All Things Parking with Dani and John John D. Conway, Dani Crain

Imagine you’re the CEO of a parking technology company with 40 opportunities you could chase. You know some will be worthless and might destroy your bottom line, but some might resonate with your customers and add to your growth. How would you go about deciding which to focus on and which to ignore?  
Today’s guest is Todd Tucker. Todd worked his way up in the industry from running a parking garage to overseeing parking operations to leading a parking technology company. Now the Global President of Parking Logix, Todd joins your hosts Dani Crain and John D. Conway as they get into: 

* Todd and John discuss their military service. 

* Todd describes how he and his fellow US Marines were lucky to survive after their ship hit a mine. 

* John recounts how his unit intercepted a boat with cocaine and marijuana.

* The benefits of a career in parking, including travel and meeting new people.

* The charity, Veterans in Parking and Transportation: https://vetsinparking.com/   

* Todd’s career in parking management, including working at companies like Central Parking, Arrive, Flash, and Towne Park.

* How one person can make a massive difference in a company. 

* How focusing on growth and the top line can lead to neglect of other important details, making it harder for executives to find purpose.

* Staying disciplined and focusing on core strengths while building a business.

* The parking industry should be open to smart partnerships, even if it cedes some ground to other firms.

* Cities and municipalities want parking firms to cooperate with each other so that they can diversify their technology choices.

* How camera technology can replace expensive infrastructure.

* The importance of being technology agnostic when selecting event technology vendors.

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this show: 

* Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), bringing you a new standard in parking compliance: https://www.parkingprrs.com/ 

* Asura Technologies, an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and video analytics company: https://asuratechnologies.com/ 

* Parking Whisperer: https://parkingwhisperer.com/ 

Thanks to Todd Ticker for being on the show. Connect with Todd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-tucker-jd-dba-capp-cpp-1740084/ 

Learn more about Parking Logix: https://parkinglogix.com/ 

Connect with the hosts:

* http://www.parkingtalk.com  
* Dani Crain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-crain-3754a3178/ 
* John D. Conway: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-conway-b55a7025/ 
* info@parkingtalk.com

Subscribe, like, and follow: 

* Apple Podcasts: a href="https://apple.co/44KScHB" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

Everyone has had a horrible experience at a parking lot. In this episode, Dani and John laugh, commiserate, and swap their worst horror stories from parking their cars.  
In this episode, your hosts Dani Crain and John D. Conway get into:
* Parking tickets. 
* Painful and annoying parking experiences. 
* Prioritizing paid parking for convenience, avoiding neighborhoods with free parking.
* John shares his worst parking experience, where his car was stolen after he parked.
* John and Dani discuss their experiences with towing in different cities, with Dani sharing a story about her car being wrongfully towed in Denver.
* Towing regulations. 
* The frustration of receiving a ticket for parking in a lot without proper signage.
* The importance of industry collaboration to address the challenges brought by technology, particularly in the realm of data-driven innovation.
* The need for a standardized language to facilitate communication between different software and API's in the parking industry.
Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this show: 
* Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), bringing you a new standard in parking compliance: https://www.parkingprrs.com/ 
* Asura Technologies, an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and video analytics company: https://asuratechnologies.com/ 
* Parking Whisperer: https://parkingwhisperer.com/ 
Connect with the hosts:
* http://www.parkingtalk.com  
* Dani Crain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-crain-3754a3178/ 
* John D. Conway: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-conway-b55a7025/ 
* info@parkingtalk.com
Subscribe, like, and follow: 
* Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/44KScHB 
* Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3rKBJVn 
* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ParkingTalkwithDaniJohn-hb9ku 
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parkingtalk-com/ 
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/parkingtlk 
This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com. 

Ethan Glass is a self-proclaimed parking nerd who helped build a centralized management platform for parking operators. In the parking industry, it’s ambitious to even attempt to build one single place for parking operators to log in to do all of their tasks. But that’s what Ethan and his team at Ocra have done. 
In this episode, your hosts Dani Crain and John D. Conway, and their guest Ethan, get into:

* Starting a parking app business and transitioning to B2B software. 

* Parking management and the challenges of managing multiple disparate technologies.

* The need for a unified platform to manage inventory and maximize revenue, which led Dani and John to partner with Ethan and his team at Ocra.

* How the Ocra platform allows for centralized management of inventory and data from different channels, providing a single dashboard for parking operators.

* John’s frustration with the lack of data sharing in the parking industry. 

* Visualizing parking data in Ocra. 

* The challenges with integrating with other companies, including lack of open API infrastructure and unwillingness to admit limitations.

* Staying in one's lane as an entrepreneur.

* The value of mentorship and dividing tasks to achieve growth.

* The flywheel effect of using information from outside the business to grow the business.

* Acquisition opportunities and pass-ups, with a running joke about almost every week someone offers to acquire Ocra.

* Setting realistic expectations for a parking startup's growth. 

* Ethan shares that Ocra has been cautious in selecting investors who are aligned with the business's goals and values, and have turned down money from investors who are not the right fit.

* The challenges of integrating parking reservation systems with existing hotel systems.

Thanks to Ethan Glass for being on the show!

* Connect with Ethan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanglass/  

* Learn about Ocra, the Centralized Management Platform for Parking Operators: https://getocra.com/ 

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this show: 

* Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), bringing you a new standard in parking compliance: https://www.parkingprrs.com/ 

* Asura Technologies, an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and video analytics company: https://asuratechnologies.com/ 

* Parking Whisperer: https://parkingwhisperer.com/ 

Connect with the hosts:

* http://www.parkingtalk.com  

* Dani Crain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-crain-3754a3178/ 

* John D. Conway: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-conway-b55a7025/ 

* info@parkingtalk.com

Subscribe, like, and follow: 

* Apple Podcasts: a href="https://apple.co/44KScHB" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

Which cutting-edge innovations in the parking industry are worthy of our time and money? And which so-called innovations are just hoopla that we should ignore? 
In this episode, your hosts Dani Crain and John D. Conway do a deep dive into which innovations are effective in operations. Some of what they get into include:
* Innovation alone can replace the value of an operator’s knowledge and experience about the parking industry. 
* The shift from cash-based parking to digital payments with innovations like pay stations. Yet some operations managers still only accept cash. 

* Some operators want to be more innovative, but they don’t yet have knowledge about all of the various options.

* The difficulty operators face with not always understanding various parking technologies.

* Focusing on what a business is good at, rather than trying to be a jack-of-all-trades in the complex parking industry.

* AI in the parking industry.

* The lack of signage and directions at some parking garages. 

* Using technology to identify issues with parking payments.

* Using camera technology and behavioral data to improve pricing and enforcement, allowing for more seamless and efficient parking experiences. 

* The future of interactions between businesses and parking operations in mountain towns. 

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this show: 

* Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), bringing you a new standard in parking compliance: https://www.parkingprrs.com/ 

* Asura Technologies, an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and video analytics company: https://asuratechnologies.com/ 

* Parking Whisperer: https://parkingwhisperer.com/ 

Connect with the hosts:

* http://www.parkingtalk.com  

* Dani Crain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-crain-3754a3178/ 

* John D. Conway: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-conway-b55a7025/ 

* info@parkingtalk.com

Subscribe, like, and follow: 

* Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/44KScHB 

* Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3rKBJVn 

* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ParkingTalkwithDaniJohn-hb9ku 

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parkingtalk-com/ 

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/parkingtlk 

This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com. 

How can parking operators optimize their technology and operations? 
In this episode, Kevin Uhlenhaker of SLS Insights and your hosts Dani Crain and John D. Conway get into:
* Accelerate, a parking pitch competition that will be held at Parking Industry Expo (PIE) 2024.
* Kevin co-founding a parking management platform back in 2013 that was later sold to T2 Systems. 
* The evolution of parking enforcement software.
* The importance of a "parking dictionary" for standardizing terminology across different software platforms.
* How customers were initially skeptical of camera enforcement but have since become more comfortable with it. 
* The future of the parking industry, with a focus on AI and entrepreneurship.
* Kevin believes that innovation is necessary to push the industry forward and improve customer service.
* Kevin explains that the Accelerate program will be at this year’s PIE show (the Parking Industry Expo), where judges and mentors will help companies refine their pitches. The program is designed to help companies reach the next level of success in the industry, regardless of their size or funding.
* The exposure and potential investment opportunities for the top six companies in the parking industry Accelerator program.
* Potential partnerships with companies in the mobility industry, including those that are big in Europe but not in the US.
* Operators moving towards in-house technology to add value and differentiate themselves from competitors.
* How operators must adapt to market changes and new technologies to remain relevant.
* Autonomous vehicles and intermodal transportation.
Thanks to our guest, Kevin Uhlenhaker of SLS Insights: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-uhlenhaker/ 

Apply to the Accelerate program: https://www.accelerateparking.com/ 
The Parking Industry Expo (PIE) 2024: https://www.pieshow.parkingtoday.com/ 
Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this show: 

* Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), bringing you a new standard in parking compliance: https://www.parkingprrs.com/ 

* Asura Technologies, an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and video analytics company: https://asuratechnologies.com/ 

* Parking Whisperer: https://parkingwhisperer.com/ 

* Conway Parking

Connect with the hosts:

* http://www.parkingtalk.com  
* Dani Crain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-crain-3754a3178/ 
* John D. Conway: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-conway-b55a7025/ 
* info@parkingtalk.com

Subscribe, like, and follow: 

* Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/44KScHB 
* Spotify: a href="https://spoti.fi/3rKBJVn" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

Joe Leung returns to the show to again interview our hosts Dani Crain and John D. Conway.
In this episode, Dani, John, and Joe get into:

* The importance of diversity in a team, recognizing that different skills and perspectives are necessary for success.
* Data collection and data sharing in the parking industry: what's working, what's not?
* Some parking operators don’t want to share data, and that can hinder progress and innovation in the industry.
* John talks about misses the thrill of winning deals and watching his company's logo go up on a sign.
* Chris Connolly, a mentor to both Joe and John, is cited as an example of someone who has a well-rounded skill set and can play their part on the team effectively.
* Using Concur for expense reports.
* The importance of creating a safe space for women.
* Ways to promote diversity in the parking industry, including highlighting successful women in the field.
* Dani shares strategies for women to assert themselves in male-dominated industries.

Connect with Joe Leung on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-leung/

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this show:

* Asura Technologies, a new generation ALPR and video analytics company: https://asuratechnologies.com/
* Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), bringing you a new standard in parking compliance: https://www.parkingprrs.com/
* Parking Whisperer. https://parkingwhisperer.com/

Connect with the hosts:

* http://www.parkingtalk.com
* Dani Crain - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-crain-3754a3178/
* John D. Conway - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-conway-b55a7025/
* info@parkingtalk.com

Subscribe, like, and follow:

* Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/44KScHB
* Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3rKBJVn
* YouTube - https://bit.ly/Parking-Talk-YouTube
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parkingtalk-com/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/parkingtlk

This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com.
Mentioned in this episode:
Check Out PRRS Today
Visit www.parkingprrs.com