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Episode 14-Employees or Team members? How do you show you care for your people?
63 Plays3 months ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . We dive into shop ownership and how it all began for the both of us. Frank and i dive into what its like caring for our staff and what we do to show them we care. We ended up going down a few rabbit holes on this one!
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Theme
00:00:00
Aniz Lavji
Welcome everyone to another the Chopping Tread Talk podcast.
00:00:01
Frank Wiebe
Good
00:00:04
Aniz Lavji
We got Frank as usual with us here today. Welcome Frank.
00:00:08
Frank Wiebe
morning.
00:00:10
Aniz Lavji
Today we're doing a kind of a quick episode. We're not going to be doing our lengthy hour this morning. It's 6.36 right now. i was supposed to be up half an hour ago, but the my sleep got the best of me, but we're still going to give her a go here this morning.
00:00:28
Aniz Lavji
Today's topic, we're going to do...
Importance of Team Dynamics
00:00:31
Aniz Lavji
Employees or team members? How do you show that you care for your people? It really depends on the shop.
00:00:39
Aniz Lavji
you know i I do have employees. I personally feel like they're more of team members. you know Without your team, it's it's really hard to do anything, right? you You don't really have a shop unless you've got your team.
00:00:52
Aniz Lavji
What do you think, Frank?
00:00:53
Frank Wiebe
You really have to think of it that way. If you think that you're you're in it for just yourself, you're not going to make it. if if If you're not in it to decide that, hey, I'm here because of these people and I'm here because they want to help me, you're not going anywhere.
00:01:10
Frank Wiebe
A one-man show is, that's just it. You're a one-man show. There's so
00:01:17
Aniz Lavji
Definitely. there's There's so many shops.
00:01:17
Frank Wiebe
many things.
00:01:19
Aniz Lavji
I mean, we we see so many things online and in the forums, one man shop answering the phone, they turn wrenches and somebody walks in.
00:01:30
Aniz Lavji
i mean, it's I don't even know how they do it, but I mean, a lot of them, they make it work, but, you know,
00:01:37
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, there's a guy in our town, that's all that's he's been one man by himself, but you can tell like the work that he puts out, it's he does it, he does enough for himself, and that's it. And I'm like, I guess I maybe just have a hard enough time saying no, that if ah if if work comes in, I say, let's let's get it done, and then I just have to have enough employees to make it work. I couldn't be a one-man show. I'd go crazy, I think.
00:02:05
Aniz Lavji
Well, it takes a mental and physical toll on you after a while.
Challenges of Small Team Management
00:02:09
Aniz Lavji
I mean, I understand, you know, if you've got a couple people and someone's sick and you've got to do what you've got to you've still got to plug away at everything. But to do that for multiple years, I mean, i the toll it takes on you, i don't know how some people do it.
00:02:27
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, it's going to be me today. I think pretty sure my employee is going to call in sick today. He was looking pretty rough last night when he went home. I think he'll be sick today in the morning.
00:02:34
Aniz Lavji
stop being so busy, Frank. Why don't you start saying no? okay
00:02:39
Frank Wiebe
Well, the work's already booked. The work's been booked for two weeks. It's not like I can say no now.
00:02:43
Aniz Lavji
Oh, I know.
00:02:43
Frank Wiebe
I just have to call customers and say, unfortunately, I just didn't get it done. so
00:02:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:02:50
Frank Wiebe
hello
00:02:50
Aniz Lavji
No, that's, it's tough.
00:02:51
Frank Wiebe
Luckily,
00:02:53
Aniz Lavji
as As long as you've got customers that understand that things happen, you know, that's, that's the main thing, right?
00:02:56
Frank Wiebe
yeah.
00:02:58
Aniz Lavji
They can plan accordingly.
00:02:59
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, exactly.
00:03:01
Aniz Lavji
But, um, yeah, it's,
00:03:02
Frank Wiebe
ah We'll make it work.
00:03:04
Aniz Lavji
But yeah, like I was saying, with with having help, I mean, that also reduces the stress that you have, right? I mean, yeah I know you don't have a whole lot of employees, but even the ones that you have, at least having someone there, if you need to step out for a few minutes, you know, you can still do that, right?
00:03:23
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, well, we we currently have um three employees. my wife myself, my wife, and we have three employees. And we're in the process of hiring two more.
00:03:37
Frank Wiebe
And ah so that's that's going to significantly increase our workforce, even though one of them is only part-time. But yeah, that's... So now we've got we've got a lot more people that we got to look after, a lot more people that we got to take care of.
00:03:51
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:03:51
Frank Wiebe
That's a lot of stress. Like, I think my white beard is going to become really white in the next little...
00:03:56
Aniz Lavji
So it goes grayer.
00:03:57
Frank Wiebe
while
00:03:57
Aniz Lavji
It's going to go half gray, half white.
00:03:59
Frank Wiebe
my gosh yeah but i'm excited for it because i like the idea that it's going to take that stress off of myself and off of my wife and in the same breath we can provide work because there's a lot out there so now we can provide jobs for two more people right and that's the way i always look at it i'm like
00:04:20
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:04:24
Frank Wiebe
You know, you have an employee for a reason. employee is there because one of two things, either A, you can't do the work yourself, you don't know how, or B, you just don't want to.
00:04:32
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
Strategies for Effective Team Management
00:04:36
Frank Wiebe
And that's how I always, when I was the employee, i always thought of it this way.
00:04:36
Aniz Lavji
Exactly.
00:04:39
Frank Wiebe
I'm doing the work that my employer, and at that point couldn't do because he wasn't a mechanic like yourself, right?
00:04:45
Aniz Lavji
Right.
00:04:46
Frank Wiebe
He was he was a shop owner, used car dealer, and and he ah you know, it could repair a thing or two, but he wasn't the mechanic. So I always thought of myself as like, if I'm not here, not that I was prideful of that, but I'm like, if I'm not here, this work doesn't get done.
00:05:05
Frank Wiebe
So he's paying me to do the work that he can't do.
00:05:08
Aniz Lavji
Exactly, exactly.
00:05:09
Frank Wiebe
And
00:05:09
Aniz Lavji
i mean, there's only there's always so much an owner-manager can do, and if they're not tech or experience in that field, i mean, you need you need reliable people in the back office, in the back shop to to get this stuff done, right?
00:05:18
Frank Wiebe
yeah.
00:05:24
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:05:26
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, so I've always thought of my people as like, I hiring them to do the work that I can't do. right and And I can physically do it, but i i time management, I can't.
00:05:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, Lana.
00:05:39
Frank Wiebe
eight
00:05:39
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, it comes to a point where you don't want to do it either, right? I mean, you just want to do, you know, you could have six or eight cars booked in that day and, you know, you're only at the point where, you know what, I only want to do three cars today or four cars and then let let the other guys take care of the rest and, you know, you can work on the business, do other things, right? That's...
00:06:00
Aniz Lavji
Like we were talking last night, you know, sometimes we look at it for a while.
00:06:00
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:06:05
Aniz Lavji
We've basically bought ourselves a job instead of running the business. We're just so busy in the day to day. And by the time the day is done, you're like, holy crap, I've just been working in here, busting my butt.
00:06:16
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:06:17
Aniz Lavji
And then it's six o'clock and I'm exhausted. and Oh, I got to wake up and do the same thing tomorrow all over again.
00:06:25
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, it's a lot, but this is the life that we've chosen.
00:06:31
Aniz Lavji
Well, I wanted to be journal in journalism broadcast and somehow I'm, a you know, I own a shop and I mean, you know, full circle moment and now we're doing a podcast.
00:06:32
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:06:45
Aniz Lavji
So at least something that's a little bit with media, but, you know, sometimes you just fall into this business too, right? Yeah.
00:06:55
Frank Wiebe
I mean, sometimes the business chooses you, right? It's not, not everyone chooses their life pattern and life pattern gets chose for them. So, Hey, if if this is working for you and and we can do podcast on the side, why not?
00:07:11
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, exactly.
00:07:11
Frank Wiebe
Right.
Creating a Supportive Work Culture
00:07:14
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:07:14
Aniz Lavji
So one one thing I make sure is my guys, they know like if there's if they have something they want to talk about, they can always come to me. like It's an open door. So we've got a pretty good culture at the shop.
00:07:24
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:07:27
Aniz Lavji
if If the guys are feeling a certain way about the situation or I may have told them that, hey, we're doing we're doing this job today and they may have done the job but maybe not like the job or not like the way I said it.
00:07:41
Aniz Lavji
you know, I always tell them I need to know if there's an issue. So the good thing is they can always come into my office five times out of 10, half the time I'm, Oh my gosh. Well, five times out of 10, that's weird. They can, they can always see me because I'm always in and out of the garage as well. Right. So we can have those conversations.
00:08:02
Aniz Lavji
And if there is, Oh God, I know.
00:08:02
Frank Wiebe
Except in the wintertime, then you got to go outside in the cold.
00:08:07
Aniz Lavji
Whoa. One going to cut a hole right from the office right to the back garage. I don't have to make the walk anymore.
00:08:13
Frank Wiebe
Oh, dude, you should have done that a long time ago. i I recently, between our two front bays and our back bay, so our two front bays are this way and our back bay is this way, and it had one slightly bigger than man door opening into there, and always hated it.
00:08:21
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:08:30
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:08:31
Frank Wiebe
So while we were off on holidays, I had a guy come in and cut, it was a concrete wall, so he cut a hole in the concrete wall, opened up the second door there, Oh man, I wish I would have done that the day I moved in. What what a difference that has made.
00:08:47
Frank Wiebe
It just... it
00:08:48
Aniz Lavji
Mine's a bit difficult because we've got the office and then we've got the apartment building that we have, right?
00:08:54
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:08:55
Aniz Lavji
And then we got the garages. So we'd have to cut right through someone's probably living room and end up in the garage. So
00:09:05
Frank Wiebe
Well, you've got an apartment back there too. I didn't know that.
00:09:07
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah. So we've got three apartments, which that definitely helps with the mortgage, that's for sure. But yeah, we got apartments right, the apartment building's right next to us.
00:09:13
Frank Wiebe
Oh yeah.
00:09:17
Aniz Lavji
So when I walk out my door, going to go around past the apartment building and then I get to the garages in the back there. So it it really just becomes ah a bit tedious in the wintertime because we're doing a lot of
00:09:26
Frank Wiebe
I see. All right. I see.
00:09:33
Aniz Lavji
a lot of walking back. I want to go and check someone's car want to see something. Or if a customer wants to go see something with their car, I'll walk them to the back and then I'm in and out, in and out of the garage.
00:09:44
Aniz Lavji
but in the summertime, I don't mind it at all. I like going for the walk with them and it's, it's another chance, another touch point, right? You got to have a little short conversation on the way to their cars before you tell them like, Oh dear God, how have you been driving like this?
00:09:53
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, that's true.
00:09:59
Aniz Lavji
But you know, it, I don't mind it. I'm i'm so used I've been doing it like this
Physical Workspace Improvements
00:10:05
Aniz Lavji
for five years. But the shop we had back in King Street five years ago, like we had the whole garage and the office.
00:10:06
Frank Wiebe
maybe Maybe it's...
00:10:12
Aniz Lavji
and We opened the door and we're right there. So that was really nice.
00:10:16
Frank Wiebe
Maybe it's... Maybe it's time for major innovation. It's they're simple, easy and cheap. I know all about it. We're just on the end of ours. So
00:10:25
Aniz Lavji
I know you guys hopefully are going into the shop soon.
00:10:28
Frank Wiebe
where're where we're official first day in the office is going to be tomorrow, Friday.
00:10:34
Aniz Lavji
Unless you decide to change the color to pink or something. in
00:10:37
Frank Wiebe
Not happening.
00:10:37
Aniz Lavji
I
00:10:38
Frank Wiebe
I don't care. i do not care. It's.
00:10:41
Aniz Lavji
i think at this point, Margarita is gonna want to open a painting business.
00:10:41
Frank Wiebe
Nope.
00:10:45
Aniz Lavji
is This is the second time now.
00:10:47
Frank Wiebe
No, we actually painted it three times.
00:10:51
Aniz Lavji
Oh, geez. Yeah.
00:10:52
Frank Wiebe
And finally we changed finally we changed the brand of paint and that finally fixed the issue. It was just the paint was so bad. so Dude, we weren't.
00:11:01
Aniz Lavji
Frank, tri stop you got stop trying to save so much money on paint, man.
00:11:06
Frank Wiebe
We were were buying the quality paint.
00:11:07
Aniz Lavji
Do you order your paint on AliExpress or what?
00:11:11
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, know right. I wish. Probably would have been better. But if you want to know what paint to avoid, you can... ask me personally, I won't want to
00:11:19
Aniz Lavji
ah Yeah.
00:11:20
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. So anyways, it it's was
00:11:22
Aniz Lavji
I should mention you can view the podcast on Facebook. We've got the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. Definitely follow us on there. Reach out to Frank for all your painting needs.
00:11:33
Frank Wiebe
the trade.
00:11:35
Aniz Lavji
The the new painting business is hopefully going to be up there soon. He's got so much time on his hands.
00:11:38
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
00:11:40
Aniz Lavji
I'll be as well looking one of those up now. There
00:11:43
Frank Wiebe
And and i'll I'll say this on here, just make sure you only buy Benjamin Moore paint. Let's put it that way.
00:11:50
Aniz Lavji
you Benjamin Moore, if you're listening, we're accepting sponsors.
00:11:51
Frank Wiebe
Anyways,
00:11:54
Frank Wiebe
we are currently, yeah. Anyway, past that, we're back to talking about employees.
00:11:59
Aniz Lavji
There you go.
00:12:00
Frank Wiebe
um We were talking yesterday, our we have an OEA co-op student and I kind of bounce him around right between jobs from this job to that job.
00:12:07
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:12:13
Frank Wiebe
And so yesterday, ah we we I felt like I needed to just explain, be like, look, we don't work as a one man show here. we We are, we all work as a team. if If I need help on this job, you come help me or like even my apprentice, where we whenever,
00:12:31
Frank Wiebe
If I need help over here, you come here. If you need help over there, I come over there. Like yesterday, I was both, both the guys were working in the Bay and I'm like, okay, well, I finished what I was doing. I walked over in the back room and says, what can I do to assess you with this job?
00:12:46
Frank Wiebe
Right? Like I never feel like I'm beneath the point where I can help you do your job.
00:12:46
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:12:52
Frank Wiebe
Tell me what you need.
00:12:53
Aniz Lavji
Right. Exactly.
00:12:54
Frank Wiebe
I'm not that authoritarian guy that'd be like, come over and take over
Conclusion and Reflections
00:12:59
Frank Wiebe
the job and then make you feel like, no, no, you are in charge of this job. I'm in charge of you, but you're in charge of this job. How can I assist you with this job?
00:13:09
Aniz Lavji
Exactly. You're not going to go micromanage them, right?
00:13:11
Frank Wiebe
i I worked under micromanaging for way too long and and I refuse to be that. I cannot, i I have to, to an extent, you still have to do that.
00:13:22
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:13:23
Frank Wiebe
But it's there's ah there's a limit to where you need to be manager. You've got to manage overall, but not every single detail.
00:13:31
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:13:32
Frank Wiebe
Because then you don't then your people don't learn and experience and grow.
00:13:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:13:37
Aniz Lavji
Exactly. Yeah, i obviously, I'm not a tech. Like I always make the joke, I've got i got a pink and a purple seal. So i've I've upgraded myself to a purple seal because I try to catch little things in the garage.
00:13:48
Aniz Lavji
And then if I'm right, which sometimes I am, ah let my mechanic know I'm like, hey, I mean, I just upgraded myself to a purple seal, man. I'm getting close to your red seal.
00:13:57
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:13:58
Aniz Lavji
But
00:13:59
Frank Wiebe
That's right. Yep.
00:14:00
Aniz Lavji
but you know we We got that culture in the shop where I can joke around and and they know i completely respect the the amount of years and time it takes for them to get their Red Seal license. but you know We have that culture in the garage where I just joke around with them. but you know the The amount of training and the amount of time it takes for you and the other mechanics and techs to get to where they are, i mean that's not a joke at all. It's not It's not just a simple, you know, go to school for a couple of years that, hey, look, I'm a mechanic. I mean, there's so much more than that.
00:14:34
Frank Wiebe
Well, and even after that, the learning doesn't stop and and the training shouldn't stop.
00:14:38
Aniz Lavji
No, it doesn't at all.
00:14:40
Frank Wiebe
Like that's that's one thing that I, again, i never got really as training.
00:14:41
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:14:47
Frank Wiebe
I went to some of the cart courses that like NAPA or CarQuest puts on and stuff like that.
00:14:51
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:14:51
Frank Wiebe
That's that's very minimal training. So, that's one thing I told my guys, I'm like, look, I appreciate what you're doing here and you're learning and I know how much it takes to learn.
00:15:02
Frank Wiebe
So I'm going to send you to training.
00:15:02
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:15:04
Frank Wiebe
So actually in, when we're going to, uh, to tools in, in the end of April, my guy is going to electrical training in, uh, Barry.
00:15:05
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:15:14
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:15:14
Frank Wiebe
Um, so we're going this way, he's going that way, but we're both going to training. And I think that that's extremely important to keep them, um,
00:15:20
Aniz Lavji
Beautiful.
00:15:25
Frank Wiebe
keep them a to keep them happy in the trade and, and B to keep them current with what's going on.
00:15:27
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:15:31
Aniz Lavji
interested as well right because sometimes you're not learning anything that you just you feel like you're doing the same thing over and over again there's no change there's no nothing to spark your interest that oh man oh i didn't know i could do this with this or there's a you know oh i've only seen this tool on youtube like a pico scope and oh i don't know you could do that i this is the way you inspect this and it keeps keeps them interested in the industry and uh and learning and if you're not learning you're you're dying man
00:15:31
Frank Wiebe
Yep. Yeah.
00:15:54
Frank Wiebe
yeah
00:16:00
Frank Wiebe
Exactly. we ah We've got this ah new tech hired starting in a week or so.
00:16:04
Aniz Lavji
Bye.
00:16:06
Frank Wiebe
And ah when I when I told the apprentice about it, he's like, so is he going to be just doing like the diagnostic? And I said, no, I said, we don't run it that way. we We don't have a dedicated. This is your responsibility. Like we don't have just a tired guy. We don't have just a break guy. We don't have a I said, everybody does everything. That's how I always want my shop to be, because I want you to know that.
00:16:31
Frank Wiebe
I could give you a job and I want to be able to give you a job and you can tackle it and not just be like, I can only give you battery replacements because that's all you know how to do.
00:16:35
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:40
Frank Wiebe
I refuse to do that.
00:16:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:41
Frank Wiebe
when i was When I was an apprentice and I had a when I was at school, there was one guy there had worked at Toyota for two years already. was a second year apprentice.
00:16:51
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:51
Frank Wiebe
I'd never done anything but oil changes and tires.
00:16:54
Aniz Lavji
Oh, my God.
00:16:54
Frank Wiebe
That's all he did in two years. And here I got a kid straight out of high school. And the first thing I do them is teach them how to take breaks apart, put them back together and torque them properly because I want to be able to rely that, well, okay, first thing I taught them is put a car on the hoist, right?
00:17:09
Frank Wiebe
But after that, I want to be able to say, hey, take this apart, put it back together.
00:17:09
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:17:14
Frank Wiebe
And if I come and look, it's done right.
00:17:18
Aniz Lavji
Yes.
00:17:18
Frank Wiebe
And I want all my employees to be like that. I don't want to have like, oh, You stand around until there's a battery that comes in to get replaced because it's all you're good at. right I refuse to have employees like that because I want them to appreciate the work and I want them to appreciate the job and love it as much as I've loved it over the years, even though it's hard and sucks sometimes.
00:17:35
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah. yeah you're gonna get team members that that i would say specialize in a certain thing like you know you'll have a person that's very specialized in diagnostics and they want to do that all the time and that's all fine and dandy but i mean if something comes in that needs breaks or something like that i'm really gonna hope that person is gonna be okay doing that like not just waiting for a diet right because we don't
00:17:51
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:18:05
Aniz Lavji
ah we don't get that very often. ah Like our specialty is just general repair. We don't get into heavy duty diagnostics and I don't promote it either because i don't want to start something that we are not confident
00:18:10
Frank Wiebe
But
00:18:21
Aniz Lavji
knowing we can fix it, right? Because that's just not doing right by the customer either. I don't want to just take that inspection or sorry, that yeah, the Diag fee and be like, oh, it's going to be X amount of dollars and you know we're going to look into it.
00:18:25
Frank Wiebe
but if you, yeah.
00:18:33
Aniz Lavji
But if we're not confident that we're going be able to get to the bottom of the the problem, it's not fair to charge that customer that fee.
00:18:40
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:18:41
Aniz Lavji
if we're doing brakes or something like that, I know i can do it and it's going to be this much. But if you've got an engine light on and, you know, we we scan it and it's something that we don't feel comfortable in doing. I mean, I'm okay telling the customer that this is not in our wheelhouse because it's, you know, yeah I can't charge you $125 or $149 or whatever it is and not be confident I get to the bottom of it because that's your hard-earned money.
00:19:10
Aniz Lavji
I didn't make that money, you made it. And if you're going to spend it at my shop, I have to be intentional about your money. I'm not going to be just taking that money and guessing, right? You know, throwing parts at it do a parts cannon. No, I don't want to do that.
00:19:25
Frank Wiebe
that's how i feel about diesel work if somebody comes in with diesel diagnostics I just say I'm sorry it's just not what we do
00:19:31
Aniz Lavji
Just send them to Arkansas to Zeb to be like, hey if you...
00:19:35
Frank Wiebe
exactly well I do tell them but they usually say it's a little bit too far of a drive
00:19:41
Frank Wiebe
But no, it's it's I like having employees that, yeah, you're right. Like they need to specialize. well they don't need to, but if they do, that's great. I got the employee that's coming.
00:19:51
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:19:52
Frank Wiebe
He was ah the job he had before. He was the the gear train guy, like a your drive train guy. And he says, I want to do more than just swapping engines and transmissions.
00:20:01
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:20:06
Frank Wiebe
I'm like, well, that's perfect because we do some of that, but we do a lot of other stuff.
00:20:11
Frank Wiebe
So you're not gonna be just on one on one project all the time.
00:20:11
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:20:17
Aniz Lavji
He'll be a Chevy Cruze expert by at the end of the year, that's for sure.
00:20:21
Frank Wiebe
Oh, we already got one of those, so we don't need another one. Yeah.
00:20:26
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man. just may You may as well just change your logo, Frank. Change that to a Cruze or something.
00:20:32
Frank Wiebe
that That is a cruise. That that is actually a Chevy cruise right there.
00:20:35
Aniz Lavji
Oh, my God.
00:20:35
Frank Wiebe
Don't you see that? See the wing on there? That's a Chevy cruise.
00:20:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I can see the oil dripping off the logo from here, Frank. Yeah.
00:20:44
Frank Wiebe
oh man yeah i know i like I like my employees to know that they're that they're appreciated, that that when they do a job, that I'm thankful that they did the job.
00:20:51
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:20:53
Frank Wiebe
I'm thankful that they were that they were able to do it. and And I think somewhere on one of the Facebook pages, I think on Changing the Podcast or something like that, they were talking about what do you consider as ah shop shop tools, like what can be considered as shop tools. And I look at it this way, unless you're basic hand tools and and power tools, anything else that you're going to need to do that job, that should be supplied by the shop.
00:21:22
Frank Wiebe
Like I don't expect my employee to go buy his own scan tool.
00:21:23
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:21:26
Frank Wiebe
Like there should never have to be a position where the employee should have to fork out money for a scan tool to do a diagnostic or
00:21:26
Aniz Lavji
No, no,
00:21:30
Aniz Lavji
no way.
00:21:34
Aniz Lavji
No. And I remember, I'm pretty sure I listening to, uh, to Jeff, uh, JD mechanic. And if I'm not mistaken and Jeff, you can yell and correct me if I'm wrong, but I,
00:21:45
Frank Wiebe
Do it. Yo.
00:21:47
Aniz Lavji
I think he ended up buying his own scan tool. He bought a snap on Zeus.
00:21:50
Frank Wiebe
again Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:53
Aniz Lavji
And i think it's because like he got to the point where he's like, I can't do my job if I don't have the right tool. So he ended a buying one. And i mean, nothing that's not a cheap item.
00:22:03
Aniz Lavji
I think he spent probably eight or 10 grand on that thing. I mean, that's something that the shop he was at should have been providing to him and been like, hey, this is the tool.
00:22:07
Frank Wiebe
yeah theyre they're
00:22:13
Aniz Lavji
This is the shop's tool. Use it as you please. this is here to help you do your job and turn you being able to do your job, we can charge a customer to check the car properly and onto the next.
00:22:26
Frank Wiebe
Well, and same thing, like I have no problem if if the employee wants to buy a scan tool and use it, hey, that's on you. That's your money to spend.
00:22:35
Aniz Lavji
For sure.
00:22:35
Frank Wiebe
But I would highly recommend before you do that, buy all the hand tools you need first because you do have a scan tool.
00:22:43
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:22:44
Frank Wiebe
Actually, we have like three different scan tools that you can use. Right.
00:22:47
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:22:47
Frank Wiebe
So it's not like you're with without. Right. um The other one that I seen the other day that one of the TikTok videos I posted about the old so light that that flexible light that we had.
00:22:58
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:22:58
Frank Wiebe
and And one comment on there is like, that should be a something that the that the shop should buy that, you know, mechanics shouldn't have to buy their own. I'm like, I agree with you, like I actually have that one and three other under hood lights that I have hanging on the wall that can be used at any time by anybody.
00:23:19
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. It's all there for anyone to use. Yeah.
00:23:23
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, like it's and it's not necessarily a shop tool, like that's kind of specialized if you want to buy your own lights and stuff like that.
00:23:31
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:23:31
Frank Wiebe
But if you don't have one, yours is dead or whatever like that, there's options to use it, right? so
00:23:36
Aniz Lavji
but But Frank, some techs want to use a certain one. And that's something i would say nine times out of 10 that they have their own that they are comfortable using because when they're doing certain jobs, they've got this one or they've, they do certain other jobs.
00:23:51
Aniz Lavji
They've got this one that they like to pull down and use, but, uh, Oh yeah.
00:23:53
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. And when you get to something like that, then you start to start buying your own your own stuff. right But in general,
00:23:58
Aniz Lavji
Well, I told my guys, if there's something we're missing in the shop, you know, we'll have a conversation about it. And if we could make it happen, we make it happen. But if it's something that's a big ticket item, then I'll have to see what, you know, is in the budget too.
00:24:12
Aniz Lavji
Right. Cause you know,
00:24:14
Frank Wiebe
What's a budget?
00:24:16
Aniz Lavji
yeah i know yeah we've we've done so we've done a lot of remodeling we bought a lot of stuff and for the shop as well and all the lighting we put in so now that's all over with so now if we need something i mean i'm okay if i need to spend a bit of money to get some extra tools no problem
00:24:27
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:24:35
Frank Wiebe
No, you got to make sure that they have the things that they need to do the job that you're asking them to do. Like if like i would if if I was dick and I said to my customers, a yep, I can do that job. And then I go to my employee and says, you're doing that job. And the employee says, I don't have the tools to do that job.
00:24:57
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:24:58
Frank Wiebe
Let's say it's a very specific water pump on a, what was it? whatever vehicle, and you need a special tool to remove the water pump or hold a timing belt or something like that. And be like, well, I gave you the job.
00:25:08
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:25:10
Frank Wiebe
If you want to go buy the tools. I can understand a little bit in the flat rate world where that was a thing. But if you're not in a flat rate world, you should never, never ask your employee to go buy a specialty timing belt kit tool to do a job that you booked in and said yes to if you don't have the equipment to do it.
00:25:19
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:25:31
Frank Wiebe
That's the way I feel.
00:25:31
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, well, if the shop owner, like for me, if it's if it's a job that we haven't done before or something kind of like a one-off kind of thing, I'll go and ask Dave or whatever. be hey, look, I've got this job.
00:25:45
Aniz Lavji
Is this in our wheelhouse? And he may say, yeah it's no big deal. Let's take care of it. Or he'll be like, no, we haven't done it, but shouldn't be an issue, but we'll need this. And I'll be like, okay, well, let me look into it.
00:26:00
Aniz Lavji
Or he'll be like, dear god no please get that away from the shop now like the
00:26:07
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:26:08
Aniz Lavji
and and i've i've turned down a lot of jobs and some people don't turn on any jobs i i actually like turning down some jobs because it makes you feel like you know i just i just avoided a hurricane sometimes you get married to that job and by the time you're done with it mean yeah sure you made have made money on it but At the end of the day, you're like, man, I really hope that thing doesn't come back.
00:26:32
Frank Wiebe
but do you make money on it so some of those jobs like i'll say i'll say no real fast to anything that's like a bmw volkswagen audi or mercedes or something like that right and and i i don't do it because it's not that i'm not capable of doing some of these jobs but i'm like it's not what i do like
00:26:43
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:26:53
Frank Wiebe
I did one time and I shouldn't have. I did a timing chain on a two five Jetta and they're on the back of the engine.
00:26:59
Aniz Lavji
Oh, Yeah.
00:27:01
Frank Wiebe
And it's just, I'm not a Volkswagen guy, right? So I don't do that often enough to know that I need this part and this part and that little specific tool and that, and that, and that. And I did the job for the guys who are good customer. And I'm like, after that, I'm like, I did him a disfavor because A, his vehicle was on the hoist for way too long. I did myself a disfavor because of that same reason. And I'm like, it just,
00:27:26
Frank Wiebe
At the end of the day, you could have gone and spent little bit more money. would have had the vehicle back quicker because I just don't understand. So I feel like I'd rather do the customer, the service and say, no, take it somewhere else that knows this job and is able to do it more efficiently.
00:27:37
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:27:40
Aniz Lavji
We can also farm the job out, right? We can also go and just sublet it and and you you know that Bob down the road works on these day in and day out and be like, hey Bob, youre how much is going cost to do it?
00:27:44
Frank Wiebe
I do.
00:27:52
Aniz Lavji
He's going to say X amount of dollars. you know We can mark it up a bit and the customer is happy. He's getting the quality work from someone that's done it 3,000 times. I'm
00:28:01
Frank Wiebe
exactly yeah
00:28:02
Aniz Lavji
but you know sometimes i you know i'm I've done it too. And I'm like, Oh man, we can do this. We can do this. And then at the end of it, I'm like, why did I do it?
00:28:12
Frank Wiebe
yeah exactly
00:28:14
Aniz Lavji
But, uh, you know, going back to the the main topic here, showing care for your people. I mean, you know, the, the big funny thing you see in the groups, Oh, pizza party, pizza party. It's not only that,
00:28:28
Aniz Lavji
You know, I'll buy lunch for the guys, and sometimes it's ah it's not pizza. You know, we'll go and get shawarmas or this and that. But, you know, it's not only just getting them food and stuff like that. We want to make sure that at the end of the day, there are people. They're like family. So without without them, the shop's not running.
00:28:49
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, we got a local mexican down Mexican restaurant down the road. Mexican.
00:28:54
Aniz Lavji
Jeez, Frank. I got to make a
00:28:55
Frank Wiebe
That's me. I'm the Mexican.
00:28:56
Aniz Lavji
I'm going to make a clip out of that one right there.
00:28:59
Frank Wiebe
do it.
00:28:59
Aniz Lavji
geez. Real lucid viewership right away.
00:29:00
Frank Wiebe
Do it. Yeah, okay. I can say that because I'm a Mexican, so we're good. But anyway, we've got a local Mexican restaurant down the road and they get a lot of our business. When it's time, it's like, hey, let's go buy lunch.
00:29:12
Frank Wiebe
And it's like, okay, what do you want? It's like, oh, I want tacos or enchiladas. So we we we like that.
00:29:17
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:29:19
Frank Wiebe
And now that we're going to have a beautiful new kitchen, it's going to make it so much better.
00:29:22
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:29:23
Frank Wiebe
And we're going to I'm going to, yesterday we got this meat guy that comes around. He's literally called the meat guy, the meat guy.ca. There's a shameless plug. Get his, and it's amazing stuff.
00:29:36
Frank Wiebe
Anyways, I got meat in the freezer. So I'm going to have an air fryer there. We've got a barbecue outside. If you want to make something, if you're hungry, you know what? It's there provided for you.
00:29:47
Frank Wiebe
And I feel like that's important too, because everyone's got to eat.
00:29:52
Aniz Lavji
It's all the little things, right? You can do for your guys.
00:29:54
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:29:54
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:55
Frank Wiebe
There's always snacks for the guys if they're hungry, there's drinks or stuff like that.
00:29:56
Aniz Lavji
You know.
00:30:00
Frank Wiebe
And I, just a quick, before we wrap up, i the shop I worked at, we used to always have cutlery, like plastic cutlery.
00:30:01
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:30:13
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:30:14
Frank Wiebe
And just got so used to it, I'd bring my lunch from home and then I would grab that cutlery and I'd use it and pitch it, whatever.
00:30:21
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:30:22
Frank Wiebe
Well, one day, There was none. So I just you know mentioned said, hey, you know what? We're out of cutlery. Well, the boss's wife says, oh, yeah.
00:30:35
Frank Wiebe
They had just recently moved. that That's the transition that made. They had recently moved closer to the shop. So she's like, well, yeah, we had it there, but we don't really need it for us anymore um because we live closer now.
00:30:42
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:30:51
Frank Wiebe
so So we're not going to be providing it anymore.
00:30:55
Frank Wiebe
It's freaking plastic cutlery. And it got cut off. So a no longer had cut. Oh, wow. Did that sit weird on me? Like.
00:31:06
Aniz Lavji
Yep. It's just the little things. You know, we...
00:31:10
Frank Wiebe
really It was such a tiny thing, but really, and and i was just like, wow, I'm really not appreciated.
00:31:14
Aniz Lavji
It resonated with you. Yeah. I mean, if we're going to Tim's and stuff like that, oh you know, I'll always make sure if, if one of the guys is going, I'll, I'll buy it. I'll be like, Hey, let's buy it for the rest of the guys.
00:31:25
Aniz Lavji
And it's something small, but they appreciate it because they're busting their butt, getting the car out the door for you.
00:31:26
Frank Wiebe
Of course.
00:31:30
Aniz Lavji
So little things here and there, it really helps the team's morale.
00:31:31
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:31:34
Aniz Lavji
And do think it helps them and it helps you as well. Right. Because they're happy and they're not going to go looking around for a job for 25 50 cents more.
00:31:38
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:31:44
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, because that's that's a waste of time. Yeah.
00:31:47
Aniz Lavji
Exactly. Well, Frank, thanks for early morning chat here and appreciate everyone listening. And if you want to listen to some past episodes, you can always find us on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
00:32:01
Aniz Lavji
Check us out out on Facebook, Shopping Tread Talk podcast. We'd love to have you on there and continue the conversation. but For now, we're going to call it a day.
00:32:08
Frank Wiebe
That's right.
00:32:11
Aniz Lavji
Frank's going to work and I'm calling it a day.
00:32:13
Frank Wiebe
That's right. Lots of work to do.
00:32:16
Aniz Lavji
Thanks everyone.
00:32:17
Frank Wiebe
Have a good one.