Speaker: 00:00:00

John and Connie: Hi and welcome

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to another episode of Celebrating

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Small Family Businesses.

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Today we are celebrating Alternative

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Transportation Systems in

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Arlington, Massachusetts and we

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have with us Chris and Ed Farrell.

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Hi Chris.

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Hi Ed.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:15

Hello,

Chris Farrell: 00:00:16

Hey, how are you doing?

Chris Farrell: 00:00:17

Nice to meet you.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:17

Thanks for having us on.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:19

John and Connie: It's a pleasure.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:20

It's a pleasure.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:21

I had the pleasure of speaking to Chris

Chris Farrell: 00:00:23

a little bit before and learn a little

Chris Farrell: 00:00:25

bit about the company and I'm looking.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:26

I'm excited to hear more and to share

Chris Farrell: 00:00:29

that your story with our our listeners.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:32

So I recall that you said

Chris Farrell: 00:00:35

that this was a multi general.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:37

Your website says it's a multi

Chris Farrell: 00:00:38

generation family business.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:39

I think you said it

Chris Farrell: 00:00:40

started like in the 1930s.

Chris Farrell: 00:00:42

Ed, you don't look old enough

Chris Farrell: 00:00:44

to have been the

Ed Farrell: 00:00:45

It started

Ed Farrell: 00:00:46

basically, , here in Arlington,

Ed Farrell: 00:00:47

there was different, different

Ed Farrell: 00:00:49

businesses, , same piece of land.

Ed Farrell: 00:00:51

Um, my grandfather started in the forties

Ed Farrell: 00:00:53

was in the heating oil business , and

Ed Farrell: 00:00:56

then as it could, as that business grew,

Ed Farrell: 00:00:58

we morphed into different businesses.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:01

Um, Kind of developed things for

Ed Farrell: 00:01:04

different family members to get into

Ed Farrell: 00:01:06

that they were interested in that You

Ed Farrell: 00:01:09

know keep everybody kind of separated

Ed Farrell: 00:01:10

but still in the family business.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:12

We have the transportation business.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:14

We have a retail store

Ed Farrell: 00:01:15

that sells barbecue stuff.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:17

There's a lot of different things that

Ed Farrell: 00:01:19

our family has gotten into over the years.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:21

You know different people run

Ed Farrell: 00:01:22

different things different talents.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:23

Um, let's say And that's

Ed Farrell: 00:01:26

how we that's how we run.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:27

John and Connie: Nice.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:28

Well, that's, that's one of the things

Ed Farrell: 00:01:30

that, you know, we, we encourage

Ed Farrell: 00:01:32

family businesses to, to focus on is

Ed Farrell: 00:01:35

immediately finding their strengths,

Ed Farrell: 00:01:37

you know, and, and where their, where

Ed Farrell: 00:01:38

their talents and their strengths lie,

Ed Farrell: 00:01:40

and then let, put the right people

Ed Farrell: 00:01:42

in the right seats, you know, get

Ed Farrell: 00:01:43

everybody working with their strengths.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:45

And

Ed Farrell: 00:01:46

that's where people

Ed Farrell: 00:01:46

seem to be the happiest.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:48

So it sounds like you guys did that

Ed Farrell: 00:01:49

just naturally from the beginning.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:52

Yeah, right

Ed Farrell: 00:01:53

from the beginning.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:53

And we've started the

Ed Farrell: 00:01:54

transportation business.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:55

It's the newest of the businesses.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:57

This is our 20th year.

Ed Farrell: 00:01:59

You blink and it's 20 years, that's it.

Ed Farrell: 00:02:00

That's a new business to us.

Ed Farrell: 00:02:02

It's grown quite a bit from its inception.

Ed Farrell: 00:02:04

We've been fortunate enough to, uh, Well,

Ed Farrell: 00:02:06

Chris has entered the business, is really

Ed Farrell: 00:02:08

enjoying it and taken to it very well.

Ed Farrell: 00:02:10

So , it's with his help,

Ed Farrell: 00:02:12

we've, we've made it grow.

Ed Farrell: 00:02:15

John and Connie: Chris, I think

Ed Farrell: 00:02:16

I remember you said you came in

Ed Farrell: 00:02:17

and basically started at the bottom

Ed Farrell: 00:02:19

and worked your way up, uh, maybe

Ed Farrell: 00:02:20

starting in dispatching, was it?

Chris Farrell: 00:02:23

That would

Chris Farrell: 00:02:23

have been nice dispatching.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:24

No, um, I actually came into

Chris Farrell: 00:02:26

it right out of college.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:28

I began as a driver on the road.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:30

So, you know, interacting with our

Chris Farrell: 00:02:32

clients, um, visiting the various

Chris Farrell: 00:02:35

facilities , kind of identifying.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:38

pain points.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:39

And I was a new grad and, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:02:41

just kind of exploring options

Chris Farrell: 00:02:42

being a criminal justice major.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:44

And, you know, a lot of the folks that

Chris Farrell: 00:02:46

we transport, I saw an opportunity

Chris Farrell: 00:02:50

to provide that valuable and quality

Chris Farrell: 00:02:52

transport, um, day to day from driving

Chris Farrell: 00:02:56

and kind of leaned into it at that point.

Chris Farrell: 00:02:58

And throughout the years went from

Chris Farrell: 00:03:00

driving to dispatching, scheduling, And

Chris Farrell: 00:03:04

so, uh, my current position now is a

Chris Farrell: 00:03:06

general manager and I think that, you

Chris Farrell: 00:03:08

know, having those interactions along

Chris Farrell: 00:03:11

the way, um, makes both your leadership

Chris Farrell: 00:03:14

relatable and credible when, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:03:17

working and leading your employees.

Chris Farrell: 00:03:19

They know that you've been out there

Chris Farrell: 00:03:21

and touched the things that they've

Chris Farrell: 00:03:22

touched and seen what they've seen.

Chris Farrell: 00:03:24

And I think that carries a lot of weight,

Chris Farrell: 00:03:26

um, and provides, you know, value to

Chris Farrell: 00:03:28

the employees and continued value to

Chris Farrell: 00:03:30

the, to the clients and the passengers.

Chris Farrell: 00:03:33

John and Connie: Totally.

Chris Farrell: 00:03:33

Totally..

Chris Farrell: 00:03:34

You just reminded me of something,

Chris Farrell: 00:03:36

you know, my father said many,

Chris Farrell: 00:03:38

many years ago was, you know, never

Chris Farrell: 00:03:39

ask somebody to do something you

Chris Farrell: 00:03:40

aren't willing to do yourself.

Chris Farrell: 00:03:41

So, you know, starting as a driver

Chris Farrell: 00:03:43

there with the contact, yeah, that

Chris Farrell: 00:03:44

gives you not only credibility, but a

Chris Farrell: 00:03:47

lot of information, a lot of experience

Chris Farrell: 00:03:49

that you can bring, you know, then

Chris Farrell: 00:03:51

to the, uh, to the later stages.

Chris Farrell: 00:03:55

You ever go out and drive,

Chris Farrell: 00:03:57

drive a route once in a while

Chris Farrell: 00:03:58

now just to keep your hand in?

Chris Farrell: 00:04:00

Absolutely.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:01

Absolutely.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:02

On busy days, I'll, you know, head into

Chris Farrell: 00:04:04

Boston and do one of the shuttle routes

Chris Farrell: 00:04:06

and, you know, wear the driver uniform

Chris Farrell: 00:04:10

and kind of blend right in and, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:04:12

the people who work here are shocked to

Chris Farrell: 00:04:13

see me out there, but I think that's,

Chris Farrell: 00:04:15

you know, holds value and to be able to

Chris Farrell: 00:04:18

keep your finger on the heartbeat of the

Chris Farrell: 00:04:19

business and hear the things that the

Chris Farrell: 00:04:21

passengers are hearing on the shuttle

Chris Farrell: 00:04:23

or the chair car is, um, is important.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:26

Kind of invaluable information and

Chris Farrell: 00:04:28

it carries a lot of, uh, value to

Chris Farrell: 00:04:30

the company to get that feedback

Chris Farrell: 00:04:32

directly from the passengers.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:34

John and Connie: Yeah, sort of your own

Chris Farrell: 00:04:35

little version of undercover boss there.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:37

I like that.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:38

It is, it is.

Chris Farrell: 00:04:41

John and Connie: How did the

Chris Farrell: 00:04:41

transportation business come out

Chris Farrell: 00:04:43

of the, of the other businesses?

Chris Farrell: 00:04:45

Was it a natural outgrowth or, or

Chris Farrell: 00:04:47

was it just, "Hey, we see an the

Chris Farrell: 00:04:49

opportunity, we're going to try this"?

Ed Farrell: 00:04:51

Well, transportation,

Ed Farrell: 00:04:52

originates always from

Ed Farrell: 00:04:53

the vehicles, correct?

Ed Farrell: 00:04:54

And we do have an automotive

Ed Farrell: 00:04:56

repair shop that we own, , that

Ed Farrell: 00:04:58

maintains the vehicles.

Ed Farrell: 00:04:59

And we're, um, Chris and

Ed Farrell: 00:05:01

I are both vehicle people.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:02

We love cars, we love trucks.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:04

We're into vehicles, , and if it moves

Ed Farrell: 00:05:07

we, , we have our finger on it and, um,

Ed Farrell: 00:05:10

there's a certain amount of vertical

Ed Farrell: 00:05:12

integration when you have the ability to

Ed Farrell: 00:05:14

repair, maintain, and take care of the

Ed Farrell: 00:05:17

vehicles that you use on a daily basis.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:18

Um, I think that's a very, very important

Ed Farrell: 00:05:21

part of a transportation business, and

Ed Farrell: 00:05:24

we pay a lot of attention to it and that

Ed Farrell: 00:05:27

has, proven to work out very well for us.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:31

John and Connie: I'm really

Ed Farrell: 00:05:31

glad you brought that up.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:32

I saw that on your website.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:33

And, you know, one of my questions is

Ed Farrell: 00:05:35

like, you know, what's your USP or, you

Ed Farrell: 00:05:38

know, what kind of sets you apart from,

Ed Farrell: 00:05:40

and I'm ignorant about the transportation

Ed Farrell: 00:05:43

industry, but I'm suspecting that

Ed Farrell: 00:05:46

that right there that you were just

Ed Farrell: 00:05:47

talking about; owning your own is...

Ed Farrell: 00:05:48

starting actually with a car repair and

Ed Farrell: 00:05:50

then, but owning your own repair facility

Ed Farrell: 00:05:53

and doing all your own maintenance is

Ed Farrell: 00:05:55

probably not common in your industry.

Ed Farrell: 00:05:57

Is that accurate?

Ed Farrell: 00:05:59

That's, that's correct.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:00

And you know, um, if you know the

Ed Farrell: 00:06:01

vehicles, that's your biggest, can be

Ed Farrell: 00:06:03

your biggest, uh, besides the labor costs.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:06

It can be your biggest expense.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:08

You can think of trying to take

Ed Farrell: 00:06:09

care of you and your wife's cars and

Ed Farrell: 00:06:11

keeping up on all the maintenance.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:12

And you probably drive maybe

Ed Farrell: 00:06:14

15 - 20,000 miles a year.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:15

Well, our vehicles, they travel 50

Ed Farrell: 00:06:17

to 60,000 miles a year, each one.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:20

And there's over a hundred of them now,

Ed Farrell: 00:06:22

uh, to try to keep up on that maintenance.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:24

To keep, make sure you don't lose an

Ed Farrell: 00:06:26

engine or transmission or, um, you don't

Ed Farrell: 00:06:28

grind the brakes and, and to keep it safe.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:31

safe and, and keep it, uh, desirable

Ed Farrell: 00:06:34

for people to ride with you.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:35

It's still all about the ride.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:38

Transportation is still

Ed Farrell: 00:06:40

all about the ride.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:42

John and Connie: Ha, I get that.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:44

We didn't talk about this, Chris, but

Ed Farrell: 00:06:46

part of my family business, where I

Ed Farrell: 00:06:48

started, was working at an egg farm.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:49

We had an egg farm.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:51

And so I was driving a delivery route

Ed Farrell: 00:06:53

for, you know, several years of that.

Ed Farrell: 00:06:55

And so, yeah, I was, I had passengers

Ed Farrell: 00:06:59

that didn't talk, but boy, if I

Ed Farrell: 00:07:00

hit a bump too hard or took a turn

Ed Farrell: 00:07:02

too fast, I had a mess to clean up.

Ed Farrell: 00:07:05

And I remember a time.

Ed Farrell: 00:07:06

We didn't maintain our own vehicles,

Ed Farrell: 00:07:07

I remember a time I was out and the,

Ed Farrell: 00:07:09

uh, I think the clutch went out on

Ed Farrell: 00:07:11

the, the, it was a big Step Van,

Ed Farrell: 00:07:13

like, you know, like UPS drives.

Ed Farrell: 00:07:15

And, um, clutch went out and,

Ed Farrell: 00:07:17

they were telling me, well, just

Ed Farrell: 00:07:18

drive it without the clutch.

Ed Farrell: 00:07:20

I didn't know how.

Ed Farrell: 00:07:22

So, I sort of

Ed Farrell: 00:07:25

feel

Chris Farrell: 00:07:25

to, uh,

Chris Farrell: 00:07:26

John and Connie: the vehicle maintenance.

Chris Farrell: 00:07:28

We'll

Chris Farrell: 00:07:28

have to

Chris Farrell: 00:07:29

get an egg test going, have a, uh, part

Chris Farrell: 00:07:30

of the driver evaluation, put an egg on

Chris Farrell: 00:07:32

the dashboard and make sure it doesn't

Chris Farrell: 00:07:34

roll off and, uh, and hit the floor.

Chris Farrell: 00:07:36

Find out if they're a good driver or not.

Chris Farrell: 00:07:38

Yeah.

Chris Farrell: 00:07:38

John and Connie: Bingo

Chris Farrell: 00:07:39

But, um, yeah, compounding

Chris Farrell: 00:07:41

it's, , it's very important to have

Chris Farrell: 00:07:42

a safe and quality vehicle and, you

Chris Farrell: 00:07:45

know, the turnaround on the vehicle

Chris Farrell: 00:07:47

is expedited because of our own repair

Chris Farrell: 00:07:50

shop and we know who's fixing it, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:07:53

It's Ed, it's our fleet of mechanics

Chris Farrell: 00:07:55

to make sure that everything is

Chris Farrell: 00:07:57

safe and sound and it really goes

Chris Farrell: 00:07:58

back to, you know, the safety of

Chris Farrell: 00:08:01

the clients and we like to say that

Chris Farrell: 00:08:03

cleanliness is safety's best friend.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:05

And if somebody doesn't believe a vehicle

Chris Farrell: 00:08:08

is, is clean, it arrives, it's dirty.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:11

They're not going to believe

Chris Farrell: 00:08:11

that it's, it's safe to get into.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:13

It just kind of feeds, feeds into itself.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:15

So the maintenance of the vehicle,

Chris Farrell: 00:08:17

the cleanliness of the vehicle, and

Chris Farrell: 00:08:19

then obviously the, the quality of

Chris Farrell: 00:08:21

the person you're putting behind the

Chris Farrell: 00:08:23

wheel is, is very important to us.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:26

And that's what really separated us

Chris Farrell: 00:08:28

from the pack in the beginning when

Chris Farrell: 00:08:29

we got started about 20 years ago.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:31

And As you grow, you don't want

Chris Farrell: 00:08:34

to, you know, as Ed stated, we

Chris Farrell: 00:08:36

have over 100 vehicles and equal

Chris Farrell: 00:08:37

amount of drivers and office staff.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:40

You don't want to grow away from what

Chris Farrell: 00:08:41

made you special in the first place.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:43

Um, so we found it helpful to

Chris Farrell: 00:08:47

deploy technology to enhance human

Chris Farrell: 00:08:50

interaction rather than replace it.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:52

Um, I think a lot of companies say,

Chris Farrell: 00:08:53

Oh, you know, we can use this item

Chris Farrell: 00:08:55

and that'll save us money here,

Chris Farrell: 00:08:57

or we can eliminate this position.

Chris Farrell: 00:08:59

That's never been Ed's goal or vision.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:01

He, he wants to employ people.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:03

He wants to employ quality folks

Chris Farrell: 00:09:05

and, you know, provide them with, you

Chris Farrell: 00:09:07

know, an above average of living wage

Chris Farrell: 00:09:09

and use those systems such as, you

Chris Farrell: 00:09:12

know, the driver passenger feedback

Chris Farrell: 00:09:14

portals we have on our tablet.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:16

When, you know, Jose or Jim Santos or

Chris Farrell: 00:09:20

Steven go to pick up a client and is

Chris Farrell: 00:09:23

ringing the front doorbell, well, the

Chris Farrell: 00:09:25

passenger likes to be picked up around the

Chris Farrell: 00:09:27

side of their house by the blue dumpster.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:29

So we've already kind of.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:31

We've kind of expended some

Chris Farrell: 00:09:32

time figuring that out at once.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:34

We can now have the driver push

Chris Farrell: 00:09:35

that information into the office.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:38

We can update that client's profile

Chris Farrell: 00:09:40

so when the next driver goes, they're

Chris Farrell: 00:09:43

not wasting time on site and they're

Chris Farrell: 00:09:45

able to tailor that experience for that

Chris Farrell: 00:09:48

client and make sure that we can get

Chris Farrell: 00:09:49

them picked up in an expeditious manner,

Chris Farrell: 00:09:52

brought to their appointment on time,

Chris Farrell: 00:09:53

which is pivotal in transportation.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:56

It's really, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:09:57

our promise to the client.

Chris Farrell: 00:09:59

And, um, by utilizing those

Chris Farrell: 00:10:01

systems, like I said, we're able

Chris Farrell: 00:10:02

to enhance the experience and

Chris Farrell: 00:10:05

enhance the value to the client.

Chris Farrell: 00:10:07

So, a bit of a little summary

Chris Farrell: 00:10:09

there as far as the major moving

Chris Farrell: 00:10:11

parts, although there are many.

Chris Farrell: 00:10:13

John and Connie: I think you also

Chris Farrell: 00:10:13

have cameras inside the vehicles

Chris Farrell: 00:10:15

that record everything, I guess.

Chris Farrell: 00:10:17

So that if you need to

Chris Farrell: 00:10:18

review something, right.

Chris Farrell: 00:10:20

That's, that's also available to you.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:24

Tracking cameras.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:25

We know where the

Ed Farrell: 00:10:26

vehicles are at all times.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:27

We know what's going on in the vehicles.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:29

We know what's going on in the street.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:31

Um, we have a full time person that,

Ed Farrell: 00:10:33

a safety, uh, officer that basically

Ed Farrell: 00:10:35

looks over, make sure everybody's

Ed Farrell: 00:10:37

operating and doing the things that

Ed Farrell: 00:10:38

we taught them to do in training.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:40

Training is a key thing.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:41

We do a lot of training with people.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:42

We do it, you know, on board training,

Ed Farrell: 00:10:45

prior to going out, you know, we just

Ed Farrell: 00:10:47

don't hire a person, put them on the

Ed Farrell: 00:10:48

street, spend a lot of time and a lot

Ed Farrell: 00:10:50

of capital training them properly

Ed Farrell: 00:10:51

to do the job that they need to do.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:53

And, um, and continuous

Ed Farrell: 00:10:56

training, , on a yearly basis.

Ed Farrell: 00:10:57

Sometimes more than just, uh,

Ed Farrell: 00:10:59

once a year, it's several times.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:01

And if we find somebody, um, not

Ed Farrell: 00:11:03

doing it right, we can retrain them.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:05

The, the goal is to foster or,

Ed Farrell: 00:11:08

or guide people and get them

Ed Farrell: 00:11:10

to move in the right direction.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:12

Um, so they're all in step with what

Ed Farrell: 00:11:14

the, what the mission is that we deliver.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:15

John and Connie: Yeah, mission.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:16

That was something I, a note I

Ed Farrell: 00:11:18

remember writing down from , my

Ed Farrell: 00:11:19

conversation with Chris.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:21

Uh, everyone understands the mission.

Ed Farrell: 00:11:24

Can you elaborate on that a little

Ed Farrell: 00:11:26

bit, Chris, or Ed, either one?

Chris Farrell: 00:11:29

Yeah,

Chris Farrell: 00:11:29

absolutely, absolutely.

Chris Farrell: 00:11:31

Um, so I do the majority of the hiring

Chris Farrell: 00:11:34

here and you know, you can come to me

Chris Farrell: 00:11:36

as a driver or potential office staff

Chris Farrell: 00:11:39

and it's, it's more than just the resume.

Chris Farrell: 00:11:41

Resumes are helpful.

Chris Farrell: 00:11:43

They're a starting point.

Chris Farrell: 00:11:44

Um, but when I, you know, interview

Chris Farrell: 00:11:46

people and speak with them, we start

Chris Farrell: 00:11:49

there, but we move on to, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:11:51

what are your goals, what are your

Chris Farrell: 00:11:52

aspirations, what are your hobbies?

Chris Farrell: 00:11:54

And you can glean a lot of information and

Chris Farrell: 00:11:58

substance about who that person really is.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:01

And we, we, take that into a large

Chris Farrell: 00:12:04

consideration when onboarding people and

Chris Farrell: 00:12:07

I give everybody all of the information.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:10

Probably too much when I onboard

Chris Farrell: 00:12:11

them and say this is what we are, you

Chris Farrell: 00:12:14

know We are a top quality value based

Chris Farrell: 00:12:16

transportation business If it's in

Chris Farrell: 00:12:19

your mind that you're going to drive

Chris Farrell: 00:12:21

around and you know not pick up the

Chris Farrell: 00:12:23

phone or not get out of the van and not

Chris Farrell: 00:12:25

greet our passengers help them to the

Chris Farrell: 00:12:27

vehicle, help them with their seatbelts,

Chris Farrell: 00:12:29

secure them safely in their wheelchair.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:31

If that's not something that you're

Chris Farrell: 00:12:32

willing to do, you saw something you're

Chris Farrell: 00:12:33

excited to do, please don't work here.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:36

That's fine.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:37

It's okay.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:37

We're not mad.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:38

You know, we have a 90 day

Chris Farrell: 00:12:39

probationary period because you

Chris Farrell: 00:12:42

may start to think you like it.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:43

And then about three months in,

Chris Farrell: 00:12:45

the varnish starts to wear off

Chris Farrell: 00:12:47

when you're stuck in traffic on 93.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:50

If you're not liking it,

Chris Farrell: 00:12:51

please don't work here.

Chris Farrell: 00:12:52

It's okay, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:12:54

Because we want to be able to hire and

Chris Farrell: 00:12:58

retain the best quality individuals and

Chris Farrell: 00:13:01

you either have it or you don't, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:13:03

You're either a caring person

Chris Farrell: 00:13:04

who drives well or, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:13:07

maybe this isn't for you.

Chris Farrell: 00:13:08

So the people that kind of do make

Chris Farrell: 00:13:10

it through the onboarding process and

Chris Farrell: 00:13:12

do make it through the probationary

Chris Farrell: 00:13:13

period stay here for quite a long time.

Chris Farrell: 00:13:15

We have, you know, folks who

Chris Farrell: 00:13:17

have been here as drivers.

Chris Farrell: 00:13:18

Handful, about 15 years, many more

Chris Farrell: 00:13:21

of them over 10 years, and people

Chris Farrell: 00:13:24

really care about the mission, what

Chris Farrell: 00:13:26

we're doing here, and what we're

Chris Farrell: 00:13:28

doing is essentially providing

Chris Farrell: 00:13:30

freedom to accessible transportation.

Chris Farrell: 00:13:32

Um, everybody has a right to move about

Chris Farrell: 00:13:34

freely, and we want to provide that

Chris Farrell: 00:13:36

bridge to people's care through chair

Chris Farrell: 00:13:39

car transportation to their appointments.

Chris Farrell: 00:13:41

We want to provide that bridge to going

Chris Farrell: 00:13:43

to the supermarket, to, Going up to New

Chris Farrell: 00:13:46

Hampshire for an afternoon to see the

Chris Farrell: 00:13:48

Leaves because, you know, they've been in

Chris Farrell: 00:13:49

a nursing home or something similar for,

Chris Farrell: 00:13:52

you know, several months and we want to

Chris Farrell: 00:13:54

get them out and we want them to have fun.

Chris Farrell: 00:13:57

John and Connie: And, and that brings

Chris Farrell: 00:13:58

us to the, to the family aspect

Chris Farrell: 00:13:59

again, and on two sides, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:14:01

you're, you're transporting people

Chris Farrell: 00:14:03

who, who's oftentimes their family

Chris Farrell: 00:14:05

can't do for them what they want to.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:07

And so they're trusting you to do it.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:09

But so there's that family aspect.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:11

And, but you're also a family business

Chris Farrell: 00:14:13

and you guys are working together.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:15

Um, what do you love most about

Chris Farrell: 00:14:17

working with family in the business?

Chris Farrell: 00:14:20

Working together.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:22

Um, well, for me, you

Chris Farrell: 00:14:24

know, life is short and we spend the

Chris Farrell: 00:14:26

majority of our lives working and

Chris Farrell: 00:14:29

it's just so fantastic and I'm so

Chris Farrell: 00:14:32

lucky to be able to spend so much

Chris Farrell: 00:14:34

time with my family, with Ed, with

Chris Farrell: 00:14:37

Cynthia, my mother, , you know, my wife

Chris Farrell: 00:14:39

works, works as part of the business.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:41

So just so fortunate to be, you

Chris Farrell: 00:14:43

know, around family and, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:14:45

enjoying the work that we do.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:47

A lot of people see family

Chris Farrell: 00:14:49

business and they kind of

Chris Farrell: 00:14:50

think oil in the water, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:14:52

But, you know, here it's kind of,

Chris Farrell: 00:14:54

you know, oil and gasoline, um,

Chris Farrell: 00:14:56

and an engine driving forward.

Chris Farrell: 00:14:57

So we work together very, very well.

Chris Farrell: 00:15:00

And the, you know, the strength

Chris Farrell: 00:15:03

of relationships is important, um,

Chris Farrell: 00:15:05

both in family and in business.

Chris Farrell: 00:15:07

And those things feed into one another.

Chris Farrell: 00:15:09

If you have strong family relationships,

Chris Farrell: 00:15:12

you know, if you have strong

Chris Farrell: 00:15:13

business relationships, you can

Chris Farrell: 00:15:14

learn from both sides of that coin.

Ed Farrell: 00:15:16

And you can't do, you can't

Ed Farrell: 00:15:17

do everything yourself, um, in, in a

Ed Farrell: 00:15:19

business, um, To have someone that you

Ed Farrell: 00:15:22

can rely on that's going to be there that

Ed Farrell: 00:15:23

has the same values, the same, shares

Ed Farrell: 00:15:25

the same passions, it's very helpful.

Ed Farrell: 00:15:28

Hopefully has the same

Ed Farrell: 00:15:28

values you've raised them.

Ed Farrell: 00:15:30

Working with, , a family member, there's

Ed Farrell: 00:15:32

different aspects of, um, of family

Ed Farrell: 00:15:35

businesses and we've had, you know,

Ed Farrell: 00:15:37

we've worked together, Chris and I very

Ed Farrell: 00:15:40

well in the transportation business,

Ed Farrell: 00:15:41

but I also have siblings that I work

Ed Farrell: 00:15:43

with that are siblings So it's there's

Ed Farrell: 00:15:45

a different relationship there between

Ed Farrell: 00:15:46

siblings and family members that are

Ed Farrell: 00:15:49

direct blood to you, We've learned over

Ed Farrell: 00:15:51

the years where where the boundaries

Ed Farrell: 00:15:53

lie and how to manage their time and

Ed Farrell: 00:15:57

manage the um the time spent in business

Ed Farrell: 00:15:59

and time spent at home, uh, very well.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:02

it's important to, , separate the

Ed Farrell: 00:16:05

two at some point and, , we've

Ed Farrell: 00:16:07

learned how to do that.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:09

John and Connie: Okay.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:10

Is there a particular challenge that you

Ed Farrell: 00:16:11

did overcome that, that is, that, that

Ed Farrell: 00:16:13

you'd want to share, that, that other

Ed Farrell: 00:16:15

family businesses might learn from?

Ed Farrell: 00:16:18

Our biggest

Ed Farrell: 00:16:18

challenge was the pandemic.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:21

That was our biggest

Ed Farrell: 00:16:22

challenge in this business.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:23

Um, you know, keeping it together I think

Ed Farrell: 00:16:27

back to when we had the pandemic and you

Ed Farrell: 00:16:29

can remember when you, you know, you got

Ed Farrell: 00:16:31

the Lysol out and sprayed your vegetables.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:33

Well, We, continued to work through

Ed Farrell: 00:16:35

the pandemic because the people we

Ed Farrell: 00:16:36

transport for dialysis and medical

Ed Farrell: 00:16:39

care, things like that, they can't,

Ed Farrell: 00:16:42

pandemic or no pandemic, they still

Ed Farrell: 00:16:43

have to go and we were all scared.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:45

And, , you know, we

Ed Farrell: 00:16:46

didn't know what to do.

Ed Farrell: 00:16:47

And we have photos of, um, we got these

Ed Farrell: 00:16:51

machines, these foggers, and in between

Ed Farrell: 00:16:54

every trip, we would have to fog the

Ed Farrell: 00:16:56

vehicle with this special chemical

Ed Farrell: 00:16:59

that kills everything, you know, um.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:01

any viruses or whatever and Well,

Ed Farrell: 00:17:04

that's a huge undertaking With so

Ed Farrell: 00:17:07

many vehicles on the road or whatever

Ed Farrell: 00:17:09

and it was Chris was doing it.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:10

I had my daughter Jessica doing it

Ed Farrell: 00:17:14

That was my son my son Edward was here

Ed Farrell: 00:17:17

helping so it was all hands on deck.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:19

It's kind of like You know

Ed Farrell: 00:17:21

with family businesses a farm.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:23

Let's say you you sell pumpkins.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:25

You grow pumpkins Well, everybody

Ed Farrell: 00:17:27

works when it's Halloween and that's

Ed Farrell: 00:17:29

what we did during the pandemic to

Ed Farrell: 00:17:31

keep the fleet and the vehicles on

Ed Farrell: 00:17:33

the road and keep everybody, um,

Ed Farrell: 00:17:35

get to their medical appointments.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:36

And it was a big accomplishment.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:38

I'm very proud of the way everybody

Ed Farrell: 00:17:40

pulled together and got that done.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:43

John and Connie: Wow.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:44

Nice.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:44

Yeah, that, that is, I had not

Ed Farrell: 00:17:47

thought about what, how the pandemic

Ed Farrell: 00:17:48

might have affected you guys.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:49

That's, that had to be huge.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:52

Yeah, because you

Ed Farrell: 00:17:52

can't, well, fortunately

Ed Farrell: 00:17:54

you couldn't stop, right?

Ed Farrell: 00:17:55

You had to keep going, but

Ed Farrell: 00:17:58

you had to really adapt.

Ed Farrell: 00:17:59

You had to get, you know, get

Ed Farrell: 00:18:00

creative with what you did.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:03

Well you couldn't share

Ed Farrell: 00:18:03

vehicles with other people, so

Ed Farrell: 00:18:05

it would have single, single use,

Ed Farrell: 00:18:07

uh, single riders on the vehicles.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:09

Right.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:10

Um, whereas you couldn't, you

Ed Farrell: 00:18:11

know, put two people, you know,

Ed Farrell: 00:18:13

everybody had to be separated.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:14

Um, just, it made a lot of work

Ed Farrell: 00:18:17

and everybody came together and

Ed Farrell: 00:18:18

we got through it pretty well.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:22

John and Connie:

Ed Farrell: 00:18:22

Everybody coming together.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:23

That's one of the, I think, the hallmarks

Ed Farrell: 00:18:25

of family business is that, people rise

Ed Farrell: 00:18:27

to the occasion when they're needed,

Ed Farrell: 00:18:28

it's, you know, nobody's, nobody's

Ed Farrell: 00:18:30

saying, well, that's not my job, right?

Ed Farrell: 00:18:31

Because it's like

Ed Farrell: 00:18:34

There's no

Ed Farrell: 00:18:34

John and Connie: family,

Ed Farrell: 00:18:34

No such thing.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:35

Yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:36

John and Connie: Exactly.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:36

It's everybody's job.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:39

This is not a corporation

Ed Farrell: 00:18:40

where there's a job description and

Ed Farrell: 00:18:42

people, you know, oh, that's not my,

Ed Farrell: 00:18:44

you know, that's not my role here.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:47

Everybody has a role.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:48

Everybody.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:49

Everybody is a driver first,

Ed Farrell: 00:18:51

and they do what they do second.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:54

John and Connie: Okay.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:54

Cool.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:55

So you know, we were talking about

Ed Farrell: 00:18:56

having the right people in the right

Ed Farrell: 00:18:57

seats and going with strengths.

Ed Farrell: 00:18:58

So, , within the family, the

Ed Farrell: 00:19:00

people that are family that are

Ed Farrell: 00:19:01

working in the business, do you

Ed Farrell: 00:19:02

have a process for figuring out

Ed Farrell: 00:19:04

what roles people need to play?

Ed Farrell: 00:19:07

And is there also multiple role

Ed Farrell: 00:19:10

cross training or, you know, how did,

Ed Farrell: 00:19:11

how did you figure that part out?

Ed Farrell: 00:19:13

It's simple, you start at

Ed Farrell: 00:19:13

the bottom and you work your way up.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:16

Um, you gotta learn every

Ed Farrell: 00:19:17

aspect of the business.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:18

If you, you're not worth

Ed Farrell: 00:19:20

having if you don't know every

Ed Farrell: 00:19:22

little piece of the business.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:23

You have to understand it all.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:25

Um, it's not, it's unlike anything else.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:29

Um, if you don't know, then when

Ed Farrell: 00:19:31

someone tells you a story, you

Ed Farrell: 00:19:32

don't know if it's the truth or not.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:34

John and Connie: Okay.

Ed Farrell: 00:19:36

So cross training is the process.

Chris Farrell: 00:19:40

It is, it is, and I

Chris Farrell: 00:19:41

think to expand upon that as far as, you

Chris Farrell: 00:19:44

know, family members in the business and

Chris Farrell: 00:19:47

then, you know, recognizing individual

Chris Farrell: 00:19:50

strengths, um, it was, there is really

Chris Farrell: 00:19:52

no expected succession plan, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:19:56

You're my son, you're my

Chris Farrell: 00:19:57

daughter, you're working here.

Chris Farrell: 00:19:59

, I've been told a million times,

Chris Farrell: 00:20:00

if you want to do something

Chris Farrell: 00:20:01

else, go do it, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:20:03

Um, if this is your passion,

Chris Farrell: 00:20:04

then please continue on with,

Chris Farrell: 00:20:05

we'd be happy to have you.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:06

So there is no, I guess, underlying

Chris Farrell: 00:20:08

animosity or, or expectation or, you

Chris Farrell: 00:20:11

know, guilt that I would have if this

Chris Farrell: 00:20:13

is not something that I wanted to do.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:15

Um, you know, Ed's been

Chris Farrell: 00:20:16

very open about that.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:17

Cynthia has been very open about that.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:19

Um, so, you know, like our probationary

Chris Farrell: 00:20:22

period, we want you here cause you,

Chris Farrell: 00:20:24

we want you to be here essentially.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:26

Um, and I think that that

Chris Farrell: 00:20:27

holds a lot of value.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:29

A lot of value and same thing

Chris Farrell: 00:20:32

with recognizing strengths, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:20:35

Ed's going to say, all right, Chris

Chris Farrell: 00:20:36

is good at, you know, this thing,

Chris Farrell: 00:20:37

this thing, this thing, let's give

Chris Farrell: 00:20:40

him the tools, give him the training,

Chris Farrell: 00:20:41

you know, the education necessary in

Chris Farrell: 00:20:43

order to be the most successful version

Chris Farrell: 00:20:45

of that person within the business.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:47

And, you know, I translate that, you

Chris Farrell: 00:20:49

know, to the driving staff as well.

Chris Farrell: 00:20:51

Um, you know, we have some folks here

Chris Farrell: 00:20:53

that work in the office who were drivers

Chris Farrell: 00:20:56

and, you know, We're not going to hold

Chris Farrell: 00:20:57

up a piece of paper and say, Hey, where's

Chris Farrell: 00:20:59

your, where's your bachelor's degree?

Chris Farrell: 00:21:00

Where's your this, that,

Chris Farrell: 00:21:01

or the other thing?

Chris Farrell: 00:21:02

You know, if you were, you know, the

Chris Farrell: 00:21:05

type of person who, you know, is a

Chris Farrell: 00:21:07

star in a role, let's say a driver.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:10

It's our belief that you'll continue

Chris Farrell: 00:21:11

to be a star with the proper

Chris Farrell: 00:21:13

training and tools, um, no matter

Chris Farrell: 00:21:16

which position you're holding.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:18

So we've had a lot of folks that

Chris Farrell: 00:21:20

were drivers that now work in the,

Chris Farrell: 00:21:21

you know, the customer service or

Chris Farrell: 00:21:23

the safety department because You

Chris Farrell: 00:21:25

know, they've already seen the

Chris Farrell: 00:21:27

human interaction side of things.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:29

Now, if they can go on the other side

Chris Farrell: 00:21:31

of the quality control and the safety

Chris Farrell: 00:21:33

aspects, then they can share that

Chris Farrell: 00:21:34

knowledge with, you know, the rest of

Chris Farrell: 00:21:36

the driving cohort and the driving team.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:38

So, um, I think those are, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:21:40

two very important distinctions to make.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:43

Um, again, first that it was,

Chris Farrell: 00:21:45

you know, never expected or

Chris Farrell: 00:21:46

this is what you'll do now.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:48

You know, your dad was a farmer,

Chris Farrell: 00:21:49

so you're a farmer type situation.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:51

Um, It was kind of an open invitation.

Chris Farrell: 00:21:54

And if you want to do this, then

Chris Farrell: 00:21:56

we're going to expect everything

Chris Farrell: 00:21:58

from you as, as we would any other

Chris Farrell: 00:22:00

employee plus a little bit more on top.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:03

So it's been fun.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:06

John and Connie: Oh, man, that is huge.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:09

The open invitation.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:10

I love that, that phraseology for,

Chris Farrell: 00:22:13

for that, that it's, it's not that

Chris Farrell: 00:22:15

expectation because I think that's,

Chris Farrell: 00:22:17

in fact, I've got a great little book

Chris Farrell: 00:22:19

called, , Trapped In The Family Business.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:20

And this gentleman has explored

Chris Farrell: 00:22:22

all these different ways that

Chris Farrell: 00:22:24

people feel in some way trapped or

Chris Farrell: 00:22:27

guilted into and things like that.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:28

And I, I can speak to that, but I won't.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:31

And, and so, you know, having that

Chris Farrell: 00:22:33

open invitation, but also, And then

Chris Farrell: 00:22:36

married with that, what you said is,

Chris Farrell: 00:22:37

you know, you earn your place, right?

Chris Farrell: 00:22:39

You have to, you have to qualify

Chris Farrell: 00:22:41

for the job just like anybody

Chris Farrell: 00:22:42

else that we're going to hire.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:44

That's so powerful, not only for the,

Chris Farrell: 00:22:47

the younger generation in the family

Chris Farrell: 00:22:49

business that now, because of that,

Chris Farrell: 00:22:53

knows that they have earned their place.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:57

It wasn't given to them.

Chris Farrell: 00:22:58

And they don't have any doubt about that.

Chris Farrell: 00:23:00

And, and second of all, the, the hired

Chris Farrell: 00:23:03

employees, the non-family employees

Chris Farrell: 00:23:05

that you're working alongside, also

Chris Farrell: 00:23:07

know that you had to go through the same

Chris Farrell: 00:23:10

rigorous process that they did, and, and

Chris Farrell: 00:23:12

there's more respect there, and there's

Chris Farrell: 00:23:14

more, um, yeah, just equality, I guess.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:19

You You named it.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:20

You named it; it's the respect

Ed Farrell: 00:23:21

you can't, you earn respect.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:23

You don't get it.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:23

It's not given.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:25

Um, and you have to be witnessed,

Ed Farrell: 00:23:28

um, in a lot of cases, um, your, your

Ed Farrell: 00:23:31

actions, what you do, um, and, and.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:35

That's how it works the best.

Ed Farrell: 00:23:36

You know, it's not always that way,

Ed Farrell: 00:23:38

but that's how it works the best.

Chris Farrell: 00:23:40

Yeah, I think, uh,

Chris Farrell: 00:23:43

I think it would be a detriment

Chris Farrell: 00:23:44

overall for me in my current role.

Chris Farrell: 00:23:47

You know, leading the operation

Chris Farrell: 00:23:48

side of things, if this is where I

Chris Farrell: 00:23:51

started, I think it would be, you

Chris Farrell: 00:23:53

know, the light shines through, right.

Chris Farrell: 00:23:55

When you're speaking, not from experience

Chris Farrell: 00:23:57

and interacting with my office staff or

Chris Farrell: 00:24:00

my drivers, it'd be a huge detriment.

Chris Farrell: 00:24:02

To me, professionally, it'd be a detriment

Chris Farrell: 00:24:04

to the business having, having, having

Chris Farrell: 00:24:07

not had that, you know, that background.

Chris Farrell: 00:24:09

So,

Chris Farrell: 00:24:11

John and Connie: Smart!.

Chris Farrell: 00:24:12

Is there anything about being in

Chris Farrell: 00:24:14

a family business that you know

Chris Farrell: 00:24:16

now that you wish you knew back

Chris Farrell: 00:24:18

20 years ago when you started?

Ed Farrell: 00:24:22

Everything!

Ed Farrell: 00:24:23

When you own a business, a small

Ed Farrell: 00:24:25

business, sometimes you try to

Ed Farrell: 00:24:26

compare your life to other people.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:29

You look around and your wife or

Ed Farrell: 00:24:31

whatever, they'll say, well look at

Ed Farrell: 00:24:33

these people, look at those people.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:35

You have to put that

Ed Farrell: 00:24:36

completely out of your mind.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:38

Don't try to compare yourselves to others.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:41

You have to absorb it and

Ed Farrell: 00:24:43

not be aggravated by it.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:45

In other words, you have

Ed Farrell: 00:24:46

to thrive or embrace it.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:50

, there'll be times, you know, when

Ed Farrell: 00:24:54

you're asked to do things that a normal

Ed Farrell: 00:24:55

person wouldn't do in any other business.

Ed Farrell: 00:24:58

And you can let that aggravate you or

Ed Farrell: 00:25:00

you can say, well, let's embrace this.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:02

This is just part of,

Ed Farrell: 00:25:04

you know, what it is.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:05

I've decided to do this

Ed Farrell: 00:25:06

and I need to embrace it.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:08

You embrace the good things

Ed Farrell: 00:25:09

and you embrace the bad things.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:10

It just, you can't let

Ed Farrell: 00:25:12

it get under your skin.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:13

Um, it's, it's part of who you are.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:16

John and Connie: Wow.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:16

A lot of wisdom there.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:18

The maturity is just, on, on, your

Ed Farrell: 00:25:21

business maturity is, is outstanding.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:23

And, and not just the length

Ed Farrell: 00:25:24

of it, but your depth of it.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:26

That's, it's um, it's

Ed Farrell: 00:25:29

pretty awe inspiring.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:30

Thank you.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:30

It's clear to see why you've

Ed Farrell: 00:25:31

succeeded the way you have.

Ed Farrell: 00:25:34

So what's the most?

Chris Farrell: 00:25:35

uh, a similar

Chris Farrell: 00:25:37

experience throughout, Being a new

Chris Farrell: 00:25:40

grad as a driver and working my way

Chris Farrell: 00:25:42

into, the office and to kind of

Chris Farrell: 00:25:44

put it into a phrase, as Ed stated,

Chris Farrell: 00:25:46

other's success is a mirror for you.

Chris Farrell: 00:25:48

And a lot of people look at other

Chris Farrell: 00:25:49

people's success and see what they,

Chris Farrell: 00:25:52

they themselves have or haven't done.

Chris Farrell: 00:25:54

And that can be discouraging

Chris Farrell: 00:25:57

or it can be motivating.

Chris Farrell: 00:25:59

And the way that you, you

Chris Farrell: 00:26:00

handle that, that image or that

Chris Farrell: 00:26:02

feedback is very important.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:04

And, you know, as a, as a young

Chris Farrell: 00:26:05

professional in my, in my twenties,

Chris Farrell: 00:26:08

you're looking at friends who, you

Chris Farrell: 00:26:10

know, work in corporate America or

Chris Farrell: 00:26:11

work in finance and things like that.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:14

And um, you say to yourself, why I

Chris Farrell: 00:26:18

work nine to five, I, I work, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:26:21

eight to four, whatever it might be.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:23

And that's not true.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:25

Um, you work all the time when

Chris Farrell: 00:26:28

you're really starting out.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:29

I started 10 years ago, so halfway

Chris Farrell: 00:26:31

through the company's lifespan

Chris Farrell: 00:26:34

essentially, and it was a very busy time.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:36

We were starting a lot of new

Chris Farrell: 00:26:37

work, and I was, you know, kind of

Chris Farrell: 00:26:41

confronted with a choice to make.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:43

Do I, you know, work nine to

Chris Farrell: 00:26:46

five and try to shut my phone

Chris Farrell: 00:26:47

off, or do I lean into it?

Chris Farrell: 00:26:48

And, you know, as Ed said, it's

Chris Farrell: 00:26:50

going to be there when you get back

Chris Farrell: 00:26:51

and you turn your phone back on.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:52

It's just going to be a little bit worse.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:53

So, you know, lean into it, embrace

Chris Farrell: 00:26:55

it, embrace the challenges, and

Chris Farrell: 00:26:58

you'll learn a lot about business.

Chris Farrell: 00:26:59

You'll learn a lot about yourself.

Chris Farrell: 00:27:01

And, um, you know, we've gotten to a point

Chris Farrell: 00:27:03

now where we have a lot of good folks in

Chris Farrell: 00:27:05

the office to help us with those things.

Chris Farrell: 00:27:07

And, um,

Ed Farrell: 00:27:09

it's not as bad.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:09

It's not like it was.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:11

It's not like it was anymore.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:12

But I, I, I remark and people say, you

Ed Farrell: 00:27:15

know, you'll, you'll talk to others and

Ed Farrell: 00:27:17

they'll say, Well, I work 12 hour days.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:20

I'll just look at 'em

Ed Farrell: 00:27:21

and say, oh, half a day.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:22

Yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:24

John and Connie: Exactly.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:25

Exactly.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:27

So,

Ed Farrell: 00:27:28

John and Connie: that's

Ed Farrell: 00:27:28

what entrepreneurs do.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:29

We work 24

Ed Farrell: 00:27:30

7, right?

Ed Farrell: 00:27:32

Yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:32

It's not a, well,

Ed Farrell: 00:27:33

John and Connie: Our phones never off.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:34

You only

Ed Farrell: 00:27:34

worked half the day . Yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:36

John and Connie: I love that.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:37

Exactly.

Ed Farrell: 00:27:39

That's an awesome perspective right there.

Chris Farrell: 00:27:42

Yeah.

Chris Farrell: 00:27:43

John and Connie: Yes.

Chris Farrell: 00:27:44

So what's the most valuable thing

Chris Farrell: 00:27:45

you've learned from your employees?

Chris Farrell: 00:27:48

Or from a single employee?

Chris Farrell: 00:27:51

One thing that resonates

Chris Farrell: 00:27:53

with me is, you know, we were talking

Chris Farrell: 00:27:56

to the, to the driving staff and.

Chris Farrell: 00:27:58

One of the statements that the

Chris Farrell: 00:28:00

driver has made, it's very simple,

Chris Farrell: 00:28:01

but um, He just said when you do

Chris Farrell: 00:28:04

everything with love, it's simple.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:08

That's it.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:08

And that's, that's what really

Chris Farrell: 00:28:10

stuck, stuck with me and stood out.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:12

He's been a driver here for eight

Chris Farrell: 00:28:13

years and you know, we're asking him,

Chris Farrell: 00:28:15

what do you like about working here?

Chris Farrell: 00:28:17

You know, it's tough in the winter time

Chris Farrell: 00:28:18

in New England and you're in snow and

Chris Farrell: 00:28:20

you're digging your van out and you

Chris Farrell: 00:28:22

still can't be late because it's snowed

Chris Farrell: 00:28:23

because we're transportation professionals

Chris Farrell: 00:28:25

and we have a promise to our people.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:26

And he said, Chris, you know, Hey, when

Chris Farrell: 00:28:28

you do everything with love, it's simple.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:31

And uh, that really stuck

Chris Farrell: 00:28:32

with me, really stuck with me.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:35

John and Connie: So, that's,

Chris Farrell: 00:28:35

that's, that's a great question.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:36

Yeah, that's powerful.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:37

Is, is that, did he, how do I ask this?

Chris Farrell: 00:28:43

Did he develop that, did that

Chris Farrell: 00:28:45

come from him personally or

Chris Farrell: 00:28:47

is that part of your culture?

Chris Farrell: 00:28:50

Or

Chris Farrell: 00:28:50

to think

Chris Farrell: 00:28:50

it's a little bit of both.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:52

Um, you know, like I said, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:28:54

everybody understands the mission.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:56

People who are here, they want to be here.

Chris Farrell: 00:28:58

They want to make sure that somebody's

Chris Farrell: 00:29:02

mom, dad, grandmother is getting the best

Chris Farrell: 00:29:05

care possible, the best transportation

Chris Farrell: 00:29:07

and safest transportation possible.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:09

And I think that they feel

Chris Farrell: 00:29:10

that way because them, they

Chris Farrell: 00:29:13

themselves are people of value.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:14

So they're providing value to

Chris Farrell: 00:29:16

the people that they pick up.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:18

And, you know, like I said, when we hire,

Chris Farrell: 00:29:20

that's, that's what we're looking for.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:21

We're looking for quality people to put

Chris Farrell: 00:29:23

behind the wheel of quality vehicles

Chris Farrell: 00:29:25

to do the best job that we can.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:27

And, uh, so I think, I

Chris Farrell: 00:29:28

think it's a bit of both.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:29

I think it's a bit of both

Chris Farrell: 00:29:30

and it's kind of lent itself

Chris Farrell: 00:29:32

to the, to the culture here.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:34

And, uh, we're very

Chris Farrell: 00:29:34

fortunate to have that.

Chris Farrell: 00:29:37

John and Connie: Yeah,

Ed Farrell: 00:29:37

It's the people that you have

Ed Farrell: 00:29:39

working for you as a, as a, as a whole

Ed Farrell: 00:29:44

that really makes the company as well.

Ed Farrell: 00:29:45

So, um, does it come from the company

Ed Farrell: 00:29:47

or does it come from the person?

Ed Farrell: 00:29:49

Um,

Ed Farrell: 00:29:50

John and Connie: it's kind

Ed Farrell: 00:29:50

of like a circle, isn't it?

Ed Farrell: 00:29:52

The people are the culture

Ed Farrell: 00:29:53

and the culture defines the

Ed Farrell: 00:29:55

people.

Ed Farrell: 00:29:55

Exactly.

Ed Farrell: 00:29:56

yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:29:57

John and Connie: Very nice.

Ed Farrell: 00:29:59

That is so cool.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:00

What a lovely lesson.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:01

So, uh, as far as other family

Ed Farrell: 00:30:04

businesses, do you guys network?

Ed Farrell: 00:30:06

And I think I know part of the answer to

Ed Farrell: 00:30:08

this because of our conversation, but do

Ed Farrell: 00:30:09

you network with other family businesses?

Ed Farrell: 00:30:13

Uh, I, it's

Ed Farrell: 00:30:14

funny you ask that.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:17

We have a breakfast club in my

Ed Farrell: 00:30:19

office, where there's many people

Ed Farrell: 00:30:21

that I've met throughout my career.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:23

We'll come, they'll sit down,

Ed Farrell: 00:30:25

we'll talk about their struggles,

Ed Farrell: 00:30:28

my struggles, you know, kind of

Ed Farrell: 00:30:30

venting, let's say, , at some point.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:32

, but it's a breakfast club and,

Ed Farrell: 00:30:33

, there'll be people that'll come

Ed Farrell: 00:30:35

and, uh, to my place and we talk.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:37

They could be masons, they could

Ed Farrell: 00:30:39

be builders, they could be In many

Ed Farrell: 00:30:42

different businesses, , flower business.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:45

, these people come, they, hey, how you

Ed Farrell: 00:30:47

doing, sit down, just start talking.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:49

We can vent back and forth a bit.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:51

But I think we learn from

Ed Farrell: 00:30:52

each other a bit as well.

Ed Farrell: 00:30:54

And, um, if I can give some advice,

Ed Farrell: 00:30:57

let's say for an insurance issue, or

Ed Farrell: 00:30:59

a, um, a banking issue, or things that

Ed Farrell: 00:31:02

I've picked up along the way, or a

Ed Farrell: 00:31:03

tax issue, um, You know, I'll share

Ed Farrell: 00:31:07

with them, they'll share with me.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:08

Yeah, you do learn from talking to

Ed Farrell: 00:31:10

other people that are in small business.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:12

John and Connie: Very cool.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:14

Very cool.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:14

And, and sometimes, when we're talking

Ed Farrell: 00:31:17

to someone in our own, or when we're

Ed Farrell: 00:31:19

hearing the example that's, that's

Ed Farrell: 00:31:21

in our own vertical, we personalize

Ed Farrell: 00:31:24

it so much, we, we miss the point.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:26

And so hearing somebody from another,

Ed Farrell: 00:31:28

uh, a different kind of industry

Ed Farrell: 00:31:30

and completely talk about a similar

Ed Farrell: 00:31:33

problem, it frames it in a way

Ed Farrell: 00:31:35

that we can see it clearer too.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:37

I love that.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:38

The Breakfast Club.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:39

Yep.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:41

John and Connie: So, you guys

Ed Farrell: 00:31:42

are in the, all of New England.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:46

You're based just outside Boston,

Ed Farrell: 00:31:48

but you cover all of New England.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:50

How

Ed Farrell: 00:31:50

do, how do people, like if, if

Ed Farrell: 00:31:52

somebody's up in New Hampshire,

Ed Farrell: 00:31:54

and they need, I mean, I'm, I'm

Ed Farrell: 00:31:57

ignorant of distances, sorry.

Ed Farrell: 00:31:59

Vermont, New Hampshire, I'd

Ed Farrell: 00:32:00

think of those as farther north

Ed Farrell: 00:32:02

than Boston, but I may be wrong.

Ed Farrell: 00:32:03

But somebody distant, you know, several

Ed Farrell: 00:32:04

hundred miles from your main office.

Ed Farrell: 00:32:06

What do they do?

Chris Farrell: 00:32:08

So, The majority

Chris Farrell: 00:32:09

of the work that we do, we're

Chris Farrell: 00:32:11

contracted with facilities, with

Chris Farrell: 00:32:13

hospitals, things of that nature.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:15

Um, so a lot of their rides are set

Chris Farrell: 00:32:17

up through the facilities that they're

Chris Farrell: 00:32:20

visiting and that they will contact

Chris Farrell: 00:32:22

they being the facilities will contact

Chris Farrell: 00:32:24

us to set up transportation for them.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:27

Um, we also have, you know, contact us

Chris Farrell: 00:32:30

or book with us portals on our website.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:32

They can call us six days a week.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:35

You know, from 6am to

Chris Farrell: 00:32:36

6 pm at 781 316 0400.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:40

Our website is www.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:44

RideWithATS.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:44

com.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:45

So there's a lot of

Chris Farrell: 00:32:45

useful information there.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:47

And, you know, we get a lot of general

Chris Farrell: 00:32:48

inquiries, whether it's, as I stated

Chris Farrell: 00:32:51

before, a medical appointment, or,

Chris Farrell: 00:32:53

you know, a private paid fun run,

Chris Farrell: 00:32:54

where they just want to get mom

Chris Farrell: 00:32:55

and dad, you know, out for the day.

Chris Farrell: 00:32:58

And we have, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:32:59

LinkedIn and Facebook.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:00

So we, we try to cover all of our

Chris Farrell: 00:33:01

bases as far as providing updates to

Chris Farrell: 00:33:04

the employees through multiple avenues

Chris Farrell: 00:33:07

and also, you know, to our clients.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:09

And, , as far as, you know, the

Chris Farrell: 00:33:11

scope of our work, we go everywhere.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:14

There's, there's really nowhere

Chris Farrell: 00:33:15

in New England that we don't go.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:18

Um, some things in my mind stick

Chris Farrell: 00:33:19

out where, you know, on one day,

Chris Farrell: 00:33:22

I believe 3 weeks ago we were in.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:24

New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont,

Chris Farrell: 00:33:26

Connecticut, Rhode Island,

Chris Farrell: 00:33:27

Massachusetts, and we're

Chris Farrell: 00:33:29

discharging somebody to New Jersey.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:31

So we, we go far.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:33

Um, if there's a need, if there's somebody

Chris Farrell: 00:33:35

who needs to make it either home or to

Chris Farrell: 00:33:37

their appointment, we will take you.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:39

We have, as I stated, a great

Chris Farrell: 00:33:42

dedicated driving staff.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:44

I remember a story where we had

Chris Farrell: 00:33:47

a passenger who was an hour and

Chris Farrell: 00:33:48

a half north of Montreal, Canada.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:51

But was still somehow in Maine.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:54

Um, and they had a four

Chris Farrell: 00:33:56

o'clock pickup in the morning.

Chris Farrell: 00:33:59

So our driver left their home 10

Chris Farrell: 00:34:01

o'clock the previous day, 10 o'clock pm.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:04

Drove through the night, hit a snow

Chris Farrell: 00:34:06

squall, went about 50 ft off the

Chris Farrell: 00:34:08

highway, called himself a tow truck,

Chris Farrell: 00:34:11

got winched out, continued up north,

Chris Farrell: 00:34:13

picked the gentleman up, drove him

Chris Farrell: 00:34:15

down to Boston, called in to say,

Chris Farrell: 00:34:17

Chris, I need a front end alignment.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:19

And, uh, About a mirror

Chris Farrell: 00:34:22

replaced on the van.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:23

We fixed it for him and we went home.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:24

So, when I say everyone understands

Chris Farrell: 00:34:26

the mission, that is, that is truly

Chris Farrell: 00:34:29

the definition of the mission.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:31

John and Connie: Yes, indeed.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:32

Yes, indeed.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:33

Kind of sounds like a Florida

Chris Farrell: 00:34:34

driver need not apply, but

Chris Farrell: 00:34:36

maybe that's just me.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:38

Oh, goodness.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:39

And we don't do good in snow.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:42

That a wonderful example.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:43

Thank you so much.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:45

Well, we, this has been, thank you so

Chris Farrell: 00:34:47

much for spending this time with us.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:48

Yeah.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:48

This has been absolutely wonderful.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:50

We're excited to, , promote, and give

Chris Farrell: 00:34:54

you a little bit of extra exposure.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:55

I think you got some really

Chris Farrell: 00:34:57

wonderful, I wanted to congratulate

Chris Farrell: 00:34:58

you again, both Mm-Hmm.

Chris Farrell: 00:34:59

on the, uh, the TD Bank Takeover and

Chris Farrell: 00:35:01

the, you know, the publicity from that

Chris Farrell: 00:35:03

and the well deserved recognition.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:05

Mm-Hmm.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:05

that was awesome.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:06

Thank you.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:07

Thank very much.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:07

John and Connie: That video.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:08

on your website is, , is fabulous.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:10

Really wonderful . Yeah.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:13

Everybody wishes They had that.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:15

They did a good job and,

Chris Farrell: 00:35:17

uh, the folks that I had asked, you

Chris Farrell: 00:35:20

know, for the driving staff to be in

Chris Farrell: 00:35:22

it and, again, kind of open invitation,

Chris Farrell: 00:35:24

they took to it and, and during the

Chris Farrell: 00:35:26

shoot, the gentleman in the beginning

Chris Farrell: 00:35:29

of the video making his coffee, um, you

Chris Farrell: 00:35:31

know, he had asked the film crew, what

Chris Farrell: 00:35:33

do you, what do you hope to capture?

Chris Farrell: 00:35:34

And they were outside in his driveway

Chris Farrell: 00:35:36

and they said, well, we want to kind

Chris Farrell: 00:35:38

of get a day in the life of a driver.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:40

He said, it's going to be really hard

Chris Farrell: 00:35:41

to do that from outside of my house.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:43

Why don't you guys come in?

Chris Farrell: 00:35:44

I'm about to have a coffee.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:45

So, you know, just kind of

Chris Farrell: 00:35:47

the, the personal aspect.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:49

He understood, again, the mission,

Chris Farrell: 00:35:51

what we were trying to accomplish.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:52

And, uh, just a good

Chris Farrell: 00:35:53

guy, good guy overall.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:55

And, uh, fortunate to

Chris Farrell: 00:35:56

have him as well as me.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:58

All the employees here.

Chris Farrell: 00:35:59

So it was a good video.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:00

They did a great job.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:00

The production quality was fantastic.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:02

It was overwhelming.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:03

Actually, the whole experience.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:05

And what we, what we really hope to

Chris Farrell: 00:36:07

accomplish from that is yes, it's

Chris Farrell: 00:36:08

great for alternative transportation,

Chris Farrell: 00:36:11

but we want to call to attention the

Chris Farrell: 00:36:14

industry and the fact that non-emergency

Chris Farrell: 00:36:17

medical transportation is out there

Chris Farrell: 00:36:19

and tying it back to the family aspect.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:21

It is a growing issue and challenge.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:25

Where mom or dad are aging, they have

Chris Farrell: 00:36:28

a medical appointment, and, you know,

Chris Farrell: 00:36:30

siblings and children and siblings are

Chris Farrell: 00:36:32

saying who's going to take mom, who's

Chris Farrell: 00:36:33

going to take dad, don't worry about it,

Chris Farrell: 00:36:36

just call alternative transportation,

Chris Farrell: 00:36:38

let our family take care of yours,

Chris Farrell: 00:36:39

we'll make sure they get there, you

Chris Farrell: 00:36:41

can go to work, I promise you they're

Chris Farrell: 00:36:43

going to have the best drivers, the

Chris Farrell: 00:36:45

best vehicles, and we'll take care of

Chris Farrell: 00:36:47

them like they're our own, because,

Chris Farrell: 00:36:49

I think Uncle Sam uses us sometimes.

Chris Farrell: 00:36:52

John and Connie: Having been there, I

Chris Farrell: 00:36:53

get it and I agree and there were

Chris Farrell: 00:36:55

times when, later on, um, my mother

Chris Farrell: 00:36:57

was in assisted living and it got to

Chris Farrell: 00:37:00

where it wasn't safe for us to try to

Chris Farrell: 00:37:02

get her in and out of a vehicle, um,

Ed Farrell: 00:37:04

No,

Ed Farrell: 00:37:05

you cannot.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:05

John and Connie: We, we needed

Ed Farrell: 00:37:06

somebody that was trained

Ed Farrell: 00:37:07

and had the right equipment.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:08

Yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:09

So, um, I, you know, my hat's off

Ed Farrell: 00:37:11

to you guys for what you're doing.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:13

Yeah.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:13

Well, I'm getting older,

Ed Farrell: 00:37:14

you know, and I kind of figured that,

Ed Farrell: 00:37:16

um, looking forward, this is a forward

Ed Farrell: 00:37:18

thinking project so that this business

Ed Farrell: 00:37:20

gets good enough, you know, if I

Ed Farrell: 00:37:21

need it, I'll be, I'll be all set.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:24

John and Connie: That's right.

Ed Farrell: 00:37:25

Maybe they'll give you your own driver.

Chris Farrell: 00:37:28

I don't know.

Chris Farrell: 00:37:29

I don't I don't know about that.

Chris Farrell: 00:37:33

John and Connie: Alright.

Chris Farrell: 00:37:34

Well, awesome.

Chris Farrell: 00:37:36

Thank you so much again.