Ep 123 - Caleb McElmurry | When Should a One-Man Shop Hire Its First Technician?
Now playing — Confessions of a Shop Owner
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Tekmetric transformed my shop. Plain and simple. Want that for yours? Touch HEREIf you're like me and aren't good at marketing, don't do it on…
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Ep 124 - James Hornak & Nathan Ward | These Shop Owners Are 14 Months In and Pacing $1.5 Million
Tekmetric transformed my shop. Plain and simple. Want that for yours? Touch HERETurnkey Marketing takes the stress of doing something I'm not good at off my plate. And gives it to someone who is. Click HERE for more.47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREWhen I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Mike Allen catches up with James Hornak and Nathan Ward roughly a year after their first appearance on Confessions of a Shop Owner—and a lot has changed. Their shop now has three full-time technicians, has been running roughly 180 cars a month at around a $955 ARO, and is pacing toward approximately $1.5 million in its first full year. They explain the strategy behind their controversial $29 oil changes, what happened when their first $100K month convinced them they could change roles too quickly, why finding the right service advisor has been harder than expected and how coaching and involvement in the industry accelerated their growth. Mike also opens up about the management mistake that wrecked his own shop culture, they discuss building strong DVIs without trying to sell every discovered item immediately, and Nathan casually declares that the goal for next year is $3 million. Oh—and James and Nathan finally reveal that they were behind the mystery Mike Allen shirts that had him accusing half of ASTA Expo of conspiring against him.Timestamps:00:00 – Mike Discovers the Mystery Shirt01:26 – Martini Bar at ASTA 😂02:24 – Is the Mustang STILL Broken?04:19 – One Year of Insane Shop Growth06:01 – Hiring Three Technicians in Year One09:24 – 180 Cars a Month & $955 ARO10:42 – The $29 Oil Change Strategy12:25 – Pacing $1.5 Million in Year One16:50 – Mike’s Shop Culture Fell Apart18:59 – $100K Month → $60K Month20:38 – Mike’s Best Service Advisor Was a Bartender21:48 – Why Coaching Changed Everything23:44 – Should They Buy a $2.5M Shop?27:54 – Paying Off Debt & Building the “F You Fund”28:30 – WHO MADE THE MIKE SHIRTS?! 😂38:04 – Profitable Enough to Spend Money on a Joke53:28 – The Free Diag Debate Returns55:59 – $5,300 in Discovered Work58:58 – The $3 Million Goal1:03:03 – From Startup to $1.5M Through Community & Coaching
Ep 122 - Trey & Sasha Holley | Stop Looking for A-Techs. Build Them.
Keep shop management, payments, marketing (all the things) all in one place with Tekmetric. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Click HERETurnkey Marketing has made my life SOOO much simpler, AND they've helped keep the phone ringing. Do you need these two things too? Learn more HERE47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!When I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREMike Allen sits down with Trey and Sasha Holley, owners of a 10-bay repair shop in Thomaston, Georgia, for a conversation about growth, technician development, working with your spouse and building a business that can eventually survive without you. Trey and Sasha share how losing Sasha’s father suddenly forced them into the business side of automotive before they were ready—and why watching him work himself relentlessly shaped the kind of shop they want to build today. They also explain why struggling to find an experienced A-tech completely changed their hiring philosophy after they took a chance on a high-school student, bought him a toolbox and developed him into a productive young technician now learning diagnostics. The conversation gets into their 400-hour backlog, whether becoming a multi-shop operation is actually something they want, succession planning for their son and the uncomfortable question of what happens to your business if you die tomorrow. And in true Confessions fashion, Trey eventually admits that one of his shop’s biggest historical problems wasn’t employees, technicians or customers—it was his own attitude.Timestamps: 00:00 – Do You Really Need an A-Tech?01:29 – Meet Trey & Sasha Holley03:59 – From Two Bays to a 10-Bay Shop05:38 – Being Thrown Into Business Overnight06:15 – Losing Sasha’s Dad at 5108:57 – Starting Their Own Shop11:02 – Running a Business With Your Spouse13:03 – When Employees Play Husband vs. Wife16:40 – Moving a Technician Into the Front Office18:17 – 400 Hours of Approved Work19:27 – Stop Looking for A-Techs—Build Them20:50 – Teaching a Young Technician Diagnostics22:49 – The Never-Ending Growth Problem23:56 – How Much Growth Is Enough?25:39 – Building a Shop Their Son Can Inherit26:08 – What Happens If the Owners Die Tomorrow?28:36 – Mike’s “Oh Shit, I’m Dead” Book35:08 – What Happened to Sasha’s Dad’s Shop?38:04 – Their First ASTA Expo47:03 – Stop Making Excuses and Show Up51:09 – Trey’s Confession: “The Problem Was Me”52:44 – “I’ve Only Had Two Leave in Tears” 😂
Ep 121 - Marketing Call #2 | Are Your Advisors Accidentally Turning Customers Away?
Tektonic 2027 is coming up April 1-3, and if you missed year 1, you MUST NOT miss year 2. It's bigger, it's better, because is Tekmetric's conference. You know it's gonna be the best conference in the history of conferences. Get lower pricing now HEREMy marketing before and after signing up with Turnkey Marketing is pretty scary. In a good way. Get your marketing right today HERE47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you! Make your techs happier with Detect Auto. They'll stop getting "check noise" or "check vibration" from advisors with the customer concern tool. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Book a demo HEREElite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREMike Allen sits down with Carry-Lynn Rodenberg of Turnkey Marketing for Marketing Call #2, and this time they dig into what happens after your marketing actually works. Mike shares the numbers from his shops—including nearly 2,700 inbound callers in September, roughly 550 unanswered calls and a call-to-car conversion rate of only about 33%—and they talk about how much revenue can disappear when advisors accidentally repel customers. They also discuss handling negative Google reviews, why customer retention may be more important than buying more leads, ways to fill an empty schedule, and why overwhelming customers with massive estimates can sometimes hurt long-term relationships. Carry-Lynn also explains how Google and other AI tools are changing local search, why shops need to be prepared for AI-generated phone calls and why lazy AI use may eventually make every business sound exactly the same. The big question throughout the episode: Do you actually need more marketing—or do you need to stop wasting the customers you already have?Timestamps:00:00 – How Advisors Accidentally Push Customers Away01:08 – Mistakes Happen—Your Response Matters09:34 – Google Reviews & Rebuilding Reputation11:48 – How to Respond to a Bad Review13:37 – What Mike Learned From His Negative Reviews15:46 – You Paid to Make the Phone Ring—Now Convert It18:44 – Measuring Call-to-Car Conversion20:48 – Mike Missed 550 Calls in One Month23:46 – Google’s AI Is Calling Repair Shops28:46 – “Be Nice to the Robot” 😂30:42 – Could AI Capture 100 More Cars a Month?32:50 – Is a Huge ARO Destroying Customer Retention?34:49 – Only 24% of New Customers Came Back39:59 – How to Win Back Lost Customers43:16 – What to Do When Next Week’s Schedule Is Empty48:01 – Easy Customers Already Sitting in Your Database49:35 – Marketing Priorities for a Smaller Shop53:34 – The Most Alarming Thing About AI Marketing57:10 – Bad Marketing Decisions & AI Slop
Ep 120 - Andrew Klement | From Technician to $600K Repair Shop Owner
Tekmetric transformed my shop. Plain and simple. Want that for yours? Touch HERETurnkey Marketing takes the stress of doing something I'm not good at off my plate. And gives it to someone who is. Click HERE for more.47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREWhen I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Mike Allen sits down with Andrew Klement of Finley River Auto and Diesel to talk about what happens when a technician becomes a shop owner—but actually plans for it first. Andrew explains why he hired a coach and CPA before opening, started with a service advisor from day one, invested in systems immediately and surrounded himself with people who had already made the mistakes he wanted to avoid. The result? A greenfield startup with no existing customers that projected roughly $350,000–$360,000 in first-year revenue had already crossed $600,000 with three months left in the year. They also get into Andrew’s first employee quitting, why shop owners fail at training, how to sell repairs without high-pressure tactics, what a healthy shop culture can do for a technician’s career and the time 18-year-old Andrew invented a completely fictional “starter break-in noise” to cover up a mistake. And because it’s Confessions, Mike also gets to explain why releasing an $18,000 repair while still being owed $7,500 is probably a terrible business strategy. Timestamps:00:00 – Sell by Educating, Not Pressuring00:45 – Mike & Andrew Live From ASTA09:15 – Andrew Tried Free Diagnostics10:03 – Finley River Auto & Diesel15:38 – Andrew’s Technician Background17:25 – Building a Shop the Smart Way19:09 – $350K Projection → $600K+ Revenue20:27 – Is the Startup Actually Profitable?23:20 – Almost Leaving the Automotive Industry25:15 – What a Great Shop Taught Andrew29:44 – Can the Customer, Tech AND Shop All Win?32:16 – Andrew’s First Employee Quit34:07 – Selling Without High-Pressure Tactics35:39 – “You Hired Him. It’s Your Responsibility.”39:06 – The Infamous “Starter Break-In Noise” 😂41:42 – A Local Podcast as Shop Marketing44:20 – Andrew’s First ASTA Experience45:33 – Don’t Try to Implement Everything46:21 – The $18,000 Ticket He Still Hasn’t Collected47:06 – Mike: “Don’t Do That Shit.”