just you manage that so well. So how would you describe your role, your mission, your your purpose, your work at Alpha and Omega?

Speaker4: [00:09:14] So like Lori said, honesty, quality, integrity, these are things that we all strive to accomplish. For me, in my day to day, I just want my customers to come in and know that they’re going to be handled with those three utmost qualities and leave feeling the same way. And that’s that’s the part that gets missed a lot of times is they come in and they’re like, Hey, how are you doing? Da da da da da. And then when they leave, it’s like, Oh, get them. Go, go, go, go, go. So we try to make them feel like family and and that they are aware that we’ll do anything that they need us to do to keep their business, get their business, and make sure that they’re driving a vehicle that’s going to last and going to keep keep on trucking.

Stone Payton: [00:10:00] So you strike me as an incredibly self-reliant kind of person you can depend on. You’re going to figure out how to get the job done. You know, if you get knocked down or something goes wrong during the day, you’re going to work your way through it. I I’m married to one of those. So, so, so I know that when I see it and and occasionally when you run into something where, where you need some extra input in, do you find yourself approaching? Approaching. Danny or Laurie. And if so, what does that look like?

Speaker4: [00:10:35] Okay. You’re laughing because you know it.

Intro: [00:10:40] Okay.

Lori Kennedy: [00:10:41] So we’re very different.

Intro: [00:10:43] Very different.

Speaker4: [00:10:44] So Laurie is a scary one. Really? You are?

Intro: [00:10:49] At first. At first.

Speaker4: [00:10:51] Before we got to know. So. Before the cookout. Before that was my OC. Me and Laurie. We’re.

Intro: [00:10:58] We’re cool. So.

Speaker4: [00:11:02] So Laurie is the one that I was scared to approach. She’s. Look at it. She’s just so I’m here.

Stone Payton: [00:11:09] She’s a force when she.

Speaker5: [00:11:11] Has to interject. Six months. The first six months that I knew her, I am I am her daughter in law. And the first six months that I knew her, I was scared, like, pee your pants. Scared of Laurie. So we’re good now. I mean, that’s my other mom, but.

Intro: [00:11:23] Like, it took us a minute. I don’t know.

Speaker4: [00:11:26] So starting there and saying this is I had to start there to say this. So Billy’s more of the whomever we’re talking about today. Billy, Danny, Danny, Billy. He’s more of the. Let me show you how this is done. If you don’t know, I’m going to like he’s he’s very explanatory, very compassionate, very nice. Very, very sweet for the most part. Yeah. Really? Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:11:51] In the beginning, yeah. The beginning.

Intro: [00:11:53] In the beginning. Wow.

Speaker4: [00:11:55] He is he’s very, very.

Speaker5: [00:11:57] He can be so.

Intro: [00:11:57] Mad when he listens to this.

Speaker4: [00:12:00] But then, now, so in the beginning he was more of a friend more, more of somebody. I could be like, Hey, what is this? You know? Yeah. Now he’s ask Lori. It’s it’s the hand, the eyes. It’s like if it has if it doesn’t have anything to do with a vehicle or a part for a vehicle.

Stone Payton: [00:12:21] Right.

Speaker4: [00:12:22] So he’ll sit there and he’ll explain it. So, for example, I asked him in the boys yesterday lunch, hey, what do you guys think about setting up, like, a little corner in each of the shops for, like, kids? Like, because single, not single moms, a lot of stay at home moms come in with their husbands car, in their car, and they have their kids and they’re like, ha, just sitting there. So I’m like, okay, maybe we could do some sort of like a corner thing. I should have run this by, you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:12:46] Know, I already knew about it. Everybody has been calling me and telling me, I tried to call you yesterday and you weren’t there, so I figured we’d talk about it sooner or later. I think it’s a great idea. I’m glad that we just created a new policy here on Live Live on the air.

Intro: [00:13:02] So anyways, this is a conversation I want done. That’s good.

Speaker4: [00:13:05] So, Danny, sit there and he’s explaining to me, you know, I can tell you that this is a great idea and I can tell you that I’m here all for it. And I can tell you this and I can tell you that. But I can also tell you those chairs would have been regular black chairs if it was up to me. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. But Lori being Lori, these these rooms are beautiful. Oh, yeah. They’ve got our colors, they’ve got this matching setup. And he’s like, So things you need to ask Lori.

Intro: [00:13:32] They need the net ness.

Speaker4: [00:13:33] The ness of the beauty of the Alpha and Omega. He’s like, So you’re going to have to find two. They’re going to have to match.

Lori Kennedy: [00:13:40] Yeah, yeah. Because we need them for both shops.

Speaker4: [00:13:42] Yeah. See, that’s literally what he’s telling me. So things that I’m officially on air made my life slightly more difficult. But like you said, I will figure it out.

Stone Payton: [00:13:53] And get it done well. And there’s apparently in the Alpha and Omega system, there’s pre cookout life and post cookout. But so tell us about the cookout. This this is probably again, your brainchild of getting the group together and getting. Is that. Yes.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:08] Well, we yes, we had met a goal and we had a couple of new people. And I just wanted everybody to meet everybody. And so we had everybody over at our house and we actually was at the boil. You’re talking about the boil? Yeah, we had a shrimp boil.

Intro: [00:14:22] Oh, my gosh.

Speaker4: [00:14:23] It was so.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:23] Good. And plus, Billy Dan is an amazing cook. Like he has a gift.

Speaker4: [00:14:30] Does.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:31] Mm hmm. Yeah, we can make the same thing, and his is so much better than mine. Like, we can follow the same recipe, and his is so much better than mine.

Speaker5: [00:14:38] He’s from Louisiana. It’s a natural.

Intro: [00:14:41] Thing, you know?

Stone Payton: [00:14:42] All right. For the benefit of our listeners, we probably should clear up the whole Danny Billy thing for a moment, just so we don’t lose them.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:48] Yeah. Okay, so you’ve heard it. George Foreman. Yes.

Intro: [00:14:52] Yes.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:53] He named all his kids. George.

Stone Payton: [00:14:55] George. Yes.

Intro: [00:14:56] Okay.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:57] Well, Billy’s dad’s name was Billy Earl, and then there was Billy Daniel, and then they had twin girls, but they didn’t know they were having twins because back then you didn’t know. So they had one and they named her Bobby Joe. And then a second one came out and they’re like, Well, what do we name this one? We didn’t pick a name for a second one. And I guess Petticoat Junction, which I know none of you young people, they don’t even.

Intro: [00:15:22] Know what we’re talking about.

Lori Kennedy: [00:15:22] But I know, right? They don’t know what a check book is either. Just to date, Houston.

Intro: [00:15:28] Oh.

Lori Kennedy: [00:15:28] They’re giving me a look. They do note a check book because I was just I was really teasing you, not them. Anyway, so. When the second little girl came out, they were like, Well, what a we name her. And so they decided on Billie Joe because I guess on Petticoat Junction there were three and it was Billie Joe, Bobbie Jo and Betty Jo. I don’t know why they didn’t think of Betty Jo, but they had a Billie Earl. A Billie Daniel and a Billie Joe. All in the house. Can you imagine how much fun that was when somebody called on the phone and asked to speak to Billie? Expecting the dad like a sales call. And then you put the little girl on the phone. The three year old. Hello. Anyway, so when he was at home, he was called Danny. When he would go to school or work, they would, you know, he’d fill out his application or at school they had his name is Billie, so he ended up in any kind of work or business environment as Billie in any kind of personal environment as Danny. And so it gets very confusing from time to time. There was a time when I was working, he had a tech and I was in home building at the time and the techs, mother and I worked together and he had gotten me a necklace for my birthday and I came in and I went, Look what Danny got me for my birthday. And she went home and told her son I was cheating on my husband.

Intro: [00:16:45] No.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:46] True story.

Stone Payton: [00:16:47] Yeah. Yeah. All right. So I don’t know how much we cleared anything up, but I. But I have my arms around it. I know who we’re talking about. I know he’s from Louisiana, and I have no doubt that he puts out a terrific ball and any manner of other Louisiana specialties. All right. So, Ali, tell us about your role and how you would describe it.

Speaker5: [00:17:09] My role is ever.

Intro: [00:17:11] Changing, ever.

Speaker5: [00:17:13] Ever adjusting with the with the needs of my wonderful Lorrie. It is by name marketing coordinator. But I do some h.r. I do onboarding for us. I do payroll. So I’m kind of just like the the woman of many hats and i try to just pick up where I can and I enjoy it though I’m, I’m really enjoying it just as it kind of grows into whatever it is. And definitely it keeps me busy but in the best way. Like it’s just, it’s special to be a part of my family’s business, you know? And they asked me to do it and they want me to be here. It’s awesome.

Lori Kennedy: [00:17:47] I think it’s funny that my son, who is your husband, said, didn’t want to give the business this to either of us. So they brought you in LA so they can give the business.

Speaker5: [00:17:56] Here’s like somebody’s got to learn it. I mean.

Intro: [00:17:58] No.

Speaker5: [00:17:59] No, but, but really, it’s been awesome and it’s funny just going home and like talking with Grant and being like, Oh yeah, like this, blah, blah, blah. Just about anything, anything. I don’t even have an example. And he’s just like, Oh, I didn’t know that was like that. Like, Yeah, well, now you do, you know. So it’s been nice kind of being on the inside of things and just getting to kind of see the ins and outs. And it’s very fascinating how a business is run. Like if you if you haven’t experienced that and you’re getting to see it for the first time, it’s just all of those little things that you don’t think about just already being laid out. And you said the thing about processes and stuff like that, it might be hard to incorporate in the shop, but I think that as far as like the way that we try to run things on the back end, like Lori has just done a remarkable job of making making steps and making manuals and making just everything she can to make sure you have what you need. Like the other day, she just was like, Oh, I made you a spreadsheet for that. And I was like, Oh, thank you. You know, like, that’s how she is. And so it’s, it’s not, it’s not difficult to do my job. So I’m very blessed for that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:18:58] I would. Sorry, Stone. I’m jumping in. I would love you. Went to Woodstock Business Club this morning. Yes. And for the first time, you like they do a question and I love the questions. I always take down a ton of notes because I feel like I always leave. They’re better than when I arrived. And you shared today and you told me what you shared. And I really would love for you to share it again.

Speaker5: [00:19:22] Oh, goodness. Okay. Well, I got to set it up. So the question was, what’s one thing about your industry that you feel like there’s a stigma about or people like or confused on? And I just basically said not exactly this, obviously, but just that, you know, you take your car in for an oil change and then, you know, the mechanic comes out and he’s like, hey, actually there’s X, Y, Z, wrong with your car and it’s going to be $1,000 today. And I said, I don’t think that’s actually not true because that does happen in so many shops. But I think it’s important to make sure that you’re choosing the right shop, obviously. And I gave the analogy of like the doctor, you know, if you go to your doctor and your doctor knows you and he’s been diagnosing you for years, he’s got your chart, you know, he’s going to do a better job of telling you what’s going on because he knows your history. So that’s why it’s important to build a relationship with a shop, you know, that knows you and knows your car and can diagnose your car. And something I love about Alpha and Omega is that we’ll basically say, Hey, OC Yeah, like you’re going to need new brakes, but not for six months. So why don’t we go ahead and start saving for that? Let’s schedule our appointment six months out. You can come in and get your brakes fixed. Then instead of being like, Oh, just because you know, we know you’re going to need them, we’re not going to sell you on them today. We’d rather have a long. My relationship with you. And I love that and I value that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:38] So somebody say that that they came in, they said this morning in the meeting, hey, I came in and thought I needed this, but they said we got a.

Speaker5: [00:20:45] Shout out because it was something with tires. And she was like, I thought I needed all four and we actually only needed two. And so I saved some money. So thank you for being honest. And that honesty, quality, integrity, that’s, that’s that, you know. So I just I love that. I love that we’re about that.

Stone Payton: [00:20:59] Well, I got to tell you, Holly and I are a case study for what you’re describing. I mentioned my old hunting truck, and the guys are so great about doing that to the point that there are a lot of moving parts in business and they all follow your processes and you’ve got some neat automation that lets you know the car is ready or the car’s ready, and we feel like you ought to do this, this and this, and we feel like these three things can wait and you can check them off. And my response almost invariably is, I trust you guys implicitly, just whatever you think is best. You know, I’ve come to have that level of trust with you guys, so you have a great balance of you have all those processes and all that stuff, but you add to the human factor to it. And if and if Eric or Jeff or Sam or Danny, anybody says, you’ve got to you’ve got to have you’ve got to have this. Yeah, okay. No worries.

Speaker4: [00:21:50] Yeah, you told me that yesterday, actually.

Intro: [00:21:52] Yeah. That’s the trust.

Speaker5: [00:21:53] You just know, like, if you say I need it, I need it. Right. You know, I’m not there’s no wool pulled over anybody’s eyes, you know, I just I love that.

Stone Payton: [00:22:00] Well, and I’ve had specific situations where they said, yeah, if you really are going to hang on to this thing for a while, you know, you need to be thinking about this down the road and we’ll stay on top of it kind of thing. And that’s that’s it’s a marvelous.

Intro: [00:22:12] Feeling.

Speaker5: [00:22:12] Especially like as a woman. Like, I mean, when I started, my dad lives out of state. And so from like 18 on it was like, I’m supposed to get an oil change. What does that mean? Like, and so like all of that kind of stuff. I married and well, yes, I know things like that now. But, you know, you go into a Goodyear excuse me, and there it’s just suddenly like I’m calling my dad. Like, aren’t oil changes $50 because my bill is like 420 and I don’t know why, you know, and so just to be able to trust the people is big because I don’t I don’t know. And you could potentially maybe six years ago, you could have potentially pulled the wool over my eyes. And that’s not fair, you know, so no advantage taken there. You know.

Lori Kennedy: [00:22:49] I would love Sam to talk a little bit about on our software and.

Speaker4: [00:22:55] What that sort of stability about. Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:22:57] What the capabilities are and how we can use it to serve our customers.

Speaker4: [00:23:01] It is awesome. So it’s, it’s simple. I can come in, have a vehicle, come in. You need an oil change. We’ll start there like you were saying, and then your bill ends up being ridiculous. You come in, you need an oil change. We do an 18 point inspection on every vehicle, which means you’ll if there’s something wrong, you’ll have pictures of it, and it’ll have a message sent to me. And I’ll have the ability to, from there, send this information via text or email to my customers. A lot of my customers prefer text, so that’s just how it works out. But I get that get the oil change done. I’ve got XYZ, I’ve got pictures of it when it needs to be done, how long I have till it needs to be done. And then from there I can just send the inspection or just the invoice to the customers. A lot of times I’ll send an invoice. They’ll pay it over their phone from the comfort of their own home because they are doing X, Y, Z. Their husband’s not going to get home till after six, and we’re closed so they can pay their invoice from home and just leave the car outside of the gate and they can pick it up whenever it’s convenient for them. So it makes it makes the conversation with a customer so much easier when you can show them like very clearly, you can’t pull them into the shop and be like, Hey, look under here, in between here. And that’s what we’re talking about. No, I can have the picture. I can send it to them, they can review it if they have any questions. Like you said, they can call me and I. If I don’t have a way to explain it, I will figure out a way to explain it to where you understand what I’m saying and what you need. So it’s super, super easy. Super. I feel like it’s for the good of the customer. And of course, that’s why they did it, because that’s just how they are.

Speaker5: [00:24:51] I have to I have to interject, Sam, you’re you’re going to remember what you said better than me, but I was in the shop yesterday and she was de-escalating a customer.

Intro: [00:24:59] Yes, I remember. She has this.

Speaker5: [00:25:01] Way that she’s, like, serious and it’s like she’s serious and providing great customer service, but she’s also funny about it. And it’s like that is that is just something you’re either born with or you’ll never have. And what did you say to the customer? Because it was so funny. Grant and I were both like.

Intro: [00:25:17] So clever.

Speaker4: [00:25:18] She was he was wanting a specific he had a recall on his vehicle and he couldn’t remember what his son had told him about the recall. So I said, okay, I’m going to do my research on my end. You do your research on your end. We’ll meet somewhere underneath the old oak tree. And he just died.

Speaker5: [00:25:33] It was like she was like, I’m going to. She said, I’m going to search my soul. You search your soul.

Intro: [00:25:38] Under the old oak tree.

Speaker5: [00:25:40] And it was like her voice didn’t change. She wasn’t like it was just she said it, you know, I.

Intro: [00:25:44] Know it was so funny.

Speaker5: [00:25:45] And then she was like, Oh, yeah, okay, have a good day. But, you know. And I was like.

Speaker4: [00:25:49] He was still laughing when.

Intro: [00:25:50] I got off. Exactly. Like, that’s.

Speaker5: [00:25:51] Because I love that, you.

Intro: [00:25:52] Know.

Stone Payton: [00:25:53] What a great environment that you guys have created. It’s clear that you have a good time and you’re committed to the to the customer. I want to hear a little bit about the balance of your life the rest of your life, your household. I’ll start with you, Sam. What’s what’s what’s home like?

Speaker4: [00:26:10] So for me, my boyfriend is a technician. He’s somewhere else, a vehicle technician. But he’ll come home and we’ll both have oil somewhere on our bodies.

Intro: [00:26:22] Steamy. Yes.

Speaker4: [00:26:24] So we’ll come home. And I’ve got a 12 year old or a 13 year old. A two year old and a 14 year old stepson. Oh, my. Yes. So I’ll come home, I’ll cook dinner. He cleans up after my dinner because I make a mess when I cook.

Stone Payton: [00:26:38] So smart, man.

Speaker4: [00:26:39] Uh huh, uh huh. He loves.

Intro: [00:26:41] Me.

Speaker4: [00:26:42] So I’ll cook dinner and then we’ll we’ll hang out. And we just killed stranger things. And that’s just what we do. That’s our that’s our home life. And the weekends will go to the pool with the kids or here soon we’ll be going out on a boat. From what I’m hoping. Wink, wink, wink, making plans.

Intro: [00:27:01] We’re making plans.

Stone Payton: [00:27:03] But I have to believe and in fact, it more than believe because I’ve experienced it, that that home is is such a happier place when the breadwinners are fulfilled in their work as well.

Speaker4: [00:27:15] Well, you know, I agree, but for a lot of us, we spend more time at work. Yeah. Than we do at home. Or at least that’s how my life is. So for me, it’s super important. The people that I work with are so important to me. I love my technicians, I love my bosses. I love Ali. We just we don’t see each other often, but we text a lot now that we have found each other’s phone numbers. So, you know, it’s super important to get along with the people that you spend hours with a week. And, you know, it’s just it’s a really good environment at home for me and and that work, just because I don’t come home stressed out, I mean, sometimes I do because I’m like, okay, where.

Intro: [00:27:59] Am I going to get this part?

Speaker4: [00:28:01] I can’t find it here. It’s on backorder here, but I’m going to find it. Come here, Google.

Intro: [00:28:05] So it’s.

Speaker4: [00:28:07] You know, it’s hard sometimes, but, you know, as long as you got that balance, it’s good. That’s, you know, something.

Stone Payton: [00:28:12] So we talked about your youngest for a moment there, Ali, but tell us more about life with Grant life at the house and how and if it kind of mingles and over to the work.

Speaker5: [00:28:23] So. Well, I have a two year old and a nine month old, so I’m in the weeds right now. Not going to say it any other way. And it’s it’s just interesting trying to balance the work in the home life. I’m fortunate that I can work from home and I do. But like Tuesdays, for example, I load up in the car around lunchtime with the girls. I go over to Laurie’s house. She has her office, has a little extra desk for me. So I go and I sit at the desk and please, Lord, God, let both my kids take naps in their respective rooms so I can get some work done. It’s been it’s been definitely a challenge trying to find time. But what I appreciate is just that the way the workload works for me is I kind of have a set amount of stuff I have per week, like week one, week two, week three, week four. And the stuff that’s time sensitive isn’t as it’s not as much of that kind of stuff. So it’s like I just, I know that by the end of this week I have to have this done. So it’s just balancing that and figuring out routine, which has been, it’s been fun. I like I like I’m like Lori. I like processes. I like figuring out ways to make things work. And it’s, it’s hard having littles because you don’t really get structure. So I just desperately am trying to make things fit in places and be like 2:00 is this? And then I’m like, No, it isn’t.

Intro: [00:29:40] Anymore.

Speaker5: [00:29:40] Awesome. And so it’s, it’s like going against my whole being right now, but it works like it functions like I am stressed, but it’s like it works, you.

Speaker4: [00:29:51] Know, pumpkin story yesterday.

Speaker5: [00:29:54] Oh, yeah. No, my poor my poor two year old she went to goes to like a mother’s morning out and it starts back in August. So we’re excited for that.

Intro: [00:30:03] We’re all looking forward to.

Speaker5: [00:30:05] And let me just my two year old is me. So it’s just an interesting dynamic with that being faced with myself every day. But no, she she’s I’m really neat and I’m really I don’t want to say OCD, but I kind of am. And she went to laugh at me. She went she went to school and they were painting white pumpkins orange. So we brought in white pumpkins and they like called me and they were like, she won’t take the pumpkins. She doesn’t want her hands to be dirty. And I was.

Lori Kennedy: [00:30:30] Like, and she probably likes white.

Speaker5: [00:30:32] Yeah. And she was.

Intro: [00:30:33] Like, That’s my favorite color.

Speaker5: [00:30:35] But no, I literally bought her an easel like for Christmas that year. I was like, We’re going to have to break that. And so now we finger paint. And I just sit there like.

Intro: [00:30:43] Like the whole time.

Speaker5: [00:30:45] I just. Yeah, but it’s getting better anyway. Off topic, but funny.

Stone Payton: [00:30:49] So does the parental strategies when you have littles as you characterize them. Does it does do you incorporate singing? Does that do you sing to them.

Speaker5: [00:30:58] Oh, do I. Yes. As it tells me not to sing all the time. Like all the time. We’re in the car and we’re listening to I’m a little teapot and I’m like, like, harmonizing. And she’s like, No, Mommy, sing, no mommy, sing from the back seat at me. And I’m like.

Intro: [00:31:12] I just think it’s funny. Or harmonizing to little too.

Speaker5: [00:31:17] Well, you know, creative people, we.

Intro: [00:31:19] Have to we.

Speaker5: [00:31:20] Have to get our outlet somewhere, right? But no, the singing does incorporate into my day to day. And I try not to talk too much about, like, cars either. But, you know, singing works better for two year olds and nine month olds than mechanic shop.

Stone Payton: [00:31:34] So I brought it up for the benefit of our listeners because the last time Ali was in the studio, they sang Amazing Grace and it was absolutely beautiful. So, Lorrie, you guys are, I don’t know, empty nesters of a fashion, but you got people around you all the time. What’s what’s life back at your mansion like?

Lori Kennedy: [00:31:53] Well, yes, we are kind of empty nesters, and that’s fun. But our kids are still close and live relatively close. We have our oldest son, Drake, who has texted me while I’ve been here and said he’s not scared of me at all. He must be listening. Hello, Drake.

Intro: [00:32:10] That’s the Drake is Drake thing.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:13] And he lives downtown. He’s a real estate agent, musician, professional musician. And he’s doing great. He’s talking about moving back to Nashville. We’ll see if he does or not. He has definite opportunities there and that’s amazing. And then Grant is married to Allie and those are the only two children I have and they live just in town like so pretty close. And they have the two littles, which are my precious babies. I had two boys and now I get to have girls.

Speaker4: [00:32:45] At the expense of Ashley’s mental.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:47] Health. Right. Well, you know, it’s different.

Intro: [00:32:49] When they can do for you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:32:52] It is different when they’re when they’re grand, you get to give them back. But it was so cute. I went over there yesterday and Ezra, the oldest, got a doll that has red hair and she’s calling it her lolly dolly because she calls me Lolly.

Intro: [00:33:06] It’s so cute.

Speaker5: [00:33:08] All on her own. Like, she was like, Oh.

Intro: [00:33:10] Lolly, Dolly. We were like, Oh.

Speaker4: [00:33:14] That was. She looked at me crazy with the red hair.

Intro: [00:33:17] Like what? She’s like, I related to Lolly. Lolly.

Lori Kennedy: [00:33:24] I, I do want to bring up that Alex wasn’t able to be here, and I would love Allie to talk a little bit about Alex’s role and.

Stone Payton: [00:33:32] How she’s shown Alex since she’s not here.

Intro: [00:33:34] Absolutely. Oh, dude.

Speaker5: [00:33:35] How could you ever dish on Alex? There’s not. Oh, love that girl. That’s. That’s Alex is my best friend and just happens to be the best social media content creator I’ve ever known or seen. And so we kind of are a little bit of a team in that aspect, and we work together to try and get, you know, I try to take pictures for her when I’m in the shop because she used to live farther away. She’s actually moving to Holly Springs as we speak, which is great and it’s just it’s been awesome getting to collaborate with her. We’ve actually worked together in like three different jobs, so it’s just it’s cool and she’s incredible. She actually recently designed our billboard that we now have.

Stone Payton: [00:34:14] Sweet. Yes. Where’s the billboard?

Speaker5: [00:34:15] It’s on campus. This is like my little baby. We on Canton Road. It’s like 0.8 miles from the shop. Like, so you drive it, you pass it. It’s point eight miles on your left is where the shop is from it.

Stone Payton: [00:34:27] And in the.

Intro: [00:34:28] Ground.

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:28] Above the Goodyear.

Speaker5: [00:34:29] Right above in between an express live in a good.

Intro: [00:34:31] Year. I’m trying to start some crap. I love it.

Stone Payton: [00:34:35] And in the corner of the billboard, does it say endorsed by business radio or did you.

Intro: [00:34:39] Oh, no, no. You should have you should have called me.

Stone Payton: [00:34:43] Fantastic.

Speaker5: [00:34:43] There is a big old picture of Danny. Billy, Danny.

Stone Payton: [00:34:47] Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:34:47] With his, like, arms crossed on it. And it was really cool. Yeah. She did such a phenomenal job. You got to drive by and see it. It’s beautiful. Yeah, we want to. We’re going to do some type of promotion potentially with, like, take a picture with the billboard and post it and get 100% off or something. You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how that works.

Intro: [00:35:04] Oh, smart person.

Lori Kennedy: [00:35:08] Marketing person speaking.

Intro: [00:35:10] Without she knows how the owner first she know.

Speaker5: [00:35:13] You did the kid’s.

Intro: [00:35:14] Corner thing. I know I did.

Speaker4: [00:35:15] Maybe I started.

Speaker5: [00:35:16] Off for free engines for people. No, no, just kidding.

Stone Payton: [00:35:20] But so you you have marketing expertise on board. You have you have great presence at the counter. You have crack techs. You got Danny, you got all this going for you. But it does kind of bring up the question, where do the clients come from? How do you get new business? And I’ll throw that to the whole group. Where do they come from?

Intro: [00:35:41] I.

Speaker5: [00:35:42] I would say that social media has been big once Alex has started really getting to do it a ton. We’ve got a lot of reels she’s been posting on Instagram of classic cars and like the most recent one, had like 18,000 views, which is awesome. And so I definitely I would accredit a lot of that to to social media. I will say to word of mouth is big. Laurie, the Woodstock Business Club is a big one for us, too. Laurie has made that just such a priority to make sure that as she juggles her other job that she has as well. Just in case you were wondering, she’s kicking butt here and has another full time job. Just putting that out there. She has made that really a big point and that is just an incredible networking opportunity. And every time you go, it’s like somebody’s like, oh, my gosh, like I need to get my all changed. Can I have your card? Like, it’s always something.

Intro: [00:36:34] So I want to go. She’d be good.

Stone Payton: [00:36:37] Have you not been in Woodstock business?

Speaker4: [00:36:38] Haven’t.

Stone Payton: [00:36:39] Oh, yeah. You got.

Speaker4: [00:36:40] I think I just got my ticket.

Stone Payton: [00:36:41] No, it’s. It’s a great group. At least that’s been my experience. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:36:45] I’ve met a lot of lot of women from in there actually that Laurie sent my way. It’s, it’s a lot of, you know, the magazines and stuff like that where people come and then also people get done wrong by people. And then other people are like, Hey, go see them. They won’t do you like that? So they come see us.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:05] Not saying we don’t ever make mistake, but we do. We, we do stand behind our work. So if we do make a mistake, we want to fix it for sure. And you know, my husband has been in business well, he’s been working on cars since he was eight years old, but he’s been we’ve had Alpha and Omega since 2001. So it’s over 20 years in business. And a lot of our customers, we’ve had car after car year after year, decade after decade. So he’s done most of that all on his own. I really only got involved during COVID.

Stone Payton: [00:37:43] So I got to ask, because it is so true. And yes, you are a rock star. Everybody knows and loves you at Woodstock Business Club, but it spreads way beyond that. You are such an important part of the community at large and particularly to the business community. How do you choose to to use that gravitas, that that that influence that that respect that you get? How do you choose to use that power? Yeah, that’s the.

Intro: [00:38:13] That’s the word. That’s the word. Good Lord.

Stone Payton: [00:38:16] To influence the.

Intro: [00:38:17] Community.

Lori Kennedy: [00:38:18] I have a mentoring heart. I think we talked about that a little while ago. I really love to be in relationship with people where we are. Iron sharpens iron or we give and take with each other. Like I can learn something from anybody if I have an open heart and a willingness to learn and I want to have that kind of relationship with people. So I pursue those in, in and about. There was a time that I was doing full time ministry, playing, speaking at women’s conferences and playing music and singing and that sort of thing. I have some trauma in my past that I have worked through, and in the midst of that, felt the need to share stories of overcoming with others. And so I did go through a time of doing that. I feel like that particular time in my life is is over. And now this is my focus. Like, I feel like God takes you to different places for different times in your life, for different purposes. And so this next purpose is us preparing to be able to have more flexibility with our time because we are not spring chickens anymore. And I want to slow down a little bit. So this next few years are getting ready to slow down, if that makes sense. But personally, as far as me investing into others, I think it’s a mutual thing. And I want to be around people who are investing in me and I’m investing in them.

Stone Payton: [00:40:02] So what do you think is the or was the genesis for this this heart for for mentoring? Did you have a mentor or or multiple mentors along the way that that you really wanted to emulate? Or was it the opposite? And like you felt like, wow, I really didn’t get the guidance in this area or that area that I wish I had had. I’m going to do better for others.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:25] Yeah, I think we all I mean, I’ve told my kids a hundred times, I’ve done as many things wrong as you can figure out how to do wrong raising kids. What I want you to do is I want you to look at what I’ve done, take the things that I’ve done right, and emulate those. Take the things that I’ve done wrong and purposefully don’t repeat those. And I when you ask that, yes, I had a challenging childhood and I am purposefully trying to make a difference or help others make their lives different going forward than what I experienced in my past.

Stone Payton: [00:41:06] Yeah, well, it certainly is has had an impact and it’s you just never know the impact that you have on. My uncle and I were having this conversation last weekend. We were up at the mountain house. You just sometimes you don’t sometimes you do get to know and that’s fine. But a lot of times you don’t really know the impact that you’ve had on people. And just to as a consistent discipline or ritual of trying to invest in other people, it’s it’s amazing to the ongoing impact, something like that that can have. I know you guys maybe a little younger than than I am, but and you have you’ve accumulated some wisdom, some knowledge, some experience. You’ve probably made a mistake or two. Have you chosen to try to be a mentor to other people at this point? I’m going to ask you both, but I’ll start with you, Sam.

Speaker4: [00:42:00] Yeah, yeah. I would love to get more into the things that I would like to go back on, the things that I’ve done in my life and the things that I would like to help others with. But that’s for another day and time. I’ll be.

Stone Payton: [00:42:13] Back. We’ll have a SAM.

Intro: [00:42:14] Show and.

Speaker4: [00:42:16] Take a little longer than that.

Intro: [00:42:17] I’d listen. Yeah, I’d.

Speaker5: [00:42:19] Be on it.

Speaker4: [00:42:20] Just you learn a little. Lori probably already knows, but yeah, for sure. Like you were saying, you know, you never know who you impact. Like, for example, something I learned a very, very long time ago. I was probably 14, 15. Like, it’s one of those kind of lessons. Don’t ask someone how they’re doing today unless you’re prepared to get a bad answer. Unless you’re prepared to. To listen to what they have to say in that. That was really important for me at one point in time. And, you know, it’s true. Like the other day I asked, I always talk to my delivery drivers and, you know, ask them how they’re doing and what’s going on in their life and get to be personal with them because you see them all the time. One of my drivers is mom is in the hospital and wasn’t doing too well and she’s doing better now. We’ve been praying for her and everybody out there. You can continue to pray for her, but it’s just things you know, when you ask someone how they are, be prepared to listen to what they’re going to say. You don’t want to just dry ask what if they’re having a really bad day? If you care, really care.

Stone Payton: [00:43:24] That is marvelous, counsel. Absolutely. How about you, Ali? Have you had a chance to, if not a formal mentoring relationship, just to begin sharing some of your life experience?

Speaker5: [00:43:37] I would say I feel like God put me in a really interesting situation in my life, having kids as young as I did. Because at the time, like when I you know, when I was pregnant with Ezra, my first, it was like, oh, my gosh, like none of my friends are even married yet. And like, I’m going to have these like my kids are going to be babysitting my friend’s kids. That’s so weird, you know? And I think that just the magnitude of growth that happens when you become a parent, we all know it. It’s just crazy. It’s looking in the mirror every single day and it’s having to like especially now that I’m getting into like discipline with my with Ezra and stuff like that, it’s just constantly having to unpack things from your past that maybe, you know, just, you’re just having to unpack things from your past and learn how to do things differently and figure out what worked for you might not work for your kid and just all of that stuff. And it’s a blessing to me as I’ve watched my friends start to get married. And Alex, my best friend’s having a baby in like three weeks probably. And just being able to have, like Lori was saying, have maybe made some of those mistakes or just kind of walked through it and already trouble shot and figured out, oh, like you don’t have to do what I’m doing. But I did this and it worked really well if you want to try it. Like I love that. I love to have advice for people and I love to offer advice and I try not to give it unsolicited. But Alex is when she hears this, she’s going to laugh.

Intro: [00:45:01] Because I’m always like, Well, I probably do this. Like, I can’t help but be like, What about?

Speaker5: [00:45:07] And I’m a fixer. So I definitely have enjoyed getting to kind of grow in relationships like that with my friends especially and just yeah, for sure.

Stone Payton: [00:45:17] So one of the more recent opportunities, really a set of opportunities for, for me to learn something about myself and to try to make some improvements in the in the business was facilitated the skids were teased a little bit by mentors that I trust. But the the presenting situation was COVID. It really had my business partner Lee Kantor and I kind of reexamine where we had drawn some lines and we had to move some of those lines to continue to serve customers and generate revenue. And as it turns out, it opened up completely new avenues of of of serving people, helping folks and making money. Did the did COVID have an impact on on on your business? And if so, how did you weather that?

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:09] Well, it absolutely did. But we were an essential business, so we stayed open. We just had to all of a sudden we had to buy all this extra stuff to clean things with that you couldn’t even find anywhere. So you go to the dark web to find us. Sanitizer.

Intro: [00:46:26] She’s got a subscription with the black market now.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:29] And and so, you know, we had at first it completely fell off like 100% of the business was pretty much gone at first because nobody drove like nobody went anywhere and nobody drove. And so you still have bills. You still have to keep your utilities on yourself to pay your rent. You still have to pay your employees, that sort of thing. So you still have bills. So, you know, we had to navigate that. And then it started coming back and it came back pretty slow. You know, it took people time. Some people had to go back and a few weeks and some people didn’t have to go back for a few months. And and I will say that, you know, there.

Intro: [00:47:08] Were.

Lori Kennedy: [00:47:09] Scenarios in which the government tried to put out some programs to help you keep your employees and that sort of thing. And, you know, we did what we could to to try to make sure that we were able to keep our employees and stay open. And now, of course, businesses. There are other challenges with the supply chains and the prices increasing and just making sure that we are honoring our customers. I. You know, with with how we have to get things like, you know, like Sam said, she has to go home and Google, you know, at night, try to figure out how to get certain parts because we just can’t can’t get things. And it’s people are. Employees are scarce at this point in time. I don’t know how they’re making money, but they’re not coming to work. So some of them some I mean, not some of our specific employees, but in general, employees aren’t going back to work.

Intro: [00:48:09] I hear.

Lori Kennedy: [00:48:09] You. And I and I, I don’t know. I don’t I don’t really know what’s next. But, you know, this time in history is different than any other time. And every other time in history is also different than any other time. So you just continue to grow and navigate like that’s why we’re human and not. I don’t know, like a dog. Like we learn from the past and make changes going forward. And so you just have to stay open. And not be that. You remember that story about why did you cut the ends off the roast? Do you know what I’m saying? When I say that.

Stone Payton: [00:48:45] I’m not sure I do.

Intro: [00:48:46] Okay.

Lori Kennedy: [00:48:47] So there was everybody.

Stone Payton: [00:48:48] Write this down. Oh, no, we’re recording it. We got this. We got to transcribe it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:48:54] Somebody asked their their parent, why did we cut the ends off the roast at Christmas every year? Well, I don’t know. My mom did it, so let’s ask her. So then he asked the mom, why did you cut the ends off the roast every year at Christmas? Well, I don’t know. Grandma did it. So then you go ask Grandma, why did you cut the ends off the roast every year? Christmas Well, because my pan didn’t fit the roast that we had. So we don’t always just do the same thing over and over because we’ve always done it. We always have to be looking at why we do things and make sure that we’re continuously improving our processes and the way that we are just, you know, running our business.

Stone Payton: [00:49:32] What a great story that is. That is terrific imagery. You’re going to hear that again. I’m going to use that in my next talk or something. That is a great illustration. All right. So I’m going to give you my answer to this question before I ask, and I’m going to ask it of all of you. I’m going to start with Sam, but my answer is hunting, fishing and more recently, kayaking. But the question is, where do you go? And I don’t necessarily mean a place, but where do you go for inspiration to sort of recharge the batteries, kind of unplug and get and get.

Intro: [00:50:07] Fired.

Stone Payton: [00:50:08] Up?

Intro: [00:50:09] Church coach.

Speaker4: [00:50:10] It’s been a new I. I found my church.

Intro: [00:50:14] I really like it. That’s our church. I imagine that my.

Speaker4: [00:50:20] New bosses invited me and my family to come check out this church momentum right down the road. And I have found my church. I found my preacher, I found my home. And I’m so excited about it. And, you know, it is we had a ladies what would.

Lori Kennedy: [00:50:33] You call worship night.

Intro: [00:50:34] Worship.

Speaker4: [00:50:35] Night of worship. And that was the moment I was like, Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:50:38] That was the catalyst.

Speaker4: [00:50:39] That was that was I went and God told me to go. He’s like, you know, go check this out. So I did. It was a new thing. Never done it, never had anything like that before. Happened to me. And I went and I sat there in the front row by myself and I looked at Lori, looked at Ali up on the stage. And I’m just like.

Stone Payton: [00:50:53] Yeah, they were on the stage.

Speaker4: [00:50:54] Yeah, singing. And I’m picturing myself. Next time I’m going to be up there singing, This is my home and this is where I’m going to stay. And yes, church is very. Recharge, reboot. You know, I would love to say the pool or the lake, but charge that I get that feeling.

Stone Payton: [00:51:14] That, well, church can certainly be very inspiring. Not if they invite me on stage to sing. I’m sorry. You have to follow that answer, Ali.

Intro: [00:51:25] But I know, right? I was sitting here going, you know, Lord.

Speaker4: [00:51:28] Ali’s got this voice that, you know, it was her fault that I chose it.

Speaker5: [00:51:33] That’s just like, dang it. That makes me want to cry right now. Because. Because you don’t know. I mean, it’s the thing. You don’t know the impact that you’re having. And that was like Laura and I, I mean, we put the thing together. So just to know that that was like a turning point for you is really big.

Speaker4: [00:51:46] So thank you, God. How did you guys do it for me? It was a God thing.

Lori Kennedy: [00:51:50] Well, and that’s funny because we talked about that because there was a little bit of spiritual warfare. Yeah. Yes, they’re leading up to it. We did have some obstacles that we had to overcome. And I remember telling Ali, if if this is this hard to get to that place, then there’s a purpose in that place that we’re going to we may or may not be able to see. It may not be revealed to us, but it’ll be worth it.

Intro: [00:52:14] She said.

Speaker5: [00:52:14] She said we both agreed. We were like, even if one person, like we said that that’s just cool. Like we were like even if one person is impacted, then we’ve done a good job, you know, went.

Speaker4: [00:52:23] Home and told Carl was like, Yep, this is it. You’re going to the barbecue on Sunday. Oh.

Intro: [00:52:27] And he went, Oh my God.

Lori Kennedy: [00:52:29] Did he have fun?

Speaker4: [00:52:30] He he met. He said, you know, I met some people. We had some fun. If you ask me, there were names I couldn’t tell you. Now back story. My boyfriend, my Carl is very much so an introvert.

Intro: [00:52:40] No, he.

Speaker4: [00:52:41] He likes to hang out with people, but he’s. He’d rather listen to you and and hear you than and intervene or put his $0.02 in mate.

Speaker5: [00:52:51] And I said, no, because I’m like, it’s always the pair.

Intro: [00:52:56] You know what I mean?

Speaker4: [00:52:56] That’s always that’s it, that’s it.

Speaker5: [00:52:58] You got one.

Speaker4: [00:52:58] And so for him to go, you know, the preacher, I was like, Go get him. He’s not going to go.

Intro: [00:53:03] Go.

Lori Kennedy: [00:53:04] Yeah. So. So they had a men’s event. Sunday barbecue.

Intro: [00:53:09] Yes.

Stone Payton: [00:53:09] Here you go.

Speaker4: [00:53:10] Ax throwing and.

Intro: [00:53:11] Barbecue.

Stone Payton: [00:53:12] Oh, fun stuff.

Intro: [00:53:13] Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:53:14] Lori, I probably already know pieces of this answer, but. But where do you go to recharge? How do you how do you kind of get rejuvenated?

Lori Kennedy: [00:53:22] Church.

Speaker5: [00:53:24] The lake. She goes she goes to the lake.

Intro: [00:53:27] Well, I tell.

Speaker4: [00:53:27] You, that boat I was talking.

Intro: [00:53:28] About.

Speaker5: [00:53:29] That was actually one of my answers to that. And see it spending time with Grant. Well she’s hearing this.

Lori Kennedy: [00:53:35] I do love church, but I just you know, after going after that answer, I feel like guilty saying anything else. But I dive into, well, I don’t dive. I usually jump. I can dive. Sometimes I do. Anyway, the moment my feet hit the water, like I feel like all my stress just goes out of my toes and it’s gone.

Speaker4: [00:53:53] I bigger than that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:53:54] Like being.

Speaker4: [00:53:55] Sucking it out of your.

Lori Kennedy: [00:53:56] Toes. Well, all right. That works. It’s. It’s Danny called me last night. He’s like, Hey, do you want to go have dinner on the lake tonight?

Intro: [00:54:06] I was like, Yes, yes.

Lori Kennedy: [00:54:09] It was so much fun to see the sunset. It was beautiful. It’s just it it just gives me peace.

Stone Payton: [00:54:16] Well, I’ve been on that boat and I’ve been. And I got to say, it’s. Well, it’s part of what inspired the Kayak thing. So I’ve been on that boat and we when we were done, the other couple that was with us, Krista and her other half, we went to the restaurant and we just had the most marvelous time. But being on the boat with Danny and Lori is also part of the I mean, that just it was a great deal of fun.

Lori Kennedy: [00:54:44] Yeah, it was a fun day.

Speaker4: [00:54:45] I wouldn’t know.

Stone Payton: [00:54:48] So I guess.

Lori Kennedy: [00:54:48] Shade. Shade.

Stone Payton: [00:54:51] I think you are the extrovert. If you want something, you.

Intro: [00:54:54] You let it. We know you can add. I mean, wink, wink.

Speaker5: [00:54:58] It’s it really is a miraculous feat to see to see Lori swimming through the water out there. She’s just she’s like Seabiscuit.

Intro: [00:55:06] She see this? The water the water version. It’s like.

Speaker5: [00:55:10] Biscuit.

Intro: [00:55:13] She’s just so happy out. There you are. I am happy. She’s just you guys. What about you?

Speaker5: [00:55:21] I don’t really like the water. What do you mean?

Lori Kennedy: [00:55:23] What’s your.

Speaker4: [00:55:23] What’s your thing?

Lori Kennedy: [00:55:24] Happy place.

Intro: [00:55:25] Oh, gosh. Gosh.

Speaker5: [00:55:27] Oh, gosh. That was goodness and gosh.

Intro: [00:55:28] Excuse me.

Speaker5: [00:55:30] Church. Yes, that’s a very fair answer. I church is a big one, I would say. I mean, I actually discovered this last weekend, Grant and I went to a cabin with two of our best friends and did not have any childrens there. And I was like, I forgot that I was a person like, oh my God. I came home and I was like, What’s happening?

Intro: [00:55:50] Like?

Speaker5: [00:55:51] So definitely just like getting quality time with Grant is a big one because that is few and far between with his job and the kids and my job. So that’s been something that I want to prioritize more and. Netflix.

Intro: [00:56:06] I love it.

Speaker4: [00:56:07] What about singing?

Speaker5: [00:56:08] Singing is good. It’s hard. It’s always like I always wanted to be that, like, cool, creative person that, like, like, just, like, pours out their heart into song and all that. But I’m way too structured and it’s like, if I’m singing, it’s like, I love to do it, but it’s not relaxing because I’m like, Oh, okay, I got to try that one again. I’m gonna do it better. And I’m like, it’s constantly like a, it’s not a job or a chore, but I’m trying to grow and it and so what I want when I’m peaceful is I want nobody to call me to anything. I don’t want to have to feel like I need to grow and rise to an occasion. I just want to just, like, lay and just be like. Like, you know. So.

Intro: [00:56:43] Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:56:44] That’s a long answer.

Intro: [00:56:45] I apologize.

Stone Payton: [00:56:46] Well, no, but it’s a perfectly good answer. And it begins to get into another one of those things that you might share with others. At some point. I kind of learned it from Holly, but there really is it’s tremendously liberating and powerful to have the ability to say no.

Intro: [00:57:04] Right.

Speaker4: [00:57:04] Still haven’t learned that boundary.

Intro: [00:57:05] What are we supposed to know? You know, what is that? What we. What?

Speaker5: [00:57:11] I have a shirt to say.

Intro: [00:57:13] What do you mean, no?

Stone Payton: [00:57:16] All right. Before we ask Laurie to wrap and make sure that all of our listeners know how they can have a conversation with anybody on the team and how to get to one of the two shops. And we’ve got any promotions and all that kind of stuff. I’d love to come around and I will I will start with you, Ali, and then ask Sam and then we’ll ask Lori to wrap up. I’d love to leave our listeners and you guys have been so generous and such a wellspring of ideas around this. I would love just any advice on the life front, on the business front, on the relationship front. Just something you feel like you’ve learned that you know what this is worth thinking about as an entrepreneur, as a spouse, as a friend.

Speaker5: [00:57:58] Oh, man. Gosh, that’s a big one for me. I think I can say a lesson that I’m learning right now. And it I don’t even know how to phrase it the right way, but this is just coming to mind. It’s not that deep like it it all for me. I’m a big I attach meaning to everything and I hold myself accountable more than probably anyone else in my life would at all times. Hold myself to a high standard, which is great. But if I’m showing grace to everybody in my life except myself, I’m going to be empty all the time. And so I’m trying to just like be able to discern between the things that are important enough for me to lose sleep over and the things that aren’t. And that has just been a big one. So it’s not that deep is my is my mantra right now.

Stone Payton: [00:58:50] Well, let’s follow that under wisdom beyond her years.

Speaker4: [00:58:54] Yeah, I need that in my life.

Intro: [00:58:56] More.

Speaker4: [00:58:57] Intuitively listening like. Oh, that’s good.

Intro: [00:59:00] Thank you.

Stone Payton: [00:59:01] How about you, Miss Sam? You learned anything you might share with our crowd? I mean, the answer to that is yes.

Intro: [00:59:07] Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:59:10] Well, yeah. Recently. So, like you said, I’m a rely on myself kind of person. I always have been, just because I know I’ll do it. And lately I’ve been learning that I have Carl to help, you know? And I’m not a single mom anymore. And it’s scary to let go and let someone else help. But he’s there, and. And I can rely on someone other than myself.

Intro: [00:59:39] I can’t.

Stone Payton: [00:59:41] I don’t know if Holly had to go through with that and through that and figure out that, you know, Stone can do a few things around the house. But I know that I have lived through that as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, putting this this network together, because I always felt like, you know, I’m the one that knows it best. And and to and to to learn to let go a little bit and let other people and even let them do it. Maybe not quite as well in the beginning, but boy, does it free you up to work on a whole new sort of set of challenges.

Speaker4: [01:00:09] Yeah, like.

Intro: [01:00:10] Myself. Good stuff. That’s next.

Speaker5: [01:00:13] That’s why she. She dyed her hair before this. That’s why she’s working on herself.

Speaker4: [01:00:16] Dyed my hair.

Intro: [01:00:17] It’s so cute. It’s adorable.

Stone Payton: [01:00:18] It’s adorable. We’ve got to make sure that that we publish a picture of that with this with this episode. Yeah. So before we wrap with the business details and all that, anything that we might leave our listeners with on your heart.

Lori Kennedy: [01:00:33] Gosh, I. I think that one of the things that I’m continuing to learn about myself is that I am a process person and I like structure and I like organization. I like things to go a certain way. The problem that I have because I’m and I’m an improver, like I like to improve processes. I like to look at them and pick them apart and then put them back together a different way. And that’s an amazing quality and I love that about myself. But what I don’t love is the way that it can make other people feel. Sometimes like when I repack the dishwasher that my husband’s like, What? I didn’t do it right the first time. Like, I don’t want to be the kind of person who never. Let’s anybody feel like they’re enough or they measure up because I’ve always felt like I’m not enough and I don’t measure up and that’s hard. And so I don’t want to provide that platform to have other people feel that way. And so I think my challenge to myself is love who I am, but also continue to improve on the parts of that that need to be improved on. Because I do like to make things better, but I don’t want to make things better at someone else’s expense that they thought they didn’t do it right. If that makes sense.

Stone Payton: [01:01:50] It makes perfect sense. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So one of the things I love about this platform and the way we choose to do things here in our network is typically these conversations are anything but a commercial and you guys have a commercial enterprise. We need to let them know where you are, how to get to you, if you’ve got any promotions kind of things. So let’s leave them with that before we wrap it, whatever you think is appropriate website, you know, that kind of stuff.

Lori Kennedy: [01:02:17] Awesome. Okay. Well, we have two locations. We’ve been in business for over 20 years. One of our locations is on Canton Road in Marietta and the other one is off of Bells Ferry over by Victoria, over by the Lake and Woodstock. And our website is alpha dash omega dash auto dot com. Not because I like dashes, but because without dashes was already taken. So alpha dash, omega dash auto dotcom can get you both of our addresses, our phone numbers. We do have specials that rotate every month, but we also have 15% off parts for a first time customer. That’s a constant ongoing special. So if we haven’t ever seen you before, come see us. And don’t forget to ask for specials because they’re there. But if you don’t ask for them, I’m not going to go, Hey, you want something free?

Intro: [01:03:11] You got to ask.

Lori Kennedy: [01:03:12] For those things. So, you know.

Intro: [01:03:14] Ask yourself.

Stone Payton: [01:03:16] Well, this has been a great deal of fun. It has been, as promised early on, informative and inspiring. I can’t thank you enough, Lori, for being willing to get on the other side of the mic and let us have a little peek inside the.

Intro: [01:03:34] Brain of Lori.

Stone Payton: [01:03:35] And the whole environment at Alpha and Omega. It makes me want to go. I wish I had skills, you know, because I would love to work there.

Speaker4: [01:03:42] We’ll teach.

Lori Kennedy: [01:03:42] You. Yeah, I was going to say.

Intro: [01:03:43] Come on, come on, we’ll teach you.

Speaker5: [01:03:46] I’m thinking about getting a different type of job in there. I’m going to get I’m going to become a tech I.

Speaker4: [01:03:50] So I learned about cars and I’ve always thought it was the coolest thing because it’s just like a giant puzzle. And I’m like, Yeah, I’ll cut my nails off to work on cars for sure. And then it got hot outside and I changed my mind completely. I’m okay sitting in the front and.

Intro: [01:04:05] If you need help.

Speaker4: [01:04:06] I’ll be there.

Lori Kennedy: [01:04:07] But. And, Ally, you’d have to tie your hair up, because if it got caught like some.

Speaker4: [01:04:12] Oh, my gosh. The fans.

Speaker5: [01:04:13] Yeah. My nine month old Iris is already like a fan with that. She just.

Intro: [01:04:17] Pulls it out.

Speaker5: [01:04:18] Constantly. Anyway, I digress.

Stone Payton: [01:04:21] Well, I don’t know if your hair is loud enough to be, you know.

Intro: [01:04:25] I know I’d have to definitely go.

Speaker5: [01:04:27] I’d have to go pretty vibrant if I wanted to. I wanted to fit in with the cool kids.

Stone Payton: [01:04:31] Well, thank you all for joining us. This has been fantastic. All right. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Sam Floyd, Allie Kennedy and Lori Kennedy and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you next time on women in Business.