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Ep 32 - Dan Thieken | Dealerships Are Prone To Lying
89 Plays8 hours ago
Dan Thieken is the owner of Kreager Tire and Service in Millersport, Ohio. Today, Dan talks through losing nearly his entire staff in a VERY short period, but somehow kept the shop afloat.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Dan's Shop and an Update
13:42 Lack of Communication Criticized
18:04 Aftermarket Shop Offers Better Opportunities
26:33 Ted's Blunt Conversation on Expectations
28:31 Health Insurance Search for Team
37:28 Conflict of Interest Avoided
43:02 "Unwarranted Expense: $6,000 Bottle"
49:26 Helping Cousin's Demo Class Thursday
55:06 Mentorship Transforms New Shop Owners
58:21 Prioritizing Family Over Work
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Show Disclaimer
00:00:00
Speaker
He said, um I was calling you because i was hoping that you would bring me back to your shop. was calling you because turns out $100 an hour times zero hours is still $0. And I said, well, tell me about that, Evan.
00:00:13
Speaker
And he's like, well, the dealership lied to me. I said, you don't say.
00:00:19
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.
00:00:34
Speaker
There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, it's time for Confessions of a Shop Owner, with your host, Mike Allen.
Meet the Guest: Dan Teakin
00:00:51
Speaker
Before we get into total shenanigans, I wanted to talk about... know what? Back up. Why don't you give us a quick introduction, who you are, your shop, where you are, and then we'll go into the spiciness of the last 90 days.
00:01:10
Speaker
I can't wait. So my name is Dan... Dan Teakin. I own Craigor Tire and Service in Millersport, Ohio, which is about 30 miles east of Columbus.
00:01:23
Speaker
Okay. Roughly. um How big is your shop? a What is that?
00:01:32
Speaker
Just give me a bay number. yeah I don't need square feet. How many bayes? 50 by 80, four bays. Those bays include two two posts, one extended Challenger open front,
00:01:43
Speaker
And then one Hunter open front alignment rack. Nice. He's got it all. Hunter? don't have Because only the best. Yeah, so our relationship with Hunter has been, and I mean, when I started there in 96, David Kreger had a Hunter alignment machine, and that's all I've known.
00:02:04
Speaker
Was it a P411? Couldn't tell you, Brian. Oh, Yes, they all were. And now now you can buy them for $3,000 on Facebook Marketplace because they haven't had much. thousand dollars i don't I don't think I'd give someone $300 for one of them things. That'd be a ripoff for $3,000.
00:02:20
Speaker
Yeah. They're scrap metal. Yeah. um No, man, it's similar. My dad always had Hunter equipment. um And I've got um've got a 26-year-old four-post drive-on, liner lift, and the big shop that still gets used every day.
00:02:38
Speaker
You know, we just maintain it, and it's it's awesome. We put cables on it last year. We had a locker that needed some service earlier this year, but, man, they're just workhorses. Well, the problem with maintaining – four post lifts specifically is that shop was built as a drive-through feed mill like a seed store right um there are no drains and we're in on we're in ohio um so you have the rain the rainy days the wet snowy melt winter that includes salt right so um they can rust real easily from the underside so i can assure you although i've done well with this last hunter wreck
00:03:20
Speaker
um I would imagine that my racket replacement interval is probably a little more frequent than most shops, at least the four posts or the dry one.
00:03:33
Speaker
That's probably fair. In the rust belt, everything's worse yes on on material, equipment, cars, everything else. so It's great. guys live with that stuff. that's ah We don't have rust. We have like but have down at the beach rust, and it's not anything compared to the rust that you all got.
00:03:50
Speaker
I don't think places like Brian, where Brian lives and where Markham lives, they even bother salt in the roads. Do they, Brian?
Equipment and Maintenance Challenges
00:03:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're... yeah Huge salt consumer.
00:04:03
Speaker
You gotcha. I just condemned a 2018 Chevy today. There was so much frame rot. Oh my God. I mean, it needed an engine too and an evaporator core. And I said, you know what? I'll make this decision easy for this guy. Lifted up in the air and took a picture between the gas tank and the frame there. I said, there you go. I have a nice day.
00:04:21
Speaker
Was that part your 300% inspection, Brian? Yeah. 300. It's 300% inspection. brian yeah three hundred three hundred percent inspection I'm just going to go ahead and put that out there. I think we've said this before, but the 300% rule is bullshit and it's bad for your business.
00:04:37
Speaker
Anyway, we can all agree on that we'll just move on. Yes.
00:04:45
Speaker
If you're starting out, 300% rule can be good for you because it helps you get way better. But if you're firing on all cylinders, the 300% rule is bad for your business. You got to cover your right.
00:04:56
Speaker
Anybody who disagrees is wrong. Anybody who, this is not a debate. I'm right and you're wrong.
00:05:04
Speaker
All right. We got distracted. Back to, back to, back to Dan. Yeah. This is going to happen several times over the next hour. Um, what, uh, What happened in the last three months, bro?
00:05:17
Speaker
Is that about the time frame? Because I've actually lost track
Optimizing Shop Processes with TechMetric
00:05:20
Speaker
of time. Running a shop for 20 years teaches you a lot, like how outdated systems can make your job a lot harder than it needs to be. I used to deal with slow check-ins, clunky estimates, wasted time chasing down updates.
00:05:32
Speaker
Then I switched to TechMetric. It's an all-in-one cloud-based SMS that lets me run my shop from anywhere it streamlines my estimating process, keeps customers in a loop with real-time updates.
00:05:43
Speaker
I'm not telling you that it was all TechMetric, but I'm telling you that TechMetric was a big part of it. Since I switched to TechMetric, my average repair order four years ago was 293. And right now it's 916. That's Not luck.
00:05:56
Speaker
It's better processes, faster workflow, speed of service that's facilitated by this technology helps me get higher and better authorizations for my customers.
00:06:07
Speaker
If you're ready for a shop management system that actually works for you, tap the link in the show notes and check out TechMetric. You're going to like what you see. So I want to talk to you for a second about the marketing service that I use, Turnkey Auto Marketing or Turnkey Marketing. They are like an in-house marketing director, but they have a whole team that back you up.
00:06:27
Speaker
Here's the deal. I'm really good, I think, at building relationships with customers and educating them and informing them on their needs. And I think I'm okay at running a shop. What I'm not good at is managing my marketing. And that's why i choose to be more effective, more efficient, more successful with marketing by having a true professional handle it. And that's what turnkey marketing does for me.
00:06:48
Speaker
Everything from website management, Google AdWord management, SEO reporting management, they know what is good and what is not when I don't and that type of thing. And so they can help represent me in a way that I'm not able to.
00:07:01
Speaker
All the way down to managing my marketing budget for the year and whether or not I can sponsor the high school marching band or whether or not I can have a booth at the festival or what size booth I can have at the festival, right? So they take everything into consideration and they work with me to execute on a marketing plan that's successful for my business.
00:07:18
Speaker
I was with Carrie Lynn from the very early days, and I'm happy to report that as her company has grown and her team has grown, I'm really happy with the service that I'm getting from them. I think you will be too. You should book a free consultation now at turnkeyautomarketing.com.
Staffing Challenges and Solutions
00:07:34
Speaker
I don't think you'll be sad.
00:07:36
Speaker
I could imagine that um you're probably... You actually might want to go to therapy after this. after you like After your last 90 days.
00:07:46
Speaker
You're going be in therapy and stuff's going to come up. You'll be like, I can't remember that. yeah But it'll happen now. you mean you You were talking to me. and Obviously, I was communicating with you and Jim over Messenger. but And you and I spoke several times on the phone. But I'm pretty proud of myself. I kept it together.
00:08:03
Speaker
I don't know about that. I had a phone and Dan and ah and he had a snap on Zeus and somehow we were able to fix cars. And I don't, and listen, it's no lie. I am not a technician. I've never been a technician, but we got through it.
00:08:18
Speaker
We got a lot of cars fixed. There was a lot, we had a lot of phone time. but is pretty good What happened in the last 90 days? um You know, i I had, I had, ah I had, let me do the math.
00:08:35
Speaker
I had four four guys on the floor. um I hired a new tech in the hunt for a ah unicorn, right?
00:08:48
Speaker
um Because the guy we had there um wasn't wasn't being efficient as I wanted to happen. and We've had conversations about that. um I released a guy.
00:09:01
Speaker
because he wasn't cutting the mustard. He was missing simple things on inspections, like brake inspections. Came in for a brake noise, said the brakes were fine.
00:09:12
Speaker
um Customers insistent there's a brake noise. He's measured them, measured them. It leaves, comes back in ah The rear brakes are practically metalddle or metal to metal.
00:09:24
Speaker
And that was the last straw over several instances. So I let a guy go. Um, next in line was my new service advisor. Next in line was Hudson.
00:09:36
Speaker
I don't need those. They won't fit in my computer and I'm sorry guys. Um, next was my service advisor also who is currently in was the time dating my wife's best friend. i Oh, I forgot about this part. I introduced them at vision last year over the phone.
00:09:57
Speaker
He got a job closer to home. because he was driving almost 50 minutes to me, which is fine. I respect that. So I got rid of a guy. Service advisor left.
00:10:09
Speaker
Changed the pay structure on my lead tech because of productivity to make him more accountable for production. um Listen, and i and we can talk about that. I might have messed that up the way I did it, but I just kind of my wits end.
00:10:25
Speaker
There could have been better communication about that. So he worked for a couple, two and a half weeks on the new pay structure. Um, without communicating his frustration with that, he came in on a Friday with no notice.
00:10:42
Speaker
There was keys on my desk and said he was leaving. I'm leaving, bro. It's fucked up, bro. Um,
00:10:51
Speaker
Seriously, he called you bro? Dude, dude, bro. At least six times. At least six times while I was getting yelled at by him. And I let him vent. I mean, listen, I understand his frustration.
00:11:03
Speaker
I do. um But communication is key, right? And you could have came to me. We could have changed. I changed him to a ah base hourly with a flag rate, right? So a hybrid type system.
00:11:17
Speaker
He could have came to me and said, this ain't working. What can you do? But he was also a little bit upset that I was kept looking for a diagnostic tech because that's what I hired him for. But we've had those conversations and you guys, you guys have seen my ads, right? I, I, I'm not, I'm not shy about hiring what I want. And I have conversations with my guys about that and why I'm doing And and the other the other thing I thought was there turn my phone off the other thing that i thought was interesting too is you when he restructured his pay, I think he only had to turn 30 hours a week to make exactly what he was making now.
00:11:55
Speaker
Was that 30 or 32? It was a 30-hour net. But realistically, looking back, and this is where the communication would have came in very handy,
00:12:05
Speaker
That wasn't a nut that he was going to crack. Right. So we could have upped his flag rate and we could have made him happy with a 20 hour. Listen, I am not that guy that demands 100 percent, 110 percent efficiency. I'm not that shop. I'm not that shop and I will never be that shop.
00:12:22
Speaker
I'm happy with 70 to 85 percent productivity. but You would have been OK with him turning 20 hours? 100 percent. 100 percent. That's that's not 70 80 percent, though. Well, isn't 20 hours, seven what's 70? Listen, i Mike, I'm not doing math right now.
00:12:38
Speaker
yeah My point is... Long story short, Dan would have been happy with twice as much as 11, which is what was going on. My point is, with the the shop setup that I have, it's all about bay management and bay flow management because we're we only have limited racks.
00:12:59
Speaker
And I can allude later to how busy we are. The amount of cars that we see is astonishing for my market. um So there's there's efficiency. issue There's bay flow. You've got to control bay flow.
00:13:12
Speaker
um So the point to that is, man, I'm happy with a guy that can turn 20 to 30 hours. I mean, that that's a good 25 is a happy medium. it's not You're not killing yourself.
00:13:24
Speaker
You're still making the shop plenty of money and you're getting paid well. But we could have adjusted his flag rate. But he left in you know and... and he Listen, he could watch this one day i'm and I'm not going to berate him.
00:13:37
Speaker
But he left in a tantrum. He left in a temper tantrum. yeah um And again, I don't fault him for and don't follow him for being angry. But I do fault him in how he left me.
00:13:48
Speaker
um but Without the communication. So the morning he leaves, um he's loading up his toolbox. I pull... two of my, my two veteran guys, the one guy that's been with me for like 13 or 14 years. And then the other guy's been with me four or five.
00:14:06
Speaker
I pulled him into the office and comes my new guy that has been there two months.
00:14:14
Speaker
And he hears part of the conversation about how Nathan is leaving or or this guy, this, you it doesn't matter now. Nathan's leaving. um Oh, by the way, i got to talk to you about something just like that.
00:14:28
Speaker
And I looked at him and I said, Evan, you got to be fucking kidding me. So I sent the other two. I said, you two get out of my office. And I said, Evan, what are you trying? You're killing. What are you doing? You're killing me.
00:14:42
Speaker
Well, I got this opportunity from the dealer. It's just too good to be true. I can't pass it up. Well, it it is too good to be true. Hey, everybody. I want to take a minute to tell you about the coaching organization I've been involved with for, gosh,
00:14:57
Speaker
over 20 years now. Elite. 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.
00:15:17
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.
00:15:29
Speaker
If you're ready to take the next step, visit elite worldwide.com to schedule your discovery session. That's elite worldwide.com to start working on your business rather than in it.
00:15:40
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. Oh yeah, that's right. So he wants us, he already wants his job back. f way So I told Dan made him sweat for a while, but I'm mean.
00:15:56
Speaker
So, um,
00:16:00
Speaker
I said, when? when He's like, a week from today. I'm like, one week? i said you I said, dude, I'm down. The guy I got rid of, Rob left me, my service advisor, and I'm dropping names. I don't mean to drop names, but Rob left me.
00:16:15
Speaker
um Nathan's storming out, and you're going to leave me in a week? He's like, well, you know, I was sick, and my wife and I didn't have a chance to talk about it, but we made that decision. I'm like, you're not leaving.
00:16:28
Speaker
we're going to talk about this. So I send him out and long story short, um, I've been recruiting and Mike, you and I've talked about this too. Brian knows about, I've been recruiting my best friend who has been in this industry for 40 years.
00:16:43
Speaker
Um, I would compare him to Dutch from his ethical, moral standpoint and how he would probably, I don't know Dutch personally. Right. Um, There's no one else in this world.
00:16:56
Speaker
What's that? It's a count yourself lucky. I would never, I would not, I would not trust anyone on the face of this planet to run my shop except for this guy. um Our core values are aligned.
00:17:08
Speaker
um He understands small town values. He understands what I've built. He has a lot better understanding of what I've built now that he works for me. um So he's finally agreed after seven years and three years of hard recruiting,
00:17:23
Speaker
to come on board because of, you know, they were purchased out, but purchase his shop location. They were single owner, and independent seven locations at the time.
00:17:34
Speaker
They were purchased by, um a big, uh, investment. Son auto or something. One of those giant ones. It was son. um So things went downhill real quick after six months, which is what they do.
00:17:46
Speaker
Um, got him convinced. so I get him in the loop with the whole situation. Um, He comes out early before he even starts and talks to Evan. I talked to Evan. I talked to Evan on the Thursday before he is going to quit. I presented a new pay plan for him.
00:18:04
Speaker
I said, I told him, I said, no, you want to be the best diagnostic guy in the world. um You want to have a solid paycheck. You want ah someone that's going to take care of you and your family, give you time off when your wife gives birth and just, well, literally now just probably a week or two.
00:18:21
Speaker
um you're not I said, you're not going to find it the dealership. I'm going to open your eyes and give you so much more training opportunities to better yourself as a private aftermarket repair shop than the dealership would ever dream of giving you. And you'll be well-versed in everything, not just Chrysler.
00:18:40
Speaker
So I laid out the pay structures that he could make. I gave him a few options, telling we'd probably start here. And he could earn 80, 90 north of that easily if he's producing.
00:18:53
Speaker
And um so he said, he talked about it with his wife. He comes in that next morning in street clothes. Didn't even work out his Friday.
00:19:07
Speaker
And leaves and left me with a tire guy and my other tech. And keep in mind, we, you know, we do decent numbers, right? We're, we're mid one fifties all day long.
00:19:19
Speaker
And, um, to allude what Brian said in the, in, uh, the message other day when you guys set this up, um, that happened in April, Brian, was that right?
00:19:30
Speaker
I was, I was running low April. I was, it was two guys and myself and some, at some point in April. Yeah. And we were on pace to do $200,000.
00:19:42
Speaker
And because we were, because we were shorthanded, we fell short of that. Now I talked to Lucas about that and that was just a personal goal for me. And it really upset me. um But yeah, we i mean we we set a record month that April and last month. or Well, month well ah April.
Rehiring and Staff Management Strategies
00:20:00
Speaker
We set a record month with like down a service advisor, down my lead tech, and then down my other you know lead tech or diagnostic tech. And Dan was running and gunning, baby.
00:20:13
Speaker
That's got to feel good, man. I mean, you can't that's not sustainable. You can't live like that, but it's still pretty fucking awesome. Every day Dan would be like, I'm tired. I don't want to go to work anymore.
00:20:24
Speaker
It's not uncharted territory for me. Uncharted territory because, and and again, I'm bad with dates. Four or five years ago, this past February, my lead tech rocket scientist, like super smart dude, used to be an aircraft mechanic, and my assistant manager, he like,
00:20:48
Speaker
unexpectedly passed away. He went home on a Friday and I got a phone call Saturday morning at 6 a.m. that he had passed away. And in that moment, not only were we down a tech tragically, it was me and what me and two other guys in the shop.
00:21:05
Speaker
And we we blew it out of the water. we just we We set records that the several next months to the point where we just took we took a week or two off. I forget. I said, we got to take time.
00:21:17
Speaker
um And you never want to find yourself in that situation by any means. um Yeah, but it still feels good to know that you can do it if you have to Yeah, and and and and you're you're you're calling on deep reserves, right? And you're asking your guys to just trust you and support you. And that my guys have always done that. um So, anywho, he left.
00:21:40
Speaker
We had a one... chart my my My veteran tech was on vacation that next week. So that next week, whatever week that ended up being, it was me and my tire guy for a week.
00:22:00
Speaker
and then That's painful, brother. Yeah. And then so finally. um he was killing it, though. He was killing it. We were. We we were. standing and dan Danny, the Diag Tech.
00:22:13
Speaker
um and My friend started. um He brought his assistant manager with him who kind of wanted to be out of the office. So 20 years ago, he wrenched and he was all about being back on the floor.
00:22:28
Speaker
So we just threw him out on the floor immediately as a GS. um Pulled. Still got to prove himself a little bit, but pearl pulled a veteran, a veteran Diag stud in the Central Ohio market um that people can't believe that we got.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's where we are now. We have... Oh, back to the other guy. Was May a record month? May. May was not quite a record month. Okay, it was April was the record, right? Oh, yeah, that makes sense. We just ended May. April april was the record. May...
00:23:06
Speaker
but we come in? I think we came in around 180, Brian. it would I mean, it was it would be like a second or third record month for us. um So, effectively, you had a almost 100% staff turnover.
00:23:21
Speaker
Had to go back on the counter. You had a week by yourself with the tire go Counter and the floor. 72% turnover, Mike. I calculated going to round up 73%.
00:23:32
Speaker
but so with working around up seventy three percent ah and you just broke a record. And now you've restaffed. You're no longer having to work 90 hours a week on the counter and in the shop. And you had your second or third or fourth best month ever also.
00:23:47
Speaker
Yeah. um that That deserves a cheer, sir. That's pretty damn remarkable. so It was fun. It was good times. I'll drink to that. um I'll drink to that. I'll drink my Gatorade to that.
00:23:59
Speaker
ah So Brian alluded earlier to the one guy wanting his job back, Evan. I was down in North Carolina last week playing golf at Pinehurst and I'm sitting at the bar at the Holly Inn and I get a phone call on my cell phone from Evan and I'm like, well, this is going to be interesting. thing That feels so good.
00:24:24
Speaker
And I, and I, and, and literally the way, the way he left really upset me. Like, I get it. he yeah he They gave him me a deadline. He had to start. ah yeah We can always say we respect the decision that you had to make to try to better yourself, despite what we told you was going to happen. So I get this phone call and ah answer it. And he's like, hey, you know, it's Evan. And I'm like, what's up? He's like, you got him in? said, well, actually, I'm on a golf trip right now.
00:24:54
Speaker
He's like, well, he's like, we don't got talk. I said, no, I want to i want to hear what you got to say. and I have a feeling it's going to make me happy. I'm at the ballroom.
00:25:05
Speaker
He said, um well, I was calling you because I was hoping that you would bring me back to your shop. was calling you because turns out $100 an hour times zero hours is still $0. And I said, well, tell me about that, Evan.
00:25:21
Speaker
And he's like, well, the dealership lied to me. I said, you don't say anything. um Oh, for shame. Clutching pearls. So what what they promised him they what they promised him was a six-month guarantee, 40-hour flat rate.
00:25:36
Speaker
And i didn't I didn't get all the details because I didn't care. I mean, i know if you wrong me, it takes me a long time to get past that. Even if you do it for the right reasons, it just takes me a long time to accept it, right?
00:25:46
Speaker
So I'm like, well, that really sucks. But he's like, yeah, you guys were right. I'm like, yeah. And I said, well, listen, I said, as you know, i hired Ted and I no longer want to be, nor am I in charge of hiring decisions.
00:26:09
Speaker
I will forward your information to him. If you'd like to submit a resume and have an interview. So I think i think I messaged Brian in the moment or maybe the next day, I forget. but No, you were right at the bar.
00:26:22
Speaker
Because I had you almost falling off your stool. I was like, you're out in the shop sweating your ass off, poking wires on a running car. I said, make him sweat. So I let Ted know. And tedx and again, just because the the amount of cars that we have right now.
00:26:41
Speaker
um I gave Ted his information and they met for lunch today, actually. And it was very clear. I'm happy he had wait a week.
00:26:52
Speaker
yeah It was very, very clear. i didn't have to tell him, Ted, this, but I said, um you make certain you know what he did wasn't cool. And Ted's like, that's the first thing that we I plan on talking about.
00:27:04
Speaker
And Ted laid it out very, very bluntly with him. And we talked about how he would come back, the type of pay structure he would be on, didn't talk dollars,
00:27:16
Speaker
um the expectations that he would be changing tires if had to be, if had to, um he'd be getting some grunt work. He's going to pay some penance. And i that sounds like I'm a dickhead, but um I don't have a i don't have a i don't have and specific need for his skill set right now.
00:27:36
Speaker
I mean, I want him. I actually want him back. I loved him. me He's a great dude. um He's got a baby coming. and the dealer So the dealership... So if you hire him back right now, he's going to have...
00:27:50
Speaker
leave Correct. Next week. Right. and And that's fine. Because I take, I take care of my people. I told, I told Ted before I left him, like, listen, I said, as far as back, does he have benefits right away or does he get to work another probationary period without benefits? Dude, you want to know the funny thing about this. So I've never, we haven't supplied health insurance for a long time.
00:28:09
Speaker
Like many, many moons, like 20 years, probably 18 before I owned it. Um, With the exception, like if one of my guys needed it, I'd say, go get your own plan and i'll reim oh bull we'll do a tax deduction out of your check or whatever. And I'll pay for your portion, not your family's portion, but I'll pay for your portion.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah. so So I started searching for health insurance because Evan was going to need it when he came on originally. And then when Ted came out and brought his assistant with him, um he was going to need it. So I got hooked up with somebody and...
00:28:46
Speaker
At the time, everyone that was there, I had a full crew there at that time. Everyone had to fill out the census and the health information if you were going to want it and then decline it if you didn't. Yeah. Well, Evan obviously needed it. So he filled his information.
00:28:59
Speaker
The new guy, the new assistant, who's now the GS for the time being, filled out his information. And then we need it because my wife finally, finally quit her job to stay home after years of convince trying to convince her to do that.
00:29:14
Speaker
Congratulations. Yeah. Yeah. um if i can just get her clean the house a little bit that'd be better uh i'm guessing she knows this is being recorded bro she might even watch this she doesn't this ain't no secret man ain't no secret you can even tell lola about it she'll love it yeah um so it goes my wife needs to quit her job because she's a terrible domestic partner Oh, that was. I think that was on the original podcast, wasn't it? Yeah. All right. So we get health insurance lined up, right?
00:29:48
Speaker
And we get the quotes and we agree to start June 1st. and And listen, I am a firm believer. Things happen for a reason. Like my staff departing in mass exodus happened for a reason.
00:30:02
Speaker
Guess who's still to this day as it well, as of June 1, guess who currently has insurance at my shop?
00:30:12
Speaker
Evan. Because it was less than a month that was gone.
00:30:21
Speaker
There's a reason he still has insurance.
00:30:25
Speaker
So Ted's going to make an offer to him tomorrow. He'll accept it because why wouldn't he? um And then he's going to have insurance for all you're on the ground running. I'm not i'm not a dick.
00:30:38
Speaker
I don't want to be dick. could be. That's not- Nope, 90 days. 90 days, you got to get through your childbirth without insurance. 90 days. That's not a dick.
00:30:49
Speaker
I'm not that guy.
Events and Networking at ASTA Expo
00:30:50
Speaker
That doesn't make you not a dick because that make me that's the rules. of the business What it does is it makes you a really good dude. Because you don't have to do that and you're choosing to do that.
00:30:59
Speaker
Even though he fucked you, you're choosing to do something super nice for him. So kudos to you. Even though Dan had to trace wiring for a solenoid on a F-150 because all his staff left him.
00:31:16
Speaker
Poor Dan was at the end of his rope so many times. He had so many ridiculously excessively difficult things to, like more difficult than normal vehicles to deal with when his staff dumped him.
00:31:28
Speaker
Over the top difficult because it's me and I don't do this. I i can't even read a wiring diagram for Christ's sake. I'm not, again, I'm not a tech. I never have been. I've changed oil, threw a few brake pads and rotors on, few shocks, done plenty of alignments, but I am not a technician by any means. um So it's stuff that brian it' it's stuff Brian would have done in his sleep, just so we're clear.
00:31:54
Speaker
He was killing it. He was killing it. So that was the reason I had to back out of tools. I probably could have stretched tools you know last minute because Ted would have been fine, but I wasn't comfortable.
00:32:11
Speaker
Well, you also didn't want to fuck around and miss your golf date at Pinehurst, right? No, i was going to know it was set up. We drove down Sunday before Memorial Day. We played Sunday afternoon in whatever town I asked you about, Clemens.
00:32:26
Speaker
yeah And then we drove over and played Pinehurst Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The plan was, and Wednesday after golf, I was beating the pavement up to Lancaster.
00:32:38
Speaker
Oh, man, you missed out. um Mike and I had the best Amish shed barbecue there I've ever had. Brett called me today to rub it, and he's like, I just want you to know that you missed it. I'm like, I don't even want to talk to you about it.
00:32:50
Speaker
I said, I'm a man. I said, and I congratulated him on how good of a job I heard he did. Cause I've had several people mentioned it to me. And obviously the Facebook, um, action on it has been out of this world. I was really proud of him and happy for him. And he was, um, he just called to check in and be a dick.
00:33:09
Speaker
ah the Before we talk about tools real quick, i need to pause our recording and I'm sure that Braxton will be a mensch and delete this or edit this out. But, really bothered my head space is all messed up and i forgot to have my pillow so my daughter brought my pillow in a minute ago so rachel
00:33:34
Speaker
oh there you go this is where we need we need uh one of your kids we have to record one of your kids they're like feet hanging off the chair to do every time you get your pillow oh we're doing it rachel uh reminded us that we got to do that that bit yeah eventually. So we're going to get around to that. But see, look how much more.
00:33:55
Speaker
Oh, look at you. Well, well. Yeah. yeah i mean Makes me feel like I'm almost not a midget. think Yeah. But Brett did say that he was going to bring the trophy back to Pennsylvania. So I assume he was talking about the attire.
00:34:11
Speaker
He was crushed by the North Carolina contingent. It wasn't even close. i i I was a silver medalist. I was a silver medalist, but I will be winning at ASTA Expo at Casino Night.
00:34:23
Speaker
So for all of you that are coming to ASTA Expo, Casino Night is the night to bring your A game on the ridiculous attire. I told him i was taking that to Ohio, and that was no questions asked. I was bringing it to Ohio and ASTA. Ooh.
00:34:37
Speaker
I've already got... So i think the reason that I lost, I'm going to be honest with you, I think the reason that I lost is because Benji Burris from Frog Pond Performance and the booming metropolis of Frog Pond, North Carolina, he not only had the stellar jacket with a white t-shirt under it, but But he brought the footwear as well.
00:35:00
Speaker
Footwear with a rechargeable battery and lights that he forgot to charge. So they weren't light up. but He had the footwear. And then what really did you in is he got up there and he moonwalked. Oh, if there's dancing involved, I'm i'm out.
00:35:13
Speaker
Well, he moonwalked. But well it was not a very good moonwalk either. It was pretty lame. Better than anybody else's. We've already been discussing that we might have to have a dance off. But yeah. And Tanika said that we're going to hurt ourselves with our white guy dancing, but we'll see. I mean, if you want to waltz or tango, I'd be game for that because I took ballroom dancing a long time ago. Benji has done a community engagement like Chamber of Commerce dancing with the stars thing.
00:35:39
Speaker
No. No kidding. Yeah. Yeah. So that dude's worldwide. Yeah, he don't mess around, man. um So ah one of the things that was cool about the the last evening's dinner at Tools was they had ah charity auction.
00:35:57
Speaker
And it was Scanner Daner and SD Charities. ye And they were, I think they ended raising like $16,000 and change. eighteen Our official number was like
00:36:10
Speaker
that's all donations So the keynote, it was a silent auction and you had to log in through your phone to bid on the different items and you would get a text message every time you were outbid.
00:36:25
Speaker
And so there was a 20-year-old two-channel scope ah from what what brand was it? and It was an OTC, but it was it was a relabeled OTC, so it was a Mac.
00:36:38
Speaker
The Mac tools one, which are are hard to find. It's hard to find a red one. You can find blue ones on eBay, but you can't find a red one. um Yeah. You're speaking about collectors, antique tools or some shit. i don't know.
00:36:51
Speaker
But so anyway, literally Brian wanted it. And so he started bidding on it. And then i Keith Perkins and his whole table started bidding on it to antagonize Brian.
00:37:04
Speaker
We have to set the stage. ive bought I've bought four antique scopes in the last two weeks and have been sending pictures to Keith of my marketplace finds.
00:37:14
Speaker
So we have to set the stage. And the second funny part is is that scope rode down to Pennsylvania in the truck with me. The people I rode with, their technician donated that. It's brand new. It's brand new. so So long story short, I i told Paul Danner, I said, you know, I said, being on the board here kind of cost me the scope because um if I wouldn't have been on the board, it would have been a completely ethical to offer that dude $200 cash for that thing when he ah when he showed it to me in the back of that truck.
00:37:44
Speaker
And I'd own the thing, and it wouldn't even be a thing. But luckily, that didn't happen. And anyway, sorry, Mike. sidetra Well, I mean, I don't know if you've ever been in an auction with Dutch.
00:37:56
Speaker
If you are in a bidding war with Dutch, you just give up right away, right? Yeah. And I'm starting to learn that about Tanika, too, because Tanika was at our table, and just for shits and giggles, she starts bidding on the scan tool just to antagonize Perkins and his table.
00:38:11
Speaker
And so Brian bows out at like $400, I think. Yeah, like $400-ish, yeah. And Tanika stops bidding at like...
00:38:24
Speaker
$800 or ah but there's 30 minutes left in this speech. And so we're at separate tables across the room, like shooting daggers at each other and making faces.
00:38:37
Speaker
Meanwhile, the keynote, who's a, Josh Parnell is doing a great job on the keynote and we're trying not to be a distraction, um but it gets down to like the last three minutes. Right. And it's time for those last minute sniper bids.
00:38:49
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And Tanika gets her phone up and she's, she's punching in numbers and, And we look over at ah at the Perkins table and they're like laser eyes back at us. And they've got their phone up.
00:39:04
Speaker
And I guess he he guessed that Tanika was going to do $1,001. And so he punched in at the last second $1,101, think it was, for this scan tool. It's probably worth $75. And and it was pretty great, though. You know what? It was a lot of fun.
00:39:24
Speaker
was a lot of so In honor of that, i have a bottle of blood oath packed 11, which is Blood Oath does a very limited release bottle each year that's ah packed one, packed two, packed three through the years. And this is packed 11th. It's the 11th year they've done it.
00:39:41
Speaker
um Well, at the ASTA Expo auction last year was right after a Hurricane Helene came through and wrecked Western North Carolina. yeah um There were was a three bottle set. It was ah eight, nine and ten. It was donated by IGO Insurance, who's in my shopkeeper insurance company, in North Carolina.
00:40:01
Speaker
But Tanika and I started bidding on it. And these bottles are like $2.50 a piece, like retail, right? She ended up paying $6,000 for those three bottles.
00:40:12
Speaker
Holy shit. Because her and Perkins were in a bidding war. Yeah. And i would I gave up at like $2,000, think. Wow. That's smart. But this is a bottle of packed 11 that I bought last week at the store for $185. So Tanika still hasn't opened her bottles because they were $2,000 a piece.
00:40:31
Speaker
Well, of course. so It's like the bottle. I was vacationing in Florida one year and I found, was at my in-laws house. And around the corner from them is a little liquor store.
00:40:43
Speaker
And we went in to get, I think, some margarita, pre-mixed margaritas and some other stuff just for all the families down there. That sounds like a sad margarita, Dan. It's not. It's not. Brian's got very high margarita standards. but I do. Well, you can doctor him up, Brian. You start low, and then you doctor him up.
00:41:00
Speaker
So we're at the checkout. We're getting ready to check out. Customizing. Behind the counter is this old curio cabinet, right? And i just it catches my eye because outside on the doors are handwritten and permanent marker what's in them and how much.
00:41:20
Speaker
And I started reading and I'm like um like, can we look at that stuff? And she's like, yeah, just walk back there and open up the doors and look. I'm like, okay. So we walked back in there and there's you know a lot of stuff we can't get in Ohio, but there were several bottles of Habby Van Winkle.
00:41:36
Speaker
um And we didn't buy anything at that moment, but I went back to the the house and I texted one of my but one of my really good friends who was a bourbon connoisseur.
00:41:48
Speaker
And my Mighty Auto Parts rep, who's a bourbon collector, and a couple other people, I said, hey. I said, I'm down here in Florida. I said, I think this stuff is, i said, just by looking at it, I think this stuff is just under secondary market value.
00:42:03
Speaker
It's still really expensive, right? But under secondary market value. yeah So um we went back the next day, um maybe even later that day, And between all the orders, I ran my American Express for $10,000 worth liquor.
00:42:21
Speaker
Oh, my. Only one of those. One of the high-dye bottles. I bought a bottle of Pappy, which obviously I ah had it years ago when it first got rated in Cigar Aficionado magazine when it went. you know um That's when I first had it i had a glass of it in Columbus.
00:42:41
Speaker
But I hadn't had it since. And obviously it's not worth the money. um Anyone that says it, anyone that says it, it was Lot B. Anyone that says it's worth the money, quite frankly, they're an idiot.
00:42:56
Speaker
they don't know They don't know good bourbon. If you want to drink Pappy Van Winkle, just go get some Old Weller 107. Big go. Um, so, um, yeah, it just, it wasn't worth it. And I would, but back to Tanika not drinking hers because it's $6,000. Uh, that bottle sit in my house for a year before I opened it. And I opened it on one of the kids birthdays, I think, or maybe an anniversary. I don't remember.
00:43:22
Speaker
And had a glass. And then next year or later that year, we had another birthday party for the kid, one of the kids and, you know, family are there. And, uh, We finished it because um I told my brother who likes bourbon, I said, I'm not a fan like of this crazy high-dollar stuff.
00:43:40
Speaker
And we finished it off at that party. But, yeah, the price shock could be funny. The price shock is funny. to people Yeah, could have totally been replaced by a bottle of Jim Beam. Totally. Negative. You ever have yourself a Jimmy Palmer?
00:43:54
Speaker
Yeah, i was going to say tell us about the Jimmy Palmer and how it's different than an Arnold Palmer. Yeah. Well, it's like an Arnold Palmer that chose violence. um Take a 20-ounce glass, and you fill it about halfway with Jim Beam, and you top it off with Coke.
00:44:10
Speaker
And that way only have one drink. You're not overindulging. That's right. And then when ah the person that you co-host a a podcast with is a sissy and doesn't finish their drink, and yours is still half full, you can just pour that right in there. That'll shove right in and just keep drinking.
00:44:27
Speaker
You know what? I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every morning, and you look like you've been run over by dump truck twice. morning was okay. It was the afternoon it catches me. It catches me if I'm not drinking.
00:44:40
Speaker
Yeah, the afternoon. I was fine in the morning, but, man, on the ride home, I remember. I texted you, Mike, didn't I i go, it's 12.31 p.m., and I'm freaking wrecked.
00:44:51
Speaker
Like, I'm not okay. Okay. And I had been to like three different tourist attractions and I was standing in line for an authentic Philly cheesesteak. I was in a good place, man.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, I had a bag of combos and a Gatorade. Just killing it. Just killing it.
00:45:10
Speaker
That was a lot of fun that trip. We toured the ah Yingling Brewery on the way down. That was pretty cool. They dug all them caves in the mountains and stuff. yeah look like That looked like hard work for real men. I'll stick to cars.
00:45:23
Speaker
Dude, have you guys seen the speaker list for ASTA Expo yet? I looked at it once, but I don't remember who's on it. i mean I've been informed that only
Future Business Goals and Expansion Plans
00:45:32
Speaker
Thursday and Friday's list is out and the Saturday and Sunday list is not out. It's up now.
00:45:37
Speaker
it's ah It's finally the entire list. Watch me text somebody right now and tell her it's up. Yeah, ASTAExpo.com, and then you click on Speakers, and you scroll down. I mean, it is.
00:45:49
Speaker
It's fucking dynamic, man. we got Are you good at over 90 classes now? Say what? Can we register for classes now? Yes. i have i didn't I haven't looked. I just booked the hotel, but I haven't registered for anything. Yeah, but I booked the hotel, but I haven't even registered for the conference yet. I was waiting for this so that I could just go in. um I think I'm going to take 12 guys and gals this year. I'm not closing the shops and and taking 35 or whatever the number is right now because, frankly, it's just too big of a kick in the nuts. I book the ah i booked the hotel also.
00:46:24
Speaker
And for those of you who may have heard that the the room block is booked, it's not even close to booked, man. That hotel is huge. And even if it is booked, there's another skyscraper hotel immediately across the street. This is downtown Raleigh. There's more hotel rooms than we can possibly fill.
00:46:41
Speaker
i You talked about Braxton editing stuff out. I'm going to move inside where there's more light. You guys cool with that? Yeah, that's fine. You do you, boo-boo. but I don't want it to be like a bad video.
00:46:53
Speaker
So while you're moving laptop, let's see what we got Cecil Bullard, Stan Stokes and Josh Parnell, Dave Mackoltz from AvTech, which is going to be an awesome class. Rich Falco, Robert Kenny, Andrew Fisher, Brian Steckler, Becky Witt, Aaron Stokes, Jim Wilson and Jim Kikonis doing an electrical class.
00:47:17
Speaker
That'll be It's going to amazing. And that's just Thursday. a Dutch is back in action. the The triumphant return of Dutch Silver. Stein. To coaching.
00:47:30
Speaker
ah Mark Sewell. David Patrick.
00:47:39
Speaker
Hobbs. Rick White. Katonis and Pollock on Friday. you guys are doing a new class, right? Or is it a different or is it the same one again? It is, um we'll do shit you don't know and how to find out, but it'll be, it'll be, I always call it a four hour class, but they're never really four hours because there's breaks or whatever. Like whatever, the it'll be the morning class is what we should call it.
00:48:01
Speaker
And so when we originally wrote that class, I was nervous about having enough content. So I actually have like. I should say I. We actually have like 12 hours worth of content. So what we'll do is we'll swap a lot of that Same topic, different content. Same topic, different content.
00:48:21
Speaker
copy um So there'll still be... We'll be talking about some more shit you don't know. So if you took the class last year and you're like, i already took that class. Well, it's not gonna be the same case studies and the same cars and the same this and the same that.
00:48:33
Speaker
Brian, a little told a little birdie told me you might be doing something different. Yeah. Tools maybe next year? ah Tools? you and You and one Mr. Zeb?
00:48:49
Speaker
Not me. I got a guy to do it with Zeb. I know a guy. Oh, you have a guy. Okay. I have a guy. Okay.
00:48:57
Speaker
It's rural Joe and Zeb doing a class? Nope. Nope. It's not going to be me. I got a guy. I got a guy who's qualified to talk about this stuff. Lives right up here. But aren't you qualified to talk about it?
00:49:10
Speaker
But I'm already doing a morning and an afternoon on Friday, and Kokonas is trying to get me to help out with, what do you call it? Oh, I guess yeah that wouldn't be for ASTA anyways.
00:49:23
Speaker
The electrical class, the with the switchboards, the electrical class? Yeah, Kokonas is trying to get me to help out on Thursday. Not trying. I agreed. I said, yeah, I'll help you out with that. Yeah. um Because that'll be live on demo boards, right? They'll have like little demo boards and their meters and they'll be able to do actual testing.
00:49:41
Speaker
And so it'll probably be like, I'm guessing like a 20 to 30 seat class typically when they do stuff like that. So usually you want more than just two people, you know, to help guys get on the right track if they're not putting their meter leads in the right spot or whatever. So I'll put that on Thursday and then Friday morning, we're doing a, ah the shit you don't know.
00:50:02
Speaker
And Friday afternoon, Jim and I have an idea for a new class that, quite honestly, we have like a concept for, but we haven't written put a single letter to paper on yet. But we'll get it figured out.
00:50:13
Speaker
You five months. Don't fuck it up. No, you don't. you have three months. Don't fuck it up. that's Which is two months longer than I had last time, so I'm totally fine. I'm still throwing through the classes.
00:50:24
Speaker
Dude, there's like 100. Yeah. The biggest problem right now is Which one to take? Yeah. You can have too many classes available at each session. You don't know what to take.
00:50:37
Speaker
Do you even take classes, Mike? I sit in on classes when I can, but there are enough commitments that I have to like sit in and then step out. So i always sit in the back of the room. Like their MIMA, the Aftermarket Suppliers Association is having um a meeting at the expo.
00:50:57
Speaker
And I'm going to be doing a presentation there about continuing education in the aftermarket because and it's all the I saw the folks from all the companies that put on these classes that want to hear what we want versus what we don't want and the gripes and complaints and the and the benefits. Right.
00:51:14
Speaker
So that'll take me out. Podcasting stuff will take me out. There'll be some, you know, social media related stuff for the association. Interesting. ah Interesting one. um Jesse had gotten ahold of me about a diesel class and I said, I don't know if everything else I got with everything else here going on, if I got the bandwidth for that, but.
00:51:33
Speaker
um I was able to ask around because I guess i guess Mike Larry can't make it. And I was able to ask around and we found Kevin Looney. And when it comes to um this guy is freaking understands diesel and after treatment to an engineering level and is able to put it in words that people can absorb and understand.
00:51:56
Speaker
um That dude is... that dude will be unbelievable in that class doing that diesel class he's doing. I think, is he doing two maybe, Mike? Yes.
00:52:08
Speaker
Yeah. that'll be That'll be awesome.
00:52:12
Speaker
So it looks like we've got like 85 classes up on the website, and I think we've held a few spaces back because there's some folks that are still trying to submit a couple of last-minute classes.
00:52:23
Speaker
and we And so part of the goal is to have – in every learning session, a class for every position in the business for the owner, for the manager, for the service advisor, for the marketer, yeah ah for the entry level tech, for the line tech, for the master tech.
00:52:40
Speaker
So if you are closing and bringing the whole shop, everybody will be busy the whole time. And it looks like we're doing tech talks like at vision too. We got some tech talks in there and we have, we have the guy, Matt Fonzo that hosts the tech talks at vision is hosting that. That'll be cool.
00:52:56
Speaker
Um, and there's a lot more owner focus this year, uh, as a percentage of total class load, but there are still more technical classes than we've ever had.
00:53:08
Speaker
It's just that our capacity has gone up so much. We have more technical training and way more owner and management training than we've ever had. ah The trade show is now instead of one little block, it's two days.
00:53:19
Speaker
And it is the first day is owner and decision maker only. So obviously the vendors appreciate that because and they can actually get some deals done rather than tell your kid a lot of times it's just.
00:53:33
Speaker
give me a fidget spinner or a stress ball and let me move on. You know, do you think there would be any benefit and it may, and it may be covered in some of the other classes hosted by the coaching companies, but do you see a benefit to like have someone build a class that specifically designed for new shop owners?
00:53:56
Speaker
We got two of them. Are there? So Dutch is doing a class. Dutch is going do that. Oh, that's fantastic. So you want to be a shop owner, and it's designed for technicians who want to open a shop or who have just opened a shop.
00:54:09
Speaker
And it's about the financial realities. If I'm not mistaken, Matthew Scunrick is going to co-teach that with him. So if you're a technician who wants to go do mobile DAG and programming, we got a guy who went and did his own mobile, a very, very successful...
00:54:29
Speaker
you know There's a lot of guys that can fix a lot of things, but like you want to talk about somebody who can fix more a lot of things and does good numbers? That's an example. yeah well we've We've got a class that is the economics of a successful mobile automotive repair business.
00:54:44
Speaker
yeah and Is that Eric Ziegler doing that? I don't remember. There's so many. I was heavily involved in a selection of management, ownership, and sales classes, and the technical classes was pretty heavily involved ah Lucas and Kikonis and a couple of other folks. There's so much good stuff there.
00:55:04
Speaker
It's unbelievable. That's good stuff. Cause you know, we all, we all, you know, we all, we all, I don't know about you guys, but I talked to a lot of new shop owners. Like you, you pick them up in these groups. So they're like struggling and we, some of us reach out to them and like the guy I took to vision this year, um, it changed, it changed his world, like changes world, but he, he,
00:55:27
Speaker
there wasn't anything specific to like a new shop owner. He took, uh, he took one of Cecil's classes. I told him he should take. And then he picked a lot of his own. I mean, I picked out a schedule for him and it was, there was only a few classes that were different.
00:55:41
Speaker
Um, so we kind of molded them together, but you see a lot of these guys that are open on their own shops. I think there's Caleb, uh, is one in one of the groups. He reached out to Josh Coombs and I, we were talking to him during vision and, um,
00:55:57
Speaker
And he, he closed, he, he ended up stopping what he was doing and he was doing mobile right now. ye Um, I was talking, i was talking to him at tools. He called me while we were at tools. Um, yeah, I talked to him. about briding Yeah.
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah. His sister is actually got her Honda at one of my shops right now. So if you, Oh, no kidding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that's good for these new shop owners that are just struggling. Cause you know, we can only give them so much advice.
00:56:23
Speaker
Um, And usually it works out. You know you hope it does. but oh yeah and The reality is there are a lot of not new shop owners who are 10, 12, 15 years into their business and they're not making any money.
00:56:35
Speaker
right yeah um And so there's actually a class, Aaron Stokes is doing a class called Why Your Shop Doesn't Make Any Money. and so ah now Why You're Not Making Money is the name of the class.
00:56:50
Speaker
um But yeah there's... And then there are classes about going multi-location and are classes about how to position yourself for sale and there are classes about private equity. So yeah um there's something for every position that you are in your business, just like there's something for every level of technician. So I'm geeked, man, because the facility is better than it's ever been.
00:57:10
Speaker
and look, um I've been to these conferences all over the country. You guys went and toured that facility in Kokonas with sending you pictures. I'm like, oh my God. Yes. There's a lot so much room for activities.
00:57:22
Speaker
Yeah, i told Ted, I said, listen, you you got me not to go to tools, but I said, I'm telling you right now, I'm going to ASTA. it Well, I feel like we've been an info infomercial for ASTA, and I do not apologize for that.
00:57:36
Speaker
but It's really going to be good. I've been trying to hold back from talking about it because I wanted to hype up tools, right? Because yeah Brett's got amazing stuff going on up there, and I went, and it was awesome. Double their attendance once again.
00:57:50
Speaker
double bear attendance once again hey a row three shows in a row he's doubled it so uh next year they're i'm they're gonna be even bigger and that's gonna be awesome and brett's coming down to the expo and uh so i'm just i'm geeked up about it man yeah it'll be it'll be a good time i'm sure it's definitely exciting so now that you've revamped your entire staff and you're breaking records breaking hearts what are you gonna do you're gonna go get second boat an airplane what's it gonna be the goal for the goal for me
00:58:24
Speaker
and for Ted, because he wants me out of the out of the shop as soon as we can make that happen, is just that. My goal was to have limited time in the shop and to work on the business outside of that and focus more on being around for my family. like And not that I'm not around for my family.
00:58:42
Speaker
You guys know a lot of shop owners. um Even in the hard times, I've always afforded time for my family. After you know after sam passed away, I had a, it was an epiphany. I'm like, God, I said, he was 49 years young and this guy passed away and left a wife and a, I think 11 year old daughter at the time.
00:59:02
Speaker
I'm like, I'm not, I'm not doing that. So I I've always done my best to be here and whatnot. There are times that comes and goes and I spend more time at work.
00:59:13
Speaker
I'm spending a lot of time at work right now and just getting Ted up to speed on our, on TechMetric because he came from a world of the vast system, which I know nothing about.
00:59:26
Speaker
And I hear him bitch every day. He compared, he's like, when I had the vast system, I'm like, dude, I get it, but you don't have it anymore. So let's just move past that.
00:59:36
Speaker
And, but the more he, every day he uses it, he finds something different and he, he's growing more in love with it, which is great. But the goal ultimately is for me to be at the shop, minimal hours, like, I don't know, let's call it 16 to 20 a week in the building.
00:59:55
Speaker
And then big goals. So let's say it can happen with this guy. It can happen with this guy. So what happens when it's 10 hours a week, it's making money.
01:00:07
Speaker
You don't have any headaches. You're going to go get another store. You're going to go do something else. we can Yes. The exit strategy for me long-term After going what show was it?
01:00:24
Speaker
Man, it may have been Tools last year, actually. It was, it was, was ASTA. One of, it was Tools or ASTA last year. I went in, but the and and ah Justin Allen did one of his videos with me out there.
01:00:40
Speaker
And I went in for a certain thing, right? A certain goal to learn about a certain thing. And I took, it was one of the Institute's classes.
01:00:51
Speaker
I forget the title, but when I walked out of that class, I'm like, yeah, I have to have two or three locations. So that's the, that's, and that's the big goal is for me to get out of the shop more and ah let someone who can make my business more profitable than I can, which he can do pretty easily um run it.
01:01:13
Speaker
make more profit. And the ultimate goal is within the next 10 years. And that's the number I set 10 years, whether I am a absentee owner, a hundred percent or grow it and sell it out to the right buyer. That's my goal is to have two to three locations but within the next 10 years.
01:01:36
Speaker
Awesome. That's my, that's my plan. Now, you know, plans are, you know, You to make God laugh. Tell him your plans. Yeah. yes And that's how I live my life. It's just like, if things happen, they happen.
01:01:50
Speaker
Um, I don't overanalyze things. If, if it works out, it works out. If there, if there's an opportunity, i do, I do trust in the Lord that it'll present itself. And I just hope I'm ready. If those opportunities present themselves, I can jump on them. Right. So, um,
01:02:09
Speaker
I'm a man of faith and that's what I live by. it i don't I don't preach Christianity by any means. I'm not one of those Bible beaters, but he works. He works in mysterious ways. I just let the the chips fall as they may and it's worked out well.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
01:02:21
Speaker
so Well, i'm I'm happy to know you and and happy that you call me to talk, uh, sometimes, and, uh, it means a lot to me. So, um, just a quick recap.
01:02:35
Speaker
Um, tools is awesome. ASDA expo is going to be awesome. You turned over your whole staff and broke records. Cause you're a bad-ass 300% rules for suckers.
01:02:46
Speaker
Anything else? That sounds fair. Pretty good. that's I think we covered it all. right. Good talk. good team Oh, um, I need more confessions from our listeners. 704 confess. 704 confess.
01:03:02
Speaker
You don't have to live up to Zeb admitting that he was the cream cheese feet person like he did. But just give me your best shot, guys. I want i want to play on the air.
01:03:15
Speaker
It's just just too good. I'm building out a hot button board where can just play certain sound bites. And one of them is 100% going to be on quick reference.
01:03:26
Speaker
Zeb saying, because I love Brian's feet. yeah I had to call Zeb today. i had a question about something. I was working on this diesel truck. I work on a lot of Fords and Chevys. I do not work on a lot of Cummins diesels.
01:03:40
Speaker
And, uh, I was a little confused and I know what's going on with it now. It's just got more than one problem. But anyways, I was, you know, you talk to these guys that have all these different methods and everything. And and long story short, I was on the phone with Zeb and he told me to go ahead and take some fuel and stick it in the microwave for a little bit.
01:04:00
Speaker
And now that sounds now no here's with some balled up aluminum foil. No, need to take some diesel fuel and warm it up in the microwave and pour it in the filter housing. And I was going to take a thermal imager to solve my problem. And guess what?
01:04:15
Speaker
That guy, he was right. Really? Yeah. Well, and you helped him out on a gas burner this week, right? Yeah, this last week. Yep. Yep. You taught him how to tell ah that you had ah a lifter gone bad with a scope, right?
01:04:30
Speaker
Well, he had a scope on it and he wasn't. He didn't know what was wrong, and i I told him to stick his finger on it. and Then I was riding with ah Dan and Rachel, and Dan said from the front seat, he goes, tell me stick his tongue on it.
01:04:43
Speaker
But anyways, I said, just stick your finger on it while it's running. When in doubt, put your tongue on it. It's rule for life. When in doubt, put tongue on it. Stick your tongue on it.
01:04:53
Speaker
But anyways, yeah, yeah, we call each other back and forth. i don't Man, I don't ever get stuck, but I was like... I was staring at this thing. I'm like, this ain't making sense. And and long story short, without getting super technical, there's a process for finding a bad ah bypassing injector on a diesel engine.
01:05:11
Speaker
And typically it's only one bypasses. But if you have two and you only have one of those caps, that's you're kind of out of luck, right? And that's that's where I was at. only had one cap. so
01:05:23
Speaker
Well, you had me there early on and then you lost me because you started talking about actual technical shit. and Yeah. Well, the technical solution was to microwave the fuel, Mike. Which is pretty impressive.
01:05:35
Speaker
That's impressive. and The other one he told me is about in the wintertime. He was doing one outside, and he took a torpedo heater and aimed it at the fuel tank for a while and went back there an hour later and did the did the same does the same thing, I guess.
01:05:47
Speaker
Yep. There you go. I just, you know. Well, on that note, club so like we're going to leave tonight's episode with ah microwaving fuel sophi as a diagnostic tool.
01:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, we should probably cut that because somebody's going to do it and we're going to our asses sued. You didn't hear it from me. You heard it from Brian. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out.
01:06:12
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.
01:06:22
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
01:06:37
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.
01:07:17
Speaker
Thank you.