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Ep 11 - Group Call w/ Josh Parnell and Lola Schmidt
260 Plays2 months ago
Simply put, Tekmetric is the best shop management software on the planet. So, if you're not using it, you're shop isn't where it could be. Try them out HERE
If you listened to ep 10, Matt Lofton from Elite Worldwide called me out about how I handled a tech at my shop. And now, that situation is in a better place. I need that accountability. I think every shop owner does. Find out how Elite Worldwide can help you HERE
Register for Fueling Connections in Mooresville, NC April 11-12 with Josh and Lola: CLICK HERE
In this episode, Mike Allen, Bryan Pollock, Josh Parnell, and (Lola) Lauralee Schmidt talk about Fueling Connections coming up in April and why it's an important event for shop owners. Mike confessed about a blunder at his shop last week, too.
00:00 It Snows Where Bryan Lives and Doesn't Where Mike Lives
07:34 Leadership Coach and Speaker Journey
15:00 Overlooked Car Issues Lead to Repairs
19:32 TechMetric Boosts Business Performance
23:38 Customer-Supplied Parts Installation Issue
32:34 Evolving Leadership Processes
37:41 Improving Missed Call Response
43:30 "Connection Before Profit"
44:32 "Empowering Service Teams for Growth"
50:56 Varied Commitment Among Team Members
59:36 Automotive Leadership Focus
01:01:52 Confessions of a Shop Owner
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Event Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
What is up, everybody? um Great episode today. Had a lot of fun talking to Josh Parnell and Loralee Schmidt about the Fueling Connections event coming up in April. It's being hosted by the Automotive Service and Tire Alliance. It's being hosted at the NASCAR Tech or UTI Institute in Morrisville, North Carolina.
00:00:19
Speaker
It's an event hosted by the association specifically for shop owners and managers. You get to hear a little bit about what they're going to be teaching. And we didn't talk about the social aspect so much, but there's gonna be some fun social things going around that event. Also, just like all the ASTA stuff that we do.
00:00:36
Speaker
I would encourage you to be in North Carolina, ah April 11 and 12 and hang out and talk to myself and Brian. I'm talking him into going. He doesn't know yet, but he's going to be there.
00:00:47
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to seeing you there and looking forward to the episode.
00:00:53
Speaker
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we, or our guests may say, do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have.
00:01:07
Speaker
There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings so easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, it's time for Confessions of a Shop Owner with your host, Mike Gallen.
Local Weather and Shop Owner Challenges
00:01:27
Speaker
I hate it when I get stuck in the snow in the gas station parking lot. Yeah. I'll take shit that never happens in North Carolina for a thousand hours. Never in North Carolina. You know, it's not really scary here yet. What's scary is I just got an alert on my phone and they're talking about 45 mile an hour winds overnight after it snowed a fresh 15 inches.
00:01:46
Speaker
So that's like you You trees down with that, right? well Well, we get a lot of high winds up by the lake, so all of our trees already broke, the ones that we're going to break this year. But that's the kind of wind when you go to leave your house and the snow is drifted up to the gutter to your door and you can't leave your house. That's the type of wind that does that.
00:02:04
Speaker
Fresh snow. A foot of fresh snow and 40-mile-an-hour winds creates seven-foot snow drifts, like, in front of the door of your house. So that's a problem. That's why you gotta got to have a back door, right? Yep. Turn about the window.
00:02:17
Speaker
yeah Upstate New York, no excuse. Go to work. yeah Yeah, get your ass to the shop. I don't care about the driving ban. i don't care about the state of emergency. Get your ass to the shop. We got cars to fix.
00:02:29
Speaker
Man, I'm just thinking about what a disaster it's going to be this week in North Carolina. If we... Downstate North Carolina, not like up where Lucas and Braxton are. they They get snow, right? But down here, five to ten inches of snow, it's...
00:02:44
Speaker
I bet there's no bread or eggs or milk at the grocery store right now. Oh, yeah. It's the same around here, though. like When they they were talking about the storm, yeah, people are at their houses making milk sandwiches right now. Is that how much you're supposed to get in North Carolina?
00:02:59
Speaker
Toilet paper since the pandemic is a thing. No, is that how much snow you're supposed to get? Oh, five to ten. Yeah. Which will be debilitating for them because they don't have any infrastructure.
00:03:13
Speaker
Good luck. Pray for me. and i'm gotta to get ah I've got to get a battery backup for the Wi-Fi and the modem. As long as we have internet access, my children will be okay. If we don't have it, it'll probably be like that.
00:03:27
Speaker
They'll be flipping the
Speaker Introductions and Backgrounds
00:03:28
Speaker
place over. flies yeah so Josh, where do you live? I'm in Houston, so all this snow talk, I have no clue. Yeah, it snowed about a month ago for the first time in years, and none of us knew how to behave. We we didn't know what to do. School was canceled. We just ran around. i have a friend that owns a shop in College Station.
00:03:46
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, if it snows like an inch, it's shuttered down. Or if it rains and it's really cold. but If it's below 32 and it rains, you can't get anything. ah you can't So if it's below 32 and it rains, it's sleep.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's freezing. It should be freezing rain. No. You know, the ground's not that cold, blah, blah, blah. I thought you were a pretty technical guy about, you know, I figured you'd know the freezing point of water. No, it's, es dude, it was 25 degrees here and liquid rain was falling out of the sky the other day. I am very technical about weather, thank you.
00:04:16
Speaker
Just because it's 25 degrees, six feet off the ground doesn't mean it's 25 degrees up in the atmosphere where the rain's coming from. How frequently is it warmer at altitude than it is at the ground level? When it rains here and it's 25 degrees out at ground level.
00:04:29
Speaker
We do live somewhere very special. people are shit up People actually try to get in here for the weather pattern. well we're i'm i'm between here um No, seriously, for the the meteorologists, like you can't just like come get out of college and show up here.
00:04:43
Speaker
You've got to put your time in in a normal city. I mean, the best gig in all of meteorology is Southern California, right? It's going to be 75 degrees with the wind in the west. It's sunny. 30% chance of horrible wildfires.
00:04:56
Speaker
We have the two lakes next to each other. And that's, I mean, if they say it's going to snow, it's going to be anywhere between nothing and two feet. And but's that's how it goes.
00:05:08
Speaker
All right. i You know, I feel like we're going to make our listeners listen to at least a few minutes in this random snow conversation. We should probably introduce everyone. Yeah. I assume that most folks know who we're talking to, but we've got Josh Parnell of Limitless Leadership and the Bearded Leader.
00:05:26
Speaker
um And we've got Loreley Schmidt, Lola online, for those who may know her better that way, of Schmidt Auto Care somewhere in Ohio. Where are you?
00:05:38
Speaker
I'm in Waynesville, Ohio, but my shop's in Springboro. Springboro. Yeah. Nice. Okay. The important thing to note is that both of these individuals are, I'm excited to say, coming to North Carolina in April.
00:05:53
Speaker
Automotive Service Tire Alliance is hosting event. um It's our number two event of the year, typically, and it's very ownership-focused, owners and managers primarily focused. um And it's called Fueling Connections.
00:06:06
Speaker
And we're actually having it at ah the NASCAR Tech ah campus in Morrisville, North Carolina, which is just on the north side of Charlotte, near Lake Norman, where all the...
00:06:17
Speaker
where all the NASCAR guys have their big lake houses and, uh, they got on the boat. So, um, but it's, it should be a lot of fun. It's going to be very interesting. And, uh, Laura Lee and Josh are going to be each doing half day sessions, I believe.
00:06:34
Speaker
So I wanted to get, Like, literally, I know you. ah We've met. We've hung out before. ah We spent time chatting online before. Josh, we haven't really met, i don't think. So, i you know, if I can, I'd like to start with you and just kind of learn your story. Tell me a little bit about about you and what you do.
00:06:53
Speaker
Of course. Yeah. Well, Mike, first, thanks for having me on the show. um I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you in person soon. ah Looking forward to traveling out to North Carolina in April for the Fueling Connections event. um So quick backstory. I'll try to be brief, but ah backstory is um I kind of cut my teeth in the automotive repair industry by working as a um corporate coach, corporate trainer for Christian Brothers Automotive for almost a decade. And so I had the opportunity to lead the entire training department there at Christian Brothers for quite some time and had an opportunity to serve over 300 locations nationwide across 31 states and ah thousands of team members um over the course of my career Christian Brothers.
00:07:34
Speaker
And about two years ago, I decided to to to jump into this terrifying world of entrepreneurship and and and and become a full-time leadership coach, trainer, and speaker. And so that's what I do now. um you know i've I've been able to um slightly connect with all of you online and you know kind of following you and seeing what you do. And I know you all are probably like, wait, who is this guy? And what why is he coming North Carolina?
00:07:56
Speaker
um So, you know, my my my heart is in serving people. um i'm I will be the first to say I'm i'm not really a quote unquote car guy. I don't know a whole lot about automotive, despite the fact that I'm in the automotive repair industry.
00:08:11
Speaker
And it's primarily because i serve my clients in ah in the form of ah communication, delegation, casting a vision, driving a mission towards the vision. um I know enough to be dangerous, but you don't want me to come into your shop and try to do your job because I will mess everything up.
00:08:27
Speaker
um no one should ask us any technical questions at this right i think you are out you're outnumbered here that's okay i'm out you're the only car guy in this conversation i'm terrible it's true terrible we all know yeah we just don't want to tell you to your face because near you're sensitive no i tell people to their faces that i'm terrible it's not a problem Um, Laura Lee, can you give us a little bit of your background and how you found yourself in the wild and crazy world of automotive?
00:09:00
Speaker
Sure. Uh, Josh, I'm not a car girl, so you and I together are a great team. Awesome. Um, we know nothing about how to fix cars. But I bet we can help fix shops.
00:09:11
Speaker
So. Yes. Hey, everybody. I want to take a minute to tell you about the coaching organization I've been involved with for, gosh, over 20 years now. Elite.
00:09:22
Speaker
Elite worldwide, they don't give you a one size fits all solution. They tailor the coaching specifically to you and your shop. They pair you with an experienced coach who is either a current or a former shop owner, and they turn strategies into actual action and accountability and results.
00:09:39
Speaker
Whether it's improving your service advisor's sales, growing your shop, growing to multiple locations, they really have you covered. Clients of Elite really see results. Higher profits, stronger teams, a better work-life balance.
00:09:51
Speaker
If you're ready to take the next step, visit EliteWorldwide.com to schedule your discovery session. That's EliteWorldwide.com to start working on your business rather than in it.
00:10:02
Speaker
Tell them that you heard about them on Confessions of a Shop Owner so that I get a pat on the back or maybe a box of chocolates or something. That would be awesome. Thanks.
Industry Crossovers and Hiring Practices
00:10:10
Speaker
I come from cosmetics background and I used to teach people how to sell cosmetics and make things pretty.
00:10:18
Speaker
And so that's what I do. And I was a professional makeup artist for a long time. So I'm aesthetically driven and I'm going to teach branding and processes at this class because that's what I took away from corporate America. And I'm super excited to be in automotives because y'all need some branding and some processes.
00:10:37
Speaker
All right. I have a question for you. mom I have started branching out and I'm trying to hire outside of the automotive sector for service advisors and sales.
00:10:49
Speaker
um So I've been looking primarily at and hospitality industry, restaurant folks, or house ah outside sales, you know, that kind of stuff. Do you think that I should be talking to make up salespeople?
00:11:02
Speaker
do they get actual sales training and how to overcome objections and that kind of thing? Oh, yeah. If you're in the right brand, not all brands, um none of the small independent brands are going to have the money for that department. So it's going to need to come from like a large brand like L'Oreal or Estee Lauder, like that hold a lot of brands.
00:11:20
Speaker
So if I go to heavy on the sales, heavy. Oh, yeah. Nordstrom Nordstrom. A lot of money is spent on training and education. correct That's interesting. So a Nordstrom cosmetics counter salesperson, how much are they taking home a year if they're good at what they do?
00:11:38
Speaker
Oh, that would really depend on the brand, too. don't know. are they brand employees or Nordstrom employees? They're brand employees. The brand rents space in the store. didn't know that. Ah, interesting.
00:11:51
Speaker
Yeah, so you're paid by the brands, not... Some of the Nordstrom employees, I think, are paid by Nordstrom. But if you work like specifically for like MAC Cosmetics, you're paid by Estee Lauder.
00:12:03
Speaker
Gotcha. So you have to abide by Estee Lauder's rules, not Nordstrom's rules.
00:12:10
Speaker
just trying to think about other sectors where... take home, I don't know, of general like a retail manager, maybe... like maybe
00:12:19
Speaker
55, 60,000 at a menial Midwest, like at a good Midwest location, more in like New Yorkers, like LA. That's so not a ton. You could take them away and like make them a way better life. Mike sounds like they're good for the grabbing.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, and you know what? doesnt know work on Saturdays is shitty. They work all the days. and and holidays Yeah. yeah yeah so With really very low benefits outside of they get free cosmetics, which actually means a lot because it hurt when I left the brands.
00:12:55
Speaker
stop bet you I bet you Mike could put a package together and still make it make sense. I bet he could do that. Yeah. If somebody would buy my skincare, oh my God, I would totally work for you. You put a neon clothes sign up on Schmidt Auto Care right now. It'd be done.
00:13:11
Speaker
Neon clothes. Yeah.
00:13:14
Speaker
ah tried to hire I tried to hire Brian earlier this week. Mike was frustrated. He tried to hire me. He awkwardly laughed me off and tried to act like it wasn't a serious conversation. i don't know It wasn't a serious conversation. You were frustrated and probably drinking.
00:13:29
Speaker
I wasn't drinking yet. I was on the way to go drinking. Because you were frustrated? i mean, drinking as a coping mechanism for being frustrated is probably not healthy behavior.
00:13:41
Speaker
no No. I'm not a very healthy person. I knew how frustrated you were that you could not be serious. so Plus, it's too damn hot down there.
00:13:52
Speaker
and So you guys know that the title of the podcast is Confessions of a Shop Owner.
Origin of the Show and Shop Stories
00:13:58
Speaker
It was originally supposed to be Confessions of a Shitty Shop Owner, but some people thought that having a naughty word in the title might be a bad idea for... Yeah, because it doesn't fill seats.
00:14:08
Speaker
For reasons, yeah. So we had to shorten it down a little bit and take the poopoo word out of it and that's okay. But I try to throw in a confession about whatever creative thing I've screwed up in the last week whenever we're on here.
00:14:22
Speaker
um And this one is what Carfix screwed up. I would say that I didn't have anything to do with it until the end. So maybe what I screwed up was not being involved enough to catch it before it got to the end.
00:14:33
Speaker
But what wait this and the buser calls customer calls and asks if we can flash the PCM that he's going to install on his 2005 PT Cruiser.
00:14:46
Speaker
there's so many red flags with that straight out of the gate. mean You had me at PT Cruiser as a red flag, but even back in 2008. In 2008, it was red flag for a PCM or 2005 PT. um So no one at any point asked why this customer was installing a PCM on their car and what symptom they were trying to fix.
00:15:08
Speaker
And so we... Had it towed in and flashed it and it started and ran like shit. um But they drove it in after they flashed it and did our PMI and brakes were metal on metal and tires had steel belt hanging out. and So they called the customer and sold brakes and tires.
00:15:28
Speaker
the person who did the PMI didn't note that it was running like shit, just that it it started and drove in and brakes and tires were dangerous. And so they sold service advisor who didn't know it was running poorly, but who also didn't ask why they put the PCM in it. Right. So now we've got two players that, that swung and missed. You're at a double breakdown of communication now. plus book because The guy that flashed it, the guy that flashed it is probably not the guy that shredded it on the rack. Right.
00:15:57
Speaker
yeah So the guy that flashed it should have said, hey, I flashed this. It runs. I've got the security all taken care of, but this thing, you can't drive it like this. Well, and then a third party, not the one who did the flashing or the DVI, was dispatched for brakes and tires. And they pulled it in and it cut off twice between the parking space and the bay.
00:16:20
Speaker
So it's really, you're at four. You're at four people. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got... I mean, invariably, when the shit show makes it all the way to to the customer-facing side of it, multiple people have to have failed for it to get to the customer, right?
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah. But i when I found out about it, I was sitting up front. It was like 4.30 in the afternoon. i was kind of reviewing the day with the guys. The technician walks up, and he's just standing there waiting for us to wrap the conversation. He says, hey, tires and brakes are done. Is it important that this thing runs well?
00:16:51
Speaker
That was... Dude, dude... Putting the tires and brakes on real quick on that car on a Friday afternoon was a flat rate or flat broke move, baby. That was... I am here to tell you that if that fucking car needed an engine... You would have put it in.
00:17:10
Speaker
I would have murdered someone and put it in, yes. Or at least given him free tires and brakes to go on his car that needed an engine. i wish that I wish that there was, I wonder if I was getting my kids on Friday nights, my kids' deal is like they do laundry when they get out of school, and I get them double cheeseburgers from McDonald's, right? Like that's their deal.
00:17:31
Speaker
And I wish there was security footage of me staring at my phone laughing at you so hard I was crying. I'm Friday afternoon while you're texting me this at like 445 in the afternoon. I'm freaking crying. I'm laughing like a lunatic.
00:17:44
Speaker
but The girl at drive-thru goes to hand me the receipt. I was crying. was like, oh, was like, this is the most Wilco thing I've ever seen. I so would have done that.
00:17:56
Speaker
Do four people usually touch the car in your shop to get through the day? That was atypical. So typically there's a service advisor. um The team that does the DVI, we call the Rack Attack team. That's ah all they do is DVIs and pictures and videos and estimates.
00:18:14
Speaker
And then a technician gets dispatched to. And they in the... know one in 20 instances where a car comes in that's not drivable and it needs to be diagnosed first then it might get to a fourth person because it might go to senior tech for that and then right so yeah there was conversations to go around for everyone on that situation we yeah anyway that's my confession so from a leadership perspective Should I have not screamed at everyone and then shared widely on a public forum about all the details about how it happened? Is that... ah I mean, that's limited leadership. It's probably a different route you could have taken, but, you know, it's debatable.
00:18:57
Speaker
Hey there. I'm going to tell you about something that has completely transformed how we run my shop, TechMetric. As a 20-year shop owner, outdated systems used to slow us down. Everything was clunky from check-in to estimate building to customer updates. It all felt just...
00:19:12
Speaker
Super inefficient. Switching to TechMetric has changed everything. With TechMetric, you get a powerful shop management system that includes DVI, quick and easy estimate building, inventory management, real-time reporting, amazing customer communication, and it's really easy for your employees to learn how to use the software.
00:19:30
Speaker
I'm talking like a one-day learning curve. On top of that, TechMetric has tons of other tools to make you an even better operator. Stuff like integrated payments with buy now, pay later options is a huge asset. Ask me how I know.
00:19:43
Speaker
And recently, they've added a CRM component with their partnership with Shopgenie, which I'm a happy Shopgenie customer already. So I'm super excited about that. Obviously, there are a lot of factors at play here, but I want to give you some facts about my business since I made the change to TechMetric.
00:19:58
Speaker
In September of 2020, when switched to TechMetric, was $293. In September of 2024, we were $916. That's over 300% growth. and september of twenty twenty four we were nine hundred and sixteen dollars that's over three hundred percent growth Now, I'm not saying that TechMetric created all of that change, but I'm 100% saying that I couldn't have come this far without TechMetric. It's a key factor in our growth and success.
00:20:18
Speaker
If you're ready to level up your shop, TechMetric has everything you need. Productivity, revenue, customer experience. Measure up by every measure with TechMetric. Tap the link in the show notes to learn more.
00:20:30
Speaker
but but But I want to say this, Mike. You are sharing something that is the most common challenge I see across across the board regardless of the industry, and it's a breakdown of communication. Voids get created. Negativity fills the void.
00:20:43
Speaker
And stat that i share with every client is that poor communication is costing shop owners 18% of total salaries being paid out on annual basis. don't know how came to that number, but it hurts my feelings.
00:20:54
Speaker
Right? Oh. Whenever you talk about numbers, again it hits Mike right in the feels. Well, it's going to hit hit yourself in the pocketbook if if if you don't fix the communication. That's that's the hardest thing to – He's actually got a nerve in his pocketbook.
00:21:07
Speaker
That's where it hits him, in his nerve. Nerve in his pocketbook? Yeah. Yeah. So my dad had a very crude saying, and I apologize in advance for any of our listeners or any of our panelists that might be offended, but I came into a meeting when I was just a service advisor for dad at his shop, and this had to be 2001, 2002. It was after hours.
00:21:25
Speaker
two thousand and two and was after hours And he, the way the office was set up, there was a, ah we were we all met in the lobby after hours and he had an office and he walked out and he stood in front of the door to his office and slam the door, slam the door, slam the, while he was staring at us angry. he said, do you know what this is?
00:21:46
Speaker
This is us slamming our dick in the door over and over and over because we can't get out of our own way. So I did have the slamming our dick in the door conversation and a lighthearted, funny way.
00:22:03
Speaker
Oh, cheeky and harmless, huh? yeah like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Leadership and Management Advice
00:22:09
Speaker
You all make me want to go drink.
00:22:13
Speaker
I make me want to go drink. That was a failure on my part. So you didn't make petitions you didn't address that the same night, right? Did you address it the next day? you was the next morning at the morning. Gotcha. Yeah. That's always a good call.
00:22:25
Speaker
I really try not to address major breakdowns in process while I'm upset about it. Yeah. If you ever see me outside when it's 20 degrees out in a t-shirt and pants walking around the outside of the shop, it's because I'm trying to forget about something real quick outside the building.
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah. I walk outside the building too. I had an old boss that would say like, feeling hot, take a walk. yeah Right. Yeah. I've made laps around the building before. I've done two or three.
00:22:53
Speaker
yeah Being from Houston, if anyone ever sees me in 20-degree weather with ah just a T-shirt, it means I'm under duress. Yeah, call 911. The dementia has set in. I'm not about that life.
00:23:05
Speaker
but um you So, Mike, what are you going to change to stop that from happening again? What was the conversation like? Well, so, you know, the conversation, what it what it actually was the next morning was, because earlier in the week, we had had the conversation about,
00:23:20
Speaker
Just reinforcing ah for some of the newer employees why customer supplied parts are bad. And not just its company policy. Here are all the reasons why it it is bad for business. It's bad for the customers. It's bad for us. It's bad for you as an advisor.
00:23:35
Speaker
yeah All the ways it causes headaches and liabilities and everything else. Right. Sure. Sure. And I said, the way this conversation started, I guaranteed it. I haven't pulled the phone call yet and listened, but I guarantee it started with, will you install my PCM?
00:23:47
Speaker
And we said, no, we can't do that. And the service advisor in question nodded their head. And I said, and then they said, to if I install it, can I tow it to you and you flash it And you said, yeah, I can do that.
00:24:01
Speaker
This is what happens when we install customer supplied parts, because this is what we just dealt with. Because what the guy needed, it turns out, we found out yesterday, was an IAC. And the IAC had bombed his PCM. Ooh, did it redouble bomb the new one?
00:24:15
Speaker
Yes, it did. Oh, that's my favorite. But you know what? I don't even charge for Diag. We should have got it in and done a free Diag. Instructions unclear. We don't charge the customer for Diag. So he could have brought it into us and we could have told him he needed an IAC and a computer.
00:24:31
Speaker
And now he's going to have an IAC and two computers. And tires and brakes on an $800 car. And two flashes because I'm sure you're not signed up yearly for YTech. So that's going to be another $112 cost. yeah What are you going to do?
00:24:45
Speaker
so It was a learning experience for everyone involved. But it was not a bright shining moment in the week. Can I tell you something? I've totally done the same thing you did and not gotten burned out in a million times. And it's only great because I've not gotten burned.
00:25:02
Speaker
Or I knew I was going to get burned and I said, hey. That was a real value add for the podcast. Sorry. Totally done that a bunch of times. It's all good. Yeah, totally. I just tell the customer, I go, hey, man, you handed me a fuel pump control module and you have transmission codes. This isn't going fix your car. They're like, yeah, well, I read it online. I'm like, cool story, bro. It's 250 to flash it. Want me to do it? Yep. Okay, 250.
00:25:24
Speaker
Hey, my light's back on. Yeah, want to make an appointment? That's another 200 for DAG. It's no problem. see it's the flash here there are parts of you that are turning into an evil shop owner because of your relationship with me but there are other parts of you that are turning into zeb beard because of your relationship with him no i've always been like that if they want to if they don't want my advice on what's wrong with the car i'm not gonna i'm not gonna argue with them why would i argue with somebody about that them and youtube and google made up their mind i'm gonna make 250 in nine minutes
00:25:56
Speaker
Is arguing the same as like educating? he Just taking like a moment? Yeah, I told him it's not going to fix the car. That was me educating. I'm not here to teach a class on how freaking network diagnostics work.
00:26:09
Speaker
You're a place in this box that deals with this. the Your code is in this other box.
00:26:16
Speaker
Want me to figure out what's wrong with it or you want me to put this in? I want you to put it in. My buddy said, Jim Bob said, that you put that in and fix my truck. No problem. It never fixes my truck.
00:26:26
Speaker
No, never fixes Jim Bob's truck. Never. All right. um So that was just a little 15 minute tangential side conversation. I apologize for that. That was that was the Lucas and David influence on me.
00:26:41
Speaker
um Sorry. um So do you guys know what you're teaching about in April? You got your topics all down? Ish. Yes, sir.
00:26:53
Speaker
Ish. I got an ish and a yes. Yeah. right. Lola, I have a question. Yeah. You got me on to Tiffany and how strong their branding is and how just the color, the color that they have is, they've copyrighted the color or something like that or trademarked it.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah. With Pantone. Yes. And so i was thinking about getting a sterling silver pens from Tiffany for my best service advisor as an award and get it engraved.
00:27:21
Speaker
So they don't really have the best pens.
00:27:25
Speaker
They have diamonds and platinum. Yeah, I'm not going to get them. Go get like a Mont Blanc pen. They have beautiful pens. And you can have them like custom. Or anything Ferrari, right?
00:27:38
Speaker
I mean, Ferrari is a branding company that makes cars. They would probably like a Ferrari more than a pen. No, no, no. for Oh my gosh. Ferrari's ferrari smallest business is cars. They put the Ferrari logo on everything.
00:27:53
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't poo-poo on a pen from Tiffany's. Probably auto repair service advisor is not going to know what a Tiffany's sterling silver pen is, though, right?
00:28:05
Speaker
For the most part. so I mean, unless they're living under a rock, like I would assume they would. I didn't know Tiffany had a color until I sat in your class. I live under a rock. I learned this today. All you need to go shopping for your significant other is more. Lola, you are just more cultured than we are. You're just more cultured than are.
00:28:23
Speaker
I'm not. It's literally been around a long time. you think Do you think I can go down to the Dollar General and get a Tiffany's pen around here? The new G is all he's got.
00:28:35
Speaker
That's all I got, man. You have the internet, friend. They have an online shopping platform. It's only for talking shit. doesn't You can't actually do anything with the internet. It's just for making memes about dudes who have one-bay shops with ah lots of smells in their customers' cars. In 30 seconds, that meme was made.
00:28:54
Speaker
How many people have you scarred this week, Brian? Only the ones who deserved it, Mike. Just like how many hours did I turn this week? Only the hours the others couldn't. Oh, God.
00:29:07
Speaker
I'm trying to stay focused on what you guys are teaching about in April because I'm excited and I want to go, but this is what happens when Brian and I are in the same room. um apologize. I'm teaching on branding and policies and how it's going to excel your shop, and Josh is teaching on...
00:29:24
Speaker
I'm talking about the leadership mindset, how we can affect change. I'm talking about ah communication, effective communication, the roadmap of delegation. um It's a lot of ah transitioning into leadership because we have high-performing team members who do really well at their jobs. They've mastered these processes.
00:29:41
Speaker
They get promoted to a formal leadership role, but they've never had any leadership coaching and training. And it's like going from a player to a coach. And we see a lot of coaches struggling to stay in the coach's seat. So this session will help them stay in the coach's seat to lead people because their people are now leading those processes.
00:29:58
Speaker
That is 100%. Look how well we pair it together. awesome I feel like I'm about to look up the flights i'm about to look up to flights to North Carolina right now. Like, holy moly. Just drive on down. You like you know we're going to be recording there, brother. So, like, you come down.
00:30:14
Speaker
bro, if you can if you can get off, podcast will pay for your airfare and your hotel. It's a travel expense for the podcast. Oh, yeah, write off. Freaking write off. Just write it off, man. just write Write it off.
00:30:26
Speaker
That's just a write off. Thank you to our sponsors. Thank you our Yep. Thank you.
00:30:35
Speaker
Oh, hmm. yeah Thank you, TechMetric. The best software there is.
00:30:42
Speaker
But I digress. so um Y'all should make them a jingle. You know what? I think ah feel like
00:30:52
Speaker
feel like one of our sponsors I could get away with making a jingle for. Get that bag. Make a jingle. I'm thinking Carrie Lynn and Turnkey would would let me do a little song and dance because I did – I dressed up as a banana with two maracas and danced to the peanut butter jelly song. Peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter. I did that years ago for a marketing piece with Turnkey, and it was pretty spectacular.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah. Sounds amazing. Yeah. That's awesome. should Find that footage and bring that back to life. Actually, Gary Lynn still has it. I can probably dig it up like, like seven years ago on Facebook.
00:31:32
Speaker
I got a guy that'll find it. Yeah. yeah you You have minions who do your research for They are not minions. I have no minions. Mike, if you find the costume, I'll, I'll, I'll find a way to incorporate it into my training too. So just do it. North Carolina. I 100% still have the costume. I can go put my hands on it. I'm on the way.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah. Let's go. Hopefully it's not snowing. It was a reference to Family Guy when... I'm familiar to the reference. yeah yeah copy Yeah.
00:32:03
Speaker
Yeah. That is awesome. yeah So Josh, how did you get linked up with ASTA? How did they find you? Great question. um Jim Kakonis, I think it was the initial connection. um i did, I did a ah speaking engagement at last year's expo.
00:32:20
Speaker
um And so I, I connected briefly with Becky while I was there. And um I think just word of mouth, someone said something about me, they reached out and we talked and, and thankfully they gave me the opportunity.
00:32:34
Speaker
Awesome. Well, I'm excited to hear hear what you got and and and learn from you. I definitely need that evolution from being on the level of of leading through the processes to being a coach of the processes. I'm failing at that on a regular basis.
00:32:50
Speaker
I find interesting new ways to screw it up all the time. um So I'm excited. And to processes, to Lola, to your point on processes, I'm I've been working on getting WayWeDo, which is an online process platform, up and ready for game time with
Digital Processes and Communication
00:33:11
Speaker
all the staff. So they'd have one platform to log in. We call it the book of Carfix, how to Carfix. If I have to answer a question more than three times or a shop manager has a question more than three times, then they write the process. Oh, like that. That's good. That's real good.
00:33:26
Speaker
I'm multiple years into this, and I still haven't launched it. Yeah. Is it video content based? Like they can look up your video and find the answer or is it just all ability for both. So like my office manager has done video content for all of the bookkeeping stuff because she's on top of her shit.
00:33:42
Speaker
Um, and my parts guy has done text content for all of the parts processes. They've written like a 40 page document on how we want to handle parts and that kind of stuff, which makes me just want to like stab my eyes out.
00:33:54
Speaker
Um, But hey, it's there. Like if there's a question about how do we do this in parts, if you read the parts manual, it's there. and But it'll be searchable. So it'll be like Google for Carfix. You go in, you know, hey, the compressor's out. And then we use the service, the compressor at the store. And you just type in compressor and it pulls up, you know, the phone number and account number and payment details or, know, who's the bay door service person or whatever.
00:34:19
Speaker
So you mean yeah you don't just use group chat? I'm just playing. we have I know. So we use Slack and we have so many group channels on Slack that it's almost overwhelming. Oh, it's too much. hate Slack.
00:34:31
Speaker
I don't do. That was pretty. That was very forceful. You clearly have some feelings. Tell me about that. I'm packed. I'm actually actually perplexed. Everybody forces this on me. Everybody's like, slack, slack.
00:34:46
Speaker
I don't like it. It's too many screens and things. its it I don't like the way it's laid out. I don't like it. e e If you want, we can set up a slack workspace just for our work. She don't want another one, man. I don't want it.
00:35:02
Speaker
I don't want it I actually put it in the shop and then was you know what? Just throw thing way less distracting than Facebook Messenger because in Facebook Messenger, you have fucking Facebook there distracting you also.
00:35:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, don't use that in the shop either. don't know. Maybe we don't talk to each other enough in my shop.
00:35:23
Speaker
Talk so much at the shop right now. i've got They text me all day long. We just text. Yeah, right?
00:35:32
Speaker
It seems fine. I've got 21 messages that I haven't read yet in my Carfix Slack right now from yesterday. See, it's too much. If it was in your phone, you'd done seen it. I have apple i have one message in the Wilco front counter group text right now, and that's it.
00:35:48
Speaker
You should send them another Sunday night. Everybody wants to hear from the boss on Sunday night. Hey, guys. Love you guys. I'm going to do right now. I'm going sign all the mail I made.
00:36:03
Speaker
Anybody, how is everybody doing business-wise? or How's the shop? Like, we're so we're we're having a slowdown mid-February. Like, it's we're not busy, which is not unusual mid-February, but still, misery likes company.
00:36:19
Speaker
Misery likes company. So what you're what you guys are saying is you're all super busy. No, not super busy. We're, like, the same, like, even. What I would You've off the peaks and valleys. You just have a nice level plane. we had ah we I don't want to even get cocky about that now.
00:36:36
Speaker
We had 40 cars booked for a five-bay shop on Friday. So I don't know. That's too much. Nah, it's fine. That's a lot. Just ship them to the other ones. Just play triage.
00:36:49
Speaker
you know And Josh, you're not in a shop at all, right? Like you're just a free-for-all. I'm just a free-for-all. Yeah, Mike, if it makes you feel any better, most of my – I'd probably say 80% of my clients right now are facing the same slow down that you are right now. And so I'm i'm working with quite a bit of folks throughout the week.
00:37:06
Speaker
It's pretty standard right now, pretty slow. You should do a free diagnostic promotion, Mike. You know what? I think that's a great idea. I bet that would help a Yeah. reopen on Saturdays.
00:37:18
Speaker
You know what? Hang So, hey, Saturday, they sold $17,000 for work on Saturday. Hey. All right. Fine. I mean, I'll take a $17,000 Saturday. That doesn't suck. That's kind of cool.
00:37:30
Speaker
But at the same time. What has slowed down? Is it coming from like your, do you know if it's like your Google has slowed down? Is it phone calls that have slowed down? Footsteps? What's slowed We're not answering higher than 90% of inbound phone calls. So, um, you know, we're missing 10 to 15% of phone calls. So that means that the phone volume is fine in my eyes.
00:37:53
Speaker
Um, you know, if I went in and dug out after hours and Sunday phone calls, it would probably be, know, seven or 8% of phone calls were missing during the day during hours.
00:38:04
Speaker
Um, So I'm okay with that to a degree. I'm i'm ready to get ShopGenie's automatic outbound text for missed calls um because they've got a new feature when you use their phone system that if you have a missed call or a call comes in after hours, it automatically texts that number back and offers the link for an appointment or to have someone return the call. So...
00:38:29
Speaker
so you know That'll be help us close the gap on that. I think what it's been, honestly, has been a dip in closing percentage. um so Oh, so you're having the traffic.
00:38:43
Speaker
You're just seeing a decline in closing ratio? Yeah. This month at the big store, we normally are pushing on 40% close ratio in the last several ah in the last six months.
00:38:55
Speaker
And we're at 28% close ratio. our ARO down $200 as a result of that. as a result of that
00:39:02
Speaker
Is your discovered sales gone down? No. No. So tech average quotes the same. yes Just the same. See these people, Josh, these people know how to run a business. I just fix cars, man.
00:39:13
Speaker
Do you see what's going on And 40 cars in a five-day shop. Yeah. They're talking about discovered sales, this, that, know what I mean? I'm like, what are Google reviews and why is everybody geeking?
00:39:24
Speaker
but I was so mad at you for asking that. I was. That's how you got your name, though. Yeah, you did. you bri make church for those of you who have been under a rock, Brian Pollack is no longer Brian Pollack. He is now Rural Joe.
00:39:38
Speaker
i was going to you know I was driving back from the store this morning, and I was going to send i gonna send you a video, Lola, of this guy. He's like probably 75 or 80 years old, shoveling two feet of snow at the end of his driveway with a freaking Marlboro Red hanging out of his mouth. I was like, that is Rural Joe.
00:39:54
Speaker
i am not Rural Joe. I just drove by him. True. yeah I would have agreed with you. I mean, but but it was it was in your town, right? Oh, yeah. was right down the road.
00:40:06
Speaker
And you did move some snow on the same day, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you just didn't have a Marlboro? No. Samesies. Did you have like a Zinn tucked in your lip right there? No, I don't do the Zin's either. Yeah. I mean, i might have had I might have had a Jack and Coke sitting on top of my garbage can outside that I grabbed every time I walked by it.
00:40:29
Speaker
So, you know. It's weird you have to walk by the garbage can way more frequently than normal when that... Well, when you get a lot of snow, Mike, and your garbage cans go out back, you don't hike through three feet of snow to go put your garbage in the can. So they're by the side door right now.
00:40:43
Speaker
Copy. All right. but yes You know, shop efficiency, Mike, that kind of thing. So i got a question, Josh, about the Christian Brothers family in Houston there. There's a lot of big talent in Christian Brothers in Houston. It's the home of Christian Brothers, right? And now they're kind of all over the place.
00:41:02
Speaker
I've heard it said that they're the fastest growing automotive franchise in the country right now. They have been for several years. is that right? I believe so. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. um It also seems like a lot of the original leadership team have jumped ship in the last few years. Is that what you've experienced also?
00:41:19
Speaker
Yeah. Jump ship, retired. I mean, you know, tomato, tomato. But yeah, that's correct. it's It's kind of a new regime right now. What do you think is the underlying factor there, the causal factor?
00:41:32
Speaker
and Great question. um you know i I do think it was time for for a handful. um I think that Donnie Carr, he's the president CEO. He's doing a ah great job of of um moving the organization in a still a great direction.
00:41:47
Speaker
and um you know i What I see with Donnie and what he is doing with leadership there is there they're evolving. They're trying to make changes. i mean Even even if If you're looking at a the interior of a Christian Brothers Automotive now compared to four five years ago, um most of the stores have already done a complete remodel.
00:42:09
Speaker
um So the look, the feel, the aesthetics, they're constantly forward thinking and trying to make those positive changes to stay stay ahead of the ah curve, if you will.
00:42:23
Speaker
So what kind of thing are they doing aesthetically in their lobbies to... I mean, is it worth putting $20,000 in a lobby lobby remodel or $50,000 to do a lobby remodel? mean, how do you justify that? Yeah, that's like...
00:42:37
Speaker
that's so That's over my pay rate. you know like That's that's over over my head. like um you know When I was there, i was I was focused on training. That was kind of the lane that I stayed in. whether or not it's Whether or not it's actually worth the investment to make the look be different, yeah I'm not the guy. I feel like they already were very nice abilities.
00:42:55
Speaker
I don't even work with Christian Brothers. I'm going to tell you what's worth the investment to make your facility look nice. Well, yeah, but so there wasn't a Christian Brothers in America that looked like shit before. Correct. I thought looked nice, right? They they did. and And yeah, they did. And they do. And and that's the thing. it's It'd be one thing if if you're walking into a Christian Brothers and it kind of looked like that kind of like just grease everywhere. a rundown Goodyear store. That's not the case. A rundown old Goodyear store. Shut up, Mike. yeah They've always looked clean. We just painted yesterday. Thank you.
Leadership Philosophy and Coaching
00:43:30
Speaker
I think the thing about them, Mike, is that, and they do such a good job of this, and this is also kind of what I do in my own coaching is you focus on the person before the process, the person before the profit. It truly is about connection.
00:43:41
Speaker
And that's why I love the opportunity to speak at the Fuel and Connections event because I'm a big believer in connection before content. Because I know that connection creates engagement and engagement ultimately increases performance.
00:43:52
Speaker
And a lot of shop owners are so focused on performance, which is great. I think that's an end in mind that we should always begin with, But the key phrase is begin with the end in mind. So if we're going to begin with the end in mind, that means we need to shift our focus to what's what it's going to take in order to drive that performance.
00:44:07
Speaker
And I believe it starts with connection, connecting with your people to to create the engagement that subsequently increases performance. And this is important because 70% of employees are disengaged at work. So how do we create the engagement?
00:44:19
Speaker
It starts with connection. I think Christian Brothers does a good job of doing that. Josh, um would you say that the content you're going to be reviewing at Fuel and Connections is going to be applicable not just for owners, but also for store managers?
00:44:33
Speaker
100%. Most of my clients are actually service managers. um So the the way our operation works is typically an owner invest in their team member and hires me to work with their team members. So I like to say that I like to give you, the shop owner, the gift of time.
00:44:48
Speaker
because none of us have time. And so I like to give you the gift of time and money because you're investing in your team member and hiring me to help grow and develop your service manager's leadership skills and their communication and delegation and so forth and so on. But it it applies to owners and and shop leaders and really just, I mean, even advisors. I mean, I work with advisors. I work with technicians, Brian. So it's it really, sure i mean, it doesn't matter what role you're in We all have the ability to influence those around us and affect change. Therefore, that means this this conference would be for you.
00:45:19
Speaker
So what does working with limitless leadership look like from a client perspective? From a client perspective, we work off of a six-month program, no contracts, but I like to verbalize a six-month commitment because it takes time to affect change. And so I encourage every shop owner to put in the you know to to give us the the full six months.
00:45:39
Speaker
yeah And so we work we work off of typically weekly coaching calls. I do offer biweekly coaching calls as well. We work off a Zoom. So we have one hour calls whenever we work off of a Zoom and then we work off a running Google Doc. So um there are notes that are taken on each call.
00:45:55
Speaker
The shop owner can see those notes. They can see the calls to action that are provided for their team members for the sake of accountability and ultimately growth and development. And they of course, they get customized resources. um you know I work very heavily on one-on-ones, the importance of one-on-ones, daily huddles, the importance of daily huddles. And I have ah formats for those and resources that apply to those. Even if you're hiring new talent, I love the fact that you're looking outside the industry. You're looking in the hospitality world, hotels, restaurants.
00:46:26
Speaker
Those individuals serve. It's about service before selling. But I encourage shop owners to hire your CIA team member, people who are coachable, intelligent, and who have a right attitude. And the I for intelligent is not necessarily book smarts, but it's emotional intelligence. And so have a five page hiring guide. It's, it's stuff like that where, you know you're you're not just getting someone who is working with you on a, on a zoom call once week, but you have, you have access to me and the resources, you know, as long as we work together.
00:46:58
Speaker
Well, I just wrote that down. CIA. Yeah. I need some of that. I need some spooks in my, in my life. So I've already got, I've already got a couple. options I'm already thinking about some folks that I want to bring in April. I'm like,
00:47:10
Speaker
If all of us are gone, is the shop going to burn down in that two-day period, or is it going to be okay? It'll be fine. Because they're the guys that allow me to go and and the shop not burn down when I'm not around.
00:47:23
Speaker
It'll be fine. It'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen? Burns down. maybe Maybe we install a customer-supplied PCM and flash it. Bring them all. I mean that's the kind of investment that you you're going money back. You're going to get your ROI from something like that. It's good for my soul that you're obsessing over that.
00:47:40
Speaker
i It's good for my soul. It's so bad. You are so mad. i'm like What did I say? What did tell you? I said, you're being emotional. Quiet. That's what I told you.
00:47:55
Speaker
Quit trying to hire me. You're being emotional. I'm a terrible human being. I texted him. I said, Hey, I think I don't remember what I said. I think I said a quarter million dollar salary. You only have to work four days a week. Just move next week.
00:48:08
Speaker
move next week I told him quit being emotional. i say When emotions are high, logic is low. I mean, yeah yeah it was very obvious. I'm like, dude, I am a terrible person. You and I, let's be honest. If I gave you that deal, it'd have to be six days a week. I'm sorry.
00:48:23
Speaker
You have no life. That's a hard no no life. Yeah. I get no life. You get no life. Yeah. That's how it is. hard. No, hard. No. Damn it.
00:48:34
Speaker
I thought it was a good pitch until I was honest. Isn't amazing how that happens? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So um what's your process process, Lola, at Schmidt Auto Care?
00:48:50
Speaker
What? You're teaching on processes. I want to know what's your process for making processes. Oh, um I actually do that a lot. It's kind of interesting. Yeah. I just set down write it step by step. I have a worksheet. I'm actually going to share it with you guys.
00:49:03
Speaker
That's how I organize my processes. Nice. And I have a process for writing process sheets because I'm a super nerd. So where are the processes stored? Is there a book of Schmidt Auto Care or is it online or is it Google Docs or...
00:49:17
Speaker
Um, it's in a whole lot of messy places right now because I'm trying to get it in like a central location because I'd like to do video stuff. So I'm interested in your little program you have there. Um, right now it's on Google Docs and on Windows file, Word files and flash drives. And then I print it off and I take it to an old school binder at my shop and I divide it up by management, finance, technicians, SOPs,
00:49:44
Speaker
um But we really, it needs to be digital. Everything in my shop is digital except for the processes, but it's so much to tackle. Don't give into the peer pressure. a lot to tackle.
00:49:56
Speaker
Everything was fine in a binder. Are you kidding me? don't know. I know it does. But like I keep thinking, like if my shot burns down, my binder's gone. Which I know, I guess I have my computer. But but I mean, like video processes, i think, is is where it's at right now, right? would rather see that.
00:50:15
Speaker
People won't read a wall of text, but they will watch a two-minute video explaining how to just that. And they don't even have to be that long. you know They can be super short sometimes. Yeah. Well, think it should be like, yeah, I want a digital.
00:50:27
Speaker
It's kind of like what Jim Kikonis is talking is doing with today's class is it's training in bite sized chunks so that it doesn't become you know boring or or whatever else you you can do it like in five minutes.
00:50:38
Speaker
it's It's like our average across our shop is like two minutes and 43 seconds. On that today's class, man. They're freaking under three minutes. Boom, boom, boom. Four questions. They're learning stuff. They're asking questions about it at lunchtime.
00:50:53
Speaker
It's pretty, it's a, it's pretty sexy program. It was a pretty good deal. You know, got some people who don't. Some people don't buy in, and it's kind of funny how that matches up with, you know, you have like super A players and you have guys that are maybe not super A players. by soldiers they have no They have above average attitudes, and you're like, man, I'm happy I got this guy. i wish he'd do his questions every day instead of every other. You got people who don't do them at all, and you're like, man, that's crazy. He doesn't do his questions, and I could take or leave him.
00:51:26
Speaker
It's wild how it like sorted itself out. Weird how that correlation is. Yeah. It was so weird. Brian, are your, ah all right are the guys at your shops, or are they listening to the podcast and then commenting on it when you go in? Are you getting that yet?
00:51:42
Speaker
One or two. One or two. I'm starting to get that. Yeah. It's little bit weird. I'm like, ah, wait a minute. You know, the guys who are dealing with that PT Cruiser are probably going to be like, hey, Mike, what the fuck? Why are you sharing our dirty laundry? Yeah.
00:51:55
Speaker
and You didn't any names. Yeah. i don't I don't get that because i'm my specialty is telling people they suck ass to their face. So it's not problem for You know who you are. You know what you did. No.
00:52:10
Speaker
for ah More limited leadership right there. That's what that was. Yeah. yeah Not limitless. Limited leadership. It was limited. Limited. Yeah.
00:52:20
Speaker
So um from the limit-based word choices, are you familiar with ah the term LIMFAC? LIMFAC, I'm not. It's ah short for limiting factor.
00:52:32
Speaker
ah You know, like back in the day when you would go out to the bar with your boys and you'd be cruising, always had that one buddy who was a doofus and he was a major LIMFAC. He would knock everybody's game down. You know, he'd come in and just.
00:52:46
Speaker
Did you make this word No. like This whole scenario sounds weird. I'm like, this is specific to you. You guys have bars? You just just have like bangers in the cornfield?
00:52:58
Speaker
Limiting factor. boy you know The limiting factor to Carfix's success last week was unhealthy obsession with 20-year-old PT Cruisers.
00:53:10
Speaker
So... I like it. I like it. Limfac. Okay. Lin or limb? Limiting factor. Limfac. yeah We've all got a limbfac in the shop.
00:53:24
Speaker
is that thing? Is that like a ah word? No. That's what I'm saying. Like, I think you made it up. It might not be a word, but I didn't make it up. so So somebody made it up.
00:53:37
Speaker
Limfac. Acronym definition. Military dictionary. Holy crap. It's in the military dictionary. I can't believe that. It's also an urban dictionary. Short for... when Don't click on that. You'll get a virus.
00:53:47
Speaker
I love urban dictionary, man. Don't click on it. It's so much good. oh The car's tiny engine is the limb fact for its ability to accelerate.
00:54:00
Speaker
Sick. well Now you've learned the words. What is the origin? It's Latin. Not the same as spelling bee, Josh. sure Lymphac. L-Y-M-P-H.
00:54:18
Speaker
A-C. Anyway.
Upcoming Events and Invitations
00:54:22
Speaker
So ah do you guys have anything awesome happening between now and April when you come to north Carolina? Yeah, Vision is coming up. Oh, no shit.
00:54:33
Speaker
That's right. I'm going to Vision for the first time ever this year. Same. First time? Oh, really? ASTA Expo is in my backyard with no flights and no hotels. so Oh, I just assume that y'all travel around still to other places, too.
00:54:48
Speaker
Well, you know, the podcast is the reason I'm going. I've got um okay sponsors are going to be there and they want to record. It's good time to roll out that jingle. Well, you know what? Lucas was like, yeah, bro, you can use our podcast today. it won't be a problem. And then Braxton was all like...
00:55:02
Speaker
hey, they've got like 17 minutes of non-book time over the whole four days, so maybe you need to find your own place to do this shit. Braxton kicked you out. And I said, hey. You're going to be in the hotel maintenance closet reporting a podcast. Well, said, maybe I should have my producer, you know, seek out accommodations for the podcast since he's the producer and he's going to be there because he's also the producer for like five podcasts.
00:55:28
Speaker
um And he was kind of like, nah. Probably not. No, that sounds like a good problem. So, evidently, I'm going to have 17 minutes in Lucas' studio to record about five hours of content. So, it's going great.
00:55:44
Speaker
We'll talk really fast. You should just do a pop-up podcast all over the hotel in random places. Or you could just do them, like, after 8 o'clock when everybody's had a little bit of social lubrication.
00:55:56
Speaker
and might It might be good, right? Yeah. I mean, that's the only way I do podcasts. So it sounds like you've got a lot of time in this booth. What I've got to do is I've got to get some of those handheld mics like they do on all the YouTube reels where they're like out on the street, like in the downtown district, like just interviewing people randomly.
00:56:13
Speaker
But I've got to get enough rage bait questions that, you know, engagement bait questions. Oh, I got you. You have a month. You have a whole month. I got you. i i I'll text you 50 of them before midnight tonight. All right. Well, just put sicker minions on it. i want to Yeah, I got a guy.
00:56:29
Speaker
You just got to have a guy, man. That's all. Are you going to Vision? Me? Yeah. Never been. Yeah, me either. I hear it's cool. I'll be there. You're still not still not going. Never been there. Not going to go this year.
00:56:44
Speaker
Stay strong. I'll be there for the weekend. So if you guys are still there Saturday and Sunday, I'll be there that weekend. There and there was a lot of peer pressure. There was a lot of peer pressure. and there I had a lot of peer pressure trying to get me to go this year, like every year.
00:56:56
Speaker
and oh my It's a good event. now it's Now it's a matter of pride. Do you think it's too big? does it lose some like What I've always heard is that it's way bigger than ASTA, but it it doesn't have the like personal close feel of ASTA and the social aspects of ASTA.
00:57:14
Speaker
It's big. Maybe. Never been there. I think if you have your people, like you know, You're going to find your people and then you're going go meet some more people. Right. fine You got your people, Brian. You got your people. I got my people.
00:57:27
Speaker
Yeah. I got people up here. speaking Speaking of your people up there, I'm going be in your neck of the woods at the end of March. Speaking at a, the Han automotive convention. It's, it's a part supplier. You familiar with Han?
00:57:41
Speaker
No. they're They're in Rochester. They're headquartered in Rochester. Oh, okay. That's why I'm not familiar. Okay. No problem. In the end of March? Yeah, end of March.
00:57:53
Speaker
Spellhon. H-A-H-N. That's it. I assumed. Just a bunch of Nerf herders. Sure. They sure are. They're over by Northgate's in Rochester.
00:58:05
Speaker
Huh. Josh got my Star Wars reference. I don't think anyone else take a warm coat, friends, because it's cold in Rochester. Yeah, it's freaking cold as balls over there. You're going to need a warm hoodie here.
00:58:18
Speaker
You're going the end of March? You'll be all right. Yeah, in March. Yeah. You know, by the end of March here, we're going to be having AC work. Thank you, Jesus. I love when air air conditioning season comes back.
00:58:30
Speaker
Oh, is it that early end of March? The first couple days we hit 85 degrees and the phone starts ringing. You know what? The brakes are grinding. The ball joint's are about to fall out, but mama's sweating.
00:58:43
Speaker
Fix that shit. All the time. You fix all of it. Just fix all of it I'd prefer to fix it all, but... you got your AC going. and Let's talk about these brakes and wheel bearings.
00:58:53
Speaker
Let's take care of these dangerous brakes and tires before we tell you that you might need a motor on your PT Cruiser. Damn it. Oh, my gosh. It's in there. but so He's back in it. All right. Well, guys, this has been a lot of fun. I feel like have just been logged in listening to Brian and i the whole time. I apologize.
00:59:08
Speaker
It's been awesome. I've enjoyed it.
00:59:12
Speaker
we're ah We're terrible. Whose idea was this whole thing? Josh, you have a podcast, Limitless Leadership Podcast, right? I do. Yeah, Limitless Leadership Podcast releases once a week. So I would love to have each of you join me for some fun Limitless Leadership action.
00:59:29
Speaker
Awesome. so awesome yeah is it Is it heavily automotive focused or is it just leadership topic in general? Both. So it's now it's it's heavily automotive focused. And so I try to when I do a solo appearance, if you will, I keep it automotive ah related within the leadership aspect. And then I try to have a lot of automotive related guests. In fact, Brett Fadley is my most recent guest that I know you all of you know.
00:59:55
Speaker
he's a very good dude. So ah his episode released in here in a few days. and and yeah you know Brett has a podcast about craft beer. Did you know that? I did know that. yeah that we talked It's really good.
01:00:07
Speaker
and i' no idea I'm not into craft beer, but the actual content of the podcast is like pretty cool. Yeah, we talked about it. He's an entertaining guy. yeah I've been listening to a podcast about craft beer, and I don't care about craft beer. I'm not going to go drink craft beer.
01:00:21
Speaker
I'm not going to go brew my own beer. don't even drink IPAs or this, that, the other thing. I mean, if it's not like, you know, blue light, I'm not drinking it. And yeah, it's a pretty cool podcast, actually.
01:00:32
Speaker
I'll only drink a beer if it's done 200 miles an hour at Daytona. So that narrows it down to like Miller Lite and Bud Light, Budweiser, you know. So classy. I don't think there's ever been a Guinness car at NASCAR at Daytona. Has there? No, that's pretty some, that's some high end stuff. That's some rural Joe shit right there, Mike.
01:00:51
Speaker
All right. So everybody's got to go listen to limitless leadership podcast with Josh Parnell. Thank you, Mike. And you've got to find whatever Brett Fadley's podcast name is. If you listen to the episode with Josh and Brett, then you'll probably hear the name of the beer podcast. That's right. You will. um And Lola, Lola starting a podcast next month. She doesn't know yet, but she's, I heard,
01:01:12
Speaker
I have nothing to talk to anybody about. ah You don't have to have shit to talk about.
01:01:18
Speaker
You just keep notes on your on your group chats during the week. you're like, oh, yeah. We'll talk about that. The anti-slack podcast. I just keep showing up on all y'all's podcasts. There you go. there you go that' work This has been fun, guys. Thanks for coming. I really appreciate having you. and We should publish in the next week or so because I'm trying to get this out.
01:01:41
Speaker
help everybody hear about fuel and connection. So then come out and see you guys in person and meet you in person and learn what we already know. And that's that y'all are awesome. Thanks for being here. Thank you. for just having you guys soon Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out.
01:01:56
Speaker
The good, and the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes. So why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit, and maybe have another drink?
01:02:06
Speaker
You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover? Or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike at confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's 704-266-7000.
01:02:21
Speaker
three three seven seven If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow. Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you on the next episode.
01:03:00
Speaker
Just...