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Ep 33 - Lucas Underwood & David Roman | David Says Advisors Are Replaceable
348 Plays13 days ago
In this episode, the goal was to get David fired up. Mission accomplished. We talk free diagnosis, the value of technicians vs service advisors, and whether AI could ever truly replace a skilled shop foreman or technician. Oh yeah, and I'm trying the Summer Ozempics.
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Timestamps
00:00 Who Has The Best Podcast Logo?
05:36 "Streamline Shop Management with Tekmetric"
11:26 Olympic Athletes' Ozempic Struggle
17:11 Unexpected Mid-Flight Illness
29:40 David's Weight Journey
35:07 "Faulty Fuel Pump Repair Fiasco"
42:30 Separate Billing for Brandon's Expertise
48:11 "Diagnostic Strategies and Methods"
53:54 Rethinking Management Roles
58:05 Women's Bathroom Mess Challenges
01:00:09 Bathroom Door Mishap Explained
01:07:38 Event Space and Scheduling Challenges
01:12:11 Collision Industry Insights & Challenges
01:17:43 Struggle with Letting Go
Recommended
Transcript
Digital Evolution in Auto Shops
00:00:00
Speaker
I get it. You're slow. You said it yourself. It is a personality thing. Listen to me. It's a personality thing. It can be taught. And guess what? Not shop managers.
00:00:10
Speaker
They are fantastic. Service advisors can get replaced with a fucking link. I send the goddamn link. They click. They buy. i just replaced you with a fucking link.
00:00:22
Speaker
So you're telling me that is that takes special skills? but the tech now I can't replace the technician with a link.
00:00:32
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.
00:00:46
Speaker
There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along.
Introduction and Casual Banter
00:00:53
Speaker
So without further ado, it's time for Confessions of a Shop Owner with your host, Mike Gallen.
00:01:04
Speaker
That's some highfalutin shit right there, man. It is some highfalutin shit right there. Yeah. So we were worried about saying shit or any. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:01:14
Speaker
We're going to use this. I understand. You got to give it. I'm going to have to bleep. I'm going to have to bleep that out. Like the first like 30 minutes or whatever. I'm just saying he was worried about profanity and then he drops it right there at the very beginning. When was I worried about profanity? You were worried about profanity and the logo that I loved so much.
00:01:31
Speaker
It was shitty logo. It was a good logo. It was a good logo. You guys ruined it. it was It was good. It needed to be tweaked. It was too AIE. I'm here to tell you that Confessions of a Shop Owner has the the best logo of all the automotive podcasts. I can say that unequivocally. That is not true.
00:01:47
Speaker
Who's better? What's that? Who's better? Duh.
00:01:54
Speaker
We can say that it is absolutely remarkable results radio. Podcast Network. Podcast Network, which I think he's running everything now under just that one show. Yeah.
00:02:07
Speaker
It seems to be.
Podcast Strategy and Brand Management
00:02:08
Speaker
I think so. There's different subheaders. Well, the previous strategy was to put out separate shows under their own thing and have them all be individual because he could then monetize each stream as and it'll garner its own online audience or whatever, right? Which is fine.
00:02:27
Speaker
But that has changed into everybody is all under one podcast. That's lot of sponsorship chasing and management and handling. and Yeah. was talking to Tracy yesterday. She said that there are over 2,000 episodes if you consider all the different avenues now. So that's pretty cool. Good for them.
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. so That's too much work. That's like some full-time podcasting. That's just time. People keep asking. That not some part-time podcasting. We're all hobbyists. Hobbyists. Shade Tree Podcaster. sh Yeah.
00:02:54
Speaker
Yeah. People keep asking like, hey, that episode that you set this in. And so for a while, I would go back and look and try to find it. And now I'm like. Nope. Yep.
00:03:05
Speaker
I don't know, man. Uh-uh. Ain't happening. Yeah. I actually was just talking to Paul Danner last night, and he used to... So when he was creating content through the years, people could be like, oh, yeah, this case study, you did this. And it it was no problem. He'd be like, oh, yeah, I remember that. This was the deal.
00:03:20
Speaker
Last night, he was like, dude, I'm like 2,000 case studies in. you're... um I don't know, man. I just don't know. yeah i mean That's like daily life in a shop, though. yeah You fix all these things and you experience all these things.
00:03:34
Speaker
There was that kid last night in the lobby was talking to Jeff about an episode he had done with Paul about something to do with his RV or something. and And Jeff was like,
00:03:44
Speaker
Dude, that was like six months ago. i was like, yeah, but I've got an idea on how you could pinpoint that problem. And he's like, the the problem was fixed six months ago. The problem was fixed in 2016. The conversation was about something that happened in 2016. And I'm like, that RV's been sold. Last time i was at Paul's house, the RV wasn't there because he sold it.
00:04:04
Speaker
think It's been gone. It's better than the Jeep. It's better than the Jeep. Yeah. The Jeep. The Jeep one. He was having some clearance issues on his brake booster. and He's got a nice, he's got a beautiful power wagon. it's Well, yeah, but I mean, I've seen i've kept up with it. but And they told him that that valve cover was not going to clear the booster. Did you see my solution to the problem? No.
00:04:25
Speaker
Hammer. oh just cave it in a little bit be fine fine repaint it no problem but I guess customers he's got some offset mounts or something like that now or oh no he found a valve cover that's actually yeah somebody else hammered it ah so it was extra when a company charges a lot of money to hammer it but if I'm just like why don't just hammered in it's I guess it's not as cool what else are you hammering in None of your business.
00:04:49
Speaker
What kind of vehicle is this? Keep that between you and David. It's like an old Dodge Ram pickup. It's actually pretty cool. it's I've seen it in person. It's very clean. That's that that's always been a Dodge thing is the driver's side valve cover doesn't come out without the booster. Exactly.
TechMetric and Marketing Recommendations
00:05:03
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.
00:05:14
Speaker
Then I switched to TechMetric. It's all-in-one cloud-based SMS that lets me run my shop from anywhere. streamlines my estimating process, keeps customers in a loop with real-time updates.
00:05:26
Speaker
I'm not telling you that it was all TechMetric, but I'm telling you that TechMetric was a big part of it. Since I switched to TechMetric, my average repair order four years ago was 293, and right now it's 916. That's Not luck.
00:05:38
Speaker
It's better processes, faster workflow, speed of service that's facilitated by this technology helps me get higher and better authorizations for my customers.
00:05:49
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. Here's the deal. i I like to think that I'm pretty good at running an auto repair shop.
00:06:00
Speaker
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. 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.
00:06:17
Speaker
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 at a way higher level than anything I could ever do.
00:06:32
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.
00:06:46
Speaker
ah Tell them that Confessions of a Shop Owner sent you. You won't be disappointed. So he... The heads, the valve covers they had to put on because it's had a bunch of work done to the engine. So it's got these bigger roller rockers. So it needed taller valve cover. So not only does it like not come out easy, but like you can't put it together like with the stock brake booster, it it interferes. It physically hits the valve cover now because the valve cover has got to be taller.
00:07:09
Speaker
But I guess he's got that alleviated. You're going to introduce our guest
Guest Introductions and Health Discussions
00:07:13
Speaker
Mike Allen. No, no, no, no. Are you going introduce our guests? Our guests here, David Roman of he does some things, I guess, apparently. And Lucas of L and part time because David's three jobs.
00:07:26
Speaker
Yeah. It's David Roman and David's friend who I think here but might have a shop in Jacksonville, Florida or something. This is actually an intervention.
00:07:37
Speaker
We've never we've never like told him what's actually happening. We're going to have an intervention here. Gym time is getting a little excessive. and I was genuinely concerned for his health. He looked like he was in freaking pain yesterday. I'm like, this dude, I've been in this pain.
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, don't worry. I gave him some medicine that made sure he was not in any medicine. Is that what you call that? What you gave him? You call that medicine? No, that happened after when he passed out. Oh, my gosh. Did he turn his toes in?
00:08:06
Speaker
So I got here a little bit before you guys, and I was checking some emails and stuff, and I was looking down at my phone in my lap and I looked under the desk and in the table that we have here and there's a mountain of empty diet Mountain Dew cans.
00:08:20
Speaker
And then I looked up across the room and there's a shelf over there and there's another small pile of empty diet Mountain Dew cans. You've been here for a day. what is What's your daily diet Mountain Dew intake?
00:08:32
Speaker
ah Just four to five cans a day. Well, there's seven empties here already. I don't know. Well, you're two days in. You're 24 hours in. You were setting up this time yesterday. I don't see it that way. i don't see that it that way. Two calendar dates have happened in that time. Two calendar dates i have happened. Let's talk about the six tenths at a time. Let's measure how long this date's been. Here's the thing. is is Let's be honest with one another.
00:08:57
Speaker
We're not part-time podcasters. And so we need caffeine to keep us moving. We're not wannabes. We're not hobbyists. Hobbyists. ahqui on Unless you're open serving your podcasting audience 24-7-365, you are If I'm not, what?
00:09:12
Speaker
You ever done a 3 a.m. podcast? ESP. 3 a.m.? 3 a.m. Ever done a 3 a.m. podcast? No. Damn Australians, though. Australians, though, we've we've either been like super late or super they have.
00:09:23
Speaker
I think they got up at 5 a.m. to do podcast with us. Really? That's Australians. We're international. I can't say that about everybody. Have we interviewed a Canadian? We have interviewed a Canadian. Oh, we're international, too. That doesn't count. It does sue. Trump ain't bought that yet.
00:09:40
Speaker
yeah Being the 51st state, I don't think it counts. I think it should be Greenland. should be the 51st state. think Alberta is actually, Alberta is like the Idaho. That would be the 52nd Mexico, the 53rd.
00:09:52
Speaker
Alberta is like the Idaho of Canada, and Alberta is like, we're we're freaking out of here, man. This is this is getting too crazy for us. We're going to go do our own thing. So I think Alberta is going to be 51. The Canadian Civil War with the with with the RCMP riding across Alberta.
00:10:07
Speaker
Don't you dare. yeah I'm just saying. Don't you dare. What do you want me to do? If this was a full-time podcast, they would have equipment that wasn't broke to shit. I'm going to put that on Braxton.
00:10:19
Speaker
Okay. I'm going to put that on Braxton. Braxton should be here holding the microphone for me. so Or something. What we're being told, Braxton, is that when you packed all this shit up at the NASCAR Technical Institute back at Fuel and Connections, you broke a bunch of shit and you left a bunch of shit at NASCAR Tech.
00:10:38
Speaker
um So they will be sending you a bill. A piece at NASCAR. Okay. A piece. Singular. Broke something else. Yeah. Left a thing. Broke something. to Packed it up like you didn't care about it.
00:10:51
Speaker
Like it wasn't really your problem. Maybe he was in a hurry. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. It's just not. No, it was very casual. You know what I think it is? Yeah, it was a very casual afternoon. You know what I think it is? I think Braxton paid flat rate. He just doesn't give a damn.
00:11:06
Speaker
That's the problem. Ooh, that might be it. Yeah. Which one of you guys makes sense? I did not. I did not. No, so, okay, confessional. You want to hear some horrible shit.
00:11:17
Speaker
um Did I talk about this with Tanika on the air
Health and Medication Insights
00:11:20
Speaker
or was that after we got off air? fart mouth? Yeah, fart mouth. Yeah. Oh, no. We didn't talk about it on air, but this is perfect to have air. I am participating in the summer Ozempics, much like some other people that we know.
00:11:32
Speaker
um And one of the things that Ozempic does is it slows down your digestive tract, right? And so your stomach empties slower so you don't feel hungry as quickly. And I'm eating junk food right now because I haven't had my shot in two weeks because I'm trying to get off of this symptom that I'm having.
00:11:48
Speaker
And so, you know, all your life when you burp, you get a little taste of the last meal that you had. All right, whatever. little You know, you swallow it back down.
00:12:01
Speaker
um Well, starting like three weeks ago, four weeks ago now, ah i was having burps that were like, oh, my God. They tasted like what Brian left behind. Yeah, I think it's a bus and taco. It tasted like it tasted like rotten eggs.
00:12:18
Speaker
Yeah, he's got horrible. He said the same taco. And so we reached out to the doctor and he said, essentially, what's happening is your stomach's not emptying fast enough and the food's starting to ferment and your stomach, it's building pressure and you're burping rotten food up.
00:12:31
Speaker
And so told Tanika this. have really good idea, actually. Tanika said, Michael, you are shitting into your own mouth. think she's what if is this new you know What if you were to just like eat some barley and hops? Could you like brew beer in your stomach?
00:12:47
Speaker
like How's this work? That would be could you start be next level. Could you get a buzz? just That's what I'm thinking. i mean So anyway, i i have first I reduced my dosage at the at the advice of my physician.
00:13:02
Speaker
Oh, really? And then I have just not taken my most recent dosage because I'm trying to get rid of that. Trying to start the plant up again? It's pretty bad. Like my son made a big deal it because I let one rip in the car after picking him up at school.
00:13:18
Speaker
burp. A burp. And he was like, oh, my God, Dad, what was that? wo And so, yeah. make I've been going through Listerine i've been going through lessing breast strips like you read about, just trying to stay ahead of the curve, not working.
00:13:33
Speaker
So anyway, have a little bit of poop mouth right now. I knew I smelled something. um sorry. You guys ever battle with that? No. Yeah, so no.
00:13:44
Speaker
And even if they did, no. the the The trick is to you need to up your protein intake. It it needs to be mostly protein, like yeah a lot of protein. Some water. one Lots of water. One, two, a ridiculous amount of water, and then three, like a lot of fiber.
00:14:02
Speaker
um and that one that And the other thing, too, is you can just split your injections up into three over the week. Small. Instead of doing one big one at the beginning of the week. I also started feeling like shit the day after my injection.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. because you're taking too much of a dose, which is the way that they prescribe it. Which is why your kids just quit working. It's a compliance thing. So rather than say, hey you got to inject yourself Monday, Tuesday, or Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, or Monday, Wednesday, Saturdays, and it's got to be this much, and you want to split it up Instead of doing all that, most people...
00:14:35
Speaker
They don't comply. they They forget to take their pills, their morning pills or afternoon pills or evening pills. There's a lot of things that are done. And I have a friend who's a pharmacist. And like, do you know, like the steroid dose pack you get? Like you get some poison. have to give the dose pack. yeah like It's all spaced out.
00:14:49
Speaker
Do you know that that's bullshit? Really? Do you know it's not supposed to be spaced out? what yeah you go ahead and take your six pack of steroids you go ahead and take the first one which is like six right yeah six or seven you just put them in your hand you take them the first day and you put the next ones in your hand you take if you go re service information for the human body and the health system is instead of all data it's called a thing called up to date and they subscribe to up to date if you go look up that z pack on up to date How it is prescribed is not the intended usage.
00:15:23
Speaker
Really? It's freaking wild. um there's There's a lot of medicines like that. There's a lot of medicines that are just prescribed at a particular dosage in a certain frequency. Because adoption is better that way. and Well, yeah, that's because they don't otherwise they wouldn't comply yeah or they'd forget or they you know they wouldn't get the benefit from Yeah, this one, you that's how it is. So if you go get ah similar steroid,
00:15:46
Speaker
in a bottle as compared to a Z-Pack, you ever notice it tells you to take a whole, oh, you're going to take this many in the morning for this many weeks, take this many morning. All of a sudden for that one, it's okay to take them all at the same time, but this one you can't. Bro, let me just tell you. Well, maybe it also depends on what condition it's treating.
00:16:01
Speaker
yeah The best therapeutic methodology. That deal out there in Texas when we were at Ratchet & Ratchet and I was so sick and they gave me the they gave me a bottle of steroids and like I didn't realize they made prednisone that strong and I like...
00:16:14
Speaker
That was where the old the old dude behind the counter was like, you sure? Yeah, sure. I guess. Did you take him? You like started overheating like a couple hours later. You got real hot man. She gave me like a whole plethora of things and she's like, whatever you do, don't mix this with anything else. She gave me this little like liquid cough syrup and all this other stuff. And I took all that shit.
00:16:35
Speaker
And I took all of it right before I taught a class. And so I talked about MIMO and 4x4 radios inside AP antennas.
00:16:49
Speaker
And i talked about it for about 45 minutes and never touched the ground. Yeah, dude. There you go I was rowdy. So you was rowdy i would taught a class high out your Gordon. Dude, I could not even fill the ground underneath my feet.
00:17:02
Speaker
I was like tall as an hour. Your feet. Minutes later, I'm like, I'm out of contact. The bottom of your feet felt fuzzy. Yeah. Your feet were drunk. Yes. Yeah. it was all It was like bourbon for your feet. and so we're so like, hey, we were landing, right? I got sick right before we left. And as we're landing.
00:17:16
Speaker
I'm like, this lady sitting next to him me and she's talking and and all of a sudden she stopped talking. I was like, that's weird to stop talking in the middle of a sentence. And I looked over her lips were still moving. I was like, that could not be good.
00:17:27
Speaker
And then all of a sudden, it's like extreme pain through my head. ah And so three days later, I still could not hear anything and was sick. And like my head felt like it was going to explode. And I was like, well, that's terrible. It's like 110 degrees. 110 degrees.
00:17:42
Speaker
hundred and ten degrees and Body temperature? Okay. No. I thought were saying you had a body. was like, you would be dead. yeah Okay. Bro, it was so hot. They put auto leap stickers on the like glass of this place and it melded the stickers and they like changed shape and began to like shrink up on the glass. And I was like, whoa. And if you leaned up against the glass, even inside, it hurt a little bit.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. that's That's so uncomfortable. I don't know. i Well, you're big old boy. He is terrible. You're a big old boy. You get 110 degrees outside. you Somebody was lecturing me on how New York doesn't get that hot the other day. And I was like, okay, here's the deal.
00:18:20
Speaker
How do you feel about negative 10? Like, absolutely not. No way. I'm like, okay. So Texas this doesn't get that cold. What's that? Yeah. Negative defense not that bad.
00:18:32
Speaker
Negative 10? Yeah, that happens. Yeah. Well, don't act like 100. ah hundred like They're not okay with 100-degree temperature swing is my point. These people that are like, it's not that hot out. Like in Texas, if it's 102, they're not okay with 32. They shut the schools down. They can't go to school when it's 32.
00:18:49
Speaker
And you're go to lecture me when I live in somewhere that's got 100-degree swing and you can't handle a 70? Keep walking. Don't talk to me. don't know, man. um Listen, we have wild swings where I'm at, and I don't care for it at all.
00:19:02
Speaker
I don't care for the heat. i I prefer the heat. I don't like the cold. I hate the cold. 65 degrees is nice. The cold with the wind where we're at is like miserable. It blows right through you. It's terrible. you know One way to keep <unk> yourself warm up in your neck of the woods when it gets really cold or windy is just to light one of your customers' cars on fire in the parking lot. I've done that a few times now.
00:19:22
Speaker
Or just have it spontaneously combust in the parking lot. I've got another video coming out where I'm talking about something else that caught on fire. It's not. Oh, you want to know? Sure. it Oh, I think I saw this. you know It was a little, ah was it a propane line or something like that? No, that was the grinder that we were working on the floor with. No, when I started, i had this thing where I was like absolutely determined every single car I could get I had to work on, right?
00:19:45
Speaker
Like it was a thing. And so. You were a just say yes shop? I was. It was awful because all. It was the secret to your growth. it actually it wasn't because i got broker and broker car by car um and so uh this family member recommended this lady over to the shop right and he comes over and he's going to give her a ride she worked for the census bureau right and she comes over and she i dude i should have known right like you ever do something and you look back on you're like how stupid do you have to be to say yes to this like why would you do this Like you're talking like like last week?
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I mean, I do it every day. All the time. I'm like, that was dumb. Dude, she shows up and I'm like, what's she doing? And I go, look, and she's getting litter boxes and cat cages out of the back of the car. And I'm like, oh, man. And so whatever. You know, i work on the car. And this is before I found Paul Danner.
00:20:36
Speaker
And so I'm spraying down looking for an intake leak. I had a lane condition. And so i I found a leak, but after the whole it was after the whole can of brake cleaner. It wasn't a vacuum leak. It was a spark leak. that i Yeah. Was it a GM? Was it a 4.3 liter by chance? No, no, no, no. It wasn't. It wasn't. um And so I had an s ten blazer. I found a spark leak with a can of break clean one. yeah Yeah. We had tech blow the intake off the top of a four three. Well, the the spark leak issue is that it's I'm fine with it in the intake because it can't burn me. It's when it's outside. i intake That's a problem.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah. I'm not burping. Smells like it. um so here I'm making love to a microphone. You'd know if I burped. Here's the deal. i um I'm working on this car. catch it on fire. All the employees you know run out the back door. I finally find the fire extinguisher, put the fire out, fix the problem.
00:21:29
Speaker
And during this time, I put a brake switch in the car, right? While it was on fire? While it's actively on you're like, I gotta get this brake switch done first. I'm like, bro, you need to check your priorities, man. No, listen, Tanner will tell you, I am completely okay with letting one burn. Okay? 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.
00:21:52
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.
00:22:10
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.
00:22:22
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.
Business Promotions and Trust Issues
00:22:33
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. Anyway, ah so she comes inside after she's paid her bill and everything. She said, I push my brake pedal and my brake lights won't go off now. i heard this little click sound. And you know how they've got the little – bless you.
00:22:53
Speaker
they've They've got the little clicker, like the adjustable. younger And so I realized that I didn't have it just right. yeah And so when she pushed the pedal, it like came out. It didn't latch all the way. yeah So I go down into the parking lot.
00:23:05
Speaker
And I lay down in the floorboard, and I reach up there, and I wiggle it. Get it like wiggle back out and pop back in. And then I go back to the adjustment thing again. And as I'm laying there, I feel like something's gooey on the back my head. Oh, some cat turd.
00:23:17
Speaker
And I'm like, oh, whatever, you know? And so I get up, and I'm like, I'm trying to act like nothing's wrong. I'm just doing this. And she's standing there, and we're talking. She sits down in her car, and we're standing there talking. And she she turns around, and she's like doing something weird. I'm trying to figure out what she's doing. And she goes, hey!
00:23:34
Speaker
And it's like this glob of phlegm comes out of her mouth and it's just right in the mouth. And so I'm sitting there talking to her. I'm just like, you're like, that ain't dialectic grease. Oh, that's nasty. Dude, sorry to God.
00:23:48
Speaker
So I'd been laying in a puddle with this lady's vomit and phlegm and it's like all down my neck and it's all over the back my mean, historically you've had to pay extra for that, right? Yeah. so It was a very weird experience.
00:24:01
Speaker
That's terrible. David doesn't have to worry about this. He's never worked on a car. I want to talk real quickly about the fact that our desired guest for this episode David. I just wanted David alone.
00:24:12
Speaker
ah I'm sorry. I will leave. Because my fear was that if you were here too, you'd start talking about laying in piles of vomit. And here we are. it wasn't vomit. It was phlegm. Phlegm vomit. Phlegm it.
00:24:23
Speaker
Phlegm it. Yeah. Okay. I will be quiet. All right. How's it going, David? what what What happened? What happened?
00:24:32
Speaker
What is this?
00:24:36
Speaker
Anyway. So, uh, I want to hear more phlegm stories. This is great. um I think I'm pretty good on phlegm for now. You've reached your phlegm capacity for one episode. I've been, ah you fixed it. Yeah. I've been elbow deep in the chest cavity of a deer and I don't know if I'm good for any more phlegm stories.
00:24:55
Speaker
I don't know if I'm going to be okay. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. i yeah I know. I know. It's not the same thing. Why was it crunchy? It had like like little bits of... Booger. No, no. It had some time to dry.
00:25:07
Speaker
No, feel like it was probably like the lining of her lungs or something. or like She'd been eating something. Maybe it was tonsil stones. I don't know. Maybe she was chewing on some nuts.
00:25:19
Speaker
but have been his. No, they weren't mine. I just wanted to let that lay out there. Maybe she was chewing on some nuts and just let it stay there. Let it rest in that. Let it marinate. Marinate in the phlegm like the nuts did.
00:25:34
Speaker
and want to know about your transformation. Cashews. Your transformation over last year and a half. transformation you're a different human being now than you are you don't forget is i am not it's the same person your body is not the same he's competing in a different league of sports are you hitting on him i'm he's kind of cute now okay i mean he's i'm just making sure we're on the same page because i've seen this activity before
00:25:57
Speaker
I've seen the movie where it starts like this. I'm going to let myself out of here right now. What are you doing, step shop owner? Step podcaster. Step podcaster.
00:26:15
Speaker
I'm stuck in this washer. Creeper. So how much is... I'm stuck in the... What? what Is it ah is it a washer?
00:26:26
Speaker
It's the cliche about porn for the last decade. yeah um Yeah. Anyways. you're down like, what, 50 pounds? I'm down ah a little bit more that.
00:26:37
Speaker
A little bit more than that? Yeah. don want to talk about it publicly or you you don't mind? No, it's just whatever. yeah like I got like Roman goals like for me. like I want ah want to see the transformation. We had a lot of protein.
00:26:49
Speaker
lot of protein, a lot of fiber, a lot of water. And fiber, yeah. Supplement with fiber. Psyllium husk. Weigh your food. Weigh your food. yeah He told me. So you're like that hardcore about it. What's that? You're like.
00:27:01
Speaker
it's It's not hardcore. That's like, um how else do you. like this ah This translates into the shop. like If you're not measuring it, how can you control it?
00:27:14
Speaker
it's It's like, oh well, i'm gonna I'm going to get really profitable here, but I'm not going to keep track of any metrics whatsoever. And I'm not going to make any changes. If you don't keep track of the mero metrics, you can tell people that you're hyper-profitable and not necessarily be wrong if you don't know that you're actually... Yeah, well, I'm just kidding. You're just lying to scrapeing by yeah I'm actually extremely physical fit. That's about how that works.
00:27:37
Speaker
That's I'm skinny. Don't you know that? identify as skinny. That's what just said with your shop numbers, not knowing the numbers, yeah not knowing how you're going to get there. Dick. I'm just saying.
00:27:49
Speaker
anyway I mean, I'm not saying I know anything about either. So intake, exercise and modern chemistry and modern chemistry. ah Yeah. The modern chemistry can can assist quite a bit. Yeah.
00:28:03
Speaker
And what's your excuse? I don't have one. I am way too lazy to exercise, and I know I need to, um and I just don't. Well, so my I'm down like 22 pounds at this point, and I'm not exercising at all. Did gain weight before you started?
00:28:19
Speaker
Remember you call me fluffy, little fuck? No, was talking about your chipmunk cheeks. I was i thought it was cute. Oh, my gosh. They were round, and they were like grossy red, and they just like... but what What noise do they make?
00:28:32
Speaker
Okay. Just checking. Yeah, every time he's small, bite the little dimples. but I think we should do a side-by-side comparison. I think you're winning the chubby cheat game right now, buddy. Here's the is the issue with just losing the weight and not not doing any kind of exercising. I'm losing muscle, too. is You're going to start losing muscle, and eventually when you come off the medicine, which is always the goal. You don't want to stay on it rest life.
00:28:56
Speaker
uh you will you will regain some of the weight back and statistically speaking you will gain all the weight back because most people do uh and it's something like within 12 weeks of 12 weeks it's like in the people that win the lottery and go broke this sounds like yeah this thing if the majority people that get off of it gain all their weight back um the weight redistributes itself uh differently than when you lost it so where you had cute chipmunk cheeks uh all of a sudden you got a weird lump in the back of your head because that's where the fat decided to distribute and that gives things flapping around got like a t-bone steak on top of your head this big pad
00:29:38
Speaker
Maybe you can put your foot there. I'm just telling you, because you've gotten older and the fat doesn't go back where you had it before, where you're like, well, I used to be little bit bigger guy. Now it's all on your lower stomach.
00:29:52
Speaker
you're like, huh, okay. My pants size didn't change. My arms are the same size as wear when I was thin, but now I've got triple-sized gut. So just be careful.
00:30:03
Speaker
There's your warning. Have you winged yourself off of the meds and it's all diet and exercise now? Well, I mean, sure. and I'm not on any GLP-1s. I was never on on any GLP-1. Oh, and I thought you were. Well, I took trizapatide, which is not GLP-1 only. It's a GLP-1, G-I-P.
00:30:26
Speaker
It's so much better. i cannot I cannot stress, like, do not let the doctor give you freaking semaglutide. Ask for trizapatide. How many injections a week right now? Me? Well, I i take testosterone.
00:30:38
Speaker
What else? Depends on what day of the week it is. yeah So you've got quite the cocktail of chemical assistance. I try everything. Yeah, absolutely everything. If it's on the market and available for Are you using like human consumption?
00:30:53
Speaker
Are you using illegal steroids or are you using like doctor prescribed steroids? What he's trying to say is like some of the stuff he gets from the pharmacy. Some comes from tractor supply. How much of it do you get at like Gold's Gym? If you don't buy it from the pharmacy, I'm not doing anything illegal.
00:31:07
Speaker
ah Anything sold over the counter is not illegal. So anything from tractor supply. you're also sort about Let me ask you about Mrs. IRS.
00:31:17
Speaker
one Why? You said you weren't doing anything i illegal. i was just curious I wasn't doing anything illegal. He pays all the taxes that his return says he owes. No, he doesn't.
00:31:27
Speaker
I don't file returns. What do you... mean, I do eventually. That's what I mean. I still haven't but' done anything for 24 yet. Have you guys done 24 yet? and I filed my extension. Yeah. yeah But you're an escort, aren't you?
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you were due a while ago in March. Yeah.
00:31:51
Speaker
Get around to it. You know what you'd find is that if you go to the right clinic, everything's available to you. If you have the right doctor. You can take whatever you want.
00:32:03
Speaker
So the type of shop that you guys aspire to be or the type of shop that you guys espouse is what we should be. Is that the type of doctor that you're looking for?
00:32:15
Speaker
The type of clinic that you're looking for? just come in, they give you what you tell them you want? I don't know what you mean. You came in with your AutoZone printout and said, give me this doctor. I know more than you.
00:32:27
Speaker
I did do that. Yes, absolutely.
00:32:31
Speaker
i I handed it to the doctor and I said, here's my blood work. yeah Here's a list of stuff I want. Gimme, gimme. And he went, no problem. Even that doctor said, hey, I wouldn't mix this and this.
00:32:44
Speaker
Two weeks later, my nipples are puffy and I feel very emotional. and I haven't had any puffy nipples. That is a side effect. But I haven't had any puffy nipples. I'm just going to eat. that That scares the crap out of me. like My doctor literally just texted me.
00:32:59
Speaker
What's her name in my phone? Drug dealer. that's awesome yeah if you have I didn't read her whole name I figured we'd just keep the rest of it you have a hormone in your body called prolactin if you have a spike in prolactin it it causes breast tissue to form on your body but it happens to bodybuilders they have something called gynecomastia and that's the formation of breast tissues the only way to get rid of it is through surgery he's like the guy that's yeah he's like the guy who's been on the power stroke form for 18 days and now he knows more than you because he read about the EGR cooler and I'm like dude just
00:33:32
Speaker
I do the same thing. try tell my Ford dealer how they're going to truck. How do you find a professional for healthcare advice and medical advice that's not a hack? Because you've got to trust them to a degree, right?
00:33:43
Speaker
that's That's entirely the issue. That's the same thing I tell my customers. That's how they feel about us. They have to trust No, that's the issue is that they don't ask the right questions. They need to they need to go to the shop and they need to ask the right questions.
00:33:57
Speaker
Ask what type of equipment they have. Ask about their warranty. Ask about the experience of the technicians. Don't ask about price. Because the price shouldn't matter. If you get a good quality repair, it costs what it costs.
00:34:11
Speaker
No? I would like to think that the price doesn't matter, but the price fucking matters, man. No, the price doesn't matter. No, nobody has tripled the price. i That's the assumption. The assumption is well if I go to this guy, it's $1,500, but this guy's $500, so this guy's screwing me.
00:34:26
Speaker
No. Triple the price of that customer's experience, and if they've been dealing with a jack-legged backyard guy who's $50 an hour and we're $200 an hour, I'm quadruple the price. No wonder the podcast sponsorships range so much.
00:34:40
Speaker
The podcast sponsorships range Yeah, the backyard guy versus the legit shop. I mean, like... I had a customer bring me Backyard podcaster versus legit podcaster? Yeah. had a customer bring me a Cadillac um ATS or something like that, right?
00:34:54
Speaker
They had broken down on the side of the road. high-pressure fuel pump had gone out. Now, on these particular vehicles, you got to check the camshaft, make sure there wasn't any damage. You got to replace the little bits on Pull roller out, all that good stuff. You got to replace little bits on the inside. And then when you assemble it, you got to make sure you follow service information. Now, they're on the side of the road. I get it.
00:35:14
Speaker
They called a mobile mechanic. The mobile mechanic came out, he slapped a new high-pressure fuel pump on there, and down the road they went. About a month later, there's a hole in the block on the cylinder head where the high-pressure fuel pump had been doing this thing, wobbling back and forth, and had ground itself a hole into the cylinder head. Now, at this point, we have thrown ton of material into these engines. This engine is toast.
00:35:41
Speaker
Now, this is going to cost them $13,000.
00:35:45
Speaker
Now, had they come to me, I probably would have been, i don't know, $1,500 for the high-pressure fuel pump. He spent $500 on this random mobile mechanic guy, saved himself the tow.
00:35:56
Speaker
Did he really save himself any money? We've all got examples like that. Well, that's what I'm saying. Then why would you say something stupid like, customer is used to dealing with, yeah, it's it saves you money until it doesn't.
00:36:08
Speaker
And then all of the money that you've saved has just gone out the window because now you have buy a $25,000 vehicle. How many times can the cheap option not lead to catastrophic failure like that?
00:36:19
Speaker
It's a roll of dice. It is literally 50-50 every time. It's to it's not even 50-50. If the cheap option works five times and the sixth time, you have catastrophe. You're looking at it overall.
00:36:30
Speaker
Because I've been there a hundred times and only once that it screwed me over. No, every single time he touched your vehicle, there was a 50-50 shot that you were going to get screwed over. It's a 50-50 shot every single time. 95% of the time, your statistics are made up.
00:36:46
Speaker
50% of the time. 93% of David's statistics are made up 52% of the time. It shot. I don't know what you're about to say, but go fuck yourself. Go ahead. Continue. I was just going to say, like, the peak lapels...
00:36:59
Speaker
and Man, i you know i follow you into battle a lot. okay The peak lapels, I got one too because I realized how much it thinned your cheeks out, you know especially when you were smiling real big. And I'm not going to lie to you. I was all bought into the Todd Hayes thing, and I was thinking, man, I'm going coach with Todd Hayes in a league. You are 100% a liar because you were never bought into the Todd Hayes thing. I want to be just like Mike Allen one day.
00:37:21
Speaker
and um And then one day, Mike Allen said, I've got to go back on the front counter. And I was like, F this. I'm going in a completely different direction than that dude. ever He brings it up constantly. The fear of having to go back on the counter because everybody quit on it. But what's the acronym? fear of When did I have to go back on the counter?
00:37:37
Speaker
ah when when Saturday. Yeah. When, oh, boy, yeah when when the whole situation with the – oh, and we could talk about the Volvo deal. Did he go to work for Volvo? Yes.
00:37:48
Speaker
No. No, no. no He's at Hyundai now. He's at the Genesis dealership. Slide up. Did they offer $250,000? No, and he's working Saturdays. So...
00:37:59
Speaker
no and he's working saturdays so You do you, boo-boo. You do you. But I'm just saying, like, the fear in your voice of, like, when everything seemed like it might fall apart was enough for me to know. Well, it didn't seem like it was going to fall apart. It seemed like I was going to have to work a lot harder than I had in a long time.
00:38:16
Speaker
which Yeah. you can't go I can't go back. i can't go back my my My shop manager took like three days off. I thought I was going to kill myself. This was the worst thing ever. It was like three days I had to be in the shop the self. Were driving to work looking for something to smash the car? No, I psyched myself up. I'm like, I can do this. I can do this. By the end of the second day, I'm like, what were you playing on the radio? Did you flip some ace of bass on and you're like, we're just going to have it. We're just going to go ahead. That's what he does when Jeff walks in his room at night. Oh,
00:38:47
Speaker
not into Canadians. Canadian bacon? No, he loves maple syrup. Oh. Is that what he calls it? Yeah, it's sticky. Is so?
00:39:00
Speaker
Straight from the tap. Straight from the tap. David just licks his list. You guys really bring down the level of conversation in a podcast. You know that? Yeah. We're very usually very serious. I was hoping to use this ourselves, but this is not gone well. So, no, this is not going to go. I think this is fantastic. This has been a very good experiment.
00:39:23
Speaker
um You were on Jeff's show recently, and I don't know what you were on on that recording, but you were feeling some kind of spicy. that That was pretty awesome.
00:39:34
Speaker
Yeah. I think, didn't I call you about that or something? Yeah. I was like, you were pretty cool on that. That was pretty good. ah You were wrong, mostly, but you were passionate. usually And so I admire your commitment to the bit.
00:39:47
Speaker
um Yeah. All right. So can you do that again? I love it when those little cheeks just glare. So ah one of things you said is about, I mean, you were taking shots at the free Diag thing, right? Whatever. Yeah. um You know, most of that is just like picking on you. Yeah, don't care. ah the the The comment was, my charges for Diag, just everybody pays for your Diag and everybody pays for your Diag.
00:40:13
Speaker
And I got to thinking about that. And I think that is corollary to the stupid fucking repeating conversation about credit card fees and about loaner cars. Everybody pays for everything.
00:40:25
Speaker
Yeah. so There are people who think that I'm a detriment to the industry or that the free DAG is a detriment to the industry and doing damage to the industry, but that also say you shouldn't charge customers for credit card fees.
00:40:39
Speaker
You should you know have that separate line where it's so a 3% discount for cash or whatever. Yeah. no It's the same thing. I have found myself over the past couple of years being more willing to look at the way other people do things and say that that's okay.
Diagnostic Charges Debate
00:40:55
Speaker
Right? There are things that I do think are a detriment to our industry. Evil shop owner. Yeah, there there there are things that are a detriment to our industry. Are you saying there's multiple ways to skin a cat? More than multiple. like like so many that he's He's being diplomatic. It is not at all the same thing.
00:41:11
Speaker
and At all. ah even like It is not okay in any way, shape, or form. The same thing now you've done it well i'm sorry i design it hold on yeah back up a little bit just so I'm following I'm a little slow You're gonna have to back up little credit card fees versus free dieg is not the same thing not the rolling them at right rolling you build the services and that you provide into the into your cost of labor the the there are certain things that are rolled into overhead and there are certain things that are a direct result of someone's knowledge ability skill
00:41:47
Speaker
You are lumping it all together. why did um now why does Why does knowledge have to be broken out? The distinction, because that's the differentiator. Credit cards are credit cards. Like, everybody processes credit But if cash, why should I pay you for your your credit card fees?
00:42:01
Speaker
I don't want your cash. Pay with a fucking credit card. i don't want cash. I don't want have to go to the bank. i don't want any of that. What if I pay with a check and you can use your account to deposit? don't take checks. Okay, there you You're just a hobbyist then. I'm a hobbyist. All I'm saying is that that if that's like saying, well, i'm goingnna I'm also going to parse out the electricity.
00:42:20
Speaker
Your car was in my shop for whatever, 12.6 hours. 16 cents national credit fee. Yeah, it is 16 cents. That's exactly what you do already. ah It's just not line itemed. but I am doing that, but that's just a result of coming to a business. For example, I'm not parsing out my rent and putting it as a line item on there.
00:42:39
Speaker
The differentiator, however, is that I hired... brandon and i have put a ton of time and effort into making sure that brandon becomes the best diagnostician that he can become and brandon's unique skill knowledge and ability is what is working on that car and his skill knowledge and ability is worth x amount of dollars and i'm sorry i'm billing that to you as a separate line then rolling it into the rest of my expenses Why not with a world-class service advisor then who you spend a ton of time training on how to build rapport and have ah good relationships and how to follow your processes and procedures to become a world-class service advisor? Shouldn't that be a line item itemized?
00:43:22
Speaker
It's not the same thing because it doesn't support your argument. all that doesn't take talent like that. that That's a personality thing. ah Yeah, I'm sorry, service advisors. Really good service advisors is a learned skill anybody, anybody can have.
00:43:38
Speaker
That's not the same thing with technicians. You're wrong. they No, I'm not wrong. I'm not wrong. Look, listen, listen, listen. They're both high skill positions. And they're both. they're I'm not saying they're not high skilled. Watch those chairs. They'll flop you backwards. I'm saying that the skills that a service advisor has, as long as you have they have the right personality, all of that can be taught.
00:44:02
Speaker
There is something in the brain. So a technician, as long as they have the right cognitive ability. Num nuts over here can look at something. Just talking about the brain. He can disassemble it.
00:44:14
Speaker
And by looking at it disassembled, go, I know how it works. And then walk away. I can't do that. I can't do that. That's not a skill I can learn. i mean I can't go through enough training classes to learn how to do that.
00:44:28
Speaker
That's unique. I should be able to charge for that. And not only that, by you not charging for it, you're degrading. You're saying that what he has, completely unique, is worthless.
00:44:41
Speaker
And that bothers me is what I'm saying. You can't i roll that in. It's just a credit card. It's just a credit card fee. It is not like credit card fees. It is not like credit card fees. so It's like saying and what saying that shit art that you buy at Walmart is the same thing as a Van Gogh. It's just pictures on wall, bro. No, it's not. What if it's a print of a Van Gogh?
00:45:02
Speaker
It still requires the Van Gogh genius. It still requires the Van Gogh genius. Damn, I should have hit record. I didn't realize. so
00:45:13
Speaker
and you you are you are taking You are taking skills that require unique talent. Todd Hayes. You're taking skills that require unique talent and are dumbing it down to the most rudimentary processes.
00:45:31
Speaker
They're just bodily movements. How is he dumbing it down? You're sucking the soul out of the work. Right. How is he dumbing it down? Because you're saying that anybody... By not charging for it. He's not saying that anybody can do it. He's not charging the customer for it. cost of customer acquisition. It's a marketing cost.
00:45:47
Speaker
It is is... it a marketing... You saying that it's for free is just marketing spin because it's not free. You're just... You're making it into, you're socializing it. That's all you're doing it.
00:46:02
Speaker
That's all you're doing. It's not free. Just like you do with service advisors. It's not free to the customer. The customer's still paying for it. I'm just, hey, we're making everybody pay for it. Just like you do with your high-skill service advisors because they're not really high-skill.
00:46:16
Speaker
They're just kind of stupid. You can learn how to do that. Yes. I mean, can't you see? He can't take things apart, but look at his people skills. No. that's ah That's just a personality thing.
00:46:26
Speaker
ah did you not Did you miss that part? Dude, I get that shit apart. Don't feel me. I get it. You're slow. You said it yourself. It is a personality thing. Listen to me. It's a personality thing. It can be taught.
00:46:39
Speaker
And guess what? Not shop managers. They are fantastic. Service advisors can get replaced with a... Fucking link! I send the goddamn link, they click, they buy, i just replaced you with a fucking link!
00:46:54
Speaker
So you're telling me that takes special skill? But the technician, I can't replace the technician with a link. I would do it tomorrow if I could. can't replace with a link. You just had a spittle come across the table at me. His freaking skull veins have veins popping out of them. He's got sub veins.
00:47:12
Speaker
So let's talk about replacing technicians with a link. You're annoying this argument. It's idiotic. It is idiotic. I couldn't tell. I'm so scared to drink my water. I'm just spittle. I don't care how big the service advisor is.
00:47:26
Speaker
The service advisor can get replaced with the link. I'm like trying to figure out how long it's going to be before I literally have to physically remove David from Mike. I'm like, he's going to come over the fucking table. He's about to whoop Mike's ass, slap his cheeks right around. So i was in i was in a roundtable forum this morning with Carm that was specifically focused on yeah ESOs. And I don't think that that was actually how it was presented, but
AI's Role in Auto Shops
00:47:59
Speaker
But we're talking about AI implementation, and there's a guy there who's programmed in AI with the content. to replace service advisor? I can't No, to replace the shop foreman.
00:48:10
Speaker
How does do that? With the content on diagnostic strategies and theory, not specific to things, but you know all the classes that have been taught about ah you know understanding just order of operation and and methodology.
00:48:24
Speaker
And when his B-text gets stuck before they're allowed to go to the actual shop foreman, they have to go to that GTP and follow the process that it points out to them. Can i Now you're about to blow a vein. No, no, no. here's here's I'm not about to blow vein. It's dumb because it's in the manual.
00:48:43
Speaker
Like, why do you need AI? You already know. Have you used all data search? how many How many times have you had to say, read the fucking manual, send the service information, and they still don't fucking do it?
00:48:55
Speaker
And now you're just saying, here, follow this instruction. That's them problem. Yeah, but we get it we get it we got problem. So the AI is going to go tell them to test these wires, and they're still going to fucking lazy to do it, and the shop foreman is still going to fucking do it.
00:49:06
Speaker
It's not going to replace anybody. Is the AI going to hook the fucking scope up and test the wire or the fucking meter or the fucking test light? I think they will. Are you talking about Master Tech AI? No. Okay. So Master Tech AI has actually got some really cool stuff.
00:49:19
Speaker
um It predicts the um service requirements, like maintenance service requirements. um And it is similar to, oh, no, similar to a Dentifix. It has some very interesting things. Sure.
00:49:35
Speaker
In it. Tracks. Well, but I mean, it's really about documentation and about leading your technician and and kind of focusing their thoughts in their direction. Right. Do I think that AI can replace a shop foreman? No, I don't because of like experiences I've had over the past couple of weeks and dispatching and issues i've had in the shop. i'm not going to replace a shop foreman. It's never just like AI is not going to replace a service advisor, but what going to is it's going to make... A supplement.
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to make one ah one shop foreman or one service advisor able to do significantly more in the same amount of time. could see that. More effectively, a higher level. It'll just make us better at what we do. Yeah.
00:50:13
Speaker
it ah It will run some people out of... AI is going to run some service advisors out of work, but only the bad ones, not the good ones. The tricky part with AI for technical stuff, on a very serious note, is the database, right? How much of the data... Like, where are they collecting the data from?
00:50:28
Speaker
Yeah. Right? So Lucas and i we we know the reality of... The way the data is collected, it's pulled out ofs pulled out of SMS systems a lot of times. That's right that's how FixFinder data is pulled. It's literally out of SMS systems. Shit data pulled out equals shit data.
00:50:45
Speaker
Shit data put in equals shit data pulled out. So if they've got this code and they're putting this part in and that's that's what they're saying, fix the car, i like what's the database like? like hey I agree. But here's the thing is like, I think this is a bigger problem than that. The problem is, and and I used to get really upset about it back to me painting with a broad brush. And and I know that's not right. I know I fuck that up all the time. But, um you know, when I first started learning from Paul Danner.
00:51:11
Speaker
years ago, like my daughter knows what a potentiometer is, thermistor, right? Because we sit and watch all the time. um It's frustrating to me because many of the technicians who come in and claim to be capable, claim to be able to do these things, couldn't tell you what that is, but my five-year-old daughter knew what it was.
00:51:32
Speaker
right Didn't understand how it works. Yeah. Most people can't do what they say they can do. And so it's frustrating to me that in some ways our industry is to the point that we're going to rely on technology like that to be able to fix the car. And we say, well, that's just the progress.
00:51:46
Speaker
but That's just technology. That's just what it is. We've moved the goalposts of acceptable performance yeah to... So what happens when the AI can crawl all 2,000 of Paul Danner's case studies and all the other case studies? And shoot it can build... build a valuable brain the problem is is there's a nuance right when you understand technical things yeah you understand every single thing has its own little and it's not even that it'll be able to do it'll be able to do 60 of it i'm not denying that it won't work for any hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on it cannot replace the diagnostician because the diagnostician
00:52:24
Speaker
When plugging up the scope is going to bump that wire, all of a sudden the car is going to go, he's like, whoa, what happened here? And he's going able to deduce that I don't have a sensor problem or this, that, and the other. I've got a connection issue. And he'll do a vault stop.
00:52:38
Speaker
None of that can be replicated by AI. None of that. Right now as we speak, you can... pull the code and throw a part at it and 60 to 70% of the time it'll fix the car.
00:52:50
Speaker
So we don't need AI to fix 60% of the problems. You have that now. They're going to have to use a database because right AI isn't actually AI. big It's database based. right like what What the database and I think they will replace the shop form and i don't understand the position. It doesn't make any sense to me.
00:53:09
Speaker
But the, hey, why don't you try this? can get replaced by ai Now, not the actual doing. So if you're actually doing, or the shop foreman's actually doing the diagnostic work, then you're just an overpaid diagnostician. I don't know what you're doing. I'm just saying, you are a diagnostician. The term shop foreman is used so loosely, it's hard even put it down. It's loosely, yeah. larry It's used very loosely. Now, if you're the shop manager, or you're the back of house manager, or something like, I don't know. Just throw the... Some shop foremans. Some shop foremans die cars all day. Some literally make sure they don't run out of oil filters, right? The term is used so loosely. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, why have that... Some shop foremans are actually just shop managers.
00:53:52
Speaker
Some shop foremans diagnose cars all day. can having a manager for the staff that's in the back. Like you have a manager that deals with the technicians, dispatches work, deals with HR issues, whatever, for the back of house.
00:54:04
Speaker
And maybe have one for the front of house or you have one that over has overall operation. That makes sense to me. But if you have a dog a shop foreman that does just Diag work and… Hey, ah they're the most experienced person in the shop. Okay, then they're just the diagnostician. Like, what are you doing?
00:54:22
Speaker
Calling them a shop foreman. Or a lot of them are hybrid. A lot of them are doing the job you talked about, and the other half of their job is diagnosing in the shop. They shouldn't be doing any work on cars is what I'm saying.
00:54:34
Speaker
Doesn't make any sense. why Why have them then? They're just... don't know. They're an overpaid tech. You think so? Yeah. You don't have a shop forman no ah for me? No.
00:54:49
Speaker
I've got a senior tech over two of my three stores. Blaine, who... Does he work on cars? Yeah. He's just like, he's the adult in the building.
00:54:59
Speaker
You know, he's the one who, if if one's starting to kick somebody's ass, he goes and helps. and But otherwise... Does some cheerleading probably? Yeah. Does some cheerleading. Yeah. and Right. know, we need to buy some new equipment, he tells me what we need and I go get it. and ah But he still produces 50 plus hours a week of his own stuff. so Well, he's all that is man.
00:55:16
Speaker
He is all that is man. He is a badass. I will give him back. He is a badass. Especially dealing with you. The big shop doesn't have a foreman anymore. So, ah right after the foreman left is when we dropped the first of two cars in 20 years.
00:55:30
Speaker
So, hadn't dropped any cars in 20 years, and we dropped two in two weeks. On a serious note, I've been meaning to touch up with you and and kind of touch base. You've been meaning to touch me? Yes, again, reach up. I was just curious, like, did you get my invoice? Because I've not received my check yet. I cleaned the bathrooms. um Question, do you maintain eye contact during a reach around?
00:55:52
Speaker
Yes. Because are you that flexible? Yes. Because, I mean, you think about the logistics of that. Yeah, I can do it. I can do it. just want to make sure because. You started with such confidence. Yeah, like, look, it was really cool. All had to That's why you do yoga much. You didn't have to think about that. Yeah, I just had to reach and tap. And these, like, big plumes of dust just fell off and into the floor.
00:56:11
Speaker
It was awesome. What are we talking about? Oh, when you came by the shop the other day and I wasn't there. Yeah. Yeah. Which bathroom? The women's. That makes sense. You know I'm definitely using the women's. I just wanted to make sure that we're on the same page there. Weirdo.
00:56:23
Speaker
Yeah. Just saying. your ah Your shop manager also uses the women's bathroom. He says he will not use the men's bathroom in your shop. i know. We had a men's bathroom in the shop. I think they're all just bathrooms. Like they just have... They're all bathrooms. It's very progressive.
00:56:38
Speaker
It's just all bathrooms. Everybody can use them. Well, they're they're all one-stoppers, right? And they're all single stallers. So, I mean, why would you have a men's bathroom and a women's bathroom? I've just got three bathrooms. No, they've got signs them.
00:56:51
Speaker
been to your shop, Mike? Do you know what's going on in your shop? No. I'm pretty sure they've all got the same sign. In Kansas City, because we opened the airport up during 2020, which is I don't know, cultural anomaly that year entirely for a thousand reasons, they decided it was good idea to just make ah bathrooms.
00:57:15
Speaker
And so the bathrooms are green. You just go in. Women, men, in-betweens, transitioning, unsure, non-binary. But they have like 10 stalls in the same room and anybody can go in? Yeah, when you walk in, the sinks are the front. Do they have urinals or no urinals? No urinals. They're all like private stalls.
00:57:36
Speaker
It's little bit weird. um It's a little weird. I'm a urinal guy. I don't want to have to eat the four-minute toilet if don't have to. It's weird, I think, for the women because... Creeps. Men are disgusting. yeah is yeah Men's bathrooms typically are dirty. Women's bathrooms typically get pretty gross, too.
00:57:52
Speaker
Yeah, mean, maybe. I got other hygiene product issues. As a rule... um you survey a thousand bathrooms you're gonna find that the women's bathrooms think i'm gonna agree with david on this than the men's bathrooms i think that there's some sometimes in the women's bathroom used work at a grocery store and a restaurant sometimes the women's bathroom somebody really makes them mess but you you clean If you close down and you clean the bathroom seven nights straight, six of seven nights, the men's bathroom is worse than the women's bathroom. And then one night, you have a women's bathroom incident. Some old lady goes in there. had to clean a toilet at the shop and last week.
00:58:28
Speaker
And ah it was, Xander, it was at your shop. And i walked in, and there was, know, you got the toilet seat and then the tank. you just break clean? Right.
00:58:41
Speaker
There was shit. Splatter on the tank. Oh, that was there the day I was there. You call that photo finish. I was like, how the... What do you have a name for it? That's a photo finish. Listen, you just barely... You almost got all in. barely made it, man. On the way down, it was... It came out at high pressure. Yeah, that's a photo finish. Yeah.
00:58:59
Speaker
freaking sprinting. He's not wrong. Yeah, that's a photo finish. He was like, I had to go pretty hard too, but I had to stop and clean the toilet because I can't risk cleaning back onto somebody else's poo. That was a flat rate dump. kind of thing is what happens when you allow for waiters and people to hang out in your shop. That is straight up flat rate dump.
00:59:16
Speaker
That's what he had. Flat rate. He was a flat rate pooper. That is a open seven days a week, seven to seven flat rate dump. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You deserve that. Are you talking about the shop or the crap on the toilet? Both.
00:59:29
Speaker
Well, hey all I can say is that my bathroom has a full door. Oh, shit. Your bathroom doesn't have a full door? Does it have a dead groundhog frozen to the sidewalk out front? No.
00:59:42
Speaker
Thank you for calling me a groundhog and not a beaver. You're welcome. We have many bathrooms. um We have one where the door... You know, it's a little in interior door, and it's kind of poopy. and Not literal poopy. I shouldn't say that. Is it like he didn't quite make it?
00:59:59
Speaker
No, that not the not a photo finish. We have break clean. We keep break clean in there in case that happens. No, dude, what you do is the break clean is for right outside the door. and with We have that, too. Yeah. yeah so What happened to our bathroom door, which is a hollow corridor, is the tire machine's next to the bathroom door. So how do you think the bottom the goddamn... Yeah, the cheetah went under the bathroom door a bunch of times.
01:00:19
Speaker
and So I had a full-time podcaster at our shop getting some service done on her vehicle. And she's like, ah can you see my feet in this bathroom right now? Because it's kind of like a saloon door. It's up a little bit.
01:00:32
Speaker
And we've been rebuilding with tire stickers, though, so we're good. Yeah. Because there's not a customer bathroom in that shop. The bottom third of the door is broken and missing. That not bottom third. It was like the bottom eight inches of the door.
01:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, ain't nothing hanging that low in that shop. Nope. Cold out.
01:00:52
Speaker
good talk. So we've repaired the door with tires. qualiti We actually had a GoFundMe for the door. Somebody created a GoFundMe. This almost feels like one of those, you know, backyard shade tree podcast.
01:01:03
Speaker
This definitely was a backyard shade tree podcast. I'm just happy David's veins went back in his skull. I thought he was going to have a freaking aneurysm. I was like, I've got good blood pressure. And with unknowing all the testosterone and working out videos, I afraid he was going to come over here and rip my head off. It looked like somebody painted the whole top of your head red while you were yelling at Mike. Your whole skull was red.
Humor and Podcast Format
01:01:23
Speaker
Wait for the real.
01:01:24
Speaker
Wait the real. You had spittle come across the table at looked like you had a freaking quarter-inch brake line laid under your skin. Your vein popped out so hard. I was like, are you going be okay? I don't know if you know this. Every time he gets that upset, if you look really close, you can see it pushes the hair out of his head.
01:01:38
Speaker
He starts getting stubble back. every time he gets up. He goes back in when he comes No, he doesn't. look Look. You'll see little hairs stick out after that. Yeah. Did you see the amount pressure? There ain't nothing there, bro. Trust me. Did you see the amount of pressure created? I was nervous.
01:01:54
Speaker
Well, thanks, guys. We're not done yet. We still got to go at least another 20 minutes. um Okay. but Typically, our format is roughly 55 minutes. Yeah, but we we we've we've got some things we could talk about.
01:02:08
Speaker
I mean, I'll just like start dropping them left and right, and we could just like pick which one we want to go with. You what we should talk about is hours of operation. Yeah, we could do that. You know why don't work Saturdays, Sundays, or late nights or early mornings? Because you've got to get in. Your wife beater walks up and down the path to do your Facebook reels. You're going to be looking at the camera, and you're going to walk into a fucking tree branch someday and fall over.
01:02:31
Speaker
i'll post I'll post it. I'm looking for that titty pop. oh Just a little nip slip. little nip slip. little wardrobe malfunction. Side boob Saturdays. You get angle like this and just see it of hanging out. yeah Ah, that's a good idea. Side boob Saturdays, I like.
01:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, and look, if i if I just act like David and start injecting myself with all kinds of medications, I could have little puffies in there that could just like bling out. you know Little puffies. Say, my prolactin levels are good. I don't even know what you just said.
01:02:58
Speaker
What time do you go to the gym in the morning? Yeah, that's the thing that makes your nipples puffy. Pay attention, Mike. What time to you go to the gym in the morning? Me? Yeah. i I normally will be there by 5.15, 5.30.
01:03:09
Speaker
five fifteen five thirty I just felt like you were going to be that douchebag who said I'm at the gym at 4.30 every morning. so That's too early? Yeah. You probably just offended some of your sponsors. are jim I do wake up that early. I just don't and don't make it to the gym. I'm from the sticks. Are gyms open that early? In my experience, they don't open. Most of them are 24. Most of them are 24.
01:03:29
Speaker
I don't know. Most of them not. I go to a 24-7 gym. it's just little You have a little zapper. It's ah and's unsupervised. You just go in whenever. little zap in there. You're good to go.
01:03:41
Speaker
What do you want to talk about, Lucas? You're looking at me like that. no I'm just waiting on you to drop something. Do you want me to text you in the mornings when I get up and you can go to the gym? You've never sent me a text. You have my number. You just don't like me enough to text me.
01:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't think you are. No, you're not. That was bullshit. Sorry. Yeah, you're sorry. You keep Connor McGregor you. I'm sorry for absolutely nothing.
01:04:06
Speaker
I... Yeah. i yeah I text him. he didn't He's like, yeah, that sucks. Have fun at the gym. I mean, he's not wrong. Well, you text me at like 530 in the morning. so I get up at like 530. Brian texts everybody at 530 in the morning. he is the third like We all like we have this giant chat circle. I don't know why we don't just combine it into one message. Here's what happens.
01:04:30
Speaker
Somebody sends me something at 11 o'clock at night, and I don't respond because I'm typically sleeping at 11 o'clock at night. And I read it in the morning. And because I have a little bit of ADHD, I go, i need to respond to that now or else I won't.
01:04:47
Speaker
So I just do it when I see it, which is... Bro, I ain't texting you at 11 o'clock at night. I don't know who is. And then he responds, and then fucking Dutch is up because his bladder gets him up 17 times a night. Dutch has already got his freaking new balance. Dutch is responding, and then Kokona starts responding, and then it's like, my wife's like, why don't you just get the fuck out of bed because we're not to sleep anymore because... it werentmermer It's not even that early.
01:05:11
Speaker
It's not even that early. Hey, I'm going mute that. listen Mute. Done. Let me tell you. me tell you. The other day, we were at
Industry Comparisons and Education
01:05:19
Speaker
Chetola. Take the family up there. We've got timeshares that got donated to us years ago. And so we go up, we take the family up there and swim and let them hang out and do all that stuff.
01:05:27
Speaker
So we went to real early in the morning. And um there was a gentleman there with his whole family. Number six was on the way. Holy crap. I could. I imagine. And um so i was sitting there talking to him and I'm like, hey, where are you guys from? He said, ah we're from or from Raleigh. And I said, oh, that's cool.
01:05:44
Speaker
And we started talking and he is the president of the Orthodontist Association in North Carolina. So my wife probably knows him. Yeah. And they've been looking for where they're going to do their next yearly event. And he said, we looked at Embassy Suites in Cary. And I said, hey, man, of all the places in Cary, it's probably the nicer one, right, to do it at.
01:06:05
Speaker
But we had a really good conversation. We talked about continuing education. And we talked about like a lot of the things that they go through with their organization and the people that they work with and talked about the challenges and things. And it was interesting to hear his perspective as the owner because he's he's opening up his second practice right now. and He's talking about the same challenges we talk about, right? Like the same things we go through, the same stresses, really good conversation.
01:06:28
Speaker
and um And he said something that really interested me. He said, you know, um they tell me like the previous people who have planned this event, they tell me that I should be very particular about who I let come to this event.
01:06:44
Speaker
And he said every year, he said this event books completely full. He said like it, but we have a set number of people that can come and it books full every year. And I got to thinking about that. Why do you think they can book that completely full? Now, he told me why he thinks it is.
01:06:59
Speaker
Why do you think they book that completely full? Yet we have these automotive events that in some cases have empty classrooms in them.
01:07:08
Speaker
Well, how many ortho? Go ahead. I'm sorry. First, I'd say yeah i haven't seen any empty classrooms at this event. I know that it happens. Okay. I mean, this and the reason this is a conversation that we need to be having is because ASTA Expo is coming up in September, um and it's bigger than ever. i so I was talking to one of the major coaches yesterday about the course load. We have 92 class classes.
01:07:33
Speaker
at the expo this year, but over 150 submissions. And so we still had to turn down some, right? um And, you know, he was expressing that, you know,
01:07:46
Speaker
Typically when he comes to an event like this, he teaches each day and we didn't have space for that. And it was unusual. um So it's a challenge to figure out how to not have empty classrooms, but yeah give space to the hydros and give space also to the people that are new and that are trying to come up and build their, um build their career in that space. Right. But for the ortho side, I think,
01:08:12
Speaker
There are a lot of similarities in dentistry and the different dental specialties to what we do. But one of the big differences is they know how to fucking make money.
01:08:22
Speaker
yeah And they make a lot of money. And um so they close up and bring the whole staff. The financial block isn't there. They're able to financially make it happen. that that's that's And they have legal requirements for CE. That's what he said. They have legal requirements for CE. You just nailed it, right? Yeah. As he said that that because of the CE requirement. They have legal obligations. This is a less expensive way of training their people and meeting the CE requirements.
01:08:50
Speaker
So I had a long conversation with our executive director yesterday, like an hour and 20 minutes. And I was talking to him because he came from medical in some areas, right? In the blood world. And he we're talking about this. And he said, you know, it just seems so weird to me that you guys don't have continuing education requirements.
01:09:06
Speaker
And he said, you know, some of these associations add additional continuing education requirements on top of what is mandated law. What is mandated by the government. To be a member of this association. Now, I'm sitting here saying, now, hang on just a minute.
01:09:19
Speaker
Because that's the same thing this guy said. He said, we've got people beating the door down to be members. We've got people beating the door down to get into this. We're trying to want access to the CE. Right. Yeah, here we are in
Collision Industry Practices
01:09:30
Speaker
the automotive space, and if we said you have to maintain this level of continuing education to be a member of this association, there are a lot of people who just say, nah, I'm good, bro. Pass. Hard pass. So what you're saying is we need government involvement to require CE.
01:09:46
Speaker
That's what Cecil thinks, but this dude's going to freak out. The government rarely helps make things better. I agree. I'm just saying. Which is maybe why we should get our shit together and figure it out before the government gets involved. It won't it won't be good. Well, that's what it'll be best what led to MAP standards that 1% of shops even know exist.
01:10:05
Speaker
Yeah. Right? the one MAP standards. and Motors insurance program. yeah I was talking to the guys from today's class the other day, and he was pointing that out, and he was talking about how – how did like they They understand they didn't necessarily like hit the mark with getting map standards out in front of people and getting people to utilize it.
01:10:24
Speaker
ASE has not done a really good job of promoting themselves and promoting this as a product that should be used. you know and And so I guess my question for you is maybe we don't want government regulation.
01:10:35
Speaker
But, I mean, how are we going to motivate these people to come to these training events? How going to motivate these people to improve the industry? Can I tell you something interesting that was brought to my attention the other day? So ICAR, you're familiar with ICAR. That's like the collision side of ASE-ish, right? Not that the exact same thing, but yes similar it's not ASE, but it's like And if you've been independent you've ever spent any time involved with that organization or you've ever been to the training facility or you see anything about ICAR, holy crap. So the other day, Jim Caconis, on the way down here, Jim Caconis calls me.
01:11:10
Speaker
He goes, I need you to look this up. I need you to go find this video. So he he was going to watch some video on the news or something like that. You know they play the advertisement ahead of time. iCar has an advertisement that plays to the general public that says, hey, if you're getting your vehicle collision, if you're getting collision work done on your vehicle, basically, hey, this is what iCar does. We certify people. These people are certified to OE standards.
01:11:35
Speaker
And if you want your vehicle repaired, look for the iCar logo. Imagine that. Yeah, imagine that. and And, you know, the fact that that in collision, there's a whole industry built around, a fighting the insurance companies, and, B, making sure repairs were done correctly.
01:11:50
Speaker
You look at Billy that owns Collision Safety Consultants. You look at K&M Collision and Hickory. They're one of the biggest collision companies in North Carolina. And they go pull cars from other repair facilities, and they do a post-repair inspection. Post-repair inspection, paint thickness, so on and so forth. And the estimate goes from $6,000 $26,000.
01:12:06
Speaker
six grand a twenty six thousand like mine Yeah, well, so that was what was so crazy. Is my time with AASP National as the vice president really opened my eyes to the collision world. and And Ken Miller is going to be here tonight. And I think we should all sit down and maybe we should try and get a podcast in and talk a little bit about this.
01:12:24
Speaker
Because Tom Elder is somebody who has been in the collision space for over 60 years. Right. And he said, I'm going to tell you right now, 30 percent of the cars that insurance pulls out of my shop to take it somewhere else to get it repaired, come back totaled.
01:12:37
Speaker
When if we'd have fixed it the first time, it wouldn't have happened. And he said, it was it's usually over $1,000. It's usually over $2,000. And he said, I'm i'm unwilling to waiver on this. I am not going to to reduce the quality of the repair because I have a professional obligation to my a consumer.
01:12:52
Speaker
But the insurance company is dictating and they force the I'm sure he's in the minority of that. And he's, yeah. it's it's starting to gain traction um there's a lot of collision consulting firms like i i'm in a little bit of everything on social media like just watching and uh it's it's gaining traction yeah well i mean it's really gaining traction and a lot of and a lot of it quite honestly the motivation is financially right yeah for sure right right like hey i can write this durango this light gate hit on the rear of this dodge for 36 000 instead of 12k like some other shop did and and and
01:13:27
Speaker
In their defense, they're not doing anything shady. They are opening the book with the manufacturer's position statements, and they are adhering strictly to what Stolana says you have to do to repair the vehicle. That's all they're doing. Ken owns 821 Collision.
01:13:43
Speaker
They do not take any insurance, like none. They do not accept insurance payments. you If you want money from your insurance company, you're to have it from them, boo because I'm going to fix your car and I'm going to charge you. That's how this works. We don't take insurance money.
01:13:54
Speaker
Well, I think that makes him an outlier in the space, right? sure. And that's not a scalable model, right? But he doesn't want it to be scalable. He wants it to be what the hell he wants it to be, and that's okay. It's kind of like Dutch and what he
Business Ethics and Management Challenges
01:14:07
Speaker
espouses. That's great. That's what Dutch wants, and that's how he'll operate. But that what he espouses is not scalable.
01:14:13
Speaker
Agreed. ah Agreed. But what... that That comes down – me and you have had this discussion many times. It comes down to this level of what are you willing to sacrifice to to get to that level, right? if If you want to make this scalable, we've talked about business coaches. And that's something that me and David have talked about quite a bit because there's some business coaches who are like, I have to be in control and i have to this has to be my thing.
01:14:36
Speaker
There's some business coaches who are like, hey, going to bring these people in and give them autonomy and let them do their thing. And so we've been back and forth and talking about the way these different coaching companies work. So if you are unwilling to let other people come in and teach people their way, what does that mean? Well, you have to charge a lot to teach yourself because people aren't going to work under you if you don't give them the autonomy to do it.
01:14:57
Speaker
right So you have to charge substantially more for a more customized product. but But I don't think that we're making those decisions in a conscious state necessarily. We're not saying – like I look at my shop and I'm like, I want it to grow.
01:15:11
Speaker
There's things I'm unwilling to give up about how I do it. And and as evil as you are, you've convinced me to let go of some of the things that are – let me be careful about how i say this. You weren't careful on Jeff's podcast when you said that I don't care about customers.
01:15:26
Speaker
But you know I'm just throwing shade just to throw shade. point Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you know who I am, right? You know what I'm saying? But no, like you've you've very much opened my eyes to different ways of operating and things that I used to think were wrong, but I see in a different light now.
01:15:41
Speaker
Dude, you've quit burping. This place smells like shit. know, dude. was like, it smells I'm not burping, bro. I guess that's just your breath naturally. I don't know. you breathe this way. I'm like, whoa. Is it like sulfur?
01:15:55
Speaker
Yeah. That's what I smell. I'm like, I don't... everyone's swallow Are you over there shitting your pants and trying to blame it on me? Is that what this is? What did you have for lunch? Did you go to Taco Truck for lunch? Is that what happened? No, we went to Friendly's. It was really good.
01:16:09
Speaker
ah They still have those? Yeah. That's where we went. Yay, Friendly's. But but no I have opened my eyes. our Our friendship has opened my eyes in a lot of ways.
01:16:20
Speaker
to the It's not necessarily wrong. It's just different than what I've always been taught. Yeah. And I think back about my dad. And one of the things that I'm going through right now with the family business is I want to honor what my mom and dad always did, which was help people.
01:16:37
Speaker
Right. And the premise was helping people. But now here I am taking over and trying to help them do this thing. And I'm looking. I'm like, holy shit, we didn't help them. We hurt them. We enabled them. We created a mess.
01:16:48
Speaker
Right. So just because dad wanted to help, just because dad believed what he was doing in that instance was the right thing for these people. I can see from a different perspective now it wasn't the right thing. it was the It was the fastest way to fix the immediate symptom.
01:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah. It was no negative, you know. There was no structure. Yeah. There was no structure. Here, take this money. This money will help you. Oh, my gosh. You're struggling? Oh, my gosh. Let me help you out. I got you. Don't even worry about this. I'll take care you. But that was just a And what it did, it told them not to take care of themselves. Yeah, it was just a symptom of a bigger problem. Right. Right.
01:17:22
Speaker
And so I just, I think about that some, especially with my business to open my eyes and keep my perspective wide. There's things that I don't want to change about my business. There's a lot of things that I look at you and I'm like, hey, I would really like to be able to do that, but I don't think that I have what, like, and we joke about the evil shop owner. You have too much moral compass. Is that what you're saying?
01:17:43
Speaker
No, no, it's not that. It's, It's that I would struggle to do some of those things. I would struggle with letting go. Like, that's my biggest thing is like, you can look at the shop and say,
01:17:55
Speaker
All those people are upset, and we got five bad reviews, and this is going on, and this is going on, and this is going on, and this car didn't get fixed. Hypothetically.
01:18:06
Speaker
Whereas up here, dude, I can tell you every single car that's in my shop right now, and I can tell you what's going on with every single car, and I can tell you what the tickets are, and I can tell you what the GP is on the tickets. Like, that's up here. So, if that shop, if your current shop, 10-bay shop, mm-hmm.
01:18:21
Speaker
ever grows to facility capacity, which is probably what, $300,000, $50,000, $400,000 month, you're not going to be able to know every car. Of course. And see, I'm i'm having a really hard time with that.
01:18:34
Speaker
I'm having a really hard time letting go of that. and And I think to a degree right now, I'm having a hard time with trying to balance both of those, right? Because like now I have this business over here and I'm trying to make sure it's working right and managed right. Now I'm also doing that over here too.
01:18:52
Speaker
And so letting go of that is the hard part for me, right? Because I don't think that I have that ruthlessness that you have inside you. Ruthlessness. Oh, dude, I'm going to tell you something. you You can say whatever you want about this dude.
01:19:03
Speaker
This is one of the most astute business people you'll ever meet. He needs to get the ruthless tattooed right on his knuckles. He is probably the most aggressive negotiator that I've ever met.
01:19:15
Speaker
And he is absolutely one of the most astute business people you'll ever meet. I'm i'm familiar that he is very talented in what he does. Absolutely. But I don't have the capacity to do what he does.
01:19:26
Speaker
Right?
01:19:30
Speaker
I'm uncomfortable. What? I said nice things about you. I made you really nervous. I'd rather you just make fun of
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:19:35
Speaker
cheeks. He's literally blushing. Your cheeks are very red. little chub-chub. A little chub-chub. i' give you I'll show you the chub chub later. Whoa, on that bombshell. Hey, man, ah you got a zoom lens. And David's already left. He walked out.
01:19:49
Speaker
you want me to end it? Yeah, end it all. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out. 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.
01:20:05
Speaker
You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover, or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike at confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's
01:20:20
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.
01:20:59
Speaker
Thank you.