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Episode 24- John Firm(Buckaroo Bob) and Dawn Sloas talk about the importance of training
52 Plays1 month ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . Frank and I have the opportunity to chat with Dawn and John Firm about training. Such an important topic and it cant be talked about enough. Training doesn't cost, IT PAYS!
Give this one a listen for sure, you won't be disappointed!
Visit our Facebook page at The Shop N Tread Talk Podcast!
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Transcript
Introductions and Episode Opening
00:00:00
Aniz Lavji
All right, everyone. Welcome to another exciting episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. My name is Anise, and as usual, we got Frank with us. Frank, how you doing, buddy?
00:00:10
Aniz Lavji
All
00:00:11
Frank
Excited today to be here today for sure.
00:00:14
Aniz Lavji
right, we have a special guest today.
00:00:14
Frank
Doing good.
00:00:17
Aniz Lavji
Frank, why don't you introduce our our two guests here?
00:00:20
Frank
Well, I only know John. John, we met at, uh, tools in Pennsylvania, uh, what three or four weeks ago. And, uh, just excited to have John on the pockets with us. And he brought someone else along, uh, Don, very nice to have you with us.
00:00:37
Frank
And, uh, think that we're going to have a great time today just talking about the the industry and talking about where we all are and what we all do. So welcome to the podcast. Thank you
Conference Experiences and Networking
00:00:47
Frank
so much for being here with us.
00:00:47
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, thanks for having us.
00:00:50
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:00:50
Aniz Lavji
Don, I think I met you in Kansas, if I'm not mistaken, right? Were you there at Ritman?
00:00:54
JOHN FIRM
Yes, she did.
00:00:56
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, that's right.
00:00:57
Dawn Sloas
Right, what did we go to, it was vision, right?
00:00:59
Aniz Lavji
Vision, yeah.
00:01:00
Dawn Sloas
Vision, yeah.
00:01:00
JOHN FIRM
Yeah. She's wearing a shirt.
00:01:01
Aniz Lavji
Seems like um a...
00:01:03
JOHN FIRM
Full throttle.
00:01:04
Aniz Lavji
how I had to wear my shirt today.
00:01:04
Dawn Sloas
Oh, look at you.
00:01:04
JOHN FIRM
Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:07
Frank
ah
00:01:07
Dawn Sloas
Should worn my vision shirt.
00:01:10
Aniz Lavji
i they They were actually giving out last year's shirts, too, so I even have one of those. Yeah.
00:01:16
Dawn Sloas
There you go.
00:01:16
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:01:17
Dawn Sloas
Eventually, you'll be able to make a blanket out of it. Just get all the shirts, sew them together. There you go.
00:01:21
Aniz Lavji
if I can take that much time off to go to vision every year, then I'm winning.
00:01:23
Frank
ah
00:01:24
Aniz Lavji
So.
00:01:25
Frank
to To get enough shirts to make a blanket, that would be a lot.
00:01:28
Aniz Lavji
Exactly.
00:01:28
JOHN FIRM
I would hate to think I'm too busy to take off to go to vision. That is such the best trade show in the central part of America. I couldn't imagine missing that trade show. There's so many connections and networking opportunities to be made there.
00:01:28
Dawn Sloas
Oh, yeah.
00:01:43
JOHN FIRM
You know, even if you just go for a couple days, it it's a must attend deal.
00:01:47
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:01:49
JOHN FIRM
If you're in the repair industry for the automotive, what an opportunity.
00:01:54
Frank
Didn't I hear say that vision is like huge compared to tools?
00:02:00
JOHN FIRM
It's 10 times the size of tools.
00:02:02
Frank
Oh my gosh.
00:02:02
Aniz Lavji
4,500 people, I believe. Right, John?
00:02:03
JOHN FIRM
So we had, yeah, there's 3,800 people there this last year.
AI in the Automotive Industry
00:02:07
JOHN FIRM
Okay.
00:02:07
Frank
Wow.
00:02:07
JOHN FIRM
and And, first week of March, always the first week of March and tools only had 400. So
00:02:14
Dawn Sloas
Mmm.
00:02:16
JOHN FIRM
it, it's, it, but listen, don't let that bother you.
00:02:17
Frank
Okay.
00:02:21
JOHN FIRM
Cause when the classes start, the halls and everything's vacant, there's nobody there. They're all in training.
00:02:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:02:28
JOHN FIRM
The training classes can have as little as 10 people in a class or as much as 300 people in a class easily.
00:02:35
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:02:35
JOHN FIRM
Okay. They use ballrooms for some of the classes.
00:02:36
Frank
Wow.
00:02:39
JOHN FIRM
ah ah Cecil Bullard, Aaron Stokes, Rick White, all them guys usually would have 300 people in a class.
00:02:43
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:02:48
JOHN FIRM
Really easy. I've seen the day they had 400.
00:02:49
Aniz Lavji
Seth's class was completely full. and Was it Seth's AI class? That that class was jam-packed full.
00:02:57
JOHN FIRM
It was standing room only from what I heard. Right.
00:03:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:03:00
Frank
That's a class I'd like to take, an AI class, because I think that
00:03:03
JOHN FIRM
Mm-hmm.
00:03:04
Frank
ah Like you said, Anissa, a lot of that is coming up and it's going to take a lot of lot of effort to to learn how to do and then let it do its thing properly.
00:03:04
Aniz Lavji
It was really good.
00:03:13
Aniz Lavji
Well, you may have a chance to...
00:03:13
JOHN FIRM
The great thing about vision, it's still small enough that you get to meet new people and you get to know new people and you see different people.
00:03:17
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:03:23
JOHN FIRM
knew There was only 1,500 new attendees this year.
00:03:27
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:03:29
JOHN FIRM
1,500 new first-time attendees. That's amazing. That's what's awesome. you know And to have that kind of support, that's just...
00:03:35
Frank
That's a lot of people.
00:03:38
JOHN FIRM
And I got to meet half of them. You know, wearing my gold jacket and my gold and passing out stuff, they come love on me.
00:03:45
Aniz Lavji
hard hard to miss you there.
00:03:46
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:03:47
Aniz Lavji
but
00:03:47
Frank
no No one's going to forget you, that's for sure.
00:03:50
Dawn Sloas
no, oh no.
00:03:50
Frank
no
00:03:51
Dawn Sloas
oh no
00:03:51
Aniz Lavji
But, uh, Frank, you were talking about that AI class, actually, um, Mike Allen from confessions of shop owner.
00:03:51
Frank
Looking like...
00:03:58
Aniz Lavji
He's actually hosting Seth. I think, um, in, in June or July, I'd have to check, but he's actually hosting him there in North Carolina for, i think it's a two day class on AI.
00:04:12
JOHN FIRM
That's going to be cool.
00:04:12
Aniz Lavji
Well,
00:04:13
JOHN FIRM
I haven't heard about that yet. So is that that public now?
00:04:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I think it's – yeah, it's public. So I believe it's – don't quote me on it, but I believe $8.99, something like that for the two days.
00:04:22
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
00:04:22
Aniz Lavji
But like like I said, Seth's class I went to is probably one of the best classes I took at Vision.
00:04:29
Frank
Thank you.
00:04:30
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:04:31
JOHN FIRM
Seth who?
00:04:32
Aniz Lavji
Seth Thorson.
00:04:33
JOHN FIRM
I want to make sure you say his last name so everybody else knows who we're talking about.
00:04:37
Aniz Lavji
What?
00:04:38
JOHN FIRM
I had known Seth since I was... Seth's been scene since I was a kid. You know, and and I've sat in a lot of his classes. He's a great instructor. I love him to death.
00:04:46
Aniz Lavji
really nice guy in fact like i've actually reached out to him a few times after just recently even and he responds and stuff and he's a handy guy to to know that's for sure
00:04:58
JOHN FIRM
Yes, he is. so So just a great person, great human being. i love being around him. I love his power. I love what he brings to the table, you know.
00:05:07
Dawn Sloas
Well, speaking of AI, i' I'm a little interested here. Are y'all currently utilizing AI, both like business or even personally?
00:05:19
Frank
I'm dabbling a little bit in it personally, but nothing in the business yet. of
00:05:23
Dawn Sloas
business.
00:05:24
Aniz Lavji
um I'm using it for the most part, a lot of it with my kids, they want, you know, there's ridiculous pictures and stuff made of you know, both of them surrounded by fried chicken at Popeye's or something like that.
00:05:31
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:05:35
Aniz Lavji
But when it comes to
Personal Energy Habits and Health Tips
00:05:38
Aniz Lavji
work and everything, I'm, I'm trying to implement what I did learn.
00:05:40
JOHN FIRM
Okay.
00:05:43
Aniz Lavji
Basically Seth was teaching, you can take, like, if you go into Techmetric and you go into the Carfax, you can copy and paste that Carfax into it. And then Basically have your AI agent scan through it and see what's coming up according to the Carfax.
00:06:01
Aniz Lavji
So I haven't done a whole lot of that. I should. I've just been too busy. But those are kind of the next steps that I want to do. Yeah.
00:06:08
Frank
You've been using it to diagnose vehicles, I can tell. the The other day when we were on the phone, the other day when we were on the phone, remember that conversation with the no start? I said to Margarita, I said, he's using AI and and looking up.
00:06:21
Aniz Lavji
That actually, I wasn't, i had some ideas that, that actually I wasn't, i was using, um I actually had some ideas.
00:06:23
Frank
I kind of. That one. Yeah.
00:06:25
JOHN FIRM
He was using Google AI.
00:06:25
Frank
Yeah. that that one too ah
00:06:29
JOHN FIRM
Hmm. ah
00:06:31
Frank
yeah
00:06:33
Aniz Lavji
I'm not a mechanic, but over 20 years, i get at least two or three ideas a year.
00:06:34
Frank
yeah
00:06:37
Frank
Yeah, that one turned out to be just needed a reflash, believe it or not. And that was after I had already said it needed a reflash. And then the guy that programmed the key said, no, it didn't need a reflash.
00:06:48
Frank
So I went through a whole bunch of diagnosis to say, please come, please come reflash this.
00:06:52
JOHN FIRM
It needs a reflash.
00:06:55
Frank
Guess what? It started after that. What a pain that was so frustrating. Now you're saying, you're asking if I use, i use personal AI a little bit.
00:07:01
Aniz Lavji
Oh boy.
00:07:04
Frank
I used, I used a picture today. I took a picture of my wife. She had this really cute outfit on and then I put it in there and I'm like, Hey, AI, can you make me a beer poster? That's vintage pinup style.
00:07:16
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:07:17
Frank
This is amazing. I love it. Imagine what it could do for my business.
00:07:19
JOHN FIRM
Are you going You gonna share the picture with us?
00:07:21
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:07:24
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:07:24
Frank
I'll send, I'll send it to you.
00:07:26
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:07:26
Frank
I'll send it. I won't share it on here.
00:07:28
Dawn Sloas
There we go.
00:07:28
Aniz Lavji
oh boy
00:07:29
JOHN FIRM
All the viewers are gonna be wondering. ah
00:07:32
Frank
Yeah.
00:07:32
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:07:32
Frank
Reach out to me on my platforms and I'll share it.
00:07:36
Dawn Sloas
You better put a paywall behind that.
00:07:36
JOHN FIRM
There you go.
00:07:36
Frank
Yeah.
00:07:38
Dawn Sloas
Make some money. Put paywall up.
00:07:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:07:41
JOHN FIRM
So I have a great grandniece that's doing a bunch of AI stuff for me.
00:07:42
Frank
yeah
00:07:46
JOHN FIRM
Does that count?
00:07:48
Dawn Sloas
I do a little bit. i um
Exploring Texas and Training Event Highlights
00:07:51
Dawn Sloas
Man, i it it's a slippery slope with AI.
00:07:51
JOHN FIRM
Well.
00:07:53
Dawn Sloas
ah Not so much, more with the younger generation. The younger generation is very wary of it, more specifically when it comes to like the art forms of it.
00:08:00
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:08:04
Dawn Sloas
So I don't know if y'all are here about this, but, or if they've talked about it in any of your classes, I haven't been able to attend an AI class yet, but The younger generation is hesitant to do business with businesses utilizing AI, ah even more so when it comes to digital marketing. Have you all heard of this at all?
00:08:22
Frank
No, that's interesting.
00:08:23
Aniz Lavji
yeah. that
00:08:24
Dawn Sloas
Yes. um I personally even won't. If I see a company utilize digital like AI and their pictures, I will be hesitant and in working with them. And the way I try to explain this, especially for shop owners, is um think of it like this.
00:08:43
Dawn Sloas
the The big push is artists. When you you go to them, you commission something, they draw something for you. And it's kind of taken away work from them. um It's utilizing samples from artists and creating an image.
00:08:55
Dawn Sloas
It's kind of like when ah customers will go to insert shop name here or insert part name here to get a diag, right, to run codes instead of going to the shop.
00:08:55
Aniz Lavji
Right.
00:09:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:09:07
Dawn Sloas
It's kind of like taking work away from people. So the younger generation will get irritated and not want to work with companies that that utilize AI for marketing digitally.
00:09:09
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. I can
00:09:17
Frank
So I've heard a lot about people using AI as like to answer the phones and and go through a bunch of that process in the beginning.
00:09:17
Aniz Lavji
i appreciate it.
00:09:26
Frank
To me personally, I can understand that if I if i call the place and and I know that I'm talking to AI and AI is being like asking me all these questions too, I might just be like, be done with it.
00:09:37
Dawn Sloas
Yep.
00:09:37
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:09:38
Dawn Sloas
Have y'all, y'all are in Canada, correct?
00:09:38
Frank
Right?
00:09:38
Aniz Lavji
That's exactly.
00:09:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:09:42
Dawn Sloas
ah Have y'all gotten the systems yet for drive-through windows where they have AI for the drive-through?
00:09:47
Aniz Lavji
It starts off at some of the drive-thru. I don't know if you noticed, Frank, at Tim's, you have like the same exact voice.
00:09:57
Frank
Dude, I never go to Tim's.
00:09:57
Aniz Lavji
and Well, so here...
00:09:59
Frank
if if they If they relied on me, they'd have been out of business years ago.
00:10:04
Aniz Lavji
the The first five or six seconds, it'll they'll say like, welcome to Tim Hortons. I'll be with you in just a second. And it's not it's not a real person.
00:10:11
Frank
Oh, yeah.
00:10:13
Aniz Lavji
But then the next person that starts talking sounds nothing like them.
00:10:17
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:10:17
Aniz Lavji
but But you automatically feel like starting to talk because you know you hear a person come up and start talking.
00:10:17
Frank
OK.
00:10:23
Aniz Lavji
But yeah, it's going to be getting more intuitive and there's different companies that are actually specializing in drive-through where there's not even going to be a person taking your order anymore.
00:10:34
Aniz Lavji
It's going to be an AI voice taking your whole order and computing it into something and spitting it out when you get to the first window.
00:10:41
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, we have that here already with
00:10:41
Frank
I mean, I can kind of see that. Yeah. I can kind of see that as being a useful thing sometimes, because sometimes you, you can't hear each other, you know, if this, if the speaker's crackly or something like that, but if, if AI has been able to listen to that, that might be a good thing.
00:10:57
Frank
make it ordering
00:10:57
Aniz Lavji
Well, if you'd visit Tim Hortons a little more often, they'd be able to afford the better software, you know, Frank, that'd help.
00:11:01
Dawn Sloas
Yep.
00:11:01
Frank
Not from this guy. I don't drink coffee.
00:11:05
Dawn Sloas
No coffee? Do you tea?
00:11:07
Frank
Nope.
00:11:08
Dawn Sloas
No caffeine? You're just raw dog in life?
00:11:10
Frank
Uh, ah
00:11:11
Dawn Sloas
yes
00:11:12
Frank
I'm getting old enough that I have to drink some energy drinks once once in a while, but now no, no.
00:11:16
Dawn Sloas
Ah, okay.
00:11:16
Aniz Lavji
Oh, geez. I can't even start my day without coffee.
00:11:19
Frank
Years ago, i had somebody ask me and I told them I didn't drink coffee. And they looked at me they looked at me with absolute bewilderment and and amazement and they couldn't understand it And they're like, how do you have energy in the morning?
00:11:30
Frank
And I said, I don't know. I wake up. ah
00:11:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:11:34
Frank
I'm like, I just get up and I go. Like, I didn't know that I needed to have something to give me energy to get up and go in the morning.
00:11:40
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:40
Frank
It's just weird. Not been part of my life.
00:11:43
Dawn Sloas
Yeah,
00:11:44
JOHN FIRM
My energy just goes and goes and goes all the time. And if I do coffee, if I do coffee, it's bad.
00:11:47
Frank
Yeah, you have a lot of energy, John.
00:11:50
Dawn Sloas
yeah it does.
00:11:52
Frank
Yeah.
00:11:53
JOHN FIRM
know, and it gets real bad sometimes. So I'm like you. I don't have to have coffee. I got it going all the time.
00:12:00
Frank
Yeah. Yeah, well, and then they're like, what do you drink? what do you drink during the day? Water.
00:12:05
JOHN FIRM
Water.
00:12:06
Frank
Really? People drink water? I'm like, yeah. Like, so do you drink pop? don't know. Sometimes with a meal, but not. Really? No. Apparently I was weird that way, but what it is.
00:12:19
JOHN FIRM
I'm with you, Frank. I'm weird like that.
00:12:21
Frank
Yeah.
00:12:22
JOHN FIRM
You know, this drink I'm drinking right here is a cran apple juice and a tonic water.
00:12:22
Aniz Lavji
There you
00:12:22
Frank
Yeah.
00:12:28
JOHN FIRM
And the tonic water is to take care of my cramps in my legs. You know, doctor told me drink four ounces a day. Well, I've got to where drink eight ounces today now because I like, I like the flavor.
00:12:36
Aniz Lavji
go
00:12:36
Frank
is
00:12:38
JOHN FIRM
It's a, it just makes it a refreshing drink to me.
00:12:40
Frank
is Is that the answer?
00:12:41
Dawn Sloas
yeah. Mm-mm.
00:12:41
JOHN FIRM
You
00:12:42
Frank
Because around here, apparently the doctors don't know what the answer is for that.
00:12:46
JOHN FIRM
Four ounces of tonic water every day has really changed my life as far as the cramps go.
00:12:46
Frank
All
00:12:50
Frank
right. I'll have to remember that because I've suffered with that and that's not fun.
00:12:52
JOHN FIRM
Because as as we got up in age, I was talking to my doctor and I was telling him I was going to start drinking pickle juice like we did back in high school. He said, no, no, no, no. You can't do that now.
00:13:03
JOHN FIRM
You're too old for that. The sodium in pickle juice is bad for you.
00:13:04
Aniz Lavji
Pickle juice?
00:13:08
Frank
Yep.
00:13:08
JOHN FIRM
He said, itll it'll mess with your blood sugar and all that stuff.
00:13:10
Frank
Yep.
00:13:11
JOHN FIRM
He said, tonic water, that's the home remedy.
00:13:14
Frank
Okay.
00:13:14
Aniz Lavji
Pickle juice?
00:13:15
JOHN FIRM
So.
00:13:16
Aniz Lavji
Wow. Pickle juice.
00:13:17
Frank
Yeah.
00:13:17
JOHN FIRM
And it's it's worked.
00:13:17
Aniz Lavji
That's a new one.
00:13:17
Frank
People.
00:13:18
JOHN FIRM
I've been doing it for about a year now.
00:13:21
Frank
Okay, cool. Remember that.
00:13:22
Dawn Sloas
More you you know
00:13:24
Aniz Lavji
John, yourre well whereab abouts your your shop's in Texas, right?
00:13:25
JOHN FIRM
Hey.
00:13:28
Aniz Lavji
Whereabouts in Texas your shop?
00:13:30
JOHN FIRM
I'm in Fort Worth, Texas is where I'm at.
00:13:32
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:13:33
JOHN FIRM
ah Most people don't know where Fort Worth is. It's 30 miles west of Dallas.
00:13:37
Aniz Lavji
daas
00:13:38
JOHN FIRM
It's where the West begins is what they say. And it. it It's about maybe a couple million less than Dallas has in it, but Dallas is booming and growing like crazy, you know?
00:13:50
JOHN FIRM
So it's, they're so close together to blend. You couldn't tell if he was going from Fort Worth to Dallas at all. No way.
00:13:56
Dawn Sloas
Oh.
00:13:57
JOHN FIRM
There's no country between it no more.
00:13:57
Aniz Lavji
I've been to Fort Worth years and years and years ago.
00:13:59
Frank
Oh, really?
00:14:00
JOHN FIRM
Mm-hmm.
00:14:00
Aniz Lavji
well i used to, I don't know if I had even had a chance to tell you, i used to live in Texas.
00:14:06
Dawn Sloas
Oh,
00:14:07
Aniz Lavji
So I was in San Antonio for about 10, 15 years.
00:14:12
JOHN FIRM
Huge city. We just left San Antonio on our Texas two-step tour this year, the last week of March.
00:14:16
Aniz Lavji
i know.
00:14:17
JOHN FIRM
So we was there.
00:14:18
Aniz Lavji
Coralie was there as well. I remember.
00:14:20
JOHN FIRM
Yes, I took them down. Don took us over to the Alamo. We did a little tour of the Alamo and checked that downtown San Antonio out.
00:14:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:14:28
JOHN FIRM
And golly, we had fun.
00:14:28
Aniz Lavji
Oh, I should have told you to go to this restaurant. Um, downtown called Mi Tierra. I don't know if that rings a bell at all.
00:14:37
Dawn Sloas
Me, Tiara. I think there was a, we we stopped a young gentleman who was doing the tour rides on the Riverwalk, right? Is that San Antonio?
00:14:44
JOHN FIRM
He recommended that place.
00:14:45
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:46
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:14:46
JOHN FIRM
Yes.
00:14:46
Dawn Sloas
He recommended that or the the German place. ah
00:14:49
Aniz Lavji
Mi Tierra is like the most famous Mexican restaurant in San Antonio. It's incredible.
00:14:55
JOHN FIRM
Yep.
00:14:57
Aniz Lavji
Oh,
00:14:57
Dawn Sloas
We'll have to try that next time.
00:14:57
Frank
Nothing wrong with that.
00:15:00
Aniz Lavji
that's nice. No, you guys put on a pretty good show there. That's from what I hear, in the Texas Two-Step. Every year you guys are doing that, right?
00:15:10
Dawn Sloas
John?
00:15:10
JOHN FIRM
You lead off, Don. Go ahead.
00:15:12
Dawn Sloas
Okay.
00:15:12
JOHN FIRM
Talk about it.
00:15:13
Dawn Sloas
So yeah, every year we do the Texas two-step training. um The last three years, i'm I'm new to the team. I've only done one year, but we used to do four cities, four days.
00:15:24
Dawn Sloas
So we would get our instructors and we would make a whole trip out of it. We'd go see the sites and everything.
00:15:29
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
00:15:30
Dawn Sloas
This upcoming year, it is going to be ah four days. We're still working on it. So don't hold us to it, but it's going to be, is it three or four days, John?
00:15:39
JOHN FIRM
Well, we're going to start off Thursday and we're working right now putting a golf tournament together for the automotive industry.
00:15:44
Aniz Lavji
That's awesome.
00:15:45
JOHN FIRM
Okay. And Friday and Saturday, we're going to have training going on. I'm working with the Fort Worth Car Museum and it's about having dinner and everything over there one afternoon and having the the museum just for us. So,
00:16:03
JOHN FIRM
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then go home Saturday night or stay Let's go out boot scooting Saturday night and then go home Sunday.
00:16:04
Aniz Lavji
that's sounds awesome
00:16:12
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:16:12
JOHN FIRM
Now this place is Texas star golf course in Uless, which is 10 minutes from DFW.
00:16:17
Aniz Lavji
Perry Kivolowitz- Okay.
00:16:17
JOHN FIRM
We're like 10 minutes from the hotels.
00:16:18
Aniz Lavji
Perry Kivolowitz- yep.
00:16:19
JOHN FIRM
we've got five hotels you can stay at. So it's, it's going to be a ball. We're going to have lots of fun and lots of things to do. And, uh, we're working right now. We're trying to put this together, but we haven't settled it.
00:16:31
JOHN FIRM
Um, Tanner Markham has turned me on to this. We have a lot of technicians in the automotive industry that want to go to training. They can't get away from their family because they have special needs children.
00:16:44
JOHN FIRM
Okay. So Tanner has turned us on to a group of people in Dallas that tend to special needs children. And we're in the talks with them about bringing them to our location at Texas Dark Golf Courts.
00:16:55
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
00:16:55
Frank
Oh, cool.
00:17:02
JOHN FIRM
and setting up a care room for them so some people with special needs kids can attend the event and be there for a training class or training event.
00:17:05
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
00:17:11
JOHN FIRM
So those are...
00:17:11
Aniz Lavji
That's groundbreaking. You never hear it.
00:17:13
Frank
That's amazing.
Childcare and Family Involvement in Events
00:17:14
Aniz Lavji
No one's ever done that.
00:17:14
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:17:15
Aniz Lavji
That's amazing.
00:17:16
JOHN FIRM
Nobody's ever done that. It's something new for the automotive minist industry. Hoping we can hit a home run with it. Hope we can help get some people into this training because we have what it takes to be able to go to train them.
00:17:29
Dawn Sloas
Absolutely. And hopefully
00:17:29
Aniz Lavji
I mean, that on its own, like, that's a game changer.
00:17:32
Dawn Sloas
Yeah. And I mean, that was one of the biggest ah ah pain points that we heard from people who really wanted to attend, that they just didn't couldn't find a babysitter.
00:17:42
Dawn Sloas
They couldn't.
00:17:43
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:17:43
Dawn Sloas
And so if we can alleviate that, we we want everybody to have training. We want everyone to be better. And hopefully the goal is to make the whole industry better and other events see what we're doing and they start implementing it as well.
00:17:57
Aniz Lavji
I think you guys are onto something for sure because Frank, remember where I was, I was supposed to go with tectonic and like even before my wife hurt her, hurt her arm or everything, the biggest issue was I've got, I got three young kids and, you know, leaving three young kids with my wife, well, like they got school and everything, but then bedtime and this and that it's, it's a, it's a lot of stress.
00:18:03
Frank
Yep.
00:18:19
Aniz Lavji
So, you know, besides the fact that she hurt her arm, you know, that I had to cancel my whole trip, but,
00:18:19
Dawn Sloas
Anything.
00:18:25
Aniz Lavji
if I had some kind of babysitter, like you said, or some major help, healthcare, know, even at home, or if I did end up bringing in the whole family, which for that instance wouldn't have worked out.
00:18:29
JOHN FIRM
Right, child care opportunity.
00:18:38
Aniz Lavji
But yeah, it would have been an option that, hey, you know, the kids are taken care of, I can go to training and, you know, reduce the stress, even if we have to pay out of our pocket a little bit, whatever, it's fine.
00:18:50
Aniz Lavji
But
00:18:50
JOHN FIRM
You know, if you get a bunch of people paying out of pocket, it just takes a little bit of money from each person.
00:18:55
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:18:57
JOHN FIRM
You know, because it's a...
00:18:57
Aniz Lavji
That's a hell a good idea.
00:18:58
JOHN FIRM
Yes. You know, think it's going to work out.
00:19:00
Frank
Yeah, i I can't imagine having to try to go to training when my kids were young.
00:19:01
JOHN FIRM
I really do.
00:19:06
Frank
Like even now, i mean, they're all gone, but getting away from the shop even to go, it's like I need somebody to babysit the shop when I leave.
00:19:06
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
00:19:15
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:19:15
JOHN FIRM
If we could put a bounce house together and some games, you know...
00:19:16
Frank
and but Oh, definitely.
00:19:20
JOHN FIRM
For were the ones that don't need the special need program, and we could we could have, like, let's sugar them up.
00:19:20
Frank
Definitely.
00:19:27
JOHN FIRM
Let's give them cake and ice cream for the ride home.
00:19:29
Dawn Sloas
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
00:19:31
JOHN FIRM
I'm all about that.
00:19:31
Aniz Lavji
me you know, you know, Don, what you need to have there, what you need to have uh,
00:19:32
Frank
Yeah. You sound like a grandfather right there.
00:19:36
JOHN FIRM
who
00:19:39
Aniz Lavji
You just need to rent out, you rent one of those game trucks, you know, those, those big trailers that they've got, you know, 50 or 60 screens in there or something like that.
00:19:44
Dawn Sloas
Oh
00:19:48
Aniz Lavji
and they've got video games. You just rent a few of those, park them outside. And then you got some supervisors. The kids are in there playing video games, having a blast.
00:19:58
Dawn Sloas
so yeah.
00:19:58
Aniz Lavji
Parents are there training. And then the kids are not going to want to leave. They're going to keep going for training. No, I'll be playing video games.
00:20:03
Dawn Sloas
Yeah. Yeah. There we go.
00:20:06
Aniz Lavji
And, and, and
00:20:06
Dawn Sloas
That's not a bad idea. I might have to look into that.
00:20:08
Aniz Lavji
Because that, like John was saying, you spread the cost of that throughout X amount of people, going to be pennies on the dollar.
00:20:16
Dawn Sloas
Yeah. And if, you know, if we can create a good time for the people who are training and a good time for the kids who are having to go, right, then we'd love to do that.
00:20:24
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:20:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I think that's a good
00:20:27
Frank
Well, when we were when we were at Tools, I met ah i met a guy named ah guy there his name is Eric.
Travel and Networking Benefits of Training Events
00:20:34
Frank
And he had brought his family along as well. And then at the one point, we were sitting there eating dinner.
00:20:39
Frank
it was it I think it was when we were doing the the final speech thing. And i said to him, I said, hey, where's your family? Oh, well... I wasn't sure if they could come and have dinner here. And I said, I don't care what anyone else says.
00:20:54
Frank
Call your wife, bring your kids and wife. And so he did. So they came down and they sat at the table with us, which I mean, the the room wasn't full anyway.
00:21:02
JOHN FIRM
No, nowhere near full.
00:21:02
Frank
But it was it was that situation there that made him think like he didn't know where his family fit into the whole function. Right.
00:21:11
JOHN FIRM
Right?
00:21:11
Aniz Lavji
Right. Yeah.
00:21:11
Frank
he did He didn't know if if they were as welcome to sit at the same table as everyone else because they weren't there technically for the training. So doing something like this, you know, then the family knows, the kids know where they are, where they belong, and and what they're technically allowed to do, right?
00:21:29
JOHN FIRM
Exactly.
00:21:29
Frank
But like I say, in this case here, had something like this been implemented, it'd been like, hey, okay, we're having our our our speech right now. And we got something here for the kids, you know, that they can have something to do as well.
00:21:41
Aniz Lavji
you guys are definitely on.
00:21:42
Frank
I mean, we were at Hershey, there was always something to do, but but I mean, yeah.
00:21:45
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:21:45
JOHN FIRM
Right, right. I wonder what you're saying, Frank. you know Let know the whole family is invited to come.
00:21:50
Frank
Yeah.
00:21:51
JOHN FIRM
you know Just not you, but everybody you brought. Come on.
00:21:56
Frank
Yeah.
00:21:57
Aniz Lavji
There were a few families um that were at vision. I remember in the, in the evening, i think what was the main, what was the main hotel? Was it Sheraton?
00:22:07
JOHN FIRM
Sheridan.
00:22:08
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, so one one night when we got back from the go-karting, went to the Sheraton with Cora Lee. We had ah had a beer there, and there was a couple people there that had their own families there.
00:22:17
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
00:22:20
Aniz Lavji
and you know But again, yeah, but you but you never see many of them.
00:22:22
JOHN FIRM
A lot of families make that their vacation.
00:22:27
Aniz Lavji
like When you're walking around the actual hallways and stuff, you don't see many kids and stuff.
00:22:31
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
00:22:32
Aniz Lavji
But I think...
00:22:33
JOHN FIRM
Just until the expo fires off, that's when they all come in.
00:22:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, but i think I think what you guys are are talking about, there's definitely something there. I mean, that's ahs a hell of a good idea.
00:22:44
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:22:44
Aniz Lavji
it can be a game changer from, oh yeah, for sure.
00:22:45
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:22:45
JOHN FIRM
Well, you heard it first.
00:22:48
Frank
Yeah, let's go.
00:22:48
Aniz Lavji
and and And for some people that are literally dreaming about going for training and and they know the importance of it, but what's hindering them is obviously they need to make sure they've got care for their kids.
00:22:52
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:23:03
Aniz Lavji
And mean, if you can alleviate that
00:23:04
JOHN FIRM
Exactly.
00:23:07
Aniz Lavji
I mean, that's ah that could change people's career path and everything.
00:23:09
JOHN FIRM
He's opened up some doors. Yep.
00:23:11
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:23:12
Dawn Sloas
And what a way for you to, especially as a shop owner, having children, if they're going to get into the business in the future, what a way to introduce them, bringing them to the training event.
00:23:20
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:23:20
Frank
Yeah.
00:23:21
Dawn Sloas
So they're getting used to, they're seeing the faces, they're getting used to the people. Maybe they're learning little things along the way as well. I think overall, there's no reason that this shouldn't happen.
00:23:31
Dawn Sloas
And I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.
00:23:34
Frank
Well, I'll tell you, being my first time when we were at at the at Tools, it was my first time ever to a training event like that.
00:23:39
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:23:41
Frank
And I'm like, all of it was overwhelming. So like had somebody brought me along over the years or like you say, with the kids coming up now and they understand the culture and they understand what's going on and they understand the people, it would make something like that just so much more seamless.
00:23:54
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:23:57
Frank
I think that and even at Tools, I thought it was very family oriented. I mean, obviously, because it was a Hershey, right?
00:24:01
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:24:03
Frank
But all in all, I think just the whole program was family oriented. it It really seemed that way. So I think what you guys are going to do here will even expand on that and make that even more family friendly.
00:24:15
Frank
It's not like I always thought of training, like whenever you go to an automotive training or something like that. that's all It's always just the just ah the men go, right? The men go to the training or what.
00:24:23
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:24:25
Frank
And I say men because it's a men dominated field, which there's a lot of women that do an amazing job.
00:24:27
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:24:29
Frank
But but it's like, and it's, yeah.
00:24:30
JOHN FIRM
Oh, amazing women in auto care. Golly.
00:24:33
Frank
Yeah, that that was, that, that, yeah.
00:24:34
Aniz Lavji
I know you were there, John. saw the pictures.
00:24:38
JOHN FIRM
Miss Doubtfire was there, baby.
00:24:38
Frank
go
00:24:42
Frank
Oh, Margarita loved it. she She felt, she felt really welcome there because of that. Right. And even though she's not a technician, but she just felt like she belonged there. And I think that having, having something for the kids.
00:24:52
JOHN FIRM
And she did belong there.
00:24:54
Frank
Yeah, she did. and And having something for the kids would be the same thing. Now they feel like they belong there too. They're not just tagging along. and And if, like you say, if somebody uses it as their family vacation, well, then at least there's something more than just go sit in a hotel room while we're going to go do this training thing, right?
00:25:13
Dawn Sloas
Right.
00:25:13
Aniz Lavji
All you got to do is hire some of those summer camp students.
00:25:13
JOHN FIRM
Oh yeah.
00:25:13
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:25:13
Frank
Yeah.
00:25:18
Aniz Lavji
Hey, yeah you want a job for four days? Pay X amount of dollars. And you can take these kids and just build some kind of, take one ballroom out of the hotel. That'll just be the summer camp room and damn.
00:25:31
JOHN FIRM
the The hotel has five training rooms.
00:25:32
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:25:34
JOHN FIRM
okay So we're going to utilize four of the training rooms for classes. And one of them will hold back just for this event that we're talking about for the kids.
00:25:45
Aniz Lavji
That's great.
00:25:46
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:25:46
Frank
That's awesome.
00:25:46
JOHN FIRM
Mm-hmm.
00:25:47
Aniz Lavji
That's really nice.
00:25:48
Frank
Anise, what you were saying about about the students, um you're not there yet, but high school students, in order for them to get their credits to graduate here in Ontario, um they have to have, it used to be like 22 hours of community service.
00:25:48
JOHN FIRM
So.
00:26:03
Frank
And you could do whatever, like you could just go to somebody say, Hey, can I rake your lawn or whatever? And as long as somebody would sign off, Hey, they spent X amount of hours here, or whatever, doing whatever. And this would be a perfect, i don't know if you guys have that down there in Texas, but if something like that, be like, Hey, you guys need some community hours.
00:26:19
JOHN FIRM
We need something like that.
00:26:19
Frank
This is a perfect example. Yep.
00:26:22
Aniz Lavji
you
00:26:22
Frank
It's a really good program and it really teaches teaches kids to ah engage in the community, not just be like a leech on society, right?
00:26:22
Dawn Sloas
you
00:26:30
Frank
be like, oh, hey, I've gone to school and I've done my whatever, but they actually have to in engage, go out, talk to people and and learn. Like with this disconnect that everyone has because of social social media disconnect, right?
00:26:44
Frank
It really helps people engage personally.
00:26:44
JOHN FIRM
What a great idea. Yeah.
00:26:46
Frank
So, I mean, they started this years ago, like when I was in high school, no, when my kids were. So, but it that's still like, man, 10, 10 years ago, 15 years ago.
00:26:56
JOHN FIRM
I wonder if Jeff Compton remembers doing his deal like that.
00:27:00
Frank
yeah
00:27:01
Aniz Lavji
Oh, boy. Yeah.
00:27:02
Frank
No, he's pretty old already too.
00:27:02
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:27:04
Frank
yeah
00:27:04
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, he's holding a tooth.
00:27:06
Aniz Lavji
ah boy
00:27:06
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:27:09
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:27:09
Frank
But I mean, look into your local high school. Maybe they have something like that. Maybe you could utilize, I mean, if if you can get students to volunteer something like that, it'd be a very
00:27:18
JOHN FIRM
Well, the special needs kids, we have to have trained people.
00:27:21
Frank
That makes sense.
00:27:21
JOHN FIRM
Okay.
00:27:21
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:27:22
Frank
Yeah.
00:27:22
JOHN FIRM
that They have to be licensed and all that.
00:27:22
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:27:23
Frank
But for, but for the, for the rest of it, right?
00:27:25
JOHN FIRM
But for the general, yeah, I like what you're going with for the general population.
00:27:25
Frank
Oh, absolutely. Yep.
00:27:28
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:27:30
Frank
Yeah.
00:27:30
JOHN FIRM
Mm-hmm.
00:27:31
Dawn Sloas
And I think, you know, there's a, just being open and honest, there's a level of of fear too.
00:27:31
Frank
Yeah.
00:27:36
Dawn Sloas
I think the idea is to go with this company that has that extra training, but also they're going to have some type of insurance.
00:27:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:27:43
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:27:45
Dawn Sloas
And that's that's the concern, right?
00:27:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:27:46
Frank
Yes, definitely.
00:27:48
Dawn Sloas
You know, I would love, John, they don't have community service that's required for, you know, out here.
00:27:48
Frank
Yeah.
00:27:48
JOHN FIRM
Right.
00:27:50
Frank
Uh,
00:27:55
JOHN FIRM
ah Not that I know of anything like that, you know?
00:27:55
Frank
Ah, there's there's another thing for you guys to start.
00:27:59
JOHN FIRM
Exactly.
00:27:59
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, there we go.
00:28:01
Aniz Lavji
Depending on what, what's going on, like, I don't want to, have to be careful with my words, but depending on what the situation is with each child, you know, depending if they're like neuro neurodivergent or there's so many different factors.
00:28:13
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:28:19
Aniz Lavji
So to find that one company or group of people, that's going to be able to take care of them. yeah, like you've got a little bit of work cut out for you unless you've kind of got something something rolling, but it's it's a very particular set of skills that you're going to be searching for.
00:28:36
JOHN FIRM
Correct. you You know, your ratio may be one-on-one or one-on-four.
00:28:36
Frank
Yeah.
00:28:37
Aniz Lavji
But you're on the right track. This is awesome.
00:28:41
JOHN FIRM
You know, you we got to know what the needs is that the child has before we can have the services rendered to take care of the child while the the the parent is in class, you know.
00:28:44
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:28:46
Dawn Sloas
Yep. Yep.
00:28:51
Aniz Lavji
Definitely.
00:28:56
Frank
That makes sense. Yeah.
00:28:57
Aniz Lavji
like one
00:28:57
JOHN FIRM
you know And how many classes is the parent going to be taking? Is he going to be there for both days? Is he going to be there all day? You know, so...
00:29:05
JOHN FIRM
There's a lot of things that we got to iron on to make this thing happen.
00:29:05
Aniz Lavji
Some kind of survey or something.
00:29:06
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:29:08
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:29:10
JOHN FIRM
you know, and it's going to be the first year anybody's tried to do it. So I'm sure we're going to have hiccups. But the great thing about it is we'll go with the hiccups and move on.
00:29:20
JOHN FIRM
It's not going to destroy nobody.
00:29:21
Frank
If you never try, you'll never you'll never know and you'll never learn.
00:29:23
JOHN FIRM
It's just a hiccup.
00:29:24
Dawn Sloas
Exactly.
00:29:25
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:29:25
Frank
Yep.
00:29:27
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, by golly.
00:29:27
Aniz Lavji
I think that's cool. i was I was thinking the other day, Frank, it's probably a good thing that you went to your first event at Tools, because i think if your first event would have been ASCA or Vision, I think you would have been and really kind of like, my gosh.
00:29:41
JOHN FIRM
No, he he wouldn't because I'd have been there and I took care of him.
00:29:44
Aniz Lavji
That's true, but...
00:29:45
JOHN FIRM
The first person I seen when I pulled in the parking lot was Frank.
00:29:45
Frank
I appreciate that.
00:29:48
JOHN FIRM
He's sitting at the door.
00:29:49
Frank
That's right.
00:29:49
JOHN FIRM
I said, I've been waiting on you all day. Where you been?
00:29:52
Frank
That's right. Yeah. And I helped you with the luggage and off we went.
00:29:53
JOHN FIRM
ah Yeah.
00:29:56
Aniz Lavji
But I'm saying visually, just going into a place where there's close to 4,000 people to 400, it's a bit daunting. Like, that's that's how it was for me when I went last year. Yeah.
00:30:06
Frank
Yeah.
00:30:07
JOHN FIRM
Mm-hmm.
00:30:07
Frank
but I mean, even this was even this was overwhelming for a first. like I think it was set up really well if you had been there once before, right? Being there as a first time, ah there's a few things I didn't know how things operate and how things went and what was expected and when things was expected, right? like I didn't know that maybe I just didn't read the itinerary well, but like a breakfast every morning in front before each class type of deal. But all in all, it was really it was really well set up. But you're right. If I would have been to like something like ASDA, something much bigger, i easily get overwhelmed. And I'm like, I would have probably just been like, I'm going to go sit in the corner here, watch what everyone's doing. And then definitely not engaged as much as I did here.
00:30:53
JOHN FIRM
So are y'all going to ASTA? Are y'all going to do some podcasts at ASTA? What's happening? What's the plan?
00:30:59
Aniz Lavji
i'm i'm actually so I'm actually a member.
00:30:59
JOHN FIRM
You got to get this into work today.
00:31:02
Aniz Lavji
I registered as a member last year. They had a sale on. So I'm actually a member of ASDA and i am i am I'm 100% planning on going.
00:31:08
JOHN FIRM
I've been a member for years. Yeah.
00:31:13
JOHN FIRM
Okay.
00:31:13
Aniz Lavji
um I'm just trying to work out a couple of things. This time I'm going to try to bring my dad with me because I've always wanted to bring him with me to one of these events. We all work together.
00:31:24
Aniz Lavji
But it's just the dynamics. that If I can find proper staff, I'm in the middle of trying to get ah another tech and my first service advisor. So if I have things kind of running somewhat smoothly, I'd rather not be you know doing work orders in the middle of class like I did last year.
00:31:41
Aniz Lavji
So if I can get all my ducks in order, yeah, I mean, I'm down to go.
00:31:46
JOHN FIRM
So, Frank, let's hear your excuses.
00:31:46
Frank
a For us, it's... Well, I've got good ones.
00:31:50
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
00:31:51
Frank
Okay, listen. It's going to be a real stretch for us because two weekends before ASTA, we're at the cottage with the family.
00:32:00
JOHN FIRM
ah huh
00:32:00
Frank
um Then from the cottage, we're home one day. Then we're flying out to Alberta to spend a week in Alberta for my nephew's wedding. So that's the weekend before ASTA.
00:32:14
Frank
Then we come home and then if we go to ASTA, then we would be home for about two days and then flying out to for ASTA.
00:32:24
JOHN FIRM
How cool, how cool would that be?
00:32:24
Frank
And i'd be like, how cool would that be?
00:32:25
Aniz Lavji
So you don't have much of an excuse.
00:32:27
JOHN FIRM
Why do you want to home when you can be in North Carolina? I mean, why? I don't understand. You know,
00:32:32
Dawn Sloas
It kind of sounds like you have two vacations before that event, so you should be well rested.
00:32:37
JOHN FIRM
it sounds like you're planning perfect.
00:32:38
Frank
ah shit
00:32:40
JOHN FIRM
It don't sound like you got a problem.
00:32:40
Frank
it rightre Right, right. Except if, as Anise says too, right? Staffing and and how how busy the shop is being.
00:32:47
Aniz Lavji
You have more staff than I do.
00:32:48
Frank
But I mean, we do.
00:32:50
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:32:50
Dawn Sloas
he's calling you out. Calling you out.
00:32:52
Frank
But I, yeah.
00:32:52
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:32:54
Aniz Lavji
By far.
00:32:56
JOHN FIRM
So you yeah I hear all these excuses, but I haven't seen a reason why that you can't, you know.
00:32:57
Frank
I don't know. It's just.
00:33:03
Frank
ah
00:33:06
JOHN FIRM
Look at me, guys. ah I'm planning now to be there. I'm not saying if I don't have the staff. I'm not saying if I don't have this. i'm The only thing that's going to keep me from going from ASTA a is my funeral.
00:33:19
Dawn Sloas
Thank you.
00:33:21
JOHN FIRM
Okay?
00:33:21
Frank
Oh boy.
00:33:22
JOHN FIRM
That's the only thing. I'm going to be there.
00:33:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, it's like a...
00:33:25
JOHN FIRM
I'm going to be there to see my friends.
00:33:25
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:33:26
JOHN FIRM
I missed it last year because I went fishing. Okay. And I didn't go fishing on a local river. I went down to South America to go fishing. All right. I had opportunity of lifetime, but I'm not going to pull that stunt ever again.
00:33:40
JOHN FIRM
I'm not going to miss ASDA.
00:33:42
Frank
Ha ha ha ha ha.
00:33:42
JOHN FIRM
I'm not going to, if, if I lose my whole crew, I'm going to close my shop down. I'm going to ASDA. It'll be, there'll be a ah shingle hung up out front. I'll be back on Monday.
00:33:53
Aniz Lavji
and It's like a no discussion thing for me. Like I'm, I'm 199% planning on going and it's gotta be like crazy thing, like insane things happening for me to miss it.
00:33:59
JOHN FIRM
Yes.
00:34:07
Aniz Lavji
Because again, Frank, like I told you, that's where everything changed for me, man.
00:34:12
Frank
yeah i'll tell you I'll tell you what.
00:34:12
Aniz Lavji
That, that.
00:34:14
Frank
You you guys come down here.
00:34:14
Aniz Lavji
I
00:34:16
Frank
Convince my wife.
00:34:16
JOHN FIRM
When?
00:34:18
Frank
when les
00:34:18
Aniz Lavji
already talked to her.
00:34:19
JOHN FIRM
I won't be real close to you.
00:34:20
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:34:20
Frank
next Next weekend. You can fly down next weekend. and I'll take you out for wings. We'll talk about ASTA.
00:34:26
JOHN FIRM
If I fly up there and go eat wings with you, you'll go to ASTA. Is that what I heard?
00:34:32
Frank
That's what you heard.
00:34:33
JOHN FIRM
Is that what I heard?
00:34:33
Frank
Yep.
00:34:34
JOHN FIRM
All right.
00:34:34
Frank
Yep.
00:34:35
JOHN FIRM
not Then you tell me an airport I need to fly into.
00:34:39
Frank
You've got two.
00:34:39
JOHN FIRM
I'm going to Alaska this weekend. I'll be back June the 3rd. I got a three-day training course about storytelling.
00:34:43
Frank
Okay.
00:34:46
JOHN FIRM
Okay. And then I'm going to Minnesota for federated insurance. Okay. So I'm going to like really close to you.
00:34:52
Frank
Wow.
00:34:55
JOHN FIRM
And I leave there on Thursday.
00:34:55
Aniz Lavji
Wait, you're going to Minnesota?
00:34:56
Frank
Okay.
00:34:56
JOHN FIRM
I just jump a plane and come right up to you.
00:34:59
Frank
Well, you could probably do a layover in Toronto while you're going to Alaska, maybe.
00:35:05
JOHN FIRM
got my flight set for Seattle.
00:35:10
Aniz Lavji
John, you say you're going to Minnesota?
00:35:12
JOHN FIRM
Yes.
00:35:12
Aniz Lavji
Are you going checking out the the Leering Center over there? Hmm.
00:35:15
JOHN FIRM
I don't know what I'm doing other than Federated Insurance is doing a program to help their insured people in the automotive industry. understand your insurance and your loss.
00:35:28
JOHN FIRM
And I need to open up an email to tell you more about it, but I'll send it to you. Are either one of you guys with federated insurance? I don't know about Canada with that.
00:35:34
Aniz Lavji
they They have federated insurance here in Canada, actually. Yeah.
00:35:38
Frank
we are We are actually with them.
00:35:41
JOHN FIRM
Okay. All right. um shoot you I gave you my email, but I don't remember I got yours, but I'll shoot you this flyer. Okay. It's June 16th through the eighteenth And I'm opening up my email now because since we're talking about it I might as well tell you about it.
00:35:57
JOHN FIRM
and And let me find Jack's email he sent to me this morning. I'm almost there. One more right there. Open up the attachment. It's titled Jack's Fishing Trip. That's not true.
00:36:14
JOHN FIRM
The agenda for this meeting is June 16th to the 18th. It's only for the automotive industry. Okay. It's risk. Management Academy. It's in Ottawa, Minnesota.
00:36:29
JOHN FIRM
right Minnesota. I hope I said that right.
00:36:32
Frank
If you would have said Ottawa, Canada, we'd be there because that's only like.
00:36:32
JOHN FIRM
okay
00:36:35
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, we'd be there in heartbeat. okay so
00:36:37
Aniz Lavji
Hmm.
00:36:37
Frank
Yeah.
00:36:38
JOHN FIRM
Developing a risk management culture. Learning the importance of risk management for your business. Advantage of using federated drive-safe telematics. Elevating workers' compensation risk.
00:36:51
JOHN FIRM
Focusing on business success and employee retention. That's what it's going to be about for a couple of days. So I'm excited about going up there.
00:36:59
Frank
Okay.
00:36:59
JOHN FIRM
I haven't seen Jack in a couple of years, so he's going to be there hosting this thing. Two and a half days of fun, field, packed information with federated insurance.
00:37:07
Aniz Lavji
a lot of fun travel coming up there, John.
00:37:10
JOHN FIRM
Say again?
00:37:11
Aniz Lavji
I said you got a lot of fun travel coming up there.
00:37:13
JOHN FIRM
Oh, I do. You know, me and Rick was going to do a tour in ah North Carolina, but that got moved to December. And the week that he's doing it in December, I can't make it because I'm going hunting in Oklahoma with my buddy Jesse from Nebraska. We're going to a ranch in Oklahoma, one his buddies own. Anyway, y'all know me hunting and fishing all the time.
00:37:34
JOHN FIRM
So, yeah, always going somewhere. So it looks like the month of July is the only thing I'm going on is the Rick Live event with 180 Biz Rick. And that's where the family of Rick White will ah ascend on a town and will go to one of the members' shop and will do a tour of the shop and and give the shop owner our feedback of what we think he could do to improve.
00:37:47
Aniz Lavji
All right.
00:37:54
Frank
That's that's an Annapolis this year, right? I think.
00:37:57
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:58
Frank
Yeah. So we're actually planning on attending that.
00:38:01
JOHN FIRM
All right.
00:38:03
Frank
Yep.
00:38:03
JOHN FIRM
Cool. I'm excited. I could see you again. See, I could see you in June and I could see you in July.
00:38:05
Frank
Yeah, let's go.
00:38:08
JOHN FIRM
And then September, I see you at ASTA.
00:38:13
Frank
sounds like an exciting summer.
00:38:15
JOHN FIRM
It's going to be a ball. I tell you, in August, in august we're having a ah meeting greet.
00:38:17
Frank
Yeah.
00:38:21
JOHN FIRM
It's called the Michael Gunther Cookout. Y'all know Michael is Big Bird, okay?
00:38:26
Aniz Lavji
Well.
00:38:26
JOHN FIRM
We have a cookout every year with the 180 Biz present and past family, okay? So if you ever were a member of the 180 Biz Group, you're invited to come eat a hamburger and camp with us. We're going to be on the lake up there at Janssen.
00:38:41
JOHN FIRM
And we got cabins rented and we' we're going to have a ball. The whole family's invited. This is going to be cool. So that's coming up in August. So it's like boom, boom, boom, boom. We got something going on all the time now.
00:38:53
Frank
Oh my gosh. i won't even, if I attended all that, I wouldn't ever have time to work anymore.
00:38:54
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:38:59
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, you wouldn't be able have to go to that boy's wedding or whatever it is.
00:38:59
Frank
But I,
00:39:00
Aniz Lavji
That's the whole point, Frank, of having all these people working for you.
00:39:03
Frank
oh no, that, that one's important. We got to go to the wedding.
00:39:08
Aniz Lavji
Well, that's I think it's ah it's great at least you know to kind of have it on the docket, Frank, if if it works out.
00:39:09
Frank
Yeah.
00:39:15
Aniz Lavji
I know have go to the shop and everything.
00:39:16
JOHN FIRM
Now he's going to get it on the docket because I'm coming up to see him in June. He said, if I come up there, he's going to ask the gay.
00:39:22
Aniz Lavji
Well, you let me know when you're coming. i'll join both i'll I'll join all of you wherever you guys are meeting up.
00:39:24
JOHN FIRM
Okay. Okay.
00:39:28
Aniz Lavji
We'll all go for wings, and then we'll just shove it down their throats, and then we'll just make them click the button and buy the tickets, and away she goes.
00:39:35
JOHN FIRM
I love it. I love it. Yeah. What about Apex and SEMA? You guys going to do that? Uh-huh.
00:39:41
Aniz Lavji
that's for I'd love to go but um unfortunately, it's just a bad month, November.
00:39:48
JOHN FIRM
November the 1st opening day deer hunting season in Texas. You guys have no clue how big that is, okay?
00:39:56
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:39:58
JOHN FIRM
And I'm going to miss opening day deer season in Texas. I'm going to be in Las Vegas, Nevada for SEMA and Apex. It starts on Tuesday, and it goes to Friday. Now, Friday's not the day I want to be there because it's open the general public.
00:40:13
JOHN FIRM
But Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday, I'll be at Apex. I'll be walking the floor. I'll be doing podcasts with different people. They'll have the podcast booths up. It'll be a ball. Then Wednesday and Thursday, I'll make my way over to SEMA. And I'll do some live interviews in the booth. You want me come do a live interview with you? My my Mr. Mo Money outfit? I'll come do a live interview with you on all my gold. And I'll pass out some gold. you know So I'm excited about that.
00:40:42
JOHN FIRM
Every one of these trade shows we've been talking about, Vision, ASCA, Apex and SEMA, I shut my shop down. i take my whole shop to these events.
00:40:54
JOHN FIRM
I think it's 100% having your whole team
00:40:54
Frank
Oh.
00:40:58
Aniz Lavji
If you can do it, amazing, yeah.
00:40:58
JOHN FIRM
It's team building effect at these events for your team to build stronger together, make the connection together.
00:41:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:41:09
JOHN FIRM
And when you come back, the money you think you might have lost, you'll make it back tenfold. I promise. I have a 3% budget. I put back a total sales every week for a training account.
00:41:22
JOHN FIRM
Okay? Training doesn't cost. It pays me, baby. I never drain that training account. It's always building. It's always going.
00:41:31
Frank
Really?
00:41:31
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:41:32
JOHN FIRM
Guys, I'm telling you, if 3% is three percent's not enough because your team bigger and what mine is, you may need 5%. But at the end of the year, you got a nice little bonus for you. So you can go do some personal training. Personal training I'm doing this year is with the Storyteller Academy, J.L. Lawrence.
00:41:50
JOHN FIRM
I'm so excited. And I'll go through that the first week of June. So I'm looking forward to that show.
00:41:55
Aniz Lavji
I think at least you know at least two two training events a year for me is kind of where I'm i'm keeping it as like a minimum.
00:42:06
Aniz Lavji
But, you know, if if I had time, geez, I'd love to go to three, four, five. I mean, I have the best time. and And like you said, it doesn't cost, it pays.
00:42:16
JOHN FIRM
It pays 100%. If you're thinking training, going to events, it's costing you money. You've got the wrong mental capacity. you You're still thinking like you're broke. Okay. You got to change your mental life attitude. You got to change the way you think. You got to get into the mindset that, hey, if I know how to fix something, And I say it needs a flash.
00:42:38
JOHN FIRM
I know it needs a flash because i can prove it needs a flash. You know, you got to have that, that set in your mind to where when you go to these events, you make the connection. So if somebody in Canada has a friend in Texas that needs fixing, they can call me and I can take care of it for them.
00:42:55
JOHN FIRM
That networking capabilities when somebody calls and say, hey, I need somebody help me with this problem. I can say, hey, I know a good guy named Brian Polak up in New York. He can help you with that.
00:43:06
JOHN FIRM
You know, yeah you know, I got a guy out in California, Oscar Gomez.
00:43:07
Aniz Lavji
In his sleep.
00:43:11
JOHN FIRM
He can talk to you about that. You know, i just I know so many people by attending these deals. And it's because I've dedicated my life to attend these events, you know, and people think that it costs.
00:43:25
JOHN FIRM
Jim Morton tells you over and over again, folks, training don't cost. It pays. And I'm here to tell you, it pays well.
00:43:34
Aniz Lavji
you know on On top of the amazing training that you get these events, i mean it's second to none. You can't compare it to anywhere else. and That's why like we're we're coming from Canada to the US to get the proper training.
00:43:47
Frank
yeah we have We have limited, come what you have.
00:43:47
Aniz Lavji
but
00:43:50
Aniz Lavji
Very limited.
00:43:51
JOHN FIRM
Exactly.
00:43:51
Frank
When we when we were in yeah when we were in in Pennsylvania, I actually sent our apprentice up to north of Toronto to Barrie for a three-day training up there.
00:43:52
JOHN FIRM
Yes, I've heard it.
00:44:02
Frank
But it was it was one class. It was just an electrical diagnostic It was two days, actually.
00:44:07
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:44:08
JOHN FIRM
Rhett?
00:44:09
Frank
And very, very well put on class. Like Mark does an amazing job putting on these classes, but it's not like an event. It's not like this whole, it's one class.
00:44:17
JOHN FIRM
It's a class.
00:44:20
Frank
It's one trainer. That's what he does for two days. Right. um
00:44:23
JOHN FIRM
Rhett?
00:44:24
Frank
And that's all we have around here. there There really is nothing else like that. There's nothing like what what you have in the U.S. Nothing here.
00:44:31
Aniz Lavji
the The difference is you know, you'll go to, you know, I always go back to ASCA because that's that's my that's my place. But, you know, you go to ASCA, you go to your classes to learn, you get out of class and you start learning some more because you're talking to this person and that person and you start, oh, you were in my last class.
00:44:40
JOHN FIRM
Thank you.
00:44:47
Frank
Yeah, very much so.
00:44:52
Aniz Lavji
And then you start getting to know these people. And you start shooting the breeze. And then in the evenings, you might go out for a drink and you see them there and you start talking and, you know, they start talking shop. And there may be something that you've been dealing with at your shop that you are trying to figure out how the hell do I fix this? And he's like, oh, that's easy.
00:45:11
Aniz Lavji
Do this this, this, this, and this. And you're like. Yep.
00:45:14
JOHN FIRM
Or what I've done for years is when I made that connection, found out what they were good at. And later on, a month later, six months later, I might pick up the phone and say, make that connection.
00:45:29
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:45:29
Frank
Yep.
00:45:29
JOHN FIRM
I need that. I need that. Tell me if I need to flash this car or not. What do you think? You know?
00:45:34
Aniz Lavji
and I got a lot I met a lot of people from ASTA and Vision that I can send a quick message and even through this podcast you know I've i've utilized some people that we met through here and it's it's been handy yeah check engine truck yeah yep
00:45:46
JOHN FIRM
You have y'all heard who check engine Chuck is y'all know him. Okay. So he came to ASTA a year or so ago, you know, two years ago when I was there. And when he walked in, I recognized him right away. I said, Hey, come here. I know you. And i picked a bunch of the the social media guys out that came in. And I said, let me take you around, introduce you to everybody. And i introduced him to a bunch of folks. He made some really good connections. So,
00:46:14
JOHN FIRM
I didn't think nothing of it. I just kind of let it go. you know in a couple months ago, I had an ABS module that I needed program. And I couldn't find him anybody programming. I said, well, I'll just message him. Maybe he'll know something. So I messaged him.
00:46:29
JOHN FIRM
And he replied back with his phone number. he said, John, call me. I want to talk you about this. That's the kind of connection you make with people. yeah
00:46:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:46:38
JOHN FIRM
I just over and over again, that type of connection with somebody that would take the time to help and make sure you're going in the right direction. that was just awesome to me.
00:46:49
Frank
Mm-hmm.
00:46:49
Aniz Lavji
you'll You'll find tons and tons and tons of people like that at these events. and And like I said, the some of the heavy duty training happens outside of the actual class.
00:47:00
JOHN FIRM
A lot of it does. Yes, you're right.
00:47:01
Aniz Lavji
and And the other.
00:47:01
JOHN FIRM
So the social gathering place at Vision is in the bar.
00:47:04
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:47:06
JOHN FIRM
OK.
00:47:06
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:47:07
JOHN FIRM
So the social gathering place at Tools was in the bar. We all gathered in there drinking and eating and having a good time. And the new place at ASTA, and I say the new place, the last time I was there was hotel.
00:47:22
JOHN FIRM
We're having a convention center last year, and this year is going to be the convention center. And the pictures I've seen so far, the social place is back at the bar.
00:47:27
Aniz Lavji
No. Yep.
00:47:32
JOHN FIRM
so And you don't have to drink alcohol.
00:47:32
Aniz Lavji
aye
00:47:34
JOHN FIRM
don't Don't think that you have to drink alcohol. There's plenty people drink water, tea, and Coke, okay? But that's the social gathering place. to make your network connection, to learn something new.
00:47:46
JOHN FIRM
It's better. It's almost as good as the classroom without a screen.
00:47:49
Frank
Thank you.
00:47:50
Aniz Lavji
and And you'll get people that'll put you in your place. If they know that you're doing something that's wrong, they're going be like, dude, this is wrong. Don't do it this way. This is the right way. And this is why.
00:48:00
Aniz Lavji
And I've done it for this many years. And yep.
00:48:03
JOHN FIRM
They're not putting you down. It's constructive criticism and they're helping.
00:48:07
Aniz Lavji
But they want you to succeed. That's the difference.
00:48:09
JOHN FIRM
Yes. it's It's a passion for...
00:48:09
Aniz Lavji
It's not like.
00:48:11
JOHN FIRM
To use to succeed. Yes, I agree with you 100%.
00:48:13
Aniz Lavji
You're not getting people that are that have like an ulterior motive like, oh, you know I'm going to give them my secrets about this because they're competition. There's freaking tens of thousands of shops.
00:48:22
JOHN FIRM
If you spend the money and you take the time and you come to training,
00:48:30
JOHN FIRM
every one of the top people, trainers, technicians, whatever, every one of them, I don't know one of them,
00:48:34
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:38
JOHN FIRM
If you spend the money, time, and effort to go to these events, they will stop and help you no matter what time of day it is and you get old of them.
00:48:45
Aniz Lavji
And you have access to them. and these are people that These are some heavy hitter people that you have access to, whether it's for a few minutes or you could be having a beer with them for a couple hours or a soft drink with them at the bar later and in the hallways.
00:49:00
Aniz Lavji
I mean, you have access to these people and it's amazing.
00:49:00
JOHN FIRM
Yeah. And not only not only that, but listen, the great thing about it
00:49:03
Frank
Yep.
00:49:07
JOHN FIRM
If you're even interested in being on a podcast with some of these great people, all you got to is message them. Say, hey, want to come on your podcast, talk about something. What a great opportunity to spread your word and share your message.
00:49:17
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:49:21
JOHN FIRM
Get on some of these podcasts.
00:49:25
Frank
We had the opportunity of recording with ah with Jeff while we were at Tools.
00:49:29
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, I see that.
00:49:29
Frank
So i'm not I'm not sure when that's coming out, but he he said he he couldn't. He was so excited that Margarita and I were both there. Because I was on Jeff's podcast a while back, probably a year ago, and he said, he said i want I want the two of you.
00:49:40
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, I remember that.
00:49:44
Frank
You guys got an amazing story. I want to interview both of you. So we've got to do that.
00:49:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:49:48
JOHN FIRM
I can't wait for it to drop. I really can't.
00:49:50
Frank
Yeah, have no idea when it's coming out, but I'm looking forward to i think it's going to be good.
00:49:50
JOHN FIRM
I'm so excited.
00:49:54
JOHN FIRM
What an awesome podcast, though.
00:49:54
Frank
Back to it.
00:49:54
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:49:56
JOHN FIRM
That guy has such a cool podcast, The Jaded Mechanic.
00:49:56
Frank
Yeah.
00:50:00
JOHN FIRM
There's so much information about the automotive industry, not just from Canada, but from the world, you know.
00:50:00
Frank
Yeah.
00:50:06
Frank
Yeah.
00:50:07
JOHN FIRM
I love that podcast. I really do.
00:50:10
Aniz Lavji
He's done a great job. I mean, he the guest he has and his demeanor and everything, and he tries to stay somewhat neutral on certain topics if he can, but know he he does a very...
00:50:22
JOHN FIRM
Somewhat. I like that. Somewhat neutral. ah
00:50:25
Aniz Lavji
Well, there's ah like with, with Jeff, like he's got his own feelings on certain topics and he stands right on them. But on some of them, like, like you'll you'll always hear him say on when it comes to politics, he's like, yeah, you know what?
00:50:38
Aniz Lavji
I'm just staying on this other side.
00:50:40
JOHN FIRM
I just head over here in the corner and
00:50:40
Aniz Lavji
for this But no, like what he's, what he's done in the time that he's been doing podcasting, he's really done a fantastic job.
00:50:50
JOHN FIRM
I like the podcast I did with Mike Allen, Confession of Shop Owners. You know, me and Big Bird was in there and Jeff was in there and we just hijacked and went straight down the fishing road.
00:50:55
Aniz Lavji
I, Yeah, I heard that one.
00:51:01
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, my, I actually recorded with Mike when I was at Vision.
00:51:02
Frank
It
00:51:05
Aniz Lavji
So my episode just released, i think like a week ago.
00:51:08
JOHN FIRM
it did a week ago. Yeah.
00:51:09
Aniz Lavji
So yeah, I had a lot of fun with him.
00:51:11
JOHN FIRM
ah
00:51:12
Aniz Lavji
He's a good guy.
00:51:15
JOHN FIRM
Golly, this is good. I love this. It's lot a lot of great topic tonight, man. So.
00:51:19
Frank
really is.
00:51:20
Aniz Lavji
the The main, main topic, you know, like from this podcast that, you know, whoever's listening, whether you're a service advisor, whether you're a technician, whether you're a shop owner, whether you're just a a big fan of Buckaroo Bob, which everyone is, I mean, you know, but the main thing is training you can put a price on it.
00:51:42
Aniz Lavji
And even if you only have time in a year to just go to one event, whether it's a Texas two-step, which, you know, the way things are going and I've seen a lot of good feedback, that's definitely one that if you're in the area, definitely don't miss it.
00:51:57
Aniz Lavji
If you're not in the area, try to make it because from what I saw from the last one, it was great.
00:52:00
JOHN FIRM
you
00:52:03
Aniz Lavji
So whatever event you can make, whether it's that one, ASTA, vision, tools, I think it's a high priority in your life. you should make it a very high priority in your life, in your business, to make at least one to two trainings a year, whether it's for a few days or you're going to one of these ones that are for four or five days. I mean, it's going to change everything for you.
00:52:29
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:52:31
JOHN FIRM
And when you say everything, the best thing it's going to do for you is it's going to change your pocketbook. You know.
00:52:37
Aniz Lavji
Pocketbook and and also also, John, it it's it it can change your your mental well-being because you you you may think that what you're doing is right, but you're like, well, I'm doing all this, but I'm not seeing the fruits of my labor here.
00:52:45
JOHN FIRM
Yes.
00:52:55
Aniz Lavji
It's not working. You go to these events. Maybe you go to two events. you're like... okay, well, this is what was going on. Now I'm doing this. oh okay. This is what I was doing wrong.
00:53:05
Aniz Lavji
And holy crap, I can afford to buy this tool or I can afford to go to the next training because I've got the right tools in place.
00:53:09
JOHN FIRM
Yes. yes
00:53:14
Aniz Lavji
I've talked to the right people. John firm, smack me upside my head and made me understand that this is wrong. And you know, you, you gotta have, friends in this industry.
00:53:26
Aniz Lavji
You've got to have acquaintances. You've got to have the drive to train. You've got to have the drive to meet people and actually make the change not only in the industry, but make the damn change in yourself.
00:53:39
Aniz Lavji
begin
00:53:39
Frank
and meeting the people.
00:53:39
JOHN FIRM
Amen. Changing yourself. That's important.
00:53:41
Aniz Lavji
because Because none of us are perfect.
00:53:42
Frank
Yeah.
00:53:43
Aniz Lavji
we We all have to be lifelong learners.
00:53:43
Dawn Sloas
Mm-mm.
00:53:43
Frank
No.
00:53:45
Aniz Lavji
And you'll hear ah you'll hear Josh Parnell say that every single day.
00:53:45
JOHN FIRM
Amen.
00:53:49
Aniz Lavji
You've got to be lifelong learners.
00:53:50
JOHN FIRM
My buddy, Josh Parnell, limited a leadership.
00:53:51
Frank
And me,
00:53:52
JOHN FIRM
Yes. Limited, limitless leadership.
00:53:54
Aniz Lavji
i I love that guy.
00:53:55
Frank
and it meet me.
00:53:56
Aniz Lavji
He's awesome.
00:53:57
JOHN FIRM
And that guy, what's his name? Brett, that guy. that What a cool dude.
00:54:00
Aniz Lavji
Brett Bettler. I got to meet him as well in Kansas. He was a nice guy.
00:54:04
JOHN FIRM
Yeah, he's awesome.
00:54:05
Frank
ah meeting Meeting new people and networking is is, that's like one of the key things for sure for this place or for any of these events.
00:54:12
JOHN FIRM
Yes.
00:54:12
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:54:12
Frank
And that's a journey that I put myself on this year. I said that I need to network more. I need to know more people. and And doing this podcast has been an amazing journey in that.
00:54:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:54:24
Frank
Going to tools was an amazing, like i've I've networked with more people in the last year than I've done in the last 20 years of my career. career.
00:54:35
JOHN FIRM
How cool. And then you just started coaching with Rick Wyatt, 180 Biz, you know,
00:54:37
Frank
but
00:54:39
Frank
Yep, that's right. Yep.
00:54:41
JOHN FIRM
So your your world is going to, my gosh, it's going to be so good.
00:54:41
Frank
And so that's going to put a lot more into our corner.
00:54:45
Aniz Lavji
yeah with Rick he's an awesome guy like i really had good car I took his class and in fact had vision as well and he's a super super nice guy
00:54:45
Frank
And
00:54:52
Frank
yeah.
00:54:53
JOHN FIRM
Yes, he is. He's true. He's true and he means very, steep okay, so his heart and his passion are for you to succeed. He'll stop everything he's doing to try to help anybody.
00:55:08
JOHN FIRM
It's just amazing to To be around this guy and the love and compassion he has for our industry to help.
00:55:12
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:55:16
JOHN FIRM
To literally help at no charge. He's not interested in money. He's interested in you being successful. Number one thing in Rick White's world. And it's just, I love him as being my personal friend.
00:55:28
JOHN FIRM
And he's also my coach.
00:55:31
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. He's a very, very nice guy. Every time I've talked to him, I've messaged him online. I met him at at Vision and took his class and we chatted a bit after and everything.
00:55:42
Aniz Lavji
You know, he's a good one.
00:55:42
JOHN FIRM
Need to get them on here for podcasts.
00:55:45
Aniz Lavji
I'd love to. yeah I'm actually going to be reaching out to him.
00:55:46
Frank
and not Working on Yep. Yeah.
00:55:48
JOHN FIRM
Working on it? Oh, my gosh.
00:55:50
Frank
Yeah, that.
00:55:50
JOHN FIRM
So two of the number one things that Rick-ism is, Frank, working on it and later. ah
00:55:59
Frank
but
00:56:01
JOHN FIRM
I'm doing it. It's happening. I'm making it mine. Okay?
00:56:05
JOHN FIRM
Okay.
00:56:05
Frank
yeah
00:56:07
Aniz Lavji
I think now that you've you've joined Frank, yeah I think John's right. Your world's going to change because, I mean, he's a hell of a good coach.
00:56:13
Dawn Sloas
Mm-hmm.
00:56:16
JOHN FIRM
So Super Saturday's coming up November, what, 14th or something like that?
00:56:16
Frank
that was it That was our plan.
00:56:21
JOHN FIRM
And that's going to be in Pennsylvania, held by Mid-Atlantic Auto Care Alliance. Are you guys planning on being at that one? That's a real close one to y'all.
00:56:31
Aniz Lavji
I can't step out of the shop in November, period.
00:56:34
JOHN FIRM
How come? Because it's snow and ice or what?
00:56:37
Aniz Lavji
winter tire season, it probably, could it would literally be detrimental to the business to leave in November.
00:56:38
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
00:56:44
Frank
and that's That's peak winter tire season. I guess you guys don't understand that down in Texas, what winter tire season is.
00:56:49
JOHN FIRM
Not at all. No. I just signed up with a Landcar today took for another separate part of my business.
00:56:51
Frank
No. Yeah.
00:56:55
JOHN FIRM
Okay. I've used Landcar for years. And that's one of their categories is just for tires, seasonal tire stuff. So, you know, tire storage and tire this and tire that.
00:57:06
JOHN FIRM
The things I don't know about here in Texas, because I'm not storing your damn tires and I'm not holding on to all that junk for you.
00:57:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:57:10
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
00:57:13
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:57:14
Frank
Oh yeah.
00:57:14
JOHN FIRM
I just don't understand it. You're right.
00:57:16
Aniz Lavji
Here, I mean,
00:57:16
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:57:16
Frank
Tire storage is very, very lucrative around here for sure.
00:57:16
JOHN FIRM
I'm not interested either. Yeah.
00:57:20
Aniz Lavji
very well, like we're, we'd probably go through like last November, we were over 450 cars in the month that came through the doors and
00:57:20
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:57:21
Frank
Yeah.
00:57:29
JOHN FIRM
You're putting them on for people? Is that all you're doing? Just bolting them up? Mm-hmm.
00:57:33
Aniz Lavji
selling tires, installing, balancing, and then obviously we're getting the cars up in the air, inspections, and we got brakes, suspension, all kinds of stuff going on.
00:57:40
JOHN FIRM
Mm-hmm.
00:57:43
Aniz Lavji
So that's...
00:57:45
JOHN FIRM
And there's no way to space that out and schedule it out to another...
00:57:48
Aniz Lavji
Oh, no, no, no.
00:57:48
JOHN FIRM
It has to happen in November?
00:57:49
Aniz Lavji
It's... November, as soon as you you know some snowflakes start, people start freaking out. And they're like, the Armageddon of snow is going to come tomorrow.
00:57:55
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
00:57:58
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
00:57:58
Aniz Lavji
So they need to come in today.
00:57:58
JOHN FIRM
It has to happen.
00:58:00
Aniz Lavji
And it's...
00:58:00
JOHN FIRM
Yeah. So just as soon as they get their tires on, they'll go buy all the bread and milk at the grocery store then.
00:58:01
Aniz Lavji
We're...
00:58:04
Aniz Lavji
Pretty much, yeah.
00:58:05
Frank
Yeah, there is ways you can schedule.
00:58:05
JOHN FIRM
yeah
00:58:05
Aniz Lavji
We're...
00:58:05
Dawn Sloas
Have you tried?
00:58:08
Frank
Sorry, go ahead, Don.
00:58:09
Dawn Sloas
sorry. I was going to say, have you tried shooting out emails in October as reminders to be like, hey, don't forget? And do you see anybody coming in or they're just like, they don't do it till they have to?
00:58:18
Aniz Lavji
October...
00:58:18
Frank
They don't do it till they have to.
00:58:19
Aniz Lavji
yeah October, we like we store a ton, over 400 somewhat sets of tires. so we're We're literally, from October and November, slammed 20 to cars a day.
00:58:26
Frank
No.
00:58:34
Frank
There, there is some shops that will be scheduling stuff like that. And we've had customers come to us because they're like, Oh, the local Canadian tire. John went offline.
00:58:44
Dawn Sloas
It blown his nose.
00:58:44
Frank
The local. Oh, there you go.
00:58:45
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:58:46
Aniz Lavji
she knows
00:58:47
Frank
That that's, that's, that's newsworthy. Keep it on there.
00:58:50
Dawn Sloas
Yeah.
00:58:50
Frank
Um, but they'll be like, Oh, we like, let's say it's November and they say, Oh, we're booked up until January.
00:58:56
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:58:56
Frank
Okay. Well, somebody is not going to wait till January to put their snow tires on. Like, that's just ridiculous. But Dom, what you were saying about it scheduling ahead of time, and we did that this year with annual safety checks.
00:59:01
Aniz Lavji
yeah awesome
00:59:07
Frank
We have a couple of fleets that we do. um inspections on their on their trucks and trailers every year. And so Margarita, what she did is she's like like, everyone comes always in.
00:59:20
Frank
It's like February when everyone's like, hey, I want it done now because it's right in between either the snow season or the summer season of of lawn care, stuff like that, right?
00:59:28
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yep.
00:59:29
Frank
So she's like, okay, we've got three main companies that we deal with. She's I'm going to call them.
Innovative Business Practices and Community Support
00:59:35
Frank
It's ah the first company ah we're going to book you for this month. the next company we're going to book you for this month and like this month. So she spread it out.
00:59:44
Frank
And that way it wasn't like everyone come at one time. And then we were able to do everything else. And she just came up with that all on her own. Like, ah i'm like, I, I, had never really thought about doing that. And she's like, there's no way we can handle this influx of work all at one time.
00:59:58
Frank
I'm going to do this. I'm like, you know what? That's an amazing thing. She did an awesome job scheduling it.
01:00:02
Aniz Lavji
That's good. Yeah.
01:00:03
Frank
It worked out really well. Cause that way we were busy. when it normally would have been slow. and And then we were able to get everyone through and no rush, rush, rush. And it worked out well.
01:00:13
Frank
So doing stuff like that is amazing.
01:00:14
JOHN FIRM
I will give you a tip, Frank. Okay. Now that you're, oh man, I'm telling you, i don't think I need tell you that one, but that, that little snow you just went through.
01:00:18
Frank
Don't let go of my wife because she's amazing. Okay.
01:00:20
Dawn Sloas
Uh-huh.
01:00:21
Frank
All right. No, I know that one. Yep.
01:00:26
JOHN FIRM
She made that ah up on her own. She figured that out on her own in the one 80 biz open office hours.
01:00:30
Frank
Yep.
01:00:34
JOHN FIRM
Okay. You weren't in there today.
01:00:35
Frank
Yep.
01:00:35
JOHN FIRM
Cause I was there looking for you. Okay. But those the,
01:00:39
Frank
we we were We were on a date doing mini golf.
01:00:42
JOHN FIRM
I love it. I love it. I love it.
01:00:43
Frank
Yeah.
01:00:43
Aniz Lavji
Is that what they call it, Frank?
01:00:44
JOHN FIRM
So those are the, those are the meetings you want to come in and just listen.
01:00:45
Frank
That's what they call it.
01:00:47
Dawn Sloas
Thank you.
01:00:49
JOHN FIRM
Sometimes if you don't have nothing to talk about or anything, listen to some of the ideas that float around in there that go on and take place in open office hours.
01:00:50
Frank
Yeah.
01:00:59
JOHN FIRM
You won't regret it. I promise you, I try not to miss any of them, but my schedule, like you, I get the opportunity to go play mini golf. I'm going to go play golf, you know, but,
01:01:08
Frank
Yeah.
01:01:10
JOHN FIRM
Make a point to jump in those open office hours and just take a watch for a little bit. Sit in there for an hour and pick up something like that to increase your business.
01:01:15
Frank
Yeah, yeah, we're gonna need to do that.
01:01:19
JOHN FIRM
That's what you're paying that subscription for every month is increase your business. Get in that open office hours and listen to what other people are beating their head against the wall on.
01:01:29
Frank
Yep.
01:01:29
JOHN FIRM
Today's topic was military discounts. How can I afford to give a military discount?
01:01:34
Frank
so Okay.
01:01:34
JOHN FIRM
And Eric Bach, my coach, took time to explain how to work the military discounts with the military people, the disabled, the veterans.
01:01:45
JOHN FIRM
Everybody can get a discount on their services. And you come out the winner, not the loser, by giving that discount.
01:01:48
Frank
Okay.
01:01:53
Frank
and Okay.
01:01:54
JOHN FIRM
So that's that's just one thing that that you can pick up on them open office hours.
01:01:54
Frank
Very cool.
01:02:02
JOHN FIRM
And I didn't even have a topic. I just went there and listened.
01:02:05
Frank
Nice.
01:02:05
JOHN FIRM
I love it I love it. Just wanted to share that with you.
01:02:06
Frank
Yep.
01:02:07
JOHN FIRM
I don't know if that needs to get in the podcast or not, but hey, if you're interested in coaching, 180 Biz has got the program.
01:02:11
Frank
Everything we say stays in the podcast. we we don't We don't cut anything in here. It's all
Podcasting and Industry Involvement
01:02:18
Dawn Sloas
Y'all don't.
01:02:18
Aniz Lavji
Everything is free flowing and
01:02:20
Dawn Sloas
Oh, I'll be, I cut so much when me and him sit down to do our podcast. Yeah. I cut so much him picking his nose or.
01:02:30
Frank
It's all good.
01:02:30
JOHN FIRM
I'm learning to turn the camera off.
01:02:31
Frank
That's rough.
01:02:36
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man, that's funny.
01:02:36
Frank
it's all good
01:02:37
JOHN FIRM
I picked up the glass to take a drink a minute ago and the ice rattled. I said, I'm sure glad I pushed that on mute. And then I didn't. ah
01:02:46
Aniz Lavji
Oh, that's funny. Oh, man.
01:02:49
JOHN FIRM
I've had a sinus infection for two weeks down here and I've taken medicine for it and I'm about over it, but I still have the drainage going on, but I don't have the pressure and all that.
01:02:58
Aniz Lavji
Now, you need the the Canadian air, John.
01:02:58
JOHN FIRM
So.
01:03:00
Frank
that's rough
01:03:00
Aniz Lavji
That fixes everything. So when you come here in June, You get some that Canadian air, that'll fix everything for you.
01:03:03
JOHN FIRM
Uh huh.
01:03:06
JOHN FIRM
The Canadian air.
01:03:06
Frank
That humidity will knock it right back in there. No, you do not want that.
01:03:11
JOHN FIRM
ah
01:03:12
Frank
Trust me. Trust me.
01:03:15
JOHN FIRM
um I'm worried about this Alaska trip. The humidity is going be so hot.
01:03:20
Frank
No, you're you're far enough north, you're fine.
01:03:21
JOHN FIRM
ah
01:03:23
Frank
Alaska's fine.
01:03:24
JOHN FIRM
Okay, cool, cool, cool.
01:03:25
Frank
Nope.
01:03:26
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man. John and Dawn, thank you so much for for joining us this evening. i know you both are very busy, but i really appreciate you guys taking the time to sit down with us.
01:03:40
Aniz Lavji
Definitely, i think this is something we should do again for sure.
01:03:43
Dawn Sloas
Oh, yeah.
01:03:43
JOHN FIRM
I love it that you're wrapping up, but you know, you really never got to introduce me. And I don't want to walk away with people wanting to know everybody don't know who I am
01:03:49
Dawn Sloas
Everybody knows who you are.
01:03:50
Aniz Lavji
But if somebody if somebody doesn't know who John Furr, Buckaroo, Buck and Bob is, then they may as well just unsubscribe at this point.
01:03:51
Frank
ah
01:03:57
JOHN FIRM
ah
01:04:00
Aniz Lavji
I mean, i mean okay, let's do a proper...
01:04:01
JOHN FIRM
You think?
01:04:03
Frank
but what I thought you were going to wear your gold chain and all that too. Yeah.
01:04:06
JOHN FIRM
I was thinking about it, you know?
01:04:08
Aniz Lavji
but By the way, John, my kids have... I got that pair of sunglasses, the dollar signs.
01:04:13
JOHN FIRM
Yeah.
01:04:14
Aniz Lavji
So my kids have it in their room. It cracks me up every time I walk by it.
01:04:16
JOHN FIRM
I love it. I went and bought four boxes of that stuff.
01:04:18
Aniz Lavji
So...
01:04:21
JOHN FIRM
So when I went to tools, I just passed a bunch of it out. The kids love it.
01:04:25
Aniz Lavji
So we're going to do things backwards.
01:04:27
JOHN FIRM
Uh-huh.
01:04:27
Aniz Lavji
John, introduce yourself.
01:04:29
JOHN FIRM
Hey, folks, John Firm, Firm Automotive in Fort Worth, Texas. I've been in business for 38 years. I go to the shop just about every day.
01:04:41
JOHN FIRM
That could be a lie. You know, I've go at least once a week, probably, you know, and when I go, they want me out of there. They don't want me there. I just love my shop. I love my employees. I love being there. They they love me, but they really like me going more than I'm there. But hey, I go to all the events and I go as Mr. More Money, you know, folks.
01:04:59
JOHN FIRM
I love promoting the automotive industry. I love promoting these shows. And that's why I asked if we could talk about them tonight. So we could talk about all these great opportunities in the automotive industry and what is going on around America.
01:05:13
JOHN FIRM
We have so much training that you can attend in America, East Coast, West Coast, Central. There's something big going on out in California right now. Oh, Jimmy Purdy with the Gearbox podcast.
01:05:26
Frank
there
01:05:27
JOHN FIRM
He was telling me about it this week, what's going on out there this weekend with some training stuff.
01:05:28
Frank
attitude area
01:05:31
JOHN FIRM
Folks, there's training going on all over America.
01:05:32
Aniz Lavji
ahead.
01:05:34
JOHN FIRM
Get involved. Be involved. If you need to know what's going on, Buckaroo Buck and Bob on Facebook page. Send me a message. I can help you get to going where you need to be. You need to end on ASTA.
01:05:45
Frank
tab
01:05:47
JOHN FIRM
Let me know. can hook you up, folks. Tonight, a guy out Oregon contacted me. name is Sonny Marano. He wants to go to ASTA. I said, Sonny, Don't let anything has stop you from going. said, dude, I can do the flight. I can get the hotel.
01:06:03
JOHN FIRM
I just can't afford the ASTA show. I said, Sonny, I got you covered. I'm going to sponsor Sonny at the ASTA show this year.
01:06:12
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
01:06:12
JOHN FIRM
So I'm excited. I got my person. I'm challenging each and every one of you folks to find your person that you can sponsor for the ASTA training event.
01:06:14
Aniz Lavji
That's amazing.
01:06:21
Frank
communicate we get
01:06:23
JOHN FIRM
Get you somebody. Pay their way. to the trade show, let them fly in on their own dollar, but you pay their way into the training and the event. They'll never miss it again, I promise.
01:06:33
Aniz Lavji
That's amazing.
01:06:34
JOHN FIRM
There's my introduction.
01:06:35
Aniz Lavji
Don.
01:06:35
Frank
That's awesome.
01:06:35
JOHN FIRM
That was six minutes worth of talk. ah
01:06:38
Dawn Sloas
There you go.
01:06:38
Aniz Lavji
Don, I want to make sure we get your proper introduction as well, since, yeah, we did miss a lot.
01:06:43
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, maybe should have started with me. How do I follow that up? What a good speech. ah
01:06:49
JOHN FIRM
The executive director of AST.
01:06:51
Aniz Lavji
He's got it is he a telephone here right in front of him.
01:06:52
JOHN FIRM
Ha, ha, ha.
01:06:53
Aniz Lavji
He's got it all written down, right, John?
01:06:55
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, and this is, I was about to say, now I need AI.
01:06:55
Frank
No, he probably probably used AI. Yeah.
01:06:58
JOHN FIRM
like yeah I got it on this notepad.
01:06:59
Dawn Sloas
Yeah. yeah
01:07:00
Aniz Lavji
all
01:07:02
Dawn Sloas
ah Yeah, wow. And what different personalities that John and I have. John is very outgoing. He is a people's people. He recharges by being around people.
01:07:10
Aniz Lavji
Really?
01:07:11
Dawn Sloas
And man, if I could just stay in my room all day and live here, i would be happy.
01:07:11
JOHN FIRM
Imagine that.
01:07:17
Dawn Sloas
I'd be happy. But I'm learning to come out of my shell. ah My name is Dawn. I am the great niece of Buckaroo Buck and Bob. um Yes, if you see me out with him, stop by, say hi.
01:07:28
Dawn Sloas
And before you do so, i already know you're sorry that I'm related to him. I get it every time from everybody.
01:07:33
Frank
Mm-hmm.
01:07:34
Dawn Sloas
I'm surviving. He pays me, so it works out beautifully. um
01:07:38
Aniz Lavji
Hey.
01:07:38
JOHN FIRM
you
01:07:39
Dawn Sloas
I am brand new to the automotive industry. I come from home inspections. ah There's some similarities there. similarities there, are some differences. But I am honestly really loving the community in the automotive world. We don't, we didn't have that in the home inspection community. Everybody was your competition.
01:07:56
Dawn Sloas
um
01:07:56
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:07:57
Dawn Sloas
So it's nice to see everybody coming together and lifting each other up because it it, I know it's corny to say, but it is like a big family. Everybody cares for each other.
01:08:07
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:08:08
Dawn Sloas
Unless you're the people that aren't going to training, that's usually, who you don't want to be around anyway, right?
01:08:14
Aniz Lavji
The outsiders. Yeah.
01:08:15
JOHN FIRM
We don't know him anyway.
01:08:15
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. ah they They don't have any interest in making this community better, you know, and it it it sucks. Hopefully they come around to it. But yeah, new to the automotive industry, I work with Texas Two-Step Training. We've talked about that. ah John and I do Mileage May Vary, which we need to get y'all on there.
01:08:35
Dawn Sloas
ah And what else we got?
01:08:37
Aniz Lavji
and How do they find that podcast? If you want to put a little plug in there for that.
01:08:41
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, you can go on the website, mmvpod.com. That's M as in Mary, M as in Mary, V as in Victor, pod.com. Or you can go to Facebook, Mileage May Vary, or YouTube, Mileage May Vary as well on there.
01:08:55
Dawn Sloas
But basically the gist of that, I'm new. I don't have a lot of mileage in the automotive industry. John is, um man, don't want to say old. This is where high mileage, there we go.
01:09:03
JOHN FIRM
High mileage.
01:09:05
Frank
High mileage.
01:09:05
Aniz Lavji
Mark.
01:09:06
Dawn Sloas
so
01:09:06
Aniz Lavji
Full synthetic. Yeah.
01:09:08
Frank
Well experienced.
01:09:08
Dawn Sloas
Yeah, yeah.
01:09:08
JOHN FIRM
A lot of bumps.
01:09:09
Dawn Sloas
There we go. Classic model. There we go.
01:09:12
JOHN FIRM
ah
01:09:12
Frank
it
01:09:12
Dawn Sloas
That's automotive, right? But yeah, we just kind of talk about different personalities and views on things and try to make the automotive world a better place than we found it.
01:09:14
JOHN FIRM
Yep.
01:09:22
Frank
Amazing.
Episode Conclusion and Social Media Engagement
01:09:23
JOHN FIRM
Yes.
01:09:23
Aniz Lavji
This is a complete backwards kind of episode introduced you guys probably last, but Hey, you know what?
01:09:23
Frank
That's awesome.
01:09:30
Aniz Lavji
I like, i like recording it on the cuff and this is kind of more fun this way. So if you, if if they really want to know who you both were, to wait till the end.
01:09:36
Dawn Sloas
Oh, yeah.
01:09:36
JOHN FIRM
It is. Is that Margarita?
01:09:41
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:09:41
Frank
She's sneaking She's been doing laundry. Yeah. John says hi She says hi back. ah
01:09:49
Aniz Lavji
All right, guys. Thank you so much. Just hang on the line here, but I do appreciate you guys taking the time to speak with us tonight.
01:09:57
JOHN FIRM
Thank you for this opportunity.
01:09:57
Frank
Very, very, very happy to have you guys.
01:09:57
Aniz Lavji
and And all the listeners, please find us on Facebook at the Shopping Tread Talk podcast and leave us a message or comment and follow.
01:09:58
Dawn Sloas
Thanks for having us. Oh, yeah.
01:10:07
Aniz Lavji
Thank you.