Ep 95 - Benjie Burris & Callie Johnson | Boobs, Business & Building Culture That Lasts

0:00Funny story, we met over a pair of boobs. Boobs. B-O-O-B-S. Boobs. Boobs. Titties. Titties. Tatas. The tatas. Do tell. I had to go into the glove box to get a wheel key out of it, a registration card or something like that. And there's a pair of fake boobs in the glove box. And there's nobody there but me and her. So I walk into the office and I've got her fake boobs in my hand.

0:19I said, hey, is there something you need to tell me? And I mean, we had never really talked a whole lot. And she's like, yeah, get your hands off my boobs. Yeah, I can hear that. Yep. And it was all love from there. It was love from there on. 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.

0:50There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, here's your host, Mike Allen, with Confessions of a Shop Owner. Presented by TechMetric. Simply the best software ever made. People who are listening now understand that what Braxton just said was really stupid and we just put up with it.

1:20What's up, guys? Hi. Hey. We are here at Fueling Connections 2026 with ASTA. We snuck away Becky Witt is dropping knowledge bombs in the room down the way, but we are at UTI in Morrisville, North Carolina. Yes. Glad you got that right. Super. Well, it's— so it's UTI and then it's the NASCAR something institute. What? It's not institute. Performance Center. Yes, it used to be NASCAR Tech, but it's no longer.

1:48Now it's UTI. And on this campus for UTI is the NASCAR Performance something something. Yes. Don't hurt yourself. It's okay. It's not my feelings. It's my head that hurts. Oh, okay. So that'll teach you to stay up drinking all night. Hydrate. It's key. So actually, I got in last night at like, I don't know, 10 o'clock. We had just got back from the restaurant.

2:08I'm not going to lie. I was surprised when I seen you this morning. I really was. Because I was like, damn, Mike ain't even going to show up for this. What the hell? Well, I couldn't make it yesterday for the board meeting because I'm lame. But my kids had a tennis match. Kids, singular. One of my kids had a tennis match and it ran late and we didn't.

2:33Just not go shoving people's stuff in women's space. Speak into the microphone. Speak into the microphone. How's the camera view for her now? That's got my whole face blocked. Jeez. Last time you didn't have a damn mic on. I don't look at me for that. And got called out on it, I might add. I recorded a whole podcast with no mic on.

2:53That was Lucas's gear. It was Lucas's gear that he insisted that we use because it was gonna be way better. Trying to hold his sister down, that's it. And the audio was a hot train wreck of a mess, uh, and it was all Braxton's fault. Yes, he wasn't there at all and we were using somebody else's equipment. It's always weird when you use somebody else's tools.

3:13It's like you go into a shop and use somebody else's toolbox. It's just Weird. Okay. That's what I've heard. I don't know. It's not like I've ever owned a toolbox. Braxton, I'll throw you a bone. I will say that I got complimented yesterday on the introduction for Tanika's podcast. Said, said, man, I just, I love that every time you come on, I kind of start laughing.

3:32Is that good or bad? That's good. Well, did you add both? Did you do the intro recording for it? Is it you? That's awesome. Wait a minute. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Wait a minute. You ain't even seen the intro to my podcast. I don't listen to anyone's content. None. I listen to my own. Not even— you can give me 30 seconds of your damn time.

3:56Hang on, I'm going to do it right now. Uh-uh. No, no, don't listen to it. It's on YouTube. You won't have no service in here. Yeah, I connected to the Wi-Fi cuz I can follow instructions. I connected to the Wi-Fi yesterday and it still sucks. I'm just saying. Don't fuck with yourself. Well, you got to listen to it, but you're going to get feedback and crap and all this stuff.

4:17Help me, Lord. Hey, Catagrace. This is Tanika. She has a podcast I've heard. It's like Downgrade with Tanika. What is it called? Okay. I see where we're going. Okay, where we going with this? I thought it was going to be friendly. We're going to do something together. But okay. It's called Downshift with Tanika. And I have a growing audience. I'm excited. I get excited when people say, I'm listening to the podcast.

4:45It's so weird. I think you are going to take over the automotive podcast. Podcast world. We'll see. It's so good. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little disappointed because I've hit the love on every single thing and I think I've made top engagement one time. Oh my God. It's because Buckaroo Buckin' Bob is on there. I know, right? He's on everybody's top engagement.

5:08He don't do nothing but social media. Hey guys, Keri Lynne with Turnkey Marketing. If you are looking to increase cars and you're looking for the right demographic to go after, you want to get the right people who need auto repair right now. Then give us a call. We have a service called Direct Track and it utilizes AI to find people in your area who are the great demographic that you want to go after, have raised their hand and opted in saying, I need auto repair help right now.

5:35We send them an email. As soon as they open the email, we then get their physical address, follow it up with commercial ads on all their streaming services like Hulu and YouTube and ESPN, Fox News, all those different things. And then we also get their physical address and we start sending banner ads and display ads to every single device in that house.

5:57It has been incredibly effective. It has made shops seem like they're everywhere to those people who need repairs right then. And I mean, I'm telling you guys, the return on investment has been huge. So if you want to increase car count, you want to get great people in the door, give us a call or reach out to us and ask us about DirectTrack Marketing.

6:18Running 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. Then I switched to TechMetric. It's, uh, all-in-one cloud-based SMS that lets me run my shop from anywhere. It streamlines my estimating process, keeps customers in a loop with real-time updates.

6:41I'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 Tekmetric, my average repair order 4 years ago was $293, and right now it's $916. That's not luck. It's better processes, faster workflow, speed of service that's facilitated by this technology helps me get higher and better authorizations from my customers.

7:04If you're ready for a shop management system that actually works for you, tap the link in the show notes and check out Tekmetric. You're gonna like what you see. Come on, man. Do you have a job? No, he's catching fish on social media. I want to see his phone screen time report. Oh my Lord. Oh my goodness, I bet it's hard. I bet it's really hard.

7:20It's like a toddler walking around. Well, his niece does that stuff, a lot of that stuff for him. She's doing a lot. You think he's got a social media manager with his login? Yeah, his niece does all of that, you know. Um, I can't remember her name, but she does it for him. It's Dawn, right? Dawn, yeah. Brian Pollock will occasionally send me a message and tell me who I've been fighting with on the internet most recently, because I don't engage with any of of our content almost at all.

7:45Right. But he had, he'll just log in to the admin page and just start trolling the fuck out of people. I need to hire a troll under you. Yeah. And everybody thinks it's me that's talking. There was one dude, he was like, you know, it's obvious that you're an idiot and you don't know what the hell you're doing. I ran a successful business for XYZ years.

8:09I didn't have to get rid of it until I had my divorce. And now I'm a service manager, yada yada. And so Brian was like, hey bro, cool story. If ever we need to do an episode on how to lose your business and your marriage at one time, we'll call you up. Oh my God. And I was like, does this dude live near me?

8:27Do I need to be looking behind my back? Yes. He's like, nah, Jess, he's in California. Now I never know if I should respond to everybody. Like I usually, I had to delete a lot of them that were just rude. But I just, I stopped responding. I'll do a check or a heart every now and again. And then I'm just like, you guys are stupid, especially on TikTok.

8:48This toxic, man. The comment section is super toxic. I don't, I don't even know what's there anymore. I mean, and plus, I got a fair amount of rage bait, right? Which, what does rage bait do? It brings out the haters. Lucas gives us a really hard time about our tendency to lean towards rage bait because I just love kind of being a troll and stirring the pot, right?

9:09He's like, you need to have like reasonable, thoughtful, nuanced discourse to help bring the industry along. And my whole response to that is, Lucas, how long have we known each other? Have you ever known me to have reasonable, thoughtful, nuanced discourse? It's kind of your gig, dog. So does that mean you're going to start making walking videos? Walkie-talkies. Walkie-talkies. Yeah. I mean, some people say that I look like I probably need to get a little cardio Walkie-talkies uphill.

9:40Terrible. Somebody told you that? Uphill both ways. Oh, honey. Have you ever been on the internet? Gosh. Kelly, you're too nice, man. She's a sweetie. You're too nice. So I will say that it is time for Summer Olympics Part 2. We're recording this one week before Tools in Pennsylvania. Last year at Tools— Well, you're not going this time, so nobody got to see what they chose.

10:01I was 3 months into the shot, right? And I hate— one, I hate needles. And two, I had poop breath. I had sulfur breath was a thing. And so I stopped because my breath actually smelled like actual poop. Like clear a room type stuff. Yeah. And he was just sitting there eating the mints like— I was trying to eat like Altoids nonstop.

10:23So it was like poop shit. Yeah. It was like curiously strong poop breath. You shit a peppermint. Yes, exactly. But now I'm on Wegovy this time, which is the pill, because I'm a baby and shots make me nervous. And so we'll see how that works. And I'm going to do hormone replacement therapy and get all raged up, and then I can record with David again and be like, "Rah!

10:44I'm more angry than you are!" No, I don't know. Please don't. We have enough of that going on. Hey, so we're going to be in Cali. That was the most random conversation. And the whole time she's been worried to death. I don't know what to say. I won't know what to talk about. We're going to talk about her big life. I have been so nervous.

11:06I've never been on a podcast. First time. No, weren't you? Wasn't the whole family on together one time? Yeah, she was in the background whenever we did the very first one. I was in there when y'all got on Jada McKennie. Whenever we did the very first one with Jeff. Yeah, I actually listened to that episode. That was a great episode. You guys all did great.

11:23Just talking about the family. Talking about the family. A great family. I don't like You guys have the blueprint for a great family. We'll parent them when they little. You're gonna need to write a book. That's what you need to do. How to get shit done with the family. Like all kidding aside, when I came and sat in the Parnell class or the Limitless Leadership class that you had at the shop, it was obvious that you guys have like done it the right way.

11:53Every family has issues, right? But your family actually likes each other, it would appear, for the most part, more often than not. Most of the time. Yeah, most of the time. And it's truly a family business, and the culture in your business appears to be incredible. And the community that you've built around the business, I mean, it was like, it was like some goals.

12:17Yeah. Like, what, what's happened there? I mean, I don't know, you think Do you think that that's possible in like an urban, densely populated area? Or do you think that's a small town, like a small town existence? Oh, I think that's small town mentality, but you can bring that into the city. Well, but you got to remember, I've been in that community my whole life.

12:38You know, people talk about you got to have this and you got to have that. Dude, I'm on a two-lane country road in the middle of a community called Frog Pond. Destination. I mean, we out in the sticks. There is a stop sign like a mile away. There's a stop sign down the road. Yeah. But, you know, we— the community has taken care of us, so we've always tried to take care of the community.

13:00And it don't matter if it's the teacher appreciation or, you know, we're constantly doing something with different schools. I truly believe in that. I really do. I truly, truly believe in that. And that's shown through everything that we do. The people that, that are in the shop now, they love it. I mean, they love it. Our kids have grown up there. I've grown up there.

13:23You know, I've told the story many times about me and Christy meeting in the little 2-bay service station. And that's literally a half a mile down the road from where my shop is now. Now, was Christy a customer? Mm-hmm. She was a customer. My wife was a customer. She actually started coming up there when she was like 12, 13 years old, she says.

13:42And I never really noticed her then. Funny story, we met over a pair of boobs. Once she was driving, she was about— boobs, boobs, titties, titties, the tatas. Do tell. Well, she, she drove a little '88 Camaro and I had to go into the glove box to get a wheel key out of it or registration card or something like that. And there's a pair of fake boobs in the glove box and there's nobody there but me and her.

14:10So I walk into the office and I've got her fake boobs in my hand. I said, hey, is there something you need to tell me? And I mean, we, we, you know, we had never really talked a whole lot. And she's like, yeah, get your hands off my boobs. I can hear that. Yep. And it was all love from there. It was love from there on.

14:28That's a real love from first to 10. Like, how long have you had the shop though? So we opened in 2007. Okay. Well, let's back up just a little bit. So worked for a man in a two-bay service station, Avery Whitley. Worked for him from my 13th birthday. Started freshman year of high school working for him. Parents, I wanted a horse. Parents said, you want a horse?

14:55Get a job. So I got a job sweeping the floors and wiping up tools at a little service station. And before I knew it, it was 17 years later and done married and kids and, and all that. Um, me and Christy got married in 1999, and at that time I was still working for Ave, but I would go here and work on your car, and I'd go there, and I'd go to this shop and that shop and driveways and out in my driveway or anywhere I could to make a living, man.

15:25We had, we had kids to support. So, um, we built the first shop, which is a, a little Steel Master, like, Kwanzaa hut type deal. We put a little 30x32 up and our backyard. Could not afford concrete. I mean, all we had was the, the metal building with the back wall, and I had plastic hanging on the, the front wall. We had just enough concrete.

15:49I had a 10x10 square pad of concrete in the back corner. That's where I changed the first engine at in that shop. The rest of it was just gravels. And as I got a little bit of money, I'd pour a little bit more concrete and a little bit more concrete, a little bit more concrete. The fact that you say that, as you got more money, then you start to pour patch by patch.

16:06If you look at our driveway at our shop, that's how dad did it. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait for you two to meet. I am so looking forward to that. I am so. So what I was getting at is we talked about your community and all the work that you do in the community and all that stuff. When did that become important to you?

16:24Like, was that always in you? Because you're also a Boy Scout troop leader. Yes, ma'am. So service is in your blood. Mm-hmm. Has that always been a part of your business to be community focused? Yeah, yeah, it really has. It really has. Christy's been a teacher. She was a teacher forever. So always in the schools, it was always knew about this family that needed something or we're doing a project for the school here or whatever and we just wanted to be a part of it.

16:55And I mean, it wasn't really something we set out to do. We just kind of did it because it needed to be done. So you can't be a shop owner, well, you probably could, but, and think, okay, I'm going to do it like he does. And it'll be fake. If you decide, oh, I want to be this, I want to do this for the community and you don't do it in the right way and it's not coming from your heart, I wonder if the results are going to be the same.

17:18Yeah. Servant leadership. Yeah. People can tell. Dogs can tell if you're a good person or not. People can tell. Yeah, I get bit all the time. Maybe you're just hanging out with the wrong dogs. That may be it. So, Callie. So I've known you for years as Callie Grace, and now I noticed it's Callie. What was the choice in the change of the name?

17:46I didn't really change it. Some people call me Callie Grace still, and some people call me Callie. So I just go with either. Like, if somebody calls either, I'm going to answer to it. How do you introduce yourself to a stranger? Typically just Callie. Okay. Yeah, typically. She's always my Callie Grace. Yeah. To people that I really like, I like them to call me Callie Grace.

18:03Okay. But if it's like a stranger, typically it's just Callie. So for me, just Callie then. You can do either. She doesn't know about you yet. Like, Tanika calls you Callie Grace a lot. It's Callie Grace. Yeah. Well, it's probably because I've heard the two of you referencing her all this time, so I just assumed that's the way to go. So yeah, that's, that's Niecy.

18:23But I was really sad when it's, it's not like Kelly Grace Burris anymore. Like when I see it on social media, yeah, I get a little— the email signature, congratulations, congratulations. I was like, she's, she's married and she changed her last name. It's not even my last name. Would you feel a little betrayed? I told Gage he was gonna have to be Gage Burris.

18:42I know, right? He was gonna change Gage Burris. GB. I remember that. Yeah. She'll always be my Kelly Grace. And you guys have moved to Texas now, right? Yes. How is Texas so far? I love it. Do you really? Yeah, I love it. We're actually going to be moving again soon, which makes me both happy and sad at the same time because we've made a great friend group down there that are like our age, Marines.

19:01They're great people. Their spouses are great. So I'm excited. I'm excited to see if we end up going to another country or staying in the United States. That'll be something neat. It's okay, Benji. Don't cry. He'll be overseas at least once in the first 4 years, right? There's a Potential for sure of that. What's up, guys? I was just coming to talk to you about one of my favorite pieces of software that we use in line with TechMetric, our point of sale system platform that we're using, and that is Detect Auto.

19:30And you've heard me talk about Detect Auto for almost a year at this point. My team loves it. I enjoy it. It makes life easier. And I just want to talk to you about one of those features, and that is just their maintenance tool. If you know how time-consuming and tiring it can be to go back and search history one by one by one by one to get a picture —of a vehicle service history before you make your maintenance recommendations.

19:50This is going to save an enormous amount of time. In 30 seconds or less, it's checking CARFAX service history, it's checking OEM service interval recommendations, and it's checking your own internal customized service interval recommendations. And it combines all that information to give you a picture of the maintenance that has been missed or is not known on that vehicle and adds those recommendations automatically to your inspection process.

20:13With just a couple clicks of buttons, that can be added also directly into your repair order and your estimate. I think it's a great tool. It's a great time saver. I love it, and I think you will too. You should give it a shot. If you want to find out more, check out the link to Detect Auto in our show notes. So I remember the first time somebody told me about ChatGPT and I got really geeked out about it and I used it to write a poem for my wife and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

20:44And it's evolved a little bit in the last 18 months and now I I for one welcome our new AI overlords and can't wait to see how I can help them out. All kidding aside, Confessions is hosting a class on Saturday, June 13th. If you come down a night early, you can come to Friday Night Shenanigans on Friday the 12th. But it's a full-day class taught by Seth Thorson about how you can build your own AI agents and your own— build your own AI tools within your business to help make your business more efficient, more effective, more profitable.

21:12This is an owner and manager only class. There are limited seats available for this class because it's very hands-on. You're going to need your Laptop, you're going to need an active subscription to the AI of your choice. I recommend ChatGPT and Claude AI. Early sign-up discount, it's $8.99. If you sign up after May 17th, it's $12.99. Tap the link in the show notes or scan the QR code on your screen to learn more.

21:35It's going to be awesome. I'm trying to get prepared because I feel like she's going to wind up in Okinawa. Yeah, I will be honest, I talk about wanting to gauge because when you're first married, there's not a requirement to move overseas, but if you request it, it is 100% accepted because they people to go overseas and a lot of people don't want to go overseas.

21:55But I've encouraged Gage for the experience of it to go overseas to like Okinawa, Japan or Italy, Norway. Because I mean, when are you ever going to be able to move to another country on your own dime? Whereas this one you're moving on the military and we don't have children yet. So you're doing it right. My brother was stationed in Okinawa twice and he loved it.

22:12Yeah. Everybody that we've talked to has loved it. I'm encouraging her very much, even though dad don't want to see her go. They make airplanes. Dude, take off. Yeah. You got no kids. You got nothing here to tie you down. It's a big, beautiful world we live in. Go see it. Yeah, go see it. Go enjoy it. Yeah. Frog Pond will be here when you get back.

22:32Meet interesting new people and kill them. Yeah, right. Great. You just get to meet interesting new people. Yeah. Yeah. I love meeting people. The Marines job. She don't hurt a stranger. So Callie will make friends no matter where she goes. She'll be fine no matter where she goes. Where'd she get that from? Her mama. That is not true. That's a lie, Drew.

22:53That comes from you. That is not true. Huh? Yeah. I was like, that comes from you. Yeah, it for sure comes from you. Yeah. We don't know strangers. We don't know strangers. I love it. Go back and you, you mentioned that you're heavily involved with the schools and kind of partnering between Frog Pond and the schools. What, what do you do there?

23:13For example, Teacher Appreciation Week's coming up in what, about 3 more weeks, I think? Something like that. We will— first week of May. Okay, so we will literally— we don't just go and buy pizzas or whatever. Christy will cook lasagnas or whatever. She will cook, and we go up and we serve the teachers. You know, we don't just go up and drop it off and say, thank y'all very much, and leave a business card there.

23:39We go in and we serve the teachers as they come through. Now, you can't cook for students, But the, the teachers, yeah, they don't care. They'll eat anything. So yeah, you know, just that kind of stuff. And, and it don't matter if it's football team, baseball, basketball, cheerleading. You know, Callie Grace was in cheerleading forever, so we would constantly do something for the different athletes, whatever they needed.

24:05And, and the schools know the businesses that they can depend on, that they can they reach out to. And we get a list all the time. Girl Scout troops, Boy Scout troops, just anything that involves community outreach, anything we can do in the community. So I think what's important there is what you're talking about is not just writing a check. Yeah. No, writing a check is nice too, right?

24:27They need that, but they need boots on the ground. Giving of your, of your time and your attention makes a big difference too. And I think that's the difference between —what we were talking about earlier about how people can tell. Like, they're appreciative if you write the check. Sure. But if you show up and you're the hands and feet of Jesus, right, or of whatever you're trying to do community-wise, that makes a big difference.

24:52So, but again, that community is taking care of us. Yeah. Yeah. It's because of them that we went from a 30 by 32 Steelmaster building with gravel on the floor to a 6,000 square foot shop that, you know, I can leave now. I think that you probably are a contributing factor to Lucas Underwood's struggles because he saw your shop and he was like, ooh, I want a shop like that.

25:17And he bit off more than he can chew. And now he's like, what the hell am I going to do? Why you talk about that man when he is not here to defend himself? Because that's the most fun time to talk about him. Oh, okay. You're right. So I know where you're located. It's not too far from Charlotte. And the community has been what it's been.

25:34Uh, I lived there around '95. That's how we got to talking, because she's like, there's no way that you know. I was like, I do. Like, literally my aunt's house is probably less than 5 miles from your home. It has grown so much. It is. And a lot of those people are people that have just been running away from Mecklenburg County. Transplants.

25:54Transplants. Do you have How do you deal with that? How do you deal with the big city folk coming in and demanding certain things, certain way, they just don't know how it's done, and what's that Montgomery County? Yeah, well, like, how do you train that customer? Here's the thing, when you come into our shop, you don't demand what we do because it just won't work.

26:16You know, we got, we do things our way and there's a reason we do it like that. And I've had some pretty tough conversations with with customers who say, you're trying to work on my vehicle your way and I want it done my way. I'm sorry, that doesn't work here. You know, I want just the pads replaced. I don't want the rotors turned or replaced or whatever.

26:41Sorry, dude. Yeah. People in here don't like me. There's a lot of other shops around. Carry on. Just put on chains. I don't need tensioners and guides. Just put the chains on. Yeah. Yeah. And then buy me a new engine when it blows up. So, um, I do want to talk a little bit about Callie's new job. I love it. Yeah, I love it so much.

27:02It's been a really good change. I've got to meet a ton of new people, which has been great. I think people like what I'm doing, or I hope at least they do. I've got good feedback. So, well, you knew a lot of the kind of core people already just through Frog Pond, right? And through coming to ASTA Expo as an attendee for years and a volunteer.

27:21So tell everyone, what is your new gig? I am the membership and events manager for the ASTA, and I'm loving it so much. And I'm going into my— this will be my third expo to attend. I remember Dad talked about it a lot. How many years have you gone? You've gone— I don't even know at this point, but you invited me 3 years ago and I went.

27:42I was nervous. I did not know what to expect, and I didn't hardly know anybody. I had just started like I was just in the very start of doing your social media. And so I was like, oh, these people are going to be older than me. They're going to be really smart. They're probably going to think I'm silly because I'm so young.

27:56Because I was only older, not smart. Because I was still in high school at that point. And it was so much fun. I mean, I got to meet some people and I got out of my shell. I talked to a lot of people. That's when I got to meet— What shell? I kind of had a shell back then a little bit. Come on now.

28:12Well, maybe a little, but last year was awesome. That was when I really branched out and talked to just as many people as I could. I mean, I made so many friends there and I still text them and shop owners too. It's just great. How many, uh, how many people reach out to you on a, on a weekly basis saying, hey, will you do my social media?

28:32I got one this morning actually. I'll be damned. I got one this morning. I've thought about it multiple times and I was like, she's got too much stuff going on to mess with my mess. I've had several friends say, hey, would Callie Grace be interested in doing this? For the low, low price of— I know, too. Yeah, absolutely. 100%. But I like the fact that, um, so you got two boys, you got a girl.

28:52Cody's working in the shop. She's working in the shop. Other baby's just playing, um, what, Yogi the Bear? He gets paid to go out and scout for where he's going hunting. That's what I tell him all the time. He works for the state of Oklahoma. He's a park ranger. Yeah. But As a young lady in the automotive industry, how do you feel fitting in?

29:15Like, does you have no qualms, no problems, no issues? Just you, you don't. You just fit into any room. Like, how do you feel about young women in the industry? I think it's a great thing. I love it. I mean, I personally, and I think it helps because I talk to everybody, but I don't really feel like I have a problem fitting in a room.

29:32And I love that saying, why fit in when you're born to stand out? Yeah, it's one of my favorite sayings, and I really believe in that. So if I walk into a room, I want to just talk to everybody and kind of make my mark. So I'd like to view life like that. I can't wait till this year. Now that she's got this new job with the ASTA.

29:49Mm-hmm. You wait till the next show coming up. She will be in everyone's face with cameras and questions and I can see it now. Yeah, well, we need that kind of engagement. It's going to be a busy, busy, busy week for you. Yes. But I'm very excited and I've came up with all kinds of video ideas. Videos already that I'm plotting out for it.

30:11Uh-oh. And I got— I can work with my smile and talk people into doing videos. So I'm really hoping I can just— all kinds of strangers and people I've never met before, hopefully I can get them in videos too because I want to branch out and meet new people there. Well, I mean, it was what, like 1,200, 1,300 people there last year?

30:25Uh, so I think there'll probably be 1,500 or 1,600 people there this year. So be a lot of opportunities to meet folks. Yeah, no doubt. I think it's the best networking event in the industry. Like, it's not the biggest, obviously, but at a certain point you get so big that it's impossible to have the opportunity to network with everyone. But with the, the social events that happened before and during and after, um, Casino Night, um, the spectacular hospitality suite, um, I mean, it's just, there's so much opportunity to find the people that you want to connect with and you have multiple chances to make that connection and build relationships.

31:08And from a vendor perspective, I mean, there are vendors that show up just in time to set their booth up and they stand at their booth awkwardly and then they leave. And they're like, I didn't get anything from ASC Expo. You get out of it what you put into it. Come to the pizza party, come to casino night, go to the pre-party.

31:24Yeah, the pre-party last year was insane. Yeah, I mean, that was like— That was amazing. That was a lot of fun. Yeah. And then shop owners that look from the outside in, they're looking at our social media and they haven't come to the expo yet and then they're afraid to come because someone said that it kind of looks cliquey. It's not. It's not.

31:45It is the least cliquey event. I mean, unless you want to consider 1,200 people a clique. Yeah. 1,200 people clique. Because we all clique. Yeah. We have a great time. Like there's a spot for everybody. Yeah. There's everybody, any shop owner, multiple shop owner, new shop owner, still mobile guy, still doing what you did in the beginning, whatever stage you're at in your business.

32:06There's something for everybody. Yeah. I was, there's a dude here who's at Fueling Connections today and he was in this room because like at 7:50 this morning they were sending people down here instead of the auditorium by accident. That's how I came in. Started talking. He's like, you don't remember me, but we met at the expo last year. And he was a technician who was a high-volume, high-hour-producing technician, was making a lot of money.

32:31And he said, you know, the conversation that we had last year had a significant impact on me, and I'm no longer a wrench. He's a service director. And he— the conversation that we had with him led him to change his career. Well, look at us. And I'm like, I'm like, dude, I don't even remember you, dog. But it does feel like it gets overwhelming sometimes.

32:55But here's the deal. You're going to meet hundreds of people, but the conversations that are had, it's like there's no disrespect meant in the fact that I don't remember this guy. It's just one of 40 conversations you have that day, right? Can be impactful on others and on yourself. Because I've had conversations at the expo before that had a major impact on the direction that I went in my business and in my life..

33:16And it's neat to know that we're having those conversations now that are having an impact. And the dude, he's here getting leadership training because he's now in a leadership role. He went from a technical role to a leadership role. He thought he wanted to own and open his own shop, and he went to Dutch's class about for technicians that are wanting to own and open their own shop.

33:34He said, you know what, I don't want that. Yeah, I want to be in leadership for somebody else's shop. And so, I mean, there's something for everybody, that event, for any position in the shop and for any position you want to be holding in the future.. And I thought that was a pretty cool conversation that just happened this morning. I remember those conversations.

33:52I mean, that's the AST, the first one. That was, that was my game changer. I remember that very distinctively because although my guys don't really believe me, there was a time when I actually had to turn the wrenches and answer the phones and, and do it all. And, and it was that first expo that was back when it was still IGO. That made all the difference in the world.

34:15And it was those conversations, that's where I first met Rick White and, you know, really got to talk to Lucas. And so many people had such an impact. When I first opened my shop, I thought my old systems would keep up. The software that I had would continue to evolve. But as we grew, the slow estimates, scattered workflow, increasing downtime, it really just, it was becoming a real problem.

34:38That's why I switched to TechMetric. It's not just software. It's a complete shop management system that makes my life easier. SmartJobs, instant estimates, integrated payments, integrated financing options. I mean, it allows me to focus on the work that actually makes me money and not get bogged down in the other details. My shop's repair orders have jumped over 300% since switching to TechMetric.

34:59And when I need help, their support team responds in real time. I actually was online with them asking questions just this week, and I got answers in minutes rather than having to wait for callbacks and emails days later. If your system is holding you back, it's time for a change. Tap the link in the show notes and see how TechMetric can help you move your shop forward.

35:17Dude, there's got to be a better way. And I found that way. There's a lot of better ways. I found it at the ASCA. Same, same for me. Like you, you went with your father because your dad used to be a part of it too. Dad was a board member in the '90s. Um, and I remember going to one where there was like 50 people, right?

35:39Wow. And there were as many people there manning the booths as there were attendees. And there are shows like that happening all over the country and have been. And I think one of the things that's different about what is now ASTA— it was IGO at the time— is the energy that other people put back into it. And I think they developed a community and a networking environment where it was like, we are not competitors.

36:09There are more cars driving by the bay of the front door of my shop than I can possibly work on, right? And we don't have to be enemies. We can share best practices. We can lean on each other for help and advice. My second store is downtown Raleigh and literally boom, boom, boom, it's 3 stores. The back wall of my shop, if somebody runs through the parking lot in his shop, it's going to run through the back wall of my shop.

36:38And there's 3 of those. Uh, it's King's Automotive, former IGO president, uh, longtime board member, current ASTA member. They come to the expo every year. It's Car Fix, and then it's Piper's Automotive, former board president. I mean, and it's like when I went to look at that building, I walked next door to each of them, said, hey guys, y'all cool with me moving in right here?

37:01And like, yeah, if I lose any customers to you, it's my fault. Yep. Great. And we help each other. Yeah. And that's, I think, what is unique about being a member of ASTA. And now we started as a, as a just a North Carolina kind of thing, right? But now it's really become Southeastern US and national and international because we've got We've got Canadians coming in, we've got Australians coming in, we've got people coming in from the British Isles.

37:28And I just— seeing the growth while maintaining that small town feel and the everybody's here to help everybody has been pretty awesome. So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about that too. So Callie, don't screw this up. No pressure. No pressure. No pressure. You got this. I hope not. That'll be bad. No, it's fine. You're going to do awesome. I think you're going to do awesome.

37:52So I appreciate that. Thank you. Um, what can we expect in 2026 Expo? Any, any, uh, new exciting things that we should be aware of? Keep it all under wraps. That's what I was about to say. We're just going to kind of drip it out a little bit at a time on the socials, kind of build up the excitement. You're saying if I'd actually made it to the board meeting yesterday, I would know?

38:12Since I didn't make it to the board meeting, Yeah, come on, we don't got to release this episode now. No, this has got to be released ASAP so people know and get ready. I do have a question. When do I have to write the check for the hospitality suite? Yesterday, that's the deadline. Waiting on you. Um, it's going to be cool. We're not in the same space as last year.

38:33How did you do that? Are they letting you bring alcoholic beverages in? Um, because it's the bar. I don't think we talk about that openly and publicly. We're just gonna It just kind of happens. We're just going to relax and let it happen. Okay. Oh, uh, I saw nothing. That's my mantra for life. Um, no, I think it'd be great. And they said that I can bring in all the arcade games and the poker table and everything again.

38:57Really? That'd be fun. I don't think there's enough, uh, the way the space lays out, I'm not going to bring all the couches and stuff again this time because while it was a super cool space last year, it was so full of people. It was crowded. Yeah, it was crowded. It was so much fun though. But you got to bring the throne.

39:12The throne must Oh, the throne will be there, dog. So I kind of want like one of those really gaudy, obnoxious gold thrones with the big red velvet cushions. Is that velvet? You should do that and then add like an LED backlight behind it. This red. Do not give this fool any more ideas. So it would glow like if you're sitting in the chair, red all around.

39:33That would be so cool. That'd be kind of like the throne that I got the picture of your mom in. Yeah. In the speakeasy in Mexico the other night. Did I send you that picture? I don't think so. You should try it. I keep aviator sunglasses with me at almost all times now in case I happen to walk by a throne so that I can have a picture of me with glasses and a whiskey glass.

39:55You need a Game of Thrones throne with the knives in it from the Game of Thrones. It's very violent. I'm a lover, not a hater. Just because you can't fight. That's also a part of it. There's way too much full-frontal male nudity in that show for me. Way too many balls. Yeah, man. A lot of balls. It just made your balls feel small.

40:18Is that why you— Bobby, because there's like 3 pair of balls in that whole show. I'm very, I'm very in touch with my balls. Thanks. Oh, we know. There's lots of stories. They keep coming out. They keep coming out. What is happening? Are you talking about the balls or the stories? Both. No, I can keep my balls nicely tucked away now. Thanks.

40:39Now. Now you wear tighty whities. What? You know, I— we just set up— You definitely don't listen to the podcast, do you? There's a story about my balls that happens. You'll have that. We set up the sign-up page for the Seth Dawson class on AI that we're doing in June. And there's a series of questions like, you know, name, address, phone number, yada yada yada.

41:04And one of them is boxers or briefs. So we'll see what the people who— or commando. No, I think you get to a certain stage in life and you learn not to go commando anymore. You know, we'll talk about that off camera. We don't, we don't have to talk about that at all. I feel like, yeah, I feel like we've already had a conversation about that on camera once.

41:27Oh my God. Um, so Poor Callie doesn't know what the hell's going on. Yeah, she's just over there like, what's happening? Hey, can we, can we talk about the, uh, the Flying with the Eagles that's coming up? Flying with the Eagles? Yeah. I am going to miss that, and I really wish, because my 20 group meets at the same time, um, but I really— you should switch coaching companies.

41:52Oh my God, but I really wanted to. Mike, you gonna be there? Um, what dates are they? I need to go again because I've gone twice over the years, but it's a totally new curriculum now that Matt and Joe are running. Is it like the second week back from Tools maybe? I think so. I think so. It's coming up quick. It's coming up quick.

42:12I'm thinking very seriously about sending both of my guys up front. And the reason I want to go so bad is because I really enjoyed you and Matt's coaching. Those are the best. Those are the only ones that I listen to. It's May 14th through the 16th. Yeah. Charlotte. Matt is really good. He's really good. Homie is smart. Well, what's your problem?

42:32Why can't you take directions? Um, it's because I think I know everything. So here's the thing, right? Maybe I should be a coach because I've been to all the classes and I know all the right things to say. I just totally fail on implementation. Yeah. I fail on implementation and accountability. But you also go to a lot of UNC games. And you should not be playing.

42:54You should just be like— you just say you went to all the classes and so you should be a coach. That's like saying I went to all the games and I should be a player. Those who can do, those who can't coach, right? Teach? No, I don't know. We're doing a class at the Expo. You realize that you're talking people out of taking our class at the Expo?

43:13No, they're coming to see me. Oh, they're not coming to see you. Otis, you too is doing a class. And Lucas, the three of us. Oh, that'd be good. Oh my. That'd be good. Owners only. Oh my. No sponsors, no coaches. Well, you know I'm gonna be in there. No. Unless you're there for AV purposes. No, he's gonna be there for AV.

43:31He's gonna be walking around with a microphone. He's gonna be Vanna White. You have to wear a ball gown. Sequins. Okay. Braxton. Go ahead and let your hair grow out. It's happening. I feel like Braxton is probably a drag queen. Like once a month, every third Wednesday. What is his name? What would be your drag queen name? Braxtina. Braxtina. He doesn't have a mic.

44:00Nobody can hear him. Braxtina. He agrees. We have a small problem. We got a small problem. I'm testing Ryan about it. We got the caterers out front. Okay. And they're— Callie Grace is trying to get ahold of Ryan so somebody can go out there and pick up the food. I mean, we can go. How long we been talking? 40 minutes. Yeah. I mean, ASTA Expo, September 24th through 26th.

44:23Come down early. Come visit Brown's Automotive. Come visit Car Fix. Come visit the Car Fix Confessions of a Shop Owner Bar and Lounge. astaexpo.com or astausa.org. You can find us on social media. All of it. Yeah. Like, follow for more and wear underwear. Come see what all the hoopla is about. Please. Yeah, you won't regret it. Yeah. And if you think you're coming by yourself, you're not.

44:51Come find me. Yeah, come find us. Come chill. Yes. Yeah, we'll be there. We don't bite. Love, peace, and hair grease. We gotta go get food. Love you. Love, peace, and hair grease. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out— the good, 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.

45:11So why not laugh a little bit, Learn a little bit and maybe have another drink. 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@confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's 704-266-3377. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow.

45:35Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you on the next episode. All right, guys. AI class. Learn how to use AI so that you can make it your bitch and you don't become its bitch. Saturday, June 13th, Seth Thorson's teaching a full-day class in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tap the link in the show notes or scan the QR code on your screen to learn more.

46:05It's going to be awesome.