Jim Walks the Walk

I began selling cars at age 19. At age 20, despite being the youngest, I was the number one producer on a sales force of thirty in a metro Chrysler dealership. Selling over thirty units per month when the national average was eight. Connected with my first mentor, Pete Cardiges.

My first sales management job was in a metro Ford dealership that was in danger of losing its franchise due to low volume—last of six in sales in the city. In our second month, we went from 30 retail units the month before me to over 150, and we led the city in volume, beating one of the country’s top volume stores across town that had not been beaten in the market’s history for over sixty years.

I moved to a metro Chevy dealership, the last of nine in sales volume and unprofitable partly due to extremely high unemployment due to the closing of a nearby nuclear plant. In my first full year, we became profitable immediately and number one in the city on volume. We became number 10 of over 4,000 dealers in the US in retail truck sales. Acquired a Dodge franchise that had averaged fewer than ten units per month, quickly increased to over fifty per month, and was very profitable.

Contract assignment for Chrysler Financial in a large SE metro. It had not been profitable in four years and we had an all-time record profit month in my first full month there.

Contract assignment for GMAC. Metro GM dealership had not been profitable in three years—profitable first month.

The next stop was a Metro Chrysler and Dodge dealership, last in the metro in sales volume. It was unprofitable for several years. It was profitable the first month, had an all-time record profit the first year, and was number one in volume. Connected with my second mentor, Neikl Huffman.

I moved into management and then became a partner with the entire organization. We made record profits and assembled some incredible teams. We created a position of Corporate Training Manager and a training curriculum that developed hundreds of successful salespeople and managers.

Purchased, with partners, Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Atlanta. Eleven previous owners had never been profitable, and the sales operation had been closed for ninety days with no staff or team members. We made a huge profit the first month and went from last in metro volume to third of over 25 dealerships.

Managed a luxury brand dealership in a smaller market, with sales and net profit records.

My wife and I started a personal training business in our garage and grew it to a mid-six-figure operation, adding additional rooftops. Our client results received media coverage from around the country, including in the US Congressional Record.

I began writing human interest and history articles for publications across the Southeastern US and started a blog, The Southern Voice, which grew into the largest of its type in the world, reaching tens of millions.

Started a classic rock/Southern rock podcast, Rock Stars Talk, interviewing major stars from rock’s Golden Era. In our first season, we reached number three in the US out of hundreds of thousands of podcasts.

The Small Biz Guide is one of two books about to be published. The other is The Mature Gentleman's Edge, a tutorial for improving the image, style, and social skills of men over fifty.