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Ep 18 - Dan Buss & Rich Cox | Their Shops Are Squeaky Clean
237 Plays1 month ago
Running a business is hard, and in running a repair shop, you really shouldn't manage everything on your own. That's why at my shop I trust a few other businesses to help me reach success. I recommend you AT LEAST look them up, and learn more. Whether you use them or not is up to you. Or I guess, running your shop into the ground by NOT using them is your choice...
For shop management, I think Tekmetric is the best. Find out why HERE
For coaching, which has been crucial for me, I use Elite Worldwide. You can too HERE
For marketing, which I think as a shop owner, you NEED help with. Use Turnkey HERE
In this episode, I get Rich Cox and Dan Buss to confess their failures with me. Since we all know each other so well, we really get into it. If you have a confession to make, leave one for me to play on the podcast when you call 704-CONFESS. We'd love to hear from you!
06:10 "Whiskey Budget Transition"
08:02 "Elite's Methodology-Agnostic Success"
12:26 Perfect Facility Inspires Pride
15:31 Industry Networking and Collaboration Event
18:05 Elevating Professionalism in Business Events
22:19 "20 Group Member Lifecycle"
25:35 "Understanding Personal and Business Growth"
28:01 Emergency Succession Planning Lessons
30:08 Fraternity and Money Conversations
34:46 Learning from Mistakes
37:36 Overworked Team Motivation Issue
42:22 Wife Disapproves Breakfast Meeting
42:58 Rethinking Business Expansion Plan
46:34 Career Tech's Return барriers
52:16 Hobbyists and Technicians in Market
54:01 "Boutique vs. Multi-Shop Ownership"
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction at Ignite 2025
00:00:00
Speaker
Okay, so today's episode is another one that we recorded in Dallas at the Ignite 2025 event with Elite Worldwide. ah My guests are Dan Buss and Rich
Dan's Transition to Coaching
00:00:13
Speaker
Cox.
00:00:13
Speaker
known these guys for over a decade easily. They're both heavily involved in the Elite Pro Service 20 Group process. Dan has actually successfully sold his business and is now assisting in the coaching process.
00:00:29
Speaker
Rich has an awesome shop in Michigan. ah You should look it up check it out. He's a really cool dude and a really interesting story, but I think you'll enjoy it. I know that I had a good time recording it and I'm glad to finally be able to publish it.
Candid Industry Discussions
00:00:45
Speaker
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we, or our guests may say, do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have.
00:00:59
Speaker
There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, it's time for Confessions of a Shop Owner, with your host, Mike Gallen.
00:01:16
Speaker
All right, so Ignite 2025 is winding down, coming to an end. I'm here with two good buddies who have lots of stories about me doing stupid shit, the mutually assured destruction and nuclear deterrence in our in our histories.
00:01:34
Speaker
ah So we'll choose not to talk about any of those things. Agreed? Agreed. All right.
Orion Automotive's Unique Approach
00:01:40
Speaker
um Rich Cox? yeah For those that don't know you, what's your shop name? Where are located? What do you do? We're Orion Automotive. We're in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we're primarily European repair. Okay.
00:01:54
Speaker
how long have you been doing it? This is the 30th year for us now. 30 years. I would say that you are a very unique shop in the way that you've run it and the way that you've built the culture. Not typical.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah, we believe that um our guests are um our primary... purpose of our guests were a customer service organization that just happens to fix cars for living very well.
00:02:22
Speaker
um Very high level of technical ability. My team is all smarter than me, which is kind of great. It's happened to good to say that, you know, it's a low all bar bar. And the facility school it allows me to play in the gardens. We've got a pretty cool place. So Tell me about the facility because it is pretty cool.
00:02:39
Speaker
ah We're six hoist seven with the alignment rack. And it's 9,000 square feet. It's a single entry building. And we have a wash bay inside. Yeah.
00:02:52
Speaker
We're on a couple acres. It's all gardens and fun. and you have an industrial kitchen to cook for the team. We have a pretty cool industrial kitchen. We do cook for the guys every day. um I cook for a long time, and now my parts manager has taken over the role. And I think they like his stuff better than mine because he likes to marinate and grill more than I do. so That's the third kitchen, fourth kitchen renovation. That's probably the fourth kitchen. it it's The guys say it's done now.
00:03:17
Speaker
Keep remodeling. It just gets better and bigger. Yeah. You also have a Metal Fab shop, is that right? Metal Fab shop, yeah. Thanks to Pro Service came a couple years ago and kicked me out of the main shop. So we've got another shop down the road.
00:03:31
Speaker
They were just wrapping up this week. it's The painters just left on Friday.
Operational Improvements Advice
00:03:35
Speaker
um so all the Metal Fab for the um artistic steel, not necessarily race car stuff anymore, but mainly.
00:03:42
Speaker
So pro service came and they shamed you into pulling all of that hobby shit out of your revenue generating space. Is that right? Yeah. It reminded me back in the big days of like, get your, you know, boats out of the building and dah, dah, dah. But I was a little bit beyond that, you know, power hammers and hobbies consume your income.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah. it's time to get it out. yeah Yeah, exactly. So we they kicked me out and we cut a hole in the wall and put another door in and so we were able to bring another tech in. and and So it did help the operation a lot and everybody's happier.
00:04:14
Speaker
So that's the note to self. don't Don't do your private work in your building. So I've always heard about the first time you hosted a pro service meeting that you threw just like a absolute killer party. Like out on your farm, you had a bandstand set up and...
00:04:30
Speaker
yeah Yeah, we had multiple people both times. I had multiple people stay for the weekend. We had people who were at the campers in and stayed on Saturday, and we had it catered, and my band and other band played.
00:04:42
Speaker
so Up in the barn. Up in the barn. how many acres? Late El Soddy. Around eight acres? It's 20 now. 20 now. Yep. Late El Soddy was... People camping in the background. That was great.
00:04:54
Speaker
All right, and so
Dan's Coaching Journey
00:04:56
Speaker
Mr. Buss, former shop owner. of ah DNR Auto Works in Highland Park, Illinois. Was in pro service for 15 years, and now I work for pro service.
00:05:07
Speaker
So I yeah facilitate the masonance meetings, go to the spring meetings, and help other shops continue to grow. Nice. So you how long ago did you sell in the shop? ah About two and a half years ago.
00:05:20
Speaker
October of 22. And now you bounce between Chicago and Arizona. Correct. You're one of the people that Jim has collected in his neighborhood. Yeah, we have a little compound of pro service members in Anthem, Arizona and Cape Creek and right around that area.
00:05:34
Speaker
Beautiful area. He's got mountains like eight of you that he's collected now, right? Yeah, could be more than eight, but. That's crazy. um Well, cool. So you occasionally will log on to Friday Night Shenanigans. And you sit back and you watch me and judge me quietly. And I occasionally make eye contact with you on the camera where it's because you know the real ugly, dirty facts about my business and what a fucking disaster it is. Well, see, I see your numbers every month, right? Yeah, you see my numbers, right? And when they're really bad, you just don't report.
00:06:07
Speaker
And you think if you report a late a month late, I won't see them. I go back, brother. I haven't filled out the numbers in years. So if it's not reported, then it's I blame my bookkeeper. Okay. But maybe I don't answer the questions that she has when I know they're really bad so that she maybe falls behind the eight ball.
00:06:24
Speaker
Usually on what's this expense, right? On who's a what's it? Where's it? Usually you don't answer the question when she says, what's this expense for? Yeah. Yeah. It's travel and entertainment. Yeah. It's all travel and dinner.
00:06:37
Speaker
It's all fun and games. It's the low key whiskey budget. um So tell me a little bit about what the transition has been like for you from being a very high performing shop owner to now.
00:06:49
Speaker
yeah
Tailored Coaching Strategies
00:06:50
Speaker
To clarify, I think you're a little bit of a no nonsense, no bullshit kind of guy who'd shoot straight, which I appreciate. um And a lot of our members appreciate, but they can lead to some hurt feelings if somebody is a little delicate you know snowflake.
00:07:04
Speaker
And just like with the shop with clients, right? You got to treat every client a bit different. And and um same with every pro service member and everybody I coach. you know Everybody needs a different method or style. um You just happen to be the one that I need to yell at constantly, right? Copy. ah um And this man right here, right? Yeah.
00:07:24
Speaker
He actually didn't show up at a meeting one time because he felt that was too hard on him the month before, then realized i wasn't. And he sent me an apology email.
00:07:35
Speaker
Did you really get your feelings hurt bad enough that you punished him a month later? don't know if I punished him or not, but I called him out and he didn't remember. So he must not have been trying to be too mean. After 16, 17 years.
00:07:49
Speaker
ah But, you know, I'm all about, you know, striving to be the best and and I want everybody to succeed. And when I know it's. silly stuff, right?
00:08:01
Speaker
um I'll push somebody and I'll push them hard and Rich can contest. We're here in the same pack for 15 years. and And, you know, I when I know somebody's got the capability, I'm going to push them.
00:08:12
Speaker
Right. um But not everybody can be pushed. Right. Some need a little handholding and that's OK. Right. We're all different in the way we learn and grow and stuff like that. But I just want to see success within the people I'm coaching.
00:08:30
Speaker
So one of the things that I really appreciate about Elite and General Pro Service specifically is that it's kind of methodology agnostic. as And I've said this several times now in the last few weeks is not you don't care what concept we're executing as long as we're ethical and profitable.
00:08:46
Speaker
Exactly. um And that's not the case with all organizations. um That being said, you also have instances where you have dudes that have shops that are doing $700,000, $800,000 a month in general repair and you go to maintenance meeting and somebody who's doing 180 a month in Euro specialty work out of and they're very good at what they do.
00:09:16
Speaker
It's such a different world and they're fussing at them to change and do things differently. you know You need to polish your floor. Dude, um I'm selling 200 tires a day. We're going back to the Washington meeting here, aren't we? That's what this is about, right? Hey, everybody, I want to take a minute to tell you about the coaching organization I've been involved with for, gosh, over 20 years now.
00:09:40
Speaker
Elite. Elite worldwide, they don't give you a one size fits all solution. They tailor the coaching specifically to you and your shop. They pair you with an experienced coach who is either a current or a former shop owner, and they turn strategies into actual action and accountability and results.
00:09:58
Speaker
Whether it's improving your service advisor's sales, growing your shop, growing to multiple locations, they really have you covered. Clients of Elite really see results. Higher profits, stronger teams, a better work-life balance.
00:10:10
Speaker
If you're ready to take the next step, visit EliteWorldwide.com to schedule your discovery session. That's EliteWorldwide.com to start working on your business rather than in it.
00:10:21
Speaker
Tell them that you heard about them on Confessions of a Shop Owner so that I get a pat on the back or maybe a box of chocolates or something. That would be awesome. Thanks. I didn't like the the computer cords that were on the ground between the kiosks and these like, dude, just let it go. Right. Like there's bigger things. Right. It's OK.
00:10:39
Speaker
you know To me, it's about a appearance, right? yeah What the customer sees. um But you take a Rich, right? He's not huge shop, but it's a meticulous shop. It's very well ran. They do really good numbers. They have huge net.
00:10:52
Speaker
And that's that's what he wants, right? everybody and it's over the yeah And it's over the top in every way. And everybody thinks, I'm a
Cleanliness and Shop Values
00:10:59
Speaker
little too much. Everything's spotless. you know We are floors are polished all throughout the building. And it is a little bit...
00:11:05
Speaker
I'm told to stop. Like last time they were there, they'd stop. Like quit it. So there's all of us. so every do Do you have somebody whose job it is to polish the floors every day or anything like that?
00:11:16
Speaker
We have, ah we call it a Zamboni, but you know, it's an automated floor machine. Like you see at Lowe's and the tire kid is running it all day. You know, snow comes in, he follows the car in. Wow. So just all day. Well, and his techs don't like any grime, right? So. Yeah, we don't we don't have kitty litter in the building. We don't have any. We've got emergency oil pickups as required, but we don't. you know Nothing gets dumped on the floor.
00:11:43
Speaker
That's the plan anyway. It's always accidents. These are automobiles and mistakes happen. but It's all about frame of reference, right? Like my shop is probably one of the dirtier shops in pro service. Honestly, the dudes just keep their shit together in pro service.
00:11:59
Speaker
But at the same time, it's cleaner than most shops in the country. Right. And I'm just like, I hate when I walk through and I see stuff that's just sitting on the ground because I hear you guys are like, nothing should ever sit on the ground. Everything should have a place and it shouldn't be the ground.
00:12:16
Speaker
Yep. Everything has a cart. Yeah, a cart, a shelf, a cabinet, something. um But I don't know how you put everything away. There's so much shit that goes into operating a shop.
00:12:27
Speaker
Where do you put it all? Well, we've had experiences with even with some high higher end guys we brought in that can't get with the system. You know, it's we're too clean sometimes. And it it's it's created it's created a couple separations just because I don't i want to jam. I don't want to be clean.
00:12:44
Speaker
and it's not negotiable. It's kind of one of the things we say, we're meeting people. It's not negotiable. Sometimes you gotta give a little, right? yeah My head tech was with me 15, 16 years.
00:12:55
Speaker
It was a slob, right? And everything was in his cart, Wally. yeah wall Great technician, but he just, and it drove me nuts, right? And then there'd just be times where I had enough and I said, do you not work on a car until you clean this, right?
00:13:11
Speaker
Um, got to give and take a little bit though, right? Again, not everybody is you. Not everybody needs that clean workspace, but you want their their coworkers to be comfortable as well, right? Because they all want clean spaces, right? So you got to work with me Right.
00:13:31
Speaker
It feels like it's somewhat dependent upon the culture of the business and the culture. I mean, who defines the culture first? It is the owner, right? Absolutely. And it kind of trickles down from there. So if you are meticulous and a clean freak by nature, then that's going to be what you expect and demand of your team. and And it goes down from there. But.
00:13:52
Speaker
And I think when the facility is kind of perfect, um, there's a lot of buy-in from the right kind of guys. And it's, you know, you walk in the morning and we've got, you know, plants in the windows and a lot of natural light and it's, you know, we've got skylights in the addition we built off the back of the building. So east side. So the morning is just glowing every day and the floor shines. So, um, I'll go there on Sundays to grab something. haven't been there all week and just, I just wander around and look at it for a while. Cause they keep it that well because it's their joint, you know?
00:14:22
Speaker
Well, and like with everything, right? They're going to treat it as it's kept. So if you keep it clean, you keep it painted, you keep it up to date, you have the best equipment, they're going to respect that.
00:14:33
Speaker
They're going to show the pride in that building as well. And they're going to keep their stuff as clean, right? If you're not painting, your floors are dirty, your walls are dirty, there's an inch of dust in the rafters, there's no sense of pride, right? So why are they going to have that sense of pride?
00:14:50
Speaker
It starts at the top. It always does. I feel attacked. Well, one thing, I don't know where I picked it up. Just go clean your shop. We'll wait. We'll be here. I don't know where picked it up.
00:15:04
Speaker
you know Never too busy to clean. Never too busy to clean. if we're ah It's actually in our manual to clean, but I tell the new guys, to the apprentices and stuff, that when teaching them the standards and stuff is to look up.
00:15:16
Speaker
So if you want to know someplace you're going to go to a restaurant, go in the bathroom and look up. and see if they're taking time to clean the rafters and the fan motors that are full of yuck. I mean, that's that's a standard for the rest of the building.
00:15:28
Speaker
you know And I think that um that's a high level to attain, and some people would say it's not necessary. But like we said in pro-servicers, everybody's different. It's the way my brain thinks, right? I walk in a restaurant, I'm looking i'm looking for cleanliness. right I walk in a department store, I walk in anywhere, I'm looking for how well they take care of it, right? Right.
00:15:47
Speaker
Because that shows me the company I'm doing business with and how well they take care of their business. Right. And all of our buildings are a million dollars plus without anything in them. You know, if you think about that, would you treat million dollars on the ground? Just kick it around. you you take nice You take care of your nice things like your mom said. Right.
00:16:07
Speaker
I don't know. was always a ah toy abuser.
00:16:12
Speaker
Tells you that I was spoiled maybe. I should have had a little more accountability. Yeah, maybe if you had to pay for that toy. Exactly. Well, and so I was not spoiled, but I also never wanted for anything, I guess. So maybe I was spoiled, just not as bad as some others. But they pulled that they they pulled the funding after one year of college when they realized that I was just fucking off and not applying myself. It's probably a good thing. Yeah.
00:16:36
Speaker
I still went for four more years so that I could get into my junior year. um But I had a lot of fun and worked really hard to be able to keep the party going. you know, it was a different time.
00:16:48
Speaker
So ah what's been your biggest takeaway from this event? um
Networking and Professionalism
00:16:55
Speaker
From Ignite? Yeah. yeah You know, just a lot of good speakers, lot of collaboration, a lot of meeting and greeting of people.
00:17:05
Speaker
You know, because we not don't just have pro service here. We have coaching clients here. We have people from the public who aren't involved with the lead here. meeting people and seeing shops of every caliber kind of unite and talk to one another and start learning from one another. And and you see them passing phone numbers and talking and, you know, sitting at lunch um and talking to the people next to me and learning about their shop. And it's a second generation shop, you know, and they want it to be a third generation shop. And, you know, just everybody here,
00:17:43
Speaker
loves this industry, right? They're here for a reason and they want to be better. They want training. They want to know as much as they can and just improve their business. And that's what this is all about, right?
00:17:56
Speaker
Well, and ah to your point, I've spoken to people ah this weekend who closed the shop to come. Spoken to someone who their biggest victory recently is they finally hired a service advisor.
00:18:10
Speaker
And I've spoken to a guy who's got a goal of $150 million dollars in revenue in the last next five years, right? Mr. Bill. Mr. Bill. He's cool dude. Yeah, he believes in big, hairy ass all day just goals, right? But...
00:18:23
Speaker
I mean, there's there's some people that have that mentality and to have that breadth of life experience and stage in the same room, sharing ideas and helping each other. And it's pretty neat. I mean, and ah I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't matter what size you are. Right. We can learn from one another better. You're the one-man show starting out or you're the 20, you know, multi-shop owner, right?
00:18:48
Speaker
We can all learn from one another. And everybody's got start somewhere, right? You know, and we talk about that with with technicians, right? Everybody in this entire conference is looking for an A technician right now. We all are, right?
00:19:01
Speaker
We're going have to technicians if we don't. You don't even own a shop and you're trying to get one. Right. Just to work on my cars, right? Yeah. Well, we create apprentice programs. so we're not going to We're going to run out of technicians. We need to be the ones grooming them.
00:19:15
Speaker
Same with we need shops in this country. We can't fix every single car, right? So we need to also help the guys starting out and help them grow and help them you know be a good quality business. And that's what this is about. That's what Elite's about.
00:19:30
Speaker
yeahp I think that takeaway of, um you know, we come to these events and we do things that in our, kind are our people wouldn't normally consider it normal, like a regular large businesses are going to come here and do a collaborative events where we all get together and we spend five hours doing tasks, you know, like a regular corporate, like a regular company, like a regular industry, you know, and coming from, you know, being a technician myself at a pretty high level, know,
00:19:58
Speaker
raising the bar of the shop, the shop owner, the person answers the phone, the way the facility looks, to the level of professionalism that we show the public.
00:20:09
Speaker
Running a shop for 20 years teaches you a lot, like how outdated systems can make your job a lot harder than it needs to be. I used to deal with slow check-ins, clunky estimates, wasted time chasing down updates.
00:20:20
Speaker
Then I switched to TechMetric. It's an all-in-one cloud-based SMS that lets me run my shop from anywhere. It streamlines my estimating process, keeps customers in the loop with real-time updates.
00:20:32
Speaker
I'm not telling you that it was all TechMetric, but I'm telling you that TechMetric was a big part of it. Since I switched to TechMetric, my average repair order 4 years ago was 293. And right now it's 916. That's...
00:20:43
Speaker
Not luck. It's better processes, faster workflow, speed of service that's facilitated by this technology helps me get higher and better authorizations for my customers.
00:20:55
Speaker
If you're ready for a shop management system that actually works for you, tap the link in the show notes and check out TechMetric. You're going to like what you see. And then we're showing it the younger team coming in and guys are saying to me, well, I need more stores because i like I'm not making the money I want. And I said, what are your numbers? And I said, well, let's fix that first because you don't you're making you're turning plenty of money to make a good living. and you know You're doing something. we need we can We can fix that. We can tone that out. So part of the conversation we had last night, um there's a group of ah MSOs that got together and had dinner last night talk about world domination and or how to defend yourself against the M&A wave that's coming coming through the consolidation of the industry.
00:21:36
Speaker
I was just saying that I just always appreciate these events because I these events because you know i don't know if we would meet a trainer that fixes companies in Europe who's, you know what is it Master Black Star, Sig Sigma, and have him spend the day with us. like I wouldn't reach out for that. I wouldn't go search for it.
00:21:56
Speaker
But I thought it was very impactful, and I thought you know a bunch car doing – bunch of car guys you know doing corporate business training um you know that because it molds your head you go back you're a little bit more professional and you you know you you live it more proud of our industry um which you admit and like i you know i work in the trades in other areas steel worker and stuff and i always say that the you know there's us that's number one in the trades you know and then there's iron workers and du it on it's like we are a seriously advanced skilled trade set
00:22:28
Speaker
you know it's and we have to recognize that and it's not oh you're mechanic oh great you know it's like and i'm not saying technology is changing so fast it's like a technician growing up starting my age everything's changed all the time working in dealership in the late 80s the black box mentality if you had one on the shelf that's how you tested the car because there was no yeah and we went through this time frame of learning and creating
Technological Advancements in Auto Industry
00:22:53
Speaker
our own diagnostic routines to where we are now where some of the stuff my guys are doing is like I look over their shoulder and I got two laptops on the car and headphones on and wave at me. And I'm like, yeah have fun.
00:23:05
Speaker
You know, two hours later, here's a diagnostic solution. And, ah you know, when I think budget to present to our. It's a good point. You and I are the same age. right Yeah. So. You know, we started there were still carburetors, but there was also electronic carburetors and fuel. injects Right.
00:23:22
Speaker
And then all of a sudden there's no distributor in the car. So at our age, we saw it all. Right. We went from carb to where we're at today. Right. um Where big, you know, big block V8s to three cylinder turbos. Right.
00:23:38
Speaker
um And it's been unique to be able to see the changes, right? Where these younger kids, they don't know what a carburetor is, they don't know what points is.
00:23:50
Speaker
And...
00:23:54
Speaker
Lost my turn of thought. time So I have a couple of questions that I wanted to ask you, Rich. um You've been in pro service or some form of coaching for how long now?
00:24:09
Speaker
Well, Dan, I were i was in blig and then I skipped a year when everything changed because I didn't jump right on and I had to wait my turn after that. So I think if you if Dan's been in for 15, then I've been 14, I think.
00:24:23
Speaker
So one of the things that I've witnessed, because I started going to meetings with my dad is just the boss's kid. Right. um And then when dad was approaching his sellout date, he left.
00:24:36
Speaker
pro service because he was selling his business. And then a year after he sold his business, I was feeling that gap and I, I signed back in. Right. So I'm on and off for 20 years, been coming to the meetings and there's, um,
00:24:51
Speaker
typical life expectancy of a member of a 20 group, it seems like, or at least the stages of their experience in a 20 group. They come in and kind of quiet because they don't know anybody and they don't know how it works and they feel maybe imposter syndrome.
00:25:07
Speaker
And they get comfortable and they start to build relationships and they start to see real changes in action. And then they become like the jaded old guy in the back of the room who's just shouting or mumbling under their breath. Talking about Bill Gurney?
00:25:24
Speaker
or evan Well, I mean, that's what that's what my dad was by the end. Right no it was him and Becker and Meyer would sit in the corner in the back of the room and judge everyone quietly and mumble under their breath. Yeah.
00:25:38
Speaker
My very first meeting, i sat next to your dad at dinner the first night. So that was one of my introductions. I'm sorry. yeah myqua right Yeah. One of my introductions to dad was with Keith and your dad came to dinner somewhere. We were at a Blake meeting or don't if it was Blake meeting or not.
00:25:56
Speaker
And just listen to those two guys talk blew me away. was like, I'm, I'm involved in this. I think at that time I was still in the two car garage on Moseley street. You know what i mean? and So I remember that still that day it was like, ah I'm getting involved in this. At the time we weren't doing enough sales to be part of the group.
00:26:11
Speaker
So I think I must have signed up for some yeah meeting and your dad came in and spoke. And um I was like, wow, that's I can do this. So that's cool. And then now I'm trying to do that for the guys that will listen to me in this group. Yeah.
00:26:24
Speaker
Well, so so to the question, then understanding that kind of life cycle of ah of a group member. Have you found that you've been able to continue learning the whole time or has it become?
00:26:37
Speaker
I don't want to say this in a detrimental way, ah like a fraternity, like it's just your core group of friends, like my best friends in the world are dudes down there from the 20 group. Right.
00:26:50
Speaker
i I think we continue to learn. i know when I still had my shop and I was in it. There were, you know, my guys still always dreaded me coming back from the meeting because they knew changes were coming. But that was me. Right. That's the EDD and the OCD that there's constant change. But I think.
00:27:08
Speaker
There is, you know, it's a fraternity, right? I mean, you want to see your buddies that are in your pack, the people you've made lifelong friends with. and And but we're still going to learn, right? It's not just going to hang out with your buds for a long weekend. You're still going to learn. And and I would say everybody picks up something.
00:27:29
Speaker
okay Right. And I think that, um, so so says the facilitator. Yeah. better me Right. Otherwise it's on me. No. And I like, you know, when, when some of the guys sell like good buddies, like Dan and Dave, when they sell stuff, it's hard for me to, you know, cause we're all in different cycles in our life. We all want different things. And.
00:27:49
Speaker
Here's the deal. i I like to think that I'm pretty good at running an auto repair shop. It's what I've done for 20 plus years, but I'm not good at managing a marketing budget and all the different facets of a truly well-rounded marketing plan.
00:28:01
Speaker
There's mail, there's local advertising, there's website, there's Google AdWords, there's you know all the different things that go into that. And it's just not what I'm good at. So what I've chosen to do is to buy myself the time to focus on what I am good at while having someone else execute on all of those things
Ongoing Learning and Improvements
00:28:22
Speaker
at a way higher level than anything I could ever do.
00:28:25
Speaker
That's what turnkey auto marketing does for me. So if you feel like you could use some of that same magic, I'm going to recommend that you go to turnkeyautomarketing.com, get a free consultation. Tell them that I sent you.
00:28:38
Speaker
ah Tell them that Confessions of a Shop Owner sent you. You won't be disappointed. And um some of us work harder at other things and other things, you know i mean? and So I come to meetings like this meeting. I've learned more out of this meeting than I have, um or at least given myself ownership of the changes that need to happen.
00:28:55
Speaker
Like to me, it's always been the immaculate facility, the smartest guys in the building and pay the building off, you know, and not have six shops or dah, dah, dah. And now it's like the steps I need to, now my next thing is,
00:29:09
Speaker
not going to the shop at all, not feeling guilty. So some of the s SOPs and the things that Dan and Dave were really, really good at, and I'm not, I'm here with a new, leaving with a new empowerment to get that next step done.
00:29:22
Speaker
And I might have done, been done it and backwards in some people's idea and that, um but to me, the real estate and the dirt was the most important and I like to build things. So, had so yeah I'm always learning stuff and I like meeting new people.
00:29:35
Speaker
I mean, and so there have been a lot of new people that I've met here at this one. I like how Alita started doing at least one event a year where it's pro service, one on one coaching and other shop owners that are unaffiliated and they get yeah to come and and check it out. So that's it's been a lot of fun. um You know, and you for me made lifelong friends, right? Like.
00:29:57
Speaker
Rich and I have been friends for a long, long time. Dave Schultz, Nick Salas, you and I. I mean, we we've our wives, our wives, you know, and, you know, I went through tragedy in my life and every one of them was there. Right. I mean, ah didn't expect it, but people, you know, when Michelle passed, they're all there.
00:30:19
Speaker
Every one of them. And it was cool, you know, because I knew they had my back. Yeah. Just get in the car, go. Speaking to um speaking to that kind of connection that is built, I mean, it is what you just said.
00:30:38
Speaker
um I once heard my dad say, there are three people in the world that I can call and say, I need $100,000 and no questions. said, they're all pro-service people. Right.
00:30:51
Speaker
I couldn't call my family and ask that. They're the ones who call me. They might call me and But you know and and it's you know, one of the things we did a lot of projects through pro service and we're going to continue to do a lot of projects. But one of the things we did was talk about succession plans and emergency plans.
00:31:08
Speaker
Unfortunately, we learned that through a tragedy right when we lost a member who was on the way to a conference in a car accident. And, you know, We build an emergency plan, right? So if something happened to me and I'm hit by a bus, you know, my team was Dave Schultz and Rich Cox and Nick Salas, Jim Murphy, and gave my general manager and and Michelle had all this information and had their phone numbers. and And that was my team that if they needed anything, they knew how my business ran.
00:31:39
Speaker
They would hop on a plane and they would be there the next day to help them do whatever. Right. And after that happened, within months, there was a family meeting and I said, look, if I get hit by a meteorite out of the sky,
00:31:55
Speaker
Here's the envelope in the top left drawer of my desk. Open that up and follow the instructions. yep and he had the plan laid out. You call these people, you do these things, and this is how payroll.
00:32:07
Speaker
We don't miss a payroll and we keep trucking and here's the policies. and Yeah. um I think that can be life saving and business saving in the event of tragedy, especially.
Importance of Succession Planning
00:32:20
Speaker
And you you owe it more to your own family with the business. You owe it to all the families of all of your employees as well. Absolutely. You've got whether it's two people 100 people, they rely on you. Right. So yeah you need to have a plan for them in your business and your family.
00:32:36
Speaker
um And that plan can't be on a thumb drive in your pocket. yeah And that's that's what happened. yeah you know And they ended up having to shut that business down for six months because nobody knew how it ran. Nobody knew how the employees got paid.
00:32:48
Speaker
um And then and the and the business never recovered fully. Not really. They did reopen. um And I think they're still doing well. I don't know if they sold out. dis sold it Did they so sell it? so um Well, you know, going back to the fraternity aspect and I was one of the new guys. I sit next to him and.
00:33:10
Speaker
um I had a question about something, so I just opened my QuickBooks up the year the last year that was about his sales, like within two seconds of knowing him. And I said, well, we talk about money in this group.
00:33:23
Speaker
And it sounds kind of weird. All of us have different amounts of money. Nobody's nobody's poor, by any means, I don't believe. um I think I'm richer than I thought I was going to be as a child, living in my car, moving to Ann Arbor, you know what i mean? So...
00:33:37
Speaker
What else in your life, what other people, to be honest, do you talk about it? You know, I've got two friends that are lifelong college friends, and we talk about it on that. Nobody talks about money. And, you know, hey, I want to do this project. Should I borrow should I out of cash? What would you do? dotda Da, da, da.
00:33:52
Speaker
Who else are you going to call? than Dan or Jim or Dave, you know, it's or anybody in pro service that knows you. The conversations that are going on around the bar about money, I think it doesn't happen everywhere, and it's very important. It's like one of those healthy things in life.
00:34:06
Speaker
You've got to communicate about money. Well, and there're there are some groups out there that – mean, we are a numbers-driven organization. Like Elite, you've got to have your numbers or you know you're not participating appropriately. Don't look at me like that.
00:34:19
Speaker
um yeah and and But there are other ones that are like emotions, and they and they don't share numbers, and they don't talk about – yeah They have very superficial conversations about numbers. It's all top line revenue based. And that's it.
00:34:33
Speaker
Right. and And we are very numbers driven, but I'm also I'm i'm always about people. Right. Like taking care my staff. Right. So, you know, that's important as well. And then the personal aspect. Right. um And spending time with family and stuff like that. So, yeah, we're numbers driven, but I'm going to push people.
00:34:53
Speaker
to also take care of themselves, take care of their families, take care of their employees, and make sure that they're staying focused on that as well. Right. And I think it brings the the financial literacy, we'll say that way, it brings a lot of freedom that I think people don't realize it because they don't want to put the time in.
00:35:10
Speaker
Being able to look at your P&L this year, today, last year, all the way through in one column, be able to pick out the piece that I need to focus on that is really important. And that's where the money's made, right?
00:35:22
Speaker
It isn't top line is for real. Well, a lot of shop owners are just trying to keep their head above water and they don't have time to learn financial literacy. They're just trying to fix the fucking car, you know? and And in building the dashboard with, you know, the dashboards changed over the years and amendments are made to it and things that Jim thinks are more important come and go.
00:35:41
Speaker
Um, but just in that process, that's an education, you know, for sure. um Random thought in Anthem, Arizona.
00:35:53
Speaker
Is there like one shop that you all go to to service your vehicles? Because that guy has got an impossible task to. super So, you know, I'm going to bite my tongue a little bit here because there's a couple of chains there that I have not had a good experience at. um I'm not going to say we want some.
00:36:13
Speaker
um And then.
00:36:18
Speaker
I haven't found a great shop yet um over in Cave Creek. There's a shop. You probably know Frank Lutz. know the name. I don't know. So he's in the industry. He's got a podcast as well.
00:36:29
Speaker
Frank Lutz. I thought you said Fred. Yeah, Frank. Yeah, yeah, Wrench Nation. Yes. Yeah. So he's got a shop about 25 minutes from my house. So um If I need something heavy, I'm taking the car there.
00:36:43
Speaker
You guys should open a shop in Anthem. Absolutely not. That's the last thing I will ever do again, right? I'm done, right? But let me tell you, it really sucks to have to pay somebody to work on your car. Well, you can come to Carfix on Saturdays and get a free oil change.
00:37:02
Speaker
Can I? The commute will be a bitch. Yeah, right. I'm going to drive 2,200 miles over for a free oil change. However, it's still going to be a better oil change than I could get in Anthem, Arizona. it's ah That's the tough part, right? Because I'm a tech. I started as a tech, right? so And I have a little OCD, right? So my contractor will tell you he's remodeling my house. I got a little OCD because every line's got to be perfect and stuff. with that So having somebody else work on your car, that's that's tough. but Can you imagine what it was like being the GC who had Jim's house remodel and Flagstaff? Yeah.
00:37:41
Speaker
Talk about exacting and attention to detail. Right. oof Man, that poor dude didn't know what he was signing up for when he got that contract. Yeah. So one of the things that I do regularly and when we're recording here is i I talk to people about what's something that that you screwed up last year or recently.
00:38:01
Speaker
Why did you screw it up? What are you doing differently to keep it from happening again? And so I can ask you if you screw anything up, but I can ask you, what do you see us screwing up the most? And and you can just make fun of me if you want, or you can make a generalization.
00:38:16
Speaker
You know, I think with some of the younger shop owners, they push each other, right?
Cautions on Business Expansion
00:38:24
Speaker
And
00:38:27
Speaker
I don't want to call it a mistake, but I see them sometimes they have this ambition to grow, but they don't know why. Right. And I'll ask them sometimes. So where are we going with this? what what what is What is the purpose of having six shops, eight shops? Tell me why you want this. Right.
00:38:47
Speaker
And they can't answer it. More. Right. And some of it's just ego. Right. Some it's just ego. Keeping with the Joneses. Right. And what happens is they do this and um I'm not pointing my finger at anybody in this room. Right.
00:39:04
Speaker
But they do this. They take this their finger off the trigger. And they start screwing around doing podcasts and stuff. And the business just goes to shit. Wackos from Michigan. But then they reel it back in, right? Paying us the kind of money we pay us to be. I'm not talking about you all. Let me know when one of those wackos actually reels it back in. Because it's still a train wreck in my neighborhood.
00:39:27
Speaker
but what's important too with that is I see you spending time with family, right? That you're not burning yourself 80 hours a week at the shop um and neglecting your family, right? So when you're doing it from home Friday nights,
00:39:46
Speaker
Family's there, right? They know leave drunk dad alone. He's in his office. But you're at home with the kids, right? And that's something i would have really loved to have realized at a younger age that family comes before the business, right?
00:40:01
Speaker
So when I say they might neglect the business, as long as it's for family, that's a good thing.
00:40:09
Speaker
I can get behind that. yeah I'd say one of the mistakes that I'm trying to teach myself to stop doing is um because I'm a tech and because of my standards, if I see us getting bogged down and da-da-da or backed up, I want to get involved. And um and so what everybody knows, da-da-da means they're busy.
00:40:30
Speaker
That's what da-da-da means, right? Yeah, that we're really busy. And I want to take some of the less enjoyable projects that were sold off the plates of my guys so they feel they're like there they're motivated to crush 70 hours, you know um And I should not be doing that. I brought it up the other day and I was walked to the door, like physically.
00:40:48
Speaker
Everybody's laughing. A couple of them did it. Well, the best thing for Rich's business is him not to be there. yeah And that's hard to learn and let's soak in too. So how many people have we heard over the years that have built up a business that didn't require them to be there?
00:41:05
Speaker
And then they became an absentee owner. And then in the over the course of two or three years, went off the rails. And they had to go back in because it was faltering badly. I mean, that's pretty common, right?
00:41:17
Speaker
it happens. Yeah. I mean... I would say probably a sixty forty right? So probably 60 of them who try to walk away, it doesn't succeed. The other 40, it doesn't work.
00:41:28
Speaker
I think there has to be at least some level of just course correction every fixed period of time, just checking in. can't just walk out the door and expect it to run the way you built it, right?
00:41:40
Speaker
Because nobody cares as much as you.
00:41:44
Speaker
for the most part. yeah Sometimes they can. um But still, they're they're hesitancy to make decisions that will fix things is because they're not empowered to just pull the trigger. So problems can kind of fester for a minute. And, you know, and I think the biggest, biggest problem with that is we didn't have the right person.
00:42:01
Speaker
We wanted them to be the right person. We wanted them to hold that title. Did they really want it? We don't know, but it fit what we wanted. they wanted the title, they just didn't want the job. Right. Yeah.
00:42:12
Speaker
But we also didn't do our due diligence, right? We didn't get them into the training they may have needed. we We wanted to title that person. We needed them to become a manager because they'd been there X amount of time.
00:42:26
Speaker
Didn't mean they were right for person for the job. um And then we walked away. Right. So we put this person that may or may not have been the right person and we put them in that position.
00:42:37
Speaker
We spent some time with them. We walked away. and then things start going downhill. Right. Whose fault was that? Was it his fault? no yeah Ultimately, it's always my fault. well it is always Even at your shop, it was my fault. he yeah yeah Stuff failed at my shop. I'm like, call my gallon. Yell at him, not me.
00:43:00
Speaker
I only come in once a month. He goes in every six months.
00:43:05
Speaker
I worked more last year than I had in five years. Yeah. Well, since we opened the second yeah since we opened the second shop, I worked more last year. so um You're at three now?
00:43:17
Speaker
Yeah. So, I opened the third shop. I didn't work any more than i had been at all. I just... Hope it works. Have fun, guys. Bye-bye. But you made some big changes, too.
00:43:28
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I turned over a complete staff and early January this year at my small store. There were two individuals that wanted to keep, um but we needed a complete changeover in that shop, so we transferred them to another shop. And then...
00:43:45
Speaker
The other two, we let them go and put all new people in. So we'll see. And you lost a key person in the business. Yeah. um and ultimately, that was my fault. um Good dude. He'd been with me for 12 or 13 that point.
00:44:01
Speaker
um I promoted him above his ah level of expertise. Oh, really? Yeah, imagine that. And then I didn't i didn't train him, he support him equip him yeah know Six months before he left, ah we had a long conversation, and he felt like he wasn't being supported.
00:44:20
Speaker
he felt like you know he's a very gregarious guy. He needs human interaction. like He's the mayor of his neighborhood, wherever he lives. like He's the social hub.
00:44:31
Speaker
And we weren't personal friends. We didn't go to dinner together and that kind of stuff. And that was important to him. And I was like I can't fake that, man. I've got like three friends in the world, you know, close friends. Exactly. There's one other than us.
00:44:46
Speaker
Hank. Hank. Yeah. Where is Hank? Where the fuck are you, Hank? Yeah. hey Hank. Hank, where are buddy? I don't want to hear my back hurts. I can't travel.
00:44:56
Speaker
I think he's like in s sweet Switzerland or some shit. Again? Yeah. I don't know. he Yeah. He's always going to Europe skiing and stuff. yeah So evidently i got three stores and I, you know, struggle to buy plane tickets and Hank's got one store and he's skiing in the Alps all the time. What the hell am I doing or wrong?
00:45:14
Speaker
I don't know. That one store thing can work for you. Yeah. Yeah. so um So I always wanted to be a multi-store. And there's not many times my wife said no to me.
00:45:26
Speaker
Well, outside the bedroom, but that was the one time.
Leadership and Business Focus
00:45:31
Speaker
She was like, you no it's funny. I was going to go to breakfast with a buddy of mine who was getting ready to retire. and it was 2014. So we had just opened up the new the new building ah that was a monster and it was out of control and car count was crazy. And And I'm like, I'm going to breakfast with Mike.
00:45:50
Speaker
She's like, why are you doing that? I'm like, she's getting ready to retire. We're going to buy a shop. Like, no, you're not. I'm like, oh yeah, no, no, it's good. Right. And I'm like, this is what we've been talking about. She's like, you have enough chaos in our lives, right?
00:46:04
Speaker
Not your life, our lives. Right. She's like, you're at the shop 11 hours a day. You're not doing another shop. I listened to her. Right. And, ah At the end of the day, didn't need that second shop.
00:46:17
Speaker
I was making more money than I knew what to do with out of one big shop. Right. And it was smart. I mean, I listened to her and, you know, not everybody needs another shop.
00:46:28
Speaker
Well, one of the things that I was about to say earlier, ah and then I've lost my train of thought and told Braxton to edit it out. I guess you don't have to edit it out now, Braxton. Sorry. um We were at dinner last night with these MSOs who are looking to grow rapidly.
00:46:42
Speaker
and their point was you get a facility to 80% of its potential. That last 20% is really hard. And if you want to have one bad-ass operation and get it to 95, 98%, you can certainly do that and make a lot of money.
00:46:59
Speaker
Yeah. um but That's a good point, actually. the the The effort put in to get from 80 to 90 to 95% So high, why not just go get another store and get it up to 80%? Because that's not as much effort. As long as you get cash flow, it's not as much effort to get from where it is when you bought it, which is probably terrible, up to that 80% number.
00:47:20
Speaker
So it goes back to what, which I don't remember which speaker it was that we saw, but this, you know. done is better than perfect because perfect never happens yeah right um i actually wrote that down believe it or not well i think the thing is shop is a perfectionist i know and then i thought about that i like what what you remodeling should be perfect you remodeled your kitchen four times in your shop in my shop right and you've had your firm house how many years 20 to 14 years, 14 years. Yeah. Is it finished?
00:47:53
Speaker
That is now. Yeah. I'm so proud of you. 100%. Well, light fiction has to go back up. But in that that interim, we saved. Well, then in there, we've, we saved two Barnes and you know, how many times do you change the kitchen at the house, the kitchen house only only changed once. Cause Becky was gonna back. It was upset twice.
00:48:12
Speaker
I did do it twice, but um when you've done so many kitchen remodels that you forget. Not really remodels. This stuff just moves around. This is a big open floor. buy a new equipment. Buy new equipment. yeah that's Always buying new equipment though.
00:48:24
Speaker
But I think the point is is if you're going to do two shops, plan on three. So two was not that hard. The third one was kind of a kick in the nuts. Really?
00:48:35
Speaker
i think the third one is when the wheels started to fall off for me. It's also when i my partner and I, we it became obvious that we were just not on the same page. And so we parted ways, and there was a buyout there. and um you know the big That's when I promoted...
00:48:53
Speaker
that guy to to be the manager over all three stores. Right. And then I was like, oh, well, this is stressing me out. I'm just going to go be fucking absentee and, you know, sleep in and get on the internet and, and, and, and your robe. Yeah. And, uh, oddly whiskey all day.
00:49:11
Speaker
Yeah. Oddly, uh, giving somebody in the keys to your kingdom and no support or training whatsoever is a stupid choice. Come on now. And he even asked me for support and training. And I was like, yeah, I got you dog. And then,
00:49:24
Speaker
So yeah, it was totally I thought it would work.
00:49:29
Speaker
Well, and also, at the same time, we started implementing ah the Rack Attack and the Speed of Service and the Free Diag. And he's an old tech, too, right? He's not even old. He's just a ah career tech who became a shop foreman, then a store manager, then an area manager, right?
00:49:44
Speaker
um And I don't think he ever really believed in it. Or at least he didn't feel like it was going to work in our setting or whatever. yeah. sir And now he's back to – he took like three or four months off and spent the summer with his daughter who was between junior and senior years. Like this is the last summer I get my daughter. I'm spending all summer with her.
00:50:05
Speaker
And he did that, and that's pretty awesome. um And he's he's back working on cars, and I think he's a lot happier. I hope he is. so So he's back with you? No, no, no. he's He's at the Cadillac dealership.
00:50:17
Speaker
Okay. At least last I heard and he was. Okay. hope if it works. Yeah. Well, the last one I tried to groom and make somebody do what he didn't want to do and just throw money on him when it wasn't motivating. And um he's running a flower shop and living his life happy as a clam.
00:50:36
Speaker
That's some hippie shit right there. Well, he wanted to be a farmer. He never wanted to be an auto-reaster. So we went to the Wednesdays off so he could work on his own farm and blah, blah, blah. everything's getting done. if Everything's getting done. And then nothing's getting done Right, are you guys four days a week, five days a week? We're five days a week, but um his one day, one morning off turned into like a day and a half, and I just didn't know because I wasn't there.
00:50:57
Speaker
so So he saved me a lot of money doing that, though, and leaving because I was going to give him part of the steak. Yeah. So it worked out good in the long run. The guys that are involved now are motivated to, you know, motivate it And when issues come up and we talk about it, things change. And, you know, probably not. and I don't give enough support. but So who's running the store for you?
00:51:20
Speaker
um Jason and Michael Miller. Michael Miller is a service advisor, front of house, and Jason's his parts manager. So they kind of work as a pretty solid team to help. to keep it rolling. The dynamic duo.
00:51:33
Speaker
The dynamic duo. They need some help up front. So that's one of the things that's on my list to kind of handle when I go back. and They do see me, um but they were seeing me out of my guilt. I'm like, you I'm being involved in some pretty serious projects where I've got other tradesmen with me.
00:51:46
Speaker
So I can't just pop in and take an hour and go back to pour concrete at 70. You know what I
Team Dynamics and Market Niche
00:51:50
Speaker
mean? So... So we're kind of working through that, and they just want what they want from me. that They want me to be happy, right? So that's one of the cool things about having guys that you did you trust them, you care about them as people.
00:52:02
Speaker
um We packed up the shop this year and went to see them with the whole group, except the apprentices. And that was ah I think that went a long ways for trust and happiness of everybody in the shop. you know They were really blown away.
00:52:13
Speaker
Well, we used to do shop trips with our shops combined. Yeah. Yeah. Every February, we'd go to Florida or vegas or New Orleans or something. s STX.
00:52:26
Speaker
So our our employees all knew each other and stuff like that. So we were a force. Fucking crazy to me. 16 people out there just fighting the cops. It was awesome.
00:52:39
Speaker
No, I kind of miss those days, too. But but I'm. But yeah, so the and the guys are really proud of the service they're allowed to provide. And, and you know, my guys have, um you know, we have an agreements of of what they're allowed to take care of without asking me and things like that. So there's a level of respect that goes back forth. I don't, you know, i'm not one that marches in there and what is this? I'll wait a few days. and So where are we at with that one? you know Should we talk about it now as a time?
00:53:05
Speaker
um Which is a learning on my end to not just be a monster. You've got to train them. You've got to give them the authority, the control to run the business, but you also have to be there to support them.
00:53:16
Speaker
Do you have an end in sight? Are you planning on selling? Are you planning it on... You're really going to go there. What? This could half-hour ordeal. I think I have a simple answer.
00:53:27
Speaker
no Do you want to hear it? Yeah. I do not want to sell. um I have a little bit of money left on the mortgage and I'm having a good time.
00:53:39
Speaker
I've got my other building. um We're financially in really good shape way we are and we'll be in really better shape if we just keep collecting what the store does and share it with the guys. And, um,
00:53:52
Speaker
I'm still going to be a part of pro service and that it stopped buying equipment. Stop. I'm not going to stop buying equipment, but my accountant and I talked about and he's fine. He's he's rested and settled with my but my spending. Stop trying to change. He stopped trying to change me. And so we we put some things on the balance sheet and a right out. Oh, is renting the new building and, you know, it's all working out just fine. So.
00:54:13
Speaker
So, yeah, i don't i'm I'm still really proud of that what I created. you know I started in a one-car garage with a beeper, literally. was doing a mobile diesel, and my truck got hit on the highway. And some slinging weed, too, if you had a beeper at that time.
00:54:24
Speaker
Yeah, that was because of that. might have been. That's car repair. 333 needs need a quarter box. That's a different podcast, I think.
00:54:35
Speaker
So I'm still proud of it. And, um you know, it goes back to everybody has different wants and needs and stuff. And I'm not building stuff. So even if I sold, I i would it slow down my building habit.
00:54:46
Speaker
And I don't want to slow down my building habit. Well, it seems like what you've built works really well for you and is very profitable for you. But it's also probably not very marketable to a consolidator because it's not a general repair shop that does tires. And it's not...
00:55:04
Speaker
like i don't I don't see a lot of specialty guys and high-end specialty guys getting getting bought up Not by private equity, right? But you're going to find the hobbyist who wants to get into the industry or you're going to find the technician who is a specialist who wants to get in. So I think it's marketable, not at the high level that you're going to get it from private equity, right?
00:55:30
Speaker
um And private equity needs to be a little bit wiser on what they're purchasing too, right? And no you know and I think they have. Yeah. ah But I think his his shop is definitely down the road marketable.
00:55:45
Speaker
As always, I think it's most valuable to the key employee. Yeah. Yeah, and i think that um I thought about that before, too. If an equity company would come in and do what they did to Dan's.
00:55:57
Speaker
I wanted to ask you about that. Who who is it that bought Dano? Was it Sun? Great Water Garages. And how how is that shop doing now? ah You know, they've struggled a little bit, but they're kind of...
00:56:10
Speaker
Bringing it back. So they just had some employee changes and stuff like that. And, you know, it's it's as an employee, it's a little bit different working for a family, ran business, and then now you're working for a corporation, right? so Is there anybody left who was there when you were there? Yeah, there's there's some of the technicians are still there.
00:56:30
Speaker
um I don't know that I've heard of a lot of people.
00:56:37
Speaker
wind's picking up I don't know that I've heard of a lot of um consolidators buying high-performing shops and not reducing the level of production.
00:56:49
Speaker
Like they buy shitty shops. They can improve them, right? But they don't want shitty shops. They want shops that are already making good money. You know, and my shop was a boutique shop, right? And and I call it a boutique shop because, again, like Rich's shop, catered the customer, right?
00:57:04
Speaker
So 30 loaner vehicles, every car got washed with service, pickup and delivery. it was ah We're there to service the customer, and we fixed the car while we're servicing the customer. ah um And it's not what um multi-shop ownership is about a lot of times, right? When you own 120, 180, you need to streamline it, right?
00:57:24
Speaker
You can't um can't operate at that level. Can't operate at that level, right? One, there's a high cost to having 30 loaner vehicles and washing every car and all of that.
00:57:36
Speaker
um You know, It's like you see targets all over the place, but you don't see Nordstrom's all over the place. Right. So they each have their place. So when it when a target is not going to go by Nordstrom.
00:57:50
Speaker
Right. So when a private equity multi store or buys a boutique shop, they're going to change it.
00:58:00
Speaker
And you have to realize they're going to change it to meet their needs. So they're going to have that transition time. Right.
00:58:09
Speaker
It's a little gut wrenching because you built it way. How upsetting was that for you to watch it? You know, it was upsetting at first, but at the end of the day, it's their shop. It's not my shop, right? I mean, it was my blood, sweat and tears for 30 years and they're doing it different than I did it. Right. But they paid you really damn well to make it. but They bought it. Right.
00:58:26
Speaker
It would be like if I had a 68 Camaro that I love the color I painted it and I saw it to somebody and they change color. It's his car, right? Or her car.
00:58:38
Speaker
Deal with it as you will, right? And that's what you have to realize. Speaking of collectible cars, did Noel sell his car? It is going on the auction block in about shootda two to five hours. He's at Barrett Jackson. He's at Barrett Jackson. What's he selling?
00:58:56
Speaker
He is selling a 1970 Chevelle with a, I think, a 501 Big Blanc.
00:59:06
Speaker
lot number 1452.1, if I remember right. I can pull it up there. Sounds like you're about to bid on it. No. I got enough chaos in my life with two houses, both under her remodeling and all that. so um Well, cool. We're coming up about that time.
00:59:25
Speaker
I really appreciate you guys taking the time to talk to me and not telling too many embarrassing stories about all the shit that I do wrong. I appreciate that. We leave that for Friday nights. I appreciate that. I do.
00:59:36
Speaker
You need to come to a Friday night. Yeah, i think I will. She's not getting Zoom on a Friday night. What's that? You're not getting on a Zoom on a Friday night, are I don't think so? now You're too cool for that shit. You're out doing fun stuff. No, I'm sleeping. he's not. He's sleeping.
00:59:48
Speaker
No, I'm in the studio working it, but yeah, but I'll jump in. yeah I'll jump in for my new studio. Grab some booze and come on in. All right. Thanks, guys. appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out.
01:00:02
Speaker
The good, and the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes. So why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit, and maybe have another drink?
01:00:12
Speaker
You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover? Or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike at confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's 704-266-7000.
01:00:27
Speaker
three three seven seven If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow. Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you on the next episode.
01:01:06
Speaker
Cheers.