Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 9- Dan Thieken from Kraeger Tire and Service located in Millersport OH
156 Plays4 months ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . We had the pleasure to hang out with Dan Thieken from Kraeger Tire and Service. Great episode and i was really glad we finally got a "tire shop" on the show! Dan's had great success in his business and we got to learn about his story. This won't be the last time we have him on, what a guy!
One take away from this episode, you can't do everything alone. Being properly staffed is key.
Don't miss this episode!
Sit back and enjoy this one!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Aniz Lavji
Welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. We've got Frank as usual and today we have a new guest, Dan.
00:00:09
Frank Wiebe
Hello?
00:00:12
Aniz Lavji
I don't want mispronounce your last name.
00:00:14
Dan Thieken
Teakin.
00:00:15
Aniz Lavji
Teacon, that's what i was going to say. All right. Dan, tell us about yourself, man. What do you do and how do you start, where you are?
00:00:23
Dan Thieken
oh What do I do?
Dan Teacon's Journey as a Shop Owner
00:00:24
Dan Thieken
I try to survive just like every other shop owner, right?
00:00:26
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, that's that's getting harder every day.
00:00:27
Dan Thieken
um So I'm a shop owner. I own Crager Tire and Service in Millersport, Ohio. And I started there in 1996.
00:00:38
Aniz Lavji
All
00:00:39
Dan Thieken
Didn't know a thing about a car. And... just learned how to do oil changes and tires and just the basic stuff. And I like people and I've always wanted own my own business. So I kind of gravitated to run on the shop for a while.
00:00:55
Aniz Lavji
all right.
00:00:55
Dan Thieken
And I forget the exact year, 20, 21 years ago, i was approached about purchasing the shop from the previous owner. He's like a, he's actually like a stepdad to me.
00:01:07
Dan Thieken
And so I bought it, took it over and went full service.
00:01:07
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:01:12
Dan Thieken
and have it look back really.
00:01:14
Aniz Lavji
how many How many texts you got there?
00:01:17
Dan Thieken
Four and two managers in the office and then myself.
00:01:19
Aniz Lavji
Four?
00:01:22
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:01:22
Frank Wiebe
Wow, that sounds like a pretty hefty size shop.
00:01:26
Dan Thieken
It's not.
00:01:27
Frank Wiebe
How many bays do you have?
00:01:30
Dan Thieken
Four bays, one of those is an alignment bay that doubles as whatever we need it to.
00:01:31
Frank Wiebe
Okay.
00:01:36
Dan Thieken
um
00:01:36
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:01:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:01:37
Dan Thieken
And we're just knocking on $2 million dollars a year in revenue.
00:01:41
Frank Wiebe
Wow.
00:01:42
Aniz Lavji
Beauty.
00:01:42
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. so that's about the size of shop. Well, I got three bays currently and I'm the only tech right now and I've got one apprentice, but
00:01:46
Dan Thieken
Okay.
00:01:50
Dan Thieken
Okay.
00:01:52
Frank Wiebe
we're We're looking to expand and get to where something like that for sure.
00:01:55
Dan Thieken
Yeah. It's been a ride. It's been fun, but I just finally had to get help up front. So for years I was running it by myself. I was front house solely.
Challenges and Solutions in Shop Management
00:02:05
Dan Thieken
And I did that by myself up until about 20...
00:02:05
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:02:05
Frank Wiebe
Oh, wow.
00:02:09
Dan Thieken
twenty twenty 21, 22, I forget the exact year. And it does.
00:02:15
Aniz Lavji
Takes a lot out you.
00:02:17
Dan Thieken
So, you know, it takes their shops doing my volume that take two, three people to run it. And I got it up to 1.6 by myself. And I just began to get really tired.
00:02:29
Dan Thieken
I could feel, i could feel the anxiety in my chest about after being there about two hours every morning. And at that point, I realized I had to start really figuring this out and getting some people in there to help me run it.
00:02:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah,
00:02:43
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:02:44
Aniz Lavji
yeah umm I'm kind of in that situation. So my my business is me mom and dad, and you know my parents help and everything. But when it comes to like writing repair orders and really dealing with the customers, I'm pretty much doing all of that.
00:02:59
Aniz Lavji
Like my parents will answer the phone stuff, but obviously someone calls looking for a set of tires and he's line one.
00:02:59
Dan Thieken
yeah
00:03:05
Aniz Lavji
So jump over there. And then if the second and third line ring, then I'm going to put this one on hold and grab the other one. And okay, well, let me call you back.
00:03:12
Dan Thieken
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:14
Aniz Lavji
Cause I got another line and then kind of just goes like that. But I'm in the process of trying to either convert one of my current employees up to a service writer or just start off fresh with somebody. But again, if's it's a bit unnerving because I'm so used to doing everything.
00:03:33
Dan Thieken
yeah
00:03:34
Aniz Lavji
Giving them responsibility over is tough.
00:03:34
Frank Wiebe
i Yeah, I couldn't do it without my manager. I've got i've got a service manager full-time, and and my wife is also in the office. we've got two in the office full-time right now.
00:03:46
Frank Wiebe
And I couldn't do without them, man. Like I never answer the phone unless it's somebody has a very specific question for me. I don't talk on the phone. I don't talk to customers. They come and ask me, said, how much? I said, I don't know. You talk to them. yeah what when When do you have time? I don't know. You talk to them.
00:04:03
Frank Wiebe
I don't know. I'm strictly there as I'm the tech.
00:04:06
Dan Thieken
yeah
00:04:06
Frank Wiebe
That's it. I don't deal with all the rest of that. Behind the scenes, yeah, but not on a day to day. That's that's their job, right? So I leave that up
Technology in Auto Shops: Cloud Systems
00:04:14
Dan Thieken
yeah one of the first things i did i think right before it so right 2019 or 2020 i was just using an old pc based system a small software out of texas and
00:04:14
Frank Wiebe
to them.
00:04:22
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:04:27
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:04:29
Dan Thieken
I started hearing about these parts, like parts tech or whatever integration. So I ended up going to my first cloud-based SMS where I could utilize parts tech.
00:04:33
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:04:39
Dan Thieken
And I tell you what, adding parts tech or any anything like that into your shop, that's literally adding like almost a full person.
00:04:48
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:04:48
Dan Thieken
It saves, it it's its streamlined me so much in the office.
00:04:48
Frank Wiebe
it's
00:04:51
Dan Thieken
It helped us tremendous.
00:04:53
Frank Wiebe
And we, and we just starting that we're like what third week into <unk> using tech metric.
00:04:53
Aniz Lavji
I
00:04:57
Frank Wiebe
And I mean, for me, it's still a pain in the butt.
00:04:58
Dan Thieken
Mm-hmm.
00:05:00
Frank Wiebe
Cause I got to learn how to use it, but I think the office is is catching on pretty quick and it's, it's so far, I think it's working out pretty good.
00:05:02
Dan Thieken
Sure.
00:05:08
Dan Thieken
Yeah, whatever you decide to use, it's that integration that the parts ordering.
00:05:12
Frank Wiebe
Yup.
00:05:12
Dan Thieken
That's that's a game changer. That is a game changer.
00:05:16
Frank Wiebe
Yup.
00:05:16
Aniz Lavji
i mean, we got parts tech and there's next part. There's two of them.
00:05:19
Dan Thieken
Correct, yeah.
00:05:20
Aniz Lavji
And i mean, in a few clicks, within easily 45 seconds, you can have something priced out. As long as your internet connection, everything flows nicely.
00:05:29
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:05:31
Aniz Lavji
You can price out a brake job that quick and fire it off to a customer. but but you know By the time they get back in the car, ah back in their Uber or something to go home, they've already got a quote on their phone.
00:05:42
Dan Thieken
yeah, I know it's convenient, that's for sure.
00:05:45
Aniz Lavji
I think there was a... I someone was saying like every 15 minutes or something that you wait to send them that estimate, whenever they're gonna open it, you know the chance of actually actually closing that sale goes down quite a bit.
00:06:03
Dan Thieken
Oh, I'm sure there's all kinds of studies out there. I wouldn't know about it. You know, we we call them um we call them with the estimate when it's ready or if we have time. It is what it is, and we can't can always control how that flows.
00:06:10
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:06:13
Frank Wiebe
No, if you if you try to go on something like that, you're just going to run yourself ragged to be like every every second of every day.
00:06:17
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:06:20
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:06:20
Frank Wiebe
You do it in a timely fashion that works for you and the customer has to appreciate that you're doing the best you can for them.
00:06:27
Dan Thieken
Yeah, that doesn't mean inspect it at 9 o'clock and call them at 3 in the afternoon. That's not what that means, but...
00:06:32
Frank Wiebe
No, absolutely not. No.
00:06:35
Aniz Lavji
Now we um kind of turn over the DVI and then you know I'll send a quick text, hey, you you know is this a good time for a quick phone call?
00:06:36
Frank Wiebe
Everything within reason.
00:06:43
Aniz Lavji
So we actually call them and then we send the estimate over on the phone with them.
00:06:47
Dan Thieken
Okay.
00:06:48
Aniz Lavji
Because sometimes when you when you know if you're sending over an estimate, it's like four grand. Without you being on the phone and then they get that, they're holy crap, four grand. And they don't even want to look at the whole estimate because it's just shocking for them.
00:06:58
Frank Wiebe
Mm-hmm.
00:07:01
Aniz Lavji
So I try to do it with them.
00:07:02
Dan Thieken
yeah and and and so Yeah, and some guys will just send it over. i I had a service advisor just recently, so a year and a half, two years ago, who came from a dealership, and he was just firing off estimates over over the internet, and I'm like, did you talk to him?
00:07:14
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:07:19
Dan Thieken
He's like, nope, they just approved it, and I'm like, man, I said, i love the efficiency of that. But, you know, one thing we are about is about that little more personal relationship.
00:07:30
Aniz Lavji
Thank you.
00:07:30
Dan Thieken
And, but he'd fire, yeah, he'd fire that estimate off and they approve or decline.
00:07:30
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Customer interaction.
00:07:36
Dan Thieken
And he had a really good success rate. Don't get me wrong, but I'm like, that's not how I want that done at all.
00:07:41
Frank Wiebe
No, because he didn't have that personal connection with your customers that you have already built.
00:07:45
Dan Thieken
Correct. Yeah.
00:07:45
Frank Wiebe
and and you And you feel bad if you gave them a $2,500, $3,000 estimate, you feel bad because, you know, they work hard for their money as a service, right? They're just like, this is just their job. So they just boomop boom, boom, boom.
00:07:57
Dan Thieken
Yeah, and it's not that I feel bad, right? um i va i yeah and and I've evolved a lot with my mentality.
00:08:00
Aniz Lavji
They're there for a reason. It is what
00:08:04
Dan Thieken
Now, if if someone were to throw them a $2,000 estimate for just regular routine maintenance, that's one thing. But if they came in for a repair or whatever that is, and it's $2,500, no longer...
00:08:15
Aniz Lavji
it isn't what a is.
00:08:18
Dan Thieken
i no longer let my emotions get in the way. And I and i mean and i don't mean in the way like like a major roadblock, but i took I took that, I've kind of compartmentalized that. I'm like, listen, here's what's wrong with your car.
00:08:33
Dan Thieken
We can proceed this way, this way, or this way. But at the end of the day, this is what the issue is.
00:08:37
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah.
00:08:37
Dan Thieken
And if you want to proceed, we will. And if you don't, I understand it's a lot of money and we'll feel what we'll see what we can do to help you out.
Community Relationships and Customer Loyalty
00:08:43
Dan Thieken
But I i no longer get that gut check like I did 15, 20 years ago with that type of stuff.
00:08:50
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, that's good.
00:08:52
Aniz Lavji
i get i get I get zero gut check because i you know i've i've heard I've been to some trainings and stuff, and some of this stuff makes sense. and it's you know if you're They're there for a reason.
00:09:03
Aniz Lavji
So if their bill is $2,000 or if it's $2,500, I mean, it is what it is. And if they need breaks, they need breaks. It's not your fault they need breaks.
00:09:12
Dan Thieken
That's correct. I didn't break it, build it or buy it. Right. But it it's you can still have compassion. You can still show you can still show compassion, but it doesn't have to make it doesn't have to hit you in the feel the feel bads like it used to.
00:09:18
Aniz Lavji
For sure.
00:09:21
Aniz Lavji
Definitely.
00:09:26
Dan Thieken
Right.
00:09:26
Aniz Lavji
It shouldn't be something when you go home at night, you're like, oh, man, they spent two grand. Like, that's, it can't be that.
00:09:33
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:09:33
Aniz Lavji
You know what i mean? Because at the end of the day, they came to to fix the vehicle. Whether they fixed it or not, that's a whole other situation.
00:09:41
Dan Thieken
Yeah, it is.
00:09:41
Aniz Lavji
But they brought it over, and if it worked out in their budget, fine. If it didn't, then, you know, end of the chapter, move on to the next vehicle, right? Nothing we can do about it.
00:09:51
Dan Thieken
Yeah, and we're and we're small town rural. You know, the actual village that I have a business, not technically in the city limits, but just outside, I believe, and I don't want to be miss i don't want to misquote myself here, but I feel like it was right around a thousand or a little less.
00:10:06
Aniz Lavji
So.
00:10:06
Dan Thieken
Um, so I say that to say this, we had a guy in a week or two ago with a typical old Jeep oil cooler leak, and we gave him an estimate to fix that and some other things.
00:10:18
Dan Thieken
And he said that they were trying to sell up a parent's house or something they didn't have the money. And I was in the office when my manager called and he's like, I understand that.
00:10:29
Dan Thieken
He's like, what can we do to help you? Like we were, he was prepared to like maybe make him, let him make two payments or something like that. And so we we still have to deal with that just where we are.
00:10:40
Dan Thieken
And a lot of people would say that I don't have to deal with that or like that, but man, we're a small town, rural country and it's relationship built and it's not transactional and it will never be transactional.
00:10:44
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:10:53
Dan Thieken
The day it becomes transactional, then we have to sit back and reevaluate what we're even doing.
00:10:53
Aniz Lavji
exactly
00:11:00
Frank Wiebe
um and i'm I'm in the same boat as you. out We're in a small town. like I think we've got 8,000 people in our town. and Again, we're just outside of town, but same thing. it it You can't just be hard on it.
00:11:12
Frank Wiebe
Coming from a city, I guess maybe it'd be one thing, but in a small town, you're right.
00:11:16
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:11:17
Frank Wiebe
It's all about the relationship with the people. it isn't just You can't just have it say, this is the way that it is. You got this little little little old lady that comes in. I got a couple quite a few elderly customers that come in and they're living on a pension, right?
00:11:28
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:11:28
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:11:30
Frank Wiebe
They got a, the one time we did the head gaskets on a caravan, and it was like, I don't know, three grand or whatever.
00:11:30
Aniz Lavji
That's different.
00:11:37
Frank Wiebe
There was some more work to it. I'm like, look, we can make, break it down into payments. I'm okay with that because you know, they're going to pay it. Right. But you don't do that for everybody because people, if they're working, but you got the little old lady or a little old man that's on a pension.
00:11:45
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:11:47
Aniz Lavji
No, no, no.
00:11:48
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:11:51
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, man, we're going to help them out.
00:11:51
Dan Thieken
yeah
00:11:52
Frank Wiebe
Cause like you said, it's all about the relation and this, and this guy that we did that for, he's the kind of guy that will go on a Saturday morning to the local stockyard. And, and he talks to everybody, everybody.
00:12:06
Frank Wiebe
And when, when, when he says, look, those guys, they really treat me, right? Hey, I don't have to pay for advertising because I just, I just did that right there.
00:12:15
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:12:15
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:12:15
Frank Wiebe
And it didn't cost me a dime.
00:12:15
Dan Thieken
Yeah. yeah
00:12:18
Aniz Lavji
We definitely got some customers like that, that they've been with us for so long. And if they're short a little bit here and there, i mean, it's fine. We'll, we know that they're coming back and 80% of my customers have their tires stored with us as well.
00:12:33
Aniz Lavji
So, I mean, you know, you've got a little bit of leverage there, like they're not going anywhere, but, but, you know, for new customers, I've got new customers coming in all the time and they're like, you know, it's a thousand bucks and I just give you 300 now and pay the rest later. Like, unfortunately we can't.
00:12:48
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, no, can't do that.
00:12:49
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:12:50
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:12:50
Frank Wiebe
nope
00:12:54
Frank Wiebe
Nope. We had this one guy that we did an engine job for and and he's like, yep, you know i going to make payments on. And it's like, okay, well, if you making these and these and these payments and lo and behold, he defaulted and finally he did make a few payments, but he's like out three or whatever.
00:13:13
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:13:13
Frank Wiebe
And now that stupid engine blew up that we put in there, sos but it's under warranty. So now the vehicle's back at us and we're like, look, we've got an engine under warranty.
00:13:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:13:24
Frank Wiebe
We can put it in, but once your bill is paid up, then you can get your then you can get your vehicle back.
00:13:27
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:13:27
Dan Thieken
Yeah, that's how it should be.
00:13:29
Frank Wiebe
So now it's in our possession. And if he doesn't pay, it becomes mine. I just, I don't care. Because at some point, like, okay, hey, if you're gonna, we got this one lady and And same thing, the but she is diligent like every single week.
00:13:46
Frank Wiebe
and And she had to the point where she had paid off her her bill. Like the same thing we did an oil cooler in a caravan.
00:13:54
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:13:54
Frank Wiebe
and And she had paid off the bill and next week sent money again. and it's like, whoa, wait, wait, wait. And she's like oh, man, I'm so sorry that I sent you extra money. I'm like, listen, okay, we'll just keep it for the next time.
00:14:09
Frank Wiebe
Then like two weeks later, she came in for something else. And it was like, yeah. and Some people, you just, you feel like you, it will work out. But man, when those ones that don't, it burns you.
00:14:20
Frank Wiebe
That really stinks.
00:14:20
Dan Thieken
Yeah, it's a it's a it's been a very small percentage for us over the years, like, like almost unmentionable.
00:14:21
Frank Wiebe
And then
00:14:24
Frank Wiebe
it it has to be. Yeah, yeah. It's it's like 1% of it, right?
00:14:31
Dan Thieken
Right now it's not even it's it's the it's it's it's a fraction of a percent.
00:14:31
Frank Wiebe
And not even that, eh? Yeah.
00:14:36
Dan Thieken
I think if I think back on this, I have no more
00:14:36
Frank Wiebe
And that's the way it should be.
00:14:43
Dan Thieken
No more than eight people, maybe 10 if we include two or three bad checks over the years. So we'll call it 10 people that have either not paid their bill intentionally or written a bad check in 21 years of me owning the business.
00:14:59
Frank Wiebe
i think I think we've had three. If I can think of it right now, we've heard we've had three. um Two that just completely ghosted us.
00:15:09
Frank Wiebe
Like it was one of those, yeah, I'll pick that up after hours. I'll send an e-transfer or I'll come back and go.
00:15:15
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:15:16
Frank Wiebe
So two of those for sure.
00:15:18
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:15:18
Frank Wiebe
and And now this one. So there's three that I can think of in six years. So... That's a pretty small percentage too, but it's it's still too much.
00:15:26
Dan Thieken
It is. Yeah.
Financial Lessons and Handling Unpaid Bills
00:15:28
Frank Wiebe
it's it's It's more than it needs to be because it's not like you're going to skip out on your steak dinner at the at the local steakhouse.
00:15:38
Dan Thieken
Yeah, and at the end of the day, if i if if we if we decide to let someone out of the office with their vehicle that isn't fully paid, there's a reason for that. Whether it be they're on bad times or in the rare the rare event, we would get scammed.
00:15:52
Dan Thieken
um But ah life goes on. If someone doesn't pay me everything they owe me after you know a year or two, whatever that looks like, that's on them. It's it's a write-off. Do I feel dumb about it? Yeah, but at the end of the day, it's okay.
00:16:08
Dan Thieken
I mean, um life life goes on.
00:16:08
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, we...
00:16:10
Dan Thieken
I don't feel bad about the decision to help them.
00:16:12
Frank Wiebe
No.
00:16:12
Aniz Lavji
Oh,
00:16:13
Frank Wiebe
and Yeah, exactly. we We got scammed once. You're talking about scammed. We got scammed out of tires one time.
00:16:19
Dan Thieken
Oh, you fell for that.
00:16:19
Frank Wiebe
It was a...
00:16:20
Aniz Lavji
is it the one where they called and they give you credit card and want to order 10 tires?
00:16:20
Frank Wiebe
Oh, my gosh.
00:16:25
Frank Wiebe
That's the one.
00:16:25
Aniz Lavji
Oh, Frank.
00:16:26
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. And and I didn't...
00:16:27
Dan Thieken
So that was a big that was a big thing started back in the early 2000s. And then it went away. And then it's come back like gang like like fire right now.
00:16:36
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:16:36
Aniz Lavji
And it's always a BFG, TAKO2s, and the big expensive ones.
00:16:36
Dan Thieken
so
00:16:36
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, this was... so like
00:16:42
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:42
Frank Wiebe
Well, it was about, it was about ah yeah, it was about like 1300 the first time. It happened twice and I didn't even know about it. And and and the service writer took the call. Everything was legit. The only reason that we got screwed in it is because of our point of sale system, the way that it was set up.
00:17:02
Frank Wiebe
If the credit card, if you call it with a credit card over the phone, you just punch in the number, right?
00:17:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:17:07
Frank Wiebe
because and then But then it was like the credit card was not present.
00:17:11
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:17:11
Frank Wiebe
or something like that. And then of course, later on when they left and they just called and said the card was canceled and credit card company came back after us. But it was after that they changed it. Now they had two options where, you know, your regular card, if the card is present but wasn't working, you punch it in and they still had to sign it or they have a phone sale version of it.
00:17:34
Frank Wiebe
If we would have done the phone sale, click that portion of it, typed it in that way,
00:17:35
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:17:40
Frank Wiebe
the company could have done whatever they wanted and we would have still kept our money. but
00:17:46
Frank Wiebe
and it was And we tried to fight it, but it was like, it cost more money to fight it than what it would have been worth. So I was like, well, that's a write off.
00:17:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:17:52
Dan Thieken
sure
00:17:52
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:17:53
Frank Wiebe
And it was, it was a bad deal. So, and I said, you know what? That's a good lesson learned. And that ain't gonna happen again.
00:18:01
Aniz Lavji
We haven't had that call in a couple years, but I think it was...
00:18:04
Frank Wiebe
That was about a year and a half ago when ours was.
00:18:07
Aniz Lavji
Well, two years ago for us, we maybe got that call three times. And each each time I'd ask the guy, i was like, so are you sending ah one of your mules to pick up the tires or how does this work?
00:18:20
Aniz Lavji
And he just got pissed and just hung up the phone.
00:18:24
Frank Wiebe
It's like those people people calling and wanting to do duct cleaning all the time.
00:18:25
Dan Thieken
Well, it's funny. Yeah.
00:18:29
Frank Wiebe
Man, I get like five a day.
00:18:29
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man. Oh, man.
00:18:31
Frank Wiebe
It's ridiculous. i don't I don't even answer my phone, my cell phone anymore unless it's somebody I know.
00:18:37
Aniz Lavji
My favorite is getting those calls on the way to work because I've got a 45-minute drive.
00:18:37
Dan Thieken
yeah
00:18:37
Frank Wiebe
I just don't.
00:18:43
Aniz Lavji
I'll keep them on the phone for a good 20, 25 minutes. Keep me company. and and then And then at the end of it, you I'll tell them, well, you know what?
00:18:48
Frank Wiebe
man
00:18:51
Aniz Lavji
I'm to have to ask my mommy and see if that's in the budget. Then they start screaming, why did you tell me that from the beginning?
00:18:58
Dan Thieken
okay
00:18:58
Aniz Lavji
I'm like, oh, well, I don't know if this costs money.
00:19:00
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, oh. Yeah. Yeah, man.
00:19:06
Aniz Lavji
But there's no way scams going around. It's never going to end.
00:19:09
Dan Thieken
No, it won't. There'll always be someone that comes up with a new one.
00:19:13
Frank Wiebe
It's unreal.
00:19:13
Aniz Lavji
iy
00:19:13
Frank Wiebe
I don't know how people can't just like have an honest, legit job, but in their opinion, I guess they think they do have an honest, legit job.
00:19:20
Dan Thieken
What's, yeah, what's the fun in that?
00:19:22
Frank Wiebe
I guess working for a living is overrated.
00:19:26
Aniz Lavji
Dan, at your shop, what kind of tires do you specialize in, man?
00:19:31
Dan Thieken
The black round ones.
00:19:33
Aniz Lavji
those are good.
00:19:33
Frank Wiebe
So.
00:19:35
Aniz Lavji
With tread or without tread?
00:19:36
Dan Thieken
have listen, I've put tires on, um, I'm not going to say everything, right. Cause I haven't put them on everything, but from, um, the small lawn cart up to, agriculture, semi industrial big 25, 20, 20.5, 25 split rings with the rings them. Um,
00:19:56
Dan Thieken
split rings with the o- rings in em um Pretty much anything that the normal everyday person might encounter with the exception of big like and like the big industrial mining tires and things like that.
00:20:04
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:20:11
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:20:12
Frank Wiebe
So you, so you run into like a big tire shop, like you actually do inside my truck tires and stuff like that as well.
00:20:17
Dan Thieken
Yeah, I mean, we don't do the semi stuff as much because i've I've actually kind of weeded that out. We still support the local farmers that need them.
00:20:25
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:20:25
Dan Thieken
But the over the road truckers that want to put because our our lot is not conducive to semis at all.
00:20:31
Frank Wiebe
Mm-hmm.
00:20:31
Aniz Lavji
then
00:20:31
Dan Thieken
we can We can get them in and out. There's a big grain elevator next to us, so it's it's possible. But we don't like doing them. So we do we do them for the ag the ad customers.
00:20:41
Dan Thieken
We do a lot of RV tires.
00:20:42
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Oh.
00:20:44
Dan Thieken
One of our biggest clients is an RV a retailer, one of the biggest in the tri-state area, actually. And we serve but we we handle... two, their two main branches that are right up the road from us.
00:20:57
Dan Thieken
And, but obviously the bulk of it's passenger and light truck stuff and agriculture.
00:21:03
Frank Wiebe
So do you have a service truck to do agriculture?
00:21:06
Dan Thieken
Not anymore.
00:21:07
Frank Wiebe
a
00:21:08
Dan Thieken
So again, me running the business by myself, there was ah I came across when I bought the company, there was an old Chevy, uh, 3,500 van with a box bed on the back of it.
00:21:20
Dan Thieken
Um, So we did have a service track. We did a lot of farm calls. And then I locked into a repoed ah F-450 with a lift gate and everything, a rotary compressor on board. So I snagged that thing up for like $32,000 it only had some thousand miles on it So when I bought that, I was the one running the service calls just like I was originally.
00:21:47
Dan Thieken
So I would leave my shop unattended to the guys to just handle it while I was out in the field doing a farm tire.
00:21:54
Frank Wiebe
you
00:21:55
Dan Thieken
And at some point, oh, it was one of those six liter turbos. So when that thing finally broke down for the third time and the turbo was no longer under warranty, I let it sit for a year and a half.
00:22:07
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:22:08
Dan Thieken
And then I sold it to a tire company up out of Northern Ohio. They came down and got it. They gave me like, I don't know, 15 grand for that thing. And I was, I never looked back. We lost, we lost maybe a couple outlier farming customers for service calls.
00:22:18
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:22:24
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:22:25
Dan Thieken
But if, ah you know, we all, we, we, we all complain about finding good technicians.
00:22:28
Aniz Lavji
Well, that's not.
00:22:32
Dan Thieken
Um, I don't think people realize what it would take to train a guy to go out in the field and learn how to do agricultural tires.
00:22:43
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, buddy.
00:22:43
Dan Thieken
Load it, load it with fluid out, it patching tubes the right way, patching tires the right way.
00:22:46
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:22:50
Dan Thieken
And it would be me doing the training and I just didn't want to do it. So I'm like, I'm done. I sold the truck and I haven't done a service call probably 12 years.
00:23:02
Aniz Lavji
I mean, how much are you going to yourself, right? Especially like, that's that's not easy.
00:23:06
Dan Thieken
Well, the goal was to do as little as possible anymore by myself.
00:23:11
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man.
00:23:11
Frank Wiebe
That's what I'm working towards right now, too.
00:23:12
Dan Thieken
right Well, i I have a young family, so I'm 47. My wife's 10 years younger than me. And I got divorced. we My first wife and I got divorced. And my current wife, Brooke, and I started dating. And I said, hey, I don't want to have kids and I don't particularly want to get married. I think we should probably reconsider where this is going.
00:23:35
Dan Thieken
And... It's like, no, I want to see where it goes. So three kids later, a marriage, six dogs, some donkeys and chickens and cats. So I have a yeah I have a young family.
00:23:44
Frank Wiebe
Wow.
00:23:45
Dan Thieken
Everyone in high school that I went to high school with has kids have kids that are graduating college or if not older than that. Right.
00:23:52
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. yeah
00:23:52
Dan Thieken
So I have in the household now I have a nine year old, a seven year old and a five year old.
00:23:53
Aniz Lavji
Oh,
00:23:59
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:23:59
Frank Wiebe
Wow.
Balancing Work and Family Life
00:24:00
Dan Thieken
So I didn't want to be committed to work as much. Plus it was stressing me out. I wanted to be home for them and help around the house as much as I can. So.
00:24:09
Frank Wiebe
that's That's a good way to do it, yeah. My family's all grown up too. i They're all, one's still in university, but the other two are already gone and graduated and out. So I know about your age as well.
00:24:22
Dan Thieken
Gotcha. Yeah.
00:24:22
Aniz Lavji
I got You got to look up in the sky there for a second, Frank.
00:24:23
Frank Wiebe
I might be a couple of years younger than you. I'm 40, I'm 46 this year.
00:24:27
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:24:28
Frank Wiebe
yep
00:24:33
Frank Wiebe
Yep. Okay, all right, that's it, yeah.
00:24:36
Aniz Lavji
my kids are here.
00:24:36
Frank Wiebe
It'll it will come soon enough for you. Give you another couple of years, you'll have it too.
00:24:39
Dan Thieken
okay
00:24:40
Aniz Lavji
Mine are two, six, and eight.
00:24:43
Frank Wiebe
Damn.
00:24:44
Aniz Lavji
So that's why just earlier, all Frank knows, or around the right before the time the podcast will start, he's like, is your two-year-old sleeping yet? I'm like, I'm working on it. I'm working on it.
00:24:53
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:24:54
Aniz Lavji
up he's He's still awake right now. my wife's ah My wife's still trying to get him to bed.
00:24:59
Dan Thieken
yeah my nine-year-old's probably upstairs playing in his bed right now punk
00:25:04
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man. Well, this is why we work, right, for them.
00:25:06
Frank Wiebe
yep
00:25:10
Dan Thieken
I think I work just because I'm stupid.
00:25:15
Aniz Lavji
Oh, that's funny. be Yeah, yeah.
00:25:16
Dan Thieken
No, yeah you have to have purpose, right? And the purpose the purpose has to be supported financially.
00:25:23
Aniz Lavji
Definitely. And then, you know, at the end of the day, when you come home, you can have a crappy day and you see your kids at home and stuff. That makes a huge difference, man.
00:25:31
Dan Thieken
Not always.
00:25:33
Frank Wiebe
yeah ah Just wait, you're getting it you're getting into the teenage years.
00:25:35
Dan Thieken
but Let's be real. Let's be real. Not always.
00:25:39
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, you're getting you're getting into the teenage years.
00:25:40
Aniz Lavji
Not always. Yeah.
00:25:42
Frank Wiebe
You're going to want to go back to work for a while. Yep. Yep.
00:25:44
Dan Thieken
Well, trust me, there are days because my wife now stays at home.
00:25:47
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:25:49
Dan Thieken
I finally convinced her to stop working.
00:25:49
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:25:51
Dan Thieken
And there are days. I'm like, I plan on staying home, but the night before got me all wound up. And I'm like, I'm going to work.
00:26:02
Frank Wiebe
yeah
00:26:04
Aniz Lavji
when When you're so used to going in all the time and you know staying staying home, even for a day, I stayed at home today. And I mean, this is weird not being at work.
00:26:15
Dan Thieken
I used to feel that way. Right. So we, you know, with the new management team in place and my manager is actually my best friend. Um, I've been in this industry 30 years.
00:26:21
Aniz Lavji
Oh, wow. Yep.
00:26:23
Dan Thieken
He's been at 40. Uh, he's really, really good at what he does, but there's still a transition, right?
00:26:25
Aniz Lavji
noah
00:26:29
Dan Thieken
So he's a country boy from West Virginia. Uh, ran ran shops in Columbus, which is a bigger metropolitan, you know, bigger metropolitan area.
00:26:39
Dan Thieken
So his level of professionalism and how he deals with clients is fantastic, but it's also a lot different than what our community is used to.
00:26:51
Dan Thieken
they're used to me just, um, you know, being me. And um it's been a, it's been a interesting transition for me to step back some and let him run it because he will never, he will never be effective if I'm there.
00:27:02
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:27:04
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:27:10
Dan Thieken
And he's really good at it. So the transition has been difficult in some aspects. It's been really positive in a lot of aspects. um I think there's been some,
00:27:24
Dan Thieken
clients that have been upset. Well, I know there have been. And then when you start digging into some of that, some of that
00:27:33
Dan Thieken
mixed emotions or hurt feelings or anger, was actually directed at something I had done um in the last couple of years. And I had, and when I had a service advisor in there a lot more and I was still trying to get out a lot more than I was
00:27:47
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:27:47
Dan Thieken
prior, it's been it's been interesting. i don'tm I'm very, very happy because I've been recruiting this guy for seven years and the last three really hard.
00:27:55
Aniz Lavji
Oh, wow.
00:27:58
Dan Thieken
And then his he was working for an independent. They had seven locations and private equity came in and bought him up.
00:28:04
Aniz Lavji
Oh.
00:28:08
Dan Thieken
And after about six months, the corporate tendency started to set in place and
00:28:14
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:28:14
Dan Thieken
that was That's not how he rolls. So he ended up bolting and he brought an assistant with him. And it's been really good, but it's unique. It's a unique situation.
00:28:25
Aniz Lavji
Private equity is ah apparently eating up a lot of shops in the US.
Industry Shifts: Private Equity in Auto Shops
00:28:30
Dan Thieken
Yeah, it's yeah, it they're becoming a cancer, in my opinion.
00:28:37
Aniz Lavji
I've seen a lot of stories now. just i Again, I'm not there, so I hear like this something, Sun something, Sun something, Sun Auto.
00:28:45
Dan Thieken
sun auto that was yeah that's one of the big ones
00:28:49
Aniz Lavji
So they're basically, they would they just go around buying up all the independents, putting their name on there, and then just taking over the shop. Is that what they're doing there?
00:28:58
Dan Thieken
yeah so from what i know of them um which isn't a bunch but i know some they do tend to buy successful independents and in some cases they will maintain the independent name
00:29:13
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:14
Dan Thieken
Other cases, they'll rebrand immediately.
00:29:19
Dan Thieken
And then, yeah, you know I don't want to speak on that too much, but yeah.
00:29:22
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. But you know, it's unfortunately all all we can do is try to hold the, hold the four down and just keep as many independents around as possible.
00:29:34
Dan Thieken
It'll be tough. I mean, i think the ultimate goal for a lot of shop owners the vision would be to potentially build it up and sell it, right? If you're not going to pass it off to somebody and the family, you're going to want to sell it.
00:29:42
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:46
Dan Thieken
And if you build it up profitably and the right way and it can operate without you, listen, there's not a lot of, you know, you and me money that can go out and buy a shop that's, you know, worth one to $2.5, $3 million.
00:30:01
Dan Thieken
dollars We can't do it.
00:30:02
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:30:03
Dan Thieken
So it's going to require private equity to buy them
00:30:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, the um I know in in the States, I'm seeing all the time shops for sale with the property for 400, 500,000. four hundred five hundred thousand I'm like, holy crap. that's like well
00:30:16
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, if only you can find something like that around here, right?
00:30:19
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:30:20
Frank Wiebe
Around here, the...
00:30:20
Aniz Lavji
It doesn't exist in this area.
00:30:22
Dan Thieken
And I should.
00:30:22
Frank Wiebe
Oh no, the property around here is ridiculous.
00:30:24
Dan Thieken
Yeah, it's it's it's really it's really high here, especially in the Ohio area. We have a lot of the big players coming in, Google, Intel, Amazon. There's huge tracts of land being purchased in central Ohio from these companies and the property values around them are going up. And I shouldn't say it's only private equity that can buy it.
00:30:46
Dan Thieken
these people out, you know, other shop owners that have multiple shops, right? And other and independents, but private equity looks appealing to a lot of shop owners that can build their build it up and sell it right, you know, so.
00:30:49
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:30:59
Aniz Lavji
and they'll And they'll pay a little bit more just to get you out from what I'm hearing.
00:31:03
Frank Wiebe
I think if somebody came up and offered to buy mine, don't know, depending on where I am in life, I might just be like, yep, let's go and take a vacation down to Florida a little bit longer or something like that.
00:31:11
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:31:16
Dan Thieken
Yeah. And we're, listen, everything everything's for sale, right?
00:31:17
Frank Wiebe
But
00:31:19
Dan Thieken
We, I, we can sit here and say, I would never sell to a place like that, but you come to me with the right offer or come to you with the right offer, um, and the right time in the right situation and your mindset's in the right place, sign the, sign the check and I'll, and I'll, and I'll get out, you know?
00:31:20
Frank Wiebe
yeah, has to be.
00:31:35
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:31:35
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:31:35
Frank Wiebe
yeah
00:31:39
Dan Thieken
So yeah we, we like to think that we may not sell out to something like that, but
00:31:43
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, no. Yeah.
00:31:44
Dan Thieken
Man, money money talks and the older you get, it you know I don't have any plans of getting out of my shop for the next eight to 10 years at minimum, and like ownership-wise. And at that point, I might... you know So I'll have i have two sons. Well, one son's turning 18 next month. you know I have two boys that may may show interest in it. My girls are a little younger, but who knows?
00:32:11
Aniz Lavji
My, uh, I was, i was just telling Frank a little while ago, my middle child, he's, uh, he's six. And, you know, so we asked that, what do you want to be when you're older? he's like, I want to be the ruler of daddy's shop.
00:32:23
Frank Wiebe
<unk>
00:32:26
Aniz Lavji
All right. The ruler.
00:32:27
Frank Wiebe
at least you're not least you know At least you know you're being replaced. Can't have two rulers. o king of No king of the castle going on right there.
00:32:35
Aniz Lavji
telling you ruler like not even the owner no I'm gonna be the ruler as if I dictator yeah oh god
00:32:39
Dan Thieken
Maybe the dictator.
00:32:43
Frank Wiebe
like My kids have no interest in this industry at all. they They all know they can all do their own service work if they need to, oil changes. and and My one son, he can do breaks and stuff too, but
00:32:55
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:32:56
Frank Wiebe
No, I've got i've got ah a son as a paramedic and I've got a son as an engineer, mechanical engineer. My daughter's studying to be a genetic scientist.
00:33:02
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:33:05
Frank Wiebe
I'm like, no, you don't need the automotive industry.
00:33:09
Dan Thieken
You know, my oldest son, he's finishing up an HVAC program at his, the like the tech school for at high school.
00:33:09
Frank Wiebe
It'll be just fine.
00:33:17
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:33:18
Dan Thieken
And he showed interest in working on cars. And I talked to him last year and because he came to me and said, Dad, i what do they want to I really want to work on cars. I'm like, if you're really committed to that, then you need to finish your HVAC certificate and get that completed. Yeah.
00:33:33
Dan Thieken
And you come work at the shop because he he doesn't have the drive. He has this. He talks a lot. He he talks the talk, but it doesn't always walk the walk. Right. So I said, come to the shop and work.
00:33:44
Dan Thieken
And I said, if you truly feel this way after a few months of being here, really working and not just saying you're working for dad and I give you a hundred dollars each day, you're there or whatever.
00:33:53
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:33:53
Dan Thieken
And you just lean, you lean on a broom if I'm lucky. If you show that an initiative and desire and drive, I said, I know enough people around this country that i I will send you out for weeks at a time to shadow people that do all kinds of different things and are the best at it. And I will help make you one of the best in the industry.
00:34:17
Dan Thieken
And he was on board. And then within a month and a month and a half, he's like, no, something, something, something changed. And I'm like,
00:34:25
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Realize that getting dirty and being greasy isn't as much fun as it looks like.
00:34:30
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:34:31
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:34:32
Dan Thieken
These kids, tell you.
00:34:34
Frank Wiebe
yeah
00:34:35
Aniz Lavji
not ah Not an easy industry, right? I mean, it's not, not everybody is cut out to, to do the automotive, automotive hospitality as, as I'm hearing it's being called now.
00:34:47
Dan Thieken
Listen, my view and on that is maybe different than a lot of people's. It's an industry, right?
00:34:54
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:34:54
Dan Thieken
Every industry has its problems. Um, now granted I had a very great opportunity 22 years ago, whatever it was, 21 years ago, I've been very blessed.
00:35:09
Dan Thieken
So it hasn't been like an uphill struggle for me.
00:35:12
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:35:12
Dan Thieken
This, any industry is only as difficult as you make it right. I don't, I, I get, I sometimes I get tired of hearing how bad our industry is because I, well, I know that, but, um,
00:35:22
Aniz Lavji
I don't think that bad.
00:35:27
Dan Thieken
You mentioned that it's tough. It's a tough industry, but what what industry isn't tough? Outside of the scammers, they have it pretty good.
00:35:34
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:35:34
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, they're doing pretty well. I think it's a tough tough industry if you make it if you make it seem that way.
00:35:36
Frank Wiebe
We just...
00:35:39
Aniz Lavji
But again, like you said, everyone's saying it's so tough, it's so tough, but...
00:35:43
Dan Thieken
Well, we we have a big window, right? With all these Facebook groups now, so we we get a network. We get to see everyone's daily struggles. And 98% of them, it seems like, are self-inflicted.
00:35:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:35:57
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:35:58
Dan Thieken
I am not perfect. I have made copious amount of mistakes that have cost me money, time, health. um But I also handle it differently. I just get through it. This happened. OK, it's well, that was a bad thing. And now it was just a thing.
00:36:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:36:14
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:36:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:36:14
Dan Thieken
Things aren't good or bad. They're just things.
00:36:16
Frank Wiebe
And you learn from it and now you move forward.
00:36:16
Dan Thieken
Right. Yeah.
00:36:19
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. If you can't learn from it, it wasn't a thing.
00:36:20
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:36:22
Frank Wiebe
You got to learn from it.
00:36:22
Dan Thieken
but there's go But there's going to be some pessimists that will listen to this podcast and say, that guy's full of shit. No. it it's just how you It's just how you look at things, right?
00:36:30
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Yeah. The real idea of it is not everything has to bring you down. Not everything has to be life altering or something. Yeah. That should happen. Whatever.
00:36:39
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:36:39
Frank Wiebe
Let's move on. Go forward.
00:36:41
Aniz Lavji
And if you don't if you don't like the industry, there's an easy way to get out.
00:36:41
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:36:41
Frank Wiebe
Right.
00:36:44
Aniz Lavji
You just go.
00:36:45
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, exactly.
00:36:45
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:36:45
Aniz Lavji
i mean, there's other things to do, but i I personally can't see myself doing anything else.
00:36:46
Dan Thieken
That's fair.
00:36:51
Aniz Lavji
I have way too much fun.
00:36:53
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
Continuous Learning in Business Operations
00:36:54
Frank Wiebe
I was like, just going back to that, my apprentice was taking a bolt out of a control arm and broke the nut, cage nut up top. And he comes out and he says, ah, this thing broke. And I'm like, okay, well, let's fix it.
00:37:06
Frank Wiebe
So I could have been mad and be like, ah, shit, now it's going to take that much longer.
00:37:10
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:37:10
Frank Wiebe
Well, let's just fix it. let's Let's work together. Let's get this done, get it out. And we did. And he learned a little bit on how to A, avoid it, B, fix it when it does happen.
00:37:16
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:37:21
Frank Wiebe
And now we can move forward and then hopefully it doesn't happen again.
00:37:24
Dan Thieken
Sure.
00:37:24
Frank Wiebe
and Now he learned from it. So that's every every day has to be a learning experience. Every day you have to learn something and that's how you're going move forward and continue to build yourself in this industry.
00:37:37
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:37:39
Aniz Lavji
there's if you're If you're going to work and you're not learning one thing, it'll be quite surprising. I learn something every day when I'm at work. Maybe some things I don't want to learn. Yeah.
00:37:49
Frank Wiebe
No, no, you don't want to know everything, but <unk> it's good to it's good to know what's what's coming up anyway.
00:37:55
Dan Thieken
Yeah, I learned something yesterday. I learned that the outer tie rods for a 77 Dodge W200 are different than the D200 platform.
00:38:10
Frank Wiebe
Oh yeah? I'm not surprised.
00:38:11
Dan Thieken
Yeah. Well, I would have no clue. I'm not a technician.
00:38:15
Frank Wiebe
man.
00:38:15
Aniz Lavji
i don' know I don't even know what the hell that is that you even just said.
00:38:20
Dan Thieken
I didn't either.
00:38:20
Frank Wiebe
all that
00:38:21
Dan Thieken
So if if I recall the W platform, I'm going to get these backwards and people are going to eat me up. The D platform is the two wheel drive and the W is the four wheel drive.
00:38:35
Dan Thieken
And the license plate pulled up the information in the system as a two wheel drive vehicle. So we ordered out our tie rods for a two wheel drive vehicle, which were a rare part anyway.
00:38:48
Aniz Lavji
Uh... Mm-hmm.
00:38:50
Dan Thieken
And technician takes it apart yesterday without confirming that the correct.
00:38:55
Frank Wiebe
Gotta confirm them parts.
00:38:58
Dan Thieken
Yep. So he comes to me at the end of the day. i was in there covering for the manager the second half the day. And he comes in and said, hey, these tie rods are wrong. So I go out and sure as shit, they're wrong.
00:39:09
Dan Thieken
So I get on the phone and we determine that it is four-wheel drive. And that's a W. And they take complete different tie rods. So we had to order those in.
00:39:21
Aniz Lavji
not easy to get or overnight yeah yeah
00:39:24
Dan Thieken
Overnight. So not horrible. over not horrible
00:39:27
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:39:28
Dan Thieken
But the truck has been there for six weeks at least because the guy said, take your time.
00:39:28
Frank Wiebe
That's like, that's...
00:39:34
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:39:34
Dan Thieken
So we had we had to get a new so new set of custom wheels for it, new set of tires, fix a transmission leak, and then we found the tie rods bad.
00:39:35
Frank Wiebe
Oh.
00:39:42
Dan Thieken
So we had to do the tie rods and then alignment on it. So.
00:39:45
Frank Wiebe
i don't I don't ever, my wife always says, don't ever say to Frank... Take your time. as soon as As soon as those words come, it's like two weeks out. It's on that.
00:39:56
Frank Wiebe
It's booked two weeks out. If you say take your time with it, it's sitting two weeks away. It's not happening in the next three or four days.
00:40:01
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:40:02
Frank Wiebe
Never.
00:40:02
Dan Thieken
Those are the worst words that most people can say to any shop.
00:40:06
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. She's like, don't ever say that to Frank. Don't ever say take your time with it or I'm not in a rush.
00:40:11
Aniz Lavji
I'm in no rush, you know, take your time.
00:40:12
Frank Wiebe
if Nope.
00:40:14
Aniz Lavji
2027 is fine.
00:40:15
Frank Wiebe
Nope. Oh, yeah every time, every time it's like ends up being a week or two. and And I feel, I feel bad. Like we're so busy, but it's like, well, they're not really wanting it. So yeah, I'll take this job and do this one and we'll get something else out of there.
00:40:30
Aniz Lavji
The take your time jobs. Those are the ones that are on the far right hoist where, where, uh,
00:40:35
Frank Wiebe
I wish I had a far right hoist right now. Oh my gosh. i'm I'm down, I'm down one day because we're, we're doing the renovations in the office and it's like, Man, it's not easy.
00:40:46
Frank Wiebe
It's it's hard.
00:40:46
Dan Thieken
Well, what what your office has to do on those no rush jobs is they have to say, okay, we'll get a handle, but then they have to go and schedule it. So they they have your office should take it upon themselves to put it out four days or five days and put it on the schedule.
00:41:00
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:41:02
Dan Thieken
And that way it's still a priority and it doesn't get, because we'll kick it to the back burner. We will keep putting that thing so far down the field because they but and this this guy literally,
00:41:07
Frank Wiebe
Mm-hmm.
00:41:10
Aniz Lavji
yeah. Yep.
00:41:14
Dan Thieken
has no timeframe. Like it could be months. And I, I had been away from work for about the last week and I should, and it's an, it's an orange, it's an orange Dodge truck.
00:41:25
Dan Thieken
And I show up there, there's another orange Dodge truck there, a different year, but similar. And I walk in, i'm like, what's that about? Well, some guy dropped it off. So I got looking in the system. It's the same guy. This guy collects old orange Dodge trucks.
00:41:40
Dan Thieken
So we still have the one that's been there six or eight weeks.
00:41:41
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:41:44
Dan Thieken
And he has another one there for something completely different. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, dude.
00:41:49
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:41:50
Dan Thieken
Good dude. He's an awesome dude. He's a great customer. But I had no clue that he collected old Dodge trucks, orange ones at that.
00:41:56
Frank Wiebe
yeah But what you're saying about letting the office handle that, that's what I started doing for the exact reason. If something gets dropped off and they say, we're not in a rush, I tell them and they know now they put it in the schedule, put it out.
00:42:08
Frank Wiebe
Like you said, four or five days or next week, but it's in there.
00:42:11
Dan Thieken
Yep.
00:42:11
Frank Wiebe
And then we work stuff around it so that at least, you know, the stuff that's priority now gets done then that will get done in the next week or two.
00:42:19
Dan Thieken
Yep.
00:42:20
Frank Wiebe
unless Unless you're exact absolutely not in a rush, then the more priority stuff will take next week's priorities.
00:42:26
Dan Thieken
yep
00:42:28
Aniz Lavji
Dan, are you planning on going to any expos this year?
00:42:33
Dan Thieken
I am. um I'll be at Tectonic because I'm doing a breakout class with Anders Gustafson from Shop Leavers on tires.
00:42:43
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, saw that.
00:42:44
Dan Thieken
and the um I'll be at Tools. We're doing a two and a half hour class at Tools. And then I'll be at, I always go to ASTA. I probably won't do Vision this year.
00:42:59
Dan Thieken
And then i might i might do I might do Super Saturday.
00:43:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, Super Saturday, when is that? That's...
00:43:09
Dan Thieken
towards the end of the year i want to say September, ah October.
00:43:12
Aniz Lavji
think it's October because, yeah, the ASTA is in September.
00:43:14
Dan Thieken
Yeah. Yeah, Super Saturday is cool. I love that one.
00:43:18
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I'm...
00:43:20
Dan Thieken
it's real so It's real small and intimate.
00:43:23
Aniz Lavji
I'm planning, im trying to figure things out for Vision, but I'm all booked for Tectonic.
00:43:28
Dan Thieken
There you
00:43:29
Aniz Lavji
And then... um I don't know. ASTA is 100%. I'm going to be there. I would never miss that. That was actually my first show ever, my first expo ever went to last year. or So, yeah.
00:43:41
Dan Thieken
Yeah, my first was Vision back in 23.
00:43:45
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:43:46
Dan Thieken
Yeah, that was my first expo.
00:43:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, we got Frank going to tools this year, so.
00:43:48
Frank Wiebe
that's Yeah, yep I've never been yet. So we're going to tools and that's going to be my first one.
00:43:54
Dan Thieken
Oh, Tools is ah tools is so much fun.
00:43:54
Frank Wiebe
And then, yeah,
00:43:57
Dan Thieken
it's It's so fun. They're all fun, but Tools is really cool.
00:44:00
Frank Wiebe
and our plan is to be at ASDA this year as well. So we're going to see if we're going to take, might try to take the whole team and go down get service-ried training and training and tech and all that.
00:44:12
Aniz Lavji
It'll be worth it, really, my opinion.
00:44:12
Frank Wiebe
and So, yeah.
00:44:15
Dan Thieken
Yeah. That's a big commitment to take the whole crew. We took, I took my whole crew to vision. Well, all but one of them. Well, scratch it. I shouldn't say whole crew. I took everybody that I knew would want to travel and have a good time.
00:44:28
Dan Thieken
The other two, the other two didn't.
00:44:28
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:44:31
Dan Thieken
And I even brought my new service advisor. He wasn't even high. He, he was hired, but he hadn't started yet. And he was supposed to start. I gave him a start date, but then I realized we were going to be at vision. I'm like, ah, crap.
00:44:44
Dan Thieken
I said, hey, you want to come to Vision if I can get you a ticket? And he's like, what's that? And I told him, he's like, oh, yeah. So I bought him a plane ticket and I found an extra ticket to Vision and he came out with us. That was his first time meeting the whole crew was at Vision. So we you know had class and drank and partied together and it was a good time.
00:45:02
Aniz Lavji
Is that guy still working for you?
00:45:04
Dan Thieken
No.
00:45:08
Dan Thieken
and And it's of it's as of his own his it's of his own doing. doing um while we were While we were at Vision, this is a funny story. While we were at Vision, I saw him flirting with some of the wait staff at the hotel restaurant.
00:45:22
Frank Wiebe
so
00:45:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Oh, jeez.
00:45:28
Dan Thieken
And i got I looked at him and I'm like, he's about the right age. He's a good looking dude. He's built. I said, my wife's best friend is single. So I started texting my wife's best friend. I said, hey, you might want to check out this guy.
00:45:45
Dan Thieken
And she said, okay, you you can give him my number. Well, they ended up they ended up dating and that went south. And he he ended up leaving to get a job closer to where he was living, which was 50 minutes away. So that's fine.
00:46:05
Dan Thieken
um But I think he saw the writing on the wall. He's like, Well, dan's Dan's wife is ah is a beast. If you mess with her friend and he he failed the test and he probably realized it better to leave my company than than have to deal with my wife.
00:46:22
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. There she goes.
00:46:27
Aniz Lavji
I opened up a little can of worms with that one.
00:46:30
Frank Wiebe
oh man
00:46:31
Dan Thieken
I loved him as an employee. I thought he was funny. He did a really good job. I don't have any reservations about him ever working for me. I have reservations about introducing him to my wife's best friend.
00:46:42
Frank Wiebe
yeah you gotta be careful with that you gotta be careful you don't introduce nobody let let fate happen on its own if it's gonna happen
00:46:50
Dan Thieken
Oh, have I not introduced myself? My name is fate.
00:46:53
Frank Wiebe
yeah and And, you know, and I feel the kind of the same way about if someone's looking for a job or something like that and you say, hey, you know what, i this guy, I've done that.
00:47:06
Frank Wiebe
I've done that so many times. And every time it's like you're shooting the foot, it's like, nope, you tell there's a job that's available.
00:47:10
Dan Thieken
yeah yeah i did I didn't I didn't refer you
00:47:14
Frank Wiebe
You go figure it out on your own. I will never say, hey.
00:47:17
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:47:20
Frank Wiebe
I did not refer you. No, I will. i I threw that part of my life. I will refer nobody unless it's a business that I really support.
00:47:30
Frank Wiebe
Right.
00:47:30
Dan Thieken
yeah yeah
00:47:31
Frank Wiebe
But other than that, no, you're looking for a job. You go find your own damn job. I ain't helping you out.
00:47:39
Aniz Lavji
ah We started, all of a sudden, we started getting a bunch of resumes come in lately. So it looks like there's lot of people looking for work, which is which is odd. Usually we start getting a flood of resumes right before the winter tire season.
00:47:51
Aniz Lavji
So this is ah this is an early, so I'm a little surprised. don't know about you, Frank.
00:47:54
Frank Wiebe
any any any licensed tech in there no i actually i think my wife said today we got one resume in today um a mechanical engineer but i don't know so we'll we'll see but yeah we are we are currently looking we are currently looking for a licensed tech because as as he said we gotta we gotta grow the business and i want to get to the point where i'm not
00:48:07
Aniz Lavji
The one guy who Thank you.
00:48:18
Frank Wiebe
active in the like wrenching every day. I want to get to the point where I've got like three techs wrenching and then I will be the in between and chasing squirrels because that's apparently what I'm doing these days.
00:48:28
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:48:30
Frank Wiebe
Oh my goodness. Just, but yeah, that's, that's where we're going for, right? That's I, I'm going, i mean, every,
00:48:37
Aniz Lavji
Frank, then you can be in the front talking to customers, man because that's what you want to do.
00:48:40
Frank Wiebe
Oh no, I did not want to talk to customers. I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I don't mind going and explaining what's going on. right This is what's going on with your car. But I don't want to talk to customers. but I hear my wife and and she's in there. They're like 20 minute conversations. I can't conversate with somebody that long.
00:48:57
Aniz Lavji
20 minutes.
00:48:58
Frank Wiebe
ot I run out of stuff to say in like 10, 5. But no, she'll just, the customer's sitting there waiting on their car and they'll just talk the whole time.
00:49:03
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man.
00:49:06
Dan Thieken
Thank you.
00:49:09
Frank Wiebe
And I'm like, how do you not run out of stuff to say?
00:49:12
Aniz Lavji
We try to get customers to drop the car off and go,
00:49:12
Frank Wiebe
But she's got a gift of it. Yeah. Yeah, we had we had two waiters today and they overlapped a little bit. One of them was actually for a 3.6 oil cooler.
00:49:26
Frank Wiebe
And it's like, you know, we could have just drove you home. No, no, no. I don't mind waiting.
00:49:34
Frank Wiebe
So some people say just make your office ah uninviting, but I don't want to do that. So I'm actually rebuilding the office.
00:49:39
Dan Thieken
Listen, my op my office is and as uninviting as it can come.
00:49:42
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:49:44
Dan Thieken
It's about 10 by 12. There's two hardwood Amish-built benches in there. There's no TV. There's no coffee pot. um And we have to fight the waiters off.
00:49:57
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:49:57
Dan Thieken
Like...
00:49:58
Aniz Lavji
no
00:49:59
Dan Thieken
That's it's the culture. Like it's the culture that our shop is for the community.
00:50:01
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:50:04
Dan Thieken
They just want to come in there and sit down and excuse me and watch us work, talk to the guys at the desk. And, you know, there was a time that was acceptable. We weren't as busy as we are now.
00:50:16
Frank Wiebe
It's busy.
00:50:17
Dan Thieken
Right.
00:50:17
Frank Wiebe
Yep. Exactly.
00:50:19
Dan Thieken
So my any given day of the week, our phones can like literally ring. We have two lines and they can ring.
00:50:28
Dan Thieken
every five minutes for like hours and it's exhausting. It's exhausting. And so if you get two or three customers in there, which we definitely try not to do, but it does happen.
00:50:40
Dan Thieken
They're talking. My guys can't hear on the phone and it's, it can be a real nightmare, but we we probably have one of the most uninviting,
00:50:44
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:50:50
Dan Thieken
offices in the world and people just want to sit there and be part of it. They do. And I think, I think it's funny. It's very frustrating, but I think it's funny.
00:51:00
Aniz Lavji
I guess mine would be one of the most inviting.
00:51:00
Frank Wiebe
Well, I think you said, you said the, yeah, yeah.
00:51:04
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. ah eating
00:51:05
Frank Wiebe
Yours is, yours is basically a living room.
00:51:08
Aniz Lavji
I've got, I have four like sofas with like armrest. Two of them have a table that comes out like this. Thinking about the laptop on there. We've got a TV cooler full of drinks.
00:51:22
Aniz Lavji
And.
00:51:22
Dan Thieken
I think that's awesome.
00:51:22
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:51:23
Dan Thieken
I would love to have that. And we plan on we played on doing an addition and a remodel. And I don't know we'll have that's that quite that nice, but I would love it. I still don't want waders, but I'd love to have that and market it.
00:51:36
Dan Thieken
Like, look at our wading room.
00:51:37
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:51:37
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:51:38
Dan Thieken
No, we can't do your wading oil change today.
00:51:41
Aniz Lavji
No, we don't get we don't get a crazy runaway.
00:51:41
Frank Wiebe
No, no, please please don't come and sit here, but look at it. Yeah. enjoy Enjoy it while you make your payment.
00:51:47
Aniz Lavji
but We don't get a crazy amount of waiters, but the ones that do sit, the nice thing is, you know, they'll start talking with each other and keep each other busy, but my waiting area is far enough away from where I am, so I can still function, phones ring, I can still continue.
00:52:02
Aniz Lavji
But if it was too close together, nope, I wouldn't have any i't have any room.
00:52:05
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:52:07
Aniz Lavji
i would just I wouldn't even put a stool there.
00:52:09
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:52:09
Aniz Lavji
Because, I mean, lot of my customers, especially the long-term ones, long-time ones, they want to talk and talk and talk, which I'm fine with it, but... Now they kind of find it their themselves in the corner with the other people that are waiting in the nice couches and then they just keep each other company.
00:52:27
Frank Wiebe
Dan, i think yeah I think you said the key words. I think it's those Amish benches that are keeping everyone sitting there.
00:52:34
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:52:34
Frank Wiebe
Amish makes good stuff. We got... we got
00:52:36
Dan Thieken
They're comfortable. They're comfortable.
00:52:38
Frank Wiebe
we've we've got that We've got quite a ah community of them around here too, but I guess you you have more in Ohio than we do here. but
00:52:46
Dan Thieken
We have a good a bit. Yeah, and i and I only live like probably 40 minutes from the lower part of Amish country.
00:52:52
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:52:52
Frank Wiebe
Oh man, we've got, there's ah the next road.
00:52:52
Dan Thieken
and um
00:52:55
Frank Wiebe
So we're the road that intersects the road that we're on, almost that whole road is Amish. people.
00:53:01
Dan Thieken
Really.
00:53:02
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. It's like a whole 60 zone and everything. like I guess not for you, 60 zone, 60 kilometers, which is what you're like 25 miles or something like that.
00:53:12
Dan Thieken
Sounds good to me.
00:53:13
Frank Wiebe
Something like that. But anyways, yeah. So, so it's a whole community safety zone and stuff like that. And, um, I've, there's probably like 30 or 40 Amish houses on that road, just on that road alone. So there's quite a few right around our town.
00:53:32
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:53:33
Aniz Lavji
don't we have any Amish customers at all, but I've had a few come in and ah they've all been really nice actually. And they never argue about anything. They just...
00:53:43
Frank Wiebe
I actually actually did a trailer safety for an Amish customer today and it was bitterly cold.
00:53:43
Aniz Lavji
Is
00:53:48
Frank Wiebe
We had freaking snowstorm today.
00:53:50
Aniz Lavji
that the picture you took?
00:53:50
Frank Wiebe
Holy shit.
00:53:51
Aniz Lavji
You're outside? Yeah.
00:53:52
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, it was colder and then tomorrow's supposed be even colder yet and I got another one. But...
00:53:57
Dan Thieken
Yeah, we don't even have, we don't really have Amish customers. um I mean, I'll get a random one that's doing work in the area, but I don't i don't have really have any Amish clientele.
00:54:07
Frank Wiebe
i think I think this is the only one that we do. And of course they do, I think do do siding or roofing or something like that.
00:54:16
Dan Thieken
Yep.
00:54:16
Frank Wiebe
And, but we got a lot of guys that drive for the Amish, right? So we service a lot of trucks and they are the drivers for the Amish.
00:54:22
Dan Thieken
We do that.
00:54:24
Frank Wiebe
Yep. So, but I think this is the only actually Amish customer that we have that actually brings their trailer to us.
00:54:24
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:54:31
Dan Thieken
Okay.
00:54:31
Frank Wiebe
Cool. Yeah.
00:54:33
Aniz Lavji
Is in Ohio, do you guys have, like, how does it work? They have, like, MOTs there? We call safeties here.
00:54:40
Dan Thieken
No, we don't have any inspections. Um, I, definitely see the advantage in them. I also wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to be at an inspection state.
00:54:51
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:54:52
Dan Thieken
I, I, I, no, I don't know. I don't know enough about him to make that statement, but, um, I know several people that are in inspection states and half of them love it and half of them hate it.
00:55:05
Dan Thieken
um
00:55:05
Aniz Lavji
yep.
00:55:06
Dan Thieken
I think they're important. I mean, i said we witness a lot of stuff that shouldn't be on the road.
00:55:11
Frank Wiebe
I've been in Ohio and I've seen you guys need have inspections. Oh man, the stuff I see going on the road, just over Christmas, we were in Detroit. it Holy crap.
00:55:25
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:55:25
Dan Thieken
Yeah, the one thing that surprises me in Ohio is the amount of tires that you'll walk by in a parking lot that are bald or have belts hanging out of them or half flat.
00:55:36
Dan Thieken
And I'm sure it's that way in every state. or and And I'm extra sensitive to it. Like, I'll literally see a bad tire from 30 feet away on a guy's truck and I'll have to go look at it just to make certain that I'm i'm correct.
00:55:48
Dan Thieken
So I'm always looking for that stuff, but it's a lot
00:55:51
Aniz Lavji
it's It's horrible.
00:55:51
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:55:52
Aniz Lavji
I'll on vacation. I think i was in was in Mexico or something. And we're walking down near the beach. And then you know we took a turn to go to a restaurant. And I'm just going like this.
00:56:04
Aniz Lavji
And my wife's like, what the hell's wrong with you?
00:56:04
Dan Thieken
Yep.
00:56:06
Aniz Lavji
Are you OK? I'm like, just looking at everyone's tires and seeing what kind of brands they have here. She's like, you're on vacation. Stop.
00:56:14
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, I do that. I look to see what kind of cars they are. Like, oh, I've never seen that that kind of Ford before. that's ah That's a new one. and if you go to mex And if you go to Mexico, almost every single vehicle, like 90% of the vehicles are manual transmission, which I found kind of interesting.
00:56:21
Aniz Lavji
I still look at big loads, man. Yeah.
00:56:29
Aniz Lavji
You
00:56:30
Frank Wiebe
But even the buses, they're all manual transmission. It's just a different different lifestyle there.
00:56:35
Aniz Lavji
hear...
00:56:37
Frank Wiebe
for them And and always I'm always looking for their ah auto mechanic shops, right? So when you go in the bus through the city or go and you're going for an excursion or something like that, and it's like there's this three-walled shack and there's cars kind of lined up everywhere.
00:56:51
Frank Wiebe
And I'm like, ah, I think i don't mind the snow right now to be in inside of a building and do a repair that way.
00:56:59
Aniz Lavji
Well, in Florida, they got hoist outside.
00:57:01
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Arizona too, yeah.
00:57:02
Dan Thieken
Well, they probably have been several states. Yeah. I remember when I got my first marriage, we got married in the Bahamas.
00:57:04
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:57:08
Dan Thieken
And I was young, strong, cocky. I was the tire. Like, I changed all the tires. I did it really fast. And I remember driving or around. I'd taken a taxi through Nassau, around the way to Nassau.
00:57:23
Dan Thieken
And I saw all these little janky tire shops. And I'm like, I'm going to move down here and change tires. That's to do.
00:57:31
Frank Wiebe
yeah ah And here you're still living in Ohio.
00:57:35
Dan Thieken
Yeah, I missed i missed that boat.
00:57:37
Frank Wiebe
ye
00:57:39
Aniz Lavji
right you You said you're going to at Vision then this year?
00:57:43
Dan Thieken
No, I don't think I'm going go to... Well, I don't know. If I do, it'll be like a last minute thing.
00:57:49
Aniz Lavji
Last minute.
00:57:49
Dan Thieken
i'm Yeah, um i think i think I think our website got nominated for a Best New Website through Shop Marketing Pros.
00:57:52
Aniz Lavji
I'm trying to work it out.
00:57:57
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:57:57
Dan Thieken
And they want they want me to come out there, but um I don't know. I just don't know if I'm going to go.
00:58:05
Aniz Lavji
I saw the go-karting and the stuff that's going to on the last night. That looks like it'd be a lot of fun too.
00:58:12
Dan Thieken
Yeah, we did go-karting at ASTA last year. That was ah that was fun.
00:58:16
Aniz Lavji
so that's So that's where I'm pretty sure that's where because I was there with Mike Allen.
00:58:22
Dan Thieken
Okay. yeah
00:58:24
Aniz Lavji
um That must be it.
00:58:25
Dan Thieken
Yeah. that ah Yeah, that might have been it.
00:58:27
Aniz Lavji
I'm sure you remember all the bragging he did.
00:58:34
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man. No, that was a lot of fun. I i was really i was really impressed with the with ah the way it went. And like that was my first time being there. And I met so many random people I've never met before.
00:58:47
Aniz Lavji
I mean, he mike Mike actually gave me a ride to the the event in his car.
00:58:47
Dan Thieken
Yeah.
00:58:52
Dan Thieken
Oh, did he? The little Miata?
00:58:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah, well, there was a little group and all messaging in there, and I was just messaging in there like, hey, anyone want to share an Uber over to there? And he's like, oh, I got room for one. And I knew who Mike was. I didn't know much about the Miata. So he's like, sure, I'll pick you up in about 10 minutes. So he up pulls up in the red Miata, and I'm like, all right, let's go.
00:59:15
Dan Thieken
Let's do this.
00:59:17
Aniz Lavji
man. But, Frank, when you go to ASTA, man, it'll be great. You're going love it.
00:59:21
Frank Wiebe
um I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited. I'm excited about it.
00:59:24
Dan Thieken
yeah
00:59:26
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, I think it's going lot of fun. I hear here it hyped up so much. So if it lets me down, I'm blaming you.
00:59:31
Aniz Lavji
that's fine. Okay. i don't know
00:59:34
Frank Wiebe
Friendship over. Done. We're done.
00:59:36
Aniz Lavji
I'm not worried about I'm not worried about it, but, uh, I think guys would push about an hour, probably call it a night, but, uh, Dan, thank you so much for joining us, uh, tonight.
00:59:38
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:59:47
Dan Thieken
Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for the invite.
00:59:49
Aniz Lavji
Taking some time and, uh, maybe we'll see a vision. Uh, I'll see it. ASTA for sure. But, uh,
00:59:55
Frank Wiebe
And at Tools.
00:59:56
Dan Thieken
Yeah. you
00:59:57
Frank Wiebe
We'll be at Tools. So let's go there.
00:59:58
Aniz Lavji
I feel
00:59:58
Dan Thieken
and you said you're And you said you're going to Tectonic too, right?
01:00:01
Aniz Lavji
like I'm already booked. I'm there for sure.
01:00:02
Dan Thieken
Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:04
Aniz Lavji
So I'll definitely see you there in April.
01:00:06
Dan Thieken
Yeah. Come sit on that breakout session with us.
01:00:09
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, i haven't booked any I haven't booked any of the classes. I think we can book them now, right?
01:00:14
Dan Thieken
I'm not even certain you have to book them. I don't know how that works. I think it's it's almost some of that stuff is i don' i'm I'm not going to speak on it. I don't know.
01:00:21
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:00:21
Dan Thieken
I have no idea. Hopefully you can just walk in and sit down in those breakout classes as you want to.
01:00:26
Aniz Lavji
Definitely. Yeah, yeah. i'm go I'll definitely jump in one of those for sure, man
01:00:30
Dan Thieken
Yeah, but no, it was my pleasure. I appreciate the invite. and it was good to meet you guys.
01:00:33
Frank Wiebe
All right. This is good meet you, dude, then.
01:00:34
Aniz Lavji
man. Perfect. Thank you very much. and