IAM1124- Co-Founder Enables Innovation of Parking Facilities

Jerry Skillett is Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of SPACES, a revolutionary technology services company that enables parking facilities to serve as innovative commercial transportation centers. With more than 35 years of experience as an industry executive and innovator, Skillett provides SPACES with strategic guidance and visionary leadership. Prior to SPACES, Skillett was CEO of Citizens Parking, one of the largest parking companies nationwide. During his tenure, its major brands encompassed 1,200 locations, 8,000 employees, and 320,000 parking spaces across the United States and Puerto Rico.

• CEO Hack: Spending quiet time in the morning
• CEO Nugget: Never give up
• CEO Defined: The buck stops here

Website: https://www.spacesusa.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/spacesusa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spacesusa
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacesusa/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spaces-parking/

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Please Note: Our team is using the AI CEO Hacks: Exemplary AI and Otter.ai to support our podcast transcription. While we know it's improving there may be some inaccuracies, we are updating and improving them. Please contact us if you notice any issues, you can also test out Exemplary AI here.

00:25 – 00:51 Intro :

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:52 – 01:01 Gresham Harkless:

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Jerry Scalette of Spaces. Jerry, It's great to have you on the show.

01:01 – 01:05 Jerry Skillet:

Hey, Gresh, it's such a privilege to be here. Thank you for the invite.

01:05 – 01:36 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, super excited to have you on and super excited about all the awesome things that you're doing. Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to read more about Jerry so I could hear some of those awesome things. Jerry is the executive chairman and co-founder of Spaces, a revolutionary technology services company that enables parking facilities to serve innovative commercial transportation centers. With more than 35 years of experience as an industrial executive and innovator, Jerry provides Spaces with strategic guidance and visionary leadership. Before Spaces, Jerry was CEO of Citizens Parking, 1 of the largest parking companies nationwide, and during his tenure, its major brands encompass 1200 locations, 8, 000 employees, and 32, 000 parking spaces across the United States and Porter Rico. Jerry, super excited to hear about all the awesome things you're doing and the massive growth you've been able to have. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

01:56 – 01:57 Jerry Skillet:

I am ready.

01:57 – 02:08 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kick everything off, I know I touched on it a little bit, but what I wanted to do is just rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:08 – 02:49 Jerry Skillet:

Well, thank you. When I graduated from Kansas University, way before you were born in 1981, I answered this ad for a management position in Kansas City. And it ended up being a valet parking management job at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City. And so I'll never forget my. So I managed the ballet parking for the hotel. My hours were from 3 a midnight my days off for Monday and Tuesday. And that's how I got introduced and started in the whole parking industry.

02:49 – 03:07 Gresham Harkless:

Nice. I love that. And I love how I think so many times people don't realize the amount of time it takes to get to excellence, especially in the industry or what it is that you do. So I love that you rewound that clock because I think we start to see like I imagine all that experience and how that probably even builds up to everything you've been able to build now.

03:08 – 03:48 Jerry Skillet:

It does I mean I think that 1 of the huge advantages that I've had is that I started in this industry, really from the very very basic positions, worked my way up in some major corporations that held about every job that you can think of in the industry. And so when I started buying companies, managing companies, and doing those things, I knew the business from the very intimate details of what was going on. And I think that served, later it served me well. It Took some time, but

03:48 – 03:49 Jerry Skillet:

It was helpful.

03:50 – 04:13 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, well, what's the saying, the secret to overnight success is it takes 10 years. And I think so many times we, what's glamorized is the opposite side where it takes 10 days or 10 minutes. And that's very rarely rarely the truth. And a lot of times, even if it does take 10 minutes, quote-unquote, sometimes people have so much success, or at least people around them that helped them to achieve that success. So I love that. I love hearing that story.

04:13 – 04:57 Jerry Skillet:

Yeah. Well, I was fortunate, the founder of the company I started with, his name was Monroe Carroll with Central Parking. At the time I joined the firm, it was just a regional parking company. His vision was to be a global company, the largest parking company in the world. From when I started, that seemed like an impossible dream, but he did achieve it. And there was a group of us that grew with that. And that was the DNA of our industry and my DNA. So it was great to be an alumni of that organization.

04:59 – 05:21 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, Absolutely. You hear that a lot of times when there's a lot of, I guess, mainstays in different industries, and then so many people and so many innovators and revolutionaries to some degree are within that business just to kind of hear how all of that comes about. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. I know I touched on it about spaces and everything you're doing there. Could you take us through a little bit more on what you're doing and how you support the clients you work with?

05:21 – 06:13 Jerry Skillet:

Yeah, so Spaces is pretty amazing technology. What we do is from the mobile device inside your car, you can enter, park, pay, and exit any gated parking facility. And that's what's so revolutionary about this is that as mobile technology the power of mobile technology has gotten so good that now the actual hardware necessary to do all that you own yourself. And so we have it set up where you dial, what's interesting is that we simplified this process. The grass, what you do is you dial a phone number. Every parking facility has its phone number. That accesses the gate, and the gate opens. You receive a text message.

In return, you set up your payment profile, which is just a 2 step process. And then when you exit, you dial a number to get out. That bypasses hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and it simplifies this process to something that everyone knows how to do. Everyone knows how to dial a number and you know what? They've been doing it since they were 7 years old, and they're good at it. So we just simplified a very difficult process and made it easier. That's what we did.

07:01 – 07:26 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah. And I think so many times people don't realize you have to kind of work at getting too simple. And a lot of times it's really like, that's why I love everything about your experience because I think so many times you don't realize like all the different moving parts that you have to do the other way. But once you start to see minutia, for lack of a better term, that you have to go through, you have that opportunity to create an innovation that makes it so simple that people are already probably doing it. They just need to now use it to get into those places they want to park.

07:31 – 08:16 Jerry Skillet:

Yeah, I mean, so what's it what's what we found, we tested for months and months, lots of different things. But we had to have an appless environment. Because in transportation, think about it, to have someone download something to access a parking facility is super difficult to do because you're actually in an active vehicle and so you're in an active transportation mode So you can't have someone at a garage entrance downloading something to access the parking facility.

So we challenged ourselves to say, okay, well, what's something that on an appless basis could we do? And brilliantly really we leveraged the primary purpose of mobile technology was always dialing a phone number. And so if you think about it, our native app, if you wanna call it that, is in 99.9% of all vehicles right now. So, that's unheard of, right? So, we found it to be easy for people to understand and use. And yeah, we kind of laugh, we just made something simpler. And that ends up being revolutionary.

09:00 – 09:09 Gresham Harkless:

Would you consider that to be what I like to call your secret sauce? The thing you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique. Is it that ability to have that experience and see the simplicity kind of within the complex?

09:10 – 09:54 Jerry Skillet:

Yeah, I mean, I think that there are 2 things. 1 is that I think you're going to hear, you'll continue to hear our story because no other payment platform if you think about it, a single platform exists like this where we are installed base is already 99% or more, right? That's unheard of for a business to start like that. So that's been interesting. And the second thing is, is that we took the whole parking industry and reduced it to something just ridiculously simple, the mobile number.

And all of the advantages and efficiencies and things that come from that, we discover new things every single day. And so that's the secret sauce. And I think that, that anytime that, that probably the ultimate sophistication really, is when you made it simple. Behind the scenes, there's a whole bunch of stuff going on, right? But, no 1, all they see is the fact that you can dial a number or call the number from Siri, or whatever you need to do. And everybody knows how to do that.

10:33 – 10:56 Gresham Harkless:

I love that. And I think that's a good sign of good innovation and a good company where there probably are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes, but the user doesn't see that or know that and thinks it's wickedly simple. I think that's a good sign of being in the right place. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. Yep. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:58 – 11:45 Jerry Skillet:

Well, I think my I think my personally, I spend a lot of quiet time early in the morning. I'm an early riser. I'm a farm boy from Kansas. We all knew how to get up at 5 a.m. To do chores. But that quiet time, every single day, it's an hour, I think it sets the stage for me to be prepared. And I think as a CEO, there are 2 things I do. Of course, I get up early, but I think in the opposite spirit. And when I say that innovation, innovation usually is the world sitting over here.

So I'm always thinking, well, what's the opposite of that? And that is very challenging in your mind to do that. And you ask opposite questions, you start looking at things differently that way. And I think that that makes a difference. And the other thing is that those around me laugh because I'm the first person that always runs into the burning house. And if I see friction, I see things like that, I know that is where I'm supposed to go because the answer always lies in that. And I think that's the very opposite of what people do. People avoid those scenarios. They try to compromise around those, but no, no, no. When those show up, I always move towards those and great stuff happens when you do that.

12:47 – 12:59 Gresham Harkless:

Appreciate that, that hack. And so I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business.

13:00 – 13:46 Jerry Skillet:

Well, never, never, never give up. Right. I have been a mountain climber. I was in the Ironman World Championship. And the thing is, is that I think about these. I've climbed some of the tallest mountains in the world. And in some of these trips have been 3, or 4 weeks to get to the summit, right? Well, about day 10, everybody you're climbing with, Gresh goes like, Jerry, this doesn't look like the brochure. It's harder. The conditions are worse. You're tired and all those things.

But 1 step, 1 slow step at a time towards that goal that you have, you eventually get there. And if you relish that process and understand that you weren't gonna be transported from here to the top, you have to walk all the way. And if you just know that I just need to make a little bit of progress every day, then amazing things happen. And I have lived that over and over again. And you learn it, you get better at it. But if I wrote, and I have written my son this very letter, but I was just like, look, just really, you know, persevere, just keep 1 step at a time, keep that goal in mind, and you're going to have just an astonishing life.

14:33 – 14:43 Gresham Harkless:

So I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping our different quote-unquote CEOs are on the show. So Jerry, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:44 – 15:25 Jerry Skillet:

Being a CEO to me means the buck stops here. And I, Gresh, grew up on a ranch and 1 of the things I learned is that when I would move cattle out on the ranch, I would lead from behind when there was no danger and let them run. But when there's danger, I would move to the front and people would follow me. And so as strange as it seems, I've learned as a CEO, that when there's danger, you move to the front. When there's not, you let them run. And that's it, man.

15:25 – 15:38 Gresham Harkless:

Jerry, truly appreciate you for doing that. Appreciate your time as well. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working through.

15:39 – 16:03 Jerry Skillet:

Absolutely. Well, look, it's been a pleasure. Our website for spaces, the spaces, USA.com, You can find out about us. And now I don't think you'll ever think about parking the same and realize that, you know, over the next 2 or 3 years, you'll see that we'll be in 90% of the facilities in the United States. So what a pleasure to be here and I thank you.

16:04 – 16:25 Gresham Harkless:

Absolutely a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for the mentorship and insight that you provide and continue to provide. I truly appreciate it. I know everybody listening does as well. So we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can get ahold of you and find out where they're going to be texting in the next couple of years as well. So Jerry, truly appreciate you again and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:25 – Outro

[/restrict]