What Nobody Warns You About Shop Ownership | Andrew Klement & Caleb McElmurry - Ep 28

0:00Everybody comes into this like wanting to take care of people, right? And everybody, I think, means something a little different with that. We had a job that came in, 100% my fault. I did an incomplete diagnosis. We sold a repair. We fixed a legitimate issue, but we fixed a quarter of the actual problem. When she calls and goes, hey, it's still making noise, and I say, bring it in, we're gonna make it right, whatever it takes, and we can just do that and move on and still have a good week.

0:23That's why we have to be profitable so that there are profit dollars to be able to take care of our team, to take care of ourselves, and to take care of our clients. Welcome to Downshift with Tanika Haynes, the automotive auntie. The thing about Tanika, she gets to know you. She'll laugh and cut up with you, but then she'll hit you with some knowledge that you may not want, but that you need.

0:45Let's downshift. You would show up late. Yeah, you know what? You know what? Some of us, some of us, some of us still have to work for a living. Whatever. Y'all late. Look, 11 minutes late. My time is precious, kid. I know, but do you see this plant? Okay. All right, it's alive, and I had to move it so it would be in the shot so you would appreciate it.

1:14Oh, look at you getting plants! Because I was listening to a podcast earlier and you mentioned you were a plant mama, and I said, you know what, crazy plant lady. I love plants. Oh God, I love plants. I love them. And, and my youngest son, um, he's in Florida. I moved him in and whatever, and I'm like, oh, I guess you don't want plants.

1:34And he's like, yeah, actually, Mom, I do want plants. And, uh, they're just going. I got plant grandbabies and stuff. Yeah, there we go. So here we go, we're ready. You got a plant, you got some decorations back there. Look at you. I do, I do. We got the branded merch. Like, it's, it's all the things. It's great. All the things. Caleb, meet Andrew.

1:54Andrew, meet Caleb. Hey, Andrew. I was so tickled that you guys like almost burnt the, the road up trying to get to me. I just wanted to talk to some young people under 30, but you just turned 31. I guess I should leave. I just turned 30 on Sunday, so— oh, okay, you're good. You're 30 in 3 days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm basically old.

2:15So really Is that what we're doing today? No, no, I— you see what you can't really tell depending on how good your camera quality is? See, this eyebrow looks a little funny. It's because my right eyebrow has actually turned gray in the last 6 months since starting a shop, and I'm gonna call it the stress in the eyebrow. It looks like he got singed.

2:35It's— no, it's literally like it was like 1 or 2 hairs went gray and then the whole thing just went gray, and it was like, well, is any of your hair gray? No, just, just the— just my right eyebrow. Okay, stress will do some weird things to you. Marvel comic type crap. Yeah, you're turning into an Incredible Hulk. Well, yeah, this camera is flattering.

2:58You can't see my midsection here, so— okay, we're good. Caleb, how old are you? You're such a baby. Oh my gosh, babies. Babies, I'm old enough to be both of y'all mama. So listen, I got 2 young men actively in the middle of building a business. I think if I'm right and I've snooped properly that you both were mobile at one point.

3:26Yeah, I was. I mean, how— sorry, I'll let Caleb talk. I was mobile all May, May 1st of last year up until January 15th. Then it got cold as hell out there. It got cold way before that. It was because you're in Minnesota, southern Minnesota. We talked about that. But Andrew, where are you at? Southern Missouri. I still— I don't know. I don't know the temperature there.

4:00So we get cold. I'm like, I'm like 4 hours north of where Zeb is. Okay, so it's a little bit— it gets a little colder here, but it's still like we'll get cold for 2 weeks and then it warms up. Okay, so you're not gonna freeze your butts off trying to work on cars. And before the mobile stuff, you got— before the mobile stuff, what did you do?

4:21Like, how did you get in the industry? What's the backstory? Everybody, everybody all at the same time. Oh, go ahead, Caleb. Yeah, sorry, sorry, you're the youngest. You go first. Be respectful of Caleb. I talk too much anyway, so I'll let him answer this question. I started in the industry at a Chevy dealership as a lube tech in 2019. Was there up until July of '21.

4:54Went to a used car dealer. First couple years were great, then it just slowly progressively got worse. More as, as I grew or whatever in my skill set, it was the things they wanted, the way they wanted to fix cars to sell them, and the way that I felt the cars should be fixed to you know, sell them for full retail price.

5:32Uh, we didn't see eye to eye on that. Uh, several other things like just having to do a hack of a repair using plumbing from the Fleet Farm plumbing section for a fuel line. Yikes. Stuff like that. From the dealership? At a used car dealer. Yeah. Wow. Just, it ate away at me. I was stressed, burnt out, not, and like at one point I was pulling cabs off of trucks for $17 or $18 an hour.

6:16Dang. So that's the stuff that we hear about in the chats and everything. And I, I'm just still feel stupid because I don't know that this crap happens. I mean, I know it now, but it seems every time I hear it, it's surprising. Drew, how'd you get started in this, this crazy industry we call the automotive space? Uh-oh, he starts off laughing.

6:35Oh yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a good story. I'm gonna try to like breeze through this real quick. I've, um, basically it started when I was, uh, I was like, I was like 13 and my dad bought a lawnmower. And he said, hey man, I'll pay you $10 if you can make this thing run. And I was like, well shoot, dude, sign me up.

6:54And I don't know how I made the thing run. I just took it apart and put it back together and it worked. So I bought a project car when I was 14. It was an old '89 Toyota pickup and did a head gasket and a timing job on that. And that was just page by page through a Haynes manual. And at some point, my, my parents had an old Chevy van with drum brakes in the back, and it needed brakes.

7:19And, you know, the shop wanted $800 to put the brakes on, and my dad said, well, hey, Andrew, I'll pay you $400. And like, $400 was some serious money to a, you know, 15, 16-year-old. So I, I struggled through that. And auto repair shop owners often reach a point where they cannot answer basic questions about their business. How many cars are in the bay?

7:39What's today's revenue? What advisor closed the most jobs this week? Not because they're not paying attention, because the information is scattered among different tools and no one has the time to connect the dots. That's exactly what TechMetrics solves. Shop management, payments, and marketing. One platform, one place to look for your shop's insights. Always knowing where things stand. That's the kind of clarity that changes how you lead and win.

8:06Learn more at techmetric.com or use the link in the show notes. 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.

8:28So now you're stuck in that cycle. You need a strong team to run a great shop, but you need a great shop to attract a strong team. Make it make sense. That's why I rock with Detect Auto. Detect Auto streamlines your service processes with automations that save time, increase maintenance sales, and improve productivity without changing your whole system. It plugs in, guides your team through inspections, recommendations, and even customer communication.

8:55Now that's not just based on memory or mood. That's how a shop runs. And let me tell you, I've been using it for over a year now. My ARO is up 63%. That's not new knowledge. That's just consistency. If you're tired of your shop depending on who showed up today, go check out Detect Auto. Book a demo. And then I kind of went off the rails and I didn't do anything automotive.

9:17I was a volunteer firefighter, got my commercial driver's license, was driving a dump truck, and I get this phone call from this guy, some kid that I knew. His dad ran a mobile. Mobile business. And he was like, hey man, you still turning wrenches? Because like, I'll pay you a lot of money to come turn wrenches for me. I was like, sure.

9:35So I, I was working, I was working as a driving a dump truck, making like $30 or $35 an hour driving a dump truck. And I made more money like nights and weekends doing mobile work for this guy. And I was like, well, this is dumb. I'll just go do that full time. Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing, was wildly unqualified, had no business working on anybody's car.

10:00Um, I— but, but it was really good practice because I was, I was the service advisor, the parts person. Like, I interfaced with the customer, I had to order the parts, I had to build the estimates. Like, I did everything myself, right? Um, and I did that for about a year, and then I met a cute girl, and I was like, man, I'm gonna get married.

10:21Oh, and her dad, her dad worked for a, worked for a shop, and she lived a few hours away from me. And so, her dad wasn't real happy with where I was going in my career and he's like, why don't you come interview with my boss? And so, I did and somehow conned this poor shop owner into hiring me. And that was where I learned that there's actually a right way to do things.

10:47And just because it makes it out of the parking lot doesn't mean that it's right. So, that was a rude awakening. I worked for that guy for about 3 and a half years. I got screamed at a lot. I was doing full— doing head gasket jobs on 6-liter Power Strokes, deep heavy line diesel repair for $18 an hour. And the shop had hired a new foreman and I kind of became friends with this guy.

11:16And the shop fired the foreman and we stayed friends. And he just kept encouraging me like, dude, you've got to get out. Anywhere is better than where you're at. And I, um, started looking, found a place that was hiring, and they wanted 7 years of experience. I figured, well, I've got almost 3 and a half, and 3 and a half rounds up to 4, and 4 rounds up to 7.

11:35So like, I'll apply, you know? Yeah, why not? Makes sense. That math— that's some girl math for you. Um, and this, this shop ended up, uh, ended up hiring me, and I I went there and it was a— like, my day one was like a 40% pay increase on like in the first week. And I was like, oh, I can actually make some real money fixing cars.

12:00Yeah, because I was ready to leave the industry. I was like, I, I hated my job so much that I didn't— I couldn't stand like the people I worked with that I literally would go out to my car and eat my lunch cold in my car for like 3 years Because I didn't even want to be in the building long enough to like warm my food up and then, and then go eat it, right?

12:20And I was too broke to buy lunch, so yeah. So do you think, because both of you guys said you had crap bosses— well, I don't say crap bosses, we're not going to say that because I don't know. They were, they were crap. I had a, I had, I had a boss that, that came up in the industry in the early '90s, and that's just, that's just how it was.

12:41There's no— at least in the part of the world that he was in. And that's just how you treated people. And I mean, I made it 3 days before he was screaming at me in, in the shop. And but then before that, both of you said that you felt like you were not doing the jobs right anyway. Like, he's just like, oh, this is how it's actually supposed to be done.

13:00So where did your training come in? Where would you get that from? It was just on-the-job training for both of you guys? I was screamed at a lot. Oh, so you were screamed into submission? Yeah. It was just on-the-job training. Hey, how you doing? Waggle. What'd you say, Caleb? It was just on-the-job training for me. Like, what really got it started was, I mean, my dad has pictures of me doing brakes on my grandpa's car when I was probably 6.

13:33Um, you guys should probably talk to somebody about this child labor. Listen, no, I'm just playing. I don't play that. Mama's a serious mama. We're going to work. You gotta eat. Don't you shit. Go to work. Uh, so it was just, I like, I had a— I just kind of figured out like, oh, this is the right way to do things, right?

13:59Or this is the way that things should be done. And just kind of, it just kind of came naturally to me. And then, so you both are sitting here on the social medias listening to me and other old people complain about the industry and how hard it is to own a shop. And you decide, oh, let me go sign a lease and open a shop.

14:22How long have you had your shop, Drew? Uh, we, in like 3 days, we're gonna be 6 months. December 1st, 2025 is when we opened. Nice. And Caleb? Uh, it was a, it was a year ago and about a month when I, when my toolbox left that shop to go into my trailer. Uh, but I started kind of moonlighting on the side back in November of '24.

14:53So, but when did you get in the building? I feel like you just got in your building, like in the last couple months. Yep. So we moved different, huh? I said a little bit different. Yeah, it, it's been huge. Uh, so we moved down here January 17th is when we got access to the property, moved down here. I opened, was officially open February 16th in a shop.

15:24And that was my goal being mobile was to build up a client base, going to be able to stack money away to get into a shop. And couldn't find anything in the town that we lived in. Couldn't find anything that was affordable. And usable. The place that was usable was way too expensive. And they're just— so then I was gonna build a shop.

15:58I was like, well, it's pretty much the only other option I have. 'Cause I need a place that's warm in the wintertime to work. Hell yeah, Minnesota, yes. It was New Year's Day. It was 4 degrees outside. I'm doing a water pump and a Cummins at a truck stop. Dude, I— you have so much more passion for this industry than I do.

16:18I'm like, I, I got into good shops and then figured out that there was like— we had like— so when I got left the bad shop and went to a good shop, they were like, oh hey, like O'Reilly's has a training class, you know, on Wednesday night, you want to go? And I was like, free training? Like, let's do this. And I took every class I could get my hands on, and, and I got to a point in my, in my career, and this was I don't know, a couple years ago, like 3 or 4 years ago in my career where I was like, I'm good at what I do and, and you can pay

16:49me and you can take care of me or I'm gonna go find somewhere else to work. Like, that's just it. I didn't, and I didn't know I stuck it out at the place I was at for as long as I did because I felt like, well, if this shop is this way, every shop I go to is going to be this way.

17:08Yeah, exactly. And that's, and that's the trap I feel like a lot of, a lot of technicians are stuck in, young and old, is like, well, this is just what it is, this is the job. And, and there are good shops out there. I think the loudest people are the people with the bad shops though. Like, the— you hear that more than anything about, oh, this is bad, it's a bad industry, and they just throw the whole industry away.

17:32This is crazy. What'd you say? I just hear the loudest people and I asked if you were talking about Lucas. Ain't talking about babblemouth. What are y'all— Mr. Talk a Lot? No, Lucas has a great shop. I think he has a great culture. He's very loud. But that's all I was saying is that he talks. But yeah, it's— you see all the people, there's, there's like such a dramatic, I think, difference between like the, the other— the ends of the bell curve are so far apart, right?

17:59Like The bad shops are really, really bad and the good shops are really, really good. And, and there's some in the middle, but they're mostly really good or really bad. There's not, I don't know, at least in my experience, there's not that many aggressively mediocre shops. I'm an aggressively mediocre shop. But okay, so you went from ranching because you said the shop owner was terrible and now you're the shop owner.

18:25What has been the hardest adjustment? Because you got to think about it. Sometimes you just don't know what you know as an employee. That, you know, running the show was a whole lot different than just, you know, being a part of circus, being a ringleader. You know, what is— how has that been, that adjustment between, you know, I just get my check at the end of the week versus I need to make my own check and I need to make sure I pay the bills?

18:50I have to keep these doors open. Like, what bill? Like, you got a light bill and you're like, God, somebody turn the lights off. Light bill is high. Like there's, there's an adjustment there. How's that been for you? It's been, it was an adjustment, especially last year. Uh, like just the culture in the town that, town that we were in, it was any, it felt like anything over $500, I was like drastically too expensive.

19:24Was that what you was just telling yourself, or they were telling you you were too expensive, or did you just think you didn't deserve that money? No, it wasn't me telling myself that. It was, it was people that would call me about like to do a window regulator on a 2000, uh, Buick LeSabre. Was it gold? They're all gold. I don't know.

19:50I never saw a pewter, a pewter Buick LeSabre with a window regulator and some cloth seats. But yeah, they thought you should do it for what, $50? Yeah, like it was $500 per window regulator and there was 2 windows that were down. It's like, I don't see the issue here. But then some people are just like, well, this should cost— I think this should cost $20.

20:13It's like, well, where do you get that number from? Well, you know, I asked Google and Google said it should probably only be $20. It's like, Yes, my friend. I had one. I've lived— there's so much more that goes into it than just— yeah, why don't you go ahead and get Google to come over there and do that for you and see how that works out?

20:30Google said— that is like the worst thing right now to fight against, what Google said. Yeah, but how did you overcome that, Caleb? I, I just kept moving, moving forward and took the work that did come in. A lot of it was people that were just passing through town. They're just passing through, their car broke down on the interstate or something like that.

20:57That was a lot of what I did. It was not people in the town that I actually lived in. But now you have a building and you have rent to pay. So I mean, just relying on those people, how do you How do you plan to build your customer base? It's been— if your mindset is thinking everything's $20? I'm not even in that town anymore.

21:20I'm 3 and a half hours south. So I started brand new and it's been huge. Now I'm being told, fix it. Call me when it's ready. That's what's up. Yeah. That's the kind of clients that you want to deal with and not the ones that are like, oh, I can't— I'd like you to— I'd like to pay for an inspection, but I can't afford the alignment.

21:45It's like, dude, really? Yeah, tow your car out of here over $150? Come on. Yeah, I'm down here. It's like the first time somebody told me that, I, I really did not know what to do. For when they said just go ahead and fix it, you're like, really? Yeah. Yeah. Because I never, I never saw a repair bill that I wrote up for more than $1,000.

22:15$1,200. I never saw that. So where are you getting your coaching from knowing how to properly charge and, you know, to run a business? You know, like I said, you're not just collecting a paycheck now. You've got to make sure that there's something at that bottom line at the end of the month. I gotta borrow money from my personal account and put it into the shop account so I can make payroll.

22:35That's my favorite thing. Oh, only did that once. Only did that once. We're good. It worked. So how did you adjust that pricing? Uh, no, we just— I was— we were— we had a slow month and ended up with a big job that closed a day later than we thought it would close. And so we didn't have enough to cover payroll. And it was just— it was just a— I, I loaned myself money for a day and then pulled it back out and we were fine.

22:59Okay, good. It makes for a dramatic story. Joshua Coombs was, was a huge help when I first went out on my own because I, I had felt the 20% markup on parts just across the board was— oh baby. Oh, but it's— I mean, it's still a lot of shop owners that you've been doing it 6 months, you're smart enough to say, hey, help me.

23:28And then when Josh spoke to you about it, was that easy for you to make the adjustment on your price and your parts matrix? Can you imagine how many people are still fighting that and they've been in business 5, 10 years, still marking up parts 20, 25%? It was a post on, uh, the ASOG Hangout group. Somebody was asking about what kind of markup on a used engine or something like that.

23:53And he, Josh called me out on it and then gave me his phone number. He's like, give me a call this evening or whatever. And he's like, reach out to Lucas and a few other people. And he's like, that parts markup, that parts profit is there to cover If something happens to that car. Warranty, lights, heat, health, all of the things. Yeah.

24:27That you have a wheel fall off after you do a wheel bearing or something like that. That profit is there to help cushion that. The other costs. Yeah. So that was a huge eye-opener. That somebody calls me, there's a problem, I can just bring it in, I'll take care of it. That's what's up. So I can do— that was— so I can make it right.

24:58Uh, yeah, that was something that was really big for me, was like, it's really important. Like, it— because like everybody comes into this like wanting to take care of people, right? And, and everybody I think means something a little different with that, but But we had a job that came in and 100% my fault, I did an incomplete diagnosis. We sold the repair, we fixed a legitimate issue, but we fixed a quarter of the actual problem that lady brought it in for.

25:26And when she calls and goes, hey, it's still making noise. And I say, bring it in, we're gonna make it right, whatever it takes. And we can just do that and move on and still have a good week. Like, that's, that's why we have to be profitable, so that there are profit dollars to be able to take care of our team, to take care of ourselves, and to take care of our clients, right?

25:48So you, you can't save the community and just like destroy yourself, your employees, and everything. Like, taking care of community can mean too many different things, and, um, sacrificing yourself for somebody else is not it. For example, I had a really big problem happen in the last 30 days that it's the worst. Like, for 10 years I've been on my own with the shop, even though my family's had it for 46.

26:1110 years has been completely solely my responsibility. So a mistake cost me $20,000. What happened? We'll talk about that offline. Um, but long story short, yeah, we have to put it— the dealerships needs to put an engine in the customer's car. An Audi. Audi is a 2018, but it had 60,000 miles on it, and my technician made a drastic mistake, and I have to make that right for the customer.

26:41You know what, me calling the insurance company is not going to work, because if I call the insurance company, they're going to total his car, right? They total his car. That's not me taking care of my community. I have to stand behind what I did. So it's going to cost me $20,000. And one, a good friend of mine, Chad Whitley, says to me, he reminds me that's only one month.

27:02I was like, yeah, that's less than one month's profit. And you know what? I've been blessed for 10 years not to have that problem. So guess who won? And exactly, and I was able to take care of my community by doing the job right and making this right for him and not just putting him off on the insurance company because he would have lost his whole car.

27:20And then I would have had a customer that was livid. He could have did a chargeback on the credit card. Anything could have went way left. That's, and that's exactly the thing is that you already raised your rates up. Yeah. Charge properly. Paying for it further down the road than just right now. Yeah. So it sounds like you guys like really are young in this.

27:45What made, even though you started off rough, like you went from cars and then dump truck, then back to cars. And Caleb, you've only done cars. You've only done cars though. What makes you want to stay in the industry? Is it just the money? What is it? It's got to be more than the money. I'm in it for the money. Honestly, the money is a, the money is a big part of it, especially now I'm making more money than I, than I ever dreamed of.

28:24Yeah. I didn't even, like, I'm pennies compared to what y'all are doing, but like, I'm at a point where I didn't think I was gonna be at this point when I was 24. I felt, it was a year and a half ago, I was, I was burnt out. Yeah. I was so burnt out that I had listed my tools for sale. Oh, wow.

28:49I'm like, I'm fixing to go out on my own. But I was so burnt out from that job that I was sitting on the couch one morning, dreading going to work. I put my tools up for sale on Facebook. Every single one of them. And all of it— That's what we don't need to hear. We don't need young techs like yourself. Sounds like you're gifted.

29:13You've got initiative. Like, you're still a baby. My son's 22, okay? So you're, you're doing big things, but somebody somewhere, some little raggedy shop owner, if you didn't have— if you didn't have it in you to stick it out, he could have ruined your life, dude. Yeah. So I'm so glad that you saw above that and you were able to push forward and find a village.

29:40Like, I don't even know, I think you how I met you. I think we were on a Rick White thing. I don't know. Mr. Nickel Love the Kids. It sounds like you got— we've got the same village. I love me some Rick White. Josh Coons right down here in Vietnam. Lucas Underwood got me started in ASPA. Yeah, he's in Vietnam. No, Vietnam.

29:59Um, so I'm so glad that you are finding the village and sticking, sticking to it. And Andrew, what, what do you have? You, you're getting ready to do something. I do. I have this great— this is, this is a— for those, for those of you that don't come from a, from a farming community, this is International Harvester Blue. Uh, this was a limited color that Ram put on their trucks in like '18 and '19, like only a couple years.

30:28They made a few of these trucks with this. I mean, it's a great color. I love this color. Um, this is— you might notice the jagged cut edge there. This is my reminder of why why we charge money, and it lives in my office. This is a sawed-off chunk of fender flare after one of my guys crunched the side of a dually truck pulling it into the shop, which cost me— it's an aluminum bed, and so they couldn't just pop the dent out and put a new flare on it.

30:55They had to replace the bedside. It was like $7,000 or $8,000, and I was able to tell my customer, I'm really sorry this happened. We're going to make it completely right. And whatever it takes to make you happy, we're going to do that. But you keep that as a reminder. I keep the scrap in my office where I can see it as a reminder.

31:17And also, the employee that did this no longer works for me, but it wasn't because of this. When this happened, he backs the truck up. I said, pull it into another bay, we'll look at it. And he comes up and he hangs his head and he goes, man, am I taking my tools home? And I said, no, I don't fire people for mistakes.

31:40I fire them for patterns. And like, this is a mistake. Like, what can we do to change our process so this doesn't happen again? And that I think for me was the moment. That was just like, I thought back to some of the shop owners that I have worked for. And like how they would have reacted in that scenario. You know, like, I mean, dude, I, I— the, the, the thing that I got yelled at 3 days into my first real job was I was taking a transmission out and there was an exhaust hanger.

32:11And I was like, I should have taken it off first. And I ended up with like the transmission's on a jack and I can't get it out. And one of the other techs was like, just cut it and then we'll weld it back in. We go back together. It's an exhaust hanger. It's no big deal. And so I just was like, I'll just cut it.

32:25And like, that's what I got screamed at for. Which was like, there's going to be a weld mark in an exhaust hanger under a truck that nobody's ever going to see. And I had an employee do, you know, 7 grand worth of damage to a customer's car. And I said, dude, let's not do that again. Like, in that tone. I didn't yell at him.

32:40I didn't scream at him. And, and that's like— boss moves, man. That's that leadership boss stuff. Look at you. Look at you. I'm trying. I, I, I really am trying. You're doing I am growing. There is so much more room for growth. Yeah, there's, there's so much more room for growth. But I wanted to just say something is that I was not, I was not pushed into shop ownership by bad bosses.

33:08Okay, I've, I've known that I wanted to open my own business, like some kind of whether it's shop or something else. I've known that I wanted to do this since I was like 15. And so I've wanted to own the shop. You know, I, I spent a year in high school in a heavy diesel, like, tech program at a local, like, tech school.

33:27And I remember sitting in that class and all these other, you know, grease monkeys around me, and they're all work for this company, that company. I'm sitting here going, you guys are going to work for me. Like, I'm going to own the shop. And granted, that's just, you know, arrogant 17-year-old Andrew. No, that's confidence. It's a little bit of arrogance mixed in there, but But I've, but I've known that I wanted to do this for a very long time.

33:51And so the last, like, I, and I, and I, like, I kind of waffled when I got like really good, like that really good job after the first one. I was like, nah, dude, I'm gonna retire from this job. Like, this is gonna be great. And then the rental I was living in got sold and we decided to move to Arizona because that made sense.

34:09Um, it's a song about— yeah, it's— hey, you guys might not know this, but Arizona is hot. Yeah. Yes, it is. It is the hottest desert in North America. Um, but anyway, so I'm from the Midwest. It gets like 20 below here for a few months of the year, but right now it's 90 degrees and I'd rather it be 30 degrees. Ain't no way, dude.

34:37It's— no, I, I love where, where I'm at. So like, I live— we moved to the Midwest. We're in Missouri now. So like It's great. Like, the coldest temperature that I've seen is like we got down to like -10, but it was like one overnight it got cold. You know, we get like one cold snap a year where it's like you get a week where it doesn't get above freezing, and then it's like 70 degrees the next day.

34:57No, it's just like straight down. It gets below 30 and we lose our mind. No, ain't no way. I'm hurting. My, my author, everything would just be Aching on me. Oh my goodness. So we were in Vegas like 2 weeks ago and it's like, it's 100 and what? Why? Right? Like in Arizona, Arizona, there's like, there's like, I think the Toyota dealership had AC in their service department.

35:27Like in, in a, in a county of like 7 million people, there's like one shop that's air conditioned. In Arizona? Nobody has air conditioning. Yeah. Do you have AC in your shop? Yeah. Okay, cool. You're gonna get it. Yeah, you don't need an AC, it's only 23 degrees, so you'll be fine. But no, we've got AC, honey. It was 81— it was 81 degrees and 95% humidity today.

35:51We ran the AC and it was pleasant inside. It's pleasant. So what is it like? Because, um, Andrew, you got young kids, or kid? How many babies you got? 4 babies. I got 4 babies. My oldest is 8, my youngest is, uh, she just turned 9 months old. Good gracious. How's it like being that young with the business and some babies? That's a lot of babies.

36:15And Caleb's got 2. So you're building a family and building a business all at the same time. And I just built a house, but that's neither here nor there. You're so ambitious. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. What is that like for you, Caleb? Because I see yours walking around the shop and I think it's so cute. You better pay that baby.

36:37Chocolate milk and hot dogs. Chocolate milk and hot dogs. I told you, I mean, that's, that's a hell of a pamper, man. Yeah, that sounds like, sounds like my service advisor. It's been, it's been really good. I'm especially now, and that was the biggest One of the big things that I struggled with when I was working for somebody else was like, I got home from— I'd leave the house at 7 o'clock.

37:02We were supposed to be there at 7:30. I was in the parking lot by 7:05, punched in 10 minutes before 7:30, working right away all the way up until 5. It was just every day and it was just, I was stressed and so I came home just beat. Just completely. Yeah, that's hard on a wife. Like, I don't know how she handled that with you, but that can be hard because she's been at home with children all day.

37:38I don't either. Yeah. So that was, that was a big thing is I just I wanted to be able to do something that you're going to have more time with my family. And now my commute to work is 75 feet and my wife and kids come out to the shop sometimes during the day when the kids just want to be outside. So it's been It's been really good.

38:12It's been a huge, huge adjustment going from working for somebody else to I'm in control of my paycheck, but I also wouldn't want it any other way. No. Does she help you at all with the billing or anything in the shop? Does she want to or just being at home with them babies? Yeah. That's where she should be. Yeah. She saw that the She, she was subbing as a para at the public school in town this winter, uh, so that she's not home all day every day with the kids because they're really young.

38:50Yeah, but it's, it's been good. Uh, like this last weekend, we bought a homeless shelter a couple weeks ago and we're out being homeless. What is this big airplane thing behind you? It's a foam airplane. It's electric, so you get to play with your toys more. More. What is that, man? I would— you're not gonna be flying that thing, and I'd probably get too low and hit somebody with it and have a whole lawsuit.

39:26I'd fly that thing. Someday, someday Andrew's gonna buy himself a bush plane, fly real airplanes, but that's a long way off. Look at you, you, you swear you got it going on. I love it. So how does your wife, um, does she work outside of the shop or does she help you in there at all? No, so my, my wife does not work outside the home, which means that she is, um, the definition of marrying way outside of my league, like way out of my league.

39:52Um, and she's an incredible woman and And she, she homeschools our 4. I mean, we're not really homeschooling the little one. She's a baby. She's just figuring out how to crawl right now. Yeah, but, uh, no, she's just home with the babies. And no, she is— she's currently doesn't— isn't— doesn't do anything in, in around the shop. I mean, she'll come in occasionally and, you know, she helped with— helped with getting the shop ready, you know, painting, painting the office, getting everything lined out, getting the decor all dialed in so it's just so.

40:20And select, you know, there was like— so it's like she's a huge part of it. There's no way I could do this without her, but like Day-to-day operation, she's not involved at all. Okay, so tell me about— let's go back to shop ownership. Like I said, this has been the year number 10 on my own, um, and I was raised in the industry, so I have a lot of— I had a lot of background.

40:40But just making all the decisions by myself, and my dad like would force me to make decisions that I want to make. What is the— what is the one mistake that y'all already know that you would not do that again? Customer-supplied engines. Oh, not ever, never, ever, ever again. I don't care who you are, there's just no way. I will never do that again.

41:14It's like, how in the world you end up saying okay to that? You just thought it was the right thing to do to save the community? February. It was, it was February. It was slow and Um, my advisor said yes without really consulting me. Oh, how many do you have on your staff? You say you have an advisor. How many techs? What do you— what are you— I'm doing advisor and a tech right now, and we're getting close to hiring a second tech.

41:43Okay, that's what's up. And Caleb, you're still on your— I mean, you're still on your own doing your wrenching and doing your paperwork? Ain't nothing wrong with that, big dog. My goal is to hire a tech by the end of next year. Okay. Do you think you'll ever have like people up front? Huh? You ever think you have a service advisor or anything like that?

42:04Maybe eventually down the road, but I wanna get, I wanna get stable enough that I can get a tech in here so I can try to focus more on the being the service advisor or whatever and get to build it to a point where, yeah, I could have a service advisor here too. Yeah, you can do that. No problem. Because it's— are you being coached by 180 Biz?

42:30Are you just listening in on a lot of stuff? Like, do you reach out for other coaching companies? I know you talked to Josh. Are you just getting like on-the-job training and just on the internet training and just getting in where you fit in? And that's like, that makes sense to me. I wouldn't pay for a coach. I would just get all the free stuff as long as I could take it.

42:48Drew, did you ever have a coach? Oh buddy, I hired a coach. I hired a coach before I even opened my doors. Yeah, can I ask who? I'm just nosy. You absolutely, you absolutely may. So I'm, I'm a, a client and lifelong fan of Elite Worldwide. Um, okay, Matt, Matt Lofton was my primary coach before he handed me off to somebody else because so I guess he's busy or something.

43:09Um, which I don't know, but I mean, he also will like take my phone call or answer my text or email like right away, any hour of day and night, no matter what he's doing. So I don't— either he really likes me, or when they say that they're a people-first company, they actually mean it. I think everybody with Elite is really cool.

43:28Matt's awesome guy. Like, he's— his shop's maybe 45 minutes from me. Um, talk to him quite a bit. So you got a coach before you open the doors. Like, you were a businessman. Oh yeah. Oh no. How much of a difference do you think it made? Um, I would say, well, that's, that's a hard question to answer, right? Because like, how much of a difference did it make?

43:55Well, let me— let's back up. In, in the United States, what's, what's the average time to to break even for a, for a small business? I think it's— is it 3 to 5 years? I don't know. I, I think it's something like that, 3 to 5 years. Yeah. So we, like, month over month, we broke even month 2, and we are, we are in our— we're just finishing up our 3rd, as, as Matt calls them, big boy months.

44:26Um, and with, with this month, we will be in the black, like since, since inception. So we'll have overcome all the losses from the first couple months and, and be into the black making profit, including having paid myself a decent salary the whole way through. Good. A lot of people do not pay themselves first. I, I came off building a house where my general contractor stole $100,000+ from me.

44:55And so I had zero money to start this thing. And I wasn't interested in— I didn't see a way that I could do it and get into the building that I'm in without borrowing some money and like spending some money and just kind of going for it. So we started, we started with— I bought, I bought 2 lifts, I hired, I had a service advisor that I, that like started with me from day one.

45:20So like there was, there was not a time when it was just me. Um, and yeah, we very much jumped into this. This is not a— this isn't a job. This is a business we're building. I'm striving to build something that's much bigger than a job. I want to build a team, and, um, and I would like to— I'd like to end up multi-location at some point.

45:43I spent too much of my time running my business, but it was a glorified job, and I didn't know I think I did that for maybe 3 years before I started coaching with 180. And but then my hard-headed ass didn't want to drink all the Kool-Aid anyway, like the parts matrix and the markups and the things, all the stuff they tell you not to do.

46:05You're like, I don't— you know, it doesn't sound right, doesn't sound right. But I, um, you drank the Kool-Aid. You just went in there and just— oh no, I went swimming in the Kool-Aid. I know. Yeah, once I got it in my head, like, okay, I do not want a glorified job. I am tired. I can't keep doing this. My knees do not agree.

46:22Um, and I'd like to go home. I like to go home and I like to have a weekend. So once I drink the Kool-Aid, then it's been a life-changing thing. But you just have to get there first. So I like that you guys are two different— you're, you're on the same journey, but your startup, the way you're doing it, there's no right or wrong way to do it.

46:41You know, what's working for Caleb is working for Caleb. It seems like you went from shit to sugar. And, and then Drew— Andrew, you too, you went from shit to sugar. Well, yeah, but it was like, it was a long progress. It's been, it's been a while since I had a crummy job. Like my last, my last employer— so I moved, we moved from Arizona to Missouri a little over, a little over 2 years ago and, uh, interviewed, interviewed with a couple of different shops locally in town.

47:09And was not super impressed by any of them. Um, I say that casually because I know that one of the shop owners I interviewed with listens to this podcast, so it's all good. Anyways, I— and I ended up— I ended up going to work for a Christian Brothers Automotive franchise here, here in town, and which was basically because I called and was like, hey, do you guys want a solid ATEC that can work on diesel stuff?

47:37And the guy that I talked to, I don't remember which guy it was, was like, um, well, the boss isn't in right now, but I'm sure he'd want to talk to you. Let me get your information. And like, and we set up a Zoom interview, we interviewed, and he was like, look, this is what I can pay you. And it was like $16 an hour more than the other 2 shops had offered.

47:57Oh, more. And I was like, cool, dude, I'm down, let's do it. And, and, and I, and I walked in, told him, I said, hey dude, my, my long-term goal is to open a shop, and at some point I'm going to leave you to open a shop. And he was like, cool, I'll help you do it when that time comes. And so he's in the groups here.

48:16Lee Grant is the guy and he runs a fantastic operation, takes really good care of his team. And if I wasn't so ambitious and wanted to do this on my own, I would 100% still be working for him. So it wasn't a bad boss that pushed me into this. It's that this is what I wanted to do. Ambition. He gave me the— Lee gave me the, the launching pad to be able to, to do that.

48:39So forever grateful to him. I love that. That is, that is a great story. And then what kind of shop are you trying to build, Caleb? Because we know what Andrew's doing. Like, 3 to 5 years down the road, what is it going to look like for you? Because you've got to have your vision. You've got to have your vision board. You got to have something you're working towards.

49:00What I'm— I guess ultimately what I'd like is to have a tech or 2 techs in here, possibly a service advisor, or I grow to the point where I move into town and this is just my home and not a place of business. How big is your building right now? The shop is 40 by 70. My office is about 15 by 32.

49:3640 by 70. So what is like, talk to me like I'm stupid. How many bays is that? I can have 4. Okay. I can have 4 bays. I can have 3 lifts in here and Probably a portable scissor lift on the very end, uh, because it makes it— I wanted to have 4 lifts in here. It would work to have 4 lifts in here, but I only have 1 door.

50:05Okay, gotcha. Um, I don't really feel like cutting the concrete walls out to put a— that's— put another door in. Uh, I spent enough in propane in the last Uh, in the first 3 months, I, I'd rather not have another— trying to heat that joke up. Insulation is your friend. Closed-cell spray foam, lack thereof. Expensive, but it's worth it. Lack thereof on insulation.

50:32I just had to redo the roof on the office and it was, uh, there was only 6 inches of insulation. Wow. It's got— I think it's cold. It gets cold where you live. Yeah, Minnesota, that's That's crazy. The office now has 16 inches. The shop will have 16 inches insulation come fall. It's too hot up there to do anything now. So yeah, ultimately whether the business just stays here or I do move into town, I wanna replace myself as a tech.

51:13Is I think I would, so that I can do what I enjoy doing. I enjoy wrenching, but I don't enjoy doing it 7 days a week. Like— Are you still working in the shop 7 days a week? No. Okay. I was like, don't do that. You gotta clock out. March Matrix, let's go. No, I try to work on customer stuff Monday through Friday.

51:41And then if there's something that I got to do so I'm not so behind in the following week because of parts, then I'll do it, do a quick on Saturday if it's something quick. Uh, otherwise it's my, my own stuff that— oh, so you're like me and you can't stop fixing stuff? No, I, I cannot sit down for like periods of time, otherwise I'm just bored.

52:07My mind is just wandering. That's why I started building flying model airplanes, is I needed something to do a year and a half, 2 years ago that kept my hands busy and my mind occupied without turning wrenches on a car. Um, so that I enjoy what I do, but I can't keep doing it all the time. So I would like to replace myself as a technician ultimately, probably have a service advisor too so that I don't have to be here all the time or don't have to do as much.

52:48Because those kids are going to get to the point that you're going to have to go to games and recitals and teacher conferences and things like that. So just make sure— Someday I want to take the vacations that I see Tanika taking. Yes, honey. Yeah, I'm so crispy right now, don't make no sense. Just go, ready to get on the plane, go see my other baby.

53:08But it— when, when I do that, it— trust me, there's plenty of times that the vacation was at the DoubleTree less than 3 miles up the street. We would call them staycations because that's all Mommy could afford. So yeah, if you see me out here balling now, oh, I, I get there. That's, and that's something that I've come to realize, I think, as, as a shop owner now is like, I know how much work goes into getting to where you're at.

53:34And so like, when I, you know, when I see, you know, these, these shop owners with their private jets and, and their big fancy boats and all these things, it's like, it doesn't bother me a bit. Like, I'm not mad by that. Like, I'm just like, I could, I can do that. I can do more than that. Yeah. It's like, I'll outwork all of you guys.

53:49And yeah, I like, I will get that. I'll get there. Like, You know, I have a boat. I actually have 2 boats right now, and they're both— well, one's broken and one's kind of broken. Um, I have a boat, and it's been sitting since, uh, 2016. That, that is a car now. Do not put that in the water. It would disintegrate. They're like, what the hell is this?

54:11This is water. No, but no, it takes a while to get there. But the thing is, when you got the internet and you've got social media and all this stuff, and you're looking at what they're doing Like, not knowing the story behind all of that hustle is different. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, because— and the thing with social media, social media is really a love-hate relationship.

54:31I'm, I'm in it mostly for the groups, and I really enjoy trolling, and that is why me and Mike Allen are friends. Um, but like, you see a highlight reel, right? Like, exactly, you know what I'm saying? Like, like, you know, when I, when I go look at, you know, Tanika's socials, and like, you see her, you know, I was just on this vacation, that vacation, all this fun stuff.

54:51You're not seeing is that, hey, we had a $20,000 screw-up, right? Like, you— like, because we're not gonna shout about that because it sucks and we don't want to talk about that. Nobody wants to hear about that. Like, you know, and so there's, there's so much like slog that just goes into like getting there. And, and I think everybody that has not actually done the thing, like not actually like stepped into shop ownership and managed a business and been responsible for other people's payroll Like, if you haven't done it, you have no idea what it takes.

55:22And you can listen to the podcasts and you can do all the things, which is what I did, like, leading up to it. I was like, man, I'm coming to this, I know what I'm doing, and got into it. And the first day of, oh crap, we're not going to make payroll on Friday. Yeah, like, that's a gut punch. So yeah, I'm glad you said that because there's so many people, just the highlight reel, and then It's like, dude, just slow down and focus and find a village.

55:49Like, I'm glad Caleb has found a village, and I hope it's— like, sometimes I feel like I'm intrusive because, like, when I was sending you all the little stuff to help your social media and what, I was like, oh, I hope I'm not overdoing it. But if I can give a hand, I'm gonna give a hand. If I can encourage you, I can— I'm gonna do it.

56:05Because it's like, oh, let's do this and let's do that and get your colors together because I want everybody to win. And winning for me is not the same as winning for Andrew, it's not the same as winning for Caleb. Like, I don't want no damn plane. I just want to be in seat 1F on Delta or American Airlines. I don't need to fly the plane now.

56:25I've taken some lessons, but I don't need that. But what I need to do is make sure I have multiple— which Mercedes am I driving today? Sounds arrogant, but I didn't— hey, good work my ass off. Right. And, and the other thing, and this is what I, I said something to somebody, I was like, I will never buy that because I can't stand working on it.

56:42And this guy looked at me and went like, you know, if you can afford to buy that car, you can pay someone to work on it anymore. It was like light bulb. I was like, oh, I can have a car that's terrible to work on if I want one. And the kid I took, I took my truck in for its first service and the kid is like, oh, I thought you have a shop.

56:56I said, I do, but this service is free for y'all for the next 5 years and I'll never fix it. I'll just bring it to you. It's just whether or not you want to deal with that experience. I want to fix my own car. That's stupid. I can be fixing somebody else's car. But no, um, but stay humble but stay ambitious and always keep your goals right there in front of you.

57:21And I'm talking to Caleb because you don't— you don't need— Mr. Andrew thinks he's got it going on, but I'm so glad that you have a coach right out the gate, but you probably didn't need one. Caleb, I'm so glad that you found a community and keep looking for Us. If it wasn't, if it wasn't for all the connections that I made, you, Mike Allen, Lucas, Dan Theken, Josh Coombs, and Rick White.

57:46Yeah, probably I wouldn't be where I'm at. And you're just starting, honey. You're just starting. You got to look at those little kids and like, what do you— like, your kids are so young. And I watched Santana in the shop and I watched Jordan doing what he's doing. I'm— I just— it just seems like it was yesterday that they were running around helping me sweep the floors and whatever.

58:10Um, and Santana's just like getting skin in the game as far as being in the office and running the business and saying, hey, this doesn't look good for the customers to come in. Like, he had a little riff with a— with one of the service advisors, well, my assistant, and he was just saying, hey, this doesn't look good, this doesn't make the office look good.

58:27And she couldn't take the direction. I know that's your son. I was like, yeah, but he owns this place. Eventually. So he's taking pride and ownership in this. So what do you, you think your kids are going to do any of this stuff, follow you guys' footsteps? Are you building a legacy? Is that what we're doing? I, I haven't really thought of that, thought that far.

58:47Like a year ago, year and a half ago, if you asked me that question, I'd say no, I do not want my kids anywhere near this industry. Now, I could see them taking over for me one day if that's where it leads. Yeah. If they want to, but it's not going to be a thing where I force them into, well, you have to come work for me kind of thing.

59:18It's when you're old enough to start working, you can start working. Do you want to come work for me or do you want to go work for somebody else? I think it's important for kids to start working. I started working when I was 10 or 11 years old with paper route. So I think it's important for kids to do work. Yeah. But you don't want to force them to do anything.

59:45Same. I understand. Jordan, you know, he's always been like— you sound like you guys. Since he's— I knew that boy is going to be tearing something apart and putting it back together. Was going to be a car, boat, plane, or whatever. That is just who he is. That's who he's always been. But I, um, never really put it in my mind that he's going to be working here at the shop with me because I, I just didn't want to disappoint myself, and I did not want to put him in that box.

1:00:16So when he went to UTI and then top of his class there, and he said, hey Mom, I'm going to work for Mercedes, I got a Mercedes program, of course it— you know, I want my baby at home in my back pocket, of course. But dude, if you're gonna go out there and do something bigger and better, go ahead. And maybe he'll come home, maybe he won't, but that was up to him.

1:00:36And the same thing with Santana. I had no idea what he wanted to do, but what, maybe 6 months ago, I don't even think it's been that long, he looked at me and said, hey Mom, I wanna, I wanna retire you in 5 years. Shit, come bring your butt to work and get me out of here. So if I can get them in the numbers, get them in the coaching, you know, try to duplicate myself through him, then I'm, I'm excited.

1:01:02But I never wanted to force them to do anything they didn't want to. I want them to love it and, and see it, um, as, as a career. I don't want them to be guilty and feel like they have to be there. Andrew, do you have any tech heads? 8-year-old? I mean, I mean, 8-year-old's a hothead. I love that girl. She is, she is, she's a personality.

1:01:26Yeah, that's that. Yeah, well, as my wife would say, she comes by it honestly. Um, that girl can talk like, like she'll talk, she'll talk a buzzard off a meat wagon, like I love her to death, but like, she's, she's a lot. And 8 is a fun age. She will talk a buzzard off of a meat wagon. That's a lot of talking.

1:01:48Yeah. I had to just like, what? Sorry, I'm a West Coast boy at heart, so like some of these things just like kind of flow. And then I'll hear things— Keep them coming, man. Keep them coming. These Arkansas boys keep telling me, and it's like, I just, I just, I just adopt things and just like put that on. Um, no, so like right now I don't know.

1:02:08I think, so I've got 3 girls and a boy. My son is, he just turned 3 a couple months ago, I guess almost 3 months ago now. But this boy loves everything mechanical. If he sees an excavator when we're driving down the road, it's like he is yelling and hollering because he loves that excavator, right? Anything with a motor, He loves it.

1:02:34So I think that's a good shot. You grab his tractor. Yeah, dude. So there was a DVD back in the day when my kids were kids, it was DVDs, and it was Mighty Machines. And all it was is— oh, Caleb, you're young enough, I don't know if you ever seen Mighty Machines. All it was is someone recording excavators and dump trucks and just selling the videos.

1:02:56And like, his favorite one, they had a whole 45-minute video of cars being crushed at the junkyard. And it— there was no cartoons. He would just sit there like, yeah. So I knew Jordan, definitely. I just knew. And it was also Legos, Legos, Legos, Legos. And he still is heavy into Legos. He built me a Lego G-Wagon for Christmas. Yes, all Legos.

1:03:24That is so on brand. I love it. So yeah, I just, I just knew that's who that kid was going to be. But yeah, so what would you tell— I gotta ask is, what would you tell a young tech if they wanted to come into the industry or open a shop tomorrow? What, what would you— what would your advice be? Go work for a good shop for a while before you try to open one.

1:03:48It's way harder than it looks. Yeah, definitely. You get plugged in with a couple of techs at a good shop and find a good shop that's gonna value you and train you. Yeah. I think training is the biggest part. I didn't know up until a year ago, I didn't know any of these podcasts, the Jaded Mechanic, Changing Industry, Confessions of a Shop Owner, any of these Facebook groups.

1:04:18I didn't know any of that existed, ASPA. Nothing. I, I felt sheltered. Mm-hmm. Whatever. Because I felt like when I brought up something that I— oh, I saw this on Facebook from that AutoTech Mike in Michigan— my boss, it kind of just shied away, shooed away. Yeah. Uh, kind of thing. So I didn't really know I didn't know any of this existed.

1:04:48Now it's like, if I want— I wanted to have gone on my own if training was available to me, if they're taking time to train me to be better. They did train me, maybe not the way that I necessarily wanted to be trained. So I'm I'm thankful for the opportunity that I had to work for them because if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be where I'm at now.

1:05:21Uh, but yeah, biggest, biggest thing is training. Like, thing that I'm, that I'm building is I have a toolbox that I bought from Harbor Freight last year because I needed a toolbox for my trailer before I went on my own completely. I'm going to build that out as a starter set for a high school kid. So they want to, they want to get into this industry.

1:05:45They can come work for me and they got a toolbox already. And after a couple years, if they want to leave, they can take the box with them. I like how you're already thinking about giving back and you're just starting yourself. And that, that is, yeah, that says a lot. You're going to go far with that mentality? I wanna give somebody a better start in the industry than I had.

1:06:10I don't want somebody that's brand new that, oh, I think I like working on cars, to have to go 5 grand into debt, get a basic set of tools. So I wanna be able to use that as an opportunity to, Get a high school kid in or a younger tech that is just starting out. Give 'em an opportunity to see if they're gonna like it or not.

1:06:40There was a high school— And so in order to do that, you must be profitable. Yeah, there was a high school— That's how you give back. Exactly. That's how some of those profits can do better in the industry. Yes. The— I— this, this, this was my first technician hire, and really, really good kid. Like, grew up in his dad's machine shop. Like, he, he was really good at knowing when to stop and ask for help.

1:07:11Like, he wouldn't break that bolt. He'd go, hey man, I'm having some issue here, can you give me a hand? And, and I really appreciate that. And like, showed up to work on time, wasn't on his phone all day. Like, good, good kid. But he had spent like 3 years working for a state job and there was just no motivation to want to improve.

1:07:32And more, the other issue that I didn't realize and my coach was 100% correct, which is I don't have the time to coach a new technician right now. I'm trying to get this shop off the ground and that technician is great because he can take some of the low skill work off my plate. He can do a DVI, He can pull a car in and rack it, but the amount of time that it takes for me to coach him is like, I'm not able to give him the coaching that he deserves and really should have because I'm too busy.

1:08:06Because I think that's a great goal. That's something that I want to do. But I made the mistake of trying to do that first as my first hire. And it didn't work out super well. And it's not— and I'm not— I'm not— in case he ever listens to this, I'm not mad about this. Like, I'm, I'm really not mad about that. But it was just— I thought I could— I thought I had the bandwidth to like train and coach a new tech and build a shop.

1:08:37Yeah, no, Andrew does not have that much bandwidth. Yeah, because you, you'll drop the ball somewhere. And I did. Yeah, my first hire is going to be a tech to at least replace me. If not, honestly, I'd like to hire somebody better than me. Yeah, that's very smart. Like, I, I pushed against that for a long time as far as my office.

1:09:02It's like, I don't want anybody up there that can— I don't know, I just kind of felt like— and this was years, years ago— that, you know, they might steal from me, they might get me if I— if they know too much. You know, I got to keep my thumb on the neck. But no, it's having my service. I don't know a damn thing that's going on with the shop right now.

1:09:21I mean, I know what's happening, but you know, to touch every single car and do all of these things and be in control and not let them make decisions, I'm over that. And what happens is they do better job than me. And so I hear that a lot. Yeah. It's the truth, man. So Tanika, did you— I know you, you came up in, in your family's shop, um, but when you were, when you were working in the business, were you— I would assume like service writers kind of where you started, or how did, where, how did you start like working in the— So office service writer, and you know, we were collision center to begin

1:10:01with, so I was an estimator. Okay, so I just started first First it was just answering the phones and washing cars. Um, well, actually washing cars, then learning to answer the phone, then slowly learning to write estimates. Um, so I was just brought in piece by piece and just learned skill by skill. So that's how I did it. But by the time Dad retired, I had been working— what, that's 10 years ago, so that's math— I was 40 years old.

1:10:30I had been doing it forever already. So yeah, I've been like— I've been doing this a long time. I started— I started getting a paycheck at 16, so that's 33 years ago. Sis is gonna be 50. Yeah, so I've been doing this a very long time. And then, you know, there's some coaching in Collision, but I tell my dad now, if I knew then what I know now about the service side of things, dude, we could have been gajillionaires by now because there's such a difference in the way you run a collision shop because insurance companies kind of run it for you.

1:11:13You just do what they say, you're their minion, versus the service department. The service industry is much easier. So the fact that I had to deal with negotiating with the— I mean, Terry's up insurance company, terrorist people. Um, and when someone has a collision, it's just like that, you know. Usually a car needs service or there's a warning before breakdown. There's not a lot of catastrophes that happen in the service department every day.

1:11:40You don't get a warning collision coming soon light on your dash. Yeah, you don't get a check engine check collision soon light. So that means most of my clients were at 125% they came in the door. So I became really good at bringing people down, negotiating with terrorists, and really good at customer service skills. So yeah, I can— yeah, I'm really good at that.

1:12:05So that, and then— but learning the service industry, the numbers on that side, and how to price properly, and what jobs to accept, and how to vet a customer, and all of those things. No, Yeah, learning to say no was very difficult, but once I got it and I started drinking that fruit punch, honey, it was— the sky was the limit. Because even my dad, he didn't think that I should say no to these things that I was doing.

1:12:34You can't do that, you can't do that, blah blah blah. Um, I did it and I'm still doing it and we're doing it even better. But he gets it now. Like, he's too funny. He makes an appointment for his own damn car. Because he used to come up there and bring a tractor tire like, hey, I need to get this tire. And I was like, okay.

1:12:49And everybody would drop everything to do something for my dad. Oh no, you didn't tell him no. You didn't tell anybody no. Everybody was a yes. Everybody's a yes because that's what— what's his name— Ron. Oh my God, I used to listen to him. Everything's a yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Never disappoint the customer. Customer's always right. No, he ain't. On the topic of crazy, they batshit crazy.

1:13:14Disappointed a customer. You disappointed them? Or did you reeducate them? Probably just disappointed them. There was— I was not in the education mode with them. I had already sat in the parking lot waiting for them for an hour. Don't stew. To show up to where their car is working or where their car is broke down. Story is it's an '07 Ford Expedition.

1:13:47Alternator went out. Her somebody put an alternator on. Yeah, didn't put the belt on right, but starter won't work. Starter failed. Had a thing about customer-supplied parts, but I'm like, this is— it's December. I had done hardly any work. I just, I needed— desperate. I needed something. Uh, so I told her, well, it's gonna be $250 to do the starter. I'm thinking, okay, it's a remanufactured starter or whatever from the parts store.

1:14:25She— when they finally show up, It is a junkyard starter. I knew it was coming. So I didn't put it in. I sat there for an hour waiting, but when they finally showed up, I'm getting stuff out of the trailer and getting ready to put my jack underneath it, put jack stands underneath it so I can put a starter in it. They pull out the starter from the vehicle.

1:14:52It is a junkyard starter. Ain't no way. Sorry, I am not installing that starter. I packed up my stuff and left. Why not? Yeah, she was upset. I was honestly expecting a 1-star review, which didn't come. Um, but how she thought about it, like, that's the dumbest thing in the whole world. Well, people, you know what, that's why I said you have to educate them.

1:15:19They just don't know what they don't know. They, they be knowing. I'll be trying to make excuses for people. I saw what they're doing. Yeah, I saw the writing on the wall that I'm gonna put this in, it's not gonna work, then I'm gonna be fighting to get paid because the starter— well, the car's still broke, why should I pay you? Exactly.

1:15:39Yeah, yeah. Well, the junkyard said the starter was fine. Of course they wanted your flipping money, you idiot. Who sells them, right? Let me tell you what's going to happen for you guys 30 years from now. You're gonna be so unbothered by any of this stuff. I think— oh, my first podcast with Lucas, it was too funny. That was when it was, I don't know, 8 years ago.

1:16:03I have no idea. But my mentality became, hey, look, my car is outside. I can go home. Who you talking to? Like, I can— like, I can smile. It's just like, my car is outside. And they actually— I think they named that podcast My Car Is Outside. And I'm serious, like, no, help me help you. Like, for real, people, people are crazy.

1:16:26But like, I, I say it over and over and over again, they do not have these same conversations at the dealership. They don't have these same pricing conversations at Starbucks. Or Chick-fil-A, they're paying $13 to eat some— a chicken sandwich. Now, to be fair, that's the Lord's chicken. Don't be dissing that. Lord's chicken. They do not have these conversations anywhere else, but we are a disrespected something industry.

1:16:55But I think what happens is if the other— you know, if you decided to put that starter on and then she screamed at you and she's not paying you, and she's like— and you're like, I need another starter, and you put another new starter on. There's some person that would have only said, okay, it'll just be $250. There's somebody that would have laid down to that because they don't have the proper coaching or training or know how to run a business.

1:17:24Because in my opinion, what happens is you get technicians such as yourselves, they're— they enter into the industry and they end up in a shitty shop. And with the shitty shop, they just assume everything's like that because they don't know any better, because they haven't been in a good shop. And then they decide, forget this, I don't want to deal with this boss paying me $18 an hour no more.

1:17:47I'm gonna go and become mobile. I can charge $40 an hour, right? I'm gonna become mobile and I'm gonna charge $40 an hour. And they don't know the business side of everything. And so they become— not shade, I don't want to be disrespectful to the mobile guys. There's some mobile guys out there that are great. There are some charging properly, but the majority are not.

1:18:09Majority are not. They're on Facebook and Craigslist, if that still exists, and they're charging $40 an hour and they're tearing shit up. I watch it come through the shop. We, we got a job from a client. It was a, uh, it was a diesel truck. Fuel injectors. This mobile mechanic came out, was going to fix it, collected a $2,500 deposit, and then— and so what that makes them think is all shops are like that, all mechanics are like that.

1:18:38And when you definitely— he definitely came in with his guard up when, when we first talked and kind of walked through like, hey, this is how we do it, this is what we do. And, you know, he shared this story and I was like, look, dude, like, we're a real business. We're here Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. You can bet your paycheck somebody's going to be here.

1:18:53If you have a problem, we stand behind our work. Like, we're here. Like, I got a sign. I'll see you in the grocery store, bro. I will see you in the grocery store. I'm here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he probably shops at a different grocery store than I do because he's a pilot, flies a private jet for one of the richest people in America.

1:19:09No, they come bring the groceries to him. That's right. Got a personal shop. I'll be your DoorDasher here because I need some extra money on the side. Yeah, but then those are the people, the cheap people that are training our clients, and then we have to re-educate and say, hey, well, why are you charging this much? I would do it. My favorite thing is I could do it if I have a lift.

1:19:32Oh my gosh, I would do it. I know. Well, see, I have, I have, I have a client who has used that line. You know, I, I would do this, but I just don't have a lift. And you know what? This is my favorite client and he gives me a lot of crap, but homeboy has spent like $20,000 across, I don't know, 4 or 5 different cars that he owns since we started.

1:19:54And he's just like, yeah, fix it. Like, whatever. I don't care. Whatever it costs. You know? And he'll tease me a little bit, right? I could do this. I just couldn't get to that bolt. I was like, listen, buddy, you just don't want to. And that's okay. I don't want to work on your— That's okay. 1984 diesel K5 Blazer that's an old army truck.

1:20:16It's sitting in my fourth bay right now, but I'm, I'm gonna be profitable on the job. So I— because he wants it done right, and we'll see if he gets that. But no, it's gonna be as right as I can make an '84 Chevy. Like, that was crummy when it was new, and it's not been new for a lot of years. That car's a— yeah, they handled it.

1:20:46But they're bringing me the car next week they just bought because they want me to look at it because they're impressed in how thorough I was with my inspection process and everything. Yeah. What are you using? Are you using like TechMetric or anything like that? Yeah, once they see that you're a professional and you're not just— it's not just a carbon copy, like, exactly.

1:21:12And they can respect your hustle, like, okay, this young man knows what he's doing, then that's, you know, that's value. That is you claiming, hey, my labor rate, I'm worth it. This is your report. This is this, this is that. I started with ShopBoss and I actually just had a Zoom call with the original— my original sales rep from ShopBoss the other day because he had a guy that was kind of in the same boat I was in.

1:21:39He wanted me to give that guy some pointers on getting started. Like, okay, I don't feel like I'm doing that great, but I want to help. If I can help somebody be better I'm going to, as we all should. God didn't put us here to serve ourselves, serve other people. And the thing is, like I've said this a million times, and I know everybody might be tired of hearing it, but I don't give a shit, it's my podcast.

1:22:13Um, once you learn to lead whatever way that you're going to be a leader and you're going to be an influencer or whatever As long as this is to the good of the people, man, you get paid back so many different ways. Like, the, the floodgates just open. Like, the opportunities are there once somebody can see that you're doing good and you're doing it right.

1:22:36I mean, they don't mind you being successful. Like, I'll, I'll go out— I think with the first thing that I bought when I, I was actually, you know, in the black for a long time I was looking at this car. Both of my kids were driving and I didn't need an SUV anymore. Like, there's no need for me to drive this Suburban or this, uh, Tahoe every day, just whatever.

1:22:57I keep looking at this little coupe, this little 2-door white Mercedes. Her name is Pearline and she's sitting up there right now. And I remember talking to a client— her name is Pearline— I was talking to a client and we were just talking. It was after hours, we kept going. And I said, you know, I've been wanting this car and this, that, whatever.

1:23:15She's— I said, but I'm afraid to buy it. Because I didn't want clients to see me driving that car and say, oh, she's charging so much money, look at what she's driving. And she was like, girl, if you don't go buy that car, we are all proud of you in this neighborhood. And I was like, damn, really? I remember— I need to call Elizabeth— she was just like, really?

1:23:36Like, we adore you in the neighborhood. We see you still at work at 8, 9, and 10 at night. You know, I'd be still at work and customers would be dropping off their car in a drop box The night dropped and they're like, Tanika, why are you still here? Gotta make the donuts. You know, just because the door's not closed, I'm not open, doesn't mean I'm not working.

1:23:53And so I did right by the community. And so when I parked that car in front of the shop, I didn't get that. I got, oh, excuse me, that's nice, that's nice. You know, it sounds a little bit— it sounds superficial, and I don't want to— everything's not about material things, but you know, it's okay to be profitable. It's okay to make money.

1:24:13It's okay to take care of your family and to take care of yourself. Because everybody else is doing it. And you do not have to give back by sacrificing your bottom line. Giving back doesn't mean shooting yourself or your family in the foot. Exactly. I felt— I recently replaced my daily driver and I felt— and I still feel like guilty about it, which is weird.

1:24:37So I was driving up until about a month ago, a 1994 Acura Integra. Like just an absolute classic of a car, 336,000 miles on it. Like the car was free 8 years ago. That's how bad a shape it was in. And I fixed it and I drove it. And it's, I mean, dude, it's cheap to insure. It got 30 miles per gallon.

1:24:59The cruise control worked, the AC worked. Like, you know, what more could a guy want? And then it just got to a point where it was like, this thing's burning a lot of oil. I don't want to, I don't want to do another head gasket on it. You know, and so I, I splurged and I spent $5,000 and I bought a 2013, a 2013 Ford Taurus.

1:25:19And that thing is like a spaceship. It is not, it is not, it does not have the turbos on it, but it's a Limited. So it's got, I've got leather seats and they are both heated and cooled. And they are gray and the car is green. No, no, the car is black and black leather. It's, it's like, it's, it's my— it is, dude.

1:25:39It's my, uh, it's my, it's my Temu Rolls-Royce. But you know, you should put a double R emblem on the back of that joker. Oh my goodness, that, that would be, that would be it. It's so— right now I have the— I went every shop I've ever worked for, I have always had the crummiest car in the parking lot. Like by a lot.

1:26:05And, and as the shop owner, it was like, look guys, like we're here and we're working. I really appreciate everybody's work and I'm still driving the crummiest car in the parking lot. And now I've got the second nicest car in the parking lot. Oh, look at you. I mean, there's, there's 3 cars. So I went from the bottom to like one up from the bottom.

1:26:22Growth is growth. But it's still— right, right, exactly. You know, and it's just like, and I still felt like some guilt about that. And it was like, man, I'm spending money on this. And it's like, well, at some point, I need a car to get me back and forth to work. And the problem was the old car worked. And financially, it will never make sense to get rid of that car because I got it for free, I crashed it somewhere along the way, and then I sold it for money.

1:26:49And even with all the repairs over 8 years, not counting gas, not counting insurance, But like repair, maintenance, and cost of ownership, that car cost me $100 for 8 years. Like, you're never gonna beat that. No, no. But no, I just, I wanted a car that was comfortable, that like when it rained, the water didn't get inside. But the water kept you awake.

1:27:12Did a little drip. Oh, I'm awake. Cruise control that works. You know, like, y'all make me feel bad. No, when I bought my truck, I didn't tell anybody, but Zeb knew I was going to buy my truck, and I think that's the only person I told. I didn't put it online. I told my dad when I was bringing it back from New York.

1:27:36Like, I was just like, this is this guilt, like, oh man. I was like, but Tanika, you have been working so long, why can't you have this? And I got rid of these kids house is damn near paid off, you just go get it. It's been— you've wanted it forever. So when I got it, I went and I hid it for a couple months before I told the world that I had it.

1:27:58Like, I didn't even drive it to the shop. What was it? Is it a new truck or what was it? It's a very new truck. It's the truck that's in my logo. Oh, I can't— I can't see your logo from here. What, you can't see my logo? So yeah, I bought myself the '20— she's a '20— what year is it? She's a '25 Mercedes G63.

1:28:21Okay, see, I work, I work on like truck trucks, and so I was thinking, I'm thinking like, yeah, I was thinking like a '24 F-350. I mean, the thought crossed my mind. I was like, there's no way she's been like numbers for a long time. No, because Dad's always had that. He's always had a dually. He's had a dually for like years to pull the horse trailers and all of that stuff.

1:28:43So that's not fun to me. That looks like work. When I see a dually, I'm thinking that's too much like work. Yeah, well, it looks like money to me, but you know. Well, now they do because nobody's working. They're just sitting there trying to be fancy. But no, if you see a dually coming, it's work in my family. I'm, I'm surrounded by people that have horses, so everything's a dually.

1:29:03Exactly right, with a fifth wheel on it, or I'm in a farming community, so that's a work truck. Yeah, the thing is, those work trucks, they gotta work, and when they stop working, that downtime costs money. I mean, that's that. Like, if you listen to my, my ads on the radio, it starts with downtime costs you time and it costs you money.

1:29:26We can help you minimize the downtime. Like, that's why you should use us, because we don't hold your truck for a month like the dealership will before they even tell you what's wrong with it. Like Nah, dude, we're gonna get you answers same day or next day, and we are getting most of our repairs done same day or next day. Like, look at you and your marketing.

1:29:43Oh yeah, what are you doing for marketing? You're doing Facebook, Caleb, right? Facebook and the newspaper. Newspaper. I saw your newspaper article. When I saw that, I was like, they still got a newspaper? Yeah, I saw that on Facebook. I was like, what the hell still has a newspaper? I'm pretty sure we still have a newspaper. I'd have to go research that.

1:30:06Like, I'm in a very small town community type thing. The newspaper. I, I moved from a town of 14,000 people to a town of 1,200. Whoa. Damn. That's a— that's not— I got 1,200 people in my immediate family. What is it, 1,200 people in this neighborhood? That's so wild. That's crazy. There's 1,200— there's 10,000 people in the county, in my county. That's because nobody wants to live there.

1:30:41Cold. Everybody froze. Doing significantly better than I was if we stayed. If we stayed up there, I probably would be working for somebody else. Yeah, well, I think that just goes to show that there are, there are principles in this business that carry through no matter what your market is. So all the people that say, oh, that wouldn't work in my market, it's like, dude, you're, you're living proof that the— do it.

1:31:08There's, there's some core principles that do things right. And yeah, what, what was really— sorry, I know we're, we're getting long here, but I wanted to say something while I was on with, with Tanika because I was listening to Tanika's episode with Becky Witt from know, a month or two ago. And it just occurred to me because I see, I see a lot of, a lot of what Becky posts and, and like I read through the donuts, right?

1:31:31And I, and I like a lot of the stuff she posts and like listen to on your podcast. And it occurred to me that her and I don't see eye to eye on everything. And, and that there's more than one right way to run a shop. And, and that there's not this like, there's only one road that works. And if you're not on that road, you're completely wrong.

1:31:49It's like, Like, she's got an amazing operation. That's not— that, like, her goals aren't what my goals are, you know? And, and that's okay. And, and there's not, there's not this, like, if you don't do it this way, you're stupid kind of thing. It's like, there is more than one way to skin a cat. There's, you know, like, doing business with, with morals and ethics and not, you know, not lying to your customer, you know, that, like, there's some guardrails, but It's not a one-size-fits-all industry, and that's part of why I love it.

1:32:21Like, I was— there was some people that were downplaying us moving here, thinking that was— what happened, Gus? You disappeared for— I disappeared for a second. Braxton will fix it. Braxton fixes everything. Fix it, Braxton. So you— we were talking, I lost you when you were saying something about Becky Witt. Oh, okay. Well, I, I— you got to hear this part. So sorry, sorry, Caleb, if you got to hear this again, and Braxton can, can clean this up.

1:32:53So I listen— I listened to your episode with Becky Witt, and it occurred, it occurred to me that I like— I don't, I don't want the shop that she has. And, and it's not that she's doing anything wrong. It's just like her goals aren't her goals and her values aren't exactly what my goals and values are, and that's okay. Yeah. And I can, I can, I can take, take, I can take the, the knowledge that she shares and I can implement that in my own way in my business.

1:33:22And there's not, there's not just one size that fits all, right? As far as this industry, there's, you know, my shop, my shop does things differently from both of you guys' shops, and that's okay. And neither one of us is wrong. Like, you know, and that's like, I'm right and you're right. Yeah, I want more people to see that because I think when people can't see that, that they hurt themselves.

1:33:46They really hurt themselves. Like, for example, I start coaching with Rick White. I love me a Becky Witt class. I'm currently with the Institute. I listen to Mac— Mac— Mike and Matt's calls all the time. I will show up. I will go to a Shop Fix class next time I hear— I want to hear everybody's version so I can make my shop my own.

1:34:10Like, we— nothing's cookie cutter. People, oh, you should— you're open 4 days a week. 4 days a week works for me because you know what? I don't want 2 boats, so it's fine. My, my rest is more important for me, and that's okay. So when people get mad at the way other shops— as long as you're not doing anything dishonest and you're not hurting your customer, and you're not hurting your employees and your staff, and you're ethical.

1:34:39What? Listen, Jeff Kokonis, the first time I told him this, I love to say it because he thinks it's so funny. Brother, what you eat does not make me fat. That is my, that is my favorite line that I've, I've like listened to your podcast. I love that line. And that's like, it don't I'm serious. If people can get out of their own ways, and if you can say— I can say, hey Caleb, I think you should do this and this and this, and you're like, um, I don't want to do all of that, but I'll try this one, and that's fine.

1:35:13Like, you've— you've— you're picking your village, you know, Drew. Andrew, you've picked your village. You might not always be with Elite. That's fine too. You might stay there forever. That's fine. I'm gonna stay there forever. I love their coaching for my service advisor. Oh my goodness, he is so excited about that coaching. I love Darren Barney. I'm gonna put him on my pocket.

1:35:34Amazing. Like, I'm just gonna put that man in my pocket. But, um, like you said, one size does not fit all. I think at the end of the day, make a profit, pay your people right. Okay, go home, have a steak, do it again tomorrow. Stop lying to your customers and stop undercharging because you're making the life of everybody else hell. Mm-hmm.

1:36:01Free diag. Yeah, Mike, free diag shit. Not just kidding, but you know what, it works for him. We did— we tried the free diag thing for a couple months when we first started out. And, and I, I can see why it works, and I'm not saying I won't ever go back to it, but we, we got burned a couple too many times by clients taking advantage of us.

1:36:24And I was just like, no, I'm, I'm— it was when, it was when one guy did it for the second time within like a week. I was like, nah, dude. That like came in, got the free diag, got your free day, then went home and fixed it. Yo, he thought he was slick, but he fought to play the game. Mm-hmm. Something we learned about that with the— with moving down here, there was some people that were just— wouldn't let me explain what my thought process was and called me an idiot because of the population, because of the population size, because of that difference.

1:37:06They're like, oh, you'll be capped at $500 grand a year. I'm I'm like, okay, like, I don't need to— I don't need to turn $1 million a year in revenue. I remember sitting in one of Rick's classes at ASTA, maybe the second year after I'd been coaching with him for a while. And the class is packed, right? And I'm sitting on the floor in the back and I'm just sitting on the wall and somebody's like, I want to make $1 million.

1:37:34And I just started laughing because I knew, I knew, I was like, bro, just shut up. And Rick was like, what's so funny, Tanika? I was like, yeah, everybody wants to make a million dollars, but nobody wants to make 20, 25, 30%. Like, you can just be recycling money and making a million dollars. So all the shops that are hollering that, you know, I made 1, 2, 3 million dollars, yeah, but did you make profit, huh?

1:37:56What's the, what's the net? What's the bottom line? Because that bottom line, that's That's what matters. That's what matters. And that's, that's, that's what my challenge right now with my, my advisor, who I didn't mention this, my advisor is my father-in-law. So he still works with me. That's, that's a fun dynamic. But that's, that's a whole separate episode. But that's like the thing is like we had like this month, we're, we're on track to do more than we did last month.

1:38:21So we're like on track for a good month. And last month, our GP, like the gross— our gross profit margin was like 63.7 or 0.8%. Like, it was solid. And we ended up— I think we were at like 19% net, which is good. But this month, we're on track to do about the same dollar amount at like 54%. Because he's been discounting.

1:38:48Dad has been like, oh, that's, that's part of it. But then also, like, we're taking on— we're taking like big jobs. So like, we did a, we did a repair, and it's like, it was a $12,000 repair. And, you know, our— my part cost, like, I bought a kit for this diesel truck, and it was like $5,000 my cost. And so it's like, you know, I'm not gonna make my full margin on a $5,000 part, right?

1:39:12And then, and then I just texted Zeb because, you know, I, I broke a bolt, and I was like, hey man, am I doing this right with buying this kit? And, and Zeb's an amazing person. I can't wait to actually meet him in person someday. Um, and he was like, how much are you charging for that? I told him and he was like, buddy, he's like, I won't even like, I won't even let that truck in the building for less than $17 grand.

1:39:34And I was at $12,000 and I was like, oh, I'm charging too little for this job. Yeah. But I'm so glad that you had, again, building that village around you, having somebody just pick up the phone because like people think Like, Zeb's a super— he's a superstar, but he's not— you can't like not call him. He, he drinks his wine and he talks his shit just like everybody else.

1:40:00As long as you're not stupid, he's willing to help. He doesn't help. I enjoy his videos. That man's a trip. That man's a trip. So look, guys, look, we've been on here like an hour and 40 minutes. I don't even know. This is a long one, but it was a good conversation that needed to be had. And I'm just more excited to talk to newer people in the industry so we don't have to listen to the old crotchety people all the time like myself.

1:40:27Hey, I'm like halfway through the episode with Greg Buckley or what do we call it? His Soup something. Talk Soup. Soup FM or whatever. Yeah. He, his, when he brought up mental health, that That really resonated with me because I really did— I, I struggle with it. Yeah. And unfortunately, there's a lot more people than just you, love, that struggle with that.

1:40:58Um, struggling with different stages in your life. Like, dude made me cry on my own podcast. Like, who does that? Friend group is way different. Like, did you just make me cry and tear up on my own podcast? But if those are things that are real You know, we talk about numbers and KPIs all the time, but those are the things that are real.

1:41:19And just for anybody out there, old or young, in the industry, without or not, if it's not your cousin— I know everybody thinks, you know, I can call my mom, call my dad, my aunt, cousin, or whatever. Sometimes the person you need to reach out to might be a complete stranger, you know, might be that person you've been following online. And most, and most people are happy to help.

1:41:46Like, at least, at least in this industry, in the circles that we kind of run in, like, they are happy to help. Yeah. You know, and that's, that's, that's one of the reasons I, I've come to love this industry. There was a while where I was like, eh, I don't know, I go drive a truck. But like, I, I love this industry.

1:42:02I love, I love the, the positive changes we're seeing. I love being a part of that positive change. You know, like, I love this industry. Me too. There's more good than bad, no matter what the internet says. I'm not even fully convinced that that's true, but there's still a lot of good. I think there's more good than bad. The bad just is louder.

1:42:24Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. I think the good is just sitting on the sidelines. Yeah, so Let's, let's just be louder for the good. I mean, that's, that, that is, that is why I'm here on this podcast, because what I discovered— and, and Caleb, I don't know if you enjoy this sort of thing. I like talking. That's why I got the fancy mic.

1:42:47I've got like— I, I like talking. Um, well, you have a YouTube channel too. I have a $50 Amazon mic that don't work. That's all good, bro. This was like $40 on Amazon and it works pretty good. Yeah, these things are not expensive. Um, yeah, I got a YouTube channel. That was, that was fun. But like, it's really easy to get on podcasts.

1:43:05You just like, hey man, I want to be on a podcast. And then like, next thing you know, here you are. Like, dude, I got, I got, I got Downshift with Tanika. I've been on, um, I've been on Mike's Confessions of a Shop Owner, which his fault because he didn't hit record until halfway through the episode. So I don't know about like Mike.

1:43:21Yep, yep, yep. I, um, I've been on Uh, Jimmy, Jimmy Purdy's, uh, what is his, Shifting Gears podcast. I've been on that one. Um, I've been on Jaded Mechanic and I still trying to get on Changing the Industry. And there's another one though. Oh, I would love to get onto Josh Parnell's Limitless Leadership podcast. Like, send him a message. Yes, me and Lucas sent that man a message.

1:43:52Me and Lucas were talking about recording at, uh, ASTA this year. I am, I am, I have, I have blocked off time in my schedule. I am gonna do everything in my power to go to ASTA this year, and it's not just to record podcasts, but like, I just, I just want to go. Yeah, come on. We're, um, opening up registration I think tomorrow.

1:44:14Don't, don't, don't hold me to me. I really believe it's tomorrow. I, because I keep checking, I keep checking, and it's like, oh, registration's not open yet. And I'm like, we finalized the, um schedules last week. All this weekend they've been working on the class schedule and getting all that stuff together. So this day I did a, a run-through registration to make sure there are no glitches.

1:44:35It was glitch-free. Um, it's according to me, so we're all going through it to make sure there's no glitches, make sure it's nice, and we should be opening it up for you guys soon. So be on the lookout. Sweet. Yeah. Did I hear that you're doing a class, Tanika, with Mike and Lucas. Yes. I don't know what the hell we're doing. We're gonna have a class, Mike, Lucas, and I.

1:44:57I'm probably just gonna be moderating these 2. Oh heavens, those are my brothers. Those dudes crazy. You know, people always ask, oh, are you a part of that? I'm like, are you under the umbrella? I'm like, no, I just love them. We're— this is my podcast. I don't know what I'm doing, but this is mine. Nobody tells me how that works. Yeah, yeah.

1:45:15Like, why would I be under there? Yeah, oh well, because they were— you guys, shut up. It's my friend. We run all 3 of us way differently, but we're still— those are my buddies. And that's— and that's okay. And that's okay. And like, that's— but it's— that's the whole point. My buddies, they might be a little crazy, they stupid. I'm the smart one, but I still love them.

1:45:43My plan for ASK. We're gonna come down a week before because I have a bunch of family in North Carolina. Okay, come on, Caleb. Wait, where from? Where about? Uh, Charlotte, Goldsboro, Wallace, Raleigh. Okay, so Goldsboro is where Matt Lofton lives, and his shop's in Goldsboro. I'm originally from Charlotte, but I hadn't lived in Charlotte in like 40 years, so I can't claim that anymore.

1:46:10Um, And Raleigh is where ASTA is. Yeah, the plan is just stay in Raleigh, like, and people that want to come see us, they can come see us. I'm not driving all over the state like we did last time. That makes sense. I'll make it to Raleigh, then you guys make it to come see me. Yeah. All right, but we're— all right, well, we're planning on coming out before— it's my bedtime.

1:46:36Oh yeah, I'm gonna see my kid tomorrow. Oh geez, you can schedule these things in anywhere. To me, I love you. It's fun, it's fun. I— this was fun. I enjoyed it. I like talking to people, and I've got so many in the kitty, like, so I don't know when it's going to be released. Um, I— this is like number 30 that's recorded, and so I'm thinking that I might have to do 2 a week for a while to catch up.

1:47:08So it's your podcast, Seneca. You can do whatever you want. But as a semi-retired YouTube guru, when I'm listening to podcasts and I'm listening to— honestly, I kind of gave up on Changing the Industry because I don't have time for that many podcasts and I like Mike's funnier. But listening to a podcast that was recorded 6 months ago, Yeah, is like, I mean, I don't want to do that.

1:47:36And that seemed like that's what's going to happen if I keep going this, this way. So I need to start dropping more. Yeah, push them out 2 a week, 3 a week, whatever you got to do to keep up. I like having a couple in the queue, but, but like fresh content. So because like we're talking about like ASTA Expos, you know, we're opening up registration tomorrow, and you're listening to that and you're like, ASTA Expo was 3 months ago.

1:48:01Exactly. So I definitely don't want to do that. I've been changing the schedule and I talked to Braxton about it. And until I get a proper, um, we'll get some more sponsorship because that stuff costs money. I know. Tell TechMetric to do better. I'm telling you, man, TechMetric should be sponsoring this because like, man, I'm plugging their merch and their product. Like, tell me about it, man.

1:48:24I mean, well, did you see my comment on, uh, David Roman's post on Changing industry group yesterday. Oh, what he said? He's just a cornball. Oh, he's a— he said something about, uh, software and podcasts. I was there. And he— I said something about, well, we listen to the podcasts that are sponsored by the software or something we use. And that, that dude's just weird.

1:48:54He's— if he— if David Roman start acting what we call normal, then we would all be so disappointed. That's a necessary evil. I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it. I just love when he gets mad. Do you see the conversation with Mike when he's, when he was talking about, um, replacing service advisors with a link? Dude, that was a crash out. That was wild.

1:49:18I was, he gets mad. Mike will sit there and poke the bear. Poke the bear. Yeah. It's the best. I was about to send Lucas a text and like, is there something I should know? Like, so I don't, push a button when we're recording to him and give him a hug. Like, you should walk up to him and touch him a whole lot.

1:49:38Lots of touching, feely stuff. Just give him a hug and say, hey guy, glad to meet you, David Roman, and squeeze them. It'll be the best friendship ever. Please don't touch that man. I don't do that. All right, I, I just like— let me— I'll, I'll be there with a cameraman. I will pay for this. I will pay for it to watch this.

1:49:57Dude, you— I'm your biggest fan. And hug him like, um, and just like make that noise when you're doing it, just like, um. And it would be the best experience, and he would really enjoy— he needs that in his life. He does. He really does. And it's because we care about him that we're saying this. As far as the passion level of this industry, I mean, between Lucas and David is where I'm where my passion level is.

1:50:24Now please move closer to Lucas. Yeah, yeah. I don't even know what ends of the spectrum that is. Like, I'm like, okay, like, David's like, just— he doesn't have a passion for it. None. Everybody's stupid, everything's stupid, next. Yeah, yeah. All right, you two, let's sign off. All right, this was fun. God bless you. Good night. This was fun. We'll do it again.

1:50:53Yeah, we'll catch y'all later. 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.

1:51:24This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.