Unlocking the Key to Owning a Racing Team for 14 Years – Julien Perrier

So Julian, you’ve been in this game of racing and having a team that you own for going on 14 years. What is the number one lesson you’ve learned in those 14 years, if you had to pick one?

Uh, you got to be dumb to play this game.

Tell

me more. Oh, well, it’s, um It’s a lot of sacrifice, a lot of effort, a lot of work, like everything else in life, but, um, there’s a lot of work and financially very little reward, but there’s a lot, a lot of other rewards you can get by, you know, achieving performance and stuff, which is a different type of, of reward in life.

Uh, that’s, this is the journey that I chose for the past, like, over 10 years to, because I used to work at the same time as I was doing this, but now it’s been a couple of years. I don’t, I don’t do anything else but the team, but, uh, yeah, it’s, um, um, and a lot of sacrifice overall, just to be able to do it.

And so guys, we’re here with Julian Carrier, the team owner. Um, of the Partzilla PRMX racing team, uh, a racing team that competes in Supercross in the United States. And, um, so I want to kind of follow up on what you had said. Now, to me, If someone’s going to make a lot of sacrifice, there is something to be gained from it.

There is, there’s a reason we make sacrifices. Um, what do you feel has been the thing that has driven you to give up so much of your personal time, your personal finances? And invest so much in, in this team. Shit. I don’t know.

Uh, I think it’s a challenge, the challenge of it. Um, as very little people in my situation, uh, achieve where we act right now as a team. So yeah, I think the challenge of it and the fact that. It’s really like exclusive to do it kind of and um, you know, we don’t have or I don’t own a big company behind it to shove funding into it.

We have worked a lot to get where we are right now with like the Partzilla group and all the other sponsors that’s come in every year. And it’s an ongoing process, which I think it will never stop. Like every year is a You have to prove yourself that you’re still good for your sponsors, that the team’s still bringing something to the table for them.

Yeah, it’s, I think it’s the ongoing, um, effort kind of do it. And yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s quite unique as a, as a business person, if you want, but, uh, yeah, it’s really. The challenge of it, I think, is what really drives me to continue doing it and, like, kind of hearing sometimes, like, Oh, this is impossible to be done, or that’s really tough to be there.

It is. It’s super tough, but it’s possible to do it. So, now

you’ve had this relationship with Partzilla for how many years now? Uh, we’re

going on three years now.

Okay. Yeah. What, what was it that, that you presented? Like, because a lot of people that either own a team or even pro athletes, they’re always looking for those sponsors.

They’re always looking for those partnerships that help propel their career and even just support the, the fact that their career can even exist. Um, and I think a lot of people don’t go about it. Right. Um, I think a lot of people make mistakes. What do you see as maybe one of the biggest mistakes that you see either athletes or other team owners making when it comes to forming strategic partnerships?

Um, and, and what have you experienced or learned in that regard over the years?

That’s a tough question because I mean, I’m not the one to kind of tell anyone that I do stuff better than anyone else or whatever. Uh, in my opinion, that, that became, uh, something that my, my wife told me. She’s like focus. On the ones you got instead of trying to search for a million others.

Um, and that’s what we’re trying to do with, with the parts Zilla group, is try to be parts zilla everything. You know, like the, the, the semi, the, the, the awnings, the banners, the bikes, everything is. I would say 75 percent parts of the on everything. So in order to, to keep growing relationships with bigger sponsors, I feel like in my opinion is to try to go all in with them, which is tough for the smaller ones.

Uh, but. The smaller ones you have to, when you get into the dialogue of sponsorship with a smaller sponsors, you have to be super, uh, kind of open and honest about what you’re going to get. And if you give X amount of dollar, don’t expect to get. The moon at the end of the year. This is, this is a spot you get.

This is what you’re gonna get and as best as you can try to achieve what you’ve told them that you’re gonna do. Which is really tough in some areas because times, you know, the clock’s ticking, you leave for travels, you come back, you’re like, it’s, it’s, it’s tough to manage everything. But I feel like the, the spread yourself thin on everything is what can be tough.

And what can make you lose some of those more important sponsors?

Yeah, that really resonated with me because I do feel that, you know, even, even just in business in general, that’s like a good philosophy, right? Is it takes, I think the last time that, or at least one of the things that I believe a statistic that’s always stuck in my head is it takes.

Seven times as much effort to acquire a new customer than it does to sell to the customers that you already have, which seems to really be in alignment with your philosophy with the team because, um, we’re always looking for the next big, the next big thing when we, some, and it’s almost just like life in general, right?

Like we win a race or we win in life, but then it’s like as quickly as the wind comes is as quickly as we’re moving on to the next. And it’s, We sometimes I think maybe move a little bit too swiftly, a little too fast, and maybe it’s a little bit of shiny object syndrome, but, you know, it is right to get to that in relationships.

Take time, right? Like, you know, you met when you married your wife. I mean, I don’t know how long you did. How long did you guys date before you got married?

Um, we’re we’ve 10 years.

So, you know, relationships take time. You know, you have to know, like, and trust someone, and they evolve, and they grow over time, and I think that in our sport, that no one ever really seems to have that strong of a relationship, and even just your relationship with Partzilla for three years, like, I would consider that, you know, that’s a pretty strong relationship, and, um, tell me about this PRMX.

How does PRMX, um, the second half of your team’s name, how does PRMX fit into this? Well,

PRMX is what I started in 2010. It used to be totally different than it is right now. PRMX is just the team. That’s the business behind the team. So it’s, I have the business in US and one up north in Canada. So that’s just my part of the business.

Cause, uh, I do Quite a lot myself and the surroundings do a lot with me, but yeah, I just felt like, I mean, if someone comes in and they’re like, Oh, we want the PR max spot on the rig. Yeah. Well it’s business. Everything’s up for grabs. Right. But until some, until something doesn’t show up the way I feel like it’s worth it, it’s going to be the parts of the PR max racing team.

I love it. And I think that, and I want to hear your comments and thoughts on this. I feel that. A lot of athletes and teams have historically given up spaces and spots for too cheap, right? And they’ll say, well, you know, I’d rather at least have an extra 10, 20 grand. Even though I want 50 or I feel like this spot’s worth 50 to 75, um, I’d rather take the 12 or 15 and instead of, of not, um, what’s your, what are your beliefs on that?

Because, um, I, I’m wondering if maybe we sometimes give up spots too easily and for too low of a price. Do you think we, most, most of us tend to sell ourselves short?

Yeah, I’m not sure like what to say on that cause I’ve done it in the past, but now I don’t do it anymore. To where, but there’s some areas where, you know, you, you build a budget, right?

Then, and if at the end you need 25 to wrap up the budget and then the spots were 50 and you have someone coming in at 25, you might take it just to wrap up your. Your budget and whatnot. So it’s a tricky situation where you don’t want to do it, but you kind of have to do it at some spot. So, um, yeah, it’s, it’s not something I would want to do in a, in a business, but sometimes you have to take a little bit less in order to make it to the next month or year or, or level, I guess.

So

now when it comes to your team, you compete in which classes in super crops.

250 West, 250 East and 450.

Now, when you start to budget for those different groups, we have a 250 East, 250 West and 450. So we’ve got three groups, three pots that we need to appropriate funds to. How do you, how do you appropriate funds?

Do you break it down based on each of those? Uh, each of those three, or do you have a different way of breaking it down? Is it per rider? Is it per event? How, how do you break down the budget for that? Uh, for

me it’s per rider per event. Every rider is like, I, I compare a lot, like any sports team, right?

Like there’s, there’s people in that sports team, let’s say hockey or football or whatever you’re a fan of. There’s players that make. More and there’s players that make less and there’s some that had value and some that’s just you know They’re to to keep going and stuff like that yeah, I tried to be fair with everyone and to be not too different from everyone’s deal because sometimes they’ll talk to each other and be like You know, I don’t want too much disparity, but at the same day, they all understand that if their performance is better, they’ll get more money or get paid more or bone, sorry, bonafide.

So I go a lot with what rider, what they, what they bring us, what. What they bring to the sponsors like, like Partzilla and whatnot. And if sometimes I’ll have meetings and they’ll be like, Hey, we really like what this guy did on social. And then the result was good this weekend and his recap was great. So see, see what, see what we need to keep him going if he, if, if he wants to continue with us and this and that.

So it goes a long way for every. Rider or every athlete to be nowadays. Yes. Results are important, but the off the track is probably more important than on the track, which is kind of weird in some areas, but that’s just the world we’re in right now. Yeah.

And I totally agree with you because I mean, ultimately.

Sponsors or partners are looking to, you know, get attention and eyeballs on their offer. And so you want to support one, getting the eyeballs on the offer, which sure screen time and results will increase that time, right? Um, you know, if you’re, if there’s an LCQ, you know, and your rider is leaving it, or at least being aggressive or being, getting a lot of coverage, obviously those eyeballs are important, but it does seem like.

you know, the endorsement of an athlete or a team for a product and speaking to the benefits that that product has. Or to me, even just in business, it shows don’t help. You know, if I saw you guys using a tool all the time at Supercross or all the time, you know, you were talking about this one thing. It would make me want to buy it, right?

Um, how do you manage the selection of athletes when it comes to finding that balance between results, which are going to give you the eyeballs and the attention, but then also the social media presence and the, and the on camera presence. That an athlete has, and even just the frequency that they post, because a lot of these teams, um, you know, the, the partners could use the content to promote their content.

Um, if the athletes create it on a race weekend, it’s, it’s valuable to them. So how do you balance finding an athlete that’s got results versus one that can provide value for the partners?

Time, I would say, like I look every rider, what can they bring us results wise? And I was there social media because results in social media are pretty much the same. Like if a guy has a lot of potential, then you can work with him to get better results. If he has a good following, but he’s not that greatest in social media, you can work with him and have a better social media at the end.

So I look at both like in an equal type of way where he has, the results will bring you industry. Coverage more than anything else, the social will bring you more like a all around kind of attention. So you have to have both. And also for me, it’s just to know what type, what types are, what type of team we are.

It’s like right now, I want to fight more for top tens and maybe throw in a, uh, a grace when in there and stuff, but I know as of now, which if we podium, I would be ecstatic. It would be great, but you have to set a goal. That’s. A real goal and it’s attainable at the end too, right? Like if we’re like, Oh yeah, we’re coming in this season to win the championship in four 50 supercross, while you might be disappointed after a couple of rounds because the guys were playing against or racing against, they, they have.

Resources that we can’t even get and the writers and the money and this and that. So it’s a little bit like F1. You have the, the, the eight teams and the B teams and the B teams are super stoked when they make one point for us, we’re super stoked when we’re in the top 10 or top 15, four 50, or when we win the LCQs because it’s for us, it’s our wins is the same as the big ones at the end of the day and you know, like sponsorship wise and stuff is.

You asked me the question earlier, which, yeah, it’s the same thing. Just be realistic, realistic with the sponsors that you’re trying to get and be like, Hey, we’re going to do this and do it at the end of the day. It’s yes. You have injuries. There’s a lot of stuff that can happen, but at the end of the day, if, if I would go into partzilla and say this year, we’re winning a championship in the four 50.

Premiere class and super cross and I’d be like, okay, sweet knee. Let’s let’s do it. And then we finished 17th. It might not work that well, but if you explain the fact that, you know, there’s OEMs factory, and then after there’s a little spot for all the teams like mine, and then we fight for it every weekend and they get good coverage and they get.

So yeah, it’s, I think it’s to be as realistic as possible where, where we’re sometimes not a hundred percent realistic with, with our goals, but I think being a little bit dreamer will help us move into the next step too.

Yeah, for sure. And I, I always like to call them targets because a goal is a little bit more black and white, right?

If your goal is to be top 10, um, and you, let’s say you were always top 20, then you get 11th. You improve dramatically to go from the change from 20 20th to 11 is not linear. It’s more somewhat logarithmic because, as you know, it gets the closer you get to the top, the harder it is to make a game. One place means more, right?

And so to go from 20th to 11. But what’s interesting is if you go from 20th to 11 Um, and your goal was top 10. Then officially you failed, right? So, um, goals are very much black and white. However, if you set the target of being top 10, at least there’s a little bit more flexibility and compassion in the fact that, hey, we didn’t get top 10, but we moved all the way up to 11, which is a huge win for the team.

We can take that momentum moving forward to get better sponsors to get more money, you know, from our partners. Um, so, you know, I think it’s interesting even just the expectations set by, um, goals versus targets. To me, there’s a little bit more flexibility and compassion and targets versus goals. So, um, that’s one thing that I always keep in mind with my athletes I work with.

Um, I want to hear a little bit more about athlete selection outside of results in outside of social. Um, you know, obviously I’m a mental performance coach, so I’m always listening to how athletes think. I’m thinking I’m listening to I’m asking them questions to kind of hear how they respond. I’m listening to post race.

interviews, post race press conferences. I can really get an idea for the belief system, the narratives, um, the focal points for an athlete, their vibe, their energy. Um, what do you look for outside of social and outside of results when you’re actually interacting with an athlete? Because, you know, there’s a lot of athletes that would love to be on your team.

Um, and so there needs to be Um, a selection process, I would think. I mean, do you have a process for selection? Is it vibe? Walk me through that.

I mean, it’s not going to be a super long answer. I go with enthusiasm of, of someone without being like harassing, but. Yes, we, we select or I select a few kind of candidates if you want and I’ll reach out or anything and some reach out to me and I go a lot with the vibe with what type of personality like positive, um, you know, like someone that’s here to, to, to make a career out of it, to, to wanting to be better.

Um, of course, you know, we’ve changed a lot through the years where. You know, I was dreaming to make a night show till I was dreaming to make a main. Now we’re just trying to make top tens, you know, so you have to change a little bit your, your selection through that. But the, the basic is the same. All the guys react to pressure.

All the guys react to failure. All the, are they positive around others? Are they always complaining? Like this is big for me. Like I. Really, really have a hard time with people complaining and it’s just, yeah, I will look a lot like you said, like the vibe and what they can bring as a fun part of a group where we’re all together and we’re in the semi or at SOB when we’re training and everyone’s kind of, you know, having fun with it while working hard and trying to, to challenge each other, but in a, in a healthy way where it’s fun people to be around with is what I’m trying to, to keep it.

With the results and the social, like all, all in all, like the, the aspect of the personalities I want, like colorful personalities that, you know. Yeah, bring something to the table and, you know, it could be super fun and, yeah, you need, you need that into what we do because it’s, for us, it’s over 30 weekends a year.

So if we have people that’s always negative, always, you know, dragging their feet and stuff, it gets old. So vibe and personality is a cool thing to have when you can have results and, and hard work.

Yeah, that resonated to me because. You know, feelings are contagious and you know, I’ve been part of several teams and I can tell you that I can walk into a team and within a matter of minutes, not even an hour, minutes, 10, 15, 20 minutes, um, start to get a real clear vibe for the energy of the collective.

the group as a collective, and it’s interesting how, you know, a rising tide lifts off ships. And, you know, if you’ve got the right vibe, you’ve got the right energy. You know, someone like a Kevin Moran’s or Joshua Cartwright. You know, these are guys that have really good vibes that I’ve been around. At least I bought it with.

Right. And, um,

so I can’t stand Josh anyway, if he listens to that, you’ll laugh. It’s like my adoptive child. So him and Logan are like, they, they don’t write for me for like six, seven years or something. And they ask me questions every week and stuff. And they call me dad all the time.

Yeah. And they both.

And I think, and it makes sense that they’ve been part of, you know, you’ve been part of their success, right? Cause they’ve both been on your team, correct? Yeah. And so what’s interesting is you see Logan, who is definitely Logan Carnell, right, who has gotten better in his writing, better in his. His relationships with sponsors.

He brought on only fans. He was the first guy to bring them on and, um, really got super creative with his personality and authenticity, which I really like that. Um, and then Joshua Park, right? What? You know, he kind of came in with his own angle. Which is here’s the kid who’s going to college and then racing on weekends.

Then all of a sudden he gets a job like a 40 hour a week. He’ll

drag this for the rest of his

life. Well, you know what though? It does resonate because think about it. Of all the things that I could talk about, about Joshua Cartwright, you know, that’s what stands out is the story, right? No, I get it. I think a lot of athletes.

I mean, and I want to hear what you say on this. I feel like a lot of athletes don’t create a brand for themselves. And with a brand, there’s a story. I think that there’s, there’s a gap there. And I think that, you know, everyone always talks about how do we grow the sport and everyone thinks it’s just a matter of like getting more TV coverage, but.

Like, to me, it’s all about the personalities. Like, watch F1, you know, Drive to Survive. The reason why that Netflix series has done so well is because of the stories. It’s the characters, it’s the plot, the conflict, the drama, the resolution. Like, there’s a, there’s a flow to all this. Where do you feel athletes in Supercross and Motocross fall short with branding, and, and where do you feel we need to go to grow?

Oh, that’s,

uh, I don’t know, I don’t know what they’re doing right or wrong. Like, I feel like everyone has their own personality and there’s people, I feel like that subject is good in the matter where, you know, when you’re a privateer and you have to create your own identity and brand, right, where you’re like, all right, I’m on, it’s either I get on a team and I have all these.

Rules that I need to follow, I need to wear this, I need to use that, or I, I, I sacrifice and go into work mode and do my own program, which is a lot more work, but there’s freedom that comes with it in some areas. There’s some guys that would love that, and there’s some guys that I know. They want the life that goes off of it, like Cade will tell you, Cade Clayson is much rather comfortable with a team like mine where he gets, he gets paid, he gets bikes, he has a mechanic, he has a place to train, he gets travels, and like he’s taken care of entirely, but when he’s done at three or four in the afternoon, he goes home.

It doesn’t have to do other than train, be smart, healthy, do a social media work and this and that, but all the rest, he gets to spend time with his family, with his wife and gets to, to go hunting and whatever he wants to life after racing. If you want, he wants to have a life where when you do your own thing, it’s pretty much.

All the time, 24 seven. So we had a conversation before where a kid was like, nah, that for me, what I want is this instead of because he could probably do his own program is well known and this and that maybe at the end of the year, you’d be able to make a 5 percent more in the incomes, but quality of life will go down like 50%.

So after that, it’s gonna it’s, it’s, you have to choose your, your battles in that area, I guess. But yeah, personality is. It’s branding yourself and kind of create like, like, like you said, like Cartwright, Logan, Moran’s and all these guys, they’re, they’re making their, their program like good because it’s focused on them and people around them can help this person.

Like you like this guy, you can help him directly instead of helping a team where you don’t like that guy. You know, it’s like.

It’s very true. So, um, one thing that you had mentioned is that your team trains at south of the border, correct? Yes. Um, tell me a little bit more about that. Um, what is, when does training start?

I mean, uh, give me kind of the basics of when does training start? Do you actually, um, screen athletes out by maybe having them come out and do some training because you know, how do you know what athlete you’re signing unless you already have a previous relationship with them or if you at least know the work ethic.

So maybe walk me through your process of preparing for a season and maybe a little bit about how, um, maybe athlete selection works as far as like at the track. Like viewing them. So we know we’ve covered social. We know we’ve covered results. So we can look in the past on that. But what do you look for, you know, preseason and what’s your flow preseason?

Um, building tracks is the first step. Like Ryan will call me or text me. We’re building tracks. End of September, which is where we like them to have normally when there’s no other events. We’re building new tracks at the side of the border and, and we start, you know, prepping the shop, cleaning up and prepping the rooms for the guys because we all stay there.

Like all the riders and everyone, they all have their little room there. We have our shop on site, the gym is there, they have everything to, to work out of in one single place. Uh, that’s the first step is to get our, we don’t need the riders there until we’re ready to To get to work and get a basic inventory and see what we need and kind of get to to to a spot where okay now we can have people on board which is somewhere in mid to end of October is is still pretty early for Supercross but that’s where we like to kind of start playing with stuff and Get up, get after it.

Uh, this year is, is unique because in the new KX450, we just got two that arrived last Friday. So we’re going to start working on that. It’s, it’s a bit late, but with the WSX and everything, it worked out well. Um. And whatnot. But yeah, we, we normally start mid and October and, and go from there and test the bikes and test suspension and motor packages.

And we try to evolve every year to get, um, as close as possible to being a, some sort of factory team and, uh, Yeah, that’s, that’s what we do. We, we go there and like, like, again, we, that’s all we do there. Like there’s, there’s no distractions. There’s, there’s not much around. You can go to Myrtle beach with an hour and a half, but around there is dirt bike racing and training and hanging out and trying to see what kind of ideas we can all put together to, to be better as old.

Yeah.

And you know, with all your experience, what I’m really curious to hear about is. When you watch an athlete, you know, all athletes want to be a better version of themselves. Everyone wants to improve. Everyone wants to get better results with all your experience and watching the variety of athletes come through your team.

What seems to be the common link for success? For the athletes that you see that do well. And even on the flip side, what do you think is one of the biggest mistakes that holds most athletes back?

Well, I personally think hard work is what changes everything. You know, perseverance, hard work, no quit, positive.

Try trying to have a good mindset. You have a bike that breaks or something, you know, do it again tomorrow and, and start fresh and try not to drag all these negative for too long, is where I feel like the, the, the, the guys that, that are like that will always get better. Even if they’re never gonna win a championship, they’ll always improve.

Yeah. Mindset is part of a lot in life, not just racing, but everything else around is mindset is very important and being positive and trying to, trying to be better all the time and hard work on the upper end. I feel like excuses, uh, being a bit, you know, we’re all, we’re all a little bit lazy sometimes, but like being nonchalant and I feel like.

excuses is one of the most common thing. I’m like, Oh, I, I, I don’t have this bike and I can’t perform or my, my tires or this or that there’s always an excuse for something. And that’s not just in dirt bike. That’s in life in general. Like I do it all the time myself and I catch myself doing it. And I try not to do it again.

You know? Yeah. And I think the mistake is people don’t realize the cost. of placing blame outside of themselves is with that blame also comes the power, right? So you’re taking the power to change and you’ll improve. And you’re, you’re pushing it outside of you. You’re saying, okay, well, you know, if it’s the tires, it’s the bike, it’s the suspension.

Okay. Well then that’s where the power is for you to change. So based on you blaming them, uh, these, these things, yeah,

those are the things, but sorry to interrupt, but you’ll blame all this, but you’ll get at the test track at 1 PM instead of being at 10 45 with everyone.

Yeah. And then what happens is you also you’re giving your power away to these things.

So it almost sets, um, like a mindset of these conditions that need to be met that aren’t based on truth, right? Like if I have a better bike, I will perform well. If I have better tires, I will perform well. Um, and the truth is you set these narratives or these conditions up, these beliefs, and they’re not based on truth.

And then what happens is you don’t look within and you don’t work on your inter, your inner game. And now all of a sudden there’s no power for you or there’s no value when you’re working on yourself. And um, and then these other things just don’t ever, if the team doesn’t acquire a better bike, doesn’t acquire better tires or better suspension.

Well then, then where is the, where is there an ability to change? And now at that point you’re like, Oh, this is the best I can do, but it’s actually not true. No, exactly.

Me and Mitchell Harrison had that conversation the other night in the gym, and he’s like, you can give a basically stock bike with suspension to Jet Lawrence, and Lawrence, sorry, and he’ll still perform.

For sure.

Yeah, you find a way, right? Yeah,

there’s, there’s work, there’s talent, there’s, there’s mindset, there’s everything that goes into it. Not just the machine. Yeah, for

sure. Yeah. Someone’s controlling that machine. Yeah. Um, so do you feel over the last decade or so that the gap between a team like yours, um, and a factory team is, is the gap between the quality of the bike closing or is it expanding?

I think it’s closing, especially for, for us where. You know, we’re growing and I don’t want to say we’re, we’re factory, not at all, but we’re growing and we have a little bit more budget to, to work with. And our bikes are as good as it can be. Now there’s some stuff that we don’t have access to and we’ll never will, if we’re not factory deemed.

I feel like the gap is closer and closer to where, yeah, there’s a bit of power difference, but like a lot of factory teams now are going back to OEM style stuff for flex, for feel, for this and that. And now you’re realizing, oh, why we’re trying to get all these blink parts for no reason anymore. And then you got factory KTM running OEM style forks and you’re like, oh, okay.

So that, that, that’s good stuff. And it’s, it’s all about rider feeling as well and rider mindset. And if he trusts his bike and And whatnot. So yeah, I feel like the gap in machine per machine is a bit closer. The big gap is personnel, the funding, the resources, the freshness of everything is where we get beat the freshness of the parts and hard spikes, everything like they do.

I’m speculating is what I’m hearing. You know, like I’m not. In there with, with a factory team. But like when they do 10 hours on a four 50 engine, it doesn’t even get rebuilt. They just take a new one. And then a frame is going to be maybe 20 hours after it’s too much stretched out. Then they’re starting with their new one.

Like the, it is a difference and it helps right in all areas. I. We totally understand that. That’s why we’re trying to get a little bit more motorcycles to keep everything more fresh and more motors and this and that, but at the end of the day, they have the resources, they have the 10, 10, 12 people around them and the staff to one guy’s changing a wheel while the other one’s doing something like if, if they have a flat tire on the side of the track, like they have it all there.

So the, the, the big difference for me is resources. Yeah. And funding, of course, that comes with the OEM, which is fine, right? You have to accept where you are and not try to always be, Oh, I wish I had this. I wish I had that. And try to be happy with what you gain and where you are. The big difference between a private team and a factory team is, I would say, I always said freshness.

That means everything’s fresh all the time. I

like that. You know, when it comes to comparing a factory team to yours, you know, the one thing that I think that you have over them is you have less of a corporate feel, a corporate vibe, you know, like, uh, I know team Honda. You know, there is, there’s always been like rumors that the higher ups are very strict and maybe even the communication between, you know, Japan and the U.

S. You know, there’s obviously a language barrier. There’s a cultural barrier. Um, you know, there’s these barriers that exist that might create some friction and might, um, decrease the flexibility and the mobility of a factory team. Whereas someone like you, you have the ability to move and adjust faster. I would say, um, sure.

Maybe not the resources there, but you can move in different ways. If all of a sudden you needed to, you know, either get in a different tire brand, or maybe there was a suspension part you wanted, I would speculate that you guys can move a little bit more swiftly. Um, do you feel that that might be one of the advantages that you have?

Or is there another advantage that you might have over the factory teams?

Um, maybe a little bit of freedom, like you said, in some areas, but we do try to be as respectful as possible with our sponsors, right? So, um, which may be something that I need to work on myself is where when someone supplies me with something, I really want to use it.

Hide the fact that we’re not using it. Like the factory teams, they don’t use half of what’s written on their bike. Um, but yeah, I would say there’s some freedom. At some point, but the, the, for me and how I see it, like the higher ups and this and that in a factory team, I just think it brings respect to the, to the base of the, of the pyramid if you want.

Um, but yeah, we, we do move left and right and we want to use, you know, example, we’re not sponsored by. X part and we can use that part. No one cares, right? That that’s a freedom that is pretty good. But at the end of the day, the goal is to be factory supported and in the next few years. So nice. Oh, so that,

so, all right, tell me, I was going to ask another question, but I want to, I want to stick with the topic.

So what exactly is your vision for the next couple years? Sounds like that factory team is part of it. What do you need to one? Is there anything else that’s part of your vision for the future in the next five years? And then to more specifically, what is it that you feel that you’re lacking that you need in order to become a factory to,

um, better organization in general.

Which is something I work on every year and try to be more prepared, more, like I said, organized and whatnot. And I, I think last year was good. This year with what’s coming, uh, presentation will be right, right on point with where we need to be, to be factory or OEM supported or just the little next step.

Um, with. I feel like the rig set up and then the awning and this and that’s really important for visual and after that like the presentation of each bike and how you present yourself in the pits where you’re organized and clean and like that’s something I focused a lot the last two years and I want to continue pushing on and I feel like just taking small steps every year and then Keep pushing in the right direction.

And there’s, there should be some openings in a few years or something. Like if you look at star racing, they started small and yeah, they do have a lot of funding, but I’m, I’m confident that I can get her up funding by, by being a good salesperson and, and promoting my program and whatnot. Um, that’s not, you know, it’s always a concern every year, but it’s something I need to, to continue growing.

I feel like I’m doing a fairly good job at the promotion and selling of the team. So I feel like in the, in the factory style, it just to be corporate a little bit more to attract the factory.

Yep. That makes sense. Yeah. And a lot of it is like you said, how you present, I even notice, I don’t know about you, but I noticed little things like I’ll notice.

If a team has like the same color, ch, I don’t know why this bothers me, but if a team has like the same color J, you know, the same jersey, same like color pants, but then maybe the shoes are different color. I don’t know why it bothers me. I’m like, that’s not professional and I know that’s being but bit of

OCD

It’s a bit ooc D for sure. But then when you look at. I always say, well, you know, success leaves clues. If you look at KTM, it’s like, all right, well, well, do those guys wear the same pants? It’s like, yeah, they pretty much have more or less the same pants, not even the same color, but the same pants. And they have pretty much the same shoes, right?

Just a difference. And so little things like that. And I think that’s where people fall short is they don’t think that those things matter, but, and maybe they don’t matter that much. However. If you give, you know, if the pants are 1%, the shoes are 1%. Yeah. It’s presentation. Yeah. The presentation. But it’s all these little things that add up.

Mm-Hmm. , and now all of a sudden you add ten one percenters up, now you’re at 10%. That matters. Yeah. You know, everyone’s always looking for the 10%, but I would argue that we should all start thinking in a different way. Don’t look for the 10 percent gains, whether it’s on track and speed, whether it’s you with, you know, the presentation and professionalism of your team, but look for 10, 1%, right?

What are your

thoughts on that? Yeah, I agree. Like for me, like I see all that, those, those things. And that’s where we’re trying to come in this year where to be more like. You know, pants and jersey, like jerseys on Friday, Saturday, they’re different, but they’re the same for everyone and just trying to be like as corporate as possible in that area and like nothing’s on the ground in the pits.

And like, you look at these teams when they’re prepping bikes, there’s very little things, you know, laying there. You know, they have the bolts, they’re all lined up and nice and clean. And then that’s, that’s, I agree with the 1 percent rule where you can do, what can you do today to make, to make it better?

It doesn’t have to be a 10, 000 change. It could be, you know, just something that you change yourself. So yeah,

for sure. And then when you, so like, let’s kind of, so I want to bring you to a place where, imagine, um, you’re at Anaheim one and you’re. on the floor. Um, it’s, you know, maybe qualifying free practice doesn’t really matter.

Maybe it’s even race day or race time. Um, what is it that you do or how is it that you present yourself to lead the team into to help them, um, perform at their best, like from, like, walk me through, like, what does it look like? What would I notice? If I watched you lead your team, because you whether you whether you’d like to admit it or not, you are leading a team, right?

That’s your team and you’re leading them. So leadership is a big part of the success of a, of a, of a team, of a group and organization. How do you lead your team on a race day?

Um, I think by action. I’ve always been, and, um, I’m not someone to yell or to do that much. I do yell, but very little. Um, but I’ve always been someone that would try to kind of prone by example, where I can, even if it’s like I’ll take a broom and sweep the floor.

Or see stuff on the ground. I’ll grab it and put it in the garbage and make it looking at each, each bike and making sure I don’t see anything that. Catches my highs that needs to be addressed or anything. I think there’s just that that’s, that’s how I do it. That’s maybe I have to work on that area as well as, as a leader, like you said, but I feel like to set up the rig to clean, to, to make sure they have everything they need to go racing and kind of caring.

It is where I think I can make a difference with, because I do care. I do care about the presentation. I care about what the bike looks. I care about if they’re spotless and if they’re dialed in, if their suspension works good, if the motor’s strong enough, like that, that I really, really, really care about giving them the best machine we can possibly do and having all the rest around them where they’re proud to be under the tent.

Nice. I

like that. I, that, that resonated with me. I like that a lot. Um, how? So

it’s more in the actions if you want, right? The actions over to saying,

yeah, and it’s, it’s so true because it’s, it’s always like a show. Don’t tell, you know, like I know, um, a lot of people are in the fitness space, right? And as cheesy as they are, the one that the people on instagram that always capture my attention are the ones that all they do is they go before fat fat fat person, no abs.

After thin person abs, I’m like, wow, this guy’s good. Right? I don’t, I don’t even know if they’re male. I don’t even know if the person’s Instagram account, I don’t even know if they’re male or female. I don’t know whether they’re even qualified to do anything that they do. Um, or I know nothing about them, but I see this result.

And I’m like, wow, I can get from there to there. And so, you know, I do agree with you that show don’t tell is much more powerful than people

think. Yeah, that’s, I think that’s what I would like to do as much as possible is I can tell them what to do as much as I want. But if there’s no examples of hard work and dedication, I think it’s, I think it’s always fun to work hard for someone that works hard.

Yes, I like that. I

like that. That’s what you gotta put that on. Sure. That’s quotable. Um, I’ll

have one made to put in the shop

now. So kind of think back through the years, you know, I even look back, you know, I’ve been, um, being a part of either motocross or supercross, um, more from like a team member standpoint on and off since like, oh, six.

So I’ve, I’ve seen things in the last, what, almost 20 years. Um, and there’s been years that I’ve felt, um, that I’ve noticed a lot of gains, a lot of progress. I’ve, I’ve learned a lot when you reflect back on the years that you’ve been a part of this sport of Supercross and motocross. Um, what year kind of stands out and why?

I think they have. There’s more than one. There’s progress. I would say there’s upgrades. There’s a new trailer, new easy ups. After that, like a trailer with an awning. After that, like an old snowmobile trailer that I modified with my friend at VRmedic. And then, you know, you, you, you. Every year is it something that I need to do more is to look back at it to where I was before instead of just focusing on where I am and where I could be is look where you came from before and You know starting I don’t know like I don’t even 2012 I think in the parking lot at MetLife with 110 by 10 and my logo on shrouds of Logan’s bike and it’s and now you’re like you’re running a full legit size team with Semis and everything.

It’s like, I don’t, I can’t tell you one year that was like last year was a great year. We had good result, tons of mains. The year before was good as well. We had adversity, we had injuries, but we fought back with fill in riders and some fill in riders did super well. And like, it’s, yeah, it’s the no quit type of thing, but yeah, I feel like every year has something to bring.

Yeah, I love that. And then when you look at, I mean, we’re always told comparisons, a thief of joy. However, all of us compare ourselves to others. What’s maybe been a team over the years or maybe even in the last couple of years? that you kind of emulate and look towards. Because I know with me, I’m always looking at people that do mental performance coaching.

Um, I’m always trying to figure out like, all right, what is it that this guy’s got on me? What do I have on them? How can I get better? And so I do feel like comparison can be the thief of joy unless you do it lens of evolving yourself and your own program. What’s kind of like one team that either you look look up to or or maybe even if there’s not one team, what are some things you look at at the teams that you aspire to one day be?

What are those things that you’re looking at? What are the KPIs or metrics? What are the things you’re looking for?

Well, definitely Star and PC is where I kind of put my eyes on, not to see what they’re doing, but just to, just to kind of, you know, the story from Mitch, where, where he started, where he’s at right now, the story of Star or they, they started where they at, I feel like they’re, they’re the only slash factory teams that are, that started from one person, you know, like Mitch created that kind of team and, and I feel like if he did it, I can do it as well.

To where, you know, like the corporate Austrian brands, there are corporate Austrian brands that comes from head office, which is super cool and everything. Like I would take one tomorrow morning, but the, the, the, the, where I look at this to the, the one person that started in kind of, you know, the garage story where you start there with, and then you make it to the top if you want.

Yeah,

I like that. And you know, one thing that we haven’t talked about is you’ve had a relationship with Kawasaki for how many years now? I’ve been

racing Cowies for close to 10 years. I have a very small relationship with them, like I take, I buy everything through Partzilla, so I’ve chosen that bike because I was comfortable with it to work on it and this and that and they had good programs to purchase bike and back in the days and now they have good contingency for our riders and they work well.

They’re a great motorcycle. But yeah, I like. As of now, I know everyone at Cowee a little bit more, but it’s not like I can go behind the shop and grab some parts yet, so maybe one day.

Yeah, and it seems like, you know, the one thing that stands out, cause I was thinking about it, and you know, cause you and I have talked over the years, and um, the one thing that just has always stood out for me is that you’re very, like, consistent.

Like I know when, when I walk by your trailer, like I know it’s not going to be a whole bunch of new sponsors. It’s not going to look all that different. It seems like there’s a lot of consistency and that to me, uh, creates a sense of longevity and trust. Like if I, if I had a brand, what I would see in you that I would like.

is I would see the fact that, wow, these guys always show up there. They’re consistent, the reliable, they’re staying with the same brand. Everything seems to be very consistent and reliable. Um, that’s what would draw me to your team as a potential partner. Um, how have you developed? That ability to be so consistent because we know the consistency is super important, especially if you’re a golfer, right?

Consistency is, is, it’s not sexy. Like, you know, you say the word consistent. If someone told me that I was consistent, you know, I wouldn’t be, wouldn’t be, you know, thinking. Yeah,

I know what you mean.

Yeah, it’s not that it’s not the biggest compliment. However, we all talk about the value of consistency. And so maybe talk to me about how you have become so consistent with your program.

Um, I try to be as much as I can. You know, like there’s obvious things that we need to change or it’s a business at the end of the day where I need to be able to to make it to the end of the year. So yes, we do change stuff. But if it was for just my Personal, I, I wouldn’t change anything, like, I would keep the same guys, like, I have super long time sponsors like ASV, Bob has been with me for over 10 years.

And, you know, it’s, it’s more like a, we have a good relationship as persons now. It’s not just like sponsors and, you know, like the, the Parzilla’s going three years and hopefully we can keep it going for, for 10 if that’s what I want to do and they want to do and like it, it works out. And I think it’s the relationship between humans that makes a difference.

At the end of the day where, yes, you need to perform, you need to promote the brands, but I really think that two persons connecting is, is where it’s at. I love it. Yeah.

And I think that that’s, that’s the one thing that I’m hearing from you and I reflect back on, you know, what we talked about is the value of relationships and realizing that it really is a partnership, you know, it’s not a sponsorship because to me.

The term sponsor is, is more unilateral. It’s one direction. At least that has that vibe and energy to me. Whereas a partnership is. You know, it’s two people coming together with a mutually beneficial relationship. And so I think if, if more of us, more athletes and more teams start thinking in a partnership way and have that frame as opposed to a sponsorship frame or a, what can you do for me frame?

Um, maybe if you lead with, what can I do for you? Um, you know, um, we know there’s something called reciprocity. I know with me, any time anyone does something for me, I automatically want to do for them. They don’t even ask for a favor. I’m asking them what can I do for you before they even ask what what they want from me?

Right? And so I do feel like you seem to have mastered the relationships and mastered the value of not just acquiring relationships, but maintaining them. Um, as we wrap things up, could you comment on it? And my guess is that you’re not going to have maybe so much like a specific answer, but what do you think people experience with you in their relationships with you from a business standpoint?

That make them want to stay with you. I mean, because, you know, the longevity and consistency is there. We know that relationships are the vehicle to get you there. Why is it? What am I going to notice if I’m in a relationship, a business relationship with you that I’m not going to notice with someone else that’s going to make me value more our relationship than one possibly with them?

Um, I don’t want to say that my relationship with you would be more valuable than with someone else, but my relationship with you, let’s say if you were a partner or sponsor, um, what you would agreed to, to do for, for us would. As much as I can in my power would be done.

I’m not saying, I’m not saying you’ll get more out of me than you would get out of another team. But I’m saying if you agree with me that you want to give XYZ and I’m telling you you’re going to get XYZ, there’s a very, very high percentage of chance you’re going to get your XYZ.

I love it. And you know what?

I think what, what I hear from that is one word, which is trust. Right. Trust is built by you saying you’re going to do something and you’re doing it, you know, and then even if you do say you’re going to do something and to your point, maybe you do come up a little bit short if you at least explain and give me some clarity as to why, Oh, Hey, I got it.

Right. If you’re blaming, you know, the team or blaming external forces, all right, that might compromise our trust.

That’s why I said a high percentage. Cause everything can change. Every like, have I been perfect with everyone in, in this, in this road that we’re in right now for the past 10 years, not at all, I’ve tried to be as perfect as I could, but it just impossible, but every year I learn every year, I get better at it.

And every year I tried to, to be more and more in the higher percentage, like I told you. Well, with

that said, what a powerful way to wrap up, uh, Julian Perrier owner of the Partzilla PRMX. Racing team. I can’t thank you enough for all the value you’ve provided. Um, I know it just seemed like it rambled off your tongue, but I’ll be honest with you.

You kind of woke me up to a couple of things and I’m sure there’s going to be people that are going to listen to this that are going to gain value from this as well. How can people reach out to you, support you, or wire transfer you maybe 10, 20 grand to help support? Just

DM me on Instagram or on the email at pr mx.

com or we’re, we’re pretty much everywhere. So it’s pretty easy to, to reach out to us. If you want to wire money or

and on Instagram, what’s your handle on Instagram?

And we lost them perfect time and wrap things up. Julian did sign on with the low battery and you know, perfect timing. Hey. Julian’s out. So anyways, guys, thank you so much for your support. And don’t forget, the biggest thank you that you can offer me, uh, in the podcast behind the best podcast is to share it with friends, give us a five star rating.

We always appreciate those. Thank you so much for tuning in.

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