The Mistake That's Costing Your Shop Money | Nick Yannessa & Chi Wong - Ep 30

0:00Colin, a guy who worked for us, he would judge. Oh, that's a 2003 CR-V with 200,000 miles. They ain't gonna spend $1,500 on that. That guy lives in this area. He's not gonna spend money on that. I find that the guy with the '03 CR-V, that's my car, by the way, with 200,000 miles. So he'll spend $1,500 on it. But then the guy with the BMW, he wants me to put bottom of the barrel Prinx Maxxis tires on it because he's just trying to look good.

0:24I've learned not to judge the customer, man, woman, nationality, doesn't matter. I present the information the same. Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Tanika Haynes. We all know as shop owners, sometimes you got to slow down in order to speed up. And that's what this podcast is all about. It's time to downshift. Where the hell did you guys meet? Because you two should not be in the same room ever.

0:55Well, that, that's a good topic. We met at the— we met on the A-SOG dating site. Yeah, the A-SOG dating site. Yeah, yeah. She saw how tall I was and he thought that he, you know, he liked that, so he was like, hey, big head. Oh, so it's a romance. Exactly. You know, he's not lying. Look at him, look at him, look at him.

1:19He's blushing and crap. I know, right? You know. Oh crap. That's your boo. So really, you just met on ASOG? So yeah, we— I don't— one of the posts was up and it was when the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and I think I, I, I said something about the Eagles winning the Super Bowl or something came up, and then the Philly area connection came up, and that's how we started talking.

1:41No, I, I think it was when I, uh, first moved shop, and I was just like— I took a picture of something and had an Eagles picture. And then, you know, freaking clown over here, he got excited. Oh my God, Eagles! Yeah, yeah, hell yeah! And then, uh, you know, he slid in my DM and our relationship grew from there. Yeah. And then, you know, about this, I mean, is this— oh yeah, yeah, about the bromance?

2:11Yeah, they know. Poor ladies. Is that a And I found out, you know, he's an hour away from me, you know. You know, after him sliding my DM for a while, I end up being in his area one day, and, you know, he showed up in this piece of shit Cadillac. You're laughing, but this is normal. This is light for him. Like, you're so weird.

2:40First of all, well, let's get started because we have to let the audience know who you are. So go ahead and introduce yourself, Nick. My name is Nickinessa. And? Oh, you wanted more? Oh, okay. So I'm in the process of launching a new shop called Auto Faccina Complete Auto Care. Basically, Auto Faccina means auto repair shop in Italian. So it's a nod to our heritage.

3:05And we wanted something different. I have a partner in it. We wanted something different that wasn't just initials or quality efficient. Our name, anything like that. We wanted something that was not tied to us, but something unique that could be branded. Okay, that's cool. Um, did you work at a shop before? I feel like you— Oh yes, yes. So what's the backup?

3:28So my dad was— has been in the automotive business. He had a shop since he was 19 or 20 years old, something like that. He's been working on cars his whole life, you know, even as a kid in the driveway. And he said he got to start his own shop And then eventually, um, he had a couple different, you know, different repair shops.

3:44He had a gas station, and then he got out of the gas business because, um, that it wasn't a good time to be in the gas business in the '80s, '90s, because that's when like the mini-marts and the Wawa's and the big places were taking over. So then he had— he moved to just a repair shop, and then he decided he didn't want to be in— have his own business for like a couple years and work for a couple people.

4:04We worked at a body shop, worked at a repair restoration shop. And then I think he even sold like campers or something, but he hated that. So then he started another shop where— that's where kind of me and Chi come in— called Wheels in Motion. He started off wanting to do just like hot rods and detailing. At the time, the hot rod business just wasn't working, you know.

4:24Um, and so he branched back into general repair. And then later on, he always wanted to do bodywork and have a body shop. So in our town, the Chevy dealer closed up We start and he bought the body shop building and we had 2 shops and then we were actually able to combine the shop into the building that was the main Chevrolet dealership's main dealership building.

4:46And we had a body shop and a repair shop all in one big building. And we did auto repair, we did, you know, general repair, we did classic cars, we did detail and accessories, collision work, restoration. We kind of did everything. And then As my dad wanted to get closer to retirement, you know, we kind of stopped, kind of phased out the classic car work a little bit.

5:06It was hard to serve 2 masters because Tamika needs her car, her Honda, to go back and forth to work. And she wants his, you know, classic Mustang for the first car show. How do you keep both people happy? And then it got to a time where my dad wanted to retire. And I'll be honest, me and my dad's relationship wasn't the best in business.

5:26It was hard to— and we could probably have a whole deep dive in that because I'm sure— oh yeah, working with your father. Same, same. Yeah, there was a lot of, you know, just— and I think what it was is, you know, I'm, I'm a, I'm a millennial. I'll be 38 at the end of the month. My father's 67. I just think it was just generational and what worked for him worked.

5:45And I respect it 100%. But, you know, to be competitive in 2025, '26, whatever, You— the 1985 playbook isn't working no more, respectfully. Yeah. So I couldn't— I couldn't afford to buy the shop on my own, and, um, I, I wasn't getting— gonna get the help from him to buy it. Again, that's a whole nother— but, um, so I— my cousins had a shop.

6:11I ended up merging with them, and, um, I was there a year and a half with them, and I'll be honest, it did not work out. Family's not always the easiest to work with. Well, you know what it is, is— and I can't really go into that part of it because it's still active with things that are going on. But, you know, I went into it with certain intentions.

6:30And I don't think everybody was on the same page where I'm an honest person, as you see with me and Chi, we talk about how our feelings, you know, hey, Nick, do you like my— do you like my car? No, I think it's ugly. You hear him? He just called— he called my Cadillac a POS, you know. But, you know, when people go into it with different intentions, it can be disheartening.

6:49So in December, I was kind of forced to leave. You know, as far as that goes, it just wasn't a good situation. Could I have stayed? Yeah. But mentally it was like, I'm over it. And that's how the new, the new shop came up. It was kind of doing it on the fly. But, you know, I've been doing it my whole life.

7:05I know what I'm doing. I'm just kind of getting all the pieces put together. We're not open yet, but God willing, we'll be open soon. Get back to work. This shop though, we're not going to be doing auto repair, or I'm sorry, collision work. We're going to be doing just auto repair. And then I'll be doing like the accessories, like the tonneau covers, wheels, little bolt-on stuff, and then detail it.

7:23So we're not going to do bodywork on this go-around. Cool. That's kind of my brief history. I went to Northampton Community College for automotive, and then I went to Pace University in New York City for business. And then of course, I've been in the automotive business my whole life. G, what about you? Your shop's what? How old is your shop? 10, 16 years old?

7:44It's going on 16 years. 16. How'd you get started? We already know what to do. We've been to the trainings, paid for the coaching, learned the right way to inspect cars, build estimates, and talk to our customers. That's not the problem. The problem is consistency, because some days it only works when the right person is working, and when they're not It's a whole different shop.

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9:22Check it out at techmetric.com or tap the link in the show notes. Fed up at the dealer? Got fed up with the dealer. Well, how long have you been in the industry? Let's start all the way back. Way back when? In dinosaur age, according to my kids. But like since I was 18, so pretty much 2000, that's when I started tech school.

9:43Okay. But you know, I was tinkering with cars already. And you know, from there went to work at Firestone. Almost made me quit the business. It's hard. Why? I mean, what about Firestone almost made you quit? Management. Flat rate times are horrible. Like, you will work there the whole weekend, make 45 hours, but you know, you were there for 10 hours a day for 5 days.

10:10So yeah, and yeah, regardless, anyway, that ain't mathing, right? Yeah, that's the only job I ever walked out of in my life. Wow. And so from Firestone, what you do next? I took a 2-month vacation. You must have been rolling in some dough to take a 2-month vacation. Are you just running around broke? Yeah, pretty much. You know, he's 23 years old.

10:38Oh, you didn't have no dig on responsibilities? Yeah, like when you quit Firestone and walked out, were you walking out on the industry or you was walking out on Firestone? I walked out on Firestone, but I was really considering walking out the industry. So as I was actually thinking about what to do with my life after 2 months I got a phone call from the Honda dealer that I applied to like eons ago.

11:02Yeah, because I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna go back to school, you know, forget it. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse. We'll find out. Well, it looks like it's a blessing. You got your shot for 16 years. So how long did you work for Honda? It wasn't— it was 7 years. I'll be honest with you, I love the job, right, until Somebody decided to play games and I was like, you know, this is not working.

11:28No. Dealing with your colleagues? Okay. Not management directly, but yes, in a sense. And I was like, hey, this is not right. I was like, you know, your life's almost being controlled by one person, not because of my skill set or me. So I was like, hey, you know what, maybe I should know, I was 29 at that point, so I'm like, no, maybe I should try it.

11:52The shop, did you build it from scratch or was it already established? You bought it? Yep. It actually happened out of nowhere. You know, I was looking, I was like, I wonder how much is to rent a shop. You know, back then we're still using Craigslist, and, uh, I found a spot here near— actually not too far from me, and I was like This seems too good to be true.

12:15You like the price, the size of the shop. And I end up looking at it and I was like, oh wow, this could actually work. Okay. And next thing you know, you know, I was like learning how to put it all together. And of course, that's, that's another fiasco, you know, from, uh, you know, buying Ranger time machines. I think you, you know that mistake.

12:39Yeah, yeah, you gotta buy— you buy all the cheap equipment and you look for more equipment on Craigslist and all that good stuff, but you gotta start somewhere, right? Yeah, it was. And not, you know, also coming from the dealer where I was just working on Hondas all day long, suddenly you're working on like a Chevy and you're like, hmm, okay, I don't know about that one.

13:02Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was a learning curve, really learning curve. What about the management side of it? Did you have employees or was it just you, one-man show? Well, at first I had my brother-in-law helping me out at the desk, and you know, he wasn't coming for the automotive. He just needed something to do. He was there for a little bit.

13:21I mean, he did okay. Um, and then I had an employee. I mean, like, you know, we worked together and it was good until It wasn't. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't always just blame on him, you know. It was also me, you know, not knowing how to handle employees. You're more like a friend, and, you know, from there you kind of learn.

13:47But at the same time, you still— because I tell people, you know, you go suddenly from a tech to being HR, business management, accounting, marketing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, janitors, janitor, janitor, maintenance, right, right, everything. So it's, it's really, you know, you could be the best tech ever, but I tell people it doesn't matter if you don't, you know, you can't handle all the other aspects of the business, you know, it's just not gonna work.

14:21And, you know, I, I'm always straight up honest. So I was in that first location for 5 years. I mean, I did pretty well, honestly. Dude, like, I did not know crap, but I actually did pretty well. So I decided I needed a bigger shop. Well, how big was the first shop? It wasn't small. I mean, I had 2 lifts in there, but I could park— like, I could park 6 cars in there if I squeezed it in.

14:50Okay, well, that was a decent size. Wow. Yeah, uh It wasn't horrible, but you know, my main thing was I wanted an alignment rack, really. I, I just knew how, how much that would help. So I kept on asking my landlord if he was gonna retire, and he said no. So I started looking. So it doesn't help that at the same time, a friend of mine at that point, he was a body guy, wanted to start a body shop.

15:15So I'm like, hey, we should look for a place together, like what happened to Nicholas. Yeah. And, you know, because in Philly area it's really hard to get a paint booth license, so it has to be grandfathered in. Oh yeah, okay. So for an odd reason, I found the place. It was an odd reason. That's a blessing. Yeah, not really. Well, you'll know.

15:39I don't know about that. Hindsight wasn't a blessing. Not that time. So it was 8,000 square feet. It was a huge shock. Um, you know, I was still on the younger side. I was 34, you know. Uh, so, you know, you, you, you're a little more too confident, I would say. Yeah, I'll admit it. I'm like, I'm gonna make this work, you know.

16:04Um, we end up signing the lease together. I told them, hey, you know, this is how we're gonna do things, you know. I'm gonna help you out, this and that. I mean, off the bat, it was like, you know, because my mentality, I'm a businessman, and, you know, his mentality wasn't, you know. So long story short, it was a rough 5 years.

16:27Oh, you stayed in that situation for 5 years? Yes, I had no choice but to. Oh, but the same— at the same time, I tried to grow. Uh, I had some success, you know. I started actually learning more about management. Like, that's actually when I forced me because the old shop, the overhead was so low that I could literally be a dumbass and survive.

16:50But because of now I have triple the amount of overhead, I couldn't do that anymore. So, you know, I started like, um, really learning management, and that, that was like a light bulb moment. I'm like, oh my God, this is— you know, it doesn't matter how good we fix the cars, people don't know, they don't care. Right, right. So where did you learn your management stuff from?

17:14Uh, where did you seek out help that way? Believe it or not, uh, I actually started watching Gary Vee. I know people know who he is. Before he was even popular, I started watching Gary Vee like 2013, 2014. Uh, another one that nobody really talks about is Marcus Lemonis. I like him. I like it. Yeah, the show The Profit. So I was watching on TV, right?

17:40Love that show. And I was like, look at these dumbasses, they're stupid as hell. And I'm like, oh no, you're a dumbass, you're stupid as hell. So that's when I started implementing stuff. And, you know, and then one day, you know, I don't know if I could name this company, they walked into my door. We all know this company. Dutch is a Dutch, uh, Dutch favorite company.

18:02Say it, this is my podcast. Shit. Oh shit. Well, you know, I don't want to get you in trouble. You know who I'm talking about. Who? I don't know, starts with an A. You know, you know who I'm talking about. Okay, capital A. Okay, starts with an A. Yeah, yeah, Dutch's favorite company. Well, anyway, they walked in and, you know, I'm in a position of like, you know, it's like my bank account's constantly at flat, you know.

18:28It's like money in, money out, money in, money out, but I don't see anything. I mean, I'll be honest with you, I was barely getting paid, you know. And I was like, all right, something got to change. So, you know, I went to the free, to the free, uh, class, right? Right. And I was like, all right, you know, you know, it made some stuff made sense.

18:47And then they visited, you know, and offered me, hey, uh, how about you take a a 2-month free ride with it. I'm like, at that point I'm like, dude, what I gotta lose, you know? Because now like I'm not getting nowhere. I took the ride, you know. I mean, it did help some, but at the end of the day, uh, a lot of the things they were teaching end up actually hurting my business.

19:13Okay. Because it just doesn't work. And you know, as time went on, I met more people that went through that same program like Carmen Conrado, you know, um, and, and we actually had the same exact coach. And we're, we're just like talking like, you were told the same exact thing? I'm like, yeah, I was told the same thing. And, you know, I just put two and two together.

19:35And it's funny, the more people I met that went through the same thing, we all resonate that we were told the same things. And I'm like, you know what, this is— what were the things that hurt? Like, what were the things that they Well, uh, you know, they kept pushing for like, uh, shop supplies. So, you know, I'm not totally against shop supplies, but they kept pushing to the point where it was like, dude, I'm getting pushback.

20:02You get what I'm saying? I'm gonna push it. Yeah, like your shop supplies are X percent and they told you to raise it by a multiple of what? It was like, uh, 8% or something. So, so, you know, the affiliate sales tax is 8% of it. At this time I was an affiliate still. So, you know, people are looking at the bill, they see, uh, let's say a $500 bill, so they see $40 shop supplies.

20:23So it's $540 plus 8% on top of that. So I started noticing, like, at one point, you know, um, my card count was declining so fast that I'm like, dude, something's going on, you know. Do you think your customers are going back and talking about you? Um, because, you know, you get a lot of clients through word of mouth, so the word of mouth's probably not so good at that point.

20:51I, I'm pretty sure. And, uh, you know, I mean, like, I mean, like, Tonika, I was trying everything. I mean, like, you know, um, and actually, actually, ASOT— when I found out about ASOT, actually helped a lot. Same. And, um, so like, you know, I met a lot of people on A-Side, you know, a lot of people I talked to daily, like, like Andrew Lee.

21:16I don't know, like, we— well, both of us being Chinese and we could resonate a lot. Hold on, you're Chinese? Yeah, I'm Chinese. Where'd you think I am? I didn't know that either. Yeah, right. No, no, no, I'm Italian, douchebag. Buongiorno. But anyway, so we resonate a lot and And, you know, we started talking, and, you know, we talk like damn near every day.

21:45I mean, there's like Nicholas, uh, Carmen, like, you know, it's, it's a great, it's a great thing, you know. Like, like, of course there's some people that don't like me, they think I'm a jackass, whatever. So, but, you know, you gotta talk to them. Yeah, I, I know. But imagine how many people don't like me. I love it. Don't like it. I care less.

22:02I care less. Listen, like I tell people all the time, you know, if you don't like what I say, you know, whatever. You know, but hey, like, like, you know, I say some horrible things to Nick. Like, I think it's funny for it. No, but, but here's my thing, right? I'm very straightforward. Like, if you tell me, hey, you know, you're a douchebag, I'm like, oh, well, can you emphasize why am I a douchebag so I could be like, hey, are you correct?

22:29And you know, you're probably doing me a favor. That's how I look at it. Because if you don't care or you're like, hey, let the guy die, you know, okay, you, you know, it's just like with Nicholas, with— I don't know if you're cool with it, but like when he ran the old shop, you know, and he was telling me his numbers, right?

22:49And I'm laughing my ass off. I'm like, dude, how are you only doing these numbers with 2 techs and you up front? I'm like, I'm like, I'm here by myself and you see me harassing you all day long and I'm beating your numbers every single week. But that's good, that's good, that's a good friendship because you got to think about it. Same thing for me, got into ASOG, meeting other people.

23:15People just don't know what they don't know. They don't have any other things to compare it with, especially if you're not in coaching and this is new to you and you don't have anything, anybody or any other shop to talk to about these things. So I think that's the important aspect of people like you finding each other in these social media groups and whatever and meeting each other in the DMs and having these conversations.

23:41Because you making fun of Nick, you know, like, dude, you broke. You're like, he can take a second look. It's like, oh man, why? I thought I was doing good. Maybe I can do better. It's not really to pick on them, but if that's just the way you guys talk to each other, that is absolutely perfect because I talk to my automotive friends like that as well.

23:59But think about all the people that are out here doing— trying to do it by themselves. It's like you've got each other to bounce stuff off of, and I think that's what's really important with the industry. We got to have more of these conversations in a space that's smaller than ASOC group because you don't want to get embarrassed by your questions, right?

24:19Because that can happen, you know, you say something and people will attack you. But if you can find somebody you resonate with, like, okay, you're both in Philadelphia— I mean, Pennsylvania— you both like whatever teams you like, poor things. Um, and then you can build a relationship with that, and you start to ask the questions or have the hard conversations. So I, I like it.

24:40I like your bromance. More people need the bromance in the automotive industry. No, no, Nick, she's talking about us like she's a Panthers fan or something over here. Like, come on. Yeah, I'm embarrassed at this point, but I am. So it is funny though. So to your point with what she's saying though is, so with our shop, kind of, I was explaining the structure.

24:57I was more ingrained in the body shop stuff, which I have helped Chi with, with storage, how to bill more, how to do things when it's an insurance claim. Oh, like P-pages and all of that stuff. I miss— I don't miss that. Like, yep, he looked up— like, I remember him doing a steering rack on a Lexus and I looked it up on CCC and it paid 19 hours or something, and he's all happy and giddy.

25:18He's gonna bill 11 or something like that. And I'm like, well, CCC says this, and this is included, and blah, blah, blah. We're kind of going over this stuff together, and he's like, what? I was leaving my— he was mad because I'm— he's leaving money on the table. And then just the, the conversations, the scanning, and just certain conversations— this is what you got to say, Chi, this is what you got to do— and guiding those things through there.

25:41So So to your point with the repair shop, my dad and our lead technician were running it. My dad was uninterested, didn't care. The other guy that he working for us, very smart. He didn't try. He wasn't the upseller. He wasn't looking for stuff. And then after the merger, he left because he was my dad's guy. He didn't want to work for me.

26:06He's one of those ones. It's funny when he say this. I'm four years younger than him, but he acts like I'm twelve. You know what I mean? No, no respect there. And then on top of it, he's one of those ones where because he's an excellent technician in his eyes, because Nick is not an excellent technician, he's not knowledgeable about this business.

26:25And he had the mentality, and so did my father to a point. If you unless you're an excellent technician, you can't run this business where. Kind of like how we said before, you could be an excellent technician and then, oh, Nick's just up front doing nothing. So like he's just sitting on the computer, but they don't realize fixing cars and fixing cars for money are 2 different aspects.

26:47So 2 different things here. I'm thinking I'm running the body shop, I'm doing my thing, I'm doing well, and I'm thinking everything's handled over there. Well, then I get into it and start looking at stuff, and she's opened up my eyes to some things. And then I'm on ASOG and kind of just going, and I'm like, Holy crap, this is terrible. And I tried bringing this stuff up to my dad.

27:08He don't want to hear it. And I'm like, all right, Dad, numbers don't lie. It can be tomato, tomato. You like Goodyear, I like Michelin, whatever. We can argue about that stuff. But if I shove the invoices in your face, you can't lie about that. My dad didn't want a shop management system. We had QuickBooks. It was inefficient. We wrote the work orders up by hand.

27:29Inefficient. Like, there was so many inefficiencies here. And but I was like, well, Dad, we should get TechMetric or even VIP. Well, I don't want to spend $100, $300, $500 a month on that. But I'm like, but if you're saving— I just looked at it on the base. Our labor rate is X. This is this. So you don't think we can save 4 hours a month off of this?

27:51You know what I'm saying? Like, and it was difficult. So she is Diagnosing stuff from Ben Salem, as he likes to say. Nick, go look at that CR-V that you just pulled in. See if the, uh, see if the rear wiper's ripped. Stuff like that. And like, all this little details. And like, it's funny with Hondas especially. Hey, this Honda, it needs a VVT solenoid.

28:14Like, he would just know stuff from being a Honda guy. But even that, I was able, with a lot of Cheese guidance, I'll give it to him, to make the repair shop more money without doing anything, without buying any equipment, without spending any money, just trying. Just trying. And kind of what she was saying, I was making money on accident. I think he was alluding to that earlier.

28:34I was just saying, hey, why don't we check the cabin air filter? Oh, it's dirty and has hair growing in it. Let's try to sell this. This is a good thing. Where those things weren't getting addressed. And it's just, and it wasn't anything, wasn't, we weren't recommending brakes, weren't trying to sell brakes at 6/32 like the dealers were. It was like brakes were getting left at 3/32.

28:55Tires were getting left at 3/32. Now, in Pennsylvania, we have state inspection. Technically, they pass. But why can't I have that conversation? Hey, your brakes are at 3/32. Do you want them fixed? Or, nah, let's just get it done because I'm not coming back next month. Or, nah, money's tight right now. I'll hit you next oil change. Cool. Yeah, just have the conversation.

29:16You're leaving money on the table. And Colin, a guy who worked for us, he would judge. He would judge, oh, that's a 2003 CR-V with 200,000 miles. They ain't gonna spend $1,500 on that. That guy lives in this area. He's not gonna spend money on that. But it's like, I find that the guy with the '03 CR-V, that's my car, by the way, with 200,000 miles.

29:38I got it for free from a customer. Great, being a great car. But so, he'll spend $1,500 on it. But then the guy with the BMW, he wants me to put bottom of the barrel Prinx Maxxis tires on it because he's just trying to look good and he don't want to spend good. He don't want to spend good, but he wants to look good, you know?

29:57Right. So I've learned not to judge the customer. Man, woman, nationality doesn't matter. I present the information the same. Now, if the car has a rusted hole in the frame, Tanika, we can't fix this. We got to go. It's time to let this one go, babe. Time, let it go. Or, or like, hey, you know, it's going to be $3,000 for bare minimum and you still have issues.

30:16To your point, now there is— if— but I don't, I don't think with my wallet, I think with theirs. Because Nick might say, you know what, that 200,000-mile CR-V for $1,500, if that gets me another year— well, look at car payments, they're $500, $600 a month. That's my sales pitch. So if you're $500 a month, that's $6,000 a year. So if I want to fix your old CR-V and it lasts another year, You made money or saved money, however you want to look at it.

30:40Save money. And yeah, and you're safer, and it gives you time to plan for the next car instead of just throwing the whole baby away with the bathwater. So it's a win-win. It's crazy. But like you said, people sell out of their own pocket or make assumptions about what people can and cannot do. And then he was hourly, so what was the incentive?

31:00Well, my dad's hourly too, but the thing is, when you're a technician and you're a technician of a certain age or a certain generation, it's possible that you just get stuck in your own mindset. And no matter what you said, he was not going to listen to that boy, little boy Nick. Because like you said, you don't— he only— he didn't respect you as the service advisor, as the manager, as the money maker.

31:24And the problem is, my dad— if my dad would have backed me up and went, hey dude, this is a good thing we got going on here, But my dad and him had like a bromance, if you want to say bromance, where he didn't want to mess with his boy, you know what I mean? But it's like, but your boy is hurting your pocket, my pocket.

31:43I don't think friendships and, um, businesses can get along. I think it's a bad idea— partnerships, friendships, having your buddy work for you. Because like you said, your dad probably is sitting there now thinking, oh man, if I would— well listened to Nick about 5, 10 years ago, then I would have been in a better position. Well, too bad now, Daddy. He won't— he won't admit that because he's a stubborn Italian, but, uh, you know, I would like to think there is part of him in there that realizes— yes, I thought you was Black.

32:15Maybe a little bit. My bad. All right, carry on. Had to break the— yeah, you're good. But, um, I get what you're saying, though. It's just um. So I don't know if it's like the friendship. I don't know if it was just the right person. Where like if I me and Chi work together, either it would be beautiful or it would be a disaster.

32:35Because but at the same time, I think me and Chi could be the type where we would go at it and go, "What the what the heck are you doing, Nick?" Well, we got to sell more tires. Da da da da da. And then we could be best friends in five minutes. And we've gone at it about. You can push each other.

32:49And we've gone at it about topics where we vehemently disagree with the topic. Like, I like Cadillacs, he likes Hondas, and we will go at it. And I don't like Cadillacs anymore. It let me down. It made me sad. But no, that's important too, that you've got to find a bromance with someone in the automotive industry so you can do that and have the conversations.

33:11Because even if at the end you still kind of disagree, you have a different perspective. And so you can like, okay, I don't agree 100% with what you said, but I can use a little bit of this. And, and the difference is, is I noticed like he, he comes correct with his opinion, where one of the guys that worked with me recently, like one of the tire brands I like is Nokian tires.

33:32I like them for a lot of reasons, and he didn't like them because they weren't a name brand. No, I didn't like them. No, no, not you. I'm talking about the guy that worked with me. I was talking to a guy that worked with me. I was like, so Pat, why don't you like them? I want to hear the reason. They chop, they wear funny, uh, you know, dry rot issues.

33:51Give me something that we can talk about. He didn't like them. You know what I mean? Like, that was his— it was just, I don't like them. But it was like, and to me it was like, I, I don't like that type of answer because it's like, come correct. We're chief. I say, why don't you like these tires? Give me an answer.

34:09He will have an answer. Agree, disagree, or indifferent. You know, well, when you talk about the Nokian, I personally like the tires. But, you know, here's what I don't like. You know, they underrepresent themselves. Nobody— only very niche people know about what Nokian is. You know, people are going to ask you, are you trying to sell them a phone tire? I get that.

34:30You know, you know, like me personally, I choose brands that represent themselves well. So, you know, like, even being like, you know, I'm a big Falcon guy. Yes. You know, even though they're not hugely popular, but people know who they are compared to Nokia. And you're like, what the hell is this thing? You know? So I found a lot of my customers don't ask.

34:54They don't care. They just trust you. They— yeah, they trust. Or how much price, mileage rating? Are they all seasoned? Stuff like that. But now, to your point though, the Nokian, for example, is a niche thing where people who want their snow tires or their all-weather tires, they make an electric car tire for Teslas. So the average person is not walking in saying, I want a Nokian versus, like you said, Continental, Michelin, Pirelli, whatever, something like that.

35:21So I get what you're saying in that respect. But again, at least there's a thought process there which I can respect. We're like the other guy. I don't like it. I don't like it. Why won't you implement this in your business? I don't want to. Okay, well, like, stop talking about being broke if you don't want to make any changes. Why won't you do this?

35:40I don't, I don't like it. Okay, you don't like who said it, or you don't like the, the idea? Like, sometimes people just don't take hold to an idea because they don't like the person that said it. You said you were with the company that starts with an A. Right, why can't we just say it? A-T-I. Just say it. I know, like, I don't know why he was trying to protect something.

36:02I don't know. But think about it, you said you got something. Did you get anything out of it? You got a couple good tidbits. And if you didn't get a whole lot, you got the point that maybe you needed coaching. Like, if they would have never shown up at your door, would you have seeked more coaching and learning opportunities, or would you have just stayed in your own lane?

36:25I would— I think I would just try to keep on figuring it out. And so, so I wasn't like struggling, like, but so, so, you know, it was constantly flat, meaning money in, money out, money in, money out. But I wasn't— I wouldn't say I was struggling to make rent, but I will say by the end, towards the end, I was struggling to make rent after I joined those clowns.

36:47Okay. You know, like, like, like Like, I'm a real honest person, tell you straight up. I was, I, I was easier going bankrupt, just to declare bankrupt at the end of the 5 years. And that's when COVID happened. And I remember that time. Yeah, we were talking during that time. Yeah, when the lease was expiring on that building, I had to find another place because I was in so much debt that I could not just get a job and get out of debt.

37:15It was either going bankrupt I have to keep it going. Yeah, so I was looking for a spot for a long time online. Nothing, couldn't find nothing, and I was frustrated. I happened to take this back road home that I usually never take, and I drove by the shop I have right now for rent. I'm like, yeah, whatever, probably too good to be true, you know.

37:37I was just, I was just over it. Called the number, some girl answered, and she was completely clueless. I'm like, oh, whatever. And a couple of days later, I was like, oh, you know what, let me just call again. And then the landlord actually picked up. Oh, he's like, oh yeah, the girl doesn't know anything about this. So anyway, went to look at it and, you know, like, and it's exactly where I want to be at.

37:58It's literally right outside Philly. Like, you could walk into Philly, but it's right outside Philly. And from, from there on, actually, uh, as bad as it sounds, COVID actually helped me out. Same. Absolutely. No. Uh, and, you know, I mean, I was over 6 digits in debt, you know, and within 3 years I worked myself out of it. This is just business debt now?

38:29Yeah, that's just business debt. You know, I worked myself out of it and, you know, now, so, so the past couple years I, I don't have that hanging over my head no more. But at the same time, uh, being the last shop having employees— I mean, you know, like I said, it's so hard to manage people. It also kind of terrified me because, you know, the calling out— like, I used to have panic attacks on Sunday nights.

38:56Who's gonna call out? Who's gonna be sick? Right, right. You know, and, you know, you have 6 cars scheduled for the morning and you're like, you just want to bang your head against the wall. Which, you know, and I actually, when COVID happened, you know, uh, I think, well, my service advisor had health issues, so I told him to stay home. Like, he had heart issues, so I told him to stay home.

39:20Uh, one of the techs just left, and I just was working by myself, and I'm like, hey, this is kind of chilling. And I was like, I don't have that stress anymore. So I, I, I personally, I thought it was going to be temporary, you know. I'm like, I never ran a shop by myself. And then when I moved to this location, you know, we were still in the middle, like in the height of COVID you know.

39:44I literally signed the lease on the day of lockdown. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was like, uh, okay. Anyway, um, so yeah, I was like, hey, this is chilling. So I kept it going and You know, here I'm in year 6, still doing it. Well, wait, I didn't know. So you are a one-man show? Yes. I did not know that. Yes. Uh, and that's why I was laughing at Nick, because I'm like, bro, you got 2 techs and you're up front.

40:14How am I beating your numbers every freaking week? Wow. And, and it, it took about 6, 8 months, and then finally I had a week that I beat him, and he— then it was like a competition. Oh no, you ain't doing that again, you know what I mean? But, but, you know, it goes to show that, you know, how do you say it, like, um, you know what, like, like, okay, so I'm not saying Nick is a bad guy, but like, terrible guy.

40:42The shop wasn't managed well, you know. Absolutely. The mechanical part wasn't managed well, you know. I, I was even asking, dude, how are you making payroll? You know, you're paying 2, 2 guys and yourself up front. And, and, and, you know, the numbers are laughable. You know, I'm not gonna say numbers, but they were laughable. You know, like, like, like, so, so for reference, I was standing around a lot and harassing him all day long like a messenger.

41:10I'm like, hey, hey, what are you doing? Hey, where you at? And he in there trying to work hard, you on the internet playing, right? And I'm still beating his numbers. You know, that's how bad it was, you know. But as time went on as, you know, I guess, you know, from him learning from Heisaw, you know, me giving him some input, you know, he was doing actually respectable numbers.

41:31I was like, I, I was actually telling him, hey, you know, you're doing a good job, clown, you know. Well, he would— it wasn't— but it wasn't like that. It was liar, rip-off, delusional. Well, you knew what he was saying. No, I knew what he was saying. He was speaking in chi. If he said exactly what it like been talking nice to you, you would have thought something was wrong with that dude.

41:53No, exactly. You know if he's too nice. Why are you being so nice to me? No, no, but it was always. But it's funny he say that with the one man band. So I went down to his shop and he he has everything situated for exact movement. It's very like everything is set up accordingly for him to move efficiently because. 2 steps in the wrong direction is inefficient for a one-man band because seconds matter to him.

42:20You know, we, we had, we had a staff, so maybe those couple seconds didn't matter. He needed the oil filters in the right place. He needed this here. He did his alignments on this bay. He did his oil changes in this bay or however it was set up. But I noticed everything with his shop was very efficient and he thought of every move to make to work efficiently by himself.

42:40So I, I will— that is impressive to see with him being a one-man band, you know, and doing the numbers that he's doing being a one guy. How do you come up with your processes? Me? Chi, you're muted for some reason. How do you come up with your processes, Nick? So I guess what it is, is I always say it's a salad.

43:08Where I've learned. I learned from my dad. I learned from other people I work with. I learned from ASOG. I learned from Chi. I learned what works, what hasn't worked. And I kind of put every— I always say I'm a stealer. I will take everything from everybody and twist it up and see what works and make it work for me. So I might go to your shop or you might tell me one thing that I like and I'll use it because it's a good idea.

43:31Now, other things, whatever, I'll listen. I'm, I'm a— I'm open to ideas and change, right? But I'm not, I'm not the type where, um, and other guys that have worked with me will say, because I said so. Like, Chi will explain his thought process and why. If you just tell me, hey, this is— I want to sell Nokian tires because they're the best.

43:51Okay, well, why? Now, if you, if you can explain to me why they're a good tire, I'm good. But we're not gonna just do it because I said so. I, I can't be like that. But you know what, I really respect what you said. It's— I feel that way. Well, you know, I love coaching. I do. Um, if you listen to something— for ATI, if you listen to something and you don't agree with it, don't use it.

44:21But the fact that you got to be open to listening to it, that's very important. So even if it's not automotive related, like you guys were saying Gary Vee, and then, um, Marcus, is it Lemon? Lemon? Lemonis. Like, just watching people like that, people that have already— they're winning, they've got something in their cookbooks that you can actually use, implement in your business.

44:46And even if you have to tweak it a little bit, then so be it, but at least try. And the fact that your processes are so dialed in— she— how'd you come up with the dialed-in processes the way you've got it? You've always been like that? Is that just you? No, I actually started with the, the second shop. So, so being as huge as it was, like, so at that point was just me, was me and 2 employees.

45:12And we're like, at the end of the day, we're like, holy crap, we're really tired. You know, like, like, like it wasn't like super busy, but we're like really tired. And then We started— I started paying attention. We are walking a lot. So it sounds weird, we started doing something like a step counter, meaning how long does it take from the bay to walk up to the front desk?

45:42And then we're like, holy crap, if we move the desk this way, uh, it'll save me 10 steps. So we started doing that in a lot of aspects. So instead of the oil filters being, uh, in the cabinet, I got carts where the oil filters are in the carts in every bay. So now they are not as tired. So, you know, we started to— and I kind of got addicted to them.

46:04Like, hey, this efficiency is very good. Yeah, and like moving the emission machine. Oh my God, Nick, when I went to Nick's shop— well, his old shop I walked in and I was like, Nick, why is your emissions machine all the way in the back of the shop where most shops— I'm talking even the inefficient shops— have it by the front bay door?

46:30I'm like, why is it all the way back there, dude? Like, so you're telling me someone is going to pull a car in, drive it all the way to the back of the shop, run the emissions, then back it all the way back up and then pull it into the bay? I'm like, where's the logic? And these were the challenges that I would face.

46:52These were the challenges I would face because I would try to implement this stuff and I would get ganged up on and no, oh, this is fine. But it was like, I almost felt like the guy who worked for us was like a government employee. He didn't want to work too much because like, you know, that's like, you know, no, we don't do that.

47:08You know what I mean? So it was like this inefficiency was allowed to continue. Yeah, but inefficiencies can cost you money. Not only the time or the tired feet, about the money that, you know, wasted time. Because I know even Becky Witt drops, you know, how much does it cost per minute to run your shop? And if you're adding up all of those minutes that you're wasting just walking around because you either can't find anything because it's unorganized or it's dirty, or even like you said, parts and things are not just not in the right place.

47:39For efficiency. Yeah, well, another thing. Well, when Nick visited my shop, right, I showed him. I'm like, so since I'm one man, right, I'm like, I have a car right in my bay, right in front of my toolbox, and I have my computer right on top of my toolbox. So as I'm doing oil change, I'm quoting stuff, whatever, right? And then I show him, yeah, I have a computer up front too.

48:03So. You know, I'm not running back and forth. And, you know, I saw— he saw me literally, I'm wirelessly printing an invoice while I'm still working on the car. Yeah, because you don't have to— the oil will drain by itself, you know, you don't have to look at it. I have to walk by and tell tech sales, like, you know, you don't have to stand there and watch that, you can just go ahead and complete another task.

48:23Being efficient, right? But what I'm saying is, like, you know, especially with guys like me, Chris Enright, you know, for us you know, we have to be super efficient at how we work. Otherwise, you know, we get— on a busy day, we will get— just get, uh, how do you say that, you know, we won't have enough time. Yeah, you know, but I, I also feel like even in a bigger operation, if you actually solve these inefficiencies, you either get more cars in, you get things done easier, faster.

48:56But this is something I don't see a lot of people talk about. I talk about a lot, you know. I mean, Nick has heard me talk about a lot, you know. Uh, you know, true, there's not a lot of people that talk about it, but I know who doesn't. I know I say her name all the time. That's one thing that I, I picked up from Becky Witt.

49:12It's about— well, one thing she talks about is time and finding the unicorn and make sure you're not wasting his time. And so having parts ready, making sure you don't have a car on the lift— we're talking— you're talking about steps. But there's some shops that don't even know if they have the oil filter in stock for the oil change that they're doing, and the car's stuck on the lift for another 45 minutes to an hour waiting for one oil filter to be checked out, to be delivered.

49:36And so yeah, those things cost you money because now you've got an oil change that took an hour and a half instead of 30 minutes or 45 minutes. It costs you money all the time. It's money. But no, a lot of people, a lot of people talk about the KPIs and they talk about, you know, the numbers and all of that good stuff.

49:53But actually processes such as what you're speaking of in the layout of your shop, yeah, those conversations need to be had a lot more. I agree. It's funny you say that with like even like the oil filter. Like if, if when we would write up our tickets and I knew that car was coming in, I'm pulling the oil filter already. So it's on top of the ticket.

50:12So when Janika's going to grab that ticket to do that oil change, she has to grab the oil filter with it. Or if it's one of those weird ones where where you got to know your inventory. Like, all right, uh, we had Pennzoil filters. That's what we had in stock at the last place. PZ37. All right, that's like half of Asia, so we're good.

50:28We got that. But if a Mercedes-Benz E320 came in, I'm like, I might not— we got that. Let me check. And but luckily for us, and one thing Chi taught me with even stocking parts, I was lucky at the, the old shop. AutoZone was literally 2 blocks away. And he'd be like, yo, clown, that is your personal warehouse 2 blocks away. You don't need to stock nothing if you know they have it.

50:50Why would you? And it's amazing because with the new place, this is how I've been thinking. I've been thinking of the efficiencies and how to process and streamline everything because like having that AutoZone 2 blocks down the street was amazing. And because again, why stock anything? I didn't have to. I didn't need to stock air filters. They were 2 blocks away for the common stuff, you know.

51:13I like it. So the new shop, have you opened it yet? No, not opened yet. And it is funny how you— when you say about things come into place. So when I was at the other place, I could tell the writing was on the wall. I just didn't know when the writing was on the wall. Like, I, I— but I was still in my head, I was planning stuff and my— and what's gonna happen?

51:34Am I gonna leave? Are things not gonna work out? Whatever. I, I kind of could feel it, you know, that it wasn't wasn't feeling like it wasn't my home anymore. I, I, it was a house that I built, but it wasn't my house anymore, you know? Um, so I, it's funny, there is a local place. So like cheesesteaks are big in our area.

51:53Um, this guy had a, had a, had a shop that he did wraps and customs and, uh, ceramic coating, tint. And then out front during COVID he, he bought a food truck and started doing cheesesteaks. Um, and it really took off. And talking about processes, he refined it where he gets the meat from here, gets it from here. And he really— it wasn't just like, it wasn't just a typical cheesesteak that you get from the sandwich shop.

52:20Like, he, in our area, in the, in the Philly suburbs, he was the kind of the one that really made it like a destination. This isn't just the local spot you go to. People will drive 20, 30 minutes to go to this place. And it kind of created another competition of cheesesteak places so much that there was internet— there's an internet beef between 2 cheesesteak places in my area.

52:44Now locally, they're having a cheesesteak festival at this place called Sunnybrook. It's like a big event center near my house. And cheesesteak places from all over the Philly area are going there because of this place, if that all makes sense. That's crazy because I need one when I'm going. When Tuesday's next week for me, I'm not sure when this will be aired, but, uh, so I need you to send me a message about this cheesesteak place because I might have to roll up.

53:10Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yeah. And so, and so I go into this cheesesteak place because we would get lunch every Friday for the techs. Well, they just so happen to forget my cheesesteak. Typically I wouldn't go get lunch, but I'm like, you know what, it's mine, I'll go pick it up. He says to me, are you looking for another location? And in my head, I'm like, I don't even want to be at this place anymore.

53:29So I'm not even thinking of that. So after I left, I was trying to get another place as far as that goes, and it wasn't working out. So then it's like, oh, what about this place? And that's how we got this place. So if I would have never went and got— if I would have never got my order incorrect, I would have never talked to the owner who was trying to push me on his other place.

53:51To get that place. How, how you said everything all kind of falls together, you know, works out. Yeah, that's what's up. So you haven't opened, Chi, you still run around, one-man show. Where do both of you guys see your shops in the next 3 years? What do you think you're going to be doing, Mr. Wong? Me personally, I, I don't know. I'll be honest with you, you know, I have thoughts about, you know, calling it quits, you know.

54:19But at the same time, you know, when you talk to your friends that still work at the dealership, whatever, and you hear the drama, you're like, oh my God, you know. Yeah, even though I could make more money, uh, uh, you know, with kids and everything, I think I'm just gonna have to keep on going. I, I have recently. So, you know, for the past 5 years since I left that other shop, I was kind of in like a kind of like a stale mode.

54:45Like, you know, I'm just licking my wounds, you know. I'm just like, man, you know, it was just bad, you know. It wasn't just a lot, uh, that, that, you know, loss of friendship with the guy, with the body guy, you know. It was like, it was so much. Um, so, you know, I personally thought about just calling it quits. But, you know, recently, actually thanks to another guy, actually Carmen, he joined ShopFix, you know.

55:10We We could say coaching companies. And he was telling me he started doing like really good numbers, and I was like, hold on, you know, me and you, hold on, you know. I'm like, me and you, we're not that different, you know. I mean, he had at that point, he had one employee. I'm like, let me try this, you know. So I was like, hey, give me a little Temu insight on this, you know.

55:31Let me be a little Temu version of ShopFix, right? So I was like, okay, okay. So, so, so, so I was telling him like, hey, so what's this all about, you know, like Give me some insight. Let me think about this. So I started executing it, and in the first week I'm like, I'm like, hmm, okay, numbers look a little better. Second week I'm like, I'm like, yo dude, I doubled my numbers, my usual number.

55:58Okay, right? And I'm like, you know, it's not like I've really killed myself. And then third week I'm like, you know, second week I thought it was a fluke, you know, honestly. Third week, I'm like, hold on, I'm doing the same thing. Fourth week, I'm doing the same thing. Okay. And the fifth week, uh, it went a little down. I'm like, okay, but last week I did the same thing.

56:21And I'm just like, hey, maybe we're on to something. Remember they were advertising? Are you coaching with ShopFix now? No, I, I, I just ask questions. So, you know, I'll ask guys questions, uh, you know, he's not the only one in it, you know. Uh, I think, uh, Steve Roberts in it, Matt Vong's in it, you know. So I asked these guys questions, you know, that, you know, and we know each other for a while, and, you know, it has tremendously helped their businesses, you know, even though they were doing good already.

56:52It just took them to another level. And, you know, I, I, I always say it, I always tell people, you know, I really appreciate when guys at a much bigger scale or level, they're actually willing to talk to guys like me and Nick, you understand what I'm saying? It's like, it's really a blessing. And but like, it really opened my eyes a little bit, you know.

57:13So right now I'm kind of like waffling. Should I maybe start hiring? You know, I mean, if you know you're— you've got your processes down, you've got everything handled, you sound— it sounds like you really got it going on. Maybe you get a, not a young person just like you were that you don't think you should allow to be burned by the industry by going into the dealership.

57:37Go ahead and find a young person that has not already become jaded, for lack of a better word, and teach them what you're doing the way that you want it done, your processes, and help bring them up in industry. That can be your uncle moment. You can help somebody that way. I offered to come down, but you know, my agent— no, please don't do that.

58:00We want the shop to stay open. So it's funny, it's funny to hear him say it like he's on Shop Fix Lite Lite. Remember they were doing Shop Fix Lite? No, he's on Lite Lite, you know. But, um, it is, it is funny because like, you know, he would kind of like, you know, he was like jaded or annoyed with the industry, kind of like, what do I do?

58:18And I'm like, and I remember us talking a couple months ago, like, I'm like, gee, either get out or It was more or less put up or shut up. So he started trying. Yeah, it was. And he was trying, like, doing stuff with his website, doing this. And it was funny, he was asking me questions and basically I was regurgitating his information back to him, but in Nick language because he's just like— and he's laughing because he goes, you know, Nick, I talked to this customer and I did it your way.

58:43I'm like, but that's the way you taught me. But he goes, no, you kind of put your own little spin on it. And I I don't know what, what we were talking about, but just like whatever, it was like a sales pitch of some sort. And yeah, and he— and it was just funny because he's all proud because I showed him something.

58:58I'm like, no, that's what you taught me. But I don't know what— no, what it was is I always say Nick is a natural salesman. He's a natural salesman. So, you know, I'm not a natural salesman. I'm a horrible salesman, actually. But like, I just asked him, hey, how do you convey this to a customer? In a way that they were like, okay, you know.

59:18So I'm like, you know, I think it was something like, uh, if a car needed brakes and, you know, it doesn't fail for state inspection, how do you sell that in a way that, you know, uh, they'd be like, they'll just like be okay, you know. So pretty much he was like, well, you just tell them, hey, you know, your car is— hey, you might as well have it done, you know, instead of coming back, you know.

59:40It's a little salesy to me personally. But, you know, maybe not to that person, you know? Right. So you had to get out of your own way and let Nick coach you. So I think it was just— oh, that's so cute. I think it was just the presentation. So I would be like, hey, Tanika, we have your Honda Accord in for inspection.

59:57Technically, the brakes pass. You are good. But within 3 months, you're going to need to get them done. Now, I ain't got time. Get it done today. Let's go. And I would just say, is that something you want to take care of today? Or do you want to hold off and maybe wait till next oil change? Because you have about 2,500 miles left on your next oil change.

1:00:13Or you might go, you know, you might go, you know what, you know what, Nick, I'm cool. Money's tight right now. I'll wait for my tax return. Or to your point, nobody got time for that. Or I'm getting ready to go on vacation, so I'd rather be safe than sorry. Or I got a really, really long trip. So I'm the, I'm the 100% customer.

1:00:31And that's one thing we talked about earlier is selling out of our own pockets. Like, give me the information and let me decide from there. Because I don't have time. Like, if I'm getting something done, just do it all. And even like, even when maintenance is coming up, like with inspections, you need this, this maintenance should be done. And even like when there's a big service, the $60K, the $90K, the $100K, whatever, where I, you know, I, I will— I— we were— him, me and him were talking about, okay, if you do all of this, the $100K service on your X car, it's going to be $1,800.

1:01:04But how much do you have today? Maybe we can break it up into projects for you. You know, I got $500 today, Nick. I can spend $500 beyond what we talked about for the other stuff. All right, cool. I'll do $500 worth of work and I'll keep doing that and we'll kind of keep it pushing until you get it all done. And I found that that is an excellent approach because, you know, for the people that are maybe budget conscious, price conscious, they feel like they're accomplishing something, but yet they're not overwhelmed.

1:01:29But yet I already kind of pre-sold them. Because then they're not coming in next time all upset, stressed out that they got to come up with $1,500, whatever. Right, you've already said, okay, get ready for it, let's get ready, let's get ready. They have— that is the difference between being the mechanic in the shop and being the service advisor and the sales representative up front.

1:01:51And the guys in the back— that you sound like a wonderful service advisor to have— the guys in the back are doing the DVI, they're looking over the vehicle. And you trust them and they trust you that you are going to represent the company and represent their findings and do your best for the customer. So everybody's working out together. I love it.

1:02:09And it works out well because it's like, you know, everybody's happy. Everybody's, you know, you're— and it gives them a warning and it gives them— it gives us potential future work. You know, hopefully they come back and all that stuff. So it's like I said, it just works out well and it doesn't totally intimidate them because that's the problem. You can do that.

1:02:28You can do it all the time. You're not selling anything. They already come to you because they trust you. Look at that. He doesn't trust an Asian guy that works on cars. But that's why I said, I, I was like, hey clown, you guys, don't call him a clown. So how that came up, right? So anyway, I was like, hey, you know, you got to teach me some sales tactics, you know.

1:02:50So because I always say, hey listen, if you ever get out this industry, you know, you're just so natural in sales, you could get into sales. Yeah, but so how the clown came up— how the hell did the clown— nigga, are you a comedian for real? Because you're always— he says you're a comedian. Well, I'm a clown, so yeah, yeah, you're a clown.

1:03:08He calls my— he used to call my shop the circus, and now Auto Puccina is the new circus. When is the new circus going up? How is the new circus? We met a couple weeks ago and the circus is in the parking lot. Hey, look, I think that's your shop over there. You guys are so sweet to each other. I love it.

1:03:23Oh yeah, well, well, the reason why I call them clowns was because, you know, the old shop, I called it a circus because I'm like, dude, your tech is, is running from the bay all the way. I'm talking about like, you know, the shop was huge. It was an old Chevy dealer, right? Okay, all the way down, down to there to use the computer, you know, like, like, and then I'm like, you guys are constantly running around like And then, you know, his techs that— well, his lead tech, whatever you want to call him, wasn't recommending anything.

1:03:55So, you know, I told him they're working on a Lexus, right? I'm like, hey, you know, the differential fluid, you know, should be changed, whatever. And then Nick tells me, well, you know, he said it's some kind of special fluid. I'm like, the clown will kill himself. You know, he called his shop the Circus, and that's why he was a clown in the circus.

1:04:17I call mine a shit show because same difference though. Same, yeah, same idea. Yours is nicer. I'll stop saying that. But you know, uh, I remember, I remember having a conversation. I'm like, hey Nick, you know, me personally, I sell batteries every 5 years. I'm like, hey, you know, 5 years about average lifespan. And then he had a scenario where he's literally sold the battery, but then his tech told the customer he doesn't need it.

1:04:39Oh wow. And I was like, dude, That's a clown right there. And this is the this is the stuff I would deal with, and it's like if my thing would be five years battery. If you're if you have a 2021 coming in or Honda's every three years, sell the battery. It's peace of mind because it's like because how many times does it happen?

1:04:58And I've had it like I can tell you one instance: husband brings the wife's car in. We recommend a battery. Now I'm gonna do it myself, and they're kind of they're friends of the family. So he she calls up and she's mad at me. What the heck? You guys ba ba ba ba ba. I'm like, look, I'm not trying to cause problems.

1:05:12I'm not trying to cause problems at home, but I'm gonna put it this way. I told your husband, you know, I said his name, that it needed a battery. And if you look on the invoice, I wrote recommend battery. He said he's going to do it. And she looks and she's on the phone with me. Nick, I'm gonna tell you like this, that is my effing car.

1:05:29She goes— and she's not mad at me, she's just annoyed. She's mad at the situation right now. She's late. She goes you call me about my car. I'm not playing these games because like he didn't want— like he didn't want us to fill it up with washer fluid, like stuff like that. Because you know, like, that's his testosterone. It's funny, I love to hear it too.

1:05:46He's like, oh, I'll get it done. You won't. You're not gonna get it. You said that last 3 times. She goes, Nick, if you call me and you tell me how much and you explain it to me and I'm cool— she goes, and she goes, if you get shit from him, I'll deal with him. You just tell him that you talked to me and we're good.

1:06:01Never had a problem with her again. Yeah, she's great because she don't want to deal with that, like you said, that maybe and all that. And it was one of those— in the case we're trying to sell a battery because of time, where he thought because it started up fine it was good. Well, what happened on that first cold snap or that first— he was already at work and she's— yeah, now she's pissed and he's like, yeah.

1:06:22So, so with processes, she kind of put some processes in place like batteries. Hey, if you got a 2021, we're in '26, I'm trying to sell a battery. Honda's 3 years. We know, we've learned that if it's a 2023 Honda, we're putting a battery in, or at least asking. Now if they say no, well, what can I do? You know, I tried, right?

1:06:40It wasn't like you tried. If you don't offer it to them and then it's cold— like, it was 93 degrees yesterday, today it's 40 right now, it's freezing outside. You know whose car is not starting? A lot of people. Because they're like, oh, it starts just fine. Okay. Yeah, told you. Yeah, told you. But you've covered your tail, you've provided great customer service, and the customer now trusts you just a little bit more even though it was their fault.

1:07:05They're like, should have listened to him, and you won. And they'll do that because now it's like, you know what, when Nick asks— and maybe that, maybe that guy will either be proactive and change the battery himself, or he'll go kick your ass when he shows up next time because you got him in trouble. That is what it is, you know. And I, I mean, you know, he didn't say nothing to me next time he came in.

1:07:24I think he He didn't want to start that fight, you know, because he knew he was wrong at the end of the day. So, you know, it's just those types of things she had kind of enlightened me on. No, like, like, honestly, like, a lot of shops struggle with this stuff. Like, you know, like, a lot of people— I always tell Nick, a lot of people don't see the serious side of me because I'm a joker.

1:07:43But people don't understand why I'm a joker. Just like you, Tanika, you like to joke. Life is short, mate. Well, it's almost like a stress relief for me. Personally, uh, but so, you know, but, but, but when people see my serious side, like Nick, he actually takes it. But a lot of shops struggle, right? So even me personally, right, I see cars coming to my shop even from dealerships where maintenance due wasn't done.

1:08:08Like, I just had a Pathfinder, a 2022 Pathfinder, come in with $38K, uh, brake fluid was due at $30K. Deal— he was going to the dealer It wasn't done. I'm just like, easy money right there. But I feel like a lot of shops are actually struggling because they're not catching these things, you know. And, uh, you know, it's funny, as Nick knows, my shop is literally next to another shop.

1:08:35We got along great, right? The domestic shop, because they work on mostly domestics. That's what he calls it, the domestic shop. Yeah, got a name for everything. I don't know, I don't want to know what you call me. I'll just keep it to you. I've never I've heard everything wonderful, nothing bad. Well, like what you're saying, they just don't tell the customer, and the customer comes to a shop like yours or mine, and we're going to present with what the industry calls a 300% rule.

1:09:00And you asked me what Detect Auto was. Even if you— Detect Auto will pull Carfax history, history from your, um, your database, and what's supposed to be had on the car and say, hey, have these things been done? So like every car, you can't pull a spark plug just to check it, but just checking the history. And has anyone talked to you about this?

1:09:21And usually it's no, because one, they haven't convinced the technician the importance of the DVI. 2, the service advisor is not presenting what the technician has told them because they just are selling out of their own pocket or running scared. Or 3, the customer knows about it or they're just a terrible customer. But most of the time it's the first 2. And even with the dealership, that happens.

1:09:45That happened to me at the dealership. They had my Mercedes for a week and I got the DVI. It was terrible. It needed a guibo. They didn't know the name of it. Um, he offered me one tire. He's like, she said Guido. She making fun of me. She said Guido. I said, I didn't say that. But yeah, they did a terrible job.

1:10:07And I don't know, I was like, well, I looked at the DVI videos. Coming from a Mercedes dealership, and I was like, this is terrible. Who tells a person with this car that they need a tire? I needed 4— I needed 3 because I only had a blowout, right? And I was just being lazy, only changed one tire because it's my shop.

1:10:22That's what we do to our own cars. But I was like, no, dude, I need a set. And I told you I was out of town. You had plenty of time to do a proper DVI, present this, and I am a say yes customer. So that's, that's a lot of failures where we let customers down and we're supposed to be the Now why did you take that to the dealer?

1:10:42Well, because it was in for recall. Okay. And I, I was— took it in for an electrical recall. And I'm the type of person that my cars are always on the back burner because we're that busy. Okay. And so yeah, and I was just like, just look at the car, whatever it needs. I personally do— it's not my favorite car, so I know I mistreat her.

1:11:02That's why I only put that one tire on it. But I just— I'm too busy to get stuff done. And even my personal cars, my kid's car, something happened, just, just drive mommy's car, just do this because I don't have time in my own shop and I'm not making money off that car, not greedy, and I need all the money. I get it.

1:11:18So it's just a, it was just a timing thing. And it is interesting too because, you know, the dealership is in general is viewed as the superior product if you wanted to like basic— I know, but that's how it's viewed as for the customers. I disagree, or I agree with what you're saying. And then even on top of that, a Mercedes dealer is even more of a premium experience, or should be, and it's not.

1:11:43They're treating it like it— they're treating it like a Suzuki. It's not. The, the drop-off situation— I dropped it off the night before the airport. There was not what I felt was a secure location for me to leave my vehicle. Okay. I had the gates were locked, which makes un— makes sense. It got the gates to the parking lot. I I had to park my car on the side of the road to leave it and walk to the door for the Dropbox.

1:12:06We're talking about processes and steps. So for me, being a young lady dropping my car off at night, it wasn't a well-lit, secure location in my opinion. I got that. Yeah, so I pointed that out and I'm just sitting there and the service advisor, when I picked up the car, he's looking at me like, who the hell are you? I'm like, dude, this is— this was a terrible experience.

1:12:25It is funny, like the The Lexus that you're talking about with the special diff fluid, there's a couple caveats to that. So that was one of my dad's customers from years ago. And then she drifted off and ended up at the dealer. And then she ended up coming back. And then there was, again, so much missed maintenance because I'm combing through because I'll look on AllData or whatever we have and like ask, hey, your car has X amount of miles.

1:12:48Has this been done? Has this been done? Trying to get it caught up, even if it is a little behind. And it is nice to use the Carfax to see what's been done. So I don't want to sell you anything that's already been done. And then for my regulars, it's nice to see if you're cheating on me because, oh, you were the last one to work on it.

1:13:03Oh, no, no, you were. You had it somewhere. Your car was not in on April 11th, 2024. It was somewhere. It was not here. It was somewhere. Oh, you know, I had to go real quick because I tried to call you. No, don't play with me. Oh, but now you told me now I was the last one to work on it now.

1:13:19Yeah, exactly. So it's funny, like that Lexus, she was going to the dealer and, um, she knows which one it's at near your friend Jimmy's house, and it's a high-end beautiful dealership. So much of this easy maintenance was missed. And I'm like, so I get sometimes it's like the dealer techs want to cherry-pick the easy stuff, you know, like she— Mr. Glorified Lube Tech over here, as he likes to call himself.

1:13:42But why wouldn't you pick the glorified lube tech stuff like changing the diff fluid and changing this and changing that? Because it's easy. Spark plugs on those are a pain. Maybe you don't want to get into that that day because that's a 5-hour job. I understand that. Maybe that's why that got skipped that day. But you didn't want to do a quick, uh, drop some diff fluid and keep it pushing?

1:14:00And it is funny what on top of that is I was trying to sell the job on the diff fluid. My, my guy tells me it's special fluid. And then when I look it up, that's funny. So I look it up. We had it on the shelf. I said, hey, we We had it here. What's so special about it? Well, he didn't like that because how dare you question the Almighty?

1:14:20Because my dad had him on a pedestal, you know what I mean? Like, how were— like, certain ones, like Hondas, I have dual pump fluid for like my CR-V and stuff. I gotta have that. I have a— I bought a case of it because he told me to, and I ended up selling it just because I had it. It was easy, you know?

1:14:36So it is funny where that— all those little details kind of intersect, where a Lexus dealer wasn't doing maintenance and it could have, and the independent guy caught all the maintenance. Like, how is that— you know, there is definitely— she said earlier when you were at the Honda shop, you were only working on Hondas, right? So you think you know everything about— you know everything about a Honda, but then you start working on different cars and you expand your knowledge.

1:15:01Technicians, some of them just don't want to do it. Like you said, you don't want to— you won't— don't want the 5-hour spark plugs. But I don't understand what the mindset is. Oh, I don't want to do that, I don't want to do this, and I don't want to do the DVI. I would rather, if I were a technician, if I were Chi working by myself in the shop, I would rather have 2 cars that day with 6, 7 hours on each car.

1:15:24So you'd rather rack 10 cars and just do an oil change, a glorified oil change, and not just get the gravy and not get stuff done? I, I don't understand that mentality. I, I do sometimes with the DVI when shops are not paying the technician for the DVI process, that's a different monster. But if I'm paying you for the DVI and giving you the opportunity to make yourself, make yourself an easier day by racking 1 car or 2 cars versus 6 to 8, why are you not buying in?

1:15:55And I would notice that with some of my stuff that I did and with Chi helping me, I would, I would, I would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. And then I look at my settlement sheet. How much money did we take in today? I worked a— I worked a lot for that. And then other days I'd see it and it'd be a couple thousand dollars and I'm like, I didn't do nothing today, I was sitting around.

1:16:14Like, not really, but you know what I mean? Like, it was— I was working a lot less, making a lot more. And when you slow it down— yep, when you slow down that car count and you can dig into those vehicles properly, not going out there scamming anybody, not making up stuff, but if you can properly look at that vehicle and do the maintenance Not quick lube crap, because I was doing the same thing, um, when Dad retired and I just had the service department.

1:16:37There was no more body shop, and I'm running around and my car count is high, but my ARO was so low it's laughable. But now I know the car count is lower, much lower, and from last year to this year, my car count has dropped another 20%, but my ARO is customer service. So Dad started as a body shop and then you got into repairs?

1:16:57Oh yeah, we started as a body shop in 1980, started as a body shop. Moved to the second location. Um, I believe— I want to say the first shop may have been 2,500 or 2,000 square feet. But okay, forgive me if I'm wrong, but it was a pretty small shop. Um, 3 bays in the office and 1 bay was a makeshift paint booth.

1:17:18And then when we moved, our service department was built to play that insurance company game because you know that game, Nick. Of course, exactly. You can sublet a steering gear and they can charge whatever they're going to charge, and they'll— you can mark it up. But if you keep it in-house, you're only getting $42. I mean, I think when I— we left, it was $42 an hour.

1:17:40A lot of people don't know how small the margins are in the collision industry. It's different. And then you have to play that whole game with insurance companies. So we built 2 separate buildings, one for service, and we different tax ID number, different name, even though it was ours, so we can sublet the work to ourselves. So when he retired, he rented out the body shop and left me with the service department.

1:18:03But that wasn't my— that wasn't my thing. I'm a body shop girl all day. I've been doing it my whole life. We just used the service department just to sublet stuff for the insurance companies, basically. We're doing oil changes and state inspection. And I think my ARO when I began— I have to look this up so I can make sure this number is correct, but it was all right maybe 120.

1:18:24And you didn't want to continue in the body shop business? You wanted to do service? I thought that I did until I really start learning the service side. The margins are different. There's more control there. I don't have to negotiate with terrorists, the insurance companies. Legalized mafia, we call it. Yeah, when the insurance companies come— when you have an accident, you have a customer that has an accident, it happens just like that.

1:18:47They are on 100. Maybe somebody got hurt, feelings hurts, egos bruised, insurance companies lying to them. You got to sit there and negotiate with insurance companies. That crap is stressful. And I did not know how stressful it was until I stopped doing it. Yeah. And then I saw the light in the ASOT group, meeting people and understanding, oh, wait a minute, you mean I can make a whole lot of money over here, much more than over there?

1:19:10Because over there, I felt like she was saying, I felt like I was recycling money. You can only market for parts 20-25% if they let you. They controlled everything almost. Our body shop was busy, so I know what you're saying. And they were very busy but not very profitable. And I figured out too, like, I had to figure out too, like, oh, this dealership offers 5% better on Nissan parts, so I'm buying it from there.

1:19:34So you have 8 different— or I'm sorry, you have 20 different vendors because you're trying to get the best deal from everybody. Where on the service side, you can have a couple parts vendors, couple tire vendors, boom boom, keep it pushing. Your markup is your markup, your price is your price. There's no— I don't even do warranty work, dude. And it's— oh really?

1:19:50So I don't, I don't deal with warranty companies because I cannot deal with the process. But I may start doing it because I can let my service advisors do that. But as for me, no, I do it, I do it. And I let— I, I always explain to people on the, on with the warranty side, which is what people are starting to do on the collision side now.

1:20:08So when you have CarShield— Ice-T sell any of that beautiful warranty? Yeah, right. No, good and damn well Ice-T is not using no CarShield on his car. Well, y'all know better. So it's, um, I remember like one of the last ones I did, it was an alternator job, like $800 alternator job. They ended up paying $236. Now I'm, I'm very clear with people, whatever the warranty pays, they pay.

1:20:31My price is my price. Right. I said, and it's always funny, Nick, they cover everything. I'm sure they do. You know, everything. They don't cover everything. At least there are a few that have surprised me though. I charge a higher labor rate for my fleet work and my warranty work is a higher labor rate. And because I have a couple fleet accounts like Enterprise and, you know, all them through that and I, I have to get my price.

1:20:55So I got to make it up somewhere. So it's a higher labor rate and that, that covers for my time on the phone. And they, um, they pay for it, you know. If that's— and I tell people respectfully, if you don't like that process, then I don't want to do your warranty claim. Yeah. And, and I had a customer and I said, I will help you with your warranty claim.

1:21:14I said, but you have to initiate the call because I knew how long he was going to be on the phone. He was sitting in his car. He came back in. He said, I know why you do not do this. I was like, okay, because I gave him all the information. I gave him all— I say, they're going to ask you these questions.

1:21:28When they're ready to talk, you come back in, but you sit on the line with them for 30 minutes. And he came, he said, there's no way that you should have to go through this. I was like, and I don't. So, on the body shop side, if I would do a body shop again, I would do it kind of what you were saying, just a body shop, just collision work, no restoration work, no rust work.

1:21:46We're doing just insurance work. And honestly, Chi would be good at the body shop because it's process. Every step counts. Every percentage counts. I know he would if I, if I let him dig into some insurance. Hey, you got to call GEICO. Let him have it. He, you know, he would actually probably be very good at it because there is ways to make money.

1:22:04It's just it is a harder buck and it is every, every move is scrutinized. And if you repainted something, you lost money. Like every, every process has to be perfect. And you've got to document every single thing. And you have to. And I was really— I was really good at it, but I did— I missed it because when Dad decided to rent it out, I was really angry with him.

1:22:29I was mad because that was my shit. Because I could write an estimate, you can come in and audit me, and I would look at the auditor like, yeah, you're looking for that money. Because you know that their job is to come in and find $1, $5, $10, $15. Because if you've got 15 million claims that year and they can save a dollar each claim, They've, they've done their job, but they couldn't find anything on your system, man.

1:22:50I was so good at it. I love that part. I really did love building an estimate. But after I found out how easy it was on the other side of the mountain, I'm going back over there. You can have it. And that's kind of what this place I want to do. Like, I like classic cars, but that's a hobby. And if you want to do classic cars, you should have a classic car shop.

1:23:10Yeah. And just do that. So and then like the accessories I like to do, just tonneau covers, easy stuff. Because it's bolt-on stuff. If you want a— if you want a Borla exhaust on your F-150, I'll do it if they make a kit for it, because it's a bolt-on deal. It's just— it'd be no different than replacing a Walker that she likes to install so much, you know what I mean?

1:23:28In my eyes, like, you know, he loves Walker, but he wears the Walker shirt all the time. You know, he'll wear this Walker shirt a lot, but then doesn't like the brand. It was free. What do you want me to do? Free. Exactly. See, how far apart are you guys as far as distance, like your shops? About 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic.

1:23:53You guys ever think you'll do something together? I doubt it. I doubt that. Yeah, you'll see the friendship. Yeah, I'll probably smack his head every day. Oh, it would— okay, that's why I said earlier, either it would go beautiful and amazing or it would be a disaster. A beautiful disaster. Well, we actually have different skill sets. Like, like, you know, I, I feel like I'm more in operations, meaning I'm more behind the scenes, where he could be up front.

1:24:20So I would be the head— what do they call the leader of the circus? Conductor? What is the leader of the circus? Yeah, I'm that guy. You'd be Barnum and Bailey or whatever. Barnum and Bailey, and he's in the background, but But no, to your point though, we would do really well because I would deal with the people and he'd be plotting and figuring stuff out and doing this and doing that where like he doesn't have to talk to the people.

1:24:44Or like even if it was writing up the estimate, yo Nick, I wrote this Honda CR-V up, go sell it. And here he would— he'd be happy because I could sell it. I know it's right because I trust him and I can stand behind it and he don't have to deal with the people. I think you should open the shop together. Circus, we're gonna call it Circus.

1:25:04Circus, yeah, there is a, um, a Swedish shop up here. They do the sobs and all this stuff and they call it— it's called Flying Circus. See, so hey, you can sell, um, you can sell Chinese— a Chinese-themed circus. Chinese-themed circus that sells cheesesteaks. You gotta know where your strength is, you know, like I'm not going to tell people like I'm the best salesman, I'm the best mechanic.

1:25:30I'll tell people I'm not no A-tech. I'm dead serious. I'm not an A-tech. I always tell people that. I may like— I'm very good with the imports, like, you know, the Jap cars. You come to a Chevy and I'm looking at it like— say that. Just like you can't say that. You can't say that. You're gonna get canceled. No, you know how many times my employees like, Mr.

1:25:50Nikki, you can't say that. I can say what the hell I want. But anyway, right. No, no, but you, you, you, you know, you just gotta be real with yourself. You know, I'm never gonna be 6 foot. You know, that's the truth. You know, you know, I'll never be Black. That's the truth. We'll give you a pass. I'll let you come to the cookout.

1:26:06Oh yeah, I'm down. No, no, but, but the thing is, like, you gotta know where your strength is, you know. And, you know, when, when you have a big operation, you feel that, uh, lack of strength with somebody that has that strength. You know, which right now, you know, for me, like, I'm not good at sales. I'm not good at sales at all, you know.

1:26:23I'm horrible. But, you know, uh, am I a good tech? Yeah, I think I'm a good tech. But, you know, I'm not like the guy with the PicoScope and all that, you know, like, like Brandon Steckler, you know. I went to his class one time and my mind was blown. I'm like, Jesus Christ. Then I come to find out he's from the area and he knows the same people I do.

1:26:40I'm like, okay, cool. Brandon's cool, dude. Yeah, but you guys going to Tools? I'm not going to tools. No, I doubt it. My pockets are light this year. I don't have chi money this year, you know. Yeah, he's poor. You got chi money? I heard she got all the money. I know he does. He's poor. Yeah, he does. P-O-H. I'm poor right now.

1:27:01That's what we say. But, but, you know, I, I just feel like, you know, a lot of guys, you know, like, hey, understand where your strength is, you know. This is how I put it. You could always improve, right? Like I tell Nick, you know, I, I could improve myself with some training, you know. Or like, you know, when guys say, oh, I can't, this and that, I'm like, okay, well, do you ever play like Madden or something where, you know, the player starts out drafted at 65, right?

1:27:29Yeah. And, you know, over the years that guy improved. Or even in real life, you know, is he ever going to be the star player? Probably not. But can a guy get to 75 or 80? Maybe. Right. And you don't need to be here. Yeah, but it's the same with us, you know, where, you know, I have been trying to improve my sales, you know.

1:27:48Like, if you talk to me, like, when I first started business, right, you will walk into my door, right, my shop door, and I'll look at you and be like, how can I help you? Like, you know, I thought that was the proper way. Now, over time, actually, I watched a YouTube video completely non-related to automotive, and it says if someone walks into the door, just say Hi, how you doing?

1:28:09The whole tone just, just changed, you know. It was like something that simple, but you know, that's what I improved on over the years. Like when somebody walks in, hey, how you doing, you know, or instead of, how can I help you? How can you help me? Yeah, that does kind of sound harsh, but I really appreciate— you've said several times how you go and seek information to be better, even if it's outside of the automotive industry?

1:28:39Well, you have to understand, right, what I tell people, right? Yeah, I even tell my son, you know, he's 14, everything's out there now. It's either you're going to do it now. I'm like, you know, back in our dinosaur age, you know, we had to go to the library, we had to go to classes. But like, my mom brought that up to me, right?

1:28:55But these daily skills that I'm talking about, like, it's like if you— like, you know, like I tell my son, we, we're Uh, we get used to habits. So as he talks now, you know, he always says thank you, appreciate it. But you know, that's something that I implemented for him. I'm like, hey, you know, if you talk this way, people will like it a lot more, you know, instead of like thanks, you know.

1:29:20And you know, let me, let me just, uh, so like, like me, even for me, I implement that. Whereas when I call a vendor let's say a dealer or whatever, I'm like, okay, hey, can we see that tomorrow? Thanks, man, really appreciate it. They were like, you know, they got that warm fuzzy feeling. I mean, like, I didn't tell nothing else different, you know, instead of Nick's gonna be like, thanks.

1:29:42Yeah, because they get talked at all day. I believe— I truly believe in what you said. The convenience store that just opened up the street, I made sure I called them by their name on their tag And he said the other day, he's like, Miss Tanika— he didn't call me mom. He's like, you call my name every single time. It's like, because I'm pretty sure people don't even make eye contact with you all day.

1:30:03Buc-ee's? No, we don't have a Buc-ee's up here. Getting like one that's like an hour away. People— Buc-ee's is not all of that. It's like a one-up. No, it's not. It is, it is funny when you say that. The only thing good about Buc-ee's is a good clean bathroom. I was talking to a parts vendor or whatever, and he did— and it was something that he didn't have, or there was a mistake or miscommunication.

1:30:24I said, I understand. No problem. You know, and I was, I was, you know, got my point across and it was cool. And he, and he says to his, I guess, his coworker, why can't everybody be like that? Like, he, it wasn't my fault. He, and I heard him say like, I know he's mad. We messed up. Like, he didn't hang up the phone and I kind of heard it.

1:30:41I wanted to listen. We messed up. But he didn't yell at me, but he got his point across that we need to fix our, fix our problem. Like some, I kind of caught that. It's my process so this doesn't happen again, but I appreciate your efforts so far. Thank you. Yeah, exactly. You know, as far as that goes, but even, but even dealing with people.

1:30:56So my shop where my town is at, it's called Pottstown. It's very diverse. I mean, we have, we have old people, Black people, white people, Spanish, Italian, whatever. So you have to, you have to blend a little bit for your different process. Like if my buddy comes in, chi, yo man, what's up? What's going on, dude? But then if, if your father comes in, hey, Mr.

1:31:17Brown, how you doing today, sir? Like, I'm not going to walk into your father and be like, yo, what up, dude? Yeah, he's going to be like, what kind of man? What kind of man is this? We're like, he's an older man. So it's going to be, hey, Mr. Brown, how you doing today, sir? How can I help you? What's going on?

1:31:30What's the problem? You know? Well, yes, sir. No problem. And he's going to resonate with that more differently. If I did that to Chi, he's going to go, this guy's fake. Why are you talking to me like that? Yeah. Like, come on. We're the same age, dude. What? Exactly. So you kind of have to also blend to where your people are at.

1:31:47And then meet your audience. And old people, old people want that relationship. Older people, where like the younger Gen Zs, I have— I can text the lockbox and put them in the key. They don't want to talk to me. Yeah, no words. That's too many words, ma'am. But the older people, they want to show you a picture of the granddaughter, and I am so excited when it's happening.

1:32:07How's the dog? How did the vet visit go that you had last time you were here? Because everybody wants to be known. Was it seen, known, and loved? And even in the repair business, so in the body business, it's easy to show you that Mercedes was busted up. Didn't he go like, look at it now? It's fixed. It's pretty. Yeah. You get your car back and we change some fluids and put some brakes on.

1:32:27What did you get? Right. No. So no. So the one thing I want to bring up, right? It's like a lot of times, right? People say, oh, we got to compete with the dealer with the da da da. You know, with equipment, da da da da, right? As simple as, you know, being more personal doesn't cost us a single dime, you know.

1:32:45You know, it's like, it's like, you know, it's that personal relationship. Your shop could look like shit, but if you're a really cool dude— like, I actually want to tell you guys a quick story. So some odd years ago, we went to this comic book store. It was nice and clean. Went in there, me, my son, my brother-in-law. Nobody even greeted us.

1:33:04They were there, they saw us walk in. Uh, uh, I think I ended up buying a book or something. Did not really, you know, got that vague like, thank you, you know, like I don't give a shit, you know. All right, fine. We went to another one nearby, right? The place looked run down as hell, right? You walk in there, hey guys, how you guys doing?

1:33:25You know, this and that. You know what, they were open for 7 years. We went there damn near weekly. Right? It's just like the place— I mean, like, over time it got a little nicer, but you know, it's the fact is like, well, we were treated nicely here, you know, so I'm gonna spend my money here. The other place, it's nice, but dude, you can't even say hello.

1:33:47Yeah, right. And that's the thing with our— that's the thing with our shops though. That's the shop— like, what do you do differently? You have Techmetric, you sell Nokian tires, you offer this type of oil. You know, she does this, Nick does this. We— nobody— I don't think anybody has a secret sauce. None. I don't think the 3 of us have any personal— the only personal advantage will be we have a building that's unique and us, we're unique, and the people that are unique.

1:34:11But you could— we could all sell the same tires, offer the same oil, have the same Hunter alignment rack. What makes us different? What makes you stand out? Because this, this business is not like, uh, where it's a certain recipe. Like, you go to McDonald's for a Big Mac because it's a specific taste. There's no proprietary information in this business. I mean, so what makes it stand out?

1:34:32I think all shop owners should ask themselves, whoever's listening right now, whether you have a shop or— actually, I have come to learn that other people other than shop owners are listening to the podcast, so that's exciting. Well, that's awesome. Whatever business you're in right now, whatever, if you're self-employed, you're, you know, you work with somebody else, what makes you different? What makes you stand out?

1:34:52That is going to be That's going to be the difference in you making a sale or not. What is you— what is your— what is your thing? What makes people come back to see you? For me, I think about my favorite dive bar that I go to up the street. That place, it was run down. I mean, it— the bathrooms, you might— you need to have some good glutes and some good thighs to be able to balance yourself to take, you know, to go to the bathroom as a woman.

1:35:17Like, if the bathroom is dirty It's, it's not filthy, but it's just like questionable. Like, whoa, don't touch nothing. You— I walk in that door right now, if I go in there, I'm gonna go there after my next pod, go in there, as soon as I walk in, hey girl, what you want? You're here for your Tito's and pineapple? Yes, I am.

1:35:34What are you eating today? You eating wings? Are you eating the shrimps? I'm eating all of them, the wings and the shrimps. Give them all. Like, you walk in and they make you feel like you're the only person in that bar, and it is a— it's a a motley crew of people in there. There's some weirdos in there, and I feel like the rest of the weirdos, so loved.

1:35:53Hey girl, where are the boys? Just stuff like that. Where are the boys? Where are you traveling to next? This, that, and whatever. I'm like, I feel so special up in this little raggedy bar. And that's why— that's why I'll go back. And if they messed up my order today, you know what I'll say? Girl, this is not the sauce I wanted for these wings.

1:36:10I'm gonna eat it anyway because I'm not gonna waste your money because I appreciate you that much. So if they make a mistake, I am not going to throw them under the bus. Just like you said, you're gonna— the parts guy made a mistake. Thank you so much. Um, that's not what I ordered, but I don't want to throw it away for any food.

1:36:26I don't want to waste your money. I appreciate you. I will go back again. But think about it, if you're everyday shop and you're doing everything like everybody else and there's nothing that makes you stand out and you make one mistake with that client Why would they come back to you? They don't know you. You don't ask them about the kids. I know people are going to think this is stupid.

1:36:45You— they, they don't know your name. They don't know your kid's name. They don't know the technicians in the back. They have no loyalty to me, loyalty to you. You may— you mess up their car, you fixed it, yeah, you apologize, but why are they coming back? They're going to come back to me because they respect me, they love me, they know me, and they want to support my business.

1:37:05So you have to make yourself stand out. You have to know that I'm doing the best job I possibly can for you. Your customer is going to have to believe that. And if they don't, they just think you're another dealership or another independent shop, then there's no need for them to come back. So you got to make people want to keep coming back.

1:37:23And that's my rant. Yes, absolutely. Like, you know, I've got— I have people coming from all across the city. Yeah. So Like, you know, for multiple reasons. Well, some people come to me, I, they say, well, I don't want to wait 6 hours at Pep Boys. Well, you know, a lot of them, let's say they come for something as simple as a state inspection, they end up staying for 3 hours because we're just shooting the crap, you know, about different things in life.

1:37:50And, you know, it happens more than you think. I'm talking about, like, you know, there's a lot of shops in Philly. I mean, like, within my 5-mile radius. Now that doesn't even— even 1 mile, you could, you know, it's probably more shops than fingers. Yeah, I saw that when you were— when we were doing the Google stuff together. I was like, man, I can't believe how many there are.

1:38:10He's not kidding. Uh, um, you know, a lot of the owners, like, like, okay, like on Friday I had, uh, I want to blow my— bang my head against the wall. Anyway, I had to go to an exhaust shop and I go there, you know, The guy was okay, he's cool, he helped me out. But literally there was nothing but shops there.

1:38:27Like the whole complex was shops. Not once did a guy even greeted me or anything, you know. Not, not that, not that I needed to, but it was just like, you know, they see how I'm dressed, they know what I do, but is it like, you know, hey bro, you know, how's business? But like, it's just like, yeah, you know. But as a customer, you know, like this is how I was, right?

1:38:49When you walk into a shop that you don't know them, you're uncomfortable already. And, you know, bring them a little bit of comfort, you know. That's what I try to do. Like, sometimes let's say, uh, Nick walks into my shop, he's wearing an Eagles shirt. I'm like, oh, you watched the game last night? You know, like, you got to break the ice somehow and make them feel comfortable.

1:39:09Or like, you know, uh, it could be anything. Or you see them wearing an anime shirt, you know, like, you don't have to know the subject a 100%, but, you know, somewhat pick on something, you know, see, um, you know, or like if you see the area code they call from, oh, where are you from, you know, right? Find a way to connect, right?

1:39:29Find a way to connect. Or let's say like someone's from Texas, oh hey, my brother lives in Texas, this and that. Or like, like, you know, sometimes you could tell what these people do. You could tell somebody is in healthcare. You could just tell from the way they look, uh, something about Yeah, you know. Oh hey, what do you do? Da da da.

1:39:45You know, and I feel like you know the whole industry is just so focused on KPI, ARO, da da da da da. Yeah, the ARO today for that customer might not look great, but it's a way for them to test you. Now, you know, what's the lifetime ARO going to be? You know, and this is how I look at it, right? Especially for young— for younger people, right?

1:40:11I'm like, all right, you know, I started dealing with you, and it actually has happened. I started dealing with you when you're 25, now you're 40, now you have kids, now you have a wife, so I'm getting a second car. When your kids grow up, I'm going to get a third and fourth, you know. And, you know, if their kids grow up, if they're still in the area, maybe I get a fifth, you know.

1:40:31But that's, that's how I look at it. It's not like You know, you know, it's like I, I've— I always look a little long-term compared to short-term. That's me personally, nothing against the guys that do, do the short-term. But like, uh, I recently had a girl actually, like, she doesn't come to me like that, but you know, she's like calling me, so, you know, I went to Midas, get an oil change done, and they told me I need control arms.

1:40:57I'm like, uh, send me a picture, you know, because they do DVI and I don't— I I don't even do DVIs, not, not at all. I tell people straight up, I'm like, I'm not gonna tell you the shit that you don't need. But that's me personally, you know. But, um, you know, I looked at the control arms, I'm like, you don't need control arms.

1:41:14And, you know, I think it was like a light bulb moment for her. And then, uh, recently, uh, last week I had a Prius, it was the same thing. It was all neither control arms, I might just sound like— I'm like Everything in there needs control arms. Maybe you had a discount where if you'd sold so many, you got some money back.

1:41:32I don't know. Seriously, anyway, anyway, just like, you know, I, I feel like, you know, we need to focus a little bit more on building a little more trust with our consumers. And I think it goes a long way because, you know, that there have been customers that I started out and, you know, they're a little wary of every time they deal with a new mechanic.

1:41:53And over time, they are approving the $1,500, $2,000 bills like, like it's nothing. You've built the trust. You've built trust with them. So yeah, without a single DVI. Yeah, I never use DVIs either. So I do— it works for me because my community, everybody does DVIs. If I don't do them, they're like, well, why you not showing myself? No, no, it works.

1:42:16As far as for me, it works for me. Um, I would, I would like to do it in the future. I would like to do them in the future though. So, you know, um, it does work. I used to do it, but you know, as I had to— like I said, I was going in with so much debt, right? I, I had to scale back to basics.

1:42:34Like I tell people, the Chi Auto Repair from back then, even though it's the same exact name, it's— I, I treat it as a new entity. That's how I treated it because I— so I had to bootstrap, you know, even though I had all the equipment, everything. I had to bootstrap. Like, you know, like when people talk about TechMetric, I even pitched to Nick.

1:42:51I'm like, Nick, you started from zero. What the hell you need TechMetric for? You know, I'm like, I'm using VFP Shop Management, $65 a month for the past 5 years. It, it's writing me invoices just fine. It's working for you. Yeah, right. But I'm saying like, now if you see the need that you really need to need to go to TechMetric, different story.

1:43:12But like I was telling Nick recently, I'm like, bro, you haven't made a dollar yet. You can't go spending dollars that you don't have. You don't know how much money Nick got. Oh no, I know, but I'm just saying, like, like, makes sense. Yeah, don't, don't get too big for your britches. Don't go in there trying to impress other people. But also, you still have to spend money to make money.

1:43:34But to your point, I'm going around looking for free desks, free filing cabinets. So like, because the back office doesn't matter. The front office, they left the desk there. That's pretty. You got to make them— yeah, you got to spend money on the front office because that's your presentation. But my back office, I got free desks, free filing cabinets, free this. Chi gave me some free stuff to help out with, you know.

1:43:54And then to your point, certain things, it's like, all right, I need a— I can get a used headlight aimer because, you know, for inspection I don't need that. But then I don't want to get a Temu tire machine Like, you know what I mean? So there is that— where, where do I spend my money at? Where instead of maybe a new John Bean, I'd rather have a used Hunter because a Hunter is better, you know what I mean?

1:44:14Stuff. So those are— so there's those things where we're kind of looking at where do I save money, you know? Like the laptop I'm using right now, I'm going to bring that to the shop. That's going to be my back office laptop so I can buy a new computer. So there are things like that. My wife had a printer here at home that she didn't use.

1:44:29I brought that to the shop. That's the back office printer. So there is those things where it's like, how can we bootstrap this and do this affordably? Because you're right, there's only so much to spend. You know, I don't have cheap money. Cheap money. Cheap money. It's something else. Let me tell you, he's got it. He acts like he don't have it, but like, you want to see that bed would be a lot lower on the ground if he didn't have the money underneath it.

1:44:56I'm telling you. That's mattress money, man. It's different, you know. That mattress money. No, he's got his first dollars. No, no, no, no. So, so this is really getting it wrong, right? This is what I always tell people, right? You know, money is one thing, but your health, that's a whole nother— there's a whole nother story. So as long as you're healthy, like, you know, I came to peace with it because when I ran the bigger operation, I was under so much stress.

1:45:22I mean, daily, you know what I'm talking about, you know. I was under so much stress, you know. You see your bank account money is evaporating that I literally think I was gonna have a heart attack one day. So, you know, hence, like, I'm very hesitant to grow because, you know, it's not just the money concern. Money comes and goes. It's the health concerns I have as well, because you're going to be under a lot of stress again.

1:45:46Maybe I'll manage it differently, but I have to be very careful with it. You know, because, you know, I'm older than what I was already. So, you know, it's like, it's a double-edged sword. Do you stay stagnant, you know, grow a little bit, or do you go all out? And then, you know, I missed out on a lot of things with my kids as well, you know.

1:46:07So it's a double-edged sword, you know. Now it's very hard to balance, but, you know, as I have— I talked to a lot of old people and I will always get the same answer. The regret is that they work too much, you know. So, you know, there's a reason why they're telling me this, you know. Same reason why I tell people, hey, you know, um, Nick knows I talk a lot about investing, you know, about, uh, generational wealth, you know, how to build it.

1:46:33Because even, even though I don't have it, but, you know, numbers— if the numbers are right. But, you know, like, like, I will tell Nick these things, like, about generational wealth, how to build for your kids, you know. But I'm like, where do your kids become wealthy? You know, it doesn't matter to me. You know, my life versus wealthy, right? It is funny.

1:46:55Are they going to come to show up for Christmas? Are they coming to Thanksgiving dinner? Are they going to talk to you again? It's funny you say that, even with like the wealth stuff. So I'm renting an apartment, right? But I had to have a 2017 Cadillac CT6, 3 years old, for 5-something a month, right? But I'm living in an apartment, but I had to have a Cadillac.

1:47:13You know what I mean? So then I bought my house. Now, my house was the one, the worst house on the block thing. It needed work. It was terrible. I could talk about my house and how terrible it was, but you know, it's a lot better than it was now. But no, but it was great though, because of our housing market, I was able to put the sweat equity and make it nice.

1:47:29Well, around this time I was like, I gotta cut expenses. This was 2022 where car market was still high. There's this place around here called Auto Lenders. They bought my car. Basically, they met me at the shop, they gave me a check, and it worked out that I had that car like 2 years or so, and it cost me $250 a month to have that car.

1:47:47That's what it cost me. And I ended up doing oil changes, tires, because my wife hit a pothole and I had to replace all 4 because it's all-wheel drive. But I really didn't put much into it. Like, whatever. The issue was why I didn't like Cadillacs was the front-wheel drive unit went bad, broke the driveshaft. It was during COVID Now I had the— it was GM certified.

1:48:07They didn't want to give me a loaner at first. I had to fight for that. I was in a loaner for 2 months because they couldn't get parts for the CT6. They ended up putting a used one in and I said I was fine with it as long as they guaranteed it. And then it had the GM transmission shudder and then my warranty was going out.

1:48:24So I was like, I just had to get rid of it. Like it was just a bad situation. I was worried about future repairs. The cost. I had to cut expenses. So I got this '03 CR-V for free. Free. She likes free. He loves that word. And I was like, you know, I'm gonna fix it up. I'll drive it. Now I might have $2,500 over the— I've had it, I'm going on year 4.

1:48:44August will be 4 years. I said 2 years, but God willing, it's going to 4. Uh, and I don't have a payment. Now I went from a '17 Cadillac CT6, the premium one with the heated seats, the cooled seats. It Cadillac. It was black, it was beautiful, to a POS Honda CR-V. And you know what? I'm happy. It does not bother me, right?

1:49:05I have a— I have one of those Bluetooth things so I can listen to my phone. I don't even have CarPlay in it. She ain't doing nothing more. I explained this to her. I would do it, but yeah, I've been there, done that. People talk about my truck and I was like, nobody say anything about my 2002 Camry, Smokey. That's— I like the name.

1:49:25Yeah, you start up in the morning and then, and then my wife— I bought an '08 Honda Accord from Chi, one of his customers. It— they— I think they put a Cloyes timing chain in it and it messed up, so he rebuilt the engine. It has 140-some thousand miles. I had to put some money into it, of course. Yeah, but that's what it is.

1:49:44We got 2 cars with no payments now. Yes, we both want new cars. And there was a time where me and my wife were like, could we afford it? They were just like, nah, I don't want the payment. And the payment— yeah, we didn't want to change my house. I'm like, you don't want another house? No, I don't want to pay for another house.

1:49:57But the other part is, is like you were saying, happy, where I explained this to my son, like, we can go out to eat, we can go do this. We're not— why do we need that car? Who am I impressing? Like, I'm good. Now, do I want to— if God willing, I could get another car one day when I'm making more money and the shop's established.

1:50:16I, I would like that. But does it have to be a brand new car? Absolutely not. But until then, I'm fine. It doesn't need— so I'm buying a Cadillac to impress who? And I'm, I'm paying all this money and I can't go do stuff, so it's just sitting in the driveway anyway because I can't go out and do anything. So what's the point?

1:50:35And was I really happy? No. What's gonna be your next car when you get it, when you, when you make it? What would I get? If you had everything to go buy, what would you go get? So you know what I would get? Like, if I got my wife a car, I would get her— now the 2023 and older— I would get her the Lexus GX460.

1:50:53Okay, not because it's a Lexus, because it's a solid unit. They're old school, they're body on frame. And now that's something I would buy her and she would know we're keeping this for the long term because they go 200,000-300,000 miles. You know, so I'm thinking more that way myself. I don't know what I would get, like, but I would get her one of those because I know that it doesn't have transmission issues like the Tahoes do.

1:51:17It doesn't have the engine issues like some of the newer GMs do. It doesn't have turbo— it doesn't have a turbo, which the turbo issues have with some of the newer cars. Like, I would be looking for something that would last her because I told her, I said, babe, I showed her, I said, that's what I would get you because she was asking me.

1:51:33I was like, you'd keep that 10 years, you know? You guys are great. I got on 1 o'clock. I'm gonna shut you up. Shut up. Yeah, you're good. I've never recorded this long with somebody. Well, she's the man. Hour and 50 minutes. This was fun. Those were clowns. So my other clowns— so I don't know what I would get myself. I don't know.

1:51:53Yeah, I got my dream car. What are you getting, Chi? Me? I'm getting shit. I always, I always wanted a Mercedes, but doesn't mean I'll get it. Oh, so real quick before we cut, we, you know, we cut it off, right? So me and Nick went to, uh, the auto show a couple, couple years ago. He got me in for free. I love free.

1:52:13Anyway, so I'm looking at this Toyota 4Runner and I'm like, yeah, the TRD Pro. And I look at it with a wattle. You want to with a wattle for your TRD Pro? Yeah. Anyway, so I'm looking at it He's like, $60 grand. I'm looking, uh, so I look at Nick, I'm like, yeah, I'll get the 12 years from now. That's always the truth.

1:52:32Same model, yeah, the same one. That'd be nice in 2032. Like, that was always an ongoing joke with us when we see a car. Yeah, 2032, I'll buy one of those. No, no. So, so listen, you know, I always tell people, you know, I love cars, but it's a depreciating asset, you know. As I got older, you know You know, I think about retirement a lot.

1:52:52I know I'm 45, but you know, this is what a lot of people don't think about, you know. And you know, regardless in automotive or whatever, you know, it's like, yeah, you know, we see all— we, we, we, we, all 3 of us have seen older people come in and they can't afford to fix their cars, you know. I would hate to be that guy, you know.

1:53:15And you know, you, you feel absolutely horrible. But he's like, you know, I have a business to run, you know, like I can't be giving away stuff even though you want to, you know. You know, we're kind, we're kind people, but we can't give away stuff for, for, for, for more business like that. So I, I, I always tell people, including Nick, I'm like, dude, we gotta set up something for your retirement regardless what you can, you know, because like if it's done right, you know, nowadays even with AI, I have to put— just go on Google Gemini.

1:53:45Let's say you invest XYZ a month, how much would you get a month at retirement? It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. I'm talking about like, you guys are at the age where you should definitely be doing that. You've got to start early. But it's very pedestrian numbers. It's very doable numbers. I even show my son, you know, I have showed my friend the past week and his mind was blown.

1:54:10You know, and he's 34. I'm like, you better get on top of this, you know, because you, you could literally retire multi-multi-millionaire if done right. And that's amazing. Yeah, this is— and you know, like, to be real quick, you know, a lot of the shop owners, you know, including, you know, the ones I know— well, well, actually, well, I wouldn't say all of them, but you know, this was actually taught by another shop owner.

1:54:36But then like stuff like SEP IRAs, you know, that actually helps us offset costs for the business as well and benefit ourselves are not being implemented, you know. Um, and it's, you know, just in gen— in general, you know, people are so— and are you gonna miss that $50 a week? No, no, no, no, no. But I, I think this is not very talked about in the industry.

1:55:02You know, they offer 401k with a 3% match, right? So let's say, you know, Nick puts in $100, right? So you give Nick $3. But, you know, you, you, you're better off, you know, it'd be more stronger sell if it was a SEP IRA where, you know, Nick gets $100 a week instead of $3 a week, you know. And, uh, you know, another thing is like, you know, some people don't like it, but whatever, but I'm all for it.

1:55:28So the Trump account where the business could contribute $2,500 to a family, like, like an employee of the family to start their kids' retirement, you know, that's something, you know, I'm going to do. And, you know, I actually talked to somebody about it as well in the industry. But, you know, since everything's still a little vague, but I'm just saying, like, you know, these are things that we could apply to create these wealth builders.

1:55:59And it also has an employee benefit, you know. So let's say, uh, I hired Nick and he has 2 kids. Well, his son is a little older, so it wouldn't really apply so much. But anyway, so for his daughter, let's say I'm gonna— hey Nick, you know, um, just to get you on board, I'm gonna contribute $2,500 to your daughter's, uh, Trump account.

1:56:18And I know not everybody's a fan of Trump, you know, but like I, I feel like it's a great tool, you know. That, that's, that's— people come in happy because they're not worried about money. Maybe they're not doing side work because they don't feel like they have to. So it could create a better work environment that they're— and there might be loyalty too, like, yo, she's taking care of me, I don't want to leave.

1:56:38Yeah, you know. Yeah, yeah. Nick, shut up. Let Tanika finish, bro. No, I'm listening to you. You're the teacher right now. Oh, you're the teacher. You're the teacher right now. But yeah, employee benefits are being— I mean, I think some people just not— they don't know how to do it and they don't think they can afford to do it. 401k, IRA, health insurance, death, you know, um, life insurance, disability, all of those little things that you add on to an employee package.

1:57:08A lot of shop owners just don't know how to do it. So because again, you've got the Everybody's not as smart as she— because they're not, but it doesn't mean that they're wrong. It's just that they just don't know that if you just raise that labor rate by another $1.50 per hour, you know, per labor hour, then you can afford to offer your employees things like that.

1:57:31Well, you know, like health insurance, hard to offer. That is— that's a fact. That's a fact. I've offered it 60%, right? You know what's really hard to offer? Trying to find a new tech. Yeah, no, but what I'm saying, like a SEP IRA, that is literally 2 sheets of paper. So yeah, yeah, it's something someone can start with. Makes sense. And then they can build bigger.

1:57:53And most payroll companies, it's so cheap to set up. It's like $30 an employee per year. That's what they— that's what my pay— the payroll company I'm using told me to set up the SEP IRA would be. She goes, we can do it all through it. She goes, it's $30 an employee a year to set up. That's the fee to do it.

1:58:09So it's like, that's, that's a joke. Well, you know, like, uh, I think, uh, the SEP IRA— I think Steve Roberts is the one that told me about it. I mean, it did take me 2 years to actually act on it because remember I was in a lot of debt. But, you know, now, now thinking, now thinking back, I should have just— even with the debt, I should have started it.

1:58:30Just do it. Just, just do it. I started it. But like, like, but that's what I'm saying. Like, even, even as little as, let's say I, I work for Tanika and Tanika is just starting the shop, you know, hey, I see that business, you know, it's starting off, but you know, Tanika gives me $25 a week for my SEP IRA. You know, it's the appreciation.

1:58:48I feel like, you know, it's like you, the employee's gonna see, hey, they trying. But you know, like, like I was telling Nick, I'm like, hey, let's say for Christmas, right, instead of giving them a bonus, hey, maybe you'd be like, hey, we're gonna toss each of you guys $500 into your SEP IRA. Would you know what the thing is? A lot of technicians would be mad.

1:59:12Yeah, I want the cash. I want the cash. They think they want— oh gosh, they don't understand how much of a gift that you're giving them that can potentially grow into so much more. Or could you do both? Like a lack of financial, um, literacy. They don't know. Yeah, but for today, well, I think you should make it an option, maybe make it up, because, you know, giving cash, it's a little harder to write off than, you know, $500 on the SEP.

1:59:39You know, it's, it's a win for the business, and for— oh, literally, it is a win for the employee as well, but not everybody sees it that way. Or you could make it sweet. Hey, it's $500 in cash but $600 in your SEP IRA. I'm just talking out loud, something stupid like that. You know, because then they might— there's always a way.

1:59:56Because so my mom does that with my kids. She does that with my kids. So she gives them money. She goes, you put money, you put money in the account, we'll match. So that's why I brought that up. That is smart. Yeah, that's my grandma. I'm gonna say, Grandma, give me some— match my money. All right, match my money. All right, well, it was great.

2:00:15It was great. This was great. Like, I've never had a podcast recording go for 2 hours and it was all great content. And I think you guys should speak up in the ASOC group a lot more because there's so much— you got so much good stuff to say. You gotta get Steve on here. It'd be funny. Yeah, Steve would be funny. You think Steve would be funny?

2:00:35Steve is— Steve is— let's, um, group text him and attack him and get him to come on. He's a smart guy. I've learned some stuff from him already too in my limited conversations with him. He's good. Steve, you know what, you know what, get Steve and Matt Vaughn together. Hilarious. Oh yeah, that'll be hilarious. Okay, I got you, writing it down. All right guys, say bye.

2:01:01Yep, see you later. Thank you. Bye. Love you. Bye. Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations, hosted by myself, second generation shop owner, Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy, mindset, and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts. You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians, and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time.

2:01:34This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.