SUMMARY BY CHATGPT

Main Theme:
Tom shares a personal story about a recent car accident and uses it as a metaphor for anticipating risks in business.
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Key Points:
• The Incident:
Tom was T-boned at a Virginia Beach intersection during heavy rain. Thanks to years of defensive driving habits and anticipation, he noticed a car running a red light and accelerated just in time to reduce the impact. His quick reaction potentially saved his girlfriend and her dog.
• Staying Calm Under Pressure:
Tom emphasizes the importance of staying calm in emergencies. He helped the other driver (who was hysterical) and her child, ensured everyone was safe, and cooperated with the police.
• Business Lesson:
o The accident serves as a metaphor for business decision-making:
? Always "check your intersections"—anticipate risks and be prepared.
? Think through potential downsides before making decisions.
? Develop habits that protect you from costly mistakes.
? Have a plan in case something goes wrong.
• Practical Driving & Business Tips:
o Keep wheels straight while waiting to turn left.
o Don’t pull too close to the car in front of you.
o In business, weigh pros and cons—even if you’re fast at deciding, be thorough.
• Promotions:
o Free Automation Book: screwthecommute.com/automatefree
o Mentor Program: GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com
o Internet Marketing School: IMTCVA.org (with a full 90-minute video overview)
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Final Thought:
Train yourself to anticipate potential hazards—on the road and in business. That awareness and preparation can save lives and livelihoods.

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Episode 984 – Check Your Intersections
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody! It's Tom here with episode 984 of Screw the Commute podcast. Today's episode is titled Check Your Intersections. What the heck does that mean, Tom? Well, I'll tell you in a minute, but also, hey, I'm a hero. How do you like that? All right. I hope you didn't miss episode 983. That was site wide quality. That was a discussion about how Google looks at your website, whether they're going to give you a high ranking or not, and pick up a copy of our automation book at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and check out my mentor program in school, The mentor program is at GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com and the school is in Virginia. And hey, if you really want to see about the school stuff. Uh, another father checked with me the other day. Wanted information. So if you go to IMTCVA.org, you can watch a 90 minute whole thing and you say 90 minutes, Tom. I ain't got ain't nobody got no time for that. Well, uh, I would suggest that you find time for that, as opposed to spending several hundred thousand dollars to get your kid a crap education. All right. So? So it tells you all the stuff about what colleges are doing and gives you a real idea of what they would learn in the school and the highly in-demand skills that are very practical.

[00:01:54] So check it out at IMTCVA.org. Okay. So check your intersections. What the heck does that mean? Well, yesterday, folks, I was in a car accident. I got T-boned when it was pouring down rain. And at an intersection in Virginia Beach, at Virginia Beach Boulevard and North Lynnhaven, you can look it up on Google Maps. The reason I bring it up today is I'll tell you a little bit more how this applies to business, but I've had the habit and good training that when I go into an intersection, I always check both directions to make sure somebody isn't running a red light, or the police aren't chasing him or something and they're going to hit me. So that's what happened yesterday. So it's pouring down rain. And I also have this on dash cam, but I'm pulling out in the intersection and I look left and I'm into the intersection. It's a really big long intersection. So you got to get across it before the light changes. And then I immediately notice there's somebody blowing the red light. So my training and habits kicked in instantly. And I might add, I was, uh, I've been thinking about this a lot lately because the kid that works for me on Sundays just got his learner's permit. So I've been taking him out and teaching him and really giving him some good tips on driving. And I really emphasized this. And it actually happened a couple months ago in Virginia Beach.

[00:03:30] Somebody blew across. I was several cars back, but they just blew right through the intersection and hit a telephone pole. And I saw that, and I told him about that, and I really wanted to train him. Right. So he anticipates these potential dangers anyway, since I immediately recognized this car blowing the red light from the right, and I'm in the middle of the intersection, it's pouring down rain. It was just habit and training that I instantly hit the gas because they were. They were going to hit me right in the middle and right in my girlfriend and my little dogs door by me being ready for this and hitting that gas even though it was big, heavy suburban is hard to accelerate because it's big and heavy. I was able to accelerate it enough to move her impact this other lady's impact about ten feet, which saved my girlfriend and her dog, her little dog. And she started calling me a hero. That's why I've been. I've been milking that forever. Mr. hero saved her life. But then they they hit me in the back wheel and spun the suburban around. And then, you know, ever since I've been young, I've. I don't know how I got this trait, but I always stay calm in the face of emergencies. So I'm saying, okay, we're all right, don't worry. And I'm spun around facing facing oncoming traffic. All right. They, you know, they can see me and I put my flashers on, but I'm worried about the lady in the car because she had this little compact and it was messed up.

[00:05:11] So I got out in the pouring rain, sprinted back well, as fast as somebody like me could, sprint right back to her car and opened her driver's door. Airbags are all off all over the place, and she's hysterical. And she's got a little girl in the back. And so I'm double checking that she's okay. And I'm asking her, do you know your name? What's your child's name? I want to see if she was in shock and got her out of the car, because it was sitting right in the middle of the road and it was still pouring down rain and and luckily a nice, really nice guy on the other side of the intersection. It happened right in front of him. He saw the whole thing, but he was such a sweet guy. He stayed there with us. He gave her an umbrella and a big raincoat and her and her daughter huddled there. But she she was hysterical. She was like, saying to me, like, I wasn't I wasn't on my phone, I wasn't distracted, you know? And she's asking me what happened. So I said, well, well, um. That's good you weren't on your phone, but you did kind of run that red light, and the guy had seen everything and so forth. So I got my vehicle off there, waited for the police, and were soaked.

[00:06:25] I'm just soaked. Like I just jumped in a river. Her husband came and the other, the guy that witnessed it gave me his info, and the police separated us to get the stories right. And so he talked to her. He talked to the witness separately, and he talked to me. And when he talked to me, he said, yeah, it's exactly what the witness said. So I have to cite her for running a red light and okay. And gave all the information, blah, blah, blah. And she was really hysterical. And I was saying, look, we're nobody's hurt. We're okay. Don't worry. It's okay. It's just it's just metal and plastic. It's not. You got this beautiful little girl and she's fine. All right. So I tried to calm everything down. And then, you know, that was the end of it. Now I'm fooling with insurance all day today. That's what was more frustrating than getting smacked in the middle of the road. All right, so why am I talking about this and how does it apply to business? Well, the thing is, is my training and my anticipation of potential downsides. Anytime you go out to drive, there's a potential downside. Something will happen. I never pull up behind somebody until closer than I can see. Their rear tires should make that a habit. That's been a habit for me for 100 years, because that way if somebody rear ends me, it doesn't knock me into them and make a double insurance nightmare.

[00:07:51] Also, it keeps me from if a potential carjacking I can get out. I'm not stuck in sandwiched between two cars. So that's just a couple of tips. Another one is if you're going to make a left turn, keep your wheels straight until you accidentally actually make the turn. Because if you turn your wheels and you're sitting there and somebody rear ends you. It pushes you right out into oncoming traffic. See? So there's a lot of little driving tips like that that I've ingrained over the years. Well, the same thing happens as I've run my business over since 1977. I don't know what is that, 40? I don't know how many years. That is a long time. 40. What is it, 48 years? I don't know. So I, I'm not afraid to do things. Just like I'm not afraid to go out and drive my car. But I think about these things and ingrain these habits to watch for the downsides. And that's what I take into my business arena. Is that okay? If I'm going to make a decision, what are the potential downsides? And if those downsides happen, what can I do to get out of it and to to reduce the trouble? Like for instance, I couldn't I just couldn't let this get away from this lady. She smacked into me. She was going fast and there was no way I could get out of it.

[00:09:13] But I was able to reduce the damage by what my training kicked in. So when you're making business decisions, you really, you know, snap. You know, I make decisions pretty quick sometimes. But on on simple stuff, on bigger stuff, I stop and think, okay, what are the downsides of this? And if they do happen, what situation am I going to be in? You know, if I, if I buy this service or if I do this, that and the other, how much money is at risk? Is it going to be profitable? Is it going to lose some money but still help my business in the long run? I mean, all of these things, I think about it. I don't obsess on them to the point where I procrastinate. I can do it. You know, I've been doing it for so many years. I can do it very quickly. Some people write it down, the pros and cons and everything. I kind of do it in my head nowadays, but I want you to to check your intersections. Okay? Think about okay, if I make this move in business, what are the potential downsides And if they happen, what am I going to do about it? And then when these things inevitably happen, you won't be frozen and depressed. And like, in fact, my girlfriend said that, you know, she doesn't really drive that much. And she says, oh man, I can't believe you're telling that insurance guy you were going southbound on North Lynnhaven, and the other lady was going eastbound.

[00:10:36] And, you know, she said, I would have just frozen and would have no idea what happened. All right. Well, you know, that's maybe her upbringing. You know, as a child, I was taught to be calm and take care of business. Right. But anyway, I'm still a hero. Don't forget, I saved her life, saved a little doggie's life, and didn't have to deal with airbags on my vehicle anyway. But boy, hers were. You couldn't even see in the vehicle because the airbags were everywhere. Off everywhere. She had a little Volkswagen, but she hit me at full speed with no brakes. Uh, right in my right rear wheel. And she's lucky, actually, that it was raining because the back end of a suburban as heavy as it is, is still lighter because the engines in the front. And so by leverage, she hit me in the back end and it spun me around, because if she would have hit in the middle of the vehicle, she would have come to a dead stop and it would have been devastating to her and her child. When you you're doing 40 miles an hour, 45 miles an hour and come to a dead stop is different than the fact that my vehicle, you know, moved and she decelerated slowly compared to coming to a dead stop. So it kind of saved her, because if it would have been dry pavement and she would have hit closer to the front door where the thing wouldn't have spun to be a whole different outcome.

[00:12:00] So, so anyway, give it a give it a thought. And next time you make a business decision, just stop and think, okay, what are the downsides and what am I going to do about it? It's a pretty simple concept. If it does happen, what's the worst thing that could happen? What's the upside and compare them and then helps you make the decision. So it's kind of like a helpful decision making thing, but mine is so ingrained, it saved me that split second that it took to save my girlfriend's life and my and that lady's life too. If she'd have hit there, all three of them could have been dead. So that's why I'm a hero. You know, I'm going to milk that even though I don't feel like a hero. All right, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Check out my mentor program at GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com and the school at IMTCVA.org and put slash, and you can see the whole gamut of what's going on in the higher education field, which is more like the higher protesting field, and get out and work at Starbucks after, you know, $200,000 to some college. All right. So so check it out. All right. That's my story. I'm sticking to it. We'll catch you on the next episode. See you later.