I FIRED My Top Performers and Reached $5.6M | EP6 | The Shop Fix Academy Podcast

0:00They in fact had been telling everybody to leave. But the foreman specifically, our camera caught the whole conversation and just said some of the most horrible, vile things about me. That's all me and my coach talked about for 6 months, and I just got fed up with it. I was just tired of it. Went from $1 million to $2.2 million. What did you do last year?

0:18We did $5.6 million last year. I brought $5. Welcome to the ShopFix Academy podcast. Today we have Mr. Alan Buffman. I think I got that correct. And of course, Guy. Guy and Berg, the Berg. We're talking to Alan this morning. Alan, buddy, tell us about your shop. We have a, uh, 12,500 square foot facility in McKinney, Texas. Yeah, we've got 17 technicians, 5 service advisors, a general manager.

0:47Um, 17 technicians? 17 technicians. Wow, that's 1-7. 1-7. 1-7. Yep. Texas, everything's big in Texas. Yeah, yeah, we've got 16 bays, so one extra tech. So, oh wow, that's then a little opposite of what I normally am used to. That's awesome. You have so many people that are out because of vacation and different things, it's like without having, uh, an extra person— I mean, even with the extra person, we still have somebody out almost every day.

1:12Yeah, just based on the vacation that we offer. So yeah, with that many people, it's a challenge. You didn't just start at a shop like Tell us about your background. So I started mobile. I, uh, I was at a dealership, and like most shop owners that, that I meet, they had a technician background and normal, you know, dealership politics, as they call them.

1:32Um, I was ready to, to mark out on my own, and I, uh, um, called every family friend member I had, said, hey, I'm, I'm going out on my own, I'm going to do mobile service, call me if you need anything. And, uh, that kept me busy for, for a year and a half before, uh, I was able to purchase the shop.

1:47Oh, wow. So mobile for 18 months, a year and a half, and then you purchased a store. Yeah. Yeah. It was a move. Well, yeah, it was a well-known shop in the community and had a great reputation, but very small. I didn't realize how small until I got to meet him and realized he only had one guy working for him. Wow. And so I went in there and just asked for advice on starting a shop.

2:10One thing led to another and he was ready to get out. I was ready to get in and it was the perfect timing. So. Wow. Wow. And is that the facility you have today? That is the facility I have today. Oh, wow. Okay. Pump the brakes. Okay. So it wasn't 17 lifts then, was it? No. Goodness, no. Because that one guy, 17 lifts, there's a big echo in the room, right?

2:28Yeah. Yeah, it was— he was leasing the property at that time. We've since purchased it and we've been able to expand. But it was kind of like a strip mall, right? And so he had 2 of the 5 sections available in it. Okay. So how many lifts in that? And he had 5. 5 lifts. One guy. Yeah. It was all backwards. I mean, if you could think of a jimmy-rigged way to put the shop together, it was that.

2:48So we, we came in and, and did some quick upgrades and started adding people. Awesome. Okay, so what'd you do the first year? So you've got the store, what was the first year like? Yes, the first year we did about a million in sales, just, just barely over. I think $13,000 over to be exact. But that was our first year, and I think I had hired 2 techs by the end of that first year.

3:07Okay, so you were 2 techs, how many advisors? Just me. You? Yeah. So 3 people? Yep. It's pretty impressive. $1 million. Very impressive. That's good. And, uh, somewhere in there, there was a shift in you, in the shop. Walk everybody through what that shift was. Well, I always wanted to be successful and like knew that I wanted to have a lot more.

3:28The thought of, of just staying one or two guys like never even crossed my mind. It was like, I need to have like 10 at least, right? And, um, I was lucky enough to have some really good friends and mentors around me that were good business people and And they encouraged me that the key to, to more was good people, right? So, um, we got up to 4 or 5 technicians, and then I brought one of my technicians in to be manager service advisor.

3:53And, uh, I kind of took more of the, the ownership role and would help out on the front counter as needed, but then started focusing more on, on hiring people and learning how to do books and, and all that. So talk about your team at that point. So you've got 5 techs, right? And then you've got the service advisor up front and you helping.

4:13So was it dream team at that point or was it, you know, tell us about it. I would have thought it was at that time, right? Probably not, huh? And you hear guys talk about a lot, but the people that they thought were great back then wouldn't even make their team today. Definitely. I was just happy to have people working for me that like, I was like, they believe in me.

4:31They show up every day. They did not. We, uh, um, things went on and, and, you know, normal, um, failures in leadership and just trying to make everybody happy and appease them, um, put me in a pretty, pretty difficult spot. And we were also expanding at the time, right? So I didn't— I was, I was scared to make any decisions because I knew I needed people because I was taking over the next lease.

4:53And, um, we had a whole fire in the building. That's a whole nother story. Like a real fire? Like a real fire. Like the building smoke was coming out. Wow. Yeah, it was wild. On Sunday morning I got a call and I'm like, I better answer this. And it was, it was a bad situation. So we took that over, which then gave us the opportunity to possibly take more.

5:11And the whole thing just kind of devolved into opportunity to buy the shop later on. It was like the perfect storm. And I kind of tried to squeeze in there and be like, oh, you ready to sell this thing or what? And it worked out real well. So let's kind of connect the dots here. Do you feel like now you have a dream team?

5:28Oh, definitely. Yeah. There was a, there was a huge event, you know, the catalyst that made me overcome and I was— it was December time, December, January of 2024. I was in the middle of processing or purchasing a building. So we're, you know, under contract, going through due diligence, all those different pieces of it. I get wind that if you're going to go start another shop, you should never look up shop software options on your computer at work.

5:55Turns out it puts ads on there, right? And I was like, I don't remember looking up ShopMonkey or any of these other things. Right. And edit that out. Yeah. No, it's okay. I'm just kidding, man. So I didn't— I didn't— I was like, something's going on. And then one of my guys came to me, he's like, hey, they've been asking me for money, this, that, the other thing.

6:15They're going to start their own shop. And it was my foreman and my manager at the time who I was like fully invested in. I mean, I was like, you guys make the decisions. I was getting their input on everything and letting them make most of the decisions. That's what a good leader does. That's how I don't micromanage. I just allow them to determine the, the culture and the attitude and where we're going with the shop because they've been doing it a long time.

6:35Right. And so there was a lot of me that just took a backseat to them and their experience and allowed them to, to run the show and then found that out. And I couldn't be mad at them. I wanted to do that too. I'm not upset that you want to start your own shop. Like, I get those feelings. A couple of days or a couple of months into it, February, we had just closed on the property and me and my family were going out of town for a vacation.

6:57And they were hanging around late on a Friday night. And I was like, this is really strange. You shouldn't be— we closed at 5 at that time. It was like 5:50, 5:55, like right about to be 6. I'm like, these guys should be gone. Like, I knew the work was done. What are you hanging around for? Yeah. So I'm like, all right, guys, I'm going to go.

7:13I jump in the truck and I'm like, you know, I know they're probably going to be talking about this new shop that they want to do. And funny story was my wife had just figured out our cameras had audio. I had no idea, like 2 weeks earlier. Right. So you want to talk about it like God timing and stuff. Yeah. And so I jump on there and our camera caught the whole conversation and just said some of the most horrible, vile things about me.

7:36But then I figured out why I couldn't seem to keep any of the people. I mean, I hire people, I give them a raise when they came on, they'd start making more money than ever. The first couple of weeks, you're like, man, this is great. I'm making great money. And then a month or two, they were gone to some other endeavor that just made no sense according to what they did.

7:51They had told me, right? That's when during this conversation that I'm eavesdropping on, these guys found out that they, they in fact had been telling everybody to leave. The foreman specifically had been telling them that it was a sinking ship and that you can't excel at all. And of course, he was responsible for training. So why is he telling techs they can't get better under his leadership?

8:09Wow. I was like, man, I'll never get over that one, I guess. But so, so that all happened. And so, I mean, I'm just— I head home and me and my wife, I just told her everything. I'm like, I can't believe this. Like, put all this trust and faith in these guys. I mean, like, genuinely loved and cared about these guys. And so we kind of knew what we had to do, but decided to go on vacation and we deal with it when we got back, that the world wasn't going to end by us prioritizing family.

8:35So I come back Friday and I— right at the end of the day, I say, hey guys, why don't you come over here? So I kind of know about everything. We don't need to get into it, but obviously you don't want to be here. Have a nice day. And that was the— this is your manager and your foreman. My manager and my foreman.

8:48Yeah, I did it one at a time, but okay. Yeah, they— so neither one of them, you know, the foreman did not take it well, had to threaten to call the cops and stuff. But one guy ended up walking with them, which left me at that time, I think I had 10 bays at that time and I had 4 people. Wow. It was— so I put my mechanic monkey clothes back on and I decided that I'd be turning wrenches for a while.

9:12Yeah, I had hired a general manager right before I had let them go because I knew I was going to need one. So I had him and a service advisor up front with 4 technicians in the back. And I just decided from that point forward that nobody else was going to decide who runs the shop, that I'm, I'm the only one that gets to, to make those decisions.

9:31And that if people aren't interested or they have other ideas, it wasn't that the guys were wrong in their decisions of what they want. They just want to keep it small and family oriented, like, you know, mom and pop. I wanted much more for my family. So they're throttling back. Yeah. The growth of your shop because of what they wanted. Yeah. They were very comfortable with 4 to 6 people, but every time I started 7, 8, it was just too much and it would, it would cause them to do what they did.

9:56Yeah. So they were the keepers of the culture at the time. Definitely. And you had to do a reset and completely got rid of all of your leadership in your store. You became the leadership and you really, you humbled yourself first. Yeah. And you put on those technician clothes and started turning wrenches again, which great job on that. There's not a lot of shop owners that would go back to that, but, but you did what you had to do.

10:21Yeah. And through this time, like, when did you, when did you hire a coach? The former manager convinced me to do salary about 7, 8 months before they— I let them go. So June of 2023, they had convinced me to switch everybody's salary. I love flat rate. I mean, I'm a tech. That's what attracted me to this industry was the idea of getting to write my own pay paycheck.

10:43And so when they were like, hey, let's go salary, I argued with them for so long. Finally, I just let them do it, right? So I said, that's fine. Well, what do you do when you switch pay plans on people? You give them a raise to make it easier on them, correct? That's what I thought you'd do. So I gave them a raise to go to salary, and then that 6-month period from June of '23 to December of '23 is the only time since I've owned a business where I didn't make profit of some sort.

11:07Wow, right? Wow. So, and I had hired— there was like something nagging at me, right? Holy Spirit moment, whatever you want to call it, is If I'm going to switch everybody to salary, I know what I should probably go join ShopFix. And so I literally joined ShopFix like a week after moving people to salary. Oops. Yeah. So, but that's all me and my coach talked about for 6 months and I just got fed up with it.

11:29I was just tired of it. And finally in December, I'm looking over everything and I'm like, I didn't make any money. What is going on? And so I switched everybody to flat rate without telling my coach. We jump on our next call. I'm like, everybody's on flat rate. Don't bring it up again. I'm finally back. That's awesome. Awesome. Did you lose anybody because of moving to flat rate?

11:49No, no, we didn't lose anybody. Of course, when you give a raise going back to flat rate, so everybody got like a 20 to 30% raise from going to salary to flat rate. It was expensive for me. Sure. What was the lesson there? You know, painful. Sometimes you got to pay for it. Yes. Alan, I know you, you've got a coach. You got ShopFix as your coach back in '23.

12:09Talk to us about the, the conferences that are in ShopFix and, and how they've changed your life and perspective? Yeah, I wish I would have started going to them sooner. It took a while for my coach to talk me into coming. I had small kids, and every time— I haven't missed one since except for when a baby was born during one. But it changed everything for me, getting around a group of people who understood what I understood.

12:36It's one thing to be on a Zoom call or to have a coaching call. It's a whole nother thing to be in the room and to get to hear the same inspirational speech from the main stage and from things that pertain directly to my day-to-day. Day and what is going to change things for me in a community that understands. Guys, Shop Hackers, we have our biggest conference happening here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, August 8th and 9th.

13:01It is 3 weeks out. You do not want to miss out on this. Get your tickets, be in the room, join us, and we'll see you there. So the culture reset, you put everybody back on a performance pay plan, And that was in '23. So beginning of '24. And what sales were you doing at the end of '23? At the end of '23, we did $2.2 million.

13:24$2.2 million. Yeah. Okay. And since then, like, walk us through the last few years. Just quick summary. Yeah. So we've taken off like a rocket ship. So we went from those 4 guys and not being able to keep anybody to we— I still haven't lost anybody that I wanted to keep. So they either were encouraged to find employment elsewhere because they couldn't— they weren't meeting the standards.

13:50Or we had one guy who left and he came back within 60 days and it was— he was driving a long way. But yeah, so we've, we've, we've now got a huge team. We've got great performers and guys who go out of their way to help each other and the mission, the customers, and what we're ultimately there to do. So, so how do you handle it differently?

14:09Initially, you— what you thought was allowing your team to do their thing, right, and, and not be a micromanager. But now you've developed a culture, you've found the right people, you've got the right team. So now how, as an owner, do you handle them differently? What's, what's your oversight look like? Yeah, I think that having a goal in mind that everybody's aligned to is, has been the key for me.

14:33I give an example when I bring people on the team about like parallel lines, is that I want to move in unison with them. I want to move in parallel on the same path, right? So if something benefits me, I want to benefit them. If it hurts me, I want to hurt them so that we're moving together the whole time in the same direction.

14:50And what I found in the old way was I had a lot of these relationships where they wanted to go this way and I wanted to go that way, and I wouldn't do anything to correct or to remind them these are the boundaries. You know, Aaron talked about bumpers and whatnot, right? And so I would just try to convince them my way was right.

15:09I would not Say like, hey, that's great that you want to do that, but you can't work here if you want to do that. Like, you need to find different— doesn't align with what this shop is doing, right? Doesn't align. Exactly. And so whether, whether I move because this is a better direction or whether they move, we need to be in unison.

15:23And that has made a huge difference where I just don't compromise on the things that I know make us successful. Great analogy. The number one thing that I found when you're crossing lines, when you're intersecting paths and have different things, there's that gap in front, right? Of with the intersection, like one person's usually getting a better deal than the other all the way up until the intersection, and then the other person gets a better deal than, than the person who originally started off and agreed to the plan.

15:50And that's where I found all the bitterness starts to set in, is like all this bitterness starts to set in. You start having the relational, um, differences that you just can't seem to overcome and don't make sense. And then as soon as, uh, the relationship, it, it basically has to end, and it's usually not pretty when it ends that way, rather than just ending it back here and going, hey, we're just going to different directions, man, best of luck to you finding something else.

16:13If I can ever be a resource to you later, no big deal. I've had much more success with that and being able to maintain relationships that were productive. Yeah, it doesn't have to be an argument, right? It, it's just, uh, hey, this is where we're going, you know, you can come on board with us or no hard feelings. Exactly. Go chase your dream.

16:30And I, and I— you talked about somebody leaving and then coming back 60 days later. Yeah. Did that happen often, like where you had people that were not going on the same path as you that ended up realizing grass isn't greener? He was right. No, I haven't had— he's the only one, right? Okay. And he was driving over an hour one way to work.

16:49So we were kind of like, man, I totally understand you want to work 5 minutes from your house. It just didn't make any money. So, um, no, we haven't had any— anybody in particular. Um, typically we, we really focus on how can this place serve you. I understand that I'm not their first priority, nor should I. That wouldn't be a healthy relationship.

17:08I'm 3, 4 down the line, right? Yeah. And I found that the more that I encourage and promote what should be priorities in their life, their wives tend to like us a lot more. And then their wives really like them working for us or their, their spouse. Right. So it gave them a lot of flexibility and freedom to do the things that were most important to them.

17:28The more that I supported their priorities, the main thing is the insecurity that I walked with. I look back at the insecurity that I operated with when I first started that allowed for other people to step in with their confidence. Uh, I think that had I just been more confident in what I wanted to accomplish and what was in my vision and dream, everybody would have been better off for it.

17:54And so when I think about boss versus leaders, it's security. Are you confident enough in what you want to do, where you want to go, and where you want to take things that you don't need to get involved into silly joking, um, into immature conversations, but that you can stay above, a level above, and, and keep focused on the future vision. When somebody wants to make a joke at your expense, are you able to laugh at it, or do you, do you now need to cut them down?

18:23Is it okay to be the butt of the joke? I mean, those are some, some small but very practical things that change the way that I saw my position in their eyes. The thing people need is an inspirational figure in their life. For me, that was Aaron Stokes. I mean, changed the way that I saw life and what I thought I could get out of life and more so provide to my family and other people.

18:46And not everybody has the opportunity for a character like that. And so we have to rise up to be that for whoever's in our circle of influence, right? For whoever we have a platform with. And so the high level of integrity and standard is super important. Because you're constantly being watched in ways that I didn't know. And, you know, at Christmas parties and different things, wives will come talk to my wife and be like, you don't know how your, your husband's changed my family life and the things he's encouraged them to do.

19:15And I'm like, I don't remember saying anything. Like, we didn't have some deep heart-to-heart that I'm like, this is what you need to do to be a good father. It's just through the standard that you live out, more people learn from what you do than, than what you say. And I feel like when I made the shift of signing paychecks to I'm going to make sure that their life is better when they're done working for me, whether that's through my decision, their decision, or retirement.

19:43Right. Their life's going to be better for working at this place. That's awesome. So we do a one-on-one meeting. I do it personally with each, each team member each quarter, and it has nothing to do with the business. It has everything to do with them and their lives. And so I get to go do coaching, I get to go do self-improvement and workshops, all kinds of fun stuff, right?

20:03And meet with other business owners because they're there. And I thought, man, what if I would have had this when I was working for a dealership, when I was working for somebody else? What if somebody would have taken the time to tell— talk to me about setting goals and action steps and, you know, short-term, long-term goals? And it's like, it's not difficult stuff, but just plan myself for the life that I want to live.

20:24And so I decided that I would do that for my guys because I obviously can't send and pay and, and for them to be able to go do it on their own for each person with 28 people on my team. Um, I, I needed to be able to fulfill some of those things for them. So give us an example of what that looks like.

20:41Like, give us one example of what that looks like for your team. Yeah, so we'll sit down and, uh, if they want to— a lot of the guys want to buy a home, right? We have 2 or 3 guys that are younger and, and haven't bought their first home. And so I will walk through, okay, well, what are you making? What's your wife making?

20:55Where's your debt? Um, let's talk about what you need to do. Have you applied for a loan? Here's the steps to do it. What What can we eliminate? You know, and half the time these guys' rents are more than what a mortgage would cost. Sure. Yeah. And so it's like, dude, your cash flow, you just simply need to make a decision and, and apply.

21:10And they're like, I didn't know you could do that. I thought you had to have $100,000. Like, no, dude, you can get 0% down on homes these days. Like, it's no big deal. But nobody ever sat down and told them that, right? I mean, the things that, that I took for granted growing up in a, what I would call a healthy home with, with people to be able to ask these questions or things that were shared with me is not the normal for most people.

21:32Most people don't talk about balancing checkbooks and budgets and, and dealing with, um, financing homes. So just giving them an opportunity to, to do that. Super valuable, man. That's, that's really great. And, and like you said, that, that pulls the wife in. You know, it's like, this guy really cares about us. He's not doing things for us, but he's helping us learn, you know, to you know, to marry their vision as a family up to your vision.

21:58Their dreams and goals have to be able to fit with inside, inside of our organization, right? Correct. Sure. And so even if they outgrow us, I'm totally cool with that because I'll just get the opportunity to do it with somebody else. Absolutely. And so if they need to outgrow us, hey, no problem. But my goal is to grow fast enough that all their dreams and goals and visions can fit inside of ours, right?

22:16Partnered with a very healthy attitude. It's awesome. When you do hire someone, like let's say somebody moves along like you just said, they've outgrown you and you've got somebody coming in, do you feel like the culture you've established protects from anyone. I mean, because we all know we interview people and we, we screw up on our interview, and it's like, I thought he was this kind of person or she was this kind of person, and they're not.

22:38Talk about how your team protects that culture. Yeah, yeah. The whole interview and finding out the right fit has never worked out for me. Like, I can't tell in an interview. Um, I like to find out in the first 30 days, and the team's essential to that, and they will figure out much quicker than I, I can. Yes. Are they honest? Do they, you know, hide stuff when they make mistakes?

22:59Are they quick to come and get help? Are they? And so if they're not doing things that promote our values of integrity and honesty and diligence, then they're just not going to make it. Because I tell everybody, you know, we're all represented by the same brand, right? And at the end of the day, if one of us is a bad apple, then it's making it more difficult for everybody else because that reputation is getting out there.

23:23Very easy to undo a good reputation. Very hard to keep a good reputation. Yes. And so we don't want to risk it. And so I ask everybody, you're not being a rat, you're not tattletaling. These things need to be brought up so that we can train or encourage them to find employment somewhere else. So with, with that culture shift and you protected the culture, the second you shifted to their dreams to meet your dreams, culture completely shifted.

23:47Absolutely. Went from $1 million to $2.2 million. What did you do last year? We did $5.6 million last year. Wow. And we, we didn't have our full facility last year, so. Wow. We're tracking to do close to $8 million this year. Wow. Congratulations, man. That's great. Awesome. Thank you. Great job. Can I borrow $5? Yeah, I ask you. I probably ask enough people about for $5.

24:14It's my plan. Yeah, it's my retirement. There you go. Alan, thanks so much for being on here today. I learned a couple of things. Absolutely fantastic. Just seeing that shift in you from as a, you know, bad leader to the good leader, the shift in your culture and the performance followed dramatically afterwards. Great job. Thank you. Texas neighbors. Very close. Yes, sir.

24:38Yeah, it's great to— great to have you on here. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Absolutely.