Heroes in Business - Richard Rawlings, Founder Gas Monkey Garage

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Play it fast and loud...and keep building. Richard Rawlings, Founder Gas Monkey Garage and former star Discovery show Fast and Loud is interviewed by David Cogan famous host of the Heroes Show and Founder of Eliances entrepreneur community. www.eliances.com

welcome back to alliances heroes where heroes in business align to be part of our super community and find out more about alliances visit www.alliances.com that's right and welcome back and again we're so excited to have you back by the way too thank you for the feedback i continue to have when we had on the hollywood stunt director who versus Ferrari, Robert Nagel, along with tons of others with gross movie sales over 9 billion in sales. Make sure you go to alliances.com, E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com, the only place where entrepreneurs line. Well, with us today, we've got, are you ready for this? Richard Rawlings, founder of Gas Monkey Garage, Fast and Loud show. And you could reach him by going to gasmonkeygarage.com. You've seen him on TV. Now make sure you check out his YouTube

channel. In fact, Richard, let's get right started right now and stuff. How did you even get involved in the industry that you're in? I mean, Tell us about that. Well, Gas Monkey Garage was originally conceived up to be a get on TV and be a large brand in the automotive motorcycle lifestyle space. Basically, in the early 2000s, the shows that were on TV, I had a wife and kid at the time, and they weren't watching those same shows because there was a little too much bravado and a little, you know, wearing the bandana down low and, you know, kicking boxes and cussing at your teammates. And I kind of just thought about how it was when I grew up and my dad's friends all goofed around in the garage and built cars. And I just thought,

you know, they're missing a large segment of the market. So I actually went out as Gas Monkey Garage to get the street cred and get in the magazines and win some shows and get enough oomph behind us that, you know, maybe the networks would pay attention. And that's what happened. So boom, Fast and Loud was born. What's been your favorite project that you've worked on? Because you've worked on a gazillion projects. Yeah, we've worked on a lot. Probably the 2006 Ford GT that we did. It was a really neat car. I've always wanted to try to get that back. And then also the Ferrari F40 that we built, that Ferrari said couldn't be built. And we accomplished that also. That's amazing. Amazing. And you know, too, too, is this when you've seen this whole industry probably evolve over time, too.

I mean, it's now more mainstream than ever. You've probably seen, you know, different people now coming and attracted to it. Tell us more about that. Well, it's interesting. The market is definitely changing with the push for electric vehicles. You know, and as far as I'm concerned, who cares if it's got a computer or a carburetor, we're still going to break into it, make it faster, you know, so guys will be guys in this industry, but, you know, we are losing a lot of the trades, and I wish a lot more kids would get involved with, you know, welding and working on cars and fixing cars and rebuilding motors and things like that, but I'm sure that as we move along, it'll still be here because there's always going to be stuff to be worked on. Well, how did you, I mean, what was your first exposure to it?

I mean, you have a passion for it. You've got the personality for it. You got the style and the look too. I mean, you know, so how did you, you know, I mean, what was it that sparked it for you to go, man, this is what I want to do? You know, really what it was, was I, I was, I had newspaper routes when I was a kid, so I knew where all the cars were. So by the time I was 12 or 13 years old, I was buying and selling cars,

even though I couldn't drive them, my dad would have to go over there and get them for me. So, uh, I've, I've, I've just always been interested in, in that aspect of the business. And, uh, then it just grew from there. Excellent. And again, you're watching, listening to me, David Cogan, interested in in that aspect of the business and uh then it just grew from there excellent and again you're watching listening to me david cogan host of the alliances hero show make sure you go to alliances.com e-l-i-a-n-c-s.com we have with us richard rawlings founder of gas monkey garage you can reach him at gasmonkeygarage.com all right richard you're a branding expert. How do you do what you do with branding and, I mean, you know, merch and the show and everything else? Like, where'd you learn that?

an advertising and printing firm for many years. And when the idea for Gas Monkey came along, I was like, well, I've been building brands for all these other people. I'm pretty sure I can build one for myself. So a leap of faith and off we go. And here's where we ended up. But it's been a lot of fun. It's also a little bit of storytelling. The audience that's out there is almost two and a half generations old now. So they've watched all the trials and tribulations of Gas Monkey as we've been coming up the ranks. And, you know, when I stepped out and built restaurants or when I launched a tequila company or energy drink company or whatever. So, you know, they're innately they've they've watched this story unfold for, you know, going on 20 years now. And, you know, what we do in the next five is going to make the last 20 look like child's play.

We're fixing to get serious. All right. Can you give us some sneak peeks into that? Well, just think restaurants on a global scale. And we're going to launch a couple more elite type brands in the automotive motorcycle lifestyle space. And going to make our footprint more worldwide than just America. What about people that haven't yet, you know, they see motorcycles, they haven't yet, you know, experienced and all that. I used to own a motorcycle, quasi-type motorcycle, the T-Rex, you know, the T-Rex motorcycle. I do know those. I loved it. There's, it's amazing. And then people that haven't been on a motorcycle even to begin

with, right? It's the feeling of it. How do you get those people? Because there's an obsession with people that see motorcycles, right? Everybody always looks and stuff, but there's still a large population that never has even sat on one. There is, you know, but the bikes nowadays are very technologically advanced. And, you know, the only thing I worry about is the road. You know, We're not doing a good job of keeping our roads well repaired. And then everybody's got one of these mobile phone devices, and they're not really watching and looking where they're going. So I probably don't ride as much as I used to just because of those two things. Wow.

All right. I want to do some snooping in your office because you look like you've got the fun office. Oh, there's a lot of stuff. Tell me something in there that's unique, something that you really prize possession in your office. And for those of you listening right now, let me just tell you, he's got three shelves full of cool stuff, just a lot of different stuff on there. So, all right, Richard, which one is something there that stands out that you're like, you know what, if there was a fire, I'd grab this piece. Well, we have the 68 Corvette from the original sweet 16 that came out in 1968, uh, of which we ended up building one in, uh, the mid two thousands and it's in the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame. So, you know, to be able to

say that I made a Hot Wheel is pretty off the charts and pretty cool. And I've got a picture of me and Burt Reynolds here. You know, he was a big inspiration for me. I watched all his shows through the 80s growing up. And the rest of the stuff is just things that appear or people send us stuff. And, you know, if it's cool or if it's monkey related or whatever. And so it gets a home on the shelf. And I will tell you that dusting that is not very

much fun. Yeah, no, I can only imagine and stuff. Now, also, too, is, you know, you found your passion, right? I mean, you know, clearly it shows it shows within your personality. It shows within the shows that you've done of, you know, what you're doing. And now, you know, with the branding of some of the things that you mentioned in that, what kind of secrets or advice do you have, though, for children out there that are, you know, trying to find their way or heck, even a number of adults that it's like, I don't know if this is really what I want to do. You know, you clearly make it clear that it is what you want to do. But, you know, how about for the children out there and stuff? Well, you know, I always say the same thing when asked that

it's start with your simple idea and stay small as long as you can. A lot of people spend so much time on, I'm going to be this big and it's going to be, you know, I need all this, this equipment, or I need all these employees or I need all these things. And really what you need is a successful business and the rest will come. And, you know, cause we started in a little two car garage with no running water. So, you know, I'd like to keep it small and tight knit shop. And then we've got a worldwide brand with probably, I don't even think we have 15 employees. So, you know, I'd like to keep it small and tight knit shop. And then we've got a worldwide brand with probably, I don't even think we have 15 employees. So keep it small, keep it

tight. That's awesome. Yeah. Richard, you ever wonder if you weren't doing what you were doing in your industry, what you would be doing? If there was any other thing that you would do as a second choice, what would that be? You know, I had a really good time throughout my 30s and 40s having a printing and advertising firm. And so I'd probably still be doing that. I just took a leap and decided I was going to start my own brand. And it worked. And you know what? The odds were that it wasn't going to work. But I stuck to it and stuck to my guns and stuck to my business plan. But I stuck to it and stuck to my guns and stuck to my business plan. And, you know, just very fortunate to be here.

You got to open up some locations, some of the restaurants in Arizona. We've looked at that quite a bit. We've been offered some locations in Glendale and possibly even Scottsdale. But first, we're going to focus on New York, Times Square, Orlando, Nashville, Dallas, and then, of course, over to Vegas. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Richard, you definitely, you know what, you've created something that lit a fire in the automotive and have expanded it beyond with what many, with what you've achieved. That's a hero, Richard rawlings founder of gas monkey garage make sure that you go to gasmonkeygarage.com this has been david cogan with the alliance's hero show