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In The Coach's Corner with Darrin Barney Ep. 4 - Randy Pickering & Jamie Kellerman
438 Plays1 year ago
In the fourth episode of In The Coach's Corner with Darrin Barney, Darrin speaks with Jamie Kellerman of Day Heights Auto Service and his superstar coach Randy Pickering.
They'll be speaking on the importance of working on your business rather than in your business, and how helpful it can be to get an outside perspective on things.
You do not want to miss this episode!
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Transcript
Introduction to Elite Radio Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to Elite Radio, the podcast for repair shop owners by repair shop owners. Welcome back to Elite Radio, and thanks for joining us on the next episode in our series in the Coach's Corner, where we focus on highlighting the success and struggles of being a shop owner, as well as the relationships built
Randy's Journey and Succession Planning
00:00:18
Speaker
through coaching. I'm your host, Darren Barney, and I'm here with Randy Pickering and Jamie Kellerman.
00:00:24
Speaker
And thanks so much for being here, guys. It's a real honor to be able to spend time with two rockstar shop owners. I mean, Randy, you were for a long time and Jamie, you still are. So really excited about this conversation that we're going to have today. And I'd like to have you guys do a little bit of introductions here. Randy, I think I'll start with you if that's all right.
00:00:43
Speaker
Sure, you bet. Well, first off, Darren, glad to be here. Glad to be with Elite. I was a third-generation automotive repair shop owner. I had my piece for about 44 years. We grew to two successful locations. I think that for me, it was trying to devise the time for my succession planning. How was I going to play on out? And
00:01:07
Speaker
we ended up after purchasing one of the facilities that kind of set my wife and I up for being able to have an income plan as we move forward.
The Role of Coaching in Business Transition
00:01:15
Speaker
And so in December of 2020, we went ahead and sold our two businesses to my sons and they've been running it since. During that transition, I was asked to be a coach with Elite by another friend of mine. And so I said, you know, I think I could do that. I think it'd be really interesting. I think I've been with several other coaching companies, peer groups,
00:01:36
Speaker
consultants throughout my time. And I'm a strong believer, whether it's having a coach for my golf game, okay, or coach in the automotive repair business or whatever it might be, you learn from other people that have either been there or certainly know how to get you there. So
00:01:53
Speaker
That's always been, and I think that my personality is conducive to being able to be friendly and work with people and be able to maybe dig a little deeper at times when we need to and that sort of thing. So the coaching for me has been a really nice transition out of my business, helping other people in their business.
00:02:14
Speaker
And I've enjoyed our friendships that I've gained from each one of my clients that we've gone through and enjoyed getting to know them, their families, how they run their business, those types of things.
Jamie's Leadership and Business Expansion
00:02:26
Speaker
Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, you've done extremely well. I mean, you know, as a business owner and then to be able to pass that on to your family.
00:02:34
Speaker
and have them to carry that torch and to be able to, to, to continue on that legacy is, is what you built is, is incredible. Yeah. I should have said, and I didn't really say it, but it's, um, I was third generation and it was both on my dad's side of the family and my mom's side of the family, the automotive repair, um, industry piece. So I felt really honored to be able to carry that legacy forward and, um, yeah. And my kids as they move forward as well. I didn't know your mom was too.
00:03:02
Speaker
Yeah. So it was my mom's father. They had a tire retreading facility for many years. And that was actually the generational piece that kind of carried forward. My dad and my uncle took that over. Just sold a lot. They did recapping and then they also did sell tires and then into general auto repair.
00:03:19
Speaker
Do you guys still do retreading at all? I just had to ask. Nope, that was all gone away. That's cool. I'm excited to continue these conversations, Randy. Thank you so much for being here. Great, Darren. Yeah, I've always looked up to you. I've told this story, but he's been on the, he was on the ASA Colorado board. I kept hearing about this Randy Pickering when I first got on the board and I was like, for Randy Pickering, who's this Randy Pickering guy? I kept hearing about Randy, Randy, Randy, and then I met his daughter Taylor and I was like, she was a rock star.
00:03:49
Speaker
Who are these people? And then when I got more involved with Elite, I'm like, this is the Randy Pickering. This is the living legend right here. So it's awesome to have you on the show, but thank you for being here. You're welcome. Mr. Kellerman, Mr. Jamie, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself too, my friend?
00:04:06
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. I mean, I'm a second generation owner. My father started our company in 1982. I came in right out of high school. Not sure what I was going to do with my life and jumped into the automotive field to see if that was something I wanted to explore. 2004 was when that was and it's been kind of been growing with him for quite a long time until he finally decided to
00:04:36
Speaker
to get out of the industry. And 2019 was kind of his last year.
Challenges of Delegation and Training
00:04:40
Speaker
He kind of really was finally done, done. And we started to decide a succession plan of what I would do to purchase from him and move forward with the company. So beginning in 2020, right before the nice COVID years hit,
00:04:55
Speaker
I purchased from my father and we started our process here. Me and my wife and family jumped right into it. I had a goal right off the bat to do a lot of what Randy has discussed of his past. I think that's why Bob Cooper, when I started talking with him originally, put me in place with Randy was everything that I asked or had a goal to do, Randy had already done.
00:05:22
Speaker
I wanted to be able to have multi-shop ownership. I wanted to expand into different communities. I wanted to do many of the things that Randy already does or did, as well as a lot of the things that I needed to get to those points that I wasn't doing procedural type situations or more organized business ownership, if you want to call it that.
00:05:48
Speaker
I wasn't really involved with when it was just my dad doing those things and it was me running the facility. Randy has really put me in place to be able to really understand a lot of those things and understand a lot of my key information that I need to know, need to understand to be able to make educated decisions on what my next steps are. So got thrown in with Randy when I was actually looking to expand and to having more employees at that point, we were looking for new service advisors and
00:06:17
Speaker
get myself off of the front counter all by myself as a service advisor or service manager. So I was trying to make that leap. I wasn't really sure how that was going to go at that point in January or February of 2021. And I got a hold of Bob Cooper at that point and he pushed me into it and thought it would be a good idea. So we tried it out and it's been going ever since.
00:06:42
Speaker
Very, very, very happy we've done it. We've definitely changed the whole course of my business lifestyle as well as so many other things in my life.
00:06:52
Speaker
It's been an amazing ride for sure. It's amazing that you really don't know what you don't know. We're going to talk a little bit further and deeper into this, but Jamie also not just only took over the general auto repair side of this, but he had a toning business that's attached to this as well. So it's dual business in that.
00:07:14
Speaker
And he was trying to figure out, and we'll go into this little war, is this successful? Does this make money? I don't know. And so we look deeper and look forward to having those conversations we move through here. When really, I mean, that's scary. When you manage the book, you manage your business by your bank account, you really don't know. Yeah, that's what we're doing. Yeah, definitely. That's what it is. Like, week to week, where are you?
00:07:38
Speaker
Are you in the red or are you in the black? How do you feel, et cetera? Definitely don't know what we should have been looking at. I guess I could have learned a lot more from my dad. He was definitely a success in the business, but I wasn't thinking about those things. I was running the front counter. I wasn't thinking about those kinds of things. Why would you?
00:07:56
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. You don't know what you don't know, and there's so much power in that phrase because what you don't know, you don't know until somebody comes along and tells you, hey, are you paying attention to this? And all of a sudden it's like, oh, why should I pay attention to it? And then once you understand, it's like, oh my goodness, you can never go back. No. Yeah. Then you're just stuck in Excel sheets all day long because you want to learn more and more and more better. Yeah, for sure. It's funny that when I first started coaching with Kevin, that's when he made me, my wife actually locked me in my office for an hour a day.
00:08:25
Speaker
Really? It started an hour a week. I still have the sticky note in my desk. It's a little yellow sticky note that says, do not disturb. Kevin actually made my wife lock me in there, put that sticker on the door. For an hour, I would sit in there. It's like, what am I supposed to be doing? Because I loved being involved and putting out the fires. Then you realize it's like, wait a minute, we're never going to grow unless I start to lock myself in this room and devote to thinking.
00:08:52
Speaker
you know, and in the numbers and the important things, because we're so busy putting out fires. We don't realize who's starting the fires. So my beginnings like that was the same way right off the bat with, with the elite. Um, you guys have that Eagles course that you guys do every year, I guess. Yeah. And, um, was one of the first big things that I did with you guys. And I wasn't ready for that. You know, I wasn't ready to step away from the front counter. I didn't think it'd be okay. I didn't think my employees could handle it, you know, and that was at a three or four day course, I think. And,
00:09:19
Speaker
We did the same thing. I locked myself in the office and said, I am not available. You're just going to have to deal with it and figure it out. And that was like a big step for us and just amazing to watch them actually do their thing and not have to worry about micromanaging every little aspect of the business and realize that you are able to.
00:09:37
Speaker
do other
Growth Strategies for the Towing Business
00:09:38
Speaker
things. You're not stuck to one role. That's when the big growth happens. Once again, when you're no longer putting out fires, you're figuring out who's lighting the fires. It's like we're actually looking bigger picture and now it's like I love the fact of being back further out because now I can really see things from a clear vision and it's like, what really needs to be improved? What needs to be fixed?
00:10:00
Speaker
That's cool. Well, thanks for sharing that story with us because I think that a lot of people don't even realize they need to do that as a shop owner. You don't realize that you need to actually step back and not be that guy behind the glass door that nobody gets to talk to. It's like, there's a reason why you're back there, you know? Yeah. Totally different for you. Tetris or whatever, you're actually working.
00:10:20
Speaker
But yeah, that's cool. That's good. So I mean, do you remember back in those days, you said in 21, um, do you remember how did you know that you needed coaching or what made you reach out? Um, well, just kind of, I mean, I, I kind of felt like, you know, I had been doing the day to day operations for my father for a long time. Um, and you know, I bought the business from him and you know, it felt different here and you're running it for yourself, but it was still kind of,
00:10:47
Speaker
I felt like I was just kind of stuck in that spot. I wasn't really growing any different. We were kind of in that same, you know, sales number, same routine of what we were doing every day, every year, et cetera. Um, and I had, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to either, like I said, grow into a another shop or whatever else we could do to expand business. I wanted something different out of it. So I was kind of just looking into things, you know, online, et cetera, for training for myself and
00:11:13
Speaker
Elite popped up. I honestly don't even remember how I even got involved with it right off the bat, but I contacted you guys and Bob Cooper is a great salesman. He brought me right in and we talked three or four times in a week or so on the evenings and everything.
00:11:31
Speaker
Uh, one point I even missed a phone call from him and he wouldn't let me hit and miss that phone call. He called, call me back three or four times to make sure that I, I talked to that night. Um, I am grateful forever grateful that he did. Cause he, I mean, if, if he didn't push me to do it, I may not have done it, but like I said, I knew we were expanding. I knew we were hiring in a second service advisor. And at that point, you know,
00:11:55
Speaker
money may not have been the biggest thing in our accounts. So it was kind of worrisome to me, what are we going to be doing next? And I thought it was a good idea to have somebody in my corner, you know, like you're saying, have a coach in the corner that maybe can help me make sense of what all the next steps are going to be.
00:12:13
Speaker
Well, there's that clarity that comes in from having somebody that actually has ran an automotive repair shop has been down the road for you. I mean, you look at it now and it's like, wow, what a genius pairing. Randy's already done this with his kids. He's done it with his parents. He's already had all these things happen. What a better person to guide you through this process of
00:12:33
Speaker
knowing that you don't know everything because he did the same thing with his kids. Yep. He was already set up and ready to go. He knew exactly what I was going to be doing, I guess. I don't know. It was a perfect pairing for sure. Randy, how did you know what he needed help with? Did you ask questions or what did you do?
00:12:48
Speaker
you know, we have that performance report. And I think that told us an awful lot. It gave us good information. It basically grounded us with data. And from there, we just started kind of picking off pieces here and there. I mean, there was, there was, I'm going to say no real outstanding time except that
00:13:07
Speaker
The one thing I mentioned earlier was we're working hard on the general repair business and things are going and the towing piece is over here just kind of fledgling and it had kind of been holding its all and it had been dropping the last year or so. And we kind of dug into those numbers a little bit more and started kind of seeing what that could be and then all of a sudden it just took a turn.
00:13:27
Speaker
And Jamie gave it a little more attention and all of a sudden it's like, whoa, it took off like a rocket. So I think more than anything, it was given attention where attention needed to be given. And we had data that we could support that information.
00:13:43
Speaker
And it's like, okay, we need to tweak some things here. So we were able to tweak. And then we had some discussions. We put some procedures maybe in those types of things. So I think that there was just a number of different things, nothing that was a clear standout except for giving, we had information now that we could do something with and see things more clearly.
00:14:05
Speaker
I would say more of a guidance issue. I mean, that was the biggest thing. It's like you said, knowing what the data is, knowing what I should be looking for. And right off the bat, like you said, the towing business was one of them was, are we making money here? Are we not? What should I be putting my efforts into? I mean, obviously, once we started to delegate work to other individuals, that helped out tremendously as well. So I could focus on other things that were part of the towing business, etc.
The Impact of Coaching on Business Perspective
00:14:32
Speaker
But
00:14:33
Speaker
on that subject there too is putting the right people in the right places has been a key component for our businesses. I mean, Tim, my towing manager here, putting him into this role rather than being in the service advisor role that he was with me, he's been a huge point of the growth of that part of our business. And as a service advisor, that wasn't the case. And it's just trying to make sure you put those pieces in the place that they should be.
00:15:00
Speaker
He was on the bus, just not in the right seat. Exactly. Isn't that the truth though, really? You got to make those choices and figure out are they really supposed to be on the bus with you? I got to ask, that's something that came up in your notes and you guys have mentioned a couple of times, what are some secrets that you can tell somebody that's looking at growing their towing side of their business? What did you guys learn?
00:15:27
Speaker
Honestly, towing wise, I don't have any secrets for it. I think the towing business is definitely an uncharted territory on a lot of automotive shops, probably area, but there's not really a secret to it. The business is there. It's just a matter of going out and getting it. I mean, going out and signing up for insurance
00:15:49
Speaker
jobs, motor clubs, um, the municipalities that we have. I mean, the businesses are out there or the business that you need to get is out there. It's not really a hard thing to get. You're not really advertising like we are for automotive repair or, you know, blowing up the Google pages with, with money out the door. It's just a matter of going out and getting the work and then having the right staff to do it for you is, you know, cause you can't do it by yourself. And that was our place at that point was, it was me, maybe one, two other guys trying to do towing.
00:16:19
Speaker
24 seven, you know, after hours during the day and it just wears you down. So you definitely have to be able to, you know, put that supporting staff in there with you as well, or you're never going to make it. I think doing what you say you're going to do because you guys would, would then commit to it and make sure it was done and handled, you know, kind of say cradle to grave or whatever that looked like it was taken care of. Yeah, for sure. Huh. And so.
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead, Jamie. I didn't even interrupt you. Sorry about that. Just what he just says there, bringing in the same aspects that you have with your customer service from the automotive side. We definitely get the compliments on a daily basis of the difference of us and our
00:17:03
Speaker
towing guys compared to the most of the groups that come around for AAA and that kind of stuff. Tell us. What does that mean? Tell us, enlighten me. I'm curious. Just the way they act. The guys, the people that we have in our facility, they all emulate what we try to put out for our customer experience on the auto side as well. They care about their job. They care about their people. It shows by
00:17:31
Speaker
just the little aspects of, you know, calling the customer before you get there to make sure they're okay before you stop, you know, before you head out on the road and make sure they're not, you know, stranded in an unsafe area or, you know, all those little tiny customer service things that just changes the way the customer is treated for the day. Well, I mean, just going back to the basics, right? Taking care of people.
00:17:54
Speaker
Exactly. And I think part of that is it's a top down mentality because that's what that's Jamie's heart. He wants to make sure that people are taken care of. The money is secondary, but are we getting our people taken care of? And that's internal customers and external customers, both as people and as customers. That's really cool. Yeah. Well, I mean, it makes sense.
00:18:22
Speaker
You know, cause you think about it, I just, just reflecting on the people I've had as tow drivers have come and dropped off, you know, vehicles at the shop. And I'm like, Oh my goodness, you know, where did this guy come from? You know, comes in and grumbles and literally throws the key at you. And you're like, I mean, but to have somebody that would be, I would, I would, I would call you too. You know, it's like, if I had a great tow truck driver that came in that was treating my customers with respect and was nice to him, I don't even worry about them being okay on the side of the road. I mean, I can't tell you the last time I had somebody say, was it, is it, are they okay? It's like,
00:18:52
Speaker
You know, I mean, that would be, that's awesome. What a great idea for businesses, you know, apply what we do in normal business. I mean, I know how serious you are about your customer service. I mean, you've had a bunch of your people go through the master's program, you know, you still got John with you. I assume he is right. Yeah. John's gone, uh, since, since growing into our, our second location, John's kind of jumped up into a service manager role for Milford and, um, Sam's still here as well. You, he went through your, your, uh, program there and we've actually got,
00:19:21
Speaker
I was just talking to Randy today about, and our training sessions this, this after this morning about sending a couple more to you. So John is an awesome guy, man. I just loved him. That was years ago, but it was one of those things that he just, he had the certain, uh, feeling about him where it was like, this guy's, this guy is somebody he's got that leadership ability in him. You know, John was like a funny guy. Cause he was definitely one that he had the, um, the operation side of things, but he didn't have the.
00:19:48
Speaker
the people, the sides of things. And the growth that he put after going through your program was quite a bit of a difference. I mean, he's definitely grown on that side of the customer experience side as well. That's cool. I didn't mean to get sidetracked there. I just thought a little fun. No, he is. It's cool. And Sam's cool too. I mean, nothing bad of us, but John was just one of those guys we came in and he was sitting in class and he had his arms folded his first day and he's like,
00:20:15
Speaker
I'm like, are we going to win this guy over or not? That's John, that's for sure. It's like we had to prove ourselves to him, but I love that about him because it's like, I'm here, you better make it worth my time. It's like, okay, you got it, but it's cool. He was pretty amazed, or I was pretty amazed by the
00:20:37
Speaker
the homework that you guys give out and the things that you do for that, for that, uh, training session. I mean, he was, it was like, you know, most important thing he had on his plate every day, all day. Like he took it very, very seriously, which was, was awesome for me.
Expansion and Acquiring New Locations
00:20:52
Speaker
I mean, obviously, yeah. I mean, I've been paying to have this course done. I appreciated that a hundred percent, but yeah, he was, he went all in it.
00:20:59
Speaker
That's cool. Well, now, I mean, now it'd be, he's a manager for you guys, right? Yeah. He's a manager for us now, like I said, and then he was actually having a baby at the time when he was going through. So yeah, he was, he was, you know, in all different directions at that point of his life. So I mean, I was forever grateful that he actually put in the effort that he did. Yeah. Well, that's cool.
00:21:21
Speaker
Well, yeah, both high for me, but yeah, sorry about that, Randy. What's that? You may have picked up on what he said there. It was, so he opened up a second location, had a second location. What is it, Jamie, maybe 15 minutes away from you, your first location. And so he just opened that up, uh, within the last two months, three, less than three months, I think is where he's at. July, July 1st. So again, we will finish in our second month right now. Okay. Well, that's awesome.
00:21:49
Speaker
That's a Loveland, right? Yes. Okay. I saw that and I was like, Loveland? That's my brandy nice neighborhood, right? Oh, really? Yeah. A little further away. Yeah, a little bit further away. Could have been North Pole, too. Could have been Loveland in North Pole. Who knows? But anyway, it's not. Anyway, because of that growth, those are some things we had a lot of conversations about and that sort of thing. And Jamie took the bull by the horns on
00:22:15
Speaker
bringing that one together. And because of that, and utilizing some of his other people, he's been able to take and cross train his staff over to the second location as well through that process. So it's just like anything, it's growing pains. It's growing pains more than anything. But it continues to improve. And yeah, it's exciting to see how it's going to come out here this year.
00:22:38
Speaker
That's cool. So I mean, when you say it, did you buy a location or did you start from scratch or okay? No. So yeah, it was a, um, I guess you want to call it a failing, uh, automotive shop at that point. Yeah. I was a, an absentee owner had been involved with this location and had been gone, uh, for a couple of three years and then was letting somebody else just run it from far away. And it, it went downhill and that guy wanted out the guy that owned it from out of state. So actually my Napa guy, uh, Napa
00:23:08
Speaker
Salesmen got me involved with it, and I wasn't really at the point of saying I was 100% ready for that. That's what was one of my goals on our Elite Goals sheet that we set up. But it was time, I think, and we tried it. The opportunity presented itself. Yes, for sure. I mean, it was a perfect opportunity for us, and we closed on the building in May, purchased the building and property in May, and redid the inside of it with some
00:23:35
Speaker
front office construction and stuff and opened, like I said, first of July. The bones were all really good as far as the building was concerned. Yeah, equipment all came with it and everything. Yeah. Yeah. One of it that was nice having Randy's help that he's been through multiple locations and his help to the clients through that stuff too. I bet that was really valuable to have that insight. Absolutely. I mean, I pick his brain with the weirdest things every day, I'm sure, but yeah, it's definitely been nice.
00:24:04
Speaker
They're just things, weird or not, they're just things anymore. Yeah. But it's still one of those things of giving that extra guidance of saying, hey, well, wait a minute here. Does it meet all these criteria and all those things? Did he send you pictures ever? How did you know, how did you learn about the location if it was going to be a good fit or not? It was actually a place I knew. I mean, it's like I said, 15 minutes from us. I mean, we've been by it a billion times. It was a place that I've always thought was, it's a beautiful building. It's a beautiful,
00:24:33
Speaker
I mean, when they built the building for the automotive repair, they went all out with it.
Community Integration and Business Success
00:24:38
Speaker
And I always thought, man, I wish we could have a building like that. And it came up for sale. And I was like, well, heck, we have to. And it has some other key pieces that kind of helped out where it's got a little section in it that rents out to a Navis budget rental facility. So it kind of helps with the initial costs.
00:24:57
Speaker
kind of just went for it or knowing, like you said, having Randy behind me, it was kind of like, well, no matter what, even if we fail in the beginning, I've got help. I've got somebody in my corner that's going to help me along and get me through some of the ups and downs of whatever this takes. It made you feel a little better and more comfortable to jump on in. There's so much value though in having that
00:25:18
Speaker
Just second opinion, you know, somebody that's like, like I was saying earlier, you know, looking at the, that's like, no, you don't want this building of how it's laid out, you know? Or yeah, look at how this is just, this is perfect. And you know, just that extra insight and that guidance, you know?
00:25:34
Speaker
I think that's one of the things that we can bring in coaching is kind of that perspective, a little bit of clarity, maybe general knowledge of operations, you know, our previous or real life experiences, and then other coaching experiences. All that, you know, funnels in and kind of gets sorted through. And that's some of the things that I think we can bring into coaching and help.
00:25:57
Speaker
Well, it's amazing though, because it's just those experiences what helps us all grow, you know? And it's just, you've been through things, it's just like, you know what to look out for. I can't believe how much my life changed when I got a coach and all of a sudden it's like, why are you doing it this way? It's like, because we've always done it, you know? I didn't know any different, you know? And then all of a sudden it's like, wow, that was a great idea. And you look at just like this towing thing where, you know, it's a great money maker for you guys.
00:26:23
Speaker
amazing how you can have something sitting right underneath your nose, not even realize that it's good until you just make a few tweaks. And all of a sudden I was like, wow, here's another profit. We were basically on the road of, you know, trying to get to the point of getting rid of that. And that was where we were at, you know, I got with Randy and it was,
00:26:41
Speaker
a matter of him showing me the right information and the understanding where I was coming from with it. And we went from two trucks to nine and it's been quite a bit of a difference in two years. His whole business has got a really beautiful color scheme and his logos and that sort of thing. But one of his trucks, I just have to point this out, he said,
00:27:04
Speaker
died in the orange and black Bengals fan. So he had actually one painted in Bengal colors. It's beautiful. And it really makes a statement of, we're here to stay. We're here for the long haul. And we're part of this community. So it's really, it's just cool the way they've reacted and the way they've continued to ingrain themselves into the community that they serve.
00:27:30
Speaker
Did you see not to go off subject on that, but, um, the Joe mixin, we got him to sign that truck. Did you see that Randy online at all? Um, I did not see that on. Yeah. So we towed his car. Yeah. We towed Joe mix in the running back for since they bangle scar. And we got him to sign the hood of it. Yeah. So now we've got a, uh, a hood to go in my basement as well. And we're all sitting down here. Wow. That is really cool. Yeah. It is cool. Yeah. Different.
00:28:01
Speaker
I got to ask you a really out there question, but did you ever read Think and Grow Rich? No, I have not. Okay. Yeah, it's a great book by Napoleon Hill and it was written in the 30s and it's just about attracting the things into your life that you really want and that you seek after and you really focus on those things. You do it a lot. I could just tell by talking about the building that you looked at and you wanted it and then all of a sudden it comes up many years later, it comes up available.
00:28:26
Speaker
And then, you know, the colors of the trucks and having this guy come in and you're actually working on his vehicle, having him sign it. I mean, it's just, it's happening a lot in your life and it's a cool thing. It's really cool. I figured you'd read that book because that was, he was one of the first guys. I mean, Jesus talked about it years ago.
00:28:41
Speaker
But Napoleon Hill really took it and ran with it and just wrote a great book about success and how the things you focus on, you get into your life. Yeah, I 100% agree with that. It's a life changer. Not to get off topic, but seriously, it's a great book. It's one of those ones that I recommend it to my clients whenever I start working with them. And then it's amazing because when they apply it, you'll watch literally their lives change because they start focusing on the things they want to do and what they want to accomplish.
00:29:11
Speaker
It's just, it's, it's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's that way with everything in life. Like you're saying, I mean, just, just focusing on the positive things compared to the negative things can, can change your, your entire world every day. So I can imagine. Yeah. Yeah. It's just good stuff. So, but yeah, that's cool. So, I mean, you know, back to the coaching stuff. I mean, were there times where you've been really frustrated with Randy when he'd like tells you something that you didn't want to hear, or is it always been a cool, good relationship?
00:29:36
Speaker
Well, you haven't had that yet. I mean, I haven't at least, I don't know if he's been pissed or mad at me yet, but, uh, um, no, I mean, the only thing I could say that maybe I could do that would, has got Randy ever in a bunch is missing a few here and there, uh, of our appointments when stuff comes up. But I usually try to, uh, no matter what, when Wednesday rolls around, I'm making sure I get everything ready to go for my meetings with Randy. So I don't, don't disappoint. So I don't think we've ever had that problem. And this guy does not disappoint.
00:30:05
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah, I can see that. I mean, that's something as a coach, nothing frustrates you more because you spend all this time prepping and thinking about the client, what they need help with, and then they have them not show up and you're like,
00:30:19
Speaker
I got all this stuff ready for us, man. And I know, I miss plenty of them with Kevin, my coach originally, and he would be so frustrated with me, and I didn't understand. I'm like, whatever, you got an hour for free, man. And then once you become a coach, you're like, well, yeah, I'm excited for you. I looked at your numbers. I actually thought about you. I really tried to figure out how I'm going to help you and not have you show up. I'm like, darn it. I was excited to talk to you about this stuff. Just a big let down. It is.
Coaching, Clarity, and Leadership
00:30:46
Speaker
Because, I mean, especially when you got somebody like Randy in your corner and the good coaches really care. You know, I mean, Randy's lost sleep over you. I can guarantee it. Something has happened and he's like woke up at 3 AM and he's like.
00:30:59
Speaker
I can't believe that happened. It's just the brain, it's just how it is. I know Randy and it's just the way I'm sure it's happened to you, right Randy? I would say even the excitement of things coming up, it's like, you know what? In this purchase deal, we need to have this conversation. I'll make some notes and I'll go back to bed or something like that or I'll wake up and I'll put together maybe a spreadsheet or a document and shoot it off to him and then we'll have some conversation. Those are exciting things for us as a coach.
00:31:27
Speaker
I talk about this business being our business. I have no stake in his business, but I do have a large stake into it just because of our friendship and our relationship. I want to be able to add to what he's doing and not certainly diminish or take away. Yeah. It's that excitement. That's the part that I just love because it's just so exciting.
00:31:54
Speaker
I literally had one of my clients that he just broke 11 million last year. When we started, we were a quarter of that.
00:32:02
Speaker
And it's like I'd literally talk about it being our business. But it's something I feel like, I mean, it's not my business, but it is. Because literally, we're talking about doing these different things and going outside the box and all these things. It's like, man, I've been there with you, in the corner with you fighting all the way through it. Yeah, you've helped through it from there to there. I mean, you personally invested a lot of time and information and effort. So I mean, yeah, I can feel, see how that would feel that way.
00:32:27
Speaker
But I mean, you got to feel that too, though, because you got Randy, you got the whole elite team behind you that, you know, you need something. We're here. You know, I mean, you got Randy, obviously, but you still got all of us here still rooting for you. And, you know, we see that Randy will send out a message and, you know, coaches will put something out like, hey, they just had a record month here.
00:32:44
Speaker
I looked at your file and I saw that we've sent you things throughout the years of these things where we had this record and it's like we're all celebrating with you here because it's so cool. We get the random stuff from you guys like that. That's always been a neat thing all of a sudden. You'll get the trophy sitting right next to me over here where Million Dollar Club or these random things where you guys send us even just
00:33:07
Speaker
chocolates for congratulating, uh, phone, like a good month kind of thing. And that that's really neat for not just me, but the team too. You know, it gives them something to, uh, get exciting about. But on another topic of having you guys behind Randy is something that's been really, really nice is for me is to know that no matter what, even if I ask Randy, he's always says that it's just like, well, let me get back to you. Let me, you know, let me, let me take this for the week. And you know, you know, he's discussing it with whether it's, whether it's you guys at elite or any of his other,
00:33:35
Speaker
100,000 friends that Randy has in the industry. He'll find an answer for you and he'll come back to you the next week with something that's so detailed and fully what you need. On any subject, I asked him recently about coming out to Denver to visit. In three days, I have a complete itinerary of what I'm going to do for three days by the hour and where I'm driving.
00:34:04
Speaker
I mean, he is amazing. It's amazing to work with for sure. Yeah. We got the right guy working with you, right? Yeah. And it's, yeah. And there's something rewarding too. Well, yeah, but I mean, you got that coach. So I don't know, Randy, I'm just speaking for myself here, but I mean, you know, you got a client that actually does their work and actually wants to do things and you go out of your way and help them out because it's like, man, you're willing to do the work. Let's go, man. Let's run. You know, you know, you got somebody that doesn't want to be there.
00:34:31
Speaker
Yeah. What was that? Always the case. I say it's not always the case. So it's nice. And I've, and I'm going to tell you, I've told Jamie that, you know, oftentimes you're a star pupil here, Jamie. Yep. Start client for me to be able to work with. And I, and I, it's not to slight my enemy, any of my other client clients that I work with for elite, but there are the way he approaches his business. Um, he's pretty, he's matter of fact, he's down to business. He's he's prepared ready.
00:34:59
Speaker
he develops things on the backside or on his own time, brings them to the meeting and it's like, Jamie, this is nicely done. It looks not only does it look great, but it gives us a lot of
00:35:12
Speaker
uh, comparative information that works really nicely. So yeah, there's a exciting when you get clients like that. Thank you. Well, it makes it more worthwhile. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You think about those things that it just, I don't mean to keep talking back to this, but it's like this friend of mine that, that, you know, I see he's been a client for all these years and it's like ended up doing trannies. We build injectors and we build PCMs and ECMs and all this cool stuff, you know, and it's like, and I know nothing about that. When they asked me to coach him, I'm like, I know nothing about that stuff.
00:35:42
Speaker
But I can tell you, I sure know a heck of a lot now about turbos and impeller sizes and all these different things. But we've been having so much fun just playing. And it's like, if you didn't show up prepared and you didn't want it.
00:35:53
Speaker
I probably wouldn't put as much effort into it because I know that he's excited as I am, you know, he's more so, and it comes to these, these ideas. And Jamie, that's, uh, it's one thing I love about, you know, I've learned more about you is that you've really got that vision and that drive. And, uh, it's just cool. Yeah. I can't imagine. Yeah. I mean, I just can't imagine even putting yourself out there for the coaching or, or, or putting the, the financial part of it out there. And if you're not going to put the effort for it, so that's crazy to me that people wouldn't want to do that. But yeah, that's, I guess that's just how we are.
00:36:22
Speaker
A lot of times people want, uh, the reward of that work, you know, and that's where they think that they can come in and they can pay some money and have a coach come in and fix everything. It doesn't work that way. You know, coaches, they're a one hour a week, couple hours, week, whatever, maybe to just kind of give you some guidance and work through ideas, but you've got to do the work, you know?
00:36:43
Speaker
And the people like yourself to get the big results are the ones that are willing to put the work in and think about it at night and actually show up meeting to the meetings prepared and do the homework, do all those things. And that's when the results come. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's, it's, it's cool. It's a good thing. So, okay. All right. Um, let me see here. What other questions did I really have for you that, uh, um,
00:37:08
Speaker
that we wanted to talk about today. We've gone over a lot of good stuff. I don't really think it's cool about the towing. I want to hear more about that. I had a client of mine that is out of LA and it's one of the biggest towing companies in LA.
00:37:22
Speaker
You know, they've been with elite for years and, uh, and it's something that, you know, I'm going to talk to him about that because it's like, man, why not have your people be nice? You know, it's a, it's a, it's, it's basics, right? But I mean, why not do that? Because that's going to be different than all the other towing people. I mean, they're hugely in with triple A, so they have a lot of guaranteed stuff, but man, I just, it's like a no brand. I'm almost embarrassed. I didn't think about that a long time ago. You know, it's like talk to your guys about being really nice and friendly because what a huge difference that makes.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, that's cool. Okay. Um, let's see here. Yeah. We've talked about a lot of things on the list here that I wanted to go over. So, um, I guess, uh, Jamie, you know, what's one piece of advice you could give a shop owner who's on the fence about, uh, whether or not they need a coach? Uh, well, I don't mean advice wise. I would just say you do. I mean, there's not really any advice other than that. I mean, yeah. I mean, you may think you don't, I mean, I was, that's kind of where I was where.
00:38:21
Speaker
I felt like we were already a decently successful shop in the community. We'd been around for almost 40 years at that point. And you just don't, like you said, you don't know what you don't know. And you don't know what you can do if you don't really put your effort or put yourself out there. Getting out of the comfort zone of just being and doing what you're already doing is huge.
00:38:45
Speaker
having that coach to hold you accountable for things that you may or may not want to do on a weekly basis or monthly basis will completely change your, like I said earlier, not just your business life, but your personal life as well. I mean, Randy is not only a business coach. He's a very good friend. Heck, he's been a therapist at times. I mean, he's, he's everything for me. So
00:39:07
Speaker
you, you need to coach. There's no, there's no question about it. I mean, I think even people, you know, and you're saying an $11 million company, you would think, Heck, he's doing good. He don't need nothing. No, you need that person in your back and in the corner to help you out.
00:39:24
Speaker
Well, yeah, that's so true though. I've done a lot of studying on successful people like countless books and it doesn't matter who it is. I don't even talk about Steve Jobs or Rockefeller. It doesn't matter who it is. They all had coaches. Every single one of them had an advisory council. They actually had coaches. I mean, Henry Ford was the best at that. He wanted to build an assembly line. He went and got the best person he could find to help him do that. He wanted to build a V8 engine.
00:39:49
Speaker
You know, you have to surround yourself with successful people. That's just how it works. Yeah. That's great. Great words. Thank you, Jamie. Mr. Randy, what about you? What do you think? You know, the thing to kind of ride the coattails of what Jamie was just talking about is that I think that a coach takes and brings is either the right information, documentation, but whatever that might be right at the right time. It might be standard operating procedures. It might be employee manual or policies, pay plans.
00:40:17
Speaker
tweaking, maybe developing a parts matrix, pricing matrix, those types of things, but bringing those at the right time. I mean, you can get, you could feel like you have all that stuff, but it's always evolving. And it's always changing slightly somewhere along the line. And so what maybe worked five years ago doesn't really work now, but there might be a slight tweak to that that could work. And we'd sometimes get that tunnel vision.
00:40:43
Speaker
as owners, and we need to get a little more broadness of what we can envision. And oftentimes, you just need somebody else to present that to you. Right. And it's not just in coaching. That's with the, I think, the entire, your entire business or corporation or whatever of the people that you have around you. You can't do it all on your own. You definitely can't be just the owner, the boss, and expect that
00:41:09
Speaker
you're leading the charge and you're going to succeed from there.
Learning from Failure and Employee Development
00:41:13
Speaker
There's so many smart people around you. You just got to figure out how to get that out of them, first of all, and then be able to, you know, put it, put it to good use. And that's really helped us along the way as having the right people, like I said, in the right places, but, you know, allowing them to, to help you grow as well. Yeah.
00:41:32
Speaker
That's one of the hard things, you know, is Bob used to always say, you know, it's like you find the best people you can find and then you get out of their way, you know, and you let them do their thing. And it's like, a lot of times that's the hard part is getting out of the way and letting them do their job, you know, because you want to get in there and make sure they're doing it right and kind of micromanage them. But that is how the success happens. Don't fail. It's not hard to, you know, it's not, it is hard to let them fail, but it's just, if you let them fail that they won't, you know, they won't do it again, just like yourself and you, they learn from it and,
00:42:01
Speaker
It just grows and grows from there. I could not delegate whatsoever before I got in with Randy and being able to sit down and start letting them take on more and more responsibility has been huge for me personally because I could have so much more time to myself. It's taken on that leadership role now. Yes. You move into a different capacity and you now guide the ship in a different manner. Yeah. Well, when you accept the fact that
00:42:32
Speaker
the success of the business is actually in the end, it's up to you. And you've got to make sure that all those people in place are doing the best that they can and you've got to accept that responsibility and do your best to help them through it. And that includes failing sometimes and letting them make those mistakes and do those things that are kind of catastrophic. Bobby used to tell a story about a guy that
00:42:56
Speaker
found a problem with that for sure was an O2 sensor and it was on this particular model of this vehicle and Bob knew that it wasn't the O2 sensor. The guy came to him and said, what's the O2 sensor? Bob's like, I knew it wasn't because but I had to let this happen. The guy went in and found out to replace the O2 sensor and it wasn't the O2 sensor. Bob's like, but I realized at that point that
00:43:19
Speaker
I was enabling this guy because every time he had a problem, he'd come to Bob and Bob would solve it. He's like, when I did that, all of a sudden, the guy started to think on his own and he goes, I changed that guy's life and I made my life better too because all of a sudden, the guy started to really think things through himself before. Like Bob said, he goes, I made sure that this O2 sensor was non-returnable. He's like, I ate at that and the company paid for that. I didn't charge customer.
00:43:41
Speaker
And I made sure of that because I knew that it was something with this particular model of car that it was not that O2 sensor, but I wanted him to learn and he did. And it's like, wow, that's a great point though, because we keep stepping into it to bail somebody out that you're going to keep coming to us for answers. Yeah, 100%. And there's a time and place for that, obviously. If it's something with the safety here, customer, the guy had to have the car back at 5 o'clock and it's 3 o'clock and the guy's saying it's the CO2 and it's not that point, you can't do that.
00:44:11
Speaker
Bob said it was a perfect circumstance, but he said he learned a life lesson. Yeah, that's cool.
Closing Remarks and Future Outlook
00:44:17
Speaker
All right. Well, anything else in conclusion, guys, before I let you guys get back to the rest of your days? I don't believe so. Okay. All right. Well, Jamie and Randy, thank you guys again both very much for being here.
00:44:31
Speaker
Um, I really enjoyed talking with you guys and I think there's a lot of good nuggets in here for people that are going to be listening to. So appreciate you guys and, uh, good luck with the new location, man. I'm really proud of you. I didn't realize that, uh, you know, July, I mean, my goodness, you're in two months in. That's awesome. Yeah. And it's, uh, it's definitely, uh, a new experience, but, uh, we're, uh, we're getting there for sure. Well, yeah, but with you being who you are and with having this rock star coach here, I mean, you're good to go. So it's great.
00:45:01
Speaker
The up and it's, what's weird about it right now, I guess, is the numbers that you look at and you, you know, you think you're not doing as good as you are, but, uh, you really, it's not been too bad for the first two months. Honestly, in my opinion, when you, you look at it compared to what I'm doing now and it seems so, so, you know, minute, but it's actually not too bad. So that's great, man. Well, good luck. I'm excited to hear about it, uh, how things go. So, but yeah, talk to you soon. All right. Well, you guys have a great rest today and thanks again for being with us today. Thank you.
00:45:31
Speaker
Thanks, Darren. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks, guys. We'll see you. Thanks for listening to Elite Radio, the podcast for repair shop owners by repair shop owners. If you're looking for help in your automotive repair shop, then reach out to me. We provide coaching and peer groups, training for your service providers and managers, and countless complimentary resources, and a whole lot more. Visit EliteWorldwide.com today, and we'll see you next time.