Greeter- Mike Willis

Invocation- Justin Salters

Flag Salute- Ashley Vorhees

Roving Mic- Kamal Bhakta

Club Announcements

• Members were encouraged to Signup for Bell Ringing, December 12th; connect with Steve, Justin, Mike, Andrea, or Juan for location and times. One hour is all we ask!
• A $50 donation was made to CALM in honor of the speaker.

This week’s meeting featured a speaker with strong Bakersfield roots, familiar to many from Breakfast Rotary, Lives Club, and Chamber events. He also shared a bit about his background—Eagle Scout, active in his faith, and influenced heavily by family. He recognized a few folks in the room from past connections, including Charlie Mo. (AT&T) and Steve Roach (Scouting and church).

Career Journey

He walked us through his career path, starting at AT&T in sales and later moving to Apple, where he managed the California channel business and worked with major carriers. Although the work was rewarding, he admitted it created tension with his personal priorities. After Apple went through a restructuring, he decided it was time to shift direction and focus on building something that would make a positive impact locally.
 

Starting Fuel Runner

This led to the creation of Fuel Runner, a business centered on serving the community and creating local jobs. He was inspired by the idea that knowing your “why” matters, and his “why” is centered on family, faith, and contributing to Bakersfield.
 

He identified several issues he wanted to address: unsafe fueling practices, limited middle-class job opportunities, and safety concerns at certain gas stations. Fuel Runner aims to make fueling more convenient for families, safer for the community, and more efficient for businesses.

How It Work

Fuel Runner is essentially mobile fueling through an app—like DoorDash, but for gas. Users download the Fuel Runner app on iOS or Android, sign up for a $29.99 monthly subscription, and receive fuel at regular pump prices (for example, $4.39 for regular).

The business is independently owned (not a franchise), created by the speaker along with Mason Lawton and Jared Martin of J&M Precision. All equipment is DOT-approved and fully permitted.

Fuel Runner serves both residential users and commercial fleets. For businesses, the service can streamline fueling, paperwork, billing, and generator fill-ups. There are some limitations with companies that have their own on-site tanks.

Motivation and Purpose

He emphasized that the goal isn’t just convenience—it’s about doing work that benefits others. Personal loss and life changes helped him refocus on service, community, and building something meaningful.

Q&A Summary

A few highlights from the Q&A:

• Not currently a franchise, but plans to become one.
• All assets are owned outright.
• The equipment is DOT and state-approved, with proper weight-and-measures compliance.
• Fuel is supplied through direct transport relationships.
• Marketing is mainly word of mouth, social media, and QR codes.

Closing Thought

The speaker encouraged everyone to think about their own “why” and what motivates them to serve in the community.

Editor-in-Chief Profile

Since 1979, Mike Willis has been the President and Principal of Designer of Willis and Williams Design Studios. Willis’ studio creates a variety of print-related projects ranging from logos, branding, brochures, fact sheets, newsletters, promotional fliers, packaging, point-of-sale materials, advertisements, sales presentations to large banner graphics, outdoor ads, vehicle wraps, and apparel designs. In 1998, he co-authored a best-selling web design book titled Web Pages That Suck, published by Sybex books, which led to a secondary focus on website design. He has been invited to speak at the Web Design World conference in Seattle and Atlanta, as well as the Internet World conferences in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, and at the prestigious Seybold conference in Tokyo, Japan. He sits on the board for the Children’s Advocate Resource Endowment (C.A.R.E.) and is a committee chair for Village Fest, which benefits C.A.R.E..

He has been married for 34 years, has two kids, and his dog, Carl. He is an avid scuba diver. His friends call him WillieBoy.

A portfolio of work is available for review at www.WillisandWilliams.com