Chris Gabrelcik: I mean, you get to 75 employees, and you don't realize that everybody's looking at you as the CEO, and whatever you say has a lot of weight to it. I'm a joyful person. I like to joke a lot and like to talk to everybody and find out what's going on in their lives. It never occurred to me that they were taking everything I said as the gospel truth and acting on it. Once that was revealed to me, I realized that I have to be very careful about what I say and to whom I say it, because next thing I know, they might be acting on something that I just meant as a whim or a joke.
Drew Dinkelacker: Welcome to Bullseyes & Blind Spots, a series of The Marketing Accelerator Podcast, where chief executives share the pivotal decisions that define their leadership and the blind spots that reshape their perspective. I'm your host, Drew Dinkelacker, president of MarketingAccelerator.com, and today's guest is Chris Gabrelcik. He's the founder and former CEO of Lubrication Specialties, Inc. That's the company behind the Hot Shot's Secret line of top-selling diesel additives. And after selling the business, Chris shifted his focus to transforming the tire recycling industry, bringing the same innovation and drive that defined his earlier success. Chris, welcome to the Bullseyes & Blind Spots podcast series.
Chris: Well, thanks for having me, Drew. It's great to be here.
Drew: It's great to have you. And so, let's just dive right in with a bullseye. Take us back to a time when you faced a tough decision and you really knocked it out of the park. The future pointed to that decision. It's like, wow, you nailed the bullseye. Tell us about that.
Chris: So, when we started the business, it was basically in my garage, and we moved from my garage to a 30 x 40 pole building that I had built just for the business, and then expanded that to... Added another 50 feet onto it, so it was 30 x 80. Well, it was still getting too small because the business kept growing, but the good thing about it was we had no overhead. I wasn't paying any rent, so I knew if things didn't work out, it was not like we had a lot of things to clean up in that type of scenario. Unfortunately, what happened was my wife came home one day when we were on County Road 109. She came home from shopping, and there were four semi-trucks parked in front of our house, and she couldn't get in the driveway. So, she called me and said, "You have to move this company." So, we're out looking at buildings, and I'm looking at the rent of these buildings, and it was like two or three thousand dollars a month. And I'm just sweating and thinking, "Holy smokes, how are we going to cover this?" Because we were still five people in the company. We were pretty scrappy, still spending as much money as we had coming in for growth. But we took the step and we rented a building. It was 24,000 square feet, and we moved forward and expanded the plant. It was funny: When we got in there, we looked at it and said, "What are we going to do with all this space? Maybe we should rent half of it out." Well, it wasn't three months, and we were full and looking at building a whole new facility, which we ended up building, which was 34,000 square feet with offices. And then we ended up buying that building back, another 24,000 square feet for a distribution center. So, it was the right decision to move, not to keep it on County Road 109 and stay in the safe zone.
Drew: Well, first, the first bullseye decision was listening to your wife and getting it taken care of and keeping peace at home. And then the second one was...I mean, that first decision to buy more square, significantly more square footage than what you thought the immediate needs were. That's always a risk, and people don't realize the risks that business owners take. So, you definitely hit the bullseye on these real estate selections. But let's just give me just a little bit of perspective. You started this thing in your garage. At that time of your decision, you had five employees. Now you stepped out and sold the Hot Shot's Secret line. What was the size of the company at that point?
Chris: When we sold the company, it was $24 million in sales. Right now, they're doing $34 million.
Drew: How many employees?
Chris: We had 75 employees.
Drew: Okay, there's perspective. These critical bullseye decisions were made with five employees, and you grew it to 75 employees. That's awesome. That's awesome. Now, every business owner has to make a thousand decisions, and occasionally you hit the bullseye, but also occasionally you get a blind spot revealed to you, that you've been operating with some kind of blind spot. Tell us about your blind spot experience.
Chris: My most vivid blind spot was realizing that I wasn't just one of the guys and that I was actually a CEO. When you start a small company, you're an operator. You're just a couple of us making things go and trying to make a living for our families, and that's it. When you get to 75 employees and you don't realize that everybody's looking at you as the CEO, and whatever you say has a lot of weight to it. I'm a fairly joyful person that likes to joke a lot and likes to talk to everybody and find out what's going on in their lives. It never occurred to me that they were taking everything I said as the gospel truth and acting on it. Once that was revealed to me, I realized that I have to be very careful about what I say and to whom I say it, because next thing I know, they might be acting on something that I just meant as a whim or a joke. It's one of those things that you don't really understand until you've moved through it, because you're growing with the organization. You're not thinking that these people are looking at me as a CEO, not just as one of the guys that they're drinking beer with.
Drew: Again, Chris, that is a highly relevant blind spot that I think many leaders deal with as their career grows and their responsibility grows. And it does somewhat change those relationships with the people that you're working with versus working out of your garage. That's a great, authentic blind spot. I appreciate you sharing that. Now, before we go to the final question, I just have a quick message for our listeners. If today's conversation has you thinking about your own bullseyes and blind spots, I've created a companion resource designed specifically for chief executives. It's called the Bullseyes & Blind Spots Accelerated Guide. Surprise, surprise. It's a fast 10-minute read that helps you cut through the marketing fog, confront your own blind spots, and really gain the clarity you need to lead with confidence. And you can download the guide and start your analysis at BullseyesAndBlindSpots.com. All right, Chris, back to the questions. This next question is one of my favorites. It's a time travel question. So, if you could sit down with Chris 20 years ago...20, 30 years ago, you pick the time frame: What wisdom would you share to that younger Chris about career or your personal life?
Chris: So, I would go back and tell myself to pray more, worry less, would be the first thing. The second thing is don't get so emotionally involved. I think most of my anguish, probably 80% of it, was getting so emotionally involved in every decision, all the things happening in the company. Then you look back 20 years later and realize that it was really just a blip on the radar scale. All that fearing and fretting and days of drama. It's like, oh, there's nothing. It was absolutely nothing. But at the time, it seems like a nuclear bomb, and it's all I can think about, all I could focus on. So now I realize it's like, somebody, I don't know who, some famous person said, "Don't sweat the small stuff," and then the second thing is, "It's all small stuff." Well, it's kind of true. It really is, and that's what I would go back and tell myself. Don't sweat it. It's going to be fine. Trust in God. Just roll along with it and wait and see what happens. Don't get so nervous about everything.
Drew: Chris, thanks for sharing your journey...the bullseyes that gave you confidence, the blind spots that shaped your growth. Your candor and insight remind us that leadership isn't about perfection. It's about learning, adapting, and staying true to what matters most. Subscribe today to our podcast and find out where your bullseyes and blind spots are at the resources at BullseyesAndBlindSpots.com. I'm Drew Dinkelacker, president of MarketingAccelerator.com.