We are celebrating our 10th episode! We made it to the double digits! And helping us celebrate our latest triumph is none other than HDM Towing & Truck Center’s Owner, Michelle Sukow, who took us on quite a journey while talking about her career. She also described how she came to be the owner of a very successful towing business, how she influences the towing industry, and how her ambition takes her from one venture to the next. She is one inspirational person!

Transcription

 

Shelli Hawkins:

Welcome back everybody to Episode… Laura, what episode are we at?

Laura Dolan:

This is episode number 10, baby. We are in the double digits. Can you believe it?

Shelli Hawkins:

What? Can’t believe it. This is fantastic. 10.

Laura Dolan:

Another applause sound effect here. It’s going to be great.

Shelli Hawkins:

No, I can’t wait. Yes. I am excited to come in here today. Episode 10, I just feel like it’s been a major milestone for us. What a journey. Getting to know all these folks out there in the towing world and hearing their stories.

Laura Dolan:

All these incredible subject matter experts that take the time to come speak with us. I’m actually very honored that they take time out of their busy schedules to talk to me and Shelli, so we appreciate everybody who’s been on so far and the people who have yet to come on. Just know that we are super thankful and grateful for you being here.

Shelli Hawkins:

Oh, I could not agree anymore. Hearing their stories, listening to the ups and downs of the towing industry, what made them who they are today has just been absolutely fantastic.

Laura Dolan:

There we go.

Shelli Hawkins:

That is… That word again.

It’s our word for sure. Fantastic.

Laura Dolan:

It’s our lucky word.

Shelli Hawkins:

Indeed. We have a friend with us here today. You want to introduce her, Laura? You do the honors.

Laura Dolan:

I would be honored to, Shelli, thank you so much. Today we have Michelle Sukow with us. She is the owner of HDM Truck Center, and it is an absolute honor. Michelle, welcome to TRAXERO On-The-Go. How’s it going?

Michelle Sukow:

It’s going really great. Thank you guys so much for having me on today.

Shelli Hawkins:

You are welcome. We are excited to chat with you and just talk all things towing, life, people, friendships, and all the things that you do to make this towing industry that we’re all a part of better because you certainly have put a massively beautiful stamp of what your influence is in our industry, and we’re so incredibly grateful.

Michelle Sukow:

Oh, thank you, ShellI. It’s truly a passion, and if you would’ve asked me when I was younger, if I was doing this, I probably would’ve been like, “what’s that?” Just living it every day and trying to grow this industry and to the professional place it should be.

Shelli Hawkins:

A hundred percent agree. You’re in one of my favorite states in the nation, Wisconsin, and tell everyone where is HDM physically located? What city?

Michelle Sukow:

So yeah, we are headquartered here in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, which is a small little Mayberry type town, a great place to raise kids, but when you’re that kid, it’s like, “eh, there’s not much to do here.” It’s a wonderful little town that I’ve lived here my whole life, so I didn’t stray too far.

Shelli Hawkins:

Graduated from high school there, all the things?

Michelle Sukow:

Yes, all the things.

Shelli Hawkins:

Oh, I love that. If I were to put a dot on the map where Lake Mills, Wisconsin is, would you say that you are directly in between Madison and Milwaukee? Is that accurate?

Michelle Sukow:

That is very accurate. Right there on I-94, the corridor that connects the two.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yes. I just made this realization that our friends that were on our podcast a few episodes ago, Chase Leonard and Jai Grunewald, did you see these guys grow up in the towing business and just as young men even at the age of five, 10, whatever at these trade shows?

Michelle Sukow:

Absolutely, yep. They grew up right along with our children, so it’s really fun to see how these little kids that were running around at the pizza party are now basically running companies.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah.

Laura Dolan:

That’s incredible. And as soon as Shelli said Wisconsin, I was like, “oh, she’s got to know Chase and Jai.” It’s a small community, small world, so I’m not surprised.

Michelle Sukow:

It is. And Wisconsin’s got a really great state association. So we have a lot of fun at our tow show and we all support one another really well. Wisconsin’s great.

Shelli Hawkins:

Oh, I love it. And is it just me, but when I go to all these trade shows, I always see a large representation of towers from Wisconsin? At Baltimore, at Florida, in Ohio. They’re everywhere, and I love it.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes, absolutely. I can’t go anywhere and I see all of these people from Wisconsin and it’s great, and that’s because I believe we have such a strong state association and there’s so much involvement on the national level, so you’re going to see a whole bunch of different people at all of these different trade shows and in the big tow shows as well.

Shelli Hawkins:

That’s great. I remember a year ago in Indiana, it was my first Indiana Tow Show. My parents actually decided to join me for that trade show, and the Roskopfs were there, Jeff and Jerry Roskopf, and they got to spend time with my parents too, and I’m like, “This is great. This is their first time in Indiana too.” I’m going to segue with that and say, it was fantastic to hear you speak at the Indiana Tow Show. You did an incredible job. Thank you so much.

Michelle Sukow:

Oh, thank you, Shelli.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah, and wasn’t the Indiana Tow Show surprising? I keep raving about this to build it up because it is.

Michelle Sukow:

It is. It’s a great show. It reminds me a lot of Wisconsin where you have this small town feel, but you have a ton of support. Everybody knows everybody. You’ve got that Midwestern everybody’s friends type feel to it, and there were a lot of great trucks there. I loved the car show that they had along with it. And the music, of course. Just a really great show.

Shelli Hawkins:

Absolutely. For sure. Wisconsin has Homer’s Pig Roast every year. The Indiana show had the pig roast also as well, I thought just so many similarities.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah. Yeah. I loved the… I can’t remember, it was the Boone County Pork Producers, I believe, put the food out. It was fantastic.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yes, just a well run event. Again, props to Sue Moreland and Crystal Rose, great organization. And you know what it takes behind the scenes to organize something like that. Oh. They just are great. I think that there were like 40 vendors there this year and so many towing companies and yeah, the classic car show, another add-on. Love it. So great.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes, absolutely. They did a phenomenal job. Of course, they’re two amazing women, so of course they did a great job, right?

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah, for sure. When you were in high school, did you ever aspire to say, “I would like to start a towing company”? How in the world did you get started? How did this even come about on your radar at all?

Michelle Sukow:

So yeah, no, that was definitely not on my radar. I actually wanted to be a physical therapist, so I guess helping people was a little bit in the picture, but not quite this way. We actually bought out the commercial side of a family towing business. So when we started this business in, it was April 15th, Tax Day. It’s like a bittersweet day. I got to pay these taxes, but yeah, hey, it’s my anniversary. But April 15th of 2000 is when we started HDM Towing & Truck Center, and I was literally scared. It was exciting, but scared. I had never signed a loan for that much money, and we bought two heavy trucks, a service truck, which was like an old school bus that [inaudible 00:08:19]. Oh my, the memories of all of that are just flowing in right now, how everything was. My father worked a shift, my mom stayed home with us. We ate dinner at the same time every single day, five o’clock. If we weren’t home for supper, we didn’t eat. It was just the way that it was.

Shelli Hawkins:

There you go.

Michelle Sukow:

It was very structured. And then you go into the towing industry and nothing happens on time. All it takes is one phone call and boom, everything’s changed.

Shelli Hawkins:

Remind me again, how old were you when you signed for this gigantic amount of money loan to start the business? How old were you at the time?

Michelle Sukow:

I was 30.

Shelli Hawkins:

Okay, that’s young enough. Gosh.

Michelle Sukow:

It is. Obviously I’m watching my son grow up in this business and he turned 30 this year, and I look at him and I’m like, “There’s no way that I would want this for you yet. I want you to experience your young children and enjoy your family and everything else before if this does get handed down.” But I’m like, “I did it. How did I do that?” I don’t know how we did that.

Shelli Hawkins:

And I’m going to insert a shameless plug for Mr. Keegan Topel right here, because he is an amazing person, just like his mom is. And you have an amazing grandson, don’t you?

Michelle Sukow:

I do. Oh my gosh. I have a grandson who is three, and I swear he knows more about towing than most 20 year olds do. That kid can carry chains. He knows how to use the remotes. Of course, what kid doesn’t know how to use a remote.

Shelli Hawkins:

Right. Oh, I can see him. I love seeing all your socials and how you share about him. He seems super-duper precious. I love it.

Michelle Sukow:

Oh, so precious and I have a granddaughter now too who probably will probably take the company over just because that’s what we women do.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah, it is. So you are the sole owner of HDM, is that correct?

Michelle Sukow:

That is correct.

Shelli Hawkins:

How does it feel to be the chief in charge, the bottle washer, the sweeper, the do everything? How do you manage all that?

Michelle Sukow:

Some days, I don’t really know how you just put one foot in front of the other. One of my employees, I sat down with him probably a month ago and we were just talking, and he says to me, he goes, “Michelle, you really have to have a thick skin to be in this industry, don’t you?” And I said, “Yes, but you don’t want it to become calloused either.” So there’s that fine line, and that’s where I feel like I’m walking that fine line of not becoming callous, but also remaining really strong and not letting things get to me every day. But honestly, it is still also… It’s a great joy and a privilege to be able to work alongside of all of these guys here. And I always pray that I make really good decisions and do the right things more often than not.

Shelli Hawkins:

One day at a time, one moment at a time sometimes.

Michelle Sukow:

One phone call at a time.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah. Oh, of course, because you’re just getting bombarded with all that.

What does your fleet look like today? Do you have light, medium, heavy? How many do you have? I will also say, you guys that are listening, please go and find Michelle’s HDM Towing & Recovery on socials. Those trucks are absolutely beautiful. You’ve done a great job with branding. So talk a little bit more about the fleet.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah. Oh my goodness. I am so much in love with the rebrand that we did. Was it last year or was it two years ago? I can’t even remember because time flies by so fast. But I love these trucks. They’re pretty bad looking if you ask me, but I’m pretty partial. Yeah, so we started with two heavies and a service truck. So going back to your question, we are commercial towing only. So we have heavies and usually one medium duty tow truck, and we stayed solely commercial, and I loved that. I specialize in that, that’s what my guys love to do, and I’ve never even had the itch to try to go into the smaller market. I love focusing on what we do best and then just getting better at what we do.

So we grew from two heavies and a service truck all the way up to nine heavies and two service trucks with two locations, and it was great, but it’s a lot to manage. So I’ve been slowly over the last few years just really shrinking it down into the sweet spot per se. We’ve got six heavies, which include two rotators and then only one service truck. We have our truck repair facility as well, and I’m really liking it here. I feel like we’ve reached that sweet spot where it’s manageable and we can help everybody, but yet not be too overloaded as well.

Shelli Hawkins:

I remember our conversation at Indiana where you said you are really finding yourself at a place where calls may come in after hours or on the weekend, and you don’t necessarily have to take every single call in that moment. It’s something you could schedule just with respect to the folks that are operating for you, that they need the rest or family time. And I think that’s a great place to be.

Michelle Sukow:

Absolutely. That gives me the most joy or pride is that we finally reach that place where we figured out what works. We do know do we have to always take the call? No, we do not always have to take the call. I’m going to look at it and decide, have these guys been just really busting it every day, day in, day out this whole week? And they deserve a break too, and you know what, I’m not going to take that call. I certainly give them a bunch of recommendations like, “This is who I would recommend, go use this person or that person.” So I don’t leave them high and dry, but yet I also make a business decision based on my guys that says, “Hey, you know what? Nope, we’re not going to do that call because I want what’s best for my employees as well.”

Shelli Hawkins:

So, so very important because you know and realize that to find a person that is a skilled rigor professional, and you want them to actually represent your company, “Hello, my name is John Doe from HDM” or “Mary Smith from HDM,” you want them professional, you want them trained and interacting with your clients so that you’re not losing clients and also retaining your operators so that they have a great place to work. So that is a fine balancing act to find those people and keep them. So kudos to you for making HDM Towing & Recovery a great place to work.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, thanks, Shelli. It’s hard because I’ve always been on the frame of mind that I don’t want to just fill a seat, and that has really taken me to where we are today because if I’m just filling a seat, I’m going to have customer complaints, I’m going to have equipment failures, I’m going to have other employees who are like, “Oh, I just don’t want to work with this person.” So it just adds all kinds of stresses and issues that I don’t need to deal with. So I’ve always gone into it with, will this person fit with this group? And again, you said, how professional are they and how will they represent my company? And that’s always been the deciding factor. I would much rather turn down a call that I don’t have a driver for than just fill a seat.

Laura Dolan:

So going along those lines, Michelle, because it sounds like the structure of your company is pretty specific as far as picking and choosing different jobs you want to fill, which is great. I’m glad that your company paces itself. What does your people structure look like? How many employees do you have and what type of training do you provide for them?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, so we have 17 employees. We have four office people, three shop technicians, and the rest are all operators, and some do both actually. So I count my operators as operators, and then if they can help in the shop, that’s a bonus. We’re very heavy in the operator side. And hey, if you’re looking to come work for HDM, go to my website because we’re always looking for operators and techs. It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to find those people, but I’m also pickier. So I guess that goes twofold in that equation. But we have a really great group of people here. I absolutely, 20, it’s almost 24 years later, I absolutely love coming to work. I enjoy the people that I work with. I love that I get to work with my family. I do have a few family members here, and one of them is my mom, and she’s been here, I think 18 of the 23, 24 years that we’ve been in business.

Laura Dolan:

That’s awesome. What role does your mom play?

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah.

Michelle Sukow:

So she does all of my receivables, payables, banking functions, the things that are a little sensitive, but yet I don’t have to… I can focus on my business versus doing those things.

Laura Dolan:

Right, so she does all the back office stuff?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah.

Shelli Hawkins:

I want to know, is she yelling at you when you spend too much money? Does she come after you?

Michelle Sukow:

Well, no, she doesn’t. She should do that more.

Laura Dolan:

You hear that, mom? You get to yell at her more. She gave you permission.

Shelli Hawkins:

You can do that.

Michelle Sukow:

All the guys here love picking on her. It’s so funny to watch and there’s a few of them that like every day, it’s hilarious. And then now they got this thing going on. “We should really be nice to her and see how long it takes before she figures out that we’re being nice to her.”

Laura Dolan:

It’s like, “What’s wrong with you guys? Why are you being nice to me?”

Shelli Hawkins:

Exactly.

Michelle Sukow:

Exactly. Exactly. So you never know what’s going to happen here.

Laura Dolan:

I love that.

Shelli Hawkins:

That is so great.

Laura Dolan:

That sounds like a great culture.

Shelli Hawkins:

To have your mom, your mom, be your support system in that office. You’re thinking along the same lines, that’s just… It’s inbred literally, right? So great. I love that dynamic.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes, yes. What’s really funny is when I was growing up, we worked together at McDonald’s. She was a manager and I was just a peon there, just a cooking or working the counter and whatnot. And now the roles have reversed a little bit. I don’t consider her a peon obviously, but everybody’s like, “How can you work with your mom?” And I’m like, “It couldn’t have been too bad because now she’s here.” It’s a great dynamic. We get along well and we compliment each other, which is nice. And we’ve always had a very good respectful relationship with each other. So it’s great. Yeah, it’s great.

Laura Dolan:

Do you have any advice or keys to successful management, and do you have any wisdom you want to impart to other towers who do work with family members or just working with their staff in general?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, so family can be difficult. I hear that all the time and I feel like I’m really blessed. And honestly, I don’t know why we’re so blessed because I don’t feel like we do anything really different other than we’re very respectful of each other. And I think that goes a long ways where you give that person their space and their voice and you listen. It isn’t always about “Do this, do that, do this, do that. You did this wrong” or “You need to change that.” It’s more or less, “Hey, how could we have done this differently? How can I help you?” So there’s a lot of listening in that communication, not just a lot of being told what to do.

And it goes on both sides because they do listen to me often, and at the same time, I need to listen to them often. I am always learning. I don’t feel like I have all the answers ever, and I don’t want to have all the answers because I think if I’m done learning, then I’m done living, and I definitely don’t want that. So I always ask for their opinions and what their thoughts are. I don’t always do it, but by listening, it gives me great ideas as well. And then we work together and go, “Hey, if you do this and I do this and we do this together, I think we got it.” So I think that’s how it really works well here.

Laura Dolan:

I love that because listening is imperative. It not only helps the other person feel validated, but the fact that you’re open to what they think and their opinions as well, I think actually really separates a good leader from a great leader. So I love that you’re the type of person who’s just receptive to that. And yeah, I do believe that that is contributing a hundred percent to your success. So that’s awesome.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, and it helps because I have this amazing crew here. I couldn’t be more proud and more happy of the crew that we have here. They’re very knowledgeable, they’re very respectful. They care about each other here. They’re always helping one another out. They’re always asking me, “What can I do to help you?” I think because we do have this really great company culture here, it’s easier to run the company that we do because… And the success comes because of them, not me. It is because of them.

Shelli Hawkins:

I love how you stated all that, and I can’t help but think one of the foundations to all that is simply respect.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes.

Shelli Hawkins:

When I have respect for you and just respect for my coworkers, my peers, respect for your mom, or whatever the person is that I’m interacting with. Respect their time, respect their opinion, respect their skillset, listen to them. And that’s exactly what you’ve done.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes, absolutely. Respect and listening are two very key components to all of this.

Shelli Hawkins:

For sure. You have spoke quite a bit at the trade shows, this year for sure, I think last year you were speaking some, talk a little bit about the topics that you’re speaking about.

Michelle Sukow:

I really very much enjoy going to the trade shows and speaking and interacting and networking with all the amazing people in this industry. Just because I’m speaking, I feel like it gives me that opportunity to meet more people who also mentor me and I can learn from. It’s definitely a win-win for me. I started doing this about four years ago. I started my brand business and it’s just really blossomed and it’s really taken off this year, probably more so than what I was anticipating. So there was a little bit of a learning curve with all of this traveling and speaking and whatnot. But I enjoy going out and speaking about the things that really mean a lot to me and some of the things that, quite frankly, I’ve had to learn the hard way, and I’m hoping that I can share my experiences so that others don’t have to learn it the hard way.

And this year, Brian Riker and I have been talking about parenting and towing, and it’s been really fun because at the different shows that we’ve been to, different questions come up. And it’s very interesting like how Vegas was different than Texas, how Texas was different than Indiana. And it’s been a real privilege to be able to answer questions or even honestly get ideas from people who are listening. When we were in Indiana, one of the drivers had brought up a question, and I’m like, “I never thought of it that way.” You think after 25 years you know everything, or at least mostly everything, and you don’t. You really don’t. So it’s great to keep learning and meeting new people.

So I think coming up is Ohio for me. Yeah, I’m really excited because you’ll be there, right, Shelli?

Shelli Hawkins:

And Laura will be there also.

Laura Dolan:

Yes, I was going to bring that up. I’m going to say, at the time of this recording, we have Ohio to look forward to. I’ll also be in Tennessee. But Michelle, I’m specifically looking forward to meeting you. And Shelli did mention that there’s going to be a ladies’ luncheon. Is that where you’re going to be speaking in Ohio?

Michelle Sukow:

I will not be speaking at the ladies’ luncheon.

Laura Dolan:

Darn.

Michelle Sukow:

I don’t know if they have anyone speaking at their ladies’ luncheon. But I will be doing two seminars there, which I’m really excited about because Brian and I will be doing our parenting one, which is always fun, and it’s always different because we don’t have a script for it.

Shelli Hawkins:

Love it. Which is the best.

Laura Dolan:

Those make the best presentations, I got to say.

Michelle Sukow:

They really do. And then now we’re at the point where we’re reminding each other like, “Hey, Brian, remember when you talked about this? You should really talk about this again.” It’s like, “Oh yeah.” And then he’ll say the same thing to me. But I’m really excited because at this show, I’m talking about mental fitness in a 24/7 world, and just the importance of being mentally fit and how you can get to that point and why it matters is because you make really good decisions when you’re in a better frame of mind. And staying in a mentally fit mindset allows you to not only make better decisions, but it also allows you to be a better leader, a better partner, and live a much healthier life. And so I’m really excited to share that because I was supposed to share that at the Florida Tow Show, but I got really sick for like six weeks and I missed the Florida show, which was very disappointing because I love that show, but very excited to see everyone at Ohio again.

Laura Dolan:

So that being said, I wanted to bring this up, Michelle, if you don’t mind. Shelli told me that you’re a life coach, which is also amazing. How did you get started in that part of your business?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, so that is the brand business I was talking about, and I don’t really consider myself quote-unquote “A life coach,” mostly because that would require me to have my life together all the time and I’m [inaudible 00:28:57].

Shelli Hawkins:

Love it.

Laura Dolan:

No judgment there.

Michelle Sukow:

Right, right. Yeah, no, I’m literally coming out of a tailspin right now just because I got married on New Year’s and we’re blending our families and we’re trying to figure out his business, my business and how that all fits in. And then this year with all the speaking engagements I had, which was new this year, and so we’re just trying to figure out how all that fits. I don’t necessarily consider myself a life coach, but I am here as a mentor to help anyone through anything that I’ve already been through. I went through a divorce, I’ve rebuilt the business back up. I’ve gone through blending families by getting remarried. I’ve literally had to pull myself up from a really ugly place and get myself to where I feel like I am managing life pretty well and living a very happy, successful life. If I can give anyone advice or experience lessons or whatever that is, I am happy to do that because I would love to support them to get them to where they need to be much sooner.

Laura Dolan:

That’s awesome, especially those who are thinking of pursuing an entrepreneurial type situation, I would imagine you have a whole bunch of wisdom you can impart there as well.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, oh my goodness, I know one of the questions you guys were asking was, did I always feel like I was going to be an entrepreneur? I think I did. And once I got bit by that bug, oh my goodness, I couldn’t get enough of it. My absolute favorite part of business is the beginning, which is the hardest part. But watching that little seed that you plant, grow and blossom and become this big successful place is amazing. I’ve also done other things outside of the towing industry as well. I don’t know how I fit it all in, but clearly I’m pretty good at time management, so. I have to be, right? Otherwise-

Laura Dolan:

You have to be, yep.

Michelle Sukow:

Constant chaos.

Laura Dolan:

Especially when you’re your own boss you have to have that self-discipline and self-regulation to make sure you’re on top of everything. So I think that’s half the battle right there, if you’re able to achieve that.

Michelle Sukow:

Absolutely. Yes. I had a laundry mat and a quick lube oil change place and a car wash. So I was doing all of those things along with my towing company. Last year I ended up closing them down, and now I am renting out part of it, and I’m opening up an ice cream and candy store, which I-

Shelli Hawkins:

What?

Michelle Sukow:

I know. I have zero experience in. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to learn and figure it out.

Laura Dolan:

What inspired you to go that route? Not that you need an excuse for candy or ice cream, but.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah, yeah.

Michelle Sukow:

Exactly. I’ve always loved candy. My sister will tell you the story of when she was younger. I’m the oldest and she is the youngest sister, and she would babysit, and I would always convince her like, “Hey, let’s go down to,” it was Ben Franklin at the time. “Let’s go down to Ben Franklin and get some candy.” And I would spend her babysitting money on candy.

Laura Dolan:

Nice. I like it.

Michelle Sukow:

But I’ve always loved candy, chocolate, anything sweet. I am just a sweetaholic big time. And I love ice cream. And my sister is actually the one who wanted to open an ice cream place for years. And so we’ve been talking about it for about eight years now, and we’re finally doing it, so it should be a lot of fun.

Laura Dolan:

That’s awesome. Okay, so really quick, round-robin, I want to know each of your favorite candy and ice cream flavor, Shelli, go.

Shelli Hawkins:

My absolute favorite candy historically that just I could eat the entire bag right now is traditional Haribo gummy bears. The flavor that those impart are incredible. When it comes to ice cream, I am a butter pecan girl all day long.

Laura Dolan:

Nice. How about you, Michelle?

Michelle Sukow:

So for me, I love Banana Runts, specifically just the banana ones, and those would have to be my all-time favorite. And then ice cream is Superman.

Shelli Hawkins:

Wait, what is in Superman ice cream? I’ve never had this.

Michelle Sukow:

You’ll have to try. It’s actually, most kids eat Superman ice cream, so yeah. I don’t know, but it tastes like Fruit Loops kind of. It’s a fruity… I don’t know. I love it. Love it.

Shelli Hawkins:

We’ll have to try it, Laura. Laura, what’s yours?

Laura Dolan:

My favorite candy is actually… It’s usually not the most popular, and I don’t know why, but I love Almond Joy. Whenever we buy Halloween candy every year, I buy a separate bag so I can snack on it before people come and trick or treat. And my favorite ice cream is pistachio, specifically Thrifty brand pistachio. It’s the best. Oh, yeah. It’s best in an ice cream cone. Very specific.

Shelli Hawkins:

Michelle, how exciting. Do you have a name for your new candy ice cream shop, or are we keeping that under wraps for now?

Michelle Sukow:

No, we do. We are naming it Jersey Junction.

Shelli Hawkins:

Love it.

Laura Dolan:

Love alliterations.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yes.

Laura Dolan:

Jersey Junction. Interesting.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah. Yeah, pretty excited right in. We’re remodeling phase right now, so it’s a lot of work, but it’ll all be worth it in the end.

Laura Dolan:

When is the soft opening? No pun intended. Soft serve, get it?

Michelle Sukow:

Right.

Shelli Hawkins:

Oh my word, Laura. That’s awesome.

Laura Dolan:

Sorry.

Shelli Hawkins:

So good.

Michelle Sukow:

Next spring. We’re going to open in the spring.

Laura Dolan:

Excellent. I can’t wait to see the results of that and hopefully visit when I get a chance.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, I hope so.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah. We talked about how much of an influence you’ve had in the towing industry, Michelle, for people that are listening, what are recommendations that you have for them as far as getting involved, making their vote count, affecting change in their state, or even on a national level, what has been your journey there and what are some words of advice you can give for our listeners?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, absolutely. So just be involved. Become a member of your state association or your national associations. That for me was a massive turning point. And not only in my business, but in my personal life too. I had some friends here in Wisconsin, Jerry Roskopf and Mary Weber, Shelli, you know them pretty well.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yes, I do.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes. Awesome, amazing women, very knowledgeable in the industry. They got me involved in the WTRAA, which if you don’t know what that is The Women of the Towing and Recovery Association of America. I was this quiet little person who really didn’t speak much, just absorbed everything. And they’re like, “You should join, you should join.” And I’m like, “I don’t know.” So they convinced me to join. And then the following year they convinced me to become a board member. And I’m like, “I don’t… What can I possibly have to give?”

The funny thing is is a lot. That was the answer. We all have that in us because we’re all very specifically designed to have very big strengths and some weaknesses. And you know why? That’s because so we can help others and others can help us. That’s the only reason. I refuse to think of it any other way, because I do have a lot of weaknesses and sometimes they frustrate me and I’m just like, “Nope. It’s so I can learn. And so they can help, give them a purpose, and it gives me a purpose.” That’s what I tell myself every day when I’m failing.

But being involved in the boards and as a membership, just being an active member, coming to meetings, I have met the most amazing women. And when I say amazing, I mean knowledgeable, strong, independent, beautiful inside and out women who are there because they have all of those strengths, but they’re also there because they want to help you too. And I think because I met those women, Gerri’s one of them, Gay is one of them, Belinda Harris was one of them, Marci Gratzianna was one of them. There are so many women before me that have helped me to get into the place that I am now helping other women learn and grow as they build their businesses. And it’s just blossomed me into doing all the other things that I do in this industry as well. Again, it’s not because of me, it’s because of all of the other people that have helped me along the way.

Shelli Hawkins:

So true. So incredibly true. The networking side of it is just invaluable. Because oftentimes growth comes through adversity. And when these ladies, or even people leaders can share their growth journey with us and the lessons that they’ve learned through mistakes, we learn those and it’ll maybe say, “Hey, I don’t think you should do this, and let me tell you why.” And it’s through those networks that we have that share all those stories. So, so invaluable and powerful.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, absolutely. And that goes even for… TRAA always has Hill Day every year, and we go to Washington, D.C. and we work on legislative issues. And I am not a legislative genius by any means. I was literally scared to death the first time I had to do it. But the best part about it was is that I didn’t have to know everything because there were so many other people there that were willing to help me learn and quote-unquote “Hold my hand along the way.” And people like Brian Riker, Bill Johnson, oh my gosh, there’s so many of them. Brian Riker, I call him my encyclopedia friend because he knows everything.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah.

Laura Dolan:

That’s what we call Shellipedia too.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah. It’s so true. They know people, they know things, and they’re so willing to give and help. And that’s what makes towing so amazing because I don’t think every industry has that. At least that’s what I’m telling myself because I believe that towing is special. We have this amazing group of people, and it’s huge. And I’m saying, “Hey, come join us. Come help us.” Because numbers are huge, especially when you go to D.C. That’s what they want to see. And you can’t always expect everybody else to do it for you. And if you don’t voice your opinion and help, then you can’t really complain either. And that’s why I just jumped in and said, “Okay, I’m here to help. Tell me what to do.”

Shelli Hawkins:

I love that. Let me ask a question that I would ask you to be, what I say, give us some industrial strength candor, completely honest. How is it that you can have a group of individuals on a board that are entrepreneurs owning their own kingdom and they’ve built up their own kingdom and you guys have just a ton of ideas all the time. How can you get everyone to agree? Does everyone always agree? How does that look?

Michelle Sukow:

I wish everybody always agreed. No, that does not happen very often. But you really have to go into this with an industry focused mindset. You can’t go in this as to what’s important to you and what you want to see done. Because there are a lot of times that I voted in the best interest of the industry, which wasn’t necessarily the best interest for myself. And that’s okay because that’s the position that I’m holding. When you go in and you do these things, it has to be about towing, the industry as a whole. Because you have people that are looking up to you and putting you in a position where that’s what they expect.

And we’ve had people that have come through that have really been trying to grow their business or get themselves in a position where it’s going to benefit them. And they don’t necessarily last too long because I think they just get frustrated and then they go off. The ones that have been here for a while get it. It’s very special to see that. And I’m very proud of the people in both our state association that are coming up and doing that and who have done that at the national level as well, because they are here to support the industry as a whole. And that is why it’s been so successful because they’re not thinking about just themselves.

Shelli Hawkins:

That is an incredible and valuable piece of information. I have never heard that stated so well, Michelle, thank you so much for that. That is just epic. You can’t have a self-focus, it has to be for the greater good.

Laura Dolan:

That is a great take.

Michelle Sukow:

A hundred percent.

Shelli Hawkins:

That can be in life, in business, in boards and all the things. And we certainly all have the towing mindset of all the laws and regulations and what should happen and what needs to continue to happen and what needs to stop happening. So thank you for being the advocate for the tower out there.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah.

Shelli Hawkins:

We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about, you recently entered into the TRAXERO family. Talk a little bit about what was your first thing that you adopted in TRAXERO? The most recent installation, let me go wink wink, installation, right?

Michelle Sukow:

Yes. I just posted about that. We’re installing cameras with the BudgetGPS system into our trucks as we speak, and we’ve been using them on a couple trucks. So that is the first implementation that I have into the TRAXERO family. And I absolutely love it, not just for the GPS function of it, because we also use HAAS Alert, which is a huge lifesaving tool that we use. Yes. As soon as I saw that, immediately I knew I wanted to protect my guys every which way possible. I will do whatever I have to do to keep them safe on the road. So we did that.

But I love the cameras in the truck so that it can see anything that is going on in front of the trucks. If something happens in traffic, we have that visual proof of what had happened. It keeps my guys safe, it keeps my equipment safer. So we’re really excited about that. And then I think next week, Shelli, don’t we have a meeting about the dispatch software? Is it next week?

Shelli Hawkins:

Yes. Yes, we do. It is next week. We’re super excited to show you all of the features and benefits.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes, I’m super excited about it because we had used dispatch software in the past and it just didn’t quite fit right for us and we had too many frustrations with it, and I just made the executive decision to go back to how we were doing it, which is pen and paper. Can you believe in 2023 we’re still using pen and paper? But it works and it works really well. So we’re going to go ahead and look into your software and see what you guys can do for us.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah, we’re super excited to show you all the things. And I remember our conversation at Indiana because I love how you run the business, you’ve talked about it, but we talk about being profitable as a business. One thing that we really focus on here at TRAXERO is maximizing the profitability of the business. Just because you’re dispatching a gigantic amount of calls and you’re super busy all the time, does not equal profitability. That being said, how often are you analyzing the business for profitability and what does that look like for you, month, quarter, week?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, so I’ll let you in on a little secret that saved my sanity. In the beginning I looked at every day. I knew exactly how much I had to make every single day in order to break even. I still know that today, but I don’t look at it every day. I eventually learned to just focus on the weeks and let them balance each other out. And now I honestly only really look at them monthly. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m comfortable, I know where things are at, and I make my decisions monthly now instead of weekly. And it keeps things more calm. It’s not like this…

Towing is a huge roller coaster. You’re going to have busy days, you’re going to have slow days. You’re going to have too many employees, you’re going to have not enough employees. You’re going to be in your right mind, you’re not going to be in your right mind. It’s definitely an up and down twist and turn industry to be in. But yet at the same token, we have control over certain things to lessen that. And for me, this was one of them. I go over it monthly and me and my GM go over the things every month and I make my decisions based on that. It helps everybody in the company as well, because I’m not freaking out every week.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yeah, I love that. That is, again, great advice for those folks out there. That being said, it took you a while to get to this point. When you first started the business and invested heavily into all the equipment that you needed, in that stage you certainly were managing the business differently than you are today. So I love that you have where you are 23 years later and able to just really know and feel how the business is running and how it’s going. So that’s great.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like… How old am I? I am 53. I may feel like I’m 65 some days, but then there’s other days where I feel more 40-ish. How can I be 53? But honestly, towing is a tough industry. There’s no way around it. It is definitely hard to be in, but it also is a great joy. It gives you the most satisfaction and you’re very proud of helping people every single day. Those three good things outweigh the one really hard thing of the towing industry. So I am super excited to be right where I am today. It was a lot of hard work. It’s still hard work, but I can control it because I’ve learned along the way what things to stress about, what things to let go and who do I have on my team and what type of equipment do I have and what kind of partnerships I have with the different vendors in this industry.

And I will say, when I was looking at these cameras, and one of my employees says to me, “But Michelle, you can get it here at the store just down the road for much cheaper.” And I’m like, “Okay, first of all, one, it’s not much cheaper. And two, they do not support our industry.” Whenever I do anything, I first go to the vendors that support our industry. So it was a no-brainer for me to go to TRAXERO and say, “Hey, I need cameras. I want to support you because you support us.” It was never a question. I didn’t go, “Oh, I need to go look at this person or check with this person.” You guys are a huge support to our industry. So first I want to say thank you for that, and then thank you so much for the great service and the great product, and I will be sharing that as much as I possibly can.

Shelli Hawkins:

Thank you.

Laura Dolan:

That’s awesome. Thank you, Michelle, for your support and that testimony. It sounds like you’re just in a great place in your business to embrace some new technology. And I’m really looking forward to this conversation that you’re going to have next week about Dispatch Anywhere. Because the best part about our software is that it’s all integrated. So Dispatch Anywhere could integrate with your cameras, with BudgetGPS, and you’ll have everything on one platform. And that’ll just help you become that much more efficient when you’re looking at your reports, just how accurate everything’s going to be. And it just gives you that peace of mind. And it sounds like you’re already there, so this is just going to take you to the next level. So I’m excited for you.

Michelle Sukow:

Oh, I’m excited too. I can’t wait.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yay. What does the future look like for… This is just like… I want to say for HDM Towing & Recovery Truck Center or the ice cream shop, or your 300 businesses you have, what is the future for you? Let’s just phrase it that way.

Michelle Sukow:

Too funny. Honestly, HDM I love where we’re at right now. I have the most amazing crew, which is the most important thing to me. I want my crew to be safe and happy and knowledgeable, and I am super happy with where we’re at. We have great equipment. I have really no desire to grow from where we’re at as in numbers. Now, you know me, I said I like growing and learning every day. So we will still continue to do safety training and different training programs and update our equipment. But as far as the numbers go, I’m really super happy to be in this sweet spot that we’re in right now. And ice cream shop, I don’t know. We’ll see where that goes. I envision that as my retirement, so keep your fingers crossed. Keep your fingers crossed for me, guys, I feel like I’m going to be scooping ice cream and putting smiles on people’s faces in my future.

Laura Dolan:

That sounds like it’s going to be very sweet endeavor. It’s going to be really rewarding. I can’t wait. I need to get over to Wisconsin and visit when it opens. I’ll probably be one of the first people in line.

Michelle Sukow:

Yes.

Laura Dolan:

Michelle, where can our audience find you? I know you mentioned earlier in the podcast you’ve got some social channels and a website. Please tell everybody where they could find you.

Michelle Sukow:

Sure, absolutely. So you can find me on LinkedIn, which is my favorite place to be. And then Facebook is the other social platform that I am on most of the time, but you will find me on all the other platforms, just not as active. I do have a website, which is michellesukow.com, and you can link to those social platforms, you can email me and all that good stuff is all on there. And I love hearing from you guys, so please reach out.

Laura Dolan:

Absolutely. Do you have any handles for HDM Truck Center as far as Facebook or Instagram?

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, it’s always @MichelleSukow, for all of my brand @HDMTruckCenter, I believe is the one for our towing Facebook group. And you can check me out. I forgot to mention that I do have two podcasts myself, mostly probably because I took a bit of a hiatus because my life was just a little [hectic] trying to blend everything together. And I’m coming out of it now, but you can find me on the Michelle Sukow Podcast and then the Tow-Tally She Said Podcast, which I have some great guests lined up for. And we’re going to be recording later this week, so you can check me out there as well.

Laura Dolan:

Excellent. Thank you. And for those of you who are following along with the transcription to this podcast, I will be linking all of the websites, email addresses, social handles that Michelle mentioned. So yeah, just click on those links and give her a follow and just follow her journey. It sounds like it’s going to be really exciting.

Michelle Sukow:

It’s never a dull moment, let’s just put it that way.

Shelli Hawkins:

Oh, for sure. Thanks so much for joining us, Michelle. We really genuinely appreciate it.

Laura Dolan:

Yeah, this has been a pleasure. It’s been an honor having you on, Michelle. Thank you so much for taking the time. You are a very busy person, so we do appreciate it.

Michelle Sukow:

Thank you so much for having me. Oh my gosh, this was too much fun.

Laura Dolan:

This was fun. I love that we got to talk about ice cream and candy on this podcast. This is great.

Shelli Hawkins:

Yes. And we will see you in just a few short weeks in Ohio. Looking forward to that.

Laura Dolan:

Yes, looking forward to meeting you in person, Michelle. It’s going to be great.

Michelle Sukow:

Yeah, same.

Laura Dolan:

Awesome. Thank you so much for tuning into this 10th episode of TRAXERO On-The-Go. We will see you all next time.

Laura Dolan:

Thank you for listening to this episode of the TRAXERO On-The-Go podcast. For more episodes, go to traxero.com/podcast and to find out more about how we can hook your towing business up with our towing management software and impound yard solutions, please visit traxero.com or go to the contact page linked at the bottom of this podcast blog.

Music by AlexGrohl from Pixabay