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[upbeat music] This is a So Two Unscripted, and I'm your host, Errol Beaumarthe. What's up, beautiful people? Welcome to Unscripted. I am your host, Errol Beaumarthe. This is day two.
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Uh, it's really almost like day three, because we had the AI summit that kicked off. Uh, so this is the final day of ASOTU CON, but guess what? The energy is still going up.
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We're excited to have you here, and we're excited to continue having the unscripted conversation. So do me a favor. Help me welcome up our next guest. I know you're virtual, but that's all right.
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You can still make noise, clap your feet, stomp your hands. Yes, I said it that way on purpose. Do me a favor. Help me wake up- welcome up Ben St. Hours. Ben, come on up, man. What's up? How are you? How are you?
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Good, good. Great. I'm great. How are you all? Doing great, man. No complaints. Great. So, uh, first easy question. Yeah... is this your first ASOTU CON? So I went to the very first ASOTU CON. Okay...
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it was in Philadelphia. I believe it was four years ago. Yes, yeah. Um, so this is my second one, but it's been a couple years. Okay, good. Well, welcome back home. Yeah. Thank you. Right? Absolutely. Yeah.
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So, um, tell me a little bit about, for those that don't know, tell me a- tell us a little bit about yourself, and then- Yeah... we'll, we'll get into it. All right. So I, my name is Ben St. Hours.
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I'm the general manager and managing partner at CMA's Valley Honda, uh, and the general manager at CMA's Valley Volkswagen. I've been a part of CMA for almost 13 years. My, uh, 13-year reunion is in July of this year.
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Okay. So I got, I got a little bit of time until my 13 year, but it's a fantastic company. I'm super passionate about the auto industry. Uh, and this is all I've ever done. This is all I know. I love it.
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All right, so super passionate. Yeah. All you ever know. How did you get there? How did that passion develop? How'd it form? Tell, tell us the backstory. Well, the funny thing is, how I got in the auto industry,
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I was 13 years old. My dad is a attorney. Okay. So I don't have any car dealer, uh, family. Uh, but my dad is an attorney, and one of his clients was a big car dealer. Okay.
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So he had invited my dad and my mom to come spend a week with him and his wife on their yacht down in the Florida Keys. Okay. Um- That's a great way to get introduced to the business [laughs]. Well, my... Yes, no doubt.
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Now, my mom, uh, didn't, didn't wanna go. She was, uh, uh... I can't re- recall why. I think she may have been pregnant at the time, but- Okay...
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so my dad asked me, he said, "Hey, Ben, do you wanna go to the Florida Keys?" I thought, well, I don't even know what that means. [laughs] Right. Um, but does it get me out of school? Yes.
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He's like, "Yeah, you're gonna be out of school all next week. It's a last-minute trip." "Okay, I'll be there." Right. "Yeah, sure. That sounds great." Let's go. Right. "I got nothing else to do but go to school."
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So I hop on the plane, we fly down to the Florida Keys. Yeah. We get picked up in a limo. This limo takes us to this yacht. Right.
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I have my own bedroom on this yacht, and we're having a great time in the Florida Keys, and the blee- beautiful clear water. Yes. And I ask, I said, "Uh, w- what do you do for a living?" Right.
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And he says, um, "I'm in the auto industry." And in that moment I knew, okay, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Yeah. I'm gonna be in the auto industry. Uh, that was over 26 years ago, 'cause I was 13.
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It'll, it'll almost be 26 years that I've been in the industry. Yeah. Um, I asked him when we were sitting there, I said, um, "Will you give me a job?" Yeah. He said, "How old are you?" I said, "I'm 13."
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He said, "You gotta be 14 to get a job in Virginia." So on my 14th birthday, I went to work for him, and I washed cars for him at his dealership and grew from there. Nice.
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Uh, 26 years later, and the closest thing to a yacht is, uh, I could borrow my buddy's canoe on a Sunday. [laughs] Um, so [laughs], uh, I, I didn't... I don't have the yacht. I don't have the yacht. That's all right.
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But it was- But that's okay... it was the inspiration, right? It... That's exactly what it was. And, and you know, for me, it's like,
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my passion in this industry is so great, and all I wanna do, like, uh, him inspiring me when I was 13 made a difference in my life and my family's life that I could never repay back. Yes.
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And, and it's because of the auto industry.
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Now, I can't inspire anybody with a yacht, but if I can inspire anybody about my passion for this industry and why I think it would be a really good idea for people to get into this, maybe I can change a whole lot of people's lives as well.
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Absolutely. And after all these years, I decided I don't want a yacht anyway, because I get seasick, and I found that out that week, but- [laughs]... I, but, but I love this industry. It's not about the material things.
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Yeah. It's not about anything other than inspiring people to be able to change their li- life, and that's, that's all I focus on now.
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Yeah, I love that, and that's a great
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takeaway, is that, you know, the, the things follow, right? Yeah. The things don't lead. They follow.
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And the things are just a result of the people that you surround yourself by, the team that you surround yourself by. Right. And that's what really leads to the success and being able to get the things, right?
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But it all starts with exactly what you just said- Exactly... which is the inspiration and the people. Yeah, yeah. So, um- Yeah... what's... So something...
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So, uh, did your dad know at that time, after you, you took, you know, you took that trip with him, what, what is your dad saying now, seeing you in the auto industry- Yeah... and all that stuff, how, how's that?
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You know, he had eight chil- My parents had eight children. Okay. And I think they wanted all of us... Well, my father, I think he wanted all of us to be attorneys as well. [laughs] Gotcha.
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He had eight children, and there's not a single attorney in the family. [laughs] Um, but, um, all jokes aside, uh, y- you know, he, he, he's really proud. He's really proud. We all went a different direction. Yeah. Um,
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and, uh, and that's what's so great about it. My family's super close-knit. We love each other dearly. Six boys, two girls, highly competitive family. Of course. Um, but, uh,
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we, we have a great relationship, but we all went in different directions. And I know, I know he's proud, uh, of how far I've been able to take this career. And we're just starting. Yeah. We're just starting.
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That, I love that. That's so great. I love that we're just starting. And I think it's really important, too, because one of the things that I, I heard you say is obviously, like, you didn't know what to expect, right?
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Yeah. Um, and so one of the questions that I've been talking about is expectation versus experience, right?
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So, and what I mean by that is, when you first got in the industry, so obviously this is a, a, a seed planted at 13. It, it starts materializing at 14.
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When you first got into the industry, did you expect the yacht, or what were you expecting- No... versus what you've experienced? No. I knew I wanted to grow. Okay. Yeah, and I, and I made that commitment to myself.
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I'm gonna own a car dealership someday. That's- Yeah... that's the only thing that matters. Now, how do I do that?
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Well, the only thing I can do today to own a car dealership in the future is I have to be the very best at cleaning cars. So I focused on the job that I have right now. So when I went in there- Mm...
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I didn't go in there today worrying about the paycheck. I didn't go in there worrying about, how am I gonna own a yacht? I didn't go in there with any other purpose.
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I went in there with the intention of being the very best reconditioning person on that day. Yeah. And then the very next day, it was that day. And people would ask me, w- "Why are you working so hard?
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Why, why are you washing cars six times faster than anybody else? We all get paid the same amount." It was $5.10 an hour. That was minimum wage. You get paid the same amount as I do, but you're working six time harder.
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It's not about the paycheck today. Yeah. This is, I'm wo- working this hard because I'm going to own a car dealership someday. Yeah.
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I don't know when, but the harder I work now, the sooner I may be able to realize that goal.
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And it continued into when I started selling cars, and when I went into finance, and sales management, and general sales management, general manager.
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Uh, and I realized that dream thanks to Liza Borchers and Carter Myers Automotive, and it's been fantastic. But well, I'm not gonna stop growing now. Right. That's it. Um, so we'll keep going. Yes. Yeah.
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So speaking of keep going, right? Uh, you had the insight and the vision at 13. What's the vision today? Where do you see, fast-forward 13, 'cause you said you're celebrating- Yeah... 13 years, so fast-forward.
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Let's look in the future. Yeah. What's the vision? So a big goal that I made for myself in 2026, and though I, I'll never feel like I've made it because I can never continue, I can't sit still. I just, I- Yeah...
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have to keep moving forward. I wanna inspire as many people as I possibly can.
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So a big goal that I set for this year for myself is to create two future leaders for Carter Myers Automotive, for the company that we work for.
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I wanna create two future leaders that can step up and go at the same pace or even f- further and faster than I am going right now.
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I wanna inspire the leaders we already have to maybe reach a little further than they believed that they could.
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So at this moment right now for 2026, and what I told Liza, is we are gonna find a, I'm gonna find a way to, to challenge, train, and push, and motivate two future leaders for CMA. And that's my focus right now.
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I love that. That's great. And it's, I mean, it, it aligns, right? Uh, everything that I've heard you say, and been, I think has been about people, right? Yeah. And that is- Oh, yeah... I think that's the anchor.
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Uh, it's part of your passion. I can, it's definitely tangible, which is great, you know? Yeah. Um, and so I, I'm, I'm excited to see next year, right? Yeah.
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When you come, when we, when we see each other again at ASOTU CON next year- Yeah... how that's going and how that- Yeah... progression of those leaders are.
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Hope- hopefully it's going so well that you're interviewing somebody else, because they're going further than I am in this company, and they get to sit at this table with you. That's it.
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I, and I'd be super proud of that. Right. So. I love that. Yeah. That's so great. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Ben, thank you so much for- All right... spending the time with us. Yep.
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I hope that you guys out there, I hope you got it, right? It, it's about not only having the vision, but continuing to work hard. But Ben, one of my favorite things that you said is, f- focus on the day, right?
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Don't focus on the yacht, or what's in the future, or all the other things. Just focus on being the best and applying yourself as much as you can in that day, and then worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
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Ben, again, thanks for your time. Okay. I appreciate it, brother. Thank you so much. And, uh, I look forward to seeing you- Thank you. Thank you... or, seeing you or, like you said, someone else- Yeah, yeah... next year.
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Someone else. We'll, we'll figure it out. That's right. This has been Unscripted. I'm Errol Bomar. We're here at ASOTU CON 2026: Year of the Human. We'll see you on the next one. Thank you for listening to Unscripted.
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At ASOTU, we're obsessed with uniting people around one big idea, that thriving people are the only path to a thriving and profitable industry.
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If that resonates with you, then head over to morethancars.com, join our email list, and explore our full list of podcasts.