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Episode 25- Bruce Bolen from Pennsylvania--Bruce talks TOOLS and life as a flat rate tech
52 Plays29 days ago
Brand new podcast hosted by a Shop owner and a Shop owner/Technician . We dive into shop ownership and how it all began for the both of us. We will be featuring special guests every week from the automotive industry and also a few surprise guests we have lined up in the not so distant future. We want this podcast to be fun but informative about the automotive repair industry. We are not perfect in what we do but operate with integrity and have been doing so for years. Sit back and listen in for some fun banter and conversations about the automotive repair world!
Today we had the chance to speak with Bruce Bolen who is a Tech in PA. Frank met him at the TOOLS expo and became friends. Excellent conversation and lots of nuggets to take away!
Sit back and enjoy this one! Please like and subscribe! You can also follow us on Facebook @ The Shop N Tread Talk Podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotion
00:00:00
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:00:00
Aniz Lavji
All right, welcome everyone to another exciting episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. My name is Anis and we've got Frank with us as always.
00:00:10
Frank
You're here. Yes, we are.
00:00:12
Aniz Lavji
Just before we get started, just want to make sure you follow us on Facebook. You can just search for the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. Like, share
Introducing Bruce and His Journey
00:00:20
Aniz Lavji
and follow. Frank, why don't you introduce our guest today?
00:00:24
Frank
um I really don't know this guy at all. He just kind of randomly showed up on our page here, so we thought we'd invite him in. um No, we've got Bruce with us today.
00:00:35
Frank
Bruce and I met at Tools in Pennsylvania.
00:00:37
bbolen724
Okay.
00:00:39
Frank
just kind of i don't I don't even remember where we were when we met there, but um we just started talking, and I think we we hung out the whole weekend. and And, yeah, we had a great time.
Bruce's Experience at the Tools Event
00:00:52
Frank
And, yeah, I think we'll talk about why Bruce was there to begin with and kind of, you know, we'll talk about what you what you do and in ah why you still do it after all these years. But, yeah, Bruce, if you want to just introduce yourself a little bit more and then we'll just get right into it.
00:01:12
bbolen724
Alright, no, I'm Bruce. I'm a lead technician. I've been doing it for 16 years now. So, um obviously we met at Tools and kind of just, I was just hanging around just trying to see um see who I could meet, I guess. I met the two um Canadian podcasters.
00:01:40
Frank
I
00:01:42
bbolen724
So I just hung out with, with you guys and you know, that's, that's, uh, that's kind of where we are now.
00:01:48
Aniz Lavji
No. Cool.
00:01:51
Aniz Lavji
How did you end up at Tools? Because I think earlier you were kind of saying you didn't you didn't know about it or you just kind of ended up there or how did that happen?
00:02:01
bbolen724
Yeah. So I, I didn't know about tools at all. Um, and it's basically my backyard. it was about an hour away from me.
00:02:09
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:02:09
bbolen724
Um, you know, not throwing shade on, on anyone yet in tools at all. But, um, yeah, the first time i heard about it was on, uh, Jeff's podcast.
00:02:20
Aniz Lavji
Yep, good.
00:02:20
bbolen724
He said about it and I was like, it's in Hershey. I'm like, that's, that's right around the corner for me. Like, let me, let me go check this out and, uh, just see, you know, what, what's all there.
00:02:33
bbolen724
What's what they offer.
00:02:34
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:02:35
bbolen724
And, uh, And it it was definitely definitely an eye-opening experience. Without a doubt.
00:02:41
Aniz Lavji
It's great.
00:02:41
Frank
you want to talk talk about dedication to training. and And John, if you're listening to this, this guy, every single night he drove, he didn't stay there. He drove an hour every night and every morning.
00:02:55
Frank
and And so that's that's dedication to training. And and you said your your employer didn't help you at all. You did it all in your own dime. So
Networking and Growth of Expos
00:03:03
Frank
that's that's that's really awesome to see that you were able to do that and you were able to actually make that happen.
00:03:09
Frank
And and ah i think I think I remember you saying one time you went to your boss said, I'm not coming in this weekend.
00:03:09
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
00:03:16
Frank
I'm going to be off from here to here. so that's pretty cool.
00:03:19
bbolen724
Yeah. Yeah. i I told him, I was like, hey, look, I got a training event in Hershey and it's from, you know, Thursday till Sunday. I was like, you guys are more or less going to have to figure out what you have to do But I'm not going to be here.
00:03:32
Frank
Yeah.
00:03:34
Aniz Lavji
Good.
00:03:35
bbolen724
And I gave, you know, gave him plenty enough heads up that they could plan for it and, you know, a adjust as needed.
00:03:36
Aniz Lavji
There you go.
00:03:36
Frank
Yeah.
00:03:45
Aniz Lavji
That's excellent that you were able to go, especially being your, actually, same thing I told Frank, being your first time, is this first expo you're going to in general?
00:03:54
bbolen724
Yeah, that that was the first one I ever went to.
00:03:56
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, so being the first one, i was telling Frank and his lovely wife the same thing, that, uh,
00:03:56
Frank
Yeah, same as me.
00:04:03
Aniz Lavji
you know, being your first expo, it's incredible that you guys were able to go to tools out of all of them, because it's a little more intimate because there's not 4,000 people there, like some of the other ones, which again, i went to vision, i thoroughly enjoyed it, but there was about 4,000 people there.
00:04:22
Aniz Lavji
This one, you know, from, from what I understand, was there's about 350, 400 people there.
00:04:23
Frank
That would weird me out.
00:04:28
Aniz Lavji
so
00:04:28
Frank
I think that's what 400, yep.
00:04:30
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. So you got to kind of somewhat see the same people all the time and it was more intimate. You you got to really get to know people and you see the same people around in the hallways and in the classes. So, I mean, i honestly, I wish I could have made it this year, but next year I'm really going to shoot to, to make it for sure. But I think that's awesome that, you know, you heard about it on Jeff's podcast and we're able to go, man. That's awesome.
00:04:56
bbolen724
Yeah, I mean, i I heard about it. And then when I was there and talking to a bunch of the guys there, my actual, um my parts rep was there.
00:05:09
Aniz Lavji
Oh, wow.
00:05:09
bbolen724
i ended up I talked to him about it. I was like, hey, look, like we need to like kind of get this out there too.
00:05:15
Aniz Lavji
Good, yeah.
00:05:15
bbolen724
So when when the next event comes up locally, I'm going to have him like print out extra flyers and try to get the word out of like, hey,
00:05:26
bbolen724
this is a thing, like, try and get more people go, too.
00:05:27
Aniz Lavji
Especially your local, man. Like, you'd be the first person that shouldn't should know about it, right? Because, mean, that's that's extremely local for you.
00:05:36
bbolen724
Yeah. And, like, I i assume my parts guy knew about it in advance, um just not... i don't know how to say but, like, not, like, that it was...
00:05:54
bbolen724
ah prep prevalent for him to like spread the word about it, if that makes sense.
00:05:58
Aniz Lavji
well What it could be, Bruce, is there may have not been a time in the past where it had come up in conversation, maybe with your employer, about training.
00:05:59
bbolen724
Because I had like...
00:06:10
Aniz Lavji
So it may have not been something that he, you know, talks to that, your employer about that would mention it to your techs, or maybe none of your, none of the other techs have maybe mentioned, oh, you know, are there any trainings or is there any this? So it may not be a conversation that he's used to having with your particular location, right?
00:06:31
bbolen724
Yeah, I mean, that definitely could be a possibility, too. um But I was surprised because I think out of everyone there that I met, there was two guys that were local like me, like as far as like within 10 minutes of my shop that ended up going.
00:06:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:06:50
Aniz Lavji
Wow.
00:06:52
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:06:52
Aniz Lavji
OK.
00:06:54
bbolen724
And i was I was kind of surprised. But then at the same aspect, there was like Benji from down in and North Carolina, obviously Jeff and Frank from Canada.
00:07:02
Aniz Lavji
Cool guy, yeah. Yeah.
00:07:05
bbolen724
um And then there was
00:07:09
bbolen724
that one chick. I don't know if Frank knows her. She's Canadian. Jeff knew her.
00:07:17
Aniz Lavji
Oh, Cora Lee.
00:07:17
bbolen724
Uh-oh.
00:07:18
Frank
orally
00:07:18
bbolen724
Yeah, yeah, she was there. I met her, talked to her a little bit.
00:07:21
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:22
bbolen724
But it it was like, there's so many people that were not from the area that I'm like, okay, like this got out there to everyone further out, not so much, you know, local, or maybe it was local and just there wasn't a lot of people that showed interest in it.
00:07:33
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:07:41
bbolen724
Who knows?
00:07:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:07:42
Aniz Lavji
I think um from what I kind of understand, again, going off Jeff's podcast and everything, um I think the actual expo is kind of making ah a comeback now.
00:07:53
Aniz Lavji
So I think there may be a loss, a bit of steam, but from what I understand, it's, it's starting to come back and gaining a bigger following, which again, it was a very successful event from what I hear.
00:07:58
bbolen724
Thank
00:08:06
Aniz Lavji
so I'm assuming next year is going to be even bigger. So that should be a lot of fun.
00:08:09
Frank
Well, from what I understood is the the expo, like three years ago, didn't exist. It only had like 100 participants.
00:08:17
Aniz Lavji
Oh, OK.
00:08:18
Frank
And so that's why they really trying to ramp it back
00:08:18
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
Logistics of Attending Expos
00:08:21
Frank
up again.
00:08:21
Frank
and And this is the... Who was the organizer? forget what the organizer's name was.
00:08:27
bbolen724
Brett. Brett Fadley.
00:08:28
Frank
Brett. Yeah, Brett. Yeah. So when we were chatting with him, he said that ah three or four years ago, there was like 100 people attending. Last year, there was – – it's basically growing every year again since then. And and so to have the 400 this year, he said it was phenomenal.
00:08:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:08:47
Frank
And, of course, they're just going to have to work on –
00:08:51
Frank
everything like, like the venue was good. And I think the venue can hold probably significantly more people, uh, than even the 400 that were there. But if it grows too much, then it might have to look for a different venue, but the venue was amazing.
00:09:07
Frank
So that was one of the things that Brett said is that finding the venue, one that worked for the size of what it, what it was and what it could become, um, is, is, ah is a bit of a challenge.
00:09:16
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:09:20
Frank
So,
00:09:20
Aniz Lavji
Well, see, the only only reason I knew about tools realistically is is listening to podcasts and being in the Facebook groups, but Otherwise, like I wouldn't have any way of knowing about really any of these expos unless I'm exposed to
Inside the Shop: Roles and Responsibilities
00:09:37
Aniz Lavji
all these different channels. Right.
00:09:39
Aniz Lavji
But if you're not in these different networks and different friend circles that are going to these things, hundred percent, Bruce, like, how are you going to really know about these things? Unless you randomly, you know, you hear it on Jeff's podcast. you're like Oh, okay. Well that sounds interesting. But if you did not hear it that day, you probably wouldn't have gone because, know,
00:09:59
Aniz Lavji
it's not like you were hearing it from your parts guy from the other guy that's 10 minutes down the road from you, right?
00:10:05
bbolen724
Oh, yeah. No, it's I didn't hear it from really anybody. Like, I think it um it might have even been like a handful more episodes on Jeff's podcast until he brought it up again.
00:10:16
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:10:18
bbolen724
and like, that was just insane.
00:10:18
Aniz Lavji
He brought it up quite a few times. Oh, yeah.
00:10:21
bbolen724
He just brought it up as it was just tools. um I don't know if he said Expo or or whatever, but, you know, he didn't say it was in Hershey every time.
00:10:30
Aniz Lavji
Right, right, okay.
00:10:31
bbolen724
So, but I, when the first time he said about it, instead of being in Hershey, that's when I, I hopped on Facebook and kept tabs on it just to try to see like what's going on.
00:10:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:10:42
bbolen724
And then when I was there and I was talking to Benji, he's, he's on the board for ASTA.
00:10:49
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:10:50
bbolen724
So then he's, he's convincing me to to show up to ASTA now.
00:10:54
Aniz Lavji
Oh, you got to go, yep.
00:10:54
Frank
yeah
00:10:55
bbolen724
yeah
00:10:56
Frank
Let's go.
00:10:56
bbolen724
So. You know, I got to see see what I can do there to to get out there.
00:11:02
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, you just jump on a plane and you go. what do What do you mean? There's only one way to go, buddy.
00:11:06
bbolen724
Well, i got I got some difficulties with passports and whatnot, so I might have to drive down.
00:11:06
Frank
That's I'm getting there. i ain't walking. You
00:11:16
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:11:18
Frank
shouldn't need a passport.
00:11:19
Aniz Lavji
theory Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right.
00:11:19
Frank
you don't You don't need a passport. You're North Carolina. Yeah.
00:11:22
bbolen724
So with flights, you either have to have the real ID or passport. So, and I have, i have an expired passport and my wife has an expired passport.
00:11:33
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:11:36
bbolen724
um
00:11:36
Frank
so it doesn't so So you can't fly um within your within your country just with your like ah driver's license?
00:11:44
bbolen724
As far as I know, we can't, but I don't, I don't do much flying.
00:11:51
Frank
You should find out because like we can here, if I go to Toronto and I'm flying to Alberta, I can fly just with my ah my driver's license, my my identification that way.
00:12:03
Aniz Lavji
There in the States, it's I think you're right with the real ID or the passport. i think I talked to somebody else in the same situation.
00:12:10
Frank
That's crazy. That's interesting. Because you would think you'd only need the passport if you're going international.
00:12:16
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. But I mean, that's matter of just renewing it, right? Bruce shouldn't be too big a deal.
00:12:21
bbolen724
Well, for me, it's it's easy. I can renew it. I have all the documents for it.
00:12:26
Frank
Yeah, it's quite a story for you.
00:12:26
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:12:27
bbolen724
My wife, my wife, on the other hand, she doesn't have a technically undamaged birth certificate.
00:12:37
Aniz Lavji
Oh, okay.
00:12:37
bbolen724
Hers has a crease in it, and it's...
00:12:40
Frank
Just pack her in some luggage.
00:12:42
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:12:44
Frank
This is my carry-on.
00:12:47
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:12:47
Frank
How
00:12:48
Aniz Lavji
Or if you to just make life easy, just jump in your vehicle and drive on over.
00:12:49
bbolen724
So...
00:12:54
Frank
far is that from where you are? My geography of the U.S. is pretty limited.
00:13:00
bbolen724
Uh, depending on where in North Carolina, it's like that seven hours, give or take.
00:13:02
Frank
ra
00:13:05
Frank
That's what we drove down to PA.
00:13:07
bbolen724
Yeah, that's why I'm like, ah it's I'm not really worried about catching a flight because I'll spend the same amount of time catching a flight.
00:13:14
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yep.
00:13:14
Frank
Well, that's what we did. We looked at we looked at flying down. And first of all, it was like three stops we'd have to do. And I'm like, this is stupid. and And would have taken the same amount of time then still have to rent a car while we're out there.
00:13:27
Frank
it's like this is
00:13:28
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:13:28
Frank
So driving down was by far our best option. Even though you know it took an extra day, but that's fine. it was I think it was about eight-hour drive. Ten because I had to stop at Harbor Freight.
00:13:41
Frank
online she's like you don't have to stop every time you go i'm like yeah kind of do
00:13:48
Aniz Lavji
pretty much.
00:13:50
bbolen724
I mean, I drive by one twice a day.
00:13:50
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah. Yeah,
00:13:54
bbolen724
i can stop whenever you need me to, Frank.
00:13:55
Frank
yeah i suppose at that point you might get
Teamwork and Job Mobility
00:13:59
Frank
immune to the to the nostalgic or how how awesome it is but you compare that to our princess auto that we have up here doesn't even hold a candle to it like
00:14:11
Aniz Lavji
I heard Harbor Freight's pretty awesome.
00:14:15
Frank
it has It has some pretty neat things, some pretty good stuff.
00:14:18
bbolen724
You don't have any by you, Anise?
00:14:21
Aniz Lavji
no No, like Frank and I are about an hour and a half. Well, mar so I guess our stores are about an hour and a half away, but no, we're pretty much in the same vicinity. So we deal with Princess Auto for for similar-ish types of things.
00:14:34
Aniz Lavji
I mean, at that point, I'd rather just go to Kane Tire.
00:14:35
Frank
Denise, how far are you from crossing the border where you are You'd have to go Niagara Falls, right?
00:14:42
Aniz Lavji
I go to Niagara an hour and a half or so.
00:14:44
Frank
Yeah. Yeah, so that's that's about the same as me going over to Detroit or...
00:14:50
Aniz Lavji
Detroit, yeah.
00:14:50
Frank
Where
00:14:54
Frank
the heck's the other one? Somewhere? Yeah. So it's not far. It's not far, but still, it takes time to go and do that then. and Then you got to be gone for more than 24 hours if you actually want to bring anything back.
00:15:06
Frank
$200.
00:15:06
Aniz Lavji
I think it's, yeah, if you're gone for 24 hours, you can't really bring anything.
00:15:08
Frank
Yeah.
00:15:11
Frank
two hundred bucks
00:15:12
Aniz Lavji
Oh, geez. Yeah.
00:15:13
Frank
yeah Yeah, you'll spend that in two minutes at They're good.
00:15:14
Aniz Lavji
its
00:15:17
bbolen724
Yeah, that won't take long, even though it is cheaper stuff there.
00:15:17
Aniz Lavji
One grab.
00:15:22
bbolen724
Like, i I was looking at their, what is it, anti-slip or non-slip wrenches that they got. That alone is $200 for the whole set.
00:15:29
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:15:32
Frank
If you don't have them, they're good.
00:15:35
bbolen724
Well, I have the Snap-on ones, and i'm I was questioning how good they are.
00:15:37
Frank
Yeah.
00:15:41
bbolen724
Because, you know I've seen the tests, and, like, it they say they're on par with
00:15:47
Frank
Yeah. So I, so I have the snap on in the metric and then I never, I only had the master craft in the, in the standard.
00:15:48
bbolen724
I don't think it's...
00:15:56
Frank
And I'm like, Oh, you know what? I think they were on sale the one time I was there for like 80 bucks or something like that.
00:16:01
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
00:16:01
Frank
Or was that 120? Like, you know what? I'll buy the full set of the, of the icons and dude, they're good. Like, like legit. They're, I'm quite impressed with them so for the price, you know?
00:16:15
bbolen724
Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, compared to our Snap-on ones, like, there's a big price difference there.
00:16:16
Frank
Yeah.
00:16:21
Frank
yeah
00:16:23
Aniz Lavji
uh bruce so at the uh we should probably talk about you here we went we went on a little bit of a rabbit hole there with the trading but uh bruce so at your at the place that you're working at the moment is there something that you specialize in there or it just kind of general repair
00:16:32
Frank
Rabbit hole.
00:16:43
bbolen724
We do little bit of everything. um One thing we kind of stay away from is the larger engine jobs, trans jobs.
00:16:53
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:16:54
bbolen724
We'll still do them, but it's kind of we kind of make a judgment call. usually Usually it's like it gets towed in and it's a slow week.
00:17:00
Aniz Lavji
Seldom, right?
00:17:05
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:17:05
bbolen724
And it's like, ah yeah, we should do this to give us something to do.
00:17:09
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:17:10
bbolen724
And then every time we say yes...
00:17:10
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:17:13
bbolen724
the phone doesn't stop ringing.
00:17:15
Frank
Yep.
00:17:16
bbolen724
now but it's, it's catch 22. Cause if you say no, cause I've been there, then the phone never rings.
00:17:23
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:17:24
bbolen724
So, but yeah, we, we do it all. We do, you know, alignments, uh, basic maintenance, uh, diagnostic. I actually, that's like what I do. I do all the, the diagnostics there.
00:17:37
Aniz Lavji
OK.
00:17:37
bbolen724
Um, So we we do more or less everything. We do some Euro stuff. ah Yeah, all of it.
00:17:49
Aniz Lavji
So you you'll enjoy rebuilding BMW engines that are leaking from every end possible?
00:17:55
Frank
Ooh. o
00:17:56
bbolen724
Well, you say that, I actually have
Shop Workload and Job Prioritization
00:18:00
bbolen724
23-year-old who loves his BMWs, and ah ideally, I'd like him to do it, but we we haven't had many that came in
00:18:09
Aniz Lavji
Oh,
00:18:12
bbolen724
i got the The one I remember was at another shop, and they said it needed an engine, and the guy wanted a second opinion on it.
00:18:20
Aniz Lavji
oh yeah.
00:18:22
bbolen724
So he brought it in and we started diagnosing it and he ran out of money. So then he towed it out of our shop, I assume, to another shop.
00:18:32
Frank
Hey, home.
00:18:34
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:18:35
bbolen724
So I'm like, well, like you kind of got to decide, like, do you want it fixed or do you want to find the cheapest shop around and go from there?
00:18:41
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:18:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:18:47
bbolen724
So, but, you know, we we we try to do what we can with what we got. And, you know, it's sometimes it doesn't always work out.
00:18:57
Aniz Lavji
I kind of look at the car and if it looks like it's going to be a can of worms and cause and cause me stress, I just don't even bother.
00:19:06
Frank
Yeah.
00:19:06
Aniz Lavji
I just let someone else deal with it.
00:19:08
Frank
Yeah. See, but your, your shop doesn't really do, you don't do major mechanical like that. You're, you're more of the steering suspension tires, right?
00:19:16
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, like we need we get into so some, I guess, we get into some major, well, major mechanical for me still is sometimes a lot of that suspension stuff because we're really taking the suspension apart on some of the, like the Teslas and stuff that we do.
00:19:16
Frank
Like that. Yep.
00:19:32
Aniz Lavji
Like, that's some pretty major suspension stuff we do. But, like, I think the last engine job we did, i think it was last year.
00:19:42
Frank
but we're, we're doing an engine job right now in a, in an Audi, uh, a four.
00:19:47
Aniz Lavji
laura Oh, Frank.
00:19:49
Frank
So the engine's out and going back in tomorrow, I'm tomorrow.
00:19:50
Aniz Lavji
Frank.
00:19:53
Aniz Lavji
Frank, why would you do that?
00:19:55
Frank
but It's easy money.
00:19:56
Aniz Lavji
Why would you take an Audi?
00:19:57
Frank
That was easy. But the the guy got working for me now, he loves drivetrain stuff. So that he's like, a man, it's just, it's, he says that's a piece of cake and he got it out. Honestly, he did really good time on it.
00:20:08
Aniz Lavji
my My stomach's hurting.
00:20:09
Frank
Um,
00:20:09
Aniz Lavji
I'm trying to decide if it's because you said Audi or if it's a pizza i had earlier. oh God.
00:20:15
Frank
i'm tomorrow Tomorrow I'm starting to pull down Hemi because it's got its famous tick, so it's going to need lifters in it. So I got to pull the heads off and get them shipped off to get rebuilt.
00:20:26
Aniz Lavji
I heard
00:20:26
Frank
um
00:20:27
bbolen724
Not a hammy?
00:20:28
Frank
Not a Hemi, no. um we're in the midst We're in the midst of ah not not major engine work, but we've got a 93 BMW 3 Series.
00:20:37
Aniz Lavji
Margarita. Thank you.
00:20:39
Frank
that that
00:20:40
Aniz Lavji
i heard i heard margarita thank you
00:20:41
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:20:42
Frank
but She said, no. And this, okay, it's it's actually it's actually a really decent car.
00:20:44
Aniz Lavji
ah
00:20:48
Frank
It was it it it was it was his dad's car. It's been sitting in storage for like 15 years. So he just bringing it out now. I'm just going through it and doing some things, getting the windows to work and the exhaust and anyways.
00:21:04
Frank
But yeah, that was kind of a fun project because it happens to fix the AC and the blower fan didn't work. And I had to figure out how 1993 electronics worked on a BMW.
00:21:14
Frank
know, it was kind of fun. But that's kind of stuff that I get into all the time. Yeah.
00:21:20
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, you give me heartburn.
Flat Rate System: Pros and Cons
00:21:25
Aniz Lavji
Jeez.
00:21:27
Frank
ah
00:21:28
Aniz Lavji
I think beyond, like just like you said, like beyond brake suspension, oil changes and tires, we really don't get too deep into the Euro stuff.
00:21:34
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:21:38
Aniz Lavji
it's
00:21:38
Frank
Yeah.
00:21:38
Aniz Lavji
And again, it's just not something that we're comfortable with, right? I mean, if we had a guy, like you have someone that's comfortable with it, we'd probably do a bit more, but um I'm kind of at the point where it's not something I need.
00:21:52
Aniz Lavji
Like I don't need that extra headache. I'll use that in air quotes.
00:21:56
Frank
yeah
00:21:57
Aniz Lavji
But if I had the person that can really get into it, I probably would, but I'm just not the type of person that will tell a customer, yep, we can fix it if I'm not confident that you know we can fix it, right?
00:22:09
Aniz Lavji
So, yeah, yeah
00:22:09
Frank
Yeah, but then you got to dedicate dedicate a bay to it as well. And if you got your bays full of doing steering, suspension, and brakes, why the heck would you do that? If if if I had my bays full of steering, suspension, and brakes, I wouldn't be touching an engine job. There ain't no way.
00:22:23
bbolen724
right
00:22:24
Aniz Lavji
yeah. We're pouring gravy every day, man.
00:22:25
Frank
Why would I? Yep.
00:22:27
bbolen724
yeah Dude, i'll I'll take suspension jobs all day over, you know, even diagnostic. Because I'll flip, you know, 10 cars to to one on Diag.
00:22:33
Frank
Yep.
00:22:39
Frank
Yeah.
Workplace Environment and Communication
00:22:40
bbolen724
And, you know, I know a lot of people... aren't fond of a flat rate, but that's what I'm on. And and I make, i make a killing on it.
00:22:52
bbolen724
So it's like, I'll give me, give me some easy stuff. I'll, I'll do them all day. Toyota control arms all day.
00:22:57
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:22:57
Frank
Yeah. Yeah. found it out real quick.
00:23:01
Aniz Lavji
But it also, also again with flat rate, which is a kind of ah a rage bait topic and everything, but you know, with flat rate, it really depends on the shop that you're at, right. And how,
00:23:14
Aniz Lavji
how they're working your flat rate. Some places like you were going to the the big dealerships flat rates. Great. As long as the hours are there and you're getting good tickets. Right.
00:23:24
Aniz Lavji
But
00:23:24
bbolen724
Oh yeah, i've I've been there where it's, you know, you're, you're not making the money you need to.
00:23:31
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:23:31
bbolen724
um But then again, like in my position that of, of what I know, lot of the times there's a lot of people that are getting passed up and it's coming to me anyway.
00:23:38
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:23:43
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:23:44
bbolen724
They're like, hey, we got this going on. I need you to look at it. Because I worked all over the place.
00:23:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:23:51
bbolen724
yeah I was at dealers, mom and pops, ah corporate facilities, franchises.
00:23:56
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:23:58
bbolen724
like I was everywhere.
00:24:00
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:24:00
bbolen724
So I've kind of got the lay of the land for the most part. i mean you know Management's always different everywhere you go. But... but You know, when you when you find good places, you know they're good.
00:24:17
bbolen724
And when you find not good places, you it's pretty you figure it out pretty quick.
00:24:17
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:24:22
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
00:24:23
bbolen724
And, you know, obviously, a lead technician, with my knowledge, it's it's easy to to move to a different location or different business, whatever, and keep on keep on rolling.
00:24:36
Aniz Lavji
Definitely. Well,
00:24:40
Frank
Well,
00:24:40
Aniz Lavji
just like, uh, just like Jeff says, uh, you hear them all the time. Those toolboxes have wheels for a reason, right?
00:24:47
bbolen724
Yep. And obviously it's yeah it's not good to to look at it that way. But in the same sense, like... We actually, we had a guy quit on us Monday.
00:25:01
bbolen724
like Monday at six o'clock, he quit.
00:25:01
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
00:25:03
bbolen724
And he was supposed to be in Tuesday, i think 645 to open. And, you know, it threw everything off. Now, he wasn't a technician.
00:25:14
bbolen724
He was one of my guys up front.
00:25:15
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:25:17
bbolen724
But um it it definitely, definitely altered how we had to do things. And it was like, Okay, well we'll roll with this one for now.
00:25:27
Aniz Lavji
no but what What I meant by that is, you know, with the toolbox and all that is, you know, if you're, if you're being treated properly and you're being respected and everything, that toolbox is going stay locked down to the floor.
00:25:40
bbolen724
Oh, yeah.
00:25:40
Aniz Lavji
But, but, you know, the second that you're being mistreated and not respected and and everything, I mean, those locks come up and she's gone. Right. Right.
00:25:50
bbolen724
yeah Yeah, I mean, it's it's a double-edged sword because there's some instances where, you know, if if me as a technician having a bad day and a guy up front is having a bad day, then that can make...
00:26:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:26:03
Aniz Lavji
Oh, for sure. But if things pile up over over time and you know you start start seeing the place differently and stuff, right, that can that can definitely change your outlook on your actual job over time.
00:26:04
bbolen724
um
00:26:18
bbolen724
Oh, yeah, without a doubt.
00:26:18
Aniz Lavji
Not like something like you know random, but over time. I've talked to a lot of techs that over time things just start piling up and piling up and it just gets to a boiling point, right?
00:26:30
bbolen724
Oh, yeah.
00:26:30
Frank
ah you have to You have to work on those things because if if things pile up and pile up, there's an issue. So somebody's got to be in charge of that. So who's who's in charge of dealing with these issues?
00:26:41
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:26:41
Frank
And if the person in charge is the one creating the issues, somebody else got to deal with it.
00:26:44
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:26:47
Frank
But yeah, when, when, when there's that much animosity between the front, they always say the front of the house and the back of the house, something's got to change.
00:26:54
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:26:56
Frank
So either somebody leaves, like you said, Bruce, somebody left this last week, then now, now the whole dynamic has changed again. So now what happens now you get somebody else in there. Are they going to be better?
00:27:07
Frank
What's going to happen there? What was the reason, right? So you always got to be working on that and you we always got to figure that out because if you're
00:27:13
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:27:13
bbolen724
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like specifically with us, I joke with my boss because me and him text back and forth all the time. um And I told him, I was like, we're probably going to be like six months till we find the good one.
00:27:25
bbolen724
and And not necessarily, you know, the all star hitting everything out of the park with sales. But like. find someone who will suit the shop.
00:27:37
bbolen724
Cause like we, ideally we need someone who has a bilingual, um,
Benefits of Expos and Networking
00:27:46
bbolen724
talk because we have a lot of Hispanics that come in and you know, that's me and boss joke.
00:27:49
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:27:52
bbolen724
Like, like we need, I think he said it was, uh, what was it? Uh, he wanted a female, uh,
00:28:05
bbolen724
a Dominican female, I think he said.
00:28:08
Aniz Lavji
Oh, it's getting pretty specific here.
00:28:09
bbolen724
And I'm like, hey man, like whatever, whatever works, like I'm cool. As long as they could speak Spanish and and sell the work like that's that's where I'm at.
00:28:19
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:28:20
Frank
But having getting somebody that fits in the dynamic of your shop, I was thinking about that today with,
00:28:20
bbolen724
be
00:28:25
Frank
with the, i was watching, watching the guys work and and they were joking and and talking to each other. And I'm like, you know what, having that and having that, they can actually have that conversation and and communication like that and not just be like throwing wrenches each other and yelling all the time, man, that, that counts for a lot, even if maybe they're not the best producers or whatever, but if you don't have to put out fires every single day and, and duck as wrenches are flying over you, honestly,
00:28:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Well, it's nice if they actually put out a couple of fires for you, right?
00:28:55
Frank
That makes a huge difference in a shot.
00:28:59
Aniz Lavji
That's, that's a game changer too.
00:29:00
Frank
Exactly.
00:29:01
Aniz Lavji
Right.
00:29:01
Frank
Yep.
00:29:02
bbolen724
Yeah, i'm I'm huge with ah the guys in the shop of like, hey, if you don't know something, like come get me.
00:29:02
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:29:09
bbolen724
I don't mind showing you. i mean, and I i tell them, I'm like, look, like I know it's you don't want to do it every time, but I rather you do it every time so that I know you're doing it right.
00:29:21
Frank
Yep.
00:29:21
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:29:21
Aniz Lavji
Hmm.
00:29:21
bbolen724
And I don't have to come back through and and fix something that got messed up because you didn't want to take the the minute or two to be like, hey, Bruce, I need some help over here. Like, i'd i'd I'd much rather stop what I'm doing so I don't have to do it three times because, you know, it it's it's just way better to to just get it beforehand.
00:29:38
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:29:45
bbolen724
And then I'm i'm teaching these guys. So the next job They're going to do it right. so
00:29:52
Aniz Lavji
Yep. yep
00:29:53
Frank
I always tell my guys, I'm like, if you're going if there's something that you're fighting and it's like, You're going to be 15, 20 minutes struggling with this one thing. Just say, hey, come on. What would you do in this space? And usually I walk over and it's like, oh, do this and this. And then in two minutes it's done. And I'm like, I'd rather you do that. Like you said, Bruce, interrupt me.
00:30:13
Frank
I'll come and show you, teach you, and figure it out with you together. That way now instead of you wasting 30 minutes, we we together wasted 10 minutes, but we got it done.
00:30:26
Frank
And now we can over and get the rest of it.
00:30:26
Aniz Lavji
But then you you could have you could have just had Margarita fix it in five.
00:30:32
Frank
Listen, if if she could do it all, and if we just let her do it all, I could just... Actually, that's a good idea.
00:30:39
Aniz Lavji
Because you said you're going fix it in ten.
00:30:39
Frank
I could just hit her home.
00:30:41
Aniz Lavji
she's probably going to fix it in five. So you wasted five minutes, Frank.
00:30:45
bbolen724
Yeah, that's that's one tenth.
00:30:46
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:30:48
Frank
Yeah. i guess you could You know, that's how we could get our sales up, I guess.
00:30:52
Aniz Lavji
There you go.
00:30:53
Frank
How's that?
00:30:54
Aniz Lavji
Now, Frank, you make a you make a good point, though.
00:30:54
Frank
I'm going to get through
00:30:56
Aniz Lavji
I mean, both of you, like,
00:30:58
Frank
the work. have one time know where that works.
00:30:59
Aniz Lavji
The other, the even the younger techs and stuff, they need someone, even if if they're not even the younger techs, they need someone that they could be more experienced than they are to kind of lend them a helping hand and say, hey, look, you can do it this way you're doing it, but you're fighting this bolt for no reason.
00:31:18
Aniz Lavji
If you use this tool here and do this and heat it up this way and wait and do it this way, you're going to save yourself you know half the time and it's going done right and you're not going to break stuff.
00:31:29
Frank
when i When I was an apprentice, the thing we did a lot of was break lines. And the struggle, and we've all had that trying to start the line nut.
00:31:41
Frank
The guy I worked at was a freaking whiz.
00:31:41
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah.
00:31:43
Frank
If I was struggling, struggling, and he would just walk over and be like, doto and the line would be started. And I'm be like, oh, every time. Now I'm that guy. And and i like my apprentices and my employees are,
00:31:57
Frank
Trying and trying and trying. I'm like, what are you struggling with? i can't get this brake line started. I'll say, all right, take
Shop Processes and Compliance
00:32:02
Frank
a minute, step back, look at it. I'm like, well, you're at it like a two degree angle. Bend it a little bit, start it. And they're like, oh, I hate it when you do that.
00:32:12
Frank
But thank you. And then the job is done.
00:32:16
bbolen724
Yeah, I love, ah ah like, specifically brake lines, like, because I have to do them on my Tacoma. I literally just bought a stainless steel kit for it.
00:32:26
bbolen724
um
00:32:27
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:32:28
bbolen724
Usually, like, it's, we're doing other stuff too, you know, PA, just like in Canada, that we got we got some rust problems.
00:32:37
Frank
Yeah.
00:32:37
Aniz Lavji
A little bit.
00:32:37
bbolen724
So, it's like, oh, yeah, we're going to do wheel cylinders while we're here.
00:32:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:32:41
bbolen724
And it's like, well, don't don't mount the wheel cylinder. And they're like, like, it kind of give you a weird look.
00:32:44
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:32:44
Frank
Oh, yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:32:46
bbolen724
and they're like, what?
00:32:47
Frank
No, no.
00:32:47
bbolen724
And I'm like, I'm like, you you can put it together while everything's moving and start it and and get it all snugged up and then you can mount it.
00:32:47
Frank
Start the line first.
00:32:58
Frank
Yep.
00:32:58
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:32:58
bbolen724
It's like, it'll save you so much hassle.
00:32:58
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:33:01
bbolen724
And they're like, well, how did you figure this out? I'm like, i I figured it out the hard way, just like everybody else.
00:33:05
Frank
Yeah. Yeah. Just be happy you're learning the easy way. Yep.
00:33:09
bbolen724
Yeah, exactly.
00:33:10
Frank
Same with breakovers, as I tell my guy all the time.
00:33:14
bbolen724
Yeah, it's exactly the same. Brake hose is still the hard line. It's like, same thing. Just let it loose and you can get it started put down.
00:33:23
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:33:27
Aniz Lavji
We've, what was I going to say here? the Those break lines, I think for our shop in particular, we haven't had to do to too many of them lately. Unless somebody comes in, we don't we don't really get anything too much older than ah like a 2014 or 15 at our place.
00:33:49
Aniz Lavji
I actually turned off online booking for anything older than like 2011 12.
00:33:55
Aniz Lavji
Because I find a lot of those vehicles that come in, for one, they're going to 90% all rotted out. And and whenever you know you can't even lift half of them anymore.
00:34:08
Aniz Lavji
So the last, I think, five or six that have come through, it's been to the point where they've come in for a changeover of tires and we're like, like we can't lift your vehicle. And then that gets into a big fighting and argument match and then they leave a one-star review and leave.
00:34:24
Aniz Lavji
So i'm like, you know what? It's probably better just kind of avoid that.
00:34:27
Frank
Yeah. Yeah. If you're, if you're not set up for that kind of stuff, then the best thing is to not touch it. That's, I always find that if you're not, like you said earlier about the euros, if you're not into the euros, just don't touch it.
00:34:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:34:38
Frank
Like I generally don't work on it.
00:34:39
Aniz Lavji
No, no.
00:34:41
Frank
There's, there's a few in between like the engine swap, no big deal. Right.
00:34:45
Aniz Lavji
The difference is you're a mechanic, Frank.
00:34:45
Frank
it was like
00:34:46
Aniz Lavji
Like you're,
00:34:47
Frank
Yeah. Yeah. But still it was,
00:34:48
Aniz Lavji
it's It's different for you.
00:34:49
bbolen724
little bit.
00:34:50
Aniz Lavji
Like if you wanted to get into it you could.
00:34:54
Frank
Yeah, well, I could if I wanted to. But yeah, this same engine. like Let's say this same car that we're changing the engine in came in and they wanted, ah I don't know, the heads redone or or even timing chains. Like I've done timing chains on on a job like that before.
00:35:10
Frank
And I probably promised myself I'd never do it again because it just it's not worth it.
00:35:15
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:35:15
Frank
the The amount of times that you get into something like that and it's like, oh, now I need this and now I need this and now I need this and now I need this. And it's just like,
00:35:24
Aniz Lavji
I hope you're charging a euro labor rate for this car.
00:35:29
Frank
that's what we're working on.
00:35:29
Aniz Lavji
Frank.
00:35:30
Frank
We have it, right?
00:35:32
Aniz Lavji
I'm going call Rick right now.
00:35:33
Frank
Yeah, you do that. But yeah, that's well, that's just the thing is is those kinds of things, they need to have special because it's like, it's such, they're set up so different than your North American vehicles.
00:35:48
Aniz Lavji
It's very meticulous.
00:35:49
Frank
Yeah.
00:35:50
bbolen724
And one of the big things is torque to yield bolts too like I I actually ran I I ran into an issue on a it was I think it was an 18 escape the harmonic balancer bolt is torque to yield one-time use that cost us an engine
00:35:55
Frank
Well, what's that? I don't know what that means. yeah
00:36:09
bbolen724
Like, unfortunately, like, no one, i didn't take the time to look through the service information to know this.
00:36:09
Frank
Really?
00:36:21
Frank
Yep.
00:36:21
bbolen724
um Until I did, it was already needed an engine. So, and we we actually called our local, we we have a ah Lincoln dealer that, uh,
00:36:34
bbolen724
for us is better than our Ford dealer. So we called them and said, Hey, look, here's the VIN number. We're looking for a harmonic balancer, crank bolt, whatever you want to call it. And they're like, Oh yeah, we got seven of them in stock. They're 13 bucks.
00:36:48
bbolen724
And it's like, you're kidding me. It was $13 and it would have saved us five grand on this engine.
00:36:53
Frank
Yeah.
00:36:54
bbolen724
You know, it's again, learn, learn the hard way on that.
00:36:55
Aniz Lavji
So good. You didn't read the service manual?
00:37:00
bbolen724
Nope. out That it,
00:37:01
Aniz Lavji
RTFM. I think that's what Brian Pollack said. RT, I read the FN manual.
00:37:07
bbolen724
Yep.
00:37:08
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:08
bbolen724
yeah Yep. It's, ah you know, it's one of those things that it's like you're you're just blasting through the information and you you miss that one key key note.
00:37:20
bbolen724
and And, you know, a lot of the times that you don't run into an issue, you're like, ah, you can reuse it. And the one time you're like, all right, never again.
00:37:31
bbolen724
We're replacing them all. Yeah.
00:37:33
Aniz Lavji
Yep. But now how often do you read service manuals on the, on work you're doing a little more often?
00:37:40
bbolen724
Well, it's I all right so the since going to tools um And I didn't have a Brian pull up class, but i I did see him and Jeff talked about a lot and I was like, okay, like Let me let me approach this a different different angle and some of the classes that I went to whereas technician like diagnostic stuff of like hey,
00:37:52
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:38:00
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:38:07
Aniz Lavji
yeah. Yep. Yep.
00:38:09
bbolen724
get get a ah process in place and stick to it every single time.
00:38:12
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:38:14
bbolen724
So I had a process and I'm just expanding on it.
00:38:19
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:38:19
bbolen724
And that's that's one of the things. It's like, okay, like take the extra five, 10 minutes, read through the whole process and make sure whether it's tooling, hardware, whatever the job calls for, it's going to get done right.
00:38:37
Frank
Yeah, that's extremely important.
00:38:37
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:38:38
Frank
I tell my service advisor that too. I'm like, if you're go if you're booking in a job that we don't regularly do, I want you to look through the repair procedure to see, is there anything that you pops out to you and then say, hey, this doesn't look normal or like something like that.
00:38:56
Aniz Lavji
yeah
00:38:57
Frank
Like, hey, this is torque to yield bolts or this this needs this specific tool to do the job. And if anything pops up to him, which doesn't as much as if I go look at it, right, then it's like, okay, well, hey, we need to buy a special tool.
00:39:12
Frank
There ain't no way of doing this job without a special tool.
00:39:15
Aniz Lavji
Yep. Yeah.
00:39:15
Frank
So we got to order this special tool if we're going to do this job. So I always have them do that so that we can be prepared for that. But torque to yield bolts, we transit van rear brake, right?
00:39:31
Frank
Yeah. So we've never had an issue with it, but I've heard of people having these bolts snap off. Right. So we, the last one we did, I'm like, you know what? I've done them before. And I put it back on. I'm like, you know what? Maybe let's not let's, let's get new bolts.
00:39:48
bbolen724
Well, it's i know like for us, because me and you talked, Frank, about your inspection processes and whatnot.
00:39:52
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:39:56
Frank
Yeah.
00:39:57
bbolen724
Here it's annually, and that's one of the things that you can't use the ignorance's bliss to get out of a lawsuit anymore.
00:40:06
Frank
Okay.
00:40:06
bbolen724
it's You have access to the service information, and you know how to read. So if you do something you're not supposed to they can come after you for it So that's they they started.
00:40:20
bbolen724
I'm probably in the last three years. Like I know shops that got shut down because they weren't doing the right inspections and they were passing stuff they shouldn't have.
00:40:22
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:40:30
bbolen724
And instances like, you know, you do you do the brakes on the transit and then the bolts snap and you're at fault because you you just did the brakes to it.
00:40:40
Frank
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:40:41
bbolen724
And, you know, that's that's something now that's like way more prevalent than what it was 10 years ago that it's like, well, hey, no one used to do this back in the day.
00:40:53
bbolen724
And now it's like, OK, like you got to make sure like everything you got to do is is is is being done better than what you think you need to do it.
00:41:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. I mean, you can.
00:41:04
Frank
and And torque in the heck out of everything. Like that's something that I'm, I've made mandatory in my shop that everything gets torqued, every suspension bolt, every, uh, brakes.
00:41:16
Frank
Well, brakes have always been torqued, but we started every suspension bolt.
00:41:19
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:41:19
Frank
Like I want everything torqued and I want it noted that it's torqued. And it, I mean, it takes a little bit more time. Sometimes you have to look through the repair procedure of what the torque spec is, but,
00:41:33
Frank
no comebacks for loose bolts.
00:41:34
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:41:35
Frank
I was talking with a friend today. said that he, he's, uh, he's, he's had to, he gave one more chance to one of his texts.
00:41:46
Frank
You're like, look, stuff, it keeps getting left loose. This is your last warning. And if this doesn't change, I'm going to have to let you go. so I'm like, you know, with the right procedures in place, that shouldn't happen. But I mean, if you've got a lazy tech, that's still going to happen. Right.
00:42:01
Aniz Lavji
But doesn't it say inside the manual it's like one Ugga Dugga then two Ugga Duggas?
00:42:02
Frank
Um,
00:42:06
Aniz Lavji
that what it kind of says?
00:42:08
Frank
Yeah, but is it a Milwaukee Ugga-Dugga or a DeWalt Ugga-Dugga?
00:42:08
Aniz Lavji
just i mean, you don't go to three Ugga Duggas.
00:42:11
Frank
That's a big difference.
00:42:16
Aniz Lavji
That's over-torqued, right?
00:42:18
Frank
Oh, man.
00:42:18
bbolen724
No, that's for for head bolts. You do three aga-duggas.
00:42:21
Aniz Lavji
Okay, okay.
00:42:21
Frank
Yeah. Listen. Okay, story time.
00:42:26
Aniz Lavji
Oh, God, what did do? i do
00:42:27
Frank
Yep. so So when I was an apprentice, I worked at a small mom and pop shop. And the majority of the things that we did there is, you know, the guy would go.
00:42:37
Aniz Lavji
get dogger. Yeah.
00:42:40
Frank
My employer would go and and get cars at the auction and we it would salvage cars and we would fix them up. But when I started there, one of the main cars that did it, you know, I love my Chevy Cruises right now because that's what a thing I do.
00:42:51
Aniz Lavji
No.
00:42:53
Frank
Well, the thing that the cars that he did was these old K cars, the Chrysler 2, 2.2 liter, liter ah Chrysler Dodge k car okay Well, those guys had figured out that if they were going to do head gaskets on ah on a Dodge 2.5, 2.5, one guy did it and in 20, 25 minutes.
00:43:06
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:43:17
Frank
He did a full head gasket job. they would He had it figured out. He would roll it up to the top, slip the timing belt off, tie it up to the hood.
00:43:30
Frank
okay Then he would... Zip the valve cover off. Take his impact off that for for foot forfoop on all of the head bolts.
00:43:37
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:43:37
Frank
then he Then he grabbed a chain, tied it around the camshaft. A long bar went like this one. o Pulled the head off. Yay far. Reached in there like this one.
00:43:49
Frank
And it took the gasket out. Slipped the new gasket in. Laid it back down. Head bolts in. right
00:43:56
Frank
Belt back on. Cover on. Done. Two Agadugas. I kid you not, that was the Agadugas right there.
00:44:03
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, but see, you didn't say three.
00:44:04
Frank
And those cars would run forever like that.
00:44:05
Aniz Lavji
d Three is, three aga-duggas, you know, you're going to get up the MTO after you.
00:44:07
Frank
I mean, total you needed new head gasket years later. but Oh, yeah.
00:44:11
Aniz Lavji
Two is okay.
00:44:14
Frank
So the Agadugas thing does work or did work back in the 90s.
00:44:14
bbolen724
I heard...
00:44:17
Frank
Not so much now.
00:44:18
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, not not so much now.
00:44:18
bbolen724
Well, yeah, you're iron on iron.
00:44:21
Frank
That's all it was, right?
00:44:21
bbolen724
you're not You're not aluminum on iron or aluminum in aluminum.
00:44:23
Frank
Yeah, it... It was, uh, I'll never forget that.
00:44:25
bbolen724
yes
00:44:27
Frank
That when everyone, whenever somebody says, iga duga I'm like, that's the, I got to tell that story.
00:44:27
Aniz Lavji
Hmm.
00:44:32
Frank
Cause, and I watched him do it. I'm like, he just zip, zip, zip. And it was like less than 30 minutes. He had this head gasket changed. And I'm like, cool.
00:44:41
Aniz Lavji
Bruce, on customer cars, obviously you torque all the wheels, I'm hoping.
00:44:45
bbolen724
Yes.
00:44:46
Aniz Lavji
well do you Do you tell them to come back to re-torque?
00:44:47
bbolen724
Mm-hmm.
00:44:51
bbolen724
No, I don't. i've the I've never run into an issue in my career other than when I had some personal things going on in my life. And it it was like probably two years in the industry. I had two wheel offs.
00:45:06
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:45:07
bbolen724
and i And I can tell you exactly why they happened. My mind wasn't in it. And that it happened. And it it was at the same employer that I was at and I ended up, I left, it was probably like two months later and I haven't had an issue since.
00:45:30
Aniz Lavji
But it's not like um a rule of thumb where like you mentioned it or if it's on the receipt or that, you know, you must come back for re-torque after x amount of kilometers, nothing like that.
00:45:42
bbolen724
Uh, we do miles, but no, not,
00:45:44
Aniz Lavji
No, sorry, please. Mild. Yeah.
00:45:46
bbolen724
not had um Not had to deal with anything like that. i I think it was two weeks ago we had an issue where a customer had us change of ah ah rim out and we torqued everything down because that's our process is hand torque every wheel.
00:46:05
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:46:07
bbolen724
And with that being said, the car came in and the stud was loose on the hub. But it was like...
00:46:15
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:46:17
bbolen724
you could jiggle the lug nut. So it's like, well that wasn't us.
00:46:21
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:46:22
bbolen724
They're like, oh, were trying to do our own breaks.
00:46:24
Frank
wow.
00:46:25
bbolen724
And it's like, okay, so you're trying to blame this on us and you were trying to do your own breaks.
00:46:31
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:46:32
bbolen724
Like, do you do you see the problem here? So, and and we couldn't get a hub for that as quickly as they wanted us to.
00:46:41
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:46:42
bbolen724
But we could get a whole loaded knuckle assembly, but they didn't want to spend I think it was I think it was just $1,000 part costs So and they didn't want to spend that so they took the vehicle and left
00:46:58
Frank
So what's your process for torquing? You just zip it on, torque it, you test drive it after or or or just one time torque?
00:47:07
bbolen724
So we we usually zip them on with nut runners torque sticks um and you know it's always on the lowest setting and then we hand torque them all with um snap on click style torque wrenches so but like us specifically we do a star pattern and then we do a circle it's getting double torqued if that makes sense
00:47:13
Frank
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:47:25
Frank
Mm-hmm.
00:47:33
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:47:35
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:47:37
Frank
Yeah.
00:47:37
Aniz Lavji
Here in in Canada, it's it's very...
00:47:42
Aniz Lavji
How do you say it? It's different than the States, I guess you could say here. like Everyone's very serious about torquing wheels. And again, not saying that you guys are not, but here it's to the point where you hear about it on the news, like wheels coming off. And so even you get customers coming in and they'll actually, even first time customers, I should come back for a retorque, right? So it's like a normal thing here.
00:48:08
Frank
Yeah, it's it's very much pushed in the industry. Our our process is always we we torque it, then every vehicle gets test driven at least for you, it'd be a mile, but two kilometres, be about two kilometres.
00:48:22
Frank
and And then we we park it and torque it again. So you'd be surprised at how often you have a wheel nut that's loose after that short little drive.
00:48:34
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:48:35
Frank
and And it's just something that we've implemented.
00:48:36
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:48:37
Frank
it I implemented that years ago, even when I was still at the old shop, because I had a vehicle that a wheel came loose, not off, but just loose.
00:48:47
Aniz Lavji
yeah.
00:48:47
Frank
And I'm like, how can we prevent this? And so I said, well, why don't we drive it first before we give it back to the customer and then torque it again?
00:48:55
Aniz Lavji
yep.
00:48:56
Frank
and then that should eliminate it. And I have not had a single issue since. So that's been, I haven't, over 10 years, I haven't had a single issue with a wheel loose or wheel nut loose doing it that way.
00:49:09
Frank
if If somebody forgets to do it or or something else, but in, I don't think we've ever had an R-Shop one.
00:49:16
Aniz Lavji
Knock on wood, yeah.
00:49:17
Frank
Well, we had one towed in from a local tire shop where the wheel came completely off, destroyed the rim and hub and everything. Uh, but I asked them, I said, did they do any kind of like ask you to come back and retorque or anything like that? He says, no, nothing like that. Just torque the wheel and and let them go, set them out the door.
00:49:36
Aniz Lavji
So we, we, we torque the wheels and then we have it on our actual invoice that they must return to re torque.
00:49:45
Frank
Yep.
00:49:46
Aniz Lavji
And Frank, you've seen the little parking ticket thing I got, right? The i have a yellow sticker. It's like this big and it's got the whole right up in there. Your wheels were torqued to this by this person at these, this kilometers, you must return. And it's like a little sticky pad and we stick it right on their steering wheel.
00:50:05
Frank
Oh, really?
00:50:06
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, yeah. I'll send it to you, Frank. So when they...
00:50:09
Frank
Yeah, you you you print it out like you have a printer for it and everything?
00:50:12
Aniz Lavji
No, no, no. I ordered it from a supplier. And...
00:50:16
Frank
Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, that'd be interesting to see that.
00:50:19
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, and it's it's really cool. So it goes around the steering wheel. So if they say, well, and you never told me, it's like, oh, no, we did. it's It's on your steering wheel, it's on your invoice. It's also, we're gonna change it through our shop management system. It sends them text reminders and everything.
00:50:37
Frank
Mm-hmm.
00:50:37
Aniz Lavji
We're gonna even change it so we even have it sent to each customer through text at the end. When you know there's like an automatic, thank you for visiting, blah, blah, blah. We're gonna add on the bottom, please make sure you return to re-torque your wheels after x amount of kilometers.
00:50:53
Aniz Lavji
So if knock on wood, they come, they complain, oh, well, you know, you guys didn't torque my wheels or whatever. say, well, on, you know, May 9th at 2.35 PM, you did also get a text to remind you too, right?
00:51:07
Frank
Yeah, yeah. yeah nothing nothing wrong Nothing wrong with having more than one reminder.
00:51:10
Aniz Lavji
But like, that's how,
00:51:10
bbolen724
Thank you.
00:51:14
Aniz Lavji
but that's how, that's how serious in Canada it is, Bruce. Like you don't hear about this stuff a lot in States.
00:51:21
bbolen724
Yeah, was going say, it's and I know I've i've worked as many places that people just ran them on and literally ugga-dugga'd.
00:51:27
Aniz Lavji
Hold on.
00:51:29
Frank
Just with an impact, right?
00:51:29
bbolen724
And i'm like I'm like, I don't trust that.
00:51:30
Aniz Lavji
Not three, though.
00:51:30
Frank
Yeah.
00:51:32
bbolen724
like i've I've seen too many bad things happen.
00:51:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:51:37
bbolen724
it's like Even just working on the car after that guy, and it's like, oh, hey, like one of these lug nuts was loose. like What do you mean? I'm just like, well, i see how you torque wheels.
00:51:47
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:51:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:51:48
bbolen724
it One of them was loose. You're lucky it didn't come off.
00:51:52
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:51:52
bbolen724
um But like, yeah, there's, it's kind of more lax as far as that goes, which it can go either way.
00:51:57
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:52:03
bbolen724
ah
00:52:03
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:52:04
bbolen724
But, you know, again, like with the annual inspections, we're supposed to be pulling at least one wheel off in the front and the opposite in the rear.
00:52:05
Aniz Lavji
OK.
00:52:14
bbolen724
Every single time certain companies want you to do all four.
00:52:15
Aniz Lavji
Yep. OK.
00:52:18
bbolen724
But, you know, it's whatever, whatever the company says that obviously that's what you got to do.
00:52:25
Frank
Yeah.
00:52:25
bbolen724
But legally we're required to take one off in the front, one off in the rear opposite each other.
00:52:30
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:52:31
bbolen724
So we're at least doing two of them are, are getting torqued, you know what i mean?
00:52:36
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:52:37
bbolen724
But there, there's instances where, you know, specifically like on that car that I said about, with the the lug nut stud moving, I had my guy go around and just torque check the other three just to make sure like, you know, hey, are they tight or are they not tight?
00:52:45
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:52:54
bbolen724
If they're not tight.
00:52:56
Aniz Lavji
he was into it with the breaks and all that. So.
00:52:58
bbolen724
Yeah, like and that's one of the things that was like, look, if if if it's been messed with or, you know, whatever, and they're loose, like I need you to make a note on that ticket.
00:53:10
Frank
Mm-hmm.
00:53:10
bbolen724
Hey, this will this wheel they had three lug nuts loose or whatever.
00:53:15
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:53:15
bbolen724
Just so it one and if it does come back, it's like, hey, look, we only did a front wheel, but we checked the torque on the others, and this is what we saw.
00:53:24
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:53:27
bbolen724
And that's on you.
00:53:30
Aniz Lavji
you guys You guys do inspections at your shop?
00:53:33
bbolen724
Yes.
00:53:33
Aniz Lavji
Like video inspections, pictures, like digital vehicle inspections?
00:53:39
bbolen724
So we we just got a new digital inspection system.
00:53:43
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
00:53:43
bbolen724
They just rolled it out. It was Wednesday last week.
00:53:47
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:53:49
bbolen724
So but prior to that, we had a digital inspection. It's just it's a new new version for us that we can now do multiple pictures and we can do videos on it now.
00:54:00
Aniz Lavji
What's a, what's the offer you using there?
00:54:00
Frank
Okay, cool.
00:54:02
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:54:03
bbolen724
It's. the whatever the shop decided. It's not, it's not, um, like a, a program you guys are going to know.
00:54:12
Aniz Lavji
okay
00:54:13
bbolen724
So.
00:54:14
Frank
It's not tech metric. That's that's what Nese is getting at.
00:54:16
bbolen724
Oh, I wish it was.
00:54:18
Frank
Everyone's got to be on tech metric to make him happy.
00:54:20
bbolen724
i wish it was. I use Techmetric. That's, that's an awesome, awesome system that they got.
00:54:27
Aniz Lavji
It's the best.
00:54:28
bbolen724
So.
00:54:29
Frank
don't Don't ask my wife. shes still She still has fights with it.
00:54:34
Aniz Lavji
we'll We'll fix that. i think I think, Frank, you're actually doing all the errors just to piss her off.
00:54:40
Frank
You know, got to keep her on her toes.
00:54:43
bbolen724
That sounds like Frank.
00:54:44
Frank
Yep.
00:54:45
Aniz Lavji
but But, you know, like what we actually started doing is I have one tab where it won't let you, i'm trying to set it to where it won't let you clear that actual work order out without having ah the video inspection. So we do a video walk around of the vehicle.
00:55:04
Aniz Lavji
before we kind of started exactly where the customer parked it. So we do a video walk around, we get close up. If we see anything nicks and scratches or damage, we get close up with the wheels as well, especially we're doing tires.
00:55:19
Aniz Lavji
So we take that video inspection. So afterwards, if the customer's like, well, you know, that scratch wasn't there before, or my rims were not, you know why is it all scratched off and everything here? We're like, well, that was curb rash. It wasn't there before. So we actually,
00:55:35
Aniz Lavji
Let me send this to you and then they've got nothing to say.
00:55:38
Frank
Mm-hmm.
00:55:39
bbolen724
Yeah, so my previous digital inspection, if there was a dent, if there was multiple dents anywhere on the car, I could take a singular picture of those dents.
00:55:50
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:55:51
bbolen724
And that was our CYA. And I'm like, you guys need to figure something out.
00:55:53
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:55:57
bbolen724
So now that we can do multiple pictures, i take one at each corner.
00:56:00
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:56:01
bbolen724
so that it it gets down the side, gets crossed back the the roof line. Um, just for that instance that it's, you know, ever since that we can be like, Oh, here it is.
00:56:08
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:56:11
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah. Ever since you did my breaks, my radio doesn't work.
00:56:13
Frank
Yeah. No, you got to cover yourself that way.
00:56:15
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:56:17
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:56:18
bbolen724
Yeah. And it's, it's unfortunate that like we have to, you know, think about it like that, but,
00:56:23
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
00:56:24
bbolen724
yeah I guarantee you each one of us got burned on something because we didn't have a picture of something and we had no proof that it it wasn't like that beforehand.
00:56:31
Aniz Lavji
yep
00:56:35
bbolen724
and
00:56:36
Aniz Lavji
but Thank God for security cameras.
00:56:36
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:56:38
Aniz Lavji
Cause I mean, you know, I can just kind of play back if it was something within the past few days. soon as you, as soon as you tell them, Oh, well, that's interesting. You know what?
00:56:48
Aniz Lavji
Why don't you come by? I'm going to grab some coffee. Let's look at the whole job. What do you mean? Oh man, you to see my new cameras. I can see everything in 4k. We'll zoom right in. And then that kind of ends the conversation pretty quick.
00:57:01
bbolen724
Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there's a lot of like, Oh, I'm just going to say they did it anyway.
00:57:08
Aniz Lavji
Oh, yeah.
00:57:08
bbolen724
And, and I, I guarantee you that it's, it's burned numerous shops.
00:57:14
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:57:14
bbolen724
Um, you know, like it would have burned us cause I, I could only take one picture of the car. you know, if I had, you know, left front damage and right rear damage, how am I getting that in one picture?
00:57:20
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
00:57:26
Frank
Yeah.
00:57:26
bbolen724
So that, that was my argument through and through.
00:57:28
Aniz Lavji
Stitch it together, I guess.
00:57:30
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:57:33
Aniz Lavji
Oh, man. No, that sounds like ah pretty busy every day then. At least you're getting your hours and everything in. work at what more You're pulling more than a week here?
00:57:46
bbolen724
My ideal goal is 70 a week. But um I think last week we got, it was either 58 or 68. So last week was pretty good.
00:58:00
bbolen724
But prior to, it's like a I'm just trying to break 50.
00:58:00
Aniz Lavji
great
00:58:06
Aniz Lavji
That's amazing.
00:58:06
bbolen724
Because that
00:58:07
Aniz Lavji
Okay.
00:58:07
bbolen724
me and my... um One manager had an unwritten agreement of a 50-hour guarantee.
00:58:17
Aniz Lavji
There
00:58:18
bbolen724
So i'm I'm just, you know, I was just fighting to get to 50. As long as I got 50, then we don't have to worry about where we're coming up with these extra hours.
00:58:27
Aniz Lavji
you go.
00:58:29
bbolen724
So, and that that was my big goal. But, you know, I'm hoping that work starts picking up. just with everything going on the world that we can get back to it and back to making good money.
00:58:43
Frank
i think it's I think it's going to get pretty pretty busy here with the people not being able to buy Ford new cars.
00:58:43
Aniz Lavji
know
00:58:50
Frank
I mean, we've been doing that for a while already, but I think it's going to get worse again. and ah And we're going to see a real influx in cars coming in.
00:58:59
Aniz Lavji
I agree, man. ah I was actually, to tell you, I went on the auction the other day just to kind of dabble and see there's anything interesting. The cost of cars have come up so much that,
00:59:10
Aniz Lavji
I didn't even, I didn't stay on there for more than 15 minutes. And i've I've noticed a lot of people, I mean, 90% of the stuff that you're sending them in the inspection, 90% is all getting approved.
00:59:14
Frank
Yeah.
00:59:22
Aniz Lavji
Everyone wants to fix their car. No one wants to, no one wants to trade it in or buy anything if they don't have to. So, I mean, for, for shops, whether it's here or in the States, I mean, it's great for us.
00:59:32
Aniz Lavji
Keep these cars on the road.
00:59:36
bbolen724
I was going to say, I think they were saying the average car on the road now is, was it like 10 or 12 years old or something like that on stateside? don't know about for you guys.
00:59:46
Frank
Yeah, it's probably about the same here.
00:59:48
bbolen724
Yeah.
00:59:48
Aniz Lavji
Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:49
bbolen724
But um like it it it grew, i think since COVID, I think they said it it grew like a couple of years just because with everything that happened with the new cars and I mean, what we see with with new cars constantly having problems that it's, you know, it's it's it's pushing it out that one, you can't afford the new car.
01:00:01
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:00:05
Aniz Lavji
yep
01:00:14
bbolen724
But then two, you get the new car and then you can't even drive it for three months because it's got to go back to the dealer for a major repair.
01:00:22
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:00:23
Frank
I think I'd be afraid to go buy a new model car. Like let's say ah a new model came out in 2027. I think I'd be afraid of buying it. I'd want to wait a couple of years if I wanted that specific vehicle to see if maybe they had some kinks that they had to work out or, or, or buy it used five years old because then most of the kinks are wore out on it and push through.
01:00:34
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:00:39
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:00:45
Aniz Lavji
That makes sense, yeah.
01:00:46
Frank
Right. I don't know. yeah Only way I would buy a new car is if I bought something on a lease and then I didn't care. Right. But you're right, if if you can't drive it, then that still sucks.
01:00:56
Frank
So then you're better off just riding a car every day.
01:00:57
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:00:59
Aniz Lavji
Yeah, pretty much.
01:01:01
Frank
Yeah.
01:01:01
bbolen724
Yeah, i mean, I'm at the point where I won't get anything newer than a 2020 just because everything that happened, you know, the chip factory that, you know, ended up not being a factory anymore, COVID popping off.
01:01:13
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:01:15
bbolen724
Like, it's like, ah's I don't need anything that new.
01:01:18
Aniz Lavji
Hmm.
01:01:19
Frank
Yeah.
01:01:21
Aniz Lavji
no Bruce, I think i we're going call it for tonight, but man, thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule to sit down and have a chat with us. really appreciate it.
01:01:35
Aniz Lavji
And I'm looking forward to you sending us a message saying that you're all booked for ASCA. Like Frank ah does not have any choice but to go.
01:01:46
Frank
Just waiting for registration to open now.
01:01:49
Aniz Lavji
So I think, you know, on a quick side note, last year was my first year at ASDA. And really, man, it was a game changer for me.
01:02:01
Aniz Lavji
So I'm umm a shop owner. I'm not a tech or anything. But the the connections you make there outside of the class, that's huge, man.
01:02:11
Frank
Yeah, very much so.
01:02:12
Aniz Lavji
you meet a lot of different people, you get a lot of different insights on, on a lot of stuff, man. Like, you know, the conversations you may have are going to be ones you take little golden nuggets of information out of each one of them.
01:02:27
Frank
Yeah, we found that so much at Jules.
01:02:27
Aniz Lavji
i mean, yeah.
01:02:30
Frank
Like with the after-class conversations, I mean, between in the evenings and stuff, I think there was days that Bruce went home and he probably didn't get home till 1 a.m.
01:02:34
Aniz Lavji
Yeah.
01:02:38
Frank
because he stayed at the lodge so long, but we were just chatting there and hanging out.
01:02:44
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:02:45
Frank
But yeah, it's it's definitely a good a good way to network. The networking is unbelievable.
01:02:52
Aniz Lavji
And the training, you know, whether it be at tools or ASDA, I mean, the trainers are second to none, man.
01:02:53
Frank
Yep.
01:02:58
Frank
Yep.
01:02:58
Aniz Lavji
Really, really incredible people.
01:03:01
bbolen724
Oh, yeah, it was great. Like, I'm i'm definitely definitely doing tools again.
01:03:06
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:03:06
bbolen724
um um' i want to do Super Saturday, which is, i think it's...
01:03:09
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
01:03:13
bbolen724
I think it's September. off have to double check.
01:03:15
Aniz Lavji
OK, yep.
01:03:16
bbolen724
But that's out towards Philly. So for me, for me, it'd be better to get a hotel room.
01:03:18
Aniz Lavji
Mm-hmm.
01:03:23
bbolen724
um
01:03:23
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:03:24
bbolen724
But one of the guys that I met at tools is from Jersey. So he's going to be at super Saturday.
01:03:28
Aniz Lavji
OK. Yep.
01:03:30
bbolen724
um But just being at tools, like I met Benji. ah i didn't really meet Tanika, but she was there.
01:03:38
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:03:38
bbolen724
I was kind of a fly on the wall with,
01:03:40
Frank
Thank you.
01:03:41
bbolen724
all those guys as was Frank.
01:03:42
Aniz Lavji
yep
01:03:45
bbolen724
Um, but like Benji, Benji and Jeff both said, you don't have a choice. You have to go to ASTA.
01:03:53
Aniz Lavji
Pretty much.
01:03:54
bbolen724
And I'm like, I got to make sure to work. So, um, as long as I can make it work, I'm going to go. I just got to, basically I'm going to do a whole family trip.
01:04:02
Aniz Lavji
So. well
01:04:05
bbolen724
Me, the wife, and and both the kids, um,
01:04:07
Aniz Lavji
Beauty. No, I think you should definitely make it a ah huge priority to to be there. I mean, you know, besides the fact that it'd be a nice little getaway, but the the learning and the training that you're going to get there It's going be great network. We're going to be there. And I just think that it could be a game changer for you, man. Like you, you met so many people in a group of 400. Imagine ASDA. There's thousands of people there, man.
01:04:39
bbolen724
Yeah, I mean, I definitely want to go um and and take take more of the classes.
01:04:45
Aniz Lavji
Yep.
01:04:45
bbolen724
Like, I definitely want to sit in a ah Brian Pollock class, and I want to do another Brandon Steckler class.
01:04:49
Aniz Lavji
Oh yeah.
01:04:54
bbolen724
um It's just I got to get there. So whether it's, you know, yeah, whether it's tools, ASTA, Super Saturday, like whatever it is,
01:04:57
Frank
Sounds
01:04:58
Aniz Lavji
start planning now man start planning now
01:05:07
bbolen724
So I just got to make it work.
01:05:10
Aniz Lavji
oh that's great man so but I know you and Frank are are connected let's all stay in touch and hopefully we'll ah we'll see you there in North Carolina my friend
01:05:22
bbolen724
Yep, I'm hoping so.
01:05:24
Frank
um was good
01:05:25
Aniz Lavji
All right, guys. Thank you very much. And again, all the listeners, please find us on Facebook, the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. Like, share and follow.
01:05:36
Aniz Lavji
Appreciate it.