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Episode 23- Norm Gieselman At Ok Tire in Alberta Canada- Right to repair and Tire talk-Great combo!
51 Plays1 month ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . Norm from Alberta Ok Tire gets into some great conversations with us. Right To Repair and serving the customer are hot topics on this one. Give this one a listen for sure, you won't be disappointed!
Visit our Facebook page at The Shop N Tread Talk Podcast!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:00
Norm G
and need some calming agent.
00:00:01
Aniz Lavji
All right, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast.
00:00:02
Norm G
I need some nerve tonic.
00:00:05
Aniz Lavji
As usual, we've got Frank here with us. Frank, how you doing, buddy?
00:00:09
Frank Wiebe
Doing great today. How are you? Sure.
00:00:11
Aniz Lavji
Doing well, doing well. ah Frank, why don't you introduce our guest here?
00:00:14
Frank Wiebe
Today with us, we have the great mechanic of the stars, I think he's called on TikTok, Norm. Norm runs an OK tire, I think, in St. Albert, Alberta.
00:00:28
Norm G
Yep.
00:00:28
Frank Wiebe
so little distance away from us. So that's about a 45-hour drive for us, probably something like that.
00:00:37
Aniz Lavji
A little bit of a drive.
00:00:37
Norm G
Yeah.
00:00:38
Frank Wiebe
maybe a five hour flight.
00:00:40
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:00:40
Norm G
Yeah.
00:00:40
Frank Wiebe
Anyways, Norm, tell us a little bit about yourself and who you are and what you do.
00:00:44
Norm G
ah Yeah. um I run the OK Tire St. Albert location. It was a thing when I moved back from the Middle East. I couldn't find a job in the vocation that I was, you know, trained in or whatever. But like, well, I'll go back to my trade because I'm one of those freaks that actually...
00:01:07
Norm G
liked what he did, you know?
00:01:09
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:01:09
Norm G
So it was easy. It was nice to go back to go like, well, I don't, I couldn't bring myself to go, you know, escalating through my career into this, like, I think my final title, what the hell was it?
00:01:23
Norm G
It was a senior project manager, Eastern hemisphere for Weatherford drilling international.
Career Transition and Business Challenges
00:01:31
Aniz Lavji
Jeez, put that on a business card.
00:01:32
Norm G
what and Then it goes on in charge of new builds and major refurbishments.
00:01:33
Aniz Lavji
it
00:01:37
Norm G
And so it was like, oh my God, it went on forever and ever.
00:01:38
Aniz Lavji
Oh my God.
00:01:40
Frank Wiebe
Holy cow.
00:01:41
Norm G
So, but I'm like after that. So then they had an ax theme come in about 2015 and say, so what do you do? I'm like, I'm in charge of new builds and major refurbishments. And was we don't want that.
00:01:53
Norm G
So we're going to scrub, we're going to scrub you and your whole team. So we all went back to Canada kind of thing. So it was, you know, it was just like the way the oil field was at the time.
00:01:59
Aniz Lavji
Oh, wow.
00:02:04
Norm G
but, uh, I came back and I was trying to, you know, find something in that vocation or that escalation of vocation, let's just say.
00:02:13
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:02:13
Norm G
And then like, yeah, nothing was out there. Nothing was out there. Then yeah, you come back with some savings. And then after about three or four or five months, that the savings are going down. Like I got to get like a jobby job.
00:02:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:02:26
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:02:26
Norm G
Right.
00:02:26
Frank Wiebe
Worked for living for while.
00:02:27
Norm G
But well, yeah, exactly. And then, uh, the thing was, I don't know what it was. I couldn't bring myself to go. I'm not going to leave as norm, the mechanic, and then make this huge escalation and then come back as norm, the mechanic.
00:02:42
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:02:42
Norm G
So I'm like, well, I can be norm, the mechanic, but I don't want to do it as for somebody else. I'll do it as for me. Now let's create my own job.
00:02:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:02:49
Norm G
i can't find a job. So I'll just create my own job.
00:02:51
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:02:53
Norm G
Right. Like, and I like what I do.
00:02:53
Aniz Lavji
There you go
00:02:55
Norm G
Like, it like I said earlier, I'm like one of those freaks that actually likes to fix shit. So, it worked out well so and i started by myself and i was working away by by myself in my shop and and i got the shop that i'm in now and then a friend of mine down the road at a body shop he came over and he has a kid uh you've seen him in a lot of my posts dylan right yeah and then i was working with that body shop and then uh he comes over he's like and i was like sweating i had like 15 cars i'm like behind on everything and He's like, you need a hand, eh?
00:03:19
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:03:33
Norm G
I'm like, yeah. Yeah, I do. So then that's how Dylan ended up coming over. And so that's kind of where it went from there.
00:03:41
Aniz Lavji
yeah that makes a huge difference having that extra set of hands man
00:03:44
Norm G
Man, just to like, can you just do those tires while I do this thing and I'll do this and you take the phone and, you know, it was it was good. so
00:03:53
Aniz Lavji
that's nice how long have you been doing a okay tire
00:03:58
Norm G
Well, uh,
00:04:01
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:04:01
Norm G
My wife and I opened it 2019. So if you could sit down and design a worse time to open a franchise. So we opened our franchise February something 2019. And then I think it was February two weeks later than something.
00:04:19
Norm G
The world shut down from COVID.
00:04:21
Aniz Lavji
That was 2020.
00:04:22
Norm G
Yeah. Right. So.
00:04:23
Aniz Lavji
March, 2020 is when COVID hit.
00:04:26
Norm G
Yeah. Shut everything down. It was just like.
00:04:28
Frank Wiebe
So March of 2020 is when we opened our shop.
00:04:29
Norm G
Yeah. Right, yeah.
00:04:32
Aniz Lavji
So
00:04:32
Norm G
I remember you and I talking about that before. Yeah, exactly.
00:04:34
Frank Wiebe
Like crazy.
00:04:34
Norm G
yeah
00:04:34
Aniz Lavji
yeah, you think that's crazy? March, 2020, we closed on the property for the shop that we're that we're in now.
00:04:45
Frank Wiebe
It's all meant to be. Look at that.
00:04:47
Norm G
And then the the only thing that I spin that as is, like, I always strive to find something positive.
00:04:47
Frank Wiebe
Coop.
00:04:53
Norm G
I said, well, if you look at our economics, we've only gone up from there.
00:05:00
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:05:00
Norm G
think you can't Like, you can't go further down than that.
00:05:01
Frank Wiebe
You can't get further down. Yep.
00:05:05
Norm G
Like, there was, like, her and I sit in the shop.
00:05:06
Frank Wiebe
That's right.
00:05:07
Norm G
Like, I couldn't clean my floor better. It was basically surgically clean in the shop. Like, I'm, and and then in you know?
00:05:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:05:16
Frank Wiebe
You started rock bottom, so you can't hit rock bottom. You're already there.
00:05:19
Norm G
Right. You're already there. You're already there.
00:05:20
Frank Wiebe
Ready, then.
00:05:21
Norm G
So, everything was, like, so, and and you're trying to get alone. like, wow, you guys have, a like have like, astronomical projections on... you know, if you keep trending like this, i'm like, Oh, Oh no, we're not going to give you.
00:05:33
Frank Wiebe
ah
00:05:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, that's ah that's a very weird time to be getting into business.
00:05:40
Norm G
Oh man. It was just like, well, yeah.
00:05:42
Aniz Lavji
And the stress, I'm sure it was crazy.
00:05:44
Norm G
Cause I had my own thing and I was like glacier industrial services. I was like, I'll stay in the heavy duty side. I did like medium truck, heavy truck, stuff like that. But people kept bringing me their cars.
00:05:55
Norm G
I'm like, I don't want your cars. i don't want to work on your cars. I don't want to do your tires. And there was like batting flies away. And then after a minute or two, I'm like, why am I shooing this away?
00:06:07
Norm G
People want to bring me this stuff.
00:06:08
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, money.
00:06:09
Norm G
Like, why am I? So it shifted dramatically from what norm, the mechanic likes to work on to what norm, the business owner makes the most money.
00:06:19
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:06:19
Norm G
in
00:06:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:06:20
Norm G
Right.
00:06:21
Aniz Lavji
What, what, what no one, the mechanic has to work on as a business owner, a viable.
00:06:21
Norm G
know, right. right Oh, I'd rather crap my pants. I'd rather crap my pants than do tires all day, but it's profitable. You know, it's nice.
00:06:31
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:06:32
Norm G
It's it's easy. it's It's low risk. It's high turnover. it's It's, you know, it's high margin. You're like, oh, okay. Well.
00:06:39
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Like, uh, I don't know if if Frank told this, so that's my main businesses is tires and we've kind of transitioned like a lot into like mechanical repairs, but for the longest time, like tires, tires, tires all day long.
00:06:53
Aniz Lavji
and And, I mean, there's good money in it. And again, I'm sure you guys do alignments and everything. So tires bring alignments, bring tire rods and ball joints and all kinds of suspension stuff.
00:07:05
Aniz Lavji
And i mean, great.
00:07:07
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, it all just wraps up in one little circle and you start doing one thing and everything else just flows in.
00:07:09
Norm G
Well, exactly. And that's what I kind of realized. I'm like, well, I don't want to do alignments. I don't want to do that. said it's boring. It's terrible. But you go alignments, beget repairs and tires and, you know, everything kind of feeds off the next thing.
00:07:20
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:07:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:07:24
Norm G
So you're like, uh, with, and it and it, without going into that, like hard sales mechanic,
00:07:31
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yep.
00:07:32
Norm G
good had both you know you You can go like, you know I recommend, i or I can't do the alignment because you need ball joints.
00:07:42
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:07:42
Norm G
like, well, how much is that? And you go, it's this much. and they go, oh, that's so okay. you know Then everything kind of begets the next thing. and ah and I was shooing that away for a long time because i was like my background is heavy duty mechanic.
00:07:55
Norm G
by
00:07:55
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:07:56
Norm G
I'm an HD guy, right? So, yeah.
00:07:57
Aniz Lavji
and you're so You're still a heavy-duty mechanic. You're just doing heavy-duty automotive repairs.
00:08:03
Norm G
Right.
00:08:04
Aniz Lavji
So you're still you still a heavy-duty mechanic.
00:08:04
Norm G
Right. Yeah.
00:08:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:08:07
Norm G
Well, now I'm like, now I'm like 51 and going, oho this is really heavy. And I'm looking at it and it's like a one ton Ford going really enormous. this heavy?
00:08:19
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, I don't want to work on that stuff. That's weird.
00:08:22
Norm G
Is it really heavy? Like in my twenties, it was like,
00:08:24
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:08:26
Norm G
You're picking up. Okay, I'm going to tell you this. This is a very okay this is a very funny story. I was a skinny kid. I'm still skinny. When I was a skinny kid, I'm trying to make my own and doing this stuff. And I did like, as a first, second year apprentice, I was like doing clutches all day long, humped up under these big class aid, you know, freight lines.
00:08:43
Norm G
I did my apprenticeship at Freightliner, right? So transmission out, doing all the things, and pick up the clutch and put it in and do this. And I did that. I don't know. I'm going to say a hundred times just for the sake of the story.
00:08:54
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:08:55
Norm G
And then one day i had a clutch on the ground. I was taking a break. I'm having a smoke in the shop when he used to be able to smoke in the shop. And I grabbed the instruction manual of this, you know, this clutch.
00:09:07
Norm G
And I'm reading through it because I have nothing to do. I'm taking a five-minute break. And I'm like, clutch weight, be careful, lift cautiously because it's 186 pounds. went...
00:09:18
Frank Wiebe
Holy cow.
00:09:19
Norm G
and i went
00:09:22
Norm G
I can't lift 186 pounds. Like in my in my own brain, I'm like, i can't I can't lift that. And then ever since I read that, I couldn't do, like my mentor, Keith, he's a really good friend of mine.
00:09:36
Norm G
And he's like, don't be a pussy. You lift it up in one piece and you shove the pilot thing in and it hold it and you put the bolts in and you tighten it up. That's just what you do because this is how we do it at the dealership, right?
00:09:45
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:09:48
Norm G
But after I read that, I couldn't do it in one piece anymore. I had to do it in two pieces. Once my brain made this decision, it wasn't a matter like, you know, and that's, like, a whole huge human psychology discussion at that point.
00:10:03
Aniz Lavji
Now imagine if you never read that, read that paper.
00:10:05
Norm G
Right. i I'd still be doing it. My back, would be I'd be, like, an S, and I'd be, like, upside down, ruined physically. Whoa.
00:10:14
Aniz Lavji
Oh man.
00:10:14
Norm G
Fuck.
00:10:15
Frank Wiebe
the things that we do to our body for the vehicle, unreal, right?
00:10:17
Norm G
blaa
00:10:18
Frank Wiebe
Why do we sacrifice so much of ourselves?
00:10:18
Norm G
That's crazy.
00:10:22
Norm G
Big time.
00:10:23
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, 186 pounds.
00:10:23
Norm G
Hugely.
00:10:25
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Well, i'm I'm glad you read that so that you don't have to it in one go anymore.
00:10:32
Frank Wiebe
had to kill us.
00:10:32
Norm G
Well, yeah, but but like the guys are like, why we should have a jack to lift these clutches in place. And all of us went and like, if you are going to, you know,
00:10:40
Frank Wiebe
What?
00:10:46
Norm G
There's a lot of things I could say that are like very self-vestite.
00:10:47
Frank Wiebe
You got to lift the clutch up to put it on the jack to begin with.
00:10:50
Norm G
You got to...
00:10:51
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:10:52
Norm G
Okay. I'm going to tell you a story. There was Okay. So I work with two girls. You know that, right?
00:11:00
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:11:00
Norm G
And... theyre
00:11:04
Norm G
Work with two girls and then there's a, they're great. And i but I'm going to say organizationally, procedurally, and then like sequentially, they're way better than us.
00:11:17
Norm G
They can stay on focus.
00:11:17
Frank Wiebe
That's what I keep saying.
00:11:18
Norm G
that They're way better.
00:11:18
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:11:20
Norm G
I said, other than physically lifting something, that's where I have an advantage. I can do it and I can physically lift it up because that's what we do. Right. But But that's just a physiological reality.
00:11:35
Norm G
But other than that, they're better than me on a lot of levels. And the and like Gabriela, for example, is a Gen Z, right? But she's keen. She wants to work. She stays engaged.
00:11:48
Norm G
She's always doing something. Like I'm looking
Work Culture and Employee Perspective
00:11:53
Norm G
around and like my own son works there and I'm like, she's working circles around you, dude. Like step up, man.
00:12:00
Frank Wiebe
laughter
00:12:01
Norm G
but But, like, she wants to do it, and I think that's great, but the...
00:12:06
Aniz Lavji
It's hard to find, you know, whether it's a a woman or or a man, like it's it's hard to find people that really are feeling like intense and kind of have that that knack for wanting to get stuff done.
00:12:20
Aniz Lavji
I mean, there's so many texts I should, well, maybe not texts, but apprentices out there that, you know you'll give them a job and they'll look at it and be like, ah, it seems like a lot of work.
00:12:31
Aniz Lavji
And then you got the other guy that, you know you give them something to then before you even set your work order down on their table, you know, they're already added. They're already halfway through the pages looking through it.
00:12:42
Norm G
right
00:12:43
Aniz Lavji
Like, okay, this will be this, this, this, this. Okay. Let's get it done. And those are the guys the guys or girls that are extremely hard to find.
00:12:46
Norm G
all right hard to find that both the girls i have there are like they want to do this job i'm like i don't know what it's gone wrong in your brain to make you want to do this but okay cool let's let's let's get after it and let's you know let's do a thing and uh
00:12:56
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:13:09
Norm G
I you know i' I'm I'm gonna have an aside here and go what I've noticed and people have brought it up to me they said Gen Z or lazy Gen Z don't know how do anything Gen Z don't want to do anything like no no let me put it to you this way i'm going to pause it theory because I've worked with a few of them in in in my own shop and my own children the same way I'm like
00:13:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:13:35
Norm G
They're not lazy. Like my son would rather shit his pants than work in my shop because he's a comedian. He wants to be ah an actor or whatever. like But like he understands that girls are expensive.
00:13:47
Norm G
Cars are expensive. He needs a job. So like cool to work with dad and do all that stuff. Right. So.
00:13:53
Aniz Lavji
And I mean, if he's shitting his pants, I mean, that gets expensive as as well.
00:13:56
Norm G
And that ah dry cleaning is expensive, you know.
00:13:58
Aniz Lavji
Hey, I mean, dry cleaning, yeah. i mean
00:14:01
Norm G
So, but I'll, I'll give him a task and this is where this comes, this whole Gen Z thing. ah They're not lazy. And the people think they're all, they're lazy. You don't know how to work coming from it. Like a Gen Z-er.
00:14:13
Norm G
Frank, you understand that.
00:14:15
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:14:16
Norm G
Right. But they're not lazy. If I give him a task, here's your task. Go do these tires, do a seasonal swap over on this car.
00:14:27
Norm G
Uh, rubber off rim the whole shbang set the tpms do the thing and he does it and he has no problem doing it but where the rub is they have no problem sitting after right
00:14:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:14:45
Frank Wiebe
And if you don't keep them engaged and you don't give them another task to do, they can't figure that out.
00:14:51
Norm G
he sits down i'm like what are you doing he goes i've done my job i'm like
00:14:51
Frank Wiebe
Like, they'll just...
00:14:54
Frank Wiebe
done my job.
00:14:55
Aniz Lavji
I'll get the next job.
00:14:55
Norm G
Pick up a broom, get a thing. Like I would panic as an apprentice.
00:14:57
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:14:59
Norm G
I don't know if you guys were the same way.
00:15:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:15:01
Frank Wiebe
Oh, if I wasn't doing something.
00:15:01
Norm G
I'd panic. If I was out, oh my God, like that someone's going to fire me. I'm like sweeping. I'm just like walking fast across the Even if I had nothing to do.
00:15:09
Frank Wiebe
Oh, dude. think
00:15:12
Aniz Lavji
Well, the worst is they finish one job and then there's a bunch bunch of jobs that are waiting and then you know they're not grabbing another ticket or ask at least ask, hey, you know what's what's coming in next?
00:15:12
Frank Wiebe
Yep. What's wrong with
00:15:14
Norm G
ah
00:15:19
Norm G
Right. What can I do? What should I be doing?
00:15:23
Aniz Lavji
what do you What do you need me to do?
00:15:23
Norm G
Yeah.
00:15:24
Aniz Lavji
What do you need me to do?
00:15:24
Norm G
yeah Yeah, exactly.
00:15:25
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, know' they'll just stand there and and wait wait for you to get instruct them.
00:15:26
Norm G
And that's it.
00:15:30
Frank Wiebe
my my my I've had apprentices like that too.
00:15:30
Norm G
Yeah.
00:15:32
Frank Wiebe
They just stand there and I'm like, what what are you waiting for? Well, I'm waiting for a job. Well, did you go ask if there was another job? Well, no. was like, well, that's whole that's what you got to do.
00:15:44
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:15:44
Frank Wiebe
Once you're done your job and you're and you cleaned up and you swept the floor and you did whatever, your first point, march into the office saying, what's next for me? Some people get that, some other people don't.
00:15:53
Norm G
And you know what? I give credit. And this is what I said. This is kind of circles back to like the two girls and Gabriela as a Gen Z. She's younger than Charlie.
00:16:04
Norm G
She's younger than me, obviously. And she's younger than Charlie.
00:16:06
Frank Wiebe
Yeah,
00:16:08
Norm G
She's the youngest in the shop, but she'll like, what's going on? Like, just give me a minute. Give me half an hour. I got to get some paperwork done. And I look out and she's like cleaning the benches and she's sweeping and she's like staying busy.
00:16:19
Frank Wiebe
exactly.
00:16:20
Norm G
I'm like,
00:16:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:16:21
Norm G
I will encourage that ah you have, I have all the time for you all day long because.
00:16:24
Frank Wiebe
All day long.
00:16:28
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:16:28
Frank Wiebe
Instead of standing there and being like, hey, what are you doing Norm? Hey, you know what? When have you done your paperwork?
00:16:33
Norm G
Right, right, right.
00:16:34
Frank Wiebe
yeah No, no.
00:16:34
Norm G
Yeah.
00:16:34
Aniz Lavji
or Or even like
00:16:34
Norm G
right
00:16:36
Aniz Lavji
Taking initiative. Hey, you know, I know we're waiting for those parts at this place here and, you know, we're trying to get them an hour ago. do you want me just, you know, take the company car or or I can just run down there and grab them really quick so we can actually get started on that job that we've been trying to get to, but we're waiting for the parts. Like, you know, even having something like that, i mean, that's a game changer.
00:16:57
Norm G
And yeah, yeah exactly. cause you it Then as the business owner, you're looking at going, is it economically viable to send her to go get it and she'll be back in 28 minutes and then she can start on this thing or wait because they won't be back till this time.
00:17:13
Aniz Lavji
Because we've already been waiting an hour and 45 minutes for the parts and they're like, yeah yeah, they're on their way.
00:17:13
Norm G
and
00:17:16
Norm G
Right.
00:17:18
Aniz Lavji
They're on the way. And you know that they're not. It's seen in a Burger King parking lot right now.
00:17:21
Norm G
They're not. Like, yeah, exactly.
00:17:23
Aniz Lavji
It's like. Yeah.
00:17:24
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, well, then the question is, do you have them figure out something to do in the shop for 28 minutes or go for a drive and be back and kind of be at the same time, right?
00:17:32
Norm G
Right. Like, you're you're dead weight right now. Anyway.
00:17:35
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:17:35
Norm G
Right? Like, do you might as well go
00:17:36
Frank Wiebe
I know at that point, I'm like, pick up a broom, go sweep the floor, go sweep the damn parking lot if if you got nothing else to do.
00:17:41
Norm G
But, well, yeah, because understand. You know what I really like? And I don't know. I'm going to get your guys' opinion on this. Like,
00:17:53
Norm G
Charlie and Gabby both, and Ben, my son, to the same degree, they have that buy-in to, like, i don't know how to vocalize it correctly, but it's, like,
00:18:05
Aniz Lavji
It's not just a job, like they're invested.
00:18:07
Norm G
do the best you can do for the business. And they have that buy-in. And I think that that's immeasurably awesome. Like they go, I'll go, I'll go.
00:18:16
Aniz Lavji
You can't train that. i mean, that's just the feeling.
00:18:18
Norm G
i don't need to get paid. i want to go get this. I want to get this done because the job needs to get done.
00:18:22
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:23
Norm G
It's going to make us look better. Like I think that's, that's missing.
00:18:28
Frank Wiebe
Dude, i've got I've got one of those and it's it's invaluable. Like it's it's unreal the difference that it makes when they're like, and Ease and I were just talking about that while you were trying to figure out your technical issues.
00:18:32
Norm G
Huge.
00:18:39
Frank Wiebe
But we were just talking about that because he's got an employee that does that too. He's like, hey, if we get this tool, it'll make it better for our for our shop so that we can do better work.
00:18:50
Frank Wiebe
Even though we, yeah, for us a whole, right?
00:18:50
Aniz Lavji
But he's saying for us, not for me, for us, for the shop, like, because we're we're getting so busy, you know?
00:18:56
Norm G
or or Or as a business owner like me, when I leave to go do something or I got to take a personal day or got to have a moment or something like that, I know that Charlie, who's more savvy on the front end stuff, the service writer stuff,
00:19:07
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:19:14
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:19:14
Norm G
She's got me.
00:19:16
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:19:17
Norm G
I don't got to worry about it. I'm like, oh my God, what if someone what if somebody comes in and they ask a question and she's not going to... She understands my philosophy. She understands my premise.
00:19:26
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:19:29
Norm G
Everything about how I've run my business, she envelops. So she's like, hey, I was talking to this guy and and and I said, I'm just going to let him go and he's going to come back later and we're going to do this thing. I didn't charge him because he's going to come back. I'm like, yeah, that's exactly what I would have done.
00:19:52
Norm G
Thank you. Awesome.
00:19:54
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, good. but and in the
00:19:55
Norm G
That whole buy-in, right?
00:19:56
Aniz Lavji
It's handy to have people.
00:19:57
Frank Wiebe
Well, they should mimic they should mimic what your model is if you teach them well enough, right?
00:20:02
Norm G
Yeah.
00:20:04
Frank Wiebe
But you can't – how did this one go with time?
00:20:04
Norm G
Yeah.
00:20:07
Frank Wiebe
You you can't – I have to think about it. You can't expect them to know what you want of them if you don't tell them first. If you tell them and you've instructed them and you've taught them and then they don't do it, then you got a problem.
00:20:15
Norm G
You
00:20:22
Aniz Lavji
You don't know what you don't know, basically.
00:20:22
Frank Wiebe
But if you never tell them, can't know what you're expecting of them.
00:20:27
Norm G
know what's funny is her Charlie and I have worked long enough together where she's like... We're both service writers. Like when we're busy, if there's something technical in this shop that I have to handle, on like she understands that I, that she can't do that.
00:20:46
Norm G
So we just automatically switch.
00:20:48
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah.
00:20:49
Norm G
You're on the phones. I have to do this.
00:20:52
Aniz Lavji
ye
00:20:52
Norm G
Right. You know, and that's nice. So, but there's been a few times where you're like, what the fuck did you say to that guy?
00:20:55
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:21:00
Norm G
Yeah.
00:21:01
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:21:02
Norm G
ah yeah like she's like well i don't know what but 99 of the time she's like oh this is what we're gonna do and we're gonna reschedule you and we're gonna do this we're gonna we're gonna move you to here and come in at this time and dorm will if you want norm to do this thing this is the time you need norm to do this
00:21:22
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:21:25
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:21:25
Frank Wiebe
So do you not have a full-time service writer then, Norm?
00:21:28
Norm G
No, we are. Fuck, man. It's crazy. And oh, and oh, well, today was a prime example.
00:21:32
Frank Wiebe
Really?
00:21:37
Norm G
I was panicking because I was trying to get out of there to come to this podcast.
00:21:43
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:21:44
Norm G
But it was like, got to get this this break job done on this one ton. And it was like, the phone was ringing. And I'm like, every time you walk, every single time, like I'm not using hyperbole to be weird, but every time i walked from the office to the truck, I'm like, okay, what soccer do I need? Walk
00:22:07
Frank Wiebe
Ha ha ha ha.
00:22:09
Aniz Lavji
Well, stop doing such good work and then you won't have the phone ring so much.
00:22:09
Norm G
back.
00:22:12
Norm G
Well, and that's the thing.
00:22:12
Aniz Lavji
I've
00:22:25
Aniz Lavji
been there.
00:22:26
Norm G
I pick up, I'm like, hello, okay terry schubbert how can I help you? wow yeah
00:22:31
Aniz Lavji
i' been i've been there
00:22:32
Norm G
Like, I'm like, I don't want to phone me.
00:22:32
Aniz Lavji
i
00:22:35
Norm G
Cause I'm trying to get stuff done. Like i
00:22:38
Aniz Lavji
I've been to the point where like I'm in the, like we'll be crazy busy and I'll be helping the guys in the back changing tires and I'll have all the calls forwarded to my cell phone. And then I've got my air pod in and I'll be changing tires. You'll hear the, and I'm like talking to the customer, quoting out a set of tires. And I'm like, sorry, just give me one second.
00:23:00
Aniz Lavji
ah sorry. The bee just popped.
00:23:02
Frank Wiebe
ah
00:23:03
Aniz Lavji
And they're like, wait, are you?
00:23:04
Frank Wiebe
you not to You need to get one of those virtual AI assistants to that.
00:23:04
Norm G
You want to scare the people.
00:23:06
Norm G
Don't scare the people with the beat pop.
00:23:06
Aniz Lavji
really are you are you Yeah, like, sorry, I'm in the back garage helping my guys out so we get the customer on their way.
00:23:12
Aniz Lavji
And they're like, oh, wow, you're like right in there. I'm like, that's what we do. And like, yeah, can you book me in for Monday? I'm like, sure, I can.
00:23:21
Norm G
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:21
Aniz Lavji
No, no, I'm not. No, I'm not doing a virtual AI person.
00:23:24
Norm G
Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do.
00:23:27
Aniz Lavji
I want to be the person talking to the person.
00:23:27
Norm G
Yeah, you do. Yeah, no, I'm...
00:23:31
Aniz Lavji
Because I tested out the virtual AI thingy-bobber because I had called a company to inquire about it. And I knew it was an AI person because they sounded way too friendly.
00:23:42
Aniz Lavji
And not like like the friendly-friendly, but like computer-generated friendly.
00:23:48
Norm G
Well, it's terrifyingly accurate, though, isn't it?
00:23:48
Aniz Lavji
So I had to test it. But I had to test it because they said, oh, well, how can I help you today? And I'm like, oh, I was just inquiring about the blub, blub, blub, blub. And they're like, oh, you want to know more about the blub, blub, blub. I'm like, click.
00:24:04
Frank Wiebe
Really? Oh, yeah.
00:24:06
Aniz Lavji
And that was the end of of that.
00:24:08
Frank Wiebe
really
00:24:08
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. yeah
00:24:10
Norm G
Man, I'm going to tell you, like we were booking hotel rooms for my son's 21st birthday.
00:24:10
Frank Wiebe
oh man
00:24:16
Norm G
We're going to go somewhere. We're going to Houston. We're going to watch the Foo Fighters in Nashville, blah, blah, blah. So um my job is like coordinate the rooms. So I phone. This is totally not automotive at all, but I'm going to tell you this story.
00:24:31
Norm G
ah So I phone this hotel. I'm like, this looks a good hotel. I phone him up. And they like, how y'all doing?
00:24:42
Norm G
And it wasn't like, it was like, how are you doing? It was like, how y'all doing?
00:24:49
Frank Wiebe
Really? really
00:24:51
Norm G
It had that Southern flair. I'm like, oh, good to see you.
00:24:54
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:24:55
Norm G
good to Good to talk to you. I'm trying to work this room. And we, her, I'm saying her. Her and I talked for an immeasurable amount of time.
00:25:10
Norm G
I'm going to say 10 minutes organizing our hotel rooms before I noticed she was AI.
00:25:19
Frank Wiebe
No way.
00:25:21
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
00:25:21
Norm G
It was that good. I'm like, oh, you're so funny. and You know, I'm like, holy God, that's
00:25:31
Frank Wiebe
Careful, Darv, you start dating an AI soon. too much of AI. Yeah.
00:25:35
Norm G
But the only thing that got me was, she's like, let me check on those rooms. Those rooms are available. And it was that fast. I'm like, oh, you're AI.
00:25:48
Frank Wiebe
We could use that
00:25:49
Norm G
Oh, my God. I've been talking to you for 10 minutes. Now I'm reeling back to the like, hey, your voice is hot.
00:25:54
Aniz Lavji
the The funny thing is, is when you ask him in the beginning, if are you AI and they'll actually tell you, yes, we are an AI iterated.
00:25:58
Frank Wiebe
um map you could use
00:26:04
Norm G
Yeah, yeah. But it was so good. Like, they were so helpful and so amazing. I'm like, oh, my God. I can't believe i sadly fell for it. Like, literally fell for it.
00:26:17
Aniz Lavji
It's improving every every every day.
00:26:20
Frank Wiebe
Sounds like a Will Smith movie.
00:26:21
Norm G
Right?
00:26:23
Aniz Lavji
iRobot.
00:26:24
Norm G
Yeah, iRobot. That's the one.
00:26:27
Frank Wiebe
Oh, man. So back to it. you've Yeah, so you've got, you've got, what the heck did Gabby do the other day? She had to, ah where, well, you got this, like, thing that you put on if they mess up or something like this, this chain of shame or whatever you call that.
00:26:42
Norm G
Yes.
00:26:45
Frank Wiebe
The star of shame.
00:26:45
Norm G
The star of shame.
00:26:45
Aniz Lavji
Ooh.
00:26:46
Norm G
Yes.
00:26:48
Aniz Lavji
You have a star of shame if someone messes up?
00:26:48
Norm G
Yeah. Yep. The star shame.
00:26:51
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man.
00:26:52
Frank Wiebe
And it's usually on social media too. So it's not like it's just within their own little clique. Everyone gets to see it.
00:26:59
Norm G
I film it like this. Like, you know, like you do the film and I'm holding it my hand. other They're like, no, no. Like star of shame.
00:27:07
Frank Wiebe
ah
00:27:08
Norm G
Star shame for you.
00:27:10
Norm G
What does he do?
00:27:10
Aniz Lavji
but How bad of a mess up would it have to be to get a star of shame?
00:27:16
Norm G
Anything, anything, anything. it up My thing with the star of shame is it's fun because it's it's like social media engagement or whatever, but my ah
00:27:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:35
Norm G
sister-in-law was doing these things and she does, and it's like this weird misshapen star and it says, you're tried. Yeah. You know, like it's it's terrible.
00:27:44
Frank Wiebe
Thank you.
00:27:47
Norm G
i'm like, you get the star shame. They're like, no, I don't want the star shame. Like, why don't you want the star shame?
00:27:56
Norm G
Well, because i don't think it was me that did the...
00:28:02
Norm G
I missed that torque and the customer came back and now it's a costing to you or whatever the case may be or whatever. I'm like, I don't want it to be a terrible learning experience.
00:28:12
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:28:16
Norm G
And like, because the star of shame ah as obvious as it is, when I put it on their head, it's not like me going, because you could go like, what did you learn
00:28:24
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:28:32
Norm G
And then then then they tell me, right? But you think about, like, you guys obviously have had bosses in your past who were like, what the hell did you do, Frank?
00:28:44
Norm G
Screw you, man.
00:28:47
Frank Wiebe
I luckily never worked for a guy that yelled at me. All the careers, all the jobs I've worked, i never had never worked for a guy that yelled at
00:28:54
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I never had anyone yell at me while I was working.
00:28:55
Norm G
ah Okay, well, thank you for making my point non-pointed.
00:28:59
Aniz Lavji
I had one, i had one i used to work for I used to work for Sprint out in the States, the cell phone store, and I had the manager start kind of getting mouthy, and I said, I actually told him, i was like, you're going to want watch your tone before I leave.
00:29:01
Frank Wiebe
me.
00:29:06
Norm G
Mmm.
00:29:16
Aniz Lavji
He's like, what do you mean? i was like, yeah, so you see that that gra paper up there where I sold the most contracts last month. Yeah. He's like, yeah.
00:29:27
Aniz Lavji
If you don't lower your tone, that's going to be gone.
00:29:31
Norm G
no
00:29:32
Aniz Lavji
And he's trading it real nice after that.
00:29:34
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:29:34
Norm G
Well, and that's it. And that's what, like, when you're dealing with apprentices or dealing with, know, like, people who don't...
00:29:42
Aniz Lavji
oh yeah.
00:29:43
Norm G
Maybe they didn't mean to fuck up, right?
00:29:47
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:29:47
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:29:47
Aniz Lavji
And i've I've had, I've had some texts that all like, I remember telling you Frank, one of my guys with a an Audi hub ended up snapping a snapping a stud or something in there and he was freaking out.
00:30:01
Aniz Lavji
He's like, okay, what are we going to now? I'm like, I'll just i'll find another spindle and we'll figure it out. He's like, I know, but I did that. I'm like, yeah, and it happens and we'll figure it out.
00:30:09
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, well, it happens. yeah
00:30:13
Aniz Lavji
Don't worry about it. It's it's stuck on the hoist. The customer is really good and I've known him for like 10 years. I'm going to call him and tell him that...
00:30:18
Norm G
Yeah.
00:30:19
Frank Wiebe
It depends on how often it happens, right?
00:30:20
Norm G
It's hugely important.
00:30:21
Frank Wiebe
If it's something like that happens daily, right?
00:30:23
Norm G
Yeah.
00:30:23
Aniz Lavji
It's never happened again on something like that, but.
00:30:24
Frank Wiebe
Eventually, gets to the point. but Let me tell you this story about my apprenticeship. So the guy that gave me my first job, i i just chatted with him last week. He actually came over to get his AC looked at. 90 years old, this guy.
00:30:39
Frank Wiebe
Still driving, riding motorbike. Anyways, we're chatting a bit.
00:30:43
Norm G
She'll be driving.
00:30:43
Frank Wiebe
And he said he he said, you know what, Frank? Those were the good old days. only worked for this guy for six years. But those, he said, those were the best. he He remembered those being the best years.
00:30:55
Frank Wiebe
And I remember within those years, I broke a windshield on a customer's car and a hood because we went to go pick it up and boosted it and left the booster pack there and tied it down with a bungee cord and drove down the highway hood came up.
00:31:03
Aniz Lavji
rome
00:31:10
Aniz Lavji
o Rookie move.
00:31:14
Frank Wiebe
um I broke the rear window in his Jeep Comanche pickup truck because we were cleaning up brush in the backyard and it had a branch in the back and i backed up against a building and it came right through the back window.
00:31:22
Norm G
and Ha ha ha ha.
00:31:27
Frank Wiebe
It's like I remember these things, all the things that I screwed up and and that cost him money.
00:31:32
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:31:32
Frank Wiebe
He remembers how good of a time that we had. And I'm like, but I learned i learned so much from that guy. Like, I owe that guy my career. I just. Yeah.
00:31:43
Aniz Lavji
It shows a lot how your employer will react to certain situations.
00:31:46
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:31:50
Aniz Lavji
Like when there is a screw up or something or something didn't go as planned,
00:31:55
Norm G
Yeah.
00:31:55
Aniz Lavji
it it shows a lot how your employer is going to react to it and deal with the situation. If they deal with a situation like a jerk and, and literally tell you like, what the hell did you do?
00:32:08
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
00:32:09
Aniz Lavji
Like you screwed this up and don't you have any brains or blah, blah, blah. I mean, how is that going to make the guy feel? Or if you're like, you know, Hey, ah you know, John,
00:32:19
Aniz Lavji
It's okay, man. We'll figure it out.
00:32:21
Norm G
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:32:21
Aniz Lavji
This is what you should have done. It's okay. It happens, but we'll figure it out. We'll learn from it. its you know Life goes on and it is what it is.
00:32:27
Norm G
Yeah. Okay.
00:32:29
Aniz Lavji
This is why, you know if it's bad enough, this is why we have insurance or this is why we've got...
00:32:33
Frank Wiebe
exactly
00:32:33
Norm G
okay
00:32:35
Aniz Lavji
shop supplies and add all that up. And sometimes that shop supplies will go to take care of a mess up or a screw up. But at the end of the day, the customers can get taken care of.
00:32:46
Aniz Lavji
You get to go home. I get to go home. No one got hurt. No one's injured. And, you know, we go on to the next day.
00:32:53
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, and all that, that guy, he never yelled at me, never once raised his voice.
00:32:57
Aniz Lavji
He never yelled at you.
00:32:57
Frank Wiebe
i don't know if i ever see him angry. Huh?
00:33:00
Aniz Lavji
He never yelled at you.
00:33:02
Frank Wiebe
Nope. I'm like the sweetheart.
00:33:03
Aniz Lavji
my God. oh my lord
00:33:04
Norm G
I was yelling
00:33:04
Frank Wiebe
i you would say I'm the favorite child, as my mother
00:33:07
Aniz Lavji
That's because you always went to work with your hair all done up and so nice. And he's like, this poor, this poor pretty boy, how am I going yell at him?
00:33:13
Frank Wiebe
is. Dude, i will i will dig go I will dig out pitchers.
00:33:18
Norm G
you.
00:33:18
Frank Wiebe
I kid you not, I used to have the worst freaking hair.
00:33:22
Aniz Lavji
you You probably had so much gel in your hair.
00:33:22
Frank Wiebe
No.
00:33:24
Aniz Lavji
It was so shiny that he couldn't even bring a light near you or something.
00:33:27
Frank Wiebe
No.
00:33:28
Aniz Lavji
He's like, yeah, it's not worth losing my eyesight.
00:33:30
Frank Wiebe
i I, as a teenager, I had the worst hair.
00:33:32
Norm G
Wait a minute.
00:33:33
Frank Wiebe
I did not have i did not have decent hair until I was in my early 30s, I think, mid-30s. I
00:33:40
Norm G
Wait, wait. So you're saying you have decent hair now?
00:33:46
Frank Wiebe
know you don't know what hair looks like, Norm, but yes, I have decent hair.
00:33:49
Norm G
Yes. is that Is that what the decent hair looks like? Oh, man.
00:33:55
Frank Wiebe
like I even got even got some light in there. This guy.
00:34:01
Norm G
Look at him. He's laughing. he's laugh there man
00:34:03
Frank Wiebe
yeah
00:34:05
Norm G
Sorry, your body's laughing at you.
00:34:05
Frank Wiebe
No, no. i got
00:34:08
Aniz Lavji
Oh, we always laugh at each other.
00:34:10
Frank Wiebe
I don't know why why my hair is always made fun of or always commented on.
00:34:15
Aniz Lavji
But but i but i'm I'm actually giving you positive comments. I'm not making fun of it.
00:34:19
Norm G
Mmm.
00:34:19
Aniz Lavji
i i wish I could wake up and my hair look like that.
00:34:21
Norm G
Positive.
00:34:22
Frank Wiebe
i have i have a friend who's like extremely jealous of my hair like oh dude if he he's got he's got like a really nice beard like he used to be really manicured and and he's always jealous of my hair he's also jealous of my tick tock famous because the one day the one day we were out we were out for uh i guess must have been supper we were at uh halibut house
00:34:27
Norm G
Really?
00:34:30
Norm G
Is he...
00:34:33
Norm G
Oh, yeah?
00:34:42
Norm G
TikTok, yes.
00:34:49
Frank Wiebe
And we're just having dinner there. And from the other side of the room, a guy gets up and he walks. We were close to the door. He's going out the door. He walks. He stops. He looks. Hey, I know you from TikTok.
00:35:01
Frank Wiebe
I'm like, damn, let's go. You should have seen Buddy beside me. He's like, he was fuming mad because he didn't get acknowledged. I'm like, yes.
00:35:12
Aniz Lavji
david Did they at least tell you what you were doing wrong in your video?
00:35:12
Frank Wiebe
Oh, it was so good.
00:35:16
Frank Wiebe
No, I don't do anything wrong with videos. But I got it again today. I was i went to i went to the doctor's office.
00:35:20
Norm G
Hey,
00:35:22
Frank Wiebe
was sitting there in the waiting room, waiting. i was almost falling asleep. A guy walks out of the room. He looks over at me. He looks again. Hey, I know you from TikTok. I'm like, let's go.
00:35:31
Aniz Lavji
That's hilarious.
00:35:33
Frank Wiebe
So that was pretty cool.
00:35:34
Aniz Lavji
Well, then how how do you get that?
00:35:34
Frank Wiebe
Anyways.
00:35:37
Aniz Lavji
I have 2.6 million videos on my ridiculous video and I haven't had one person be like, Hey, you're the guy that had that ridiculous video on Tik TOK that has useless 2.6 million views.
00:35:49
Frank Wiebe
the only way The only reason you got that is because it was a Tesla.
00:35:53
Aniz Lavji
Oh God.
00:35:53
Frank Wiebe
and deep
00:35:54
Aniz Lavji
Let's okay.
00:35:54
Frank Wiebe
No, no, no, no.
00:35:54
Aniz Lavji
Here we go.
00:35:56
Frank Wiebe
People were surprised and impressed that it didn't burst into flames because of all the salt and icing.
00:36:01
Aniz Lavji
If it was a Chevy cruise, it would have had like two, two views, maybe three.
00:36:04
Frank Wiebe
but
00:36:06
Aniz Lavji
Okay. frank
00:36:07
Frank Wiebe
I really wanted to make a video of my crews getting towed on Sunday because that would have been like ah epic, but.
00:36:15
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, I don't know if you know Norm, but Frank has a fetish with Chevy Cruises.
00:36:19
Frank Wiebe
I do, actually. Yeah.
00:36:22
Aniz Lavji
He stockpiles them.
00:36:24
Frank Wiebe
I've got like 10 in my yard right now.
00:36:27
Norm G
That's weird. That's a bit weird, Frank.
00:36:29
Aniz Lavji
but So the wreckers actually call him for parts.
00:36:32
Norm G
ah
00:36:33
Frank Wiebe
No, because bubblemor dropp they're
00:36:37
Aniz Lavji
but But he fixes them. like He has really good luck with them.
00:36:40
Frank Wiebe
I have one parts car. Actually, I think i have two parts cars right now, but I never really pull parts off of them.
00:36:45
Aniz Lavji
I was kind of like that with Mazda 3s. I sold so many Proteges and Mazda 3s at one point that I had like 15 or 20 of them for sale.
00:36:56
Aniz Lavji
And then when I'd get some that are traded in, we'd keep them and we'd use the parts off it. Like that's how many we were selling. But yeah.
00:37:05
Norm G
Holy God, why? why would Why were there so many?
00:37:06
Aniz Lavji
But none of them were had none of them had oil coolers in them. This was back when yeah they were kind of rusty, a little bit.
00:37:15
Frank Wiebe
Mazda is so bad.
00:37:16
Norm G
Mazda's been like quietly becoming the most reliable brand.
00:37:24
Aniz Lavji
been good.
00:37:24
Norm G
Toyota, like someone goes, what do you recommend? I'm like, ah, Toyota. Stay in Japan, right? But Mazda's been like quiet.
00:37:36
Norm G
Why are they doing their thing?
00:37:38
Aniz Lavji
It's sky active.
00:37:38
Norm G
And they're like, yeah. ah What we're not doing is we're not blowing up engines like ikea I hide it. we're just like We're just like over here, like Sky Octave.
00:37:52
Norm G
What doess that mean? Nobody knows.
00:37:55
Frank Wiebe
But it's it sounds fancy like Zoom Zoom.
00:37:55
Aniz Lavji
But it sounds cool.
00:37:58
Norm G
It sounds fancy. Zoom, zoom. It's like, it's sky active. What does that mean? Are you dialed into the Voyager feed? So from like 3 billion cars away, sky active.
00:38:11
Aniz Lavji
Well, then there's a, there's Honda. That's got the earth dreams engine.
00:38:17
Norm G
Oh my God. I love that so much. Every time How?
00:38:20
Aniz Lavji
I have a customer that comes with her Honda cord. And I'm like, How are your Earth dreams doing?
00:38:26
Norm G
oh
00:38:27
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:38:27
Norm G
How your Earth Dreams drawing? Oh, my God. do you really want to do that? And he opened the hood you're like, oh, it's my God, it's Earth Dreams. I love it. I love the how you're placing this. And in the in this in this lovely, beautiful Lord, who are you Are you here? do you see my Earth Dreams car?
00:38:52
Norm G
It's amazing.
00:38:53
Aniz Lavji
yeah we
00:38:53
Norm G
I love
00:38:54
Aniz Lavji
yes with ah
00:38:57
Frank Wiebe
i don't know if i've ever had somebody the perfect representation of a mazda engine before
00:38:58
Norm G
I love it. I love it. Yes, yes. Is this it?
00:39:04
Aniz Lavji
mut
00:39:05
Norm G
as Did you see this? It's amazing.
00:39:08
Aniz Lavji
I feel like when she when she comes in next, I got to get the white gloves out and be like, so I ah forgot that this is the Earth Dreams day.
00:39:12
Norm G
Oh, my God. Earth dreams, car.
00:39:16
Aniz Lavji
So let me just, I don't want to get anything on your door handles.
00:39:16
Frank Wiebe
okay
00:39:16
Norm G
Wait. Wait. You have to make it like a holy thing. Like, whoa. Earth dreams? Oh, oh.
00:39:28
Norm G
Hang on.
00:39:28
Aniz Lavji
no
00:39:29
Frank Wiebe
That's crazy.
00:39:29
Norm G
Hang on.
00:39:29
Aniz Lavji
I'll
00:39:30
Frank Wiebe
I just...
00:39:35
Norm G
Like, dude, like the Simba thing.
00:39:39
Frank Wiebe
a ah We had a Honda Accord in today.
00:39:39
Aniz Lavji
have to make the video the next time.
00:39:43
Frank Wiebe
Stupid thing. We couldn't find pads for it. Like, what the heck? um of court Yeah, the front pads. Apparently, there's like four different options of front pads on a Honda Accord 2007. 2007?
00:39:55
Frank Wiebe
seven
00:39:56
Aniz Lavji
Well, that's your mistake right there. Oh seven.
00:39:59
Frank Wiebe
Dude, this thing was immaculate. I kid you not, not a spot of rust underneath.
00:40:01
Norm G
Yeah.
00:40:04
Frank Wiebe
Like, this is one of those cars where I lifted it up, and I'm like, whoever undercoated this, I want to hire them.
00:40:04
Norm G
You fucked up.
00:40:10
Frank Wiebe
This this thing is, like, beautiful.
00:40:12
Aniz Lavji
I haven't had anything under like 2013 come in in ages.
00:40:13
Norm G
Oh.
00:40:19
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, but do you live in a city. I live in rural country. People around here can't afford new cars.
00:40:22
Aniz Lavji
well i I'd love to get some of those older ones, right? Like, because all they know obviously there's more work and stuff on them, but man, 07?
00:40:29
Frank Wiebe
ah this this one this one had an exhaust repair came in for a safety exhaust repair a ball joint front pads that's it that's all it needed it's like i couldn't believe it the car was immaculate
00:40:29
Aniz Lavji
That's it?
00:40:37
Aniz Lavji
it
00:40:47
Norm G
How many miles?
00:40:47
Frank Wiebe
oh
00:40:48
Norm G
It's
00:40:49
Frank Wiebe
i don't know 220 something like that wasn't even high
00:40:53
Norm G
not bad.
00:40:53
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, it was a low mileage. But like I'm telling you, whoever owned it really, really took it. And it had a brand new oil change. Like like whoever sold it, just change the oil and then be like, oh, I just changed your oil. I want to sell it now.
00:41:06
Frank Wiebe
Like brand new oil in it. So I'm like, this is perfect.
00:41:09
Aniz Lavji
That's giving me earth dreams. I'll tell you that much.
00:41:11
Frank Wiebe
Oh, yeah. weapon I don't know who what the girl paid for when she bought it, but whatever, she got a good deal.
00:41:14
Norm G
k See? He gets it. f feels It feels a little bit dirty. When you say Earth Dreams, just give me Earth Dreams.
00:41:24
Frank Wiebe
Oh my gosh.
00:41:27
Norm G
Come on! Come on! You know what I'm talking about. I'm like, Earth Dreams.
00:41:31
Aniz Lavji
Oh God.
00:41:32
Norm G
Oh, I want to bang a vegetarian over your Honda. Oh.
00:41:40
Aniz Lavji
but what What I'm curious is where, where do they get the so off topic of of this, but like where where does earth dreams and then you've got sky active and then blue tech and
00:41:46
Norm G
Yeah, okay.
00:41:54
Frank Wiebe
Then Zoom Zoom.
00:41:54
Norm G
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:41:56
Aniz Lavji
at zoom zoom. It's like,
00:41:58
Norm G
No, no, no, no.
00:41:59
Aniz Lavji
It's like they watched an episode of anime or something and they just took some words that, you know, were in a scene like, ah, zoom, zoom.
00:42:00
Frank Wiebe
Who comes with these names?
00:42:06
Aniz Lavji
Oh, that sounds really good.
00:42:09
Norm G
Okay, well.
00:42:10
Frank Wiebe
They got into a slogan.
00:42:15
Aniz Lavji
Norm, what's your, uh, what's your plans? are you planning on another shop or you sticking with one or do you have more than one?
00:42:23
Norm G
Uh, actually the, uh, came to me with one, as an extension and then it was like, uh,
00:42:30
Aniz Lavji
Oh, we can't hear you. We got to go back to the mic. but Don't touch it too much because you'll end up turning it off again.
00:42:37
Norm G
um I'm turning it off again.
00:42:38
Aniz Lavji
There you go.
00:42:39
Frank Wiebe
Very good. It works.
00:42:41
Aniz Lavji
It works.
00:42:42
Norm G
so um, no, I don't think I'm going to do another one because what am going to do?
00:42:53
Frank Wiebe
AI clone yourself.
00:42:57
Norm G
No, my thing was...
00:42:58
Aniz Lavji
Only in your earth dreams, Frank.
00:43:04
Norm G
earth dreams They came to me and they said, hey, there's... They said, as OK Tire, corporately, they said, we have to acknowledge that you're going to have competition within five kilometers.
00:43:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:43:20
Norm G
they said, we'll give you first refusal. You want this one? I look at him like, oh my god They put in a tire shop like right next to a a daycare and a nail salon and the thing really like those St.
00:43:37
Aniz Lavji
Ooh.
00:43:40
Norm G
Albert things that you do, right? You plop a bunch of business down and then you go, that
00:43:48
Aniz Lavji
That sounds awesome.
00:43:51
Norm G
doesn't sound awesome.
00:43:52
Aniz Lavji
Yes, you you you make deals with the nail salon. If they come in and buy a set of tires, you get your nails done.
00:43:56
Norm G
Fuck off.
00:43:58
Aniz Lavji
Who doesn't want a pedicure and get their tires at the same time?
00:43:58
Norm G
oh
00:44:01
Norm G
No, my thing is like I'm a repair facility. You come into my shop. I'm going to fix everything but broken hearts. Everything you bring into me, I'll fix it.
00:44:11
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, but then they get their therapy at the nail salon after you give them the bill.
00:44:12
Norm G
That one.
00:44:20
Aniz Lavji
See, it all goes hand in hand. And then they can pick up their kids from the daycare, right? Because they can't handle their kids right now because you give them such a large bill.
00:44:27
Norm G
Okay. Okay.
00:44:31
Aniz Lavji
Then they get the bill from the nail salon and then they got to pay the daycare.
00:44:32
Norm G
Now. Right.
00:44:35
Aniz Lavji
It's all hand in hand.
00:44:35
Norm G
Right.
00:44:36
Frank Wiebe
Bye.
00:44:36
Aniz Lavji
You missed it.
00:44:40
Norm G
My thing was my wife and i bless her soul, when she was alive, her and I were talking about like she was a master stylist. She was a master hairstylist.
00:44:52
Norm G
So, like, why don't we do... you bring your You drive up.
00:44:59
Norm G
You go in, get a blowout, get a color, do the thing, and then because you're here, why don't we change your oil? Oh, that'd be great. Change your oil. Oh my God, you need your brakes. Oh, we should do brakes while I'm getting my blow out in my fucking California. hey You know, land la la ah they're there anyway.
00:45:22
Norm G
ah My thing, where that came from was like, these women will sit at the salon for three fucking hours to have beautification process going on.
00:45:32
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:45:33
Norm G
What can I do to your car in three hours?
00:45:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:36
Norm G
A lot. Yeah.
00:45:37
Frank Wiebe
A lot.
00:45:38
Aniz Lavji
yeah yeahp
00:45:40
Norm G
A lot.
00:45:40
Frank Wiebe
They'll sit there for three sit there for three hours and get their hair done and nails done and whatever. But if you have to sit in your shop for more than 20 minutes while you're working on your car, oh, what's taking so long?
00:45:45
Norm G
Right.
00:45:51
Norm G
Well, it's taking so long. So, and you go, who's going to argue with that? Like, you need breaks? You want breaks? Like, not like...
00:46:00
Frank Wiebe
No.
00:46:02
Norm G
corruptively, but like, ah genuinely, you need breaks, go get your nails done, go get a blowout, we'll fix your breaks, like,
00:46:04
Frank Wiebe
No, but...
00:46:11
Frank Wiebe
But then you're just taking double advantage of them. You're stealing their money for getting the hair done. Then you're stealing their money doing the doing the race.
00:46:18
Norm G
mostular no nice not stealing, not stealing, appreciating, absolutely developing,
00:46:18
Frank Wiebe
not now they feel Now they feel extra screwed because that – I appreciate it. Okay.
00:46:27
Aniz Lavji
Yes.
00:46:31
Aniz Lavji
You're suggesting that it's a good idea to have rubber on the tires. if you want to be able to go to that daycare five kilometers down the road to pick up the kids. Do you love them?
00:46:42
Frank Wiebe
it's um It's amazing what people will take as a priority. Like the priority of getting your nails done or getting your hair done over getting brakes put on.
00:46:46
Norm G
Terrible.
00:46:51
Frank Wiebe
Like, yeah.
00:46:51
Norm G
Yeah.
00:46:52
Aniz Lavji
Oh, I had customer a few weeks ago that needed four tires and they said, it's a little tight right now.
00:46:54
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:47:01
Aniz Lavji
can you just put my spare on? So I popped the trunk and there's like 800 bucks worth of empties in there. And I'm like, and I asked him, I'm like, so I mean, yeah, I was like, so gotta, I gotta put your tire somewhere.
00:47:12
Norm G
Are you serious?
00:47:18
Aniz Lavji
Cause your back seats, you know, filled with Costco. Um, so ah yeah, Where would you like me to put your blown out tire?
00:47:29
Aniz Lavji
if You've got Jack Daniels, the Cavossier, and the Crown there.
00:47:29
Norm G
Yeah.
00:47:34
Aniz Lavji
you want just put them on top of them? Because I don't want to put on top of the $160 worth of return you're going to get there. Yeah, I know.
00:47:43
Norm G
a
00:47:43
Aniz Lavji
I'm going need to do that for a few weeks. So, yeah.
00:47:47
Norm G
Oh man.
00:47:48
Aniz Lavji
Or you'll get the guy. just put the cheapest thing on my vehicle? It's just my wife driving.
00:47:54
Frank Wiebe
yeah Oh, I hate that. I get so angry when I hear that.
00:47:57
Aniz Lavji
do you have kids?
00:47:58
Norm G
Why?
00:47:59
Aniz Lavji
Yes. I'm like, do you like them?
00:48:05
Aniz Lavji
Yes. I'm like, I want something that's decent.
00:48:06
Norm G
You like your children? You built them. Yeah.
00:48:10
Aniz Lavji
Why do you want to put on the $99 special round and black that barely made it, you know, with the pass sticker on the tire, just put something on good. She only goes, you know, five kilometers a day. I'm like,
00:48:25
Frank Wiebe
Who cares? Five kilometers a day, a lot can happen.
00:48:27
Aniz Lavji
I'm
00:48:29
Frank Wiebe
They always say that the most accidents happen within a kilometer of your house. so
00:48:33
Norm G
Yeah, yeah.
00:48:33
Aniz Lavji
telling you.
00:48:34
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:48:34
Norm G
i agree with i agree with that.
00:48:34
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, you understand exactly
00:48:35
Norm G
i agree with that.
00:48:38
Aniz Lavji
But you know, being like your your heavy duty into tires, nor I'm sure you've heard every excuse not to put tires on too.
00:48:47
Norm G
To not put tires on? Um...
00:48:50
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah.
00:48:51
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, they come in and say, well, you know, they're not that bad. i could Could I go another three months with it? Could I go another?
00:48:57
Aniz Lavji
There's only eight wires coming out of it, not ten.
00:49:01
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. ah Like, can i get can and I go to the end of the summer?
00:49:05
Norm G
Yeah. can these Can these make me? like well Well, my whole premise is like maintenance management, right?
00:49:10
Frank Wiebe
Depends.
00:49:13
Norm G
like It's all about you come to me and I'll tell you, like you don't need to do breaks right now. Like can Canadian Tire and all those guys are like, do it right now.
00:49:23
Frank Wiebe
Yep. Yep.
00:49:24
Norm G
I can't believe you have your kids in this car. It's crazy. You should do this.
00:49:27
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:49:28
Norm G
But like, no, you should do your breaks. If it's August, you should do your breaks in September. Right? I'll call you back on that one. But as far as tires go, I'm like, oh my God. Like...
00:49:47
Norm G
Stop. Stop. Like, what... it Well, that seems like a lot. and Like, why? Why does that seem like a lot? Well, I don't want to spend that much.
00:49:58
Frank Wiebe
That's the only reason.
00:49:59
Norm G
Right?
00:49:59
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, no it's never a lot of unfairness.
00:50:00
Norm G
That's not a reason.
00:50:01
Aniz Lavji
It's expensive to you.
00:50:01
Norm G
Right?
00:50:02
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:50:02
Norm G
I don't want to spend that much.
00:50:04
Norm G
I'm like, whoa well, and do you put your child in this car?
00:50:04
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:50:06
Frank Wiebe
yep
00:50:10
Norm G
Yes.
00:50:10
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:50:10
Norm G
Okay, well, but here's here's where we go. We go decent tires. I'm not going to recommend. Oh, can you have something cheaper? Like, yeah, I can recommend Trinesium tires all day long.
00:50:25
Norm G
ah
00:50:25
Aniz Lavji
There are some good Chinesium ones out there.
00:50:26
Norm G
But, oh, man. But I'm like, if you want something
Industry Challenges and Business Philosophies
00:50:33
Frank Wiebe
reliable.
00:50:34
Norm G
reliable, thing, and Chinese imposter, fine.
00:50:40
Norm G
But if yeah if I'm going to recommend something that's not going to come back to my doorstep in 12,000 kilometers, awesome.
00:50:50
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:50:50
Frank Wiebe
I just always tell we just tell people, these are the ones that we highly recommend because these are the best and people don't come back and complain about them.
00:50:50
Aniz Lavji
they
00:50:51
Norm G
I'll do that.
00:50:57
Frank Wiebe
This is what I recommend you should put on your vehicle.
00:51:00
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:51:00
Frank Wiebe
Or if you don't like this one, we can put this one on.
00:51:04
Norm G
Yeah.
00:51:05
Frank Wiebe
Oh, no. Yeah, that's good. I like that price. Yeah, let's go with that one.
00:51:08
Aniz Lavji
I mean, there's brown and black, or there's something that's got decent name on it.
00:51:08
Frank Wiebe
If you give them that option, don't go down here. Forget that shit. No. we We stay away from the bottom of the barrel.
00:51:15
Norm G
Well.
00:51:17
Frank Wiebe
I just, even any parts, tires, suspension, steering suspension parts, um any parts, we stay away from that bottom of the barrel, like that cheap white box stuff, that whatever.
00:51:28
Norm G
Yeah.
00:51:28
Frank Wiebe
little need
00:51:28
Aniz Lavji
Oh, that's garbage.
00:51:29
Frank Wiebe
We don't even offer it anymore.
00:51:31
Norm G
What are you guys?
00:51:31
Frank Wiebe
Don't even.
00:51:31
Aniz Lavji
When it comes to tires, like,
00:51:32
Norm G
guys Okay, so what do you guys think all of bringing parts in?
00:51:37
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:51:39
Norm G
No.
00:51:40
Aniz Lavji
No, go somewhere else.
00:51:40
Frank Wiebe
No. It's
00:51:44
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, that's that's it.
00:51:45
Frank Wiebe
but it It kind of depends, but we've we've pretty much made it.
00:51:45
Aniz Lavji
No. yeah The only depends is going to be the underwear that I hand them and be like, here you go. There's no depends. Yeah, no, no, no. you ring your You don't take your own beef patty to McDonald's and ask for the bun.
00:51:55
Frank Wiebe
Nope.
00:51:58
Aniz Lavji
No, sorry.
00:52:00
Frank Wiebe
ah
00:52:01
Norm G
I like this. This is brilliant, man.
00:52:03
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:52:03
Norm G
I love this.
00:52:05
Frank Wiebe
ah But there's what the problem is. And, you know, thing is that that's going to become more of a thing as more online businesses start happening. And I heard.
00:52:14
Aniz Lavji
and Amazon.
00:52:15
Frank Wiebe
just Yeah, because there's there's American companies that are buying up Canadian parts stores and.
00:52:23
Aniz Lavji
Oh,
00:52:24
Frank Wiebe
they're going to start selling a lot of parts to just the DIYer. And people are either going to like, bring it in or do it yourself. And they're like, I'm not paying those prices anymore. I'm not paying price, whatever.
00:52:34
Aniz Lavji
for I love it. I love it when they try to put their own brakes on and then they put the pad on backwards, they tow it in.
00:52:36
Frank Wiebe
and
00:52:41
Aniz Lavji
But the car is not stopping. Oh, you know, have solution for you.
00:52:44
Frank Wiebe
Yep. Yep.
00:52:47
Aniz Lavji
It's $1.49 an hour and I'll call you back at 4.15 when it's ready. at four fifteen
00:52:53
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
00:52:53
Aniz Lavji
when it's ready
00:52:54
Frank Wiebe
Yep. one Yep. And then you get to charge of what you need to charge to get the job done right, especially if they've already played with it and screwed it up, right?
00:52:59
Norm G
all right all right all right all here's the next discussion
00:53:06
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:53:09
Norm G
right to repair okay come on go you guys are very vocal on like uh
00:53:11
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:53:20
Norm G
ah Like, don't bring me your parts. As business owners, I totally get that. And I'm fully absorbent of that. But right to repair.
00:53:29
Frank Wiebe
let's see what yours What you're saying is then why are we so fighting the dealer so that we can repair stuff that's still under warranty or get information from the dealer?
00:53:30
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:53:38
Norm G
Why can't I get an information to the dealer? Yeah, exactly.
00:53:41
Frank Wiebe
Because the dealer can't do it themselves and customers can't do it themselves, so they still got to bring it to us.
00:53:46
Norm G
Oh, whoa, whoa. You said can't, they can not allow you to do that.
00:53:52
Aniz Lavji
They just don't want to give us the influence.
00:53:55
Norm G
So, so ah how does that work? How does that work?
00:53:59
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. And that's and that's why that's why we're losing a lot of text to the dealer because they're scooping up all the text because they have to if they're going to keep the right to repair to themselves and they're not going to give us access to it.
00:54:11
Frank Wiebe
Eventually, on the aftermarket, we're only going to be able to do so much. So that's why all the texts are getting oh bought up by the aw up by the dealerships so that we can do their work.
00:54:18
Norm G
Okay. Okay. Question. Hey, question. Okay. Question.
00:54:25
Norm G
Is it better to have like me? I'm going to, I'm going to, going to it from the, my point of view. My posit is you need to understand all the attributions of all the other applications of how to do your job.
00:54:48
Norm G
And that makes you a better tech. And the counterpoint to that is I don't want to know what the other techs know. I want to hang brakes all day long and make decisions two hours over one hour on flat rate all day long.
00:55:08
Norm G
Is it better as a tech to know something
00:55:15
Norm G
diversified or is it better to make more money
00:55:20
Aniz Lavji
I'm not a tech, so this is this is for Frank.
00:55:20
Frank Wiebe
Depends on where you're going to go with your career.
00:55:22
Aniz Lavji
Frank, you you can take this one.
00:55:24
Frank Wiebe
Depends on where you're going to go with your career. if you If you're playing on every all you want to do is be an installer. And like you said, you can hang brakes all day long. You can make good money doing it.
00:55:33
Norm G
Yeah, I agree.
00:55:33
Frank Wiebe
But you're not going to hang brakes all day long, right?
00:55:34
Norm G
All
00:55:36
Frank Wiebe
you're going to need to know how to do the other stuff. Because if all you're all you rely on is is you're going to be brake installer, steering suspension, brakes, tires, if that's all you do and you never learn how to actually repair a car, diagnose a car, or something like that, you're not going to get very far.
00:55:53
Aniz Lavji
Unless, unless you're...
00:55:53
Norm G
right.
00:55:53
Frank Wiebe
you're You're always going to be
00:55:54
Norm G
Or wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you going to get far or are you going to get satiated?
00:56:04
Norm G
Like, I don't want to go further.
00:56:08
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
00:56:08
Norm G
Frank, I love you, man. I want to hang brakes all day long. Is it worse as a mechanic? As a mechanic, you you three know what I'm talking about. I want to be a better mechanic. I want to be all these things. I want to do all the things. I want do Diagon.
00:56:27
Norm G
But... If some guy came to you and said, I don't want to be a better mechanic, Frank. I just want to make all the money and i want to hang brakes all day long. Is that worse or better?
00:56:39
Frank Wiebe
if If you have... You know what? I don't know if that's worse or better, but I guarantee you that if I had a guy come and said, that's what I want to do, and I had the i had the workflow in to come do that, I'm giving it to you.
00:56:50
Aniz Lavji
Yep. yep
00:56:52
Frank Wiebe
If that's what you want to do, and especially if you're not working on a flat rate. If you're working on a flat rate shop, yeah you got to kind of help
00:56:59
Norm G
i yeah I think it means... I think it needs to be a flat race job to make this point cogent.
00:57:06
Frank Wiebe
No, I see what you mean. But then... then I don't know. I've never worked in a flat rate shop, so I wouldn't understand how that goes. But, yeah, if you had a guy like that, because then then you're going to talk, well, is it fair in the shop?
00:57:11
Norm G
Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:17
Frank Wiebe
Or this one guy, all he does is breaks and he's making a killing and this other guy gets to the diagnostic and he gets the recalls and stuff like that and he's not making.
00:57:28
Frank Wiebe
So, yeah, you're you're not going to able to do it.
00:57:31
Norm G
okay Okay. I'm going to... Okay. Sorry, man. What do you think?
00:57:38
Aniz Lavji
I think if a shop wants to further themselves and do the Diag and have all the knowledge, then I mean, yeah, it would be it would be awesome if we could get all the information that we we need from the manufacturers to fix that vehicle.
00:57:58
Aniz Lavji
Now, if there is a shop that just wants to stay on you know Highway not exit
00:57:58
Norm G
Yeah.
00:58:06
Norm G
Yeah. Ken.
00:58:07
Aniz Lavji
mean that's fine. Then you do what you do and you don't deviate and get into stuff that you are not experienced enough to get into.
00:58:17
Aniz Lavji
Because sometimes a lot of these shops that get into these, excuse me, these diags that should not be diagging vehicles, period, then don't even think about, well, obviously think about right to re repair because I think it's important, but
00:58:25
Norm G
friend
00:58:31
Aniz Lavji
Don't think about going and veering off into an area that you should not be in, period. Stay in your lane, fix the cars that you've been doing for all the years, and gain more experience on fixing them even better than you already have.
00:58:50
Aniz Lavji
But Don't try to be something you're not. If you are not a Diag okay, you scan your codes and you do what you can.
00:58:54
Norm G
Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:02
Aniz Lavji
Don't try to get too nitty-gritty because you're going up screwing up the car because you will not have the right information that you're trying to look for and you're only depending on Identifix to fix the car, which Identifix is not going to fix all the cars. It's going to give you a great direction and say, hey, you know,
00:59:23
Aniz Lavji
675 people said that you should not fix a Chevy Cruze.
00:59:25
Norm G
yeah
00:59:26
Aniz Lavji
I mean, said that you should not do this to do this.
00:59:26
Norm G
ah Don't fuck with the timing change on this one. Yeah, exactly.
00:59:32
Aniz Lavji
but But, you know, honestly, I'm not a mechanic. I'm i'm a shop owner, but I've been doing this about 20 years. And I, for one, never try to step on my tech's toes. But sometimes I will myself tell him that,
00:59:46
Aniz Lavji
this vehicle that's come in for this particular repair is not really in our realm. It's not something that we do all the time.
00:59:53
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, so
00:59:55
Aniz Lavji
So I'm okay with telling the customer that, hey, this is not something we do, but I can either, you know, send it somewhere that I know that can tell us what's going on with it and then we can fix it.
01:00:10
Aniz Lavji
But I don't want to... irresponsibly spend your money guessing and trying to fix the car because that is not ethical.
01:00:20
Frank Wiebe
Exactly.
01:00:20
Aniz Lavji
If I take it to the you know Bob over there that has you know a great scan tool and has a guy that has the
01:00:20
Norm G
No, exactly.
01:00:30
Aniz Lavji
capacity to say, okay, well that vehicle, it needs a, you know, a O2 sensor, this one, not this one because of this. And this is the problem.
01:00:41
Aniz Lavji
Okay. Well here, Bob, I'm going to pay you for your time because i don't want nothing for free because it doesn't work that way. Unless we have a system and we're bartering. That's another story.
01:00:51
Aniz Lavji
But here's your money for your time. I charge Joe over here. This is what happened and this is what your car needs.
01:00:55
Frank Wiebe
See
01:00:58
Aniz Lavji
And this is what it's going to cost to fix it. And I am confident because I took it somewhere that knows this vehicle and they said this is the problem. Not I'm pretty sure.
01:01:11
Frank Wiebe
z
01:01:11
Aniz Lavji
That's what we have to do in this industry is not try to throw parts at the vehicle If you can't do it, ask Bob that's been doing 6,000 these, get the correct information if you're not able to procure the correct information.
01:01:27
Aniz Lavji
I think a lot of mechanics... don't do that and they step out of their lane. Like we don't do a lot of diet because I know that it's sometimes it may be a guess unless we are a hundred percent sure we don't get into it. We'll either farm it out or tell them, look, go here, get a diet on it and bring it back to me and let me know. And we'll be more than happy to look at it for you.
01:01:51
Frank Wiebe
So you always tell me about, like you said earlier, stay in your lane, right? One of the things you always like, hey, I should get an alignment rack. And that's just at one point I might.
01:01:58
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:02:00
Frank Wiebe
But right now, it's not in my wheelhouse of things that I can do or want to do. Yeah.
01:02:06
Aniz Lavji
Space is a big issue too, right? Like, I completely understand that too, Frank.
01:02:12
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. Yeah. If I, if, if I had the room, like I say, if I had the room for an alignment rack, I would do it, but it's definitely not the first thing that I would do. You know, if I needed to build my business a little further right now, it wouldn't be an alignment rack because.
01:02:26
Aniz Lavji
I'd probably, you'd be needing another two posts would make sense to you.
01:02:29
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. i I need another two points for sure is what I need just to get cars in and out. But for me, I'm like, It's not what I can do efficiently and make really good money at.
01:02:41
Frank Wiebe
I can do all the other things I can do real quick and then just send the alignment out, right? Same with same with like programming and stuff like that.
01:02:45
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:02:47
Frank Wiebe
We don't do any in-house programming because I'm like, man, the – Yeah, you could do it all through basically one computer, but you have to have subscriptions to all this other stuff. Like for what I do with it, why don't I just hire it out? got a couple of mobile guys that come around and and just do it that way. So so you don't have to be everything to everybody. You just have to be able to, like you said, if you can't supply the service, say, hey, I know Joe down the road. He can do that service. I had a guy in today with a 65 Buick Electra.
01:03:20
Norm G
Thank you.
01:03:21
Frank Wiebe
Beautiful, beautiful car. And, um, yeah, ah it's a boat.
01:03:24
Aniz Lavji
that a VCR? What is that? Is that is that a vcr or what What is that?
01:03:29
Frank Wiebe
Let me tell you, it's a ship. It's a warship. And, uh, he's like, you know, it just doesn't always start right all the time. And, and, uh, and I don't know, maybe I'll need the carburetor rebuild or something like that. And i said, look, I know a guy I can recommend to you does amazing work with carburetors.
01:03:45
Frank Wiebe
I don't, I, it's just not what I do. I, bev Bev reminded me that on on Wednesday when he was there, the guy that got me my first job. He's 90 years old. he said He said the one time he had given me a job and said, hey, go adjust that carburetor on that Grand Marquis. And I had gone out and I looked and I come back and I had told him, said, you do realize that carburetors were extinct before I was born.
01:04:12
Frank Wiebe
He had looked at me and he's like, okay. I guess it wasn't quite like that. I was i was a few years older than that. But anyways, like I never worked on a carburetor. So I'm like, I just don't. I never learned. I never did. So that's I don't do that.
01:04:27
Frank Wiebe
Customer comes in with an old carburetor car. I'm sorry. I don't do that. I'll do all the other work for you, but I will happily recommend this guy for you and he'll do an amazing job for you.
01:04:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:04:37
Frank Wiebe
And I think it's always like that, even with a brand new car, right? New car comes in, somebody comes in, hey I've got this electric car that's got a noise or whatever, or it's got a warning light on. I'm sorry, I don't work on that.
01:04:50
Frank Wiebe
I just got a text before we started the podcast for Melody. She's pulling, replacing a battery in a Hummer EV. And I'm like,
01:04:58
Norm G
Yeah.
Small Business Realities and Strategies
01:04:59
Frank Wiebe
good for you.
01:04:59
Frank Wiebe
Good for her that she's able to do that.
01:05:01
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:05:01
Frank Wiebe
But for me, for us...
01:05:02
Norm G
Crazy. That's fucking mental.
01:05:04
Aniz Lavji
Man, I got a messenger. I want pictures.
01:05:06
Norm G
Yeah, that's that's not a win financially.
01:05:10
Frank Wiebe
no
01:05:11
Norm G
and Anyway, that's terrible.
01:05:12
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. and And just to be, just, just to have the, have the, be able to do that, the ability to do that costs so much money. So it's not worth it. So some, some things just aren't worth it. Right.
01:05:25
Frank Wiebe
And especially if you're only like, use it like you, Norm, if you're, you're only a, yeah i don't know how many bays you have, but you're just a three or four of you in your shop.
01:05:25
Norm G
Okay. Okay.
01:05:33
Frank Wiebe
There's only so much that you can do.
01:05:33
Norm G
Yeah.
01:05:36
Norm G
Exactly right.
01:05:36
Frank Wiebe
Right.
01:05:37
Aniz Lavji
But, but you know, Norm, like I'm sure you can understand.
01:05:37
Norm G
Exactly right.
01:05:43
Aniz Lavji
and I, again, I don't speak for mechanics. I'm not one, but for the way I look at it is it's okay for a tech to send out, to say, I can't do this. Or, you know, tell the boss like, and he's, you know, let's, let's send this out to Bob over there. Cause he'll know what's wrong with it and then I'll fix it.
01:06:02
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
01:06:02
Aniz Lavji
But, We got to have the have the humility just be like, man, this is not something I do.
01:06:03
Norm G
Yeah.
01:06:08
Aniz Lavji
It's okay for us not to know everything.
01:06:09
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
01:06:13
Frank Wiebe
Exactly. Yep.
01:06:14
Aniz Lavji
Right? yeah We got to be okay with that. There's nothing wrong with it. We can't know everything.
01:06:19
Norm G
great
01:06:20
Aniz Lavji
But, you know, one... um and And one other thing is sometimes when we get into these vehicles that we think we can fix, but we have a little inkling in the back of our mind, we're like...
01:06:28
Norm G
ah
01:06:32
Aniz Lavji
this could be a can of worms. And I think I'm going I think I'm to eat crap on this job, but I still kind of want to do it.
01:06:34
Norm G
Can of worms. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
01:06:40
Aniz Lavji
and And whenever I get that feeling, I think back, um and Norm, I'm not sure if you listen to changing the industry podcast.
01:06:49
Norm G
Yeah.
01:06:49
Aniz Lavji
So I think, i think back at Lucas Underwood and then he's got a little saying, he's like, you shouldn't step over dollars to pick up pennies.
01:06:58
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
01:06:58
Norm G
Yeah.
01:06:59
Aniz Lavji
And that just rings in my head every time I get an inkling of this is just going to be a crapshoot.
01:07:06
Norm G
Okay, I'm going to tell you a thing.
01:07:07
Aniz Lavji
know
01:07:10
Norm G
I'm going to talk to you directly and we'll expect Frank to listen and not comment.
01:07:18
Aniz Lavji
That's a lot of work for him.
01:07:20
Norm G
ah So as a mechanic, you go, oh man, there would be, were what you just what you just said is absolutely true. Like we we're going to do things that like, oh,
01:07:36
Norm G
Trippin' over pennies to save a dollar. We're not gonna do that. i well I will, I will posit,
01:07:50
Norm G
trippin' over there, dollars to save a penny. That thing is a mechanics shop owner nemesis.
01:08:01
Norm G
ah It is. Because I will go, if someone goes, is this a thing that you can do? I'm like, I will invest
01:08:12
Norm G
in an annoying amount of hours. I will annoy, I will invest an annoying amount of hours to go, like i need to know this. Irrespective of what I can charge this customer, I will just want to know what the fuck is wrong with your fucking car.
01:08:29
Aniz Lavji
Well, you know what the problem norm is? is you it's It's like having that hero mentality, right?
01:08:35
Norm G
Yeah, it's not good.
01:08:35
Aniz Lavji
It's like, know what? I'm the one that fixed this car and nobody else can fix it, but I fixed that car.
01:08:36
Norm G
It's not good business. It's not good. Yeah. I fixed
01:08:42
Aniz Lavji
I charged the customer two and a half hours. It took me six, but I fixed it.
01:08:45
Norm G
it.
01:08:48
Aniz Lavji
And it's horrible for business.
01:08:48
Norm G
i You know what it is? Watch this. Watch this. This is how it goes. fixed it. Not you. Not you. Not you.
01:08:59
Norm G
Me. I fixed it.
01:09:02
Norm G
That's worth something.
01:09:02
Frank Wiebe
you
01:09:03
Aniz Lavji
And I'm so glad that I made $250 for the six hours I invested into it.
01:09:04
Norm G
And
01:09:10
Aniz Lavji
But I'm the one that I can beat my chest and tell all my three friends that I fixed it.
01:09:17
Frank Wiebe
You know very well that we do this job because we feel proud of what we do. And when we fix it, we can go and be proud of what we did.
01:09:22
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
01:09:24
Norm G
to do? We're going lose our ass because of that. I premise the validation of finding something wrong
01:09:34
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
01:09:35
Norm G
more than the financial cause. But I also can look at everybody else going like, there's all these people in the background going like, you need to make high turnover, high profit, high things.
01:09:50
Norm G
When I do something, when I look at a thing, and I'm like, I spend 47 hours to figure it out. I'll charge that customer. i'm like, it's only half an hour because you know why
01:10:05
Frank Wiebe
yeah
01:10:06
Norm G
because i fucking found it oh a drinking that's a shit for
01:10:12
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:10:15
Frank Wiebe
ye yeah well now we got to be careful we got to be careful what we sell in the jobs that we do because if we don't do the right jobs we're not going to be profitable but we're just going wasting time right so that's why i say everyone if you
01:10:16
Norm G
That's not business good. That's not business good.
01:10:21
Aniz Lavji
No.
01:10:22
Norm G
That's not good. That's not good.
01:10:30
Norm G
No, no. All the other people in my shop make money.
01:10:35
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, you got to.
01:10:36
Norm G
Once
01:10:37
Frank Wiebe
Yeah, well, you stay in the lane of what you're good at, right?
01:10:38
Norm G
The mods that can dig into? Yeah.
01:10:42
Frank Wiebe
You're good at, you're good at you guys both, you're good at selling tires. That's what you that's what you build your business on. For me, I do safety checks, man. That's what I build my business on. I safety check all day long, sometimes like up to five a day, right?
01:10:53
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:10:55
Frank Wiebe
So if I safety check five a day, There's money in every single safety check, whether it's just a safety check and they don't need nothing or whether it needs like the one today, a ball joint, brakes, and exhaust repair. There's some money right there.
01:11:09
Norm G
That's self-referration.
01:11:09
Aniz Lavji
I can't even a safety for like two weeks.
01:11:09
Frank Wiebe
So that's what we're good at. That's what we do lot of.
01:11:12
Aniz Lavji
for like two weeks
01:11:14
Frank Wiebe
Yeah. So you just got to stay in your lane and do what you do best and keep it going.
01:11:18
Aniz Lavji
Exactly. but
Podcast Conclusion
01:11:21
Aniz Lavji
Norm, this has been a lot of fun, man. I think ah we've been going on over an hour now, but I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. And we definitely will have you back on and kind of get an update on your second and third and ninth location, maybe down the line.
01:11:39
Norm G
Second and ninth location?
01:11:41
Frank Wiebe
Yeah.
01:11:42
Norm G
That's a large jump, man.
01:11:43
Aniz Lavji
Take over your whole area, man.
01:11:43
Norm G
Yeah.
01:11:44
Frank Wiebe
yeah There you go.
01:11:46
Aniz Lavji
And, you know, add a daycare in each one of them too.
01:11:47
Norm G
Yeah.
01:11:48
Aniz Lavji
Why not? ah But, but thanks a lot, man. We really appreciate you coming on and yeah, just hang on tight after we finish, but thank you.
01:11:53
Frank Wiebe
Yep.
01:11:56
Frank Wiebe
Good.
01:12:00
Aniz Lavji
And thank you for all listeners. Appreciate it Please join us on Facebook. Just search for the shop and tread talk podcast and signing off. Thanks guys.
01:12:10
Norm G
guys