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In The Coach's Corner with Darrin Barney Ep. 3 - Greg Buckley
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A family affair in the fast lane! 🚗💼 Tune in to the third episode of In The Coach's Corner as Darrin Barney gets up close and personal with Greg Buckley of Buckley's Auto Care and his esteemed coach, Jim Buttita. They'll be unpacking the complexities of blending bloodlines with business, and the art of passing the torch across generations. Don't miss this deep dive into the dynamics of family-run enterprises and the wisdom behind sustaining a legacy.
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Transcript
Introduction to Elite Radio
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to Elite Radio, the podcast for repair shop owners by repair shop owners. Welcome back to Elite Radio. Thanks for joining us in the next episode in our series in the coaches corner, where we focus on highlighting the success and struggles of being a shop owner, as well as the relationships built through coaching. I'm your host, Darren Barney, and I'm here with Jim Butita and Greg Buckley.
Jim Butita's Journey to Coaching
00:00:22
Speaker
Thanks so much for being here, guys. Hey, you're welcome. Yeah, it's good to have you guys. Great.
00:00:27
Speaker
Greg, I do your busy guy and I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule and same thing for you too Jim. Jim, would you mind just telling the audience a little bit about you? Sure. I grew up in a family automotive business with my dad and he had five sons so we all kind of did our shares through the business. I was the only one that really stuck at it. I think I was a hard head like my dad so that helped.
00:00:55
Speaker
But we became a small multi-store locations in Northern Illinois. I actually sold, I bought the business from my dad in my early thirties and sold the business when I turned 50. And semi-retired. Started, I've been coaching with the lead I think since 2015 or 16. I've been a friend of Jim and Sherry Murphy's for years and, and
00:01:21
Speaker
He encouraged me to reach out to Bob and start a relationship. And so it's been great and been very rewarding for me to be able to give back to an industry that's given me so much.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's great, Jim. Thank you for being here. Yeah, it is 2015. So I went and I looked through all your notes and I was like, man, 2015, that's amazing. So eight years of coaching with us. And I've been amazed at the results you get for your clients. And I told Jim this story that
00:01:53
Speaker
you know, when I was being trained by Bob about how to talk to people that were interested
Greg Buckley: A Family Business Legacy
00:01:58
Speaker
in elite. And I learned so much about Jim from Bob and he would tell me, you know, all this stuff about Jim and about his family and he liked motorcycles and he liked flying and he loved traveling and all this stuff about Jim. And I had never met him, but I knew all this stuff about him. And then when I met him in person, I was like, I kind of felt like I was meeting a big rock star because of how Bob would build him up to me. So
00:02:17
Speaker
Thank you very much, Jim, for being here and for your work. Mr. Gregg, Mr. Vuckley, would you mind doing a little bit of an introduction on yourself too? Sure.
00:02:30
Speaker
Greg Buckley, Buckley's Auto Care. Our family's been in business since 1966. I had the opportunity to... My dad started, of course, at a two bay gas station. Then we grew to three bay and then we finally, in 2006, moved to our current location in Wilmington. It's been a heck of a
00:02:54
Speaker
a great ride. I do a lot of things for the company, the community, and also I'm heavily involved with our industry and our trade. Love it. It's been the only thing that I have ever really done in my career.
00:03:11
Speaker
life actually in my career, I may have one or two stints when my dad would fire me, that I would have to go and do something else like be a laborer or some crap like that. But for the most part, this has been my life for all of it. And I started when I was eight, I'm now 63.
00:03:32
Speaker
And I would not have it any other way because of what this profession does for me in terms of checking all the boxes for fulfillment, both in business and in life.
Lessons and Challenges in Business Growth
00:03:45
Speaker
So, you know, I'm a lifer. That's awesome, Greg.
00:03:49
Speaker
Well, I mean, yeah, you do a lot for the industry too. I mean, not to mention, you know, being a shop owner and a parent and grandparent, all the things that you've got going on. But I mean, you've got your shop suit podcast and you're always talking with other business owners and trying to give back to the industry. And it's one of those things that when you and I were talking years ago about, you know, join the coaching program and things, I was just like,
00:04:10
Speaker
Man, this guy's a legend. I'll never forget the first time I met you at ASTE and I'm like, Greg Buckley, oh my goodness. This is so cool because it's somebody I've seen you all over the place. It's all smoke and mirrors. Trust me. Some people are gifted with going through life and struggling and then telling the stories about it. You're one of those guys that you're not to admit that you've made mistakes and you've grown and improved. That's what people resonate with because we've all made mistakes.
00:04:39
Speaker
I don't care how good you think you are. Well, I take it as this is all a journey. Hopefully, we're going to wake up the next day. Whatever comes our way, we'll deal with it. We have to. The thing is to get better at it every day that you have your eyes open. Now, what we're involved with is the second location. I could not be happier to have someone like Jim with me.
00:05:08
Speaker
Through this ride because of his experience and you know, it's it's something when you can find when you don't know like I had no clue who Jim was Until you introduced me to him and I think it was very very fortunate that Jim Had no idea who I was and we met kind of like on even plane and Jim's mannerisms and is
00:05:34
Speaker
The way he approaches a business and what to do has been just what I needed because, you know, I am, I fly around. I am admittedly.
00:05:46
Speaker
I don't have ADD or ADHD, but I do find- I'm not diagnosed anyway, right? I'm not diagnosed correct. But there's sometimes shiny, silver shiny objects will come by. And you need to have some like this as a time out, take a look at things.
00:06:11
Speaker
And that's what I need in order to
00:06:18
Speaker
take a family business into the realm of business family enterprise. You know, I mean, there's a, the words are swapped, but the definition is so different when you say family business and business family, you know, stove. So is that why you reached out to Jim though? Was that accountability to help you to handle that second location or what was the main reason that you reached out to Jim?
Aligning Business with Elite's Philosophy
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, I did.
00:06:46
Speaker
Well, you know, here's the thing is that, you know, before we got together, um, I really took a year and a half and I was, I quote, quote, quote interviewing other coaching companies. And for the most part, everybody would be aware of where I was prior, both as a client and as a coach, you know, for marketing. Um, and.
00:07:10
Speaker
that wasn't fitting the bill anymore. The market has changed. I thought that the philosophies were totally different. So I was traveling a few others. And I spent a year and a half to make sure that not only would it be a fit for me, because I knew what I wanted, I had to, I had to become better at what I what I am, you know, the fluffy stuff, the outgoing stuff, that's not going to leave me. But I really need to be better
00:07:37
Speaker
at the numbers and understanding where my business is. On top of that, I had to find somebody or someone or some company that would be appropriate for my son and the third generation. And when we got done everything, I mean, the trial, the year trial, we ran into some doozies. I'm not going to lie. I mean, all respect to everybody's type of philosophy and the way they went on their business.
00:08:04
Speaker
The problem is it's got to fit you. And we ran into a bunch of, you know, square pegs in round holes. And so when we came upon Elite and I was really referred to by Mike Allen.
00:08:17
Speaker
And I think we all made a Mike Allen and Mike would just tell me, Hey, listen, check them out. So we did and talking to you and Bob Cooper and everybody at elite on the first interviews, I felt, wow, this is, this is where I want to be. Um, the ethics.
00:08:37
Speaker
Behind it is critical. And when I talk to, when I showcased Elites program and philosophies to Scott and the others,
00:08:48
Speaker
they all agreed that if we're going to pursue this, then this is where we want to be. That's how I came about getting to know you guys. It's been quite enjoyable. I'm glad to hear that. Jim is a really gifted guy at being able to work his way through the BS and helping to
00:09:10
Speaker
guide and point and direct. And I'm curious, Jim, what your thoughts were, you know, when you go with this charismatic guy that literally, I mean, I love, I love phoning on Facebook. I really do. Cause you're always doing stuff and you've always got these albums and you're talking about this great music you love and everything else. And I was wondering what Jim actually went through though, as your coach to try to help you to, you know, focus in some of that awesome manic energy that you had that makes Greg Buckley who he is. And I was curious, Jim, tell him, tell me a little bit about that.
00:09:37
Speaker
Well, you know, when you think about the auto industry as a whole, well, first off, Greg's not in the automotive business. He's in the people business, in my mind, you know, and he's an advocate for our industry. And, you know, our competition isn't, his competition isn't to shop down the street. It's Amazon Best Buy. It's everywhere else. People have to spend their monies.
Managing Family Business Dynamics
00:10:00
Speaker
auto parts and auto service is kind of a commodity. I mean, everybody has it, but what does Greg or any shop have that's different as a service and that they can give that client? And Greg has the ethics and the honesty of what a good shop should be. Then you bring in the dynamics of a family business, which I'm real familiar with.
00:10:24
Speaker
it can be challenging. And he's juggling a lot of balls and wearing a lot of hats right now. I'd like to take a few of the hats off of Greg. And when I looked at Greg's bio and I was really amazed at what he was involved in. And so part of my history is I'm a past national president of a national trade association for industry.
00:10:47
Speaker
National Automotive Radiator Services Association. And I spent a lot of time, energy and money, time away from my family, time away from my business, time, money to travel to certain, you know, to give back to my industry. And when I kind of look back at it, it filled something in me. That's really what kind of filled my soul. It wasn't a business. But I do see how my business suffered, you know, in the short term from that relationship of me giving.
00:11:16
Speaker
And Greg has been giving and giving and giving. And the first thing that Greg and I had to really have a conversation was on is...
00:11:25
Speaker
you know, giving up a few things and focusing on the business, you know, for a couple of years. I think when I met Greg, Greg had no intentions whatsoever of having a second location. I don't know if that was on this radar at all, you know? And so this year, I mean, he'll double his revenue. I mean, he's got the headaches of two shops now too. Don't get me wrong. You know, so he's got the growing pains of growing and managers and
00:11:47
Speaker
technicians, but he's on a different path today and he's more committed to investing his time in his own business.
00:11:58
Speaker
The other thing I was thinking about, everybody that I've coached through Elite, everybody has a different reason. Some people want to make more money. Some people want more time off. Maybe it's the lifestyle they want. And so for a coach, it's trying to figure out what the client really wants out of life, because that's what the business is there for, to help them achieve their goals in life.
00:12:24
Speaker
I got a good understanding of what Greg's goals are and that helps me work with Greg. Sometimes we don't see eye to eye on his next move, whatever it be, but once Greg or the client makes the decision to do it, I'm 100% behind him.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's been great. It's about relationships. My relationship with Greg, Greg's relationship with his customers and clients. Greg's a very relational guy. He's one of those guys that people really like him and myself included and it's just fun to be around you. No, it is, Greg. It's a wonderful thing because it's why you've grown and continue to grow the business as much as you have. Has it been difficult when you have Jim push you on certain things that you know you need to be doing?
00:13:17
Speaker
Well, I don't know if it's difficult because I really do listen to Jim. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way, but one of the things that I've learned how to do is take a step back. If I want to make a decision, don't make it the day of or at that moment, take a step back and think about it. Think about whether you should pivot this way or that way or what to do and really start to look at, can you do it? Should you do it?
00:13:46
Speaker
examining and doing our due diligence on the second location, there was a lot of ifs, ands, and buts. The deal, the opportunity was amazing. You could see it.
00:14:00
Speaker
from the ground up that this location and what it was fit me. It's total community. It's in a growing spot. But there were difficulties with the prior owner and the red flags were all over. He couldn't produce a proper P&L. He didn't know his numbers. He couldn't tell me anything where I could base projections on. I had to make assumptions. And so Jim and I talked about it. And the thing that
00:14:28
Speaker
was I think a turning point was where the property was for sale. It wasn't going to be a rental and I'm not beholden to a landlord and the property was the asset that I wanted to obtain because you just don't get three quarters of an acre in this type of resort area at the price and then add to it, you've got a operating business that you know is easy to
00:14:58
Speaker
Break even one. I know you got to do is think of ways to okay to improve upon yes hurdles time you got acquired talent you know and get your cash or numbers but i think that working with jim you know and having that.
00:15:17
Speaker
second person that confidant to talk to to analyze things. And then when I said, I think I'm going to go for this, this sounds really good. And then Jim goes, OK, great. Let's learn how to work it. So we took the time. We did our homework. I talked to the family. And one of the most striking things that I did was I actually worked for the previous owners for about three days just so that I would know that I'm not stepping in a
00:15:44
Speaker
a pile of dog poop. When I saw the activity, that kind of solidified everything for me.
00:15:55
Speaker
what we were able to look at. And Jim Briggs, this is what Jim Briggs lays. Because he's got not only, he had the family business, the multiple locations, but he's savvy in real estate. So we can look at the goal was the property. I mean, literally the asset was there. And so when he presented the fact that, I mean, I clearly remember he goes, you realize that you're now
00:16:22
Speaker
a two plus million dollar operation. Man, that was like a hammer over the head because you don't think about that when you're just thinking about, all right, I'm going to get another shop, I'm going to grow this, go down. Then it starts building and someone presents you with that figure and you're looking at your numbers and you're going, oh my gosh, because we're going to double your revenue and all this other stuff. Wow, okay.
00:16:48
Speaker
At the timing of all this, I've got my granddaughter coming up and she's, I consider like a fourth generation. The third is the other family, but that compound with what we're going through, I'll tell you what. I had to come to terms with, am I going to be better
00:17:12
Speaker
Or am I going to keep doing what I'm doing and spending time away, mentally away, not in the business?
Understanding Business Numbers
00:17:20
Speaker
Or am I going to get my act together, discipline myself, go through the proper situations in order to secure the future
00:17:31
Speaker
of that fourth generation plus enjoy the things that i want to do in the future travel you know enjoy the time with my wife the kids all of that so this these two years that you know we've been together has been challenging personally because i'm
00:17:55
Speaker
I'm really not a disciplined guy. That's why I have a coach, right. But it's been so rewarding because now I feel, and this is what Jim and I talked about, because when the interviews were going on, how do you want to succeed? What do you want to do through this program? And I want to know my numbers. I got to be better on understanding what they mean.
00:18:24
Speaker
And although challenging, believe me, it is still to this day. It's like nails on the chalkboard when I have to wake up Saturday morning or Tuesday morning or whenever and get my reports done. It's just that way. But at the end, at the end of the conversation on Tuesday or whenever Jim and I are meeting,
00:18:47
Speaker
It's like there's a relief there. There's like, okay, you have a better understanding. You've got some questions that you were pointed to and it's just been, it's what I needed. Well, the thing is, is that you may not enjoy doing the numbers, but at least now, I mean, you've doubled your revenue.
00:19:08
Speaker
You know, so that's just one of the pieces of knowing those numbers and paying attention to it. And now Jim is your coach can come to you and be like, Hey, why is your gross profit down on labor? What happened here? We dropped 4% in one week. What happened?
00:19:21
Speaker
And now you know, at least you know where to find out what caused that. And you now know what those numbers mean. I mean, before, I assume you were like a lot of us where we just managed by the checkbook. We'd look at our bank account and go, okay, well, it is growing, so we're doing okay. Or, wow, we keep dropping what's going on, where you got those numbers, you know what they mean, and you're doing it every week.
00:19:42
Speaker
It helps out so much because you've really got, you can fix those problems before they get out of control. That's the key point. You can fix it before. And honestly beforehand, I would...
00:19:53
Speaker
I would ignore that. I simply would ignore it for two reasons why it's depressing if you know your business. Believe me, the experience that being in the business, most mature shop owners will have a gut feeling when their crap isn't right, when the ship isn't sailing the right way.
00:20:16
Speaker
Compound that with not knowing your numbers and you're totally lost you're really lost and and you get to a point where why bother and that's where I felt I was heading until I I Looked at what we went through through kovat. I got we got through all that and then like I said before Compound the fact that you got your fourth generation you and I take that as my responsibility I mean now
00:20:43
Speaker
It's not my dad's company, it's my company. I'm the patriarch, I'm the legacy builder. And I take that really seriously and really personally. It's almost to a fault. And Jim will tell you, you know, my habit of bringing in family is sometimes good, sometimes very detrimental.
Preserving Legacy and Family Relationships
00:21:03
Speaker
I've seen that with Jackson, right? It's with Jackson, but I go by a lot of gut. But yet it's still, it's the same issues I would have with
00:21:12
Speaker
bringing in somebody as a stranger, you know, except that there's things you just that stymie me. And Jim and I go through this a lot. And this is what family businesses go through, is once you bring in a family member, it's almost like, man, I can't say it's a life sentence, but it's almost like a life sentence. Yeah, you know, and I've had to
00:21:40
Speaker
In my journey through this business, I've had two separations that really much of like one was okay, it's my dad. We had to finally convince him to sell.
00:21:58
Speaker
It wasn't bad, it wasn't good. He was kind of hurt. The emotional roller coaster he went through. The second one was when my brother and I had to separate because if we weren't going to separate, we were going to fail and I wasn't going to have that happen.
00:22:13
Speaker
Both incidents are common in family structures, at least to my knowledge. Of course they are. Yeah, and you have to learn to get over that because the goal that, for me, the goal is, to an extent, have something that we're 57 years old now. Okay, the business is 57.
00:22:36
Speaker
I want to make it go another 57. I'm not going to be around, but can the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, whatever it takes, can the brand Buckley survive? And I'm determined to do my part. So if you see me hanging around the shop and being part of the shop and all that stuff, that's because I'm fine tuning it. I'm working with my associates, my team members, my family.
00:23:06
Speaker
It's in my blood. I don't know how else to describe it, that it's part of my normal life. It's, I, you know, so. Yeah, no, that's good. No, that's good. No, that's all good. I mean, and especially with Jim having that type of experience of being through it himself and selling to his sons, you understand that? Now you, I mean, that gives some really good common ground. Jim's been down the road before.
00:23:27
Speaker
I come from a family business with my brother, my brother and my wife, and we still own our shop. And in fact, I was in this morning. I was in for a little bit this morning. I normally go in for a couple hours each week to spend time with my team. And it's funny though that, yeah, I mean, you sometimes have to have those difficult conversations. In fact, one of our brothers is no longer, we're really close, but he no longer works for us because it couldn't fit the way that we wanted it. So we tried. We tried for a long time. But
00:23:51
Speaker
Um, we're both happier now that he's no longer involved. I mean, he's happy and we're happy and it's like we still get together and spend time together doing fun things. So, um, I bet Jim, you've had some pretty good counsel for him, haven't you? You don't have the emotion, you know? Yeah. I can see the bigger picture. I'm outside. I'm kind of up above and just, I see everything, you know, and, and, uh, when you're in the trenches, like Greg is, you know, day to day, it's hard to see the big picture sometimes, but, uh, yeah, we share the same struggles.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and you've been down the road and once again, not having that emotion, uh, never forget one time I was really upset with my brother's name's Chad and we'd had some disagreement about something. And Kevin, uh, who had met my coach at the time and he's like, well, you know,
00:24:34
Speaker
You need to stop and take a deep breath. He's like, do you remember what you told me your mom and dad said, right? And I said, yup. He said, you got to remember that because my mom and dad made us promise when we started this business that they said that you guys have to, uh, what we want to have still have our family get together. Do you guys have to continue to get along with each other? You know, even when the, when the businesses is, you know, at the end of the day, in other words, and Kevin brought that back up to me and I was like, darn it, Kevin, you jerk. Don't tell me that. I want to go tell Chad what I think, you know, but I mean, that's where that coach comes in because
00:25:02
Speaker
It's a 40,000 foot view is what we always joke about. It's not emotion. It's black and white. It's like, man, it's okay. Deep breath. Let's look at the facts. Well, the question, if we're doing, we're on this interview with this talk, I'm always curious about, because it doesn't know what me sometimes is, do you ever think about where it failed?
00:25:26
Speaker
where the relationship with a sibling had failed when you start off as you've got these high hopes, you've got this thing you want to create, and then all of a sudden it starts to deteriorate and you realize where the strength of the partnership is and the weakness is. And then all of a sudden you got to say, okay, this isn't going to work. And that point in time
00:25:54
Speaker
that goes, if I don't do something, we're all going down. I think that's what I think about every day.
00:26:07
Speaker
I love my brother. And to be totally transparent and honest, we don't talk. It's a fractured relationship. It really is. And I'm not, no sympathy. It is what it is. And it's not like it doesn't happen anywhere else. But you still have that love of a sibling. I mean, that's never going to go away because you're blood, right? But I get so
00:26:35
Speaker
upset in a sense because I looked at the young man and I said, man, you got so much potential, right? And it just didn't happen. And you're always saying, well, could I have done something different to make it happen? But, you know, it's not all about the money, but then it is all about the money because if a shop can't be profitable due to dysfunction, then nobody wins. So we have to stay profitable and we have to do what we need to do to be profitable.
00:27:05
Speaker
At the end of the day and you have those open conversations and it's not personal. That was the biggest thing I'd learned with my brother Ryan. That's his name. He was our youngest brother and he loved to blow money. I remember one day we didn't have enough money to make payroll and he went and bought sticky tires for one of our rock buggies and he comes in and he shows, you know, he's wheeling these tires in and I'm like,
00:27:29
Speaker
We just talked this morning about not money for payroll. What'd you do? He's like, well, the guy had a great deal. It was $2,500 for these tires. And I was just like, I was beside myself. Cause we didn't have money for payroll, you know, but it's one of those things in his world. Um, that was really important was, was, was putting these sticky tires on the buggy. And I was just in shock, but it took enough of those times where of, of just having to have those difficult conversations with him and.
00:27:53
Speaker
had to do what was right for everybody. He finally ended up leaving because of the fact that we put so many restraints on him spending money. We had to have three signatures on everything, but it's just one of those things and it's hard when you're a partner in a business, but it's what had to happen to help to regulate because we still have to protect the business. If the business is there, nobody has a job and all the employees we have, everybody's gone. I mean, I still look that same way when I'm dealing with my brother and I still work together and we still butt heads every once in a while.
00:28:19
Speaker
I still have to always think about what's best for the business. Our relationship's solid and it will be. I was going to show this a minute ago. My dad used to tell us. He says, friends come and go, but family's forever.
Mentoring and Team Building
00:28:30
Speaker
I was like, at the time, I hated hearing that from my dad. He used to just tell us, it's like, you know what? You guys have to get along with each other. You have to. He goes, you don't have a choice. You're with each other forever. When we dealt with Ryan, we really had to
00:28:44
Speaker
work with that and do the best we could, put the stops in place and just be like, hey, he used to discount everything. I'm like, I'm a discounter too, but this is how we don't eat, buddy. This is why we don't have money for this and things worked out.
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sorry to hear you guys aren't talking. It's one of those things that it's hard stuff, you know? Time should heal all the way. It will. It's spelled that way, should. Yeah, and it'll come around. But until then, I let him have his space. I'm always open for him, and he knows it. It's just that, like I said, if I'm there, if he needs me,
00:29:21
Speaker
And he'll always be part of my life. There's no question. And we just go on our way. So that's all. Of course. That's part of what you got to do. But you're a high-eye, aren't you, in the DISC assessment?
00:29:33
Speaker
I couldn't tell you what later I am or what animal section I should be. I never like, you know, my wolf an eagle. I don't know. I'm Greg. You really care about people and you like, you know, being an influencer. It's a good thing. It's not a bad thing at all. I do. I think it's, well, I think it's really important that we do care about people, especially in, you know, in today's employment market. You know, people have, the generations that we are working with are,
00:30:04
Speaker
in lack of discipline and direction. I think direction more than discipline. They may have grown up with a single parent, maybe no parents. Their life has been, you know, without a direction in some cases. They're influenced by people who, you know, from Hollywood superstars to musical artists and the influence that's out there isn't what
00:30:31
Speaker
maybe we have grown up with leaders instead of influencers, I suppose. And the trick of it is for us, it's not trick, it's really what we should be doing, is that we should be mentoring these young people. Because in my experience, and it goes back to, like I said, where I know we have family, but here at shot number two, I didn't have anybody. I didn't have a single family member. I had to hire people that I never knew before.
00:31:01
Speaker
And I've proven to myself that my style is legitimate. You know, I've taken people who have come from different directions. And in all fairness and all transparency, and I did not realize this until we were a team, is that every one of my technicians were going through a substance situation. They were there in
00:31:29
Speaker
I don't say rehab, but they're recovering. That's the word they use, recovering. And we discuss this a lot and they're not active, they're recovering. So that means that they're solid, they know how not to go back, but to have a steady person that they can rely on, kind of like a father figure in a sense,
00:31:57
Speaker
They really do turn around. I mean, you take three guys that you never knew before, you bring them together and in one year's time, you have created a million dollar business. It's a good feeling. Yeah. And I mean, and I look at that and I said, okay, well,
00:32:22
Speaker
I never look for things, but maybe I am doing something right with being able to be that guide. I think that's what workshop owners really need to do. I believe that is a solid trend that we are not just in automotive, but in most small businesses and even in larger corporations. We're seeing the lack of not only education, like the one plus one equals two type stuff, but actually the way you should work, the work ethic.
00:32:52
Speaker
You know, we as the owners have to start saying, all right, well, there's not a great talent pull out there. If I take away this person, I'm probably either going to get an equal or a lesser person.
00:33:08
Speaker
So why continue to throw the bathwater out when you're just going to get the same baby? So you go and you mentor and help these people and then they become incredibly loyal and then you got to start working their productivity. And then you start, like for me, I had to go to these guys and we had just
00:33:31
Speaker
we just crested the million mark. And we went to dinner, we celebrated, we had just a good time, and we talked. And then I had to say, okay, boys, the first level is done. The second level is going to be much tougher. And so just today before I came up, and Jim, you might be proud of me. I put a productivity board.
00:33:53
Speaker
down below. And so I actually created one. I got a big sheet and tape and put a board up and Matt right now, Matt is downstairs coaching these guys on what the board is going to be using. We're going to use tickets, hours, billable, and plus or minus. We're going to go that route. Just to have these guys start to see
00:34:19
Speaker
and teach them on what it's going to take to reach that next level. That's great. Yeah, this is just the way that I said, loving people and wanting to help them. I've always been about that. Sometimes you got to have those hard conversations and sometimes you got to draw the line in the sand and sometimes you got to have those pointed conversations. We do. It has to happen.
00:34:49
Speaker
You don't stay open anymore. You fall down. Correct. Jim will tell you that we have a tech here that is a little bit lower in productivity, and I got one in Wilmington as well. Today, like I said, just to show him that what we're doing, it's not to penalize
00:35:12
Speaker
or reprimand, it's to show his competency and where he can improve upon and the expectations. So that's one of the things that we're going to roll with. So when you said, Jim, you'll be proud of me, Jim, are you proud of him? Absolutely. And Greg, tell me, tell us how far away your second location is. 85 miles.
00:35:41
Speaker
So that's a little bit of the challenge for Greg, you know, the other besides that challenge, you know, in growing pains and anybody knows it's multi store, you got to get to a certain level of volume because before you can bring in the next level of management or, you know, an extra service advisor that can cover for vacation time or
00:36:01
Speaker
So Greg's really pulling double or triple duty right now, you know, training and, uh, and helping, uh, train the team and that. So plus the distance Greg goes on Tuesdays and comes back on what Friday, Greg Thursday. Yeah. I'll leave, I leave Tuesday morning and I returned to Wilmington Friday morning, you know, cause I'm not saying down here. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a, it's a journey. Yeah.
00:36:28
Speaker
But no, I'm proud of him. He puts a lot of time in and I know it'll pay the rewards for him, but he's got to pay the price right now. You got to pay those dues. You got to pay the success tax. I think it's something that a lot of younger people don't understand.
00:36:50
Speaker
I like that success tax. Sorry about that. You got to pay your success tax. Exactly. I like that one.
Personal Sacrifices and Health Challenges
00:37:03
Speaker
When we talk about KPIs and making a profit, every client's kind of different. Some clients say they're shopped really heavy on parts and they want to keep their parts GP down, but they make it up on their labor GP.
00:37:17
Speaker
Some guys like a higher parts GP. The bottom line is what your overall GP. But Greg does a great job. He brought a new software system in house too, which all this going on, new software, second location, additions.
00:37:39
Speaker
He tore up his garage floor and installed a new hoist and put an addition on for office.
00:37:55
Speaker
And he tries to golf once a week. Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you. You know, you got to go out and enjoy life a little bit, especially with, oh my goodness, I can imagine doing a software change along with all that other stuff. And oh my goodness. It was, I don't even know. I'll explain to you that at the time when all of this was going on, the second location coming available and we agreeing to it, that we had already committed to the renovations of number one. Right. And then we,
00:38:24
Speaker
And then we had the home renovation going on. And all of these projects were delayed for one reason or another, where the contract couldn't make the house, weather at the shop, and then this come on. So literally, and the good part is, is that we got through everything.
00:38:44
Speaker
Now, the serious side of that is in January when pretty much everything was completed except for the renovations of the two new lifts. Because I really had a health situation. I mean, I really, my stress level got up, I had hypertension and I had to kick back. And I literally had to go to the guys
00:39:08
Speaker
my teams and say, listen, I'm done. You know, I said, I'm not going to be back and forth. I'm not going to do this. If I had to close a day or two, my health is more important. And after that,
00:39:23
Speaker
things, you know, we're calming down and you know, and everything has its your chaos. And then you slowly see the end of the world, you see the light in the tunnel, and you go through all that. And then, you know, the finally just last month in June, we cracked the bed, because a simple project of two new lifts, which were two weeks,
00:39:47
Speaker
Jim will tell you, we had a budget, we had it scheduled, we had everything planned, we had money saved, we had all of it together. Two storms of five inches of rain in less than three days apart flooded the shop.
00:40:03
Speaker
took out the concrete pad and delayed everything while the contractors took it. We had to spend an extra, we were almost 32% over budget because we had to put a subsystem in. We weren't getting, there's no productivity out of the bay and we're down, we ended 38% negative for June at shop number one.
00:40:28
Speaker
In the meantime, you still got bills to pay. Of course you do. And number two, fortunately, has been fairly steady. It's been okay. We have a dip here or there. But they're the kind of things that you go through. And I said it before, if you're not prepared to take that challenge or have that challenge happen and come through it, then man, you might want to stick with that regular nine to five that you might be having.
00:40:57
Speaker
For sure. So first off, you're doing better. I am. I am feeling better. Yeah. I mean, I'm back on track. I health wise that January, January, um, you know, I was way overweight and I, and I made an effort to that's it. You know, so I'm down 35 pounds on Mount Musking and I'm exercising at least three to four times a week, um, eating a lot less.
00:41:22
Speaker
taking care of business the way that I should, and again, prioritizing my health because... You have to. You're the captain of the ship. If you're not there to be the captain, then you ain't going to have a ship. Right. Yeah. You forget though. When you're in the battle, and you're going after those goals, and you got all the stuff you're trying to achieve, but you got to take care of yourself.
00:41:52
Speaker
At the end of the day, you're not there to help. All this is pointless. Yeah. You're not there for your family. That's the biggest worry. Patty was really concerned, as she should be, that, hey, you got to get to the doctors. You got to do this. You got to do that. You have those serious talks when you're together. I can't have you not hear that kind of thing. Again, it's the responsibility that
00:42:20
Speaker
I take very personally. Really, it's my heart and soul. You can ask me today, tomorrow. My family, having something for them is the most important thing I can do in my life right now. That's it. Family's important to you. Well, I'm glad to hear you're doing better. Very important. Yeah, it's good. Thank you. I think Jim's helped you on your session plan, right?
00:42:44
Speaker
Yeah, we're talking about things. It's still like all over. Jim's like, yeah. Not a high priority today. Yeah, no, it's all good. It's just something that's been a big topic around Elite a lot lately. We had that good shop operator that passed away in January, crashed plane.
00:43:09
Speaker
You know, it was a big awakening for that whole family because all of a sudden, you know, the wife is going, I don't know anything about automotive repair. I know nothing. And yet, uh, I'm now supposed to be running this business, you know, and there's nobody in place to help with it. And so yeah, especially I see a health scare like that with you, you know, it's like, yeah, you got to take care of yourself. Got to look ahead. Yeah. Well done.
00:43:32
Speaker
Yeah. You can do all the paperwork you want. We've got our wills and we've got our notes and stuff. The will is solid and we've got our insurances and I keep telling Patty, I go, listen, you're fine. You don't need to run the business as long as Scott and the boys are there, but you're
Balancing Risk and Planning for Security
00:43:53
Speaker
fine. You don't need to worry about it because that was one of our things about it. It's funny. You try to teach or educate
00:44:02
Speaker
about accumulating wealth and trying to describe, well, how do you think we're going to live past our 70s or our 80s until we need to have a plan in place? And I said, we have commercial properties, we have this and that. And for her,
00:44:22
Speaker
It's like, I don't want to be involved with any of that. Right? Of course. Well, you're going to have to have some understanding of what we're doing. That's been the hard part, too, because they're very risk averse. Of course. And maybe other spouses are, too. And a guy like me, all right. Yeah. I'll take a chance.
00:44:46
Speaker
Well, yeah. You got to take care of yourself once again. I know I said it a minute ago, but you have to. You got to take those times. Not to sound like some hippie from the sixties or some, you know, weirdo, but I mean, meditation, all those things are really important just to clear your head and just to, uh, focus in, you know, I can tell you, I can tell you that you're right.
00:45:04
Speaker
God, I'm doing chiropractic, I'm doing acupuncture, and yoga, all that stuff now. And that's another thing. Patio would go, man, you never liked any of that before. You thought differently about it. I go, well, I might've been younger than him. I'm like, it's pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, it just makes you feel better. And that clarity is a huge thing, just quite up the noise. It does. It does make you feel better. Yeah. So good. Jim's probably like, well, you weirdo, stop it.
00:45:32
Speaker
I know, right? I keep looking at him and it's like, okay. No, not at all. It's the new ways. Yeah. Jim, I got a question for you though. To anybody that's listening to this, it comes from a family-run business. What do you think is a good piece of advice that they can take home with their own business when it comes to dealing with family?
00:45:53
Speaker
Are they already in the family or potential coming into family? Whatever. I mean, whatever you think somebody would want to hear, I mean, you know, like, like Greg and I, you know, where we have family members that work with us and you know, things may not go well or, you know, got to watch out for the integrity of the business. I mean, what's some recommendation about dealing with those relationships?
00:46:10
Speaker
You know, so I have three sons at all, uh, worked in the business from time to time, going through high school, college and then afterwards. And, and none of them are in the business today. You know, they all, you know, my job as a father was to help them find their passion and, and, uh, you know, support them in that way. I've never, I mean, there are some family members, you know, family business. I know that they want to, you know,
00:46:37
Speaker
They want the family in there. They, that's what they want. That's your destiny. That's your, you know, your job. And, and I have a different mindset on that a little bit. You know, a lot of times I know that, um, you know, I've worked with businesses that have family members that aren't happy and things aren't going good. And it's, it's a two way. If the owner's not happy, the family member is not happy. You know what I mean? It's not like just one side is not happy. And, uh,
00:47:02
Speaker
You know, I mean, I had a brother that, uh, my oldest brother that worked with me for a couple of years.
00:47:08
Speaker
I finally said to him, I said, you know, I know you don't like what you're doing. You know, I get frustrated. You know, why don't you go find out what, you know, what your life desire is and, and, uh, go for it. You know, and, and he did that and, uh, he's a happy guy, you know, so it's, uh, it's honest communication, you know, it's not letting get to the level where it wants to break you or the relationship, you know, it's being a little proactive over reactive in the situation, but, uh,
00:47:37
Speaker
You know, when I grew up, my dad was old school, and the first thing he said is, no women are involved in the business. Zero. You know, I got mothers and daughters and sisters, you know. So, you know, we never had women in the business, so.
00:47:52
Speaker
I don't know if that would go today, but it's the dynamics. It's the position, you know, after my dad, after I bought my dad out, my wife came to work into our business. And one thing I made sure of is that I wasn't her supervisor.
00:48:09
Speaker
I wasn't her boss. We had an office manager and she wanted to work in the business and she didn't have to answer to me. And that was probably the best piece of advice, have some type of...
00:48:25
Speaker
buffer between you and other family members. Right. You know, I think that's great advice. You know, you got to make sure once again, having that early conversation when you know that something's not going well, you need to address and start working on it. Don't let it build up until it explodes because then it's emotion. You know, once again, we can't
Navigating Family Roles in Business
00:48:42
Speaker
take it personal. We got to just address it as business and address it when you first start seeing the behavior because otherwise, once again, things faster and blow. Yeah.
00:48:51
Speaker
I think one of the best advice I ever got though was from Kevin. And Kevin told me, he said, you and Ginger love what you do. And that's great. Ginger's my wife and she works at Barney Brothers and Elite. And Kevin told me, he's like, be careful. When you go home at night, do not talk about the shop. He goes, otherwise what will happen is he goes, you're going to build your life around talking about the shop. So then at night when you come home, you're wound up, the kids are there and you're talking about the shop. And then guess what? When the kids leave, you won't have anything left to talk about. He goes, it will come a day. And as he's right, I'm no longer at Barney Brothers as much as I used to be.
00:49:21
Speaker
and come home and if all you've ever talked about is just shop and business stuff, then when the kids are gone and the shop's gone, business is gone, what do you have? You don't know anything about each other anymore. And at the time in my life, it was a big thing for us, you know?
00:49:35
Speaker
Cause it really, it changed my life. So because we all of a sudden started building on relationships with each other and made sure that we, that person I fell in love with that I sit and talk to all the time that we're still doing things outside of those businesses and things so that we still got that relationship. You know, I still tell my clients that make sure you're still paying attention to them as people. So yeah.
00:49:56
Speaker
Yeah, very important. I mean, we we went through where when in the 90s, when I just purchased dad and everything, and we're running the business, Patty was with us doing the bookkeeping, right? And Patty's always been a stay at home mom, that was my goal. That's what I wanted to do. So she's been a stay at home mom. And when I asked her to do the books, of course, she begrudgingly said yes, but I don't know a lot about it. But I'm willing to help.
00:50:23
Speaker
Okay. So the problem was is that her schedule was not equal to my schedule. So I couldn't call her up at nine o'clock in the morning and go, hey, what about this invoice for this vendor and all this other stuff? Because she was busy with the kids. Sure. And then when she was wanting to work on the books, it was five o'clock in the afternoon when I'm coming home. And when I come home,
00:50:46
Speaker
I don't want to talk business. So we got into this. Well, if you're not going to tell me what you need or help me to tell you what you need, and I don't know what I'm doing, we got a problem. So we lasted about two months. And I said, that's it. I'm done.
00:51:05
Speaker
We're not going to do this because it's going to separate us and our family more than what this business is going to gain for us. So from that point on, I had had bookkeepers and or now we have my sister who is pretty much like our CFO. I've ran into guys who have their spouses and if you have mature kids or you're empty nesters,
00:51:36
Speaker
Yeah, I think it can work. But outside of that, I don't know how I just don't know how they do it. I'm sure they have their ways to pay attention to it. It could be some really Yeah, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't want to talk. I mean, when I talk business to Patty, it's not business. It's how's the business?
00:51:57
Speaker
working for us. It's a different type of conversation. It's not numbers. It's like, okay, where are we? What are we doing? How do we want to proceed? And she'll give me insight.
Reflections on Growth and Coaching Impact
00:52:07
Speaker
Like I said, well, what do you think about this situation?
00:52:09
Speaker
And then she becomes a confidant, you know, and of course, that's good. That's okay. Yeah, there's no there's and there's nothing wrong with having that that shop top at home too. It's just we got to make sure it doesn't dominate everything just because my put my wife and I very passionate about it. We loved what we do. And we love helping people and doing these things and just getting home and talking about it all the time.
00:52:30
Speaker
You just got to be careful, you know? Well, cool. Well, guys, we are, we're out of time. So do you guys have any final words that you want to share? Um, anything that, uh, closing thoughts before I wrap this up? I just wondered what you're going to title this session here. Uh, family, business, family dynamics. Yeah.
00:52:51
Speaker
It's been great working for Elite and with all the clients, but especially Greg. It's been a treat for me and I probably get as much from Greg as I give him.
00:53:06
Speaker
He gives a lot to me too. So thanks, Greg, for being a great client and being committed to the process. A lot of guys will hire and then they don't follow through. And it's really nice when a client like you follows through with what you need to do to be a better business owner and husband.
00:53:29
Speaker
and overall person. Well, I'm pretty choked up about that, Jim. Thank you. I appreciate that. I don't set out to make impressions. I just try to be me all the time, 100%. I believe that if we showcase good energy and
00:53:52
Speaker
stuff like that, then we naturally get attracted to others who have the same type of situation, same type of energies and stuff, philosophically. But being with you and being with the elite and knowing all the amazing, I mean to tell you, amazing
00:54:12
Speaker
the groupers from 360 to pro service. I don't think there's one that, you know, I never think I'm an equal to any of them because it gives me the opportunity to continue to learn from everybody. And it's just incredible what this organization does for shop owners without all the hoopla.
00:54:37
Speaker
That was, that's so, so refreshing because for me, I don't need entertainment. I don't need a circus to teach me the business. It's just something, again, no disrespect for those who might be listening. I'm not critiquing anything. What I'm saying is, is that
00:55:04
Speaker
Anything more than the one to one that I care with my coach, Jim, or that I work with the others within the confines of elite and the colleague is enough for me. And then that makes me successful.
Podcast Wrap-Up and Call to Action
00:55:17
Speaker
And then that's, that's fine. Anything else above that? Not necessary.
00:55:26
Speaker
Thank you guys both for being here. Honestly, as I've told Jim before, I really have always looked up to you even though I haven't known you. I know about your results as well with your clients and all these things.
00:55:38
Speaker
And I mean, the great reputation you have, Jim, I really appreciate you taking time to be here. It means a lot. Honestly, it does. So I know it's out of your comfort zone to come in and do this type of stuff anyway, that you're not the guy that likes the spotlight at all. I know. But when he said yes, I was like, this is awesome, man. I really feel fortunate that Jim's going to come on. So thank you, Jim. And, you know, Greg, you know, I feel about you too, my friend.
00:56:02
Speaker
In fact, I'm going to ask you this question. Greg and I were talking about this earlier and I asked Greg. Greg is a big music guy. He just loves music and he's always posting about music he likes. I had to ask him what his number one output would be if he was stranded on a desert island. You've had a little bit of time to think now, Greg. Your subconscious has processed this. What do you think? What's your answer?
00:56:23
Speaker
Well, I still go with it's hard because like I said, there are two defining albums for me and they would be neck and neck. But if you give me the scenario of an island, I still would have to say there's two ranking wise. Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East is probably the most dominating album.
00:56:48
Speaker
I really like the Rolling Stones and the album Some Girls is probably the finest. It was in 78. It defined my years in high school. It was raunchy.
00:57:06
Speaker
They're singing on SML to support that album. They were the bad boys of Rock and Roll and they still are. But that album is so good, so good, that it probably was just maybe a little bit above all of them. That's awesome. That's my answer. That's awesome. Thank you, Greg, for sharing that. Jim, do you have a favorite album you want to leave us with? I don't know if you're much of a music guy, but
00:57:32
Speaker
Uh, NPR, uh, talk radio. Sorry. That's awesome. No, that's great. That's good. That's fine. We're all made differently, you know? So that's, yeah, that's a great answer. Yeah. You made a comment the other day in one of our meetings about all the guitars in the background and everybody's, you know, I mean, I got my, my 68, you know, telecaster right here and you're not noticing about all those different things. And I was curious for your music guy, so that answers it.
00:57:56
Speaker
Yeah. It's a great thing. Okay. Well, thank you guys again for being here and thank you audience members for tuning in and listening to these two rock stars talk about, you know, business and family relationships. And yeah, we appreciate everybody being here. So you guys have a great rest of your day and thanks again. Thank you again, Jim. And thanks again, Darren. Of course. Thank you guys. Bye bye.
00:58:20
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Elite Radio, the podcast for repair shop owners by repair shop owners. If you're looking for help in your automotive repair shop, then reach out to Elite. We provide coaching and peer groups, training for your service providers and managers, and countless complimentary resources, and a whole lot more. Visit EliteWorldwide.com today, and we'll see you next time.