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In The Coach's Corner with Darrin Barney Ep. 1 - Bryan Lagas
794 Plays1 year ago
In our debut episode, Elite President Darrin Barney sits down with Bryan Lagas of SpeedSport Tuning and his coach, Joe Marconi, and discuss the various aspects of running a business with a coach.
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Transcript
Introduction to Elite Radio
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to Elite Radio, the podcast for repair shop owners by repair shop owners.
Meet the Hosts and Guests
00:00:07
Speaker
Hi, I'm Darren Varney here at Elite Radio in the coaches corner here today to talk with Brian Lagas and, uh, Joe Marconi here to talk about the relationships that can, uh, you know, develop with the coaching program and just to be able to kind of get showcased some of the awesome people that we have working with us on the elite team. So, uh, let's start, you know, right now, Brian, you're in the top left-hand corner of my screen. So let's start with you, man. Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?
00:00:33
Speaker
Sure, sure. Yeah.
Brian's Journey to Ownership
00:00:35
Speaker
Name is Brian Logis. I've been the owner of my current company, Speed Sport Tuning, otherwise known as SST Auto since 2019. I started running this company in about 2015 for the previous owner and had the opportunity to purchase it in 2019. And I did so obviously, and have been doing that since then.
The Value of Peer Advice
00:01:01
Speaker
Uh, prior experience, I had another shop, uh, basically the same exact concept as this one, uh, that I owned in Colorado out by you, Darren. And, uh, I ran that place for, for 10 years. So that's kind of where I got my, my intro into the shop ownership world. And, um, you know, I've been building on it ever since. And in more recent years, you know, I've, I've, I've kind of linked up with Joe and with elite.
00:01:23
Speaker
and, you know, tried to continue my education and my ability to run a company because obviously no matter how long you do it, you never have all the answers, right? So it's always good to have an industry peer and somebody that you can relate to and somebody that can understand what you're going through and get some real world advice from.
About Speed Sport Tuning
00:01:45
Speaker
So that's kind of where I'm at. But a little bit about my company, I have a
00:01:50
Speaker
fairly sizable operation for this industry and what we do in the independently owned world. But we're a very German-centric company, primarily Porsche-oriented, four departments here. We have a couple of service departments, one for all the European brands, primarily German stuff, Audi and Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, et cetera. And then full dedicated Porsche service department,
00:02:18
Speaker
We also have a motorsport division and we have a vintage Porsche division and then there's some vehicle transport stuff on top of that. So that kind of helps facilitate what we do. In addition to another kind of leg, which is a vehicle storage program, which I have in another building.
00:02:39
Speaker
Couple of buildings, about 35,000 square feet combined. I think I'm up to 34 employees, and I have five interns working here right now and a couple of part-time guys. So we're a full house. You've got a big team there.
00:02:56
Speaker
Well, I mean, when, when it was discussed, um, you know, about who to bring on for these podcasts. It's like, you were the, one of the first ones that kept coming up and it's like, and I've heard about you numerous times in the past. And I mean, I've had a couple of your students go through the master's program. I mean, it's like, you're awesome. And I'd love to, I was so excited that you're able to join us today. So thank you very much for, for taking the time to be here and, uh,
00:03:16
Speaker
It's it's it's honestly an honor to to have you on the podcast with us. So thank you for that. Thank you.
Joe's Impressions of Brian's Facility
00:03:21
Speaker
Well, let me just piggyback on Brian. He's been a little modest. I've been to his facility, you know, because it's not that far from me. I'm in New York. He's right over the border in Danbury, Connecticut, which is about 30 minutes away. And
00:03:35
Speaker
The first time I was at his facility, I was like a kid in the candy store. I walked around. It's a large facility. There's old vintage Porsches from the 60s. There's the motorsport division with all the race cars, the machine shop where his team is rebuilding these Porsches. It's just amazing.
00:03:54
Speaker
It brought me back to the time when I first started as a young kid right out of high school in the muscle car era. All of the muscle cars were different and hanging out at the racetrack. My racetrack was a drag strip. Brian's different. Brian takes to another level, but it's just amazing business. So this is a testament to who Brian is, his ability to
00:04:15
Speaker
understand how to put the time in, put the right people in place. So it's just an amazing business, Brian. I tip my hat to you. I really do. Thank you. Well, thank you. I appreciate it, Joe. It comes, you know, I take that very, very seriously from a guy like you, you know, being in the industry as long as you have and seeing all these different operations that you work with. Yeah. Yeah, I do take that compliment and appreciate it. Yeah.
00:04:41
Speaker
Well, that was the other thing too. When I first met you at the Fly with the Eagles course, I was very impressed by you. But then when I looked at your business and had the opportunity to become your coach, I looked at your business, wow, this is really something that I need
Joe's Transition to Coaching
00:04:55
Speaker
and want. And it came at the right time because I just sold my business that December. I came to 21.
00:05:01
Speaker
So I sold my company and here to have the opportunity to work with someone, a company like yours, which has multiple divisions. It was just came at the right time. I really look forward to it. I think, you know, on a funny note, I when I when I looked into signing up after doing the Eagles course, I said, I want to work with that guy. I want to go.
00:05:19
Speaker
You know, I had the, I had the Eagle Sports with, with yourself and, and with Kevin Voight and both of you are, you know, extremely knowledgeable. And I said, that guy, I can work with him. He thinks like me. Well, from the Northeast, right? It's almost the same thing. So a little bit about me, I started in the business as a kid. My father was in the business. So I grew up in the gas station business. And I was, it was, it was, it was normal for my father to say to me, I was 13 of the,
00:05:46
Speaker
in other words if the car needs a little bit of work whatever before you go to school I want you to do this this and that so that's how I you know that's how I grew up in the business so this is the only business I've ever been in I tried going to college but that didn't work out so you know but you know the funny thing is when I
00:06:02
Speaker
When I was growing up, I never thought I would be in this business. But once I left, after two semesters of college, I left, I got a job pumping gas. Back then, you didn't have the automatic pumps. You actually had to pump gas. So I was a gas attendant, and I just loved the business. It brought everything back from my roots as a kid, and the rest is history. So I started as a technician in the 1970s.
00:06:28
Speaker
Worked for a few different automotive repair shops, gas stations, dealership experience. In 1980, I opened up my own repair shop in Baldwin Place, New York. And that was October 1st, 1980. And expanded that business, kept on expanding it. Eventually, I grew a four bay to a six bay to a seven bay to a two facility, 11 bay facility, then I took, then I
00:06:55
Speaker
Um, got another location about 10 miles away and a satellite location for spillover work. That was like in between those two locations because we were just handling so much work. Um, in, in the mid nineties, I got involved with elite Bob Cooper and elite. So, and that really changed my life. It's one of the reasons why coach today, because I know that you, you know, no matter how well you're doing and, and, you know, or there's always like Brian said earlier, there's always that element of, you know, you don't really know.
00:07:25
Speaker
and to bounce things off of that help to keep people accountable. Uh, that's a big part of your success. So that was really pivotal in pivotal point of my life in the mid nineties to late nineties. So I continue to grow, um, in, I was lucky enough also in the, in about 2011 or 12, I'm not really sure over the year now, but, um, to become a coach with working with elite. So that was really good. That was, that was setting myself up for my future, my second career, which would be.
00:07:54
Speaker
You know, coaching, doing training. I do Fly with the Eagles course. And I work with Darren Barney and Kevin Ford, another business coach for Elite. And we do a lot of work behind the scenes just helping the industry. So that's who we are now. I'm loving it. I had 41 years as a shop owner, grew the company to a point where, you know, I didn't have to be there, but time came where it was enough and time to let go.
00:08:22
Speaker
Um, just lucky to be here, Darren. I want to thank you again. I want to thank Brian again for allowing us to have this three way podcast. So thanks again. That's great. Yeah. Thank you, Joe. And you know, it's funny, Brian mentioned earlier about going to the egos and then seeing, and seeing Joe and going, I want to have that guy as my coach. And I had the same thought, you know, I went with my brother in 17 and it was a life changing event for me when I went and it was like,
00:08:43
Speaker
wow, these guys actually know their stuff. Holy cow. And like you hear all these good things and you're like, Oh my goodness. You know, at that point I had just joined the coaching program and it was for me, it was just like, wow, I'm in the right place. Cause there's so much energy and so much just feedback and just that great feeling that, you know, helps you to know that, you know, to piggyback on that a little bit, Darren, you know, I, I had, I've been doing this for a
Why Choose Elite Coaching?
00:09:07
Speaker
while obviously. And I had previous experience, you know, with other companies and, and I wouldn't really call them
00:09:13
Speaker
coaching oriented companies, but, you know, all the various programs and whatnot that are out there that you can learn about business and this and that, you know, and, um, never had a good experience with any of them. And I was, I was always very skeptical after that as to, you know, what, what is a company like elite really going to be able to do for me? You know, I've been doing this for a long time. I've been successful on my own, you know, why do I need a coach? Why do I need, you know, advice from, uh, from a company like, like elite, because like I said, you know,
00:09:42
Speaker
previous companies, they, they go over such, such basic strategies, what I, what I considered to be basic strategies. And, you know, there was always kind of a sales pitch behind it. And it just never seemed like an up and up type of scenario. But right off the rip with elite, I felt very comfortable because, you know, obviously the, the, the kind of strict
00:10:03
Speaker
policy that you guys follow, you know, never put money before people. And I mean, that that stood out to me right off the bat. And then realizing that it was that it was not like an underlying sales pitch where, you know, everybody else gets to benefit off of off of this experience. No, it really is geared towards people like me that, you know, want to have a solid resource in the industry to work with. And, you know, how many of us that own shops or businesses in general have a person that we can go to and say, hey,
00:10:32
Speaker
I have this problem or that problem. Like, you know, what are you, what's your opinion? We don't have that. Cause you know, all of our friends, all of our, our, our, our other peers, like they don't have the experience that we do, uh, in the industry that we're in. So this is a, this is such a great resource for, for anybody who's looking.
00:10:49
Speaker
you know, to better themselves as a business owner or better their own business and make it more profitable or more efficient or whatever, whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, you're good. You go ahead, Joe. You're good, man. You know, to that point, I think one of the and not to toot my own horn, but what we what I try to do, and I know other coaches feel the same. We try to understand your business. It's not a boilerplate. It's not a template.
00:11:17
Speaker
strategy we really try to learn your business, although it's basically the same in terms of understanding the auto repair business and for many shops, it is the same but the business models differ just slightly. And that's what makes it.
00:11:35
Speaker
In a way, building a strategy that conforms to your business will always enhance your business a different way. Plus, it's easier for us because in this way, we learned to understand that we have to develop a relationship. And once you have the relationship, you get to know your business, begin to form that bond. And that bond cannot exist and can't develop.
00:11:58
Speaker
if we just take a boilerplate approach to this. And so I think to your point, what we try to do is understand the different business models out there. And then we adjust our strategies known from our background and what we do at Elite to make all the enhancements to your business the way you would want them made. So that I think is the difference.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that's one thing that I love about elite and what we do is that we're very specific on our coaches and, you know, how we, we get them selected because they have to be previous shop owners. And when we do that coach selection pairing process, just like we did even with you, Joe, I mean, talking with Brian and we had the notes from Mike about, you know, what his strengths were, what he was really wanting help with. And then, you know, we all met together and we talked about who's going to be the best coach for Brian.
00:12:47
Speaker
personality wise, you know, business wise, you know, where you want to go for the future, all of those things. And then we can actually do that coach pairing process. And that's why I love about, you know, working with the leads that once again, we have great coaches that were successful shop owners. You know, they're not just some guy that we give them a boiler plate and say, here you go. Follow the rules here. It's like, no, it's not what it is at all. Yeah. This is really, so, and we do this, um, we do get, uh, don't get me wrong. We do get paid for it, but I can make this statement in a blanket statement.
00:13:16
Speaker
The coaches don't do for the money. They're all successful business owners. They're all successors in their own right. And many of them don't have shops anymore. They just, like me, they retire from their shops. But we do because we really want to give back. We want to help. We know the struggles of business and the automotive business world. Plus, we know the rewards. And we know that you can develop an amazing business. And I think that's why we do it. We want to pick up where we left off. And if I could somehow make a difference in someone's lives by just
00:13:45
Speaker
tapping into something that I learned and maybe wasn't able to do because maybe I ran out of time in my business. That's just, it's just, that's the, that's the magic of the coaching program. It really is. Right. So Brian, I got to ask, I mean, you know, what, uh, what do you think the biggest pros of having a coach are for you and your business?
Benefits of Having a Coach
00:14:06
Speaker
Well, you know, again, I think I touched on it a little bit earlier, but the, the, the idea that I, I don't have anyone that I can actually speak to about my business in my own life, other than, than Joe, you know, I have, I have my, my, my business development manager here in house and the two of us work closely together every single day. And of course she, you know, she has a full understanding of what's going on here, but, um,
00:14:33
Speaker
You try to talk to anybody else out in the real world about an automotive shop or probably any business for that matter because the large majority of people out there are not business owners. You know, they, they punch a clock and they, they collect a paycheck and, you know, not to say that they don't work hard and they don't have difficult jobs. They do, but they, they, they just are not immersed in the world of, of business and the challenges that it presents. So.
00:14:56
Speaker
For that fact alone, to have somebody like Joe that I can talk to on a regular basis, he makes it clear that he's always available to me for a text or a phone call or an email. But just on our weekly meetings alone, it really gives us a chance for me to just kind of vent all of the things that are going on and get his feedback.
00:15:19
Speaker
Of course, I'm accustomed to doing everything by myself. I'm one of these OCD people that it's got to be done just like this, and I do it this way, and that's the way it needs to be. And I back off of that stuff a lot. Actually, at Joe's recommendation, he's encouraged me to delegate a lot of my tasks off to my
00:15:39
Speaker
uh, highly qualified employees that I'm paying lots of money to do their jobs. And, you know, I'm still one of those people who's like, well, no, it's mine. It's my responsibility. I can do this the right way. And, uh, but at the end of the day, you know, I, that's a, that's a good example of, of how he can help me is like, no, let that stuff go, you know, delegate those things. And.
00:15:59
Speaker
And it's not just because you're trying to offload your workload. Here's all the other benefits. Here's how it helps the employees. Here's what it does for them and builds confidence in them and makes them feel like they have a piece of this. So those types of advice on a weekly basis to me is just tremendous.
00:16:18
Speaker
you know, it's not to say that I'm a fairly smart guy, you know, I like I kind of know what I'm doing. But, but, but to hear it from somebody who's been in the industry for so long, and I know has my best interest at heart, yeah, really, it puts an extra weight in in the conversations that we have. So it
00:16:37
Speaker
I mean, like we were talking about, you know, we said this offline, we were just talking about how it's just that non-emotional person and that guy that loves your business almost as much as you do and is there to just kind of help you. And yet you got somebody in your corner, you know, that that's not there every day that doesn't have the emotional ties to maybe the people or the way you've been doing things. And, and a coach can come in and just kind of give you the, well, yeah, but what about this? And it's like, well, no, that won't work. And as well.
00:17:03
Speaker
Wait a minute here. Just cause you've been living in the, the battle every day, you know, you got somebody to come in and just give you a fresh perspective. It's like, yeah, I just got to crest this next hill and you're going to win the battle. Just that outside, uh, influence and, and, uh, fresh perspective, you know, the 40,000 foot view that we were talking about earlier. That's what it's all about. That's true. Yeah, that's cool. You get, um, yeah, you get little, you get little tidbits, you know, it's, uh, you know, I'm sure, I'm sure that the, the, the, the,
00:17:28
Speaker
variety or diversity of clientele that you guys have is from one end of the spectrum to the other, right? You have a guy who's just getting started, doesn't know anything about business and needs the basics, right? And that's a huge thing to have a resource like you guys to learn from. But then there's also people that are all along that spectrum all the way up to upper levels and everywhere in there, there's something that can always be learned or a different perspective can help with.
00:17:57
Speaker
You know, that's where I'm at with it is I, I, I, you know, initially signed up thinking that I know a lot. I know what I'm doing. I've done this for many, many years. Like, you know, I'm successful, but I don't know everything that nobody does. So, you know, let's give it a shot and let's see where it goes. And, you know, maybe there's improvements and there's things that I can learn.
00:18:17
Speaker
And, uh, and that's exactly the way it's played out. You know, there's, there's, you know, our weekly conversations, there's always something that pops up that's valuable. Yeah. I mean, that's something that that's so important for, you know, people understand. I mean, you hear of just like yourself, you know, you already were running a successful business. You already were doing extremely well, but yet you knew that you just needed to raise the bar a little bit and figure out what else you don't know. And that's the guys that are really successful. You know, when, when, when you can actually admit the fact that you still
00:18:45
Speaker
You don't know it all. Let's, let's keep learning. Let's keep going. You know, cause I have people that have told me, they're like, well, yeah, I'm good. I really don't need a coach. I've already got this dialed in and it's like, yeah, it's true. But you might be leaving. You'd be surprised. You know, that's, that's my person. There's always something to learn. There always, always, you can never stop playing. There is. Yeah. I mean, that that's part of the fun of doing what we do is continuing to push ourselves in life, you know, making the most of what we got.
00:19:10
Speaker
We're going to say, Joe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you, buddy. No, I just said sometimes what happens. And if you notice, Brian, I ask a lot of questions. I ask a lot of questions. What about this? What about this? And I point out the thing. What about this? Because I know that, like Bob Cooper used to say, when two minds meet, a third one appears. And sometimes by just speaking
00:19:30
Speaker
and interaction, bringing up these things. Because sometimes, Brian, no matter what you're doing and how successful you may be, and you are, there's certain, when you're in the trenches, sometimes you don't see it. And before I give a piece of advice, I rather ask the questions for you to say, oh, wait a minute. Yeah, there you go. There you go. And then you take ownership of that.
00:19:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's like I said earlier, it's really developing a relationship that's really directed to understanding your business model and then who you are too because we have an expression at Elite that when we start coaching, we have to work on the person first, find out who the person is first and then we work on the business because
00:20:16
Speaker
And again, that goes back to what I said earlier too, that we don't take a boilerplate approach to this. We really get hands on and we get specific about that particular business.
00:20:28
Speaker
I mean, you just never know to use a boilerplate approach can't work. You know, if you were to go to Brian and you're like, Hey, Brian, this week we're going to be focusing on your mission statement. And this is what we have to do next. And Brian's like, I already have a mission statement. I'm already way past that. You know, it's, it's one of those things that that's what I love about the coaching program is that you can really work on what they need. I'm not going to get into the numbers of this, um, because numbers don't mean anything. But when you look at Brian's business,
00:20:52
Speaker
and some of his margins, they don't line up where you read about in the trade magazines. It should be this, this, and this. They don't line up. They just don't line up. And when I first looked at it, I said to myself, hold on, Joe. This is a different business. Now, but if you look at the bottom line, that's what you got to look at. If you look at what he's producing in sales, what he's doing, and what the potential is, the potential is like, whoop. So again,
00:21:19
Speaker
If someone's coming in and they're going to take our benchmark boilerplate numbers approach, the numbers don't line up, Brian, right? Yeah. If you compare me to industry standards, I'd be a failing business right now, you know? Yeah. Meanwhile, and I'm not going to mention numbers here, but I put those numbers up against anybody else out there. And again, well, because you're all saying is you don't pay your bills or deposit
00:21:46
Speaker
percentages you know it's the dollars you're worried about so and yeah so yeah again it's it's understanding the business and the person and the needs of that particular person and the needs of the of the company and that's you know what you were saying too about asking a lot of questions that's that's important because
00:22:04
Speaker
You know, you, you, you have never come to me and said, you know, like Darren was saying earlier, today's objective is we're going to do this, this, and this, or, you know, because that, you know, that that doesn't make sense. I mean, you were, you were really being inquisitive to try to find out what, what am I missing? You know, like you said, I'm in the trenches, I'm dealing with all this stuff. I'm, you know, I got my priorities, but you might say to me, Oh, well, you know, have you thought about this? Have you worked on that? And I could say, yeah, that's done. Don't worry about it.
00:22:32
Speaker
or I didn't think about that at all. You know, thanks, Joe. That's the beauty of coach. That's the magic of coaching. It really is.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you got, I mean, I didn't know I said this earlier, but it's true. You got somebody in your corner, this parent pulling for you. I mean, once again, you know, Brian Edwards talking about this offline. It's like, you've got a coach that when you're having struggles in your business and you have a hardship, you gotta get one of your key guys, just quit whatever it is. Your coach is worried about it too. I can guarantee that they're losing sleep about it and they're thinking about it. And you've got another mind there pulling for you and wanting to see you succeed.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's funny how that happens. It's amazing how that happens. We take it very seriously. And when we see the, it's like watching your son or your daughter excel at a sport. Like when your kid hits a home run, I didn't hit it, but you feel so good about it, right? So when Brian has a great week, I feel, wow, I'm energized. And it doesn't impact me financially, but it impacts me emotionally, you know? So yeah, it's just amazing. It's just simply amazing.
00:23:38
Speaker
That's why I got to ask a question here that it's a little bit off, off center. I mean, but was there ever a time, Brian, where Joe pushed you a little bit further than you think he should have? Uh, no, I would say no. Um, but you know, at, at, at the end of some of the meetings that I've had with him, you know, and he, he always sends me a follow-up email, which is great. Cause we kind of, you know, he lists out everything that we went over and all the topics that we touched on and.
00:24:02
Speaker
you know, progress we've made so far. And here's here's kind of a list of tasks, he calls them. And you know, some of those emails, it's it might be one task, it might be seven tasks. And I look at him and I'm like, Joe, man, I got
00:24:14
Speaker
You know how much stuff I got here. I got, look at my desk right now, you know, and it's like, Joe just made seven more things in my week, you know, but, but really in reality, they are all in line with, with what I'm already doing anyway. You know, so it's, uh, you look at the list and you get, you feel like it's a daunting thing, but you just start clicking them off like anything else. And, you know, they're all, they're all, they're all making progress towards the end game anyways. So it's, uh, it's always good. It's always good. Yeah. But, but if you don't get to them, I say,
00:24:43
Speaker
I just resend it. Yeah, I know. He doesn't ride me. You know, he says, hey, it's my job. I got to keep reminding you about this. I just resend next. What do we do here? What are you going to do here?
00:24:55
Speaker
Well, I mean, that's part of the game. But Brian, I understand that. I understand that. Yeah. Yeah. And that's part of it, right? Of course. You know, you understand. You're not a teacher assigning homework that needs to be done. No. For what? It's like, no, you get it. You're running a business. You got priorities. You got to triage your day every day. Yeah. And you get to the stuff when you can. And I've had tasks that
00:25:16
Speaker
that Joe and I have been working on and I put them off for weeks and weeks and weeks because it's like, I just don't have the time. But I do get to it because I know I got a list and I go back to it and we click them off. So it takes a little time. It's not going to happen overnight. I lived your world, Brian. I know exactly what you're going through. I lived it, but I do know also that when I'm forced to think differently and forced to act on something differently,
00:25:43
Speaker
you always improve, you always excel in everything else. So that's why I keep doing it. And I'll never, I'll never scold you. So, you know, it's like you're going to the principal's office, you can do your homework. That's not the way it is, but I'll just resend that email. Yeah. Two, three, four times. Yeah. Yeah. Well, accountability is a thing, you know, I mean, even, even for guys like us and people in this industry that are business owners that are generally pretty self motivated and always trying to do the right thing and get it all done.
00:26:09
Speaker
you know, the just the fact that the Joe might remind me about something, you know, because all right, I got my own list and I got my own priorities and things I'm working on. And, you know, before you know it, six months goes by and you haven't done it yet, because it's everything else gets in the way. You get 100 emails a day and all the things that we get distracted. Yeah, of course. Yeah. But to have somebody there to say, hey,
00:26:28
Speaker
You know, did you make any progress on this? You know, and again, he's not, he's not beating me up on it, but he's, he's just a gentle reminder.
Impact of Coaching on Employee Relations
00:26:36
Speaker
It's helping to hold you accountable. You know, I mean, seriously, it's what it is. Cause we're all busy. And then to have somebody that once again is, has your best interest at heart and they're holding you accountable. It's like, Hey, have you dealt with a shit? You need to talk to this guy, man. You know, he's not really doing the best for you guys or whatever it is. It's still that accountability, you know? Exactly. Exactly.
00:26:55
Speaker
That's cool. Good. Well, let's see here. You know, the other thing I really wanted to ask about is, you know, how is coaching affected your relationship with your employees?
00:27:05
Speaker
It's been positive. I kind of pride myself on having a good relationship with my employees, and I always have. And the reason I say that is because my employees are a top priority, and they always have been more so than customers, more so than numbers. My people and the quality of the environment and the culture that we have here has really been top three for me from day one.
00:27:35
Speaker
Uh, so, you know, I, I, I feel like I've always had a good relationship, but you know, we're, we're Joe and coaching has, has helped me. Uh, I touched on it earlier, actually the delegation, you know, that's a big one. Um, but distributing responsibility to, to the talent that I already have and, and kind of building on that talent, you know, and, and elite has provided some pathways for me to get some of my employees into, you know, additional training and, you know, the master's course and the head.
00:28:02
Speaker
my general manager go to the Eagles course. And, you know, so it's a it's a continuation, I would say, of my existing policies and thought processes when it comes to employees. But, you know, Joe, Joe brings up again, he just brings up these little things. Hey, did you think of this? Did you think of that?
00:28:21
Speaker
You know, so there's always a way that I can do better by them. Um, and, and Joe is aware of that. He's fully aware that I, that I, you know, I really treat my people well. And that's, that's my biggest priority. And, uh, you know, and he comes up with new ways for me to help them and, and, and achieve my goal of, of, of keeping them as a, as a high, high caliber, uh, you know, part of this business that that's just so critical and so important.
00:28:47
Speaker
Wasn't that the secret to growth and success and having a successful business is you're good people. You're always good. You're only as good as the people around you, right? That's it. Totally. And I got to tell you, um, you know, I've met two of your service advisors. I went to the master's course and they are just awesome guys. You know, I mean, seriously, it's so impressive to see employees that have that vision.
00:29:11
Speaker
of especially with what you guys do in the specialty stuff and the cool stuff that you guys do and have two of your guys in one of my classes and they're just like they had your vision and they're up telling the rest of the class about why they work for SST and why they work for Brian and it's like both of them had like strong testimonies of man.
00:29:28
Speaker
Yeah, this is right. You know, this is what we do. And it's like, you could feel it from them. And it's like, I just loved it, because I can see that you're a strong, you know, charismatic, great leader. I don't mean charismatic in a bad way. I mean, it's a great thing. But I could see that in your guys, because they were carrying that torch for you, you know, you're out of the shop for the week. And I can guarantee that those two guys that I know that I met,
00:29:51
Speaker
could carry that torch for you and be like, yes, we're SST, we do everything right. And for the right reason, and we do it, we do it like we're supposed to. And I love that, Brian, I have to tell you, I was really impressed by that. And this is one of the areas that I really enjoy working with Brian, because a lot of the, you know,
00:30:07
Speaker
When you have it, like you mentioned earlier, Brian, about a younger shop owner, they're so far in the trenches and they're in that stage, whether it's startup stage or growth stage, early growth stage, where they're in the trenches and they're really more of a boss, more of a shop owner. They haven't reached that level yet where they've become leaders of people. Because that's like Darren said, that's the true growth of a business when you become a leader. And your leadership qualities, whether it comes natural to you or whatever the reason,
00:30:37
Speaker
That will bring you to where your goals, where you want to go based on your goals, it will take you there. Because, you know, anybody can be a boss. I mean, bring this up in the Eagles course. But to be a leader is so different. And leaders understand that you mentioned something very, very important about three or four minutes ago. Your people come first before customers, before the numbers. And that's what it takes. Because I believe that too. You know, without the good people, employees,
00:31:05
Speaker
You don't have customers, numbers, and everything else tends to fall into place. Your customer base, your numbers, everything falls into place a lot easier when you become a leader of people, not just a boss or the owner of a business.
00:31:20
Speaker
You're a hundred percent, you're a hundred percent correct, Joe. Well, um, you guys are almost out of time here, but Brian, yeah, I know. Yes, it did. So Brian, if you were, you know, to say anything to anybody that's out there looking at getting a coach, um, you know, do you have any words that you would tell them about that?
Encouragement to Try Coaching
00:31:40
Speaker
Do it, do it.
00:31:41
Speaker
You know, it's, it's, it's really a no risk scenario, right? You know, it's, it's, you know, you don't sign a contract, you don't have to be signed up for a year. You don't have to have anything like that. So, you know, and this is the way that I went into it myself. As I said, what can I hurt? You know, I'll try it for a month, two months, three months, see what happens. If I don't like it, I'll cancel it and we'll move on. We'll do something else. So there's there, to me, there, you know, beyond the initial,
00:32:05
Speaker
financial obligation, which is which is minimal, really. There is no kind of downside to it. So try it and see if you get somewhere, you know, see what you can learn because I guarantee you learn something. I don't care if you've been in the industry for 40 years or two, you're going to learn something and chances are you're going to be able to apply whatever you learn to your business and it's going to make an improvement.
00:32:29
Speaker
And any improvement is the direction that you're always trying to go. If you're making a tiny one or a huge one, it doesn't matter. If you're improving, your business is getting better. Your employees are going to be better. You're going to make more money. Everybody's going to be happier. And life gets better. So if you can make any kind of improvement, do it. And here's an easy way to do that.
00:32:50
Speaker
Right. We always joke that the first couple months you're like, it's a pretty big chunk of change. You know, you're, you're investing into the company. And then later on, after you grow and after you start seeing the value, you're like, it's not even that there's like, I would not take that away. You know, I mean, it's like that, that money is nothing compared to what's happening with the rest of business. And if you need to justify it, you know, it's training. It's training. You pay for training for your tax. You pay for training for your advisors and everybody else in the building. Where's your training? You know, who's training you?
00:33:20
Speaker
Yeah. Great point. That's a great point. I mean, I think it's really awesome that you could even be here with us today because it's one of those things, you're a perfect example, right? You're already successful. You're already doing these things extremely well in your business, but yet you wanted to get to the next level. And whatever that next level is, you know, you just wanted to fine tune some things, figure out stuff that you didn't know, whatever it is. World domination. That's my next level. Joe knows that. That's where we're going. We're going to get there. We're going to get there. Oh, yeah. I love it. That's great.
00:33:47
Speaker
Keep a place for me. I'm not that far. I'm 30 minutes away. Okay. You're right here, Joe. You're right here with me. Cool. Well, you know what I'd like to do, guys, is if you don't mind, if you guys just have a couple of closing thoughts you want to share, you know, anything you want to leave with anybody that's listening.
Experience at Lime Rock Racetrack
00:34:04
Speaker
I have a lot of thoughts. I want to bring up one thing real quick. I was so thrilled. Brian does these. Part of what he does is motor sport. He has people that pay him money to get their Porsches ready for racing. So he invited me to Lime Rock, which is in Connecticut. Oh, that's in New York, right? Not Connecticut, yeah. Connecticut, yeah, Connecticut. Lime Rock.
00:34:31
Speaker
to see his operation at the racetrack. And I was totally blown away, totally blown away. I took my wife, which she wasn't that crazy about being at the racetrack. It was too loud. You didn't get April in the car? Yeah, I know, I did. So, and it cost me dearly, you know, because afterwards we had to take her to the mall. She had to buy some pocketbook or whatever, you know, and then take her out to dinner. So thanks, Brian, you know. But so, but, but
00:34:57
Speaker
But she was also to annual it was amazing. She was asking you questions about this about that, which I said, wow, that's pretty good. But so again, this goes back to this is what it's all about. I mean, for Brian, a client to invite his coach to come watch his race team, you know, I just blew me away. I just blew me away. So yeah, I think that in closing comments, you know, I
00:35:22
Speaker
First of all, I love coaching because again, I want to give back. I want to give back. I want to help people, shop owners. I know, like I said earlier, I know what the struggles are in running an automotive repair business. I know what they are. And I tried multiple different things from, you know, from used cars, quick glue, whatever you want. You know, restoration, I tried it all. So, and I understand the complexities of business.
00:35:49
Speaker
But I also understand how well you can do and the rewards. And although you reach a certain point in your life where you physically can't do it anymore, but I can do it mentally and that's my job right now. So to help a guy like Brian in his business is just tremendous. So yeah, this is what we do at Elite. So I'm proud to be part of this whole complex
00:36:15
Speaker
training and coaching and everything that we do in helping the industry. So again, thank you for having me here. And thank you, Brian, for allowing us to talk to you today. Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, it was a pleasure to have you at the racetrack with your wife. And, you know, she seemed intrigued and
00:36:34
Speaker
And she was, she was certainly polite about it, but I understand the racetrack is not for everybody. You know, I, even me, it gets to become a long day out there sometimes, but, you know, it puts things in, in perspective though, you know, talking to, to, to Joe and, you know, other people, I, I, I kind of force myself to step back sometimes and.
Reflecting on Business Success
00:36:55
Speaker
And look around, you know, because we all started from square one, right? We've all had a small shop. We've all had to learn all the lessons. We've had to figure it out along the way and the struggles and, you know, not being able to pay the bills and all that. And you finally get to a point where you're like, all right, I kind of know what I'm doing. I'm doing OK. And it gets to be reasonably successful. And it's still a struggle every day. It's still hard to keep it all moving and the big machine turn. But, you know, to force myself to take myself out of the immersion of it every day,
00:37:25
Speaker
and look around and say like, Oh my God, like this is a, this is a pretty amazing thing. Uh, and to realize that I, that I am in control of it, you know, and, and, and the people, uh, that, that come here willingly every day to work for me and, and they're, and they're generally happy about it is, is such an amazing, such an amazing feeling of accomplishment. And, uh, you know, and Joe is good about really helping, helping me kind of take that step back and look around and say, okay, you know, like it's,
00:37:54
Speaker
It's, it's doing its thing. It's working. It's, it's successful. And I, even though I'm constantly striving for better and, you know, more, and, you know, the next step is all of that, like you got it, you got to look around and just say, wow, it's, it's doing what it's supposed to do. And it's really an amazing thing. And thanks. Good stuff. And thanks to Joe for that. And thanks. Yeah. Well, I mean, thank you, Brian. Uh,
00:38:21
Speaker
It's amazing to me, once again, to, to have you on the show here. I mean, honestly, I feel like I'm kind of with a legend with both of you guys here. And it's something that it's, it's kind of humbling because I once again, I met your guys. So I know that you're, you're, you're not just talking, you, you walk the walk, you know, you talk, talk, and you walk the walk. And I've seen it through your people and then to hear all the stuff from Joe and to hear stuff from other people in the industry about how.
00:38:45
Speaker
Awesome. SST is, you know, it's like, I mean, I love the fact that you guys go to the racetrack. In fact, one of these days I'm going to have to come out there and just go in and see what you guys do. Cause I'd love to come and hang out with Ben and Sam and the rest of your people too. Oh, the operation's incredible. You're welcome anytime. You're welcome anytime. Anytime you want to come out East.
00:39:03
Speaker
You know, I know it's tough to get out of Colorado. I lived there for a long time. But yeah, but man, you're always welcome, you know, and to see your scale and size of operation is just cool. So congratulations on what you've been able to accomplish though. Seriously. It's, it's, it's cool to, to have you here and, uh, you know, be able to just be a part of the journey with you too. Thank you so much for having me. So.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, guys, um, thank you. And, uh, this has been Darren Barney with elite and, uh, at the coach's corner on elite radio. And we got some more episodes coming up in the future. So keep your eyes out for things and, uh, yeah, reach out to us if you have any questions and thanks again, guys, for being here with us today. It's been an honor. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. Thank you. Take care.
00:39:49
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Elite Radio, the podcast for repair shop owners by repair shop owners. If you're looking for help in your automotive repair shop and reach out to Elite, we provide coaching and peer groups, training for your service advisors and managers and countless complimentary resources and a whole lot more. Visit EliteWorldwide.com today and we'll see you next time.