From Tech to Service Advisor: Training, & Shop Leadership with Cody Kirkessner

0:10Business-wise, industry-wise, what scares you? I'd say failure. If you're scared enough of it, you're going to work hard not to fail. It's all in the decisions you make, you know what I mean? It's not necessarily like I'm scared to fail. You're going to make mistakes, you know, it's how you learn from them, you know, how you fix it. All right, welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of the J.D.

0:41Mechanic Podcast. We're still here in Tools at Hershey, Pennsylvania, and I'm sitting down with one of the people that I've been trying to connect with since last year I was at Tools, Mr. Cody Kirkenesner from Fadeley's Auto Masters, which Is you work with Brett Fadley? I do, yes. Yeah. How is that? It's good. Um, I enjoy working with Brett. I've been, been with Brett for a long time.

1:04Um, just a couple weeks ago, it's been 15 years that I've been with Brett out of his shop. So congratulations. Yeah, he's great, great to work for, great guy. Um, takes good care of us. So yeah, we really enjoy it. We tried to sit down and do this last year, and then we tried to get— because Brett came to me and he's like, you gotta have Cody on, man.

1:23He's a super cool guy. And here's the thing, people that are listening, you hear me talk all the time about technicians and how I think some of us need to transition out into being a service writer role. You're kind of his head service writer slash shop manager, are you not? Yeah. Yep. I took that role on about a year ago. Yeah. Little over a year ago.

1:46So it was a little bit before we seen each other at Tools last year. Yeah. So yeah, I made the transition from being a tech, Worked at Fadeley since I was a green guy in the shop. I was a young guy, learned a lot from Brett's dad. His parents were involved in the business at the time when I first started. Was there for a long time working in the shop, took on different roles as years went on.

2:14Went from like the green guy to, seems like blink of an eye, then I was one of the older guys in the shop. It happens, man. Yeah. And then I sort of worked my way up to like being the shop foreman, mainly did diagnostics for a long time. And, you know, it was an idea that me and Brett always kicked around, you know, for quite a few years about, you know, maybe transitioning to the business side of things at some point in time.

2:42So we had a service advisor that left us and we ended up, you know, Brett said, you know, is this the right time now? Let's do it. So I kind of just jumped right into it one day. I just started putting estimates together, making phone calls, and, you know, learned a lot from him. Yeah. You know, as far as that goes. But, um, just kind of ran with it after that.

3:05Now, how did you get into the working on car side of this industry? Like, was that like— because again, it seems almost everybody with the same kind of personality, right? We took apart our bicycle when we were a kid. Yeah. Couldn't get it back together, we got it back together. Or, you know, we took apart the neighbor's bike and put parts of that.

3:20Like, were you that kind of kid? I was, definitely. Yeah. My, my parents would always get mad at me because I'd get my dad's toolbox and take my toys apart when I was a kid. Or, uh, my dad always used to say, you know, I could tell you were going to be into cars when I would wake up as a kid on Saturday morning, instead of wanting to watch cartoons, I wanted to watch the car shows that were on TV in the mornings.

3:40You know, so many of us grew up on that. I can remember like the Nashville Network, right? There's a channel from way back when, and you would see all these guys. And I was not like— I was in my— I was like 10 when they started coming on the air. I'm old. And, uh, And I just would watch that. And then when it became like that, I was wanting to buy my own car, 16, like that's all I ever wanted to watch and read.

4:03And like Hot Rod magazine and Saturday morning programming for the, you know, on the national network for Gears and Shade Tree Mechanic and all these Crank and Chrome, all these shows I grew up watching. Yeah. Really impacted me. So you're the same way. Yeah. Yeah, exact same way. I mean, I got into those shows and You know, ever right around the time I started driving when I was 16, got my first car, I started tinkering right away.

4:28What was your first car? It was a '93 Toyota Paseo. Oh wow, right on. There ain't many of them left anymore, but yeah, it was just what I had at the time. And then, you know, my time of growing up was, you know, like the import car days, you know, the Fast and Furious thing, you know, and so I lowered the car, put wheels on it, did all that good stuff.

4:51And that was just when I was first starting to get into it, you know, in high school. So that's kind of, kind of when the bug bit me. And, and, you know, then I figured I wanted to go to school and learn about it, right? So that's what I did my senior year in high school. I, I played football through high school.

5:09I was a sports kid, decided that I wasn't ever going to make it to the NFL, so I had to figure out what I was going to do. And I got Luckily I got into a dual enrollment program in high school that I'd go to school half a day and go to college half a day, basically college classes. And I took an automotive technology class, starting to do basic things.

5:35The class at that time was very, we had like 3 cars. We had like an old Dodge Neon, an old Dodge pickup truck, and like a Plymouth Claim, like K-car or something. And just learned the basic stuff, brakes, oil changes, fluid services, stuff like that. Like that. Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but I have to share something really quick with everybody. As a technician, I know how much time can be wasted running back and forth between the bay and the front desk.

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6:42Measure up by every measure with TechMetric. Hit up the show link below for all the information you'll need. Um, and Brett's brother actually was my instructor in that program. Um, so I went on to graduate from there, graduated high school, uh, went to college, um, took a 2-year automotive technology, you know, degree, associate's degree, got that finished up. Um, and then I, as, as that was wrapping up, I started work, working in a shop then.

7:13So I went to a local dealership. I got hired in there from the program, worked there for about 2 months. They hired me on to work in the shop, spent 2 months there detailing cars. Wasn't really what I wanted to do. Didn't give you an opportunity. No, no. So I left there. I worked in a small, like, chain shop in this area.

7:36They have like 3 shops in Pennsylvania, Maryland. Okay. Worked there for quite a while, just doing tires and brakes and oil changes and stuff. Stuff like that. Yeah. Um, left there, spent 3 years at a Monroe, which is like a chain type shop. Yeah. Was there for quite a few years. Um, you know, my manager that I worked with there is my lead tech at our shop now.

8:01Okay. Um, so I kind of had some connection there. But, um, did you get any exposure to anything at the Monroe shop that you didn't at like the, the previous? Yeah, I did a little bit more, you know, like suspension type work. Okay. Um, You know, I had my inspection license by then. I was doing inspections. Um, you know, it, it wasn't a, it wasn't a bad place.

8:24I didn't leave there because it was bad. Um, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to learn diagnostics. That was always kind of my thing that I was always interested in. And good for you, man. Um, they didn't get into much like check engine light stuff, and you know how that goes. So, um, you know, I spent a couple years there, and I always wanted to move to— I wanted to, you know, I was always kind of looking, you know, I wasn't looking to leave at the moment.

8:47Fadeley's had an opportunity. They called me up. They were looking for a guy. And it was Brett's brother Chad that was my instructor in college. And that's how I got connected with Fadeley's. And they had a good reputation, a good name in the local area. Very good name. Yeah. Yeah. They've been around for a long time. They're probably one of the long, in our area, one of the longest standing like independent shops that that was around.

9:13So, you know, back when I was in high school, Chad would always kick around the idea, maybe you'll come work for me someday, you know? And then it just happened to all fall in place. So I went there, you know, 15 years ago and been there ever since. Yeah. So they kept me around. Like, now what's like— because I kind of know, you know, again, like, you know, I know a couple shop owners that are involved in, in this kind of event, right?

9:36And putting this kind of event on, and, and you see them, the ones that are networking and the thing, but Besides that, what makes Brett special as a shop owner? Brett, so when I say Brett's parents were involved in it, you know, in the business in the beginning, they both since passed, but they were really big on teaching and learning, you know?

9:59So right away when I started there, I mean, you know, I was going to training, you know, Brett's dad, which at that point in time, he was, you know, worked on cars for like 60 years. Just the amount of, wealth of knowledge. Oh my God, yeah, the amount of, uh, information and knowledge I've gained from him, just little tips and tricks on, you know, a daily basis.

10:19And, um, you know, and that's, that's kind of how Brett still carries it on. Yeah, you know, Brett's big on learning, big on allowing you to grow. Um, you know, he's a very, very understanding, like family first kind of person. Um, and that's, you know, it's definitely been been a big plus working with him. Um, you know, that's one of the main things is he, he doesn't— he wants to see you, see you be better, be better, you know what I mean?

10:44And grow, grow your, uh, you know, your knowledge and stuff like that. So yeah, that's one thing that makes it special with Brett that I didn't have at the other shops I was working at, you know. I was just like, you're there to work and that was it, you know what I mean? No political stuff, no nonsense like that. Yeah, because we, you know, you hear me talk all the time about like, you know And it doesn't surprise me, and it makes me angry still, that like the dealers still, oh, we have a person for you, and they hire you, and they tell you all this stuff, and then they put you in the detailing

11:15bay. Yeah. No, not running down detail guys, right? Right. But I mean, I know more detail guys that like want to just be a detail guy than I ever talked to technicians that were like, I started detailing and I moved into that. I know what happens. Um, uh, Sherwood from Royalty's moved one of his guys a couple up from the detail bay when they show But I mean, again, he's got that kind of reputation where guys want to start there and do that job, fix cars at Royalty.

11:44And he starts them there in the detailing bay. When the dealerships do it, I know exactly why they do it. They're hoping that, like, because they really need a detail guy then. And you can just do a passable detail to get it out the thing. And they don't worry about it. And they're waiting for something to happen in the shop. And we might try you there.

12:00It's not the same. It's not the same at all. So you get to Fadleys, more training than you'd ever probably ever had in your career. Right. Yeah. Yeah. More in-depth training. Like I said, I did go through college and stuff like that. But, you know, this level of training is totally different than what I got at, you know, what I got out of school.

12:21You know, that's more like, more like well-rounded education. It's, you know, the training that that Brett sends us to, you know, and we attend is so much more in depth, you know, just based on the systems of the cars and stuff like that. So you're getting into doing the diagnostics at a pretty good rate? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got into that pretty— that was always like something that I enjoyed doing, and people tell me I'm crazy for doing it.

12:47You know, they told me that too, right? But I mean, it's— we just had a conversation this morning where to me it just comes back to the basics, right? Like I've seen so many people ignore stuff on a car. Yeah, that they don't care about. And I said, like, the radio could stop working, a lot of people may not care. Yeah, but if that sucker won't start or run, or like if it can't get out of its own way, that's when people finally seem to break down and bring it in.

13:12Yeah. And it was just for my— always the way is thinking is like, if I get good at that, I'll always have work, you know. And it's true, you can always get good at tires and front end and suspension But you and I have seen lots of cars where they're on the side of the road with the tie rod broke off, or the brakes are completely hammered.

13:27But if they can't start it, they can't even get to that point of the crash, you know what I mean? So that's how I always approached it. So you get into doing the diag, and he's getting you in training. What's some of the earliest— like, when you think back to a car that really taught you a lesson, what was it? Or helped refine your process, or, you know?

13:47You know, I had a van, I think it was like an E-250 or E-350 Ford Econoline van. You know, that was really, it had ABS communication issue. You know, started doing some checking on it. You know, it seemed like it would come and go, you know, and that was probably, you know, this was quite a few years ago. It's probably one of the first like communication issues I had in my bay.

14:14And, you know, as I started to sort my way through that, you know, trying different things, I was pretty new to a lab scope then. Yeah. You know, I ended up scoping the CAN lines, finding, you know, finding out that there was a bad connection at the module with one of the communication lines. Pop the connector off, see, you know, find corrosion in it, which was common on, you know, fairly common on those after I found that one.

14:40And we started to see more of them. Yeah. But that was like really the first one that I was like, okay, I could probably do this. You know what I mean? And you see the power of some of the tools, right? Yeah. Like LabScope in the right hands is a very, very, very powerful tool. Yeah, that and just the training and, you know, that's like one of the moments where you're like, okay, all that time sitting and listening and taking notes and, you know, really paid off.

15:04Yeah. You know what I mean? It's a huge dopamine kick, right? Yeah. When you feel like, because we all fix cars. But sometimes when we fix that car that the customer either says has been to two other places, or maybe it's a regular customer of ours, but you get into it, and then all of a sudden you realize, not everybody would have found that.

15:22Not everybody would have fixed that that way. Then you can start to really— that can be addictive. You can chase that dragon, right? It's like, wow. And that's, for me, a lot of what it was. I would even sometimes— I had to know. Yeah. So I would lose pay to— I gotta know, you know? And then I— so I commend people that have that drive to always push because I feel it.

15:49I feel it. Like, even when, you know, because we're talking about as you're coming up and your body slows down and things change and all that kind of stuff, when you have that kind of knowledge, even if something was to happen to you that incapacitates you from being able to physically do the job, you can teach others how to do it. Yeah.

16:05And that's the, that's the beauty of this industry. So yeah, yeah. So you get that kind of under your belt. Mhm. Yeah, yeah. Got that under my belt and started, you know, and when we— when I first started there, your auto repair shop doesn't slow down and neither should your tools. When diagnostics get more advanced, systems get smarter, and vehicles get more complex, one name keeps shops moving forward.

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16:58Backed by constant software updates, expanding vehicle coverage, and real support from real experts, Launch Tech USA isn't just keeping up— we're pushing the industry forward. If you're ready to work faster, diagnose better, and stay ahead of the curve, visit our website at www.launchtechusa.com. Brett's dad was like a specialist in Corvette, so like got to learn a lot of stuff about that. I've had some Corvette problems that that have came in and, you know, they've been to other shops and the other shops don't want to get into it, or, you know, they misdiagnose it or something like that.

17:34Um, you know, and that, that makes you feel good when you got this person that like genuinely loves this car, you know, like with their life, like, um, you know, because it's something that they saved up for their whole life to buy and they, you know, you fix a problem for them and, and, you know, that's just, you know, that, that means a lot to them, you know what I mean?

17:53You take your time and figure it out and when somebody else couldn't, you know. And that's a cool thing because like sometimes we look at those enthusiast cars and I've seen it where like I worked at a shop and they would bring you their older vet. So I remember I worked at a shop and it's like his father-in-law had left it to him, right?

18:15So it was a '76, not, you know, those kind of vintage, right? Nothing too impressive, but I mean, it is, it's a Corvette, right? Yeah. And I remember them bringing it to us and having these grandiose, expectations. But then the regular cars, their dailies, like, they just went somewhere else for that. And that always really rubbed me the wrong way, right? Because it was like, why am I killing myself on your toy?

18:37Yeah, right. If I can't have all the work that you're— like, I want all the vehicles in the family household. That's just the way I am, right? And I would think that a lot of business owners would be thinking that way. Yeah. But are you a Corvette guy? Like, do you really enjoy them, or does it kind of Um, they're a challenge.

18:54Yeah, because I've worked on so many of them, I wouldn't personally probably want one. I mean, I'd love to drive them, you know, they're fun to drive, but fixing them, they are a challenge. I mean, especially the way some of the suspensions were set up and back in the day, and there's leaf springs and you're fighting them and the car's wanting to lift off the lift and all that stuff, you know.

19:13Um, but you know, I do enjoy working on— I wouldn't want to work on that stuff every day. You know, I definitely respect the people that do because it is a challenge. And yeah, you know, finding the parts and stuff nowadays and all that, you know, quality parts is hard. But, you know, especially on an older car like that. Yeah. But yeah, I do enjoy that every once in a while.

19:36Right on. We get some— sometimes we get some different things that come into the shop and, you know, I've had chances to work on DeLoreans and like odd things like that that would come in. So that's cool, you know, it's something different and, you know, makes your day go by a little differently. Because we never— I mean, most of us, I think, in the industry, right, if it's built right, we don't mind, you know what I mean?

19:59Yeah, it's just got to be built right. And, you know, again, and then having the proper service information, that's key. Yeah, we were talking this week, I had a conversation about Tesla, and it's like, it just really irks me that you go to ProDemand and there's nothing there. Yeah, and I'm not saying Tesla locks you out, right? They'll let you go over to their website and do it, but I mean, It would be a lot easier if it was just like everything else is on ProDemand.

20:24I say everything else, but not everything. Mercedes is not where you can't get a ton over there too, right? But at least on a Mercedes, I can get a wheel nut torque. You know what I mean? On a Tesla, they don't even have that listed in ProDemand. And that just frustrates me. So I always enjoyed challenges if it was built right and I had service information.

20:43I wasn't expected to work miracles for pennies, right? That's the part that always— if you had the right conversation with a customer, it goes well. Mm-hmm. What did the DeLorean need? Anything do you remember? It was a customer of ours that had— he had two of them. Okay. And these things were like mint condition, like 20,000 miles on it. He would drive them in parades every now and then.

21:01Okay. Just take them to like Cars and Coffee on Saturday morning or something. But we just did maintenance on them basically. I mean, we never seen anything on them that were like really, you know, bad issues. Yeah. But he just kept him in the garage and got him out every once in a while. And then, you know, he ended up getting older and getting rid of him.

21:24He was an older customer. But I still have like a picture that still pops up in my memories from like 12 years ago of that car sitting in my bay. You know, it's like I'll look back at it and, you know, show the young guys in the shop, look at this, you know. You've only ever seen it in a movie. Yeah. Yeah.

21:42Yeah, they don't even know what it is. I got to explain it to them. So there was this movie in '84 that came out. Yeah, it made the whole car. Yeah, right on. Very good, man. Very good. What, um, so how many, like, at Brett's has there been a, like, is it, tell us a little bit, is it a big shop, a lot of techs, or, um, we have 3 techs in the shop now, um, then myself, and then we have a receptionist and then Brett, um, We have 5 bays.

22:14There is an additional building that we have that I think we're going to possibly look to expand in the future sometime. Very nice. Me and Brett's talked about it. But yeah, so we keep 3 guys busy with 5 bays and we have a mixture of, we have Dan, like our head tech. Like I said, he's a couple years older than me. He used to be my manager at one point in time.

22:37Um, now he works with me. And then we have two younger guys, um, that came on with us a couple years ago, maybe two years ago or so. Um, and they're doing, doing a great job. I mean, you know, they're— they like to get, get their hands dirty and, you know, dig into stuff. And, um, you know, me and Dan kind of guide them a little bit and help them and trying to bring them along.

23:01And they're— and that's hard to find the young people that like want to do this, you know what I mean? Or like Sometimes there's all kinds of want, but they just don't have it. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's the trick too, is finding the, the one that want it and have the ability. And I always was like on the fence.

23:16I think you can teach the aptitude. I really do. Some people say you can't teach it. They just see they're born with it or not. But I've seen lots of guys that like struggle on the nuts and bolts stuff. Mm-hmm. But man, you put like data in front of them or you put like a wiring diagram in front of them and they're like off and they're just killing it, you know?

23:35So I think that that's a different type of aptitude. That like now as the, as the industry's going the way it is, like we're having more and more that I think are going into that, you know. And I think it's, it's making the industry more welcoming, less instead of less welcoming. I think everybody thinks it's less welcome, but I don't think so.

23:54Yeah, you see the kids that are into RC cars and then when they're 10, well, that's the kid that at 20 is probably going to want to work for, you know, Tesla or work on the EV in the shop. Like, that's the cool thing. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. And, you know, these guys are, you know, they're more technology, like, driven, I guess you could say, than, you know, when we were coming up and technology started changing from like OBD1 to OBD2 was like, oh my God, what are we going to do?

24:21You know? And, you know, these guys now, they're, they're so, you know, they've been, you know, I don't know if they even know about people didn't have internet, you know, at one point in time, you know what I mean? So it's just a different way of thinking. And, you know, we brought them to Tools last year and it was, it was, it was like an eye-opening experience.

24:44You know, we explained to them what it was going to these events, like the training, and they've done some local training back home. But once they came last year, it was like a whole different world to them. Like they didn't even know these things existed. And, you know, once they got to see it in person. And, you know, they, they follow guys on social media, stuff like that, and they're like, oh my God, that's Check Engine Chuck or something, you know what I mean?

25:12It's cool to just get to know them people and, yeah, and, and get to meet them now, you know. They, you know, they got to shake hands with them, you know. Yeah, like, I, I can still remember the first time coming to— it was because I was able to come to not Tools but ASTA that I got to meet Scannerdanner for the first time.

25:28Yeah. Right. Yeah. That was like the coolest thing in the world to me. Like, that was like 16-year-old me meeting one of the guys like Stacy David or something, right? Yeah. Um, you know, which it's not that I don't have respect for Stacy anymore, but when we, when we go into the more modern things that we're working on now, Paul has kind of, you know, come down into that same level of legendary car guy that, you know, people are growing up— Check Engine Chuck's the same thing.

25:54Like, yeah, I call him and consider him a good friend. I talk to him a lot and it's like He just doesn't know how much impact he's now having on the really young people. Yeah, because the young people are like, they might be 12 and 13 and they're on TikTok. They're not even driving yet, but they're seeing this guy, but they're into cars.

26:10Yeah. And they're seeing these guys, this guy do these incredible things of making, fixing these cars. That's what they, they now want to grow up and have a service van. Yeah. You know, and, and, and do mobile mechanics, or they want to like work in a shop and solve these problems. Like, that's, that's the gift, man. That's what we want in this industry.

26:29We cried for so long that we didn't have it. Now we're glorifying it. I think it's great. Yeah. Yeah. I spent years and years watching Scanner Dan videos and one of the head techs I learned a lot from at Failey's when I first started working there, he, you know, he was like the shop foreman and very good diagnostic tech. I mean, I learned so much from him.

26:51And he put me on the Scanner Danner and I would just sit at home at night, you know, just at night and for an hour just watch videos. Yeah, Scanner Danner, like Diag videos and, and just do that like every other day throughout the weekend and, and then take it to work and try to do what I saw or pull the videos up and, you know, see how he's hooked up to things.

27:11And, and, you know, that, that, that brought me a long way, you know, and, and then got, you know, got to finally meet him. And told him, I was like, yeah, you know, you've done more for me than you even know, man. And he says, still was— yeah, so humble, right? I was— and it, you know, you're not— you're telling the truth because before I came up to do this interview, he released a video today and I watched it.

27:34Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, he's just now— when I think back, you know, like, as long as he's been on YouTube, it's like 15, 16 years I've been watching his videos. It's become part of my like I hope people with these podcasts and stuff, but it's become part of my routine. Yeah. Like it's just like when they release a video every week, I'm keyed up.

27:52I want to see it. Yeah. And some are like, oh man, I would have never thought about that. And then others are like, oh yeah, I've been exactly there. Yeah. Like it has brought this industry so much together that like we don't feel like we're alone anymore, you know, because I talk all the time with like, and I'm sure Brett can remember this, we used to have a day where you would call the guy, the dealer, and say like, hey, I'm talking to somebody in parts, are you moving a lot of this?

28:17Or, you know, we've got one down here and we don't know, we've, we tried tuning it up and it's still— and the guy at the dealer would go, oh yeah, we had one and here's what you do. Yeah. Now we don't have to do that because not only does the dealer not want to help us out, they're struggling just to even find talent and do it.

28:33Yeah. But the reality is, is like, I watched a case study yesterday with Keith Perkins and Keith goes through his whole case study and shows it and then he goes, there's somebody that already ran into this and did a video of it on YouTube. And here's the guy and here's the video. Like, now when you watch it, you can appreciate both because they approach it from a different, uh, a method, and they both get to the same result.

28:56And it's the same cause. It's a, it's a TPMS sensor causing the, uh, network to wake up and causing a parasitic drain. Oh my God. Like, never thought, right? Yeah, but Here's the beauty of it. Other people would hold that so close to their chest and never talk about it. And there's Keith going, yeah, there's a guy on YouTube that, you know, already has a video.

29:15Like, that's incredible to me how we're now starting to uplift each other and share that. Like, that is so important. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's videos out there on just about anything. I mean, if you really want to, you know, dig into it Um, but yeah, it's just, you know, you need that kind of information, you know.

29:38And like you said, it could help, you know, help the next guy that runs into that problem. Why not, why not pass that on if you've been there already? Yeah. So for you to make the kind of the transition that Brett's got you doing, was it a, was it a physical thing? Uh, not necessarily a physical thing. Yes and no. I mean, you know, I definitely as I got older, it definitely could feel it, you know, when you come home at night or by the end of the week, you know, and I've always sort of been intrigued with like the business side of things too.

30:11You know, I brought that up to Brett and, you know, he was kind of slowly working me into things and, you know, trying to understand numbers and, you know, that good, all that good stuff. And it just kind of, with the service advisor leaving that we had, it kind of just, opened the opportunity and he's like, are you ready for this? And I always told him, I don't want to turn wrenches for the rest of my life.

30:36But it was just the right time and it worked out. And like I said, just one day I just said, I'm done. We're going to bring another tech in. I'm going to move up into the office and we ran with it and it's worked out. Yeah. And see, you're lucky you landed with Brett because he's, again, You know, we come to these shows and you see, sometimes they say, oh, you see the same faces, but like there's so many shop owners that don't even know their numbers or what their KPIs, right?

31:07What to look at, what to track. They don't even know. And so you get very fortunate. You've got his dad who taught you a ton on how to be a mechanic. And then you have Brett who taught you, is teaching you how to be a great shop owner. You know what I mean? Like it's fantastic. Like the best of both worlds. I mean, when, when Brett took the shop over, you know, he's been there forever, you know, he was working there since he was a kid basically.

31:33Um, you know, when he, he took the shop over full time, you know, after his parents were done with it, um, you know, he, he basically just turned it all around. I mean, it was sort of stuck in like the old school type of way when they had it. And Brett, I mean, just within a year's time, just totally changed the business.

31:54I mean, just money-wise and updating things and the tools and just thinking more like updated way of thinking about things. And that definitely changed it for the better. Did it have any growing pains when that happened? Like did some people leave or? No, everybody pretty much stayed. The head tech that I was working under at the time, him, um, for a while it was just us two working in there.

32:25Um, he ended up moving out of state, you know, his kids went off to college, him and his wife wanted to move south. And, and, um, you know, that's when it was kind of time. Brett's like, yeah, I need you, I want you to step up, be the head guy now. Um, other than that, I mean, there wasn't really any like growing pains or anything, just I think because Brett and his brother were there for so long, you know, they were there for so long, all the customers knew who they were.

32:51They knew it was a family business. You know, Brett was doing most of the service writing at the time, him and his brother. His brother would leave to still teach half the day. So, you know, just, it kind of worked out smoothly. That's good. I know there were some money things and stuff that Brett had to get figured out. I know he's talked on it on some other shows and stuff.

33:14And, you know, he just said, you know, I got to get this figured out. And he got it all figured out and took a while. But, and he's, you know, we're still trying to grow. Yeah. And that's the thing. Like, I mean, and, you know, we see so many of the, you know, probably his dad's generation where they literally like just bought themselves a job, you know what I mean?

33:38And whatever was enough to cover the expenses, you know, if we owned a piece of property and it's been paid off forever, you know, maybe we don't really tweak our numbers the way we should and do this and do that, and maybe we, you know, don't mark up. And because they're always thinking about the customer. Yeah. And, and it's good to think about your customer for sure, but like, you have a duty to be profitable, and you have a responsibility to your people to be profitable and to share that profit.

34:04That is what you are— it's what you're tasked with. I don't— you know, I catch a lot of flack for that, but I mean, there's— we in the industry need to realize that the shop owner is entitled to profit. You know, there's too many people that get online and go, I can't believe they charge $200 an hour. Break it all down with what we're paying a tech and what everything costs now.

34:23Yeah, $200 is nothing. Yeah, it's nothing. And then when you break it in and start looking at what we're actually having to pay the technicians and what they deserve— yeah, because of the tooling, the training, these events aren't free. Yeah, everybody's just losing their minds over, I can't believe the door rate costs this much money. Look at what it costs to run a shop.

34:40Yeah, it's going to go up. It isn't 1982 anymore when they're $70 an hour. Now we should be seeing every shop at $150 and up. Every shop should be. And we should be really knocking on the door at $200 if you really want to break it down. So people get upset, but I'm sitting here standing back going, I want this. If we want to fix the skills gap, we have to show them that you're not going to come in and earn $10 an hour changing oil, and we're going to expect you to buy $50,000 tools in 5 years.

35:12And still by then, you're making $13. So we have to show them a plan. It's going to be like, you're going to make 6 figures doing this. Here's the process to get there. Here's what's going to be required of you. Here's the mandatory training you're going to have to take. And that's the thing that as soon as you get them signed up and like you and I loved to learn this stuff, as soon as you get that plant, that seed in them, it's not hard to get them to take training.

35:38Yeah, it's not. If you've got a technician that's pushing back against training, you've got a bigger culture problem there than just the fact that the training. Can they fix the car without the training? Sure. But then you got to really look into how effectively are they fixing the car and what is the reluctance to train. Yeah, because like you've seen it, nobody here is putting a bunch of stuff in front of us and saying, you got to read and recite this all back to me.

36:03Like we were just doing ad reads, becoming— that's the most— before you came in, that's the most frustrating thing for me because I just got to wing it, right? Yeah. And I'm like, if I had the words in front of me, they would come off. But like trying to not stammer and stutter over my words. Yeah. When I'm trying to sell something, which is essentially like click here to, you know, to watch the podcast, or click here to subscribe.

36:22That's not natural for me. You and I sitting here like this having a conversation, completely natural. Yeah, don't— I'm not worried. So people that have a reluctance to train, I don't know where that comes from. Like, whether it's, uh, so you've got a touch of the tism, or you're, you know, dyslexic. Like, you can go and take the class and still come out of there better and learning what you need to learn.

36:47Yeah. Sorry, a bit of a rant there, Cody, but no, I totally agree with you. Um, you know, talking to the young guys that I have with, with that, we're, they're here now. Um, you know, if you, you're not going to retain everything. Yeah. You know, you're not going to go there, a lot of the stuff that you're going to learn is going to be over your head.

37:05It's still over my head, or, you know, some of these other guys. And yeah, and, you know, these guys presenting these classes are like, you know, like world class, you know, the 1% of 1%. Yeah. And, you know, you're not going to retain everything, but if you can take just one piece back with you and use it, you know, if you're going to be reluctant to training, you know, you know, Brett's sending us out here, the shop owners are sending you out here to make you better, you know what I mean?

37:31Yeah. You know, if you don't want to take anything from that and bring it back and put it to use You know, you shouldn't really be there. You know what I mean? And how long do you think you're going to possibly last in industry before you're going to get left behind? And not only that, but there's a contingency of people that they demand top pay, but they won't train.

37:51Or they demand top pay, but they're not improving. They're probably backsliding in terms of their ability and their give a damn and all that kind of stuff, right? Training won't fix attitude. Yeah, but training can instill motivation in people, which can then fix their attitude, right? Yeah, there's, there's, there's a collection out there that never got training and they're resentful of the fact that they never got it now.

38:13And then there's a contingency out there of people that like, I don't want to because I'm in my lane, I'm not getting too many hard cars. And then all of a sudden, if I get training, you're going to lump on me a bunch of really hard stuff that I'm not prepared to do. That all is solved from conversations of having with your owner, right?

38:30Like you can sit down with Brett and go, Okay, I took that course, but I'm not ready all of a sudden to rebuild a Tesla. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's having conversations, right? Yeah. It's important. You gotta be able to listen and you gotta be able to communicate your thought. Yep. So. Yeah, and you know, there's a lot of shops in our area that have really good mechanics and, you know, but the ones, you know, the good shops are the guys that are here.

38:57You know what I mean? They're the ones that, that go out of their way and spend the money and take, close the shop down and, you know, send their techs, invest in their techs' knowledge. And, you know, that goes a long way with, you know, just what you charge in your shop. Yeah. You know. So what were the growing pains, Cody, when you went to Wright and Service?

39:17So for me, the hardest thing was I'm not a very like outgoing guy. Okay. You know, I'm sort of quiet and reserved. So kind of had to come out of my shell a little bit. One of the things that helped though is that I was there for so long. You know, you sit through some of these classes and they, you know, they say like technicians don't make good service advisors.

39:41And I, yeah, I totally understand that. And I definitely had to change my mindset about things when I started talking to customers. Right. You know, I was still a familiar face there. Like a lot of the customers came in and still knowing that last 15 years I was working on their car. You know, so I think that transition, that part of it made it easier for me.

40:05Sure. Because a lot of the older customers that were regulars and stuff, they'd come in and they'd, "What are you doing in the office?" Or, you know, "You don't normally dress like that." You know, I was looking like a mechanic for so long. But I think that really helped, you know, that there was still like a sense of, like I'm still a familiar face, you know what I mean, to them.

40:29Um, I, I'd say that was probably like the main thing is I had to just, yeah, you know, especially giving people bad news, you know, about their cars, and that's hard. Um, you know, definitely, you know, you got to be sympathetic, you know, you feel sympathetic for them, you know. But, you know, other than that, like I said, I was always, always interested in the business side of it, so I think I'm doing pretty well understanding it along with training.

41:00I work with a coach, a service advisor coach that's great. I mean, he's amazing. So I couldn't ask for anything more. I mean, Brett gave me the tools to help me out. I think it makes it easier when the service writer is somebody that is well known and well established in the— almost said in the dealership, but in the shop, period. Because they know that, okay, all of a sudden we have never seen Cody in the last 6 months, and then we come in and he's dressed different, he's behind the counter.

41:31The trust is already there that you're going to take care of it. You used to take care of it out in the bay, but now, okay, he's at the counter. They're going to trust you that it's going to still be done properly because you're going to take care of them. When we have people that all of a sudden And I think this is why I've been such an advocate that we— I think it works better than people want to necessarily admit.

41:50When you take a tech that has that and you, you put them in front of the thing, they may be nervous as heck talking to the customers, and they may be a little, uh, jaded, they may be a little abrasive, but if the customer is trusting them, that's 90% of the, of the trip is done. 90% of the hard work is behind you.

42:09You've got the trust already. Whereas you can bring somebody in that can have the greatest smile in the world and, uh, Bob and personality and all kinds of stuff. If they don't know them, they're still not necessarily as trusting. Yeah, you know. And so people that are listening, when you're thinking about like, do you have a technician, and you sit there and you shake your head, I don't have any techs that ever make a service advisor— think about that little, that little reality for a second.

42:34They already have the customer's trust. Yeah, why would you not try it out? Yeah, yeah. What's, um, when you talk about giving bad news like that's hard. Yeah, that's hard, you know, especially when you know the customer's not, you know, they express to you that they're not, you know, I hope this is nothing major. You know, I got this going on in my life and it comes in and needs a transmission or it needs an engine or, you know, that's hard to deal with, you know, just to break that news to 'em.

43:04I mean, I've had customers cry to me on the phone, you know, you gotta kind of be like a therapist a little bit, you know? Which is okay, you know, it's just that can be a little uncomfortable sometimes. Or they go and buy something that, you know, you wish you hadn't heard that they bought. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then it's like they bring it in and you're like, crap.

43:25Yeah. You know, this is like, to pick a name, like, you know, oh, you went and bought a Mini. Mm-hmm. You know, oh shoot, like how many kilometers are on it? Or, here's my Canadian comment, right? How many miles are on it? You're like, oh, it's got 120,000 miles on it? All right, well, I hope you didn't pay much, right? And then you go from there.

43:44And it comes back to having those conversations, right? Like, you want to get them prepared. I need to step away from the idea that I tell people, don't buy this. Because at the end of the day, they don't listen to me anyway. They buy what they want to buy. But we have to be a little more understanding about, like, and very transparent.

44:04This is the car you got. We'll help you. Yeah. Navigate this. Yeah. But we're not going to sublet it for you. We're not going to supplement the cost because of empathy. We can't do that, you know? Yeah. And a lot of that comes with just trying to educate them on what they have. They buy a car that you know there's a certain problem with and you've seen it before and just try to plant that seed that— That's right.

44:29This might be coming down the road for you. We should get this taken care of first. You got a Silverado, right? Expect at some point you might have a transmission issue. Yeah. You know, you got a Ford Eco, anything, you might be putting some turbos in it at some point in its life. Like, there's expensive repairs that come along with this modern stuff.

44:48You know, you got a Volkswagen, like, it's going to leak oil constantly. Like, it's going to burn oil if it ain't leaking it. Like, it might even do both. Yeah. You know, and then onward and onward. And, you know, I don't think that, like, we're— I don't think we're necessarily always getting the customer ready for the reality of what's happening, right, with this industry that's changing.

45:10And like, you know, you and I can remember where nobody ever probably did a fuel injection service. Yeah. Or, you know, and now it's a, it's a critical part of keeping some of these complaints from happening on cars. It's a tough sell sometimes, right? Yeah. And it just comes back to education. So yeah, what, um, what kind of cars do you like to see come in?

45:30Um, do I like to see come in? Yeah, like from a, from a customer standpoint. Yeah. What do you like to see come in? You know, I don't want to knock on like European vehicles or anything like that. I don't want to see them come in. We do work on some, you know, we do work on them. But, you know, from a customer standpoint, I mean, like some of the good, you know, good cars out there, every car has their issues, especially we see them, you know, we see them.

45:59So, you know, Toyotas, Hondas, you know, that's,, and you can't really go wrong buying one of them. You know, Nissan's, you know, they had the CVTs and those things that, you know, I try to steer customers away, you know, from them, but, you know, it is, you know, they're going to buy what they want to buy. They're going to drive a lot of Nissans out there right now.

46:23Like, I mean, and that's the thing, like it's, I talk about the Rogue all the time, like the, where the Rogue came from to where it is now is crazy how many of them you see on the road. Yeah. It's nuts. And a lot of it is like people People talk about that in the Ultima, and it's like, well, they're a formal rental fleet.

46:38And yeah, okay. But I mean, rental people always like, and taxis, we used to joke about taxis, right? But like, they only picked the stuff that would last. And you're seeing a lot more Nissan being used out in fleet operations. And it's like, you know, so, and CVT, like, it'd be crazy to say that only Nissan have CVT problems. We know that lots of people have.

47:00And I mean, look at, again, back to the Silverado, that's not a CVT, and look at how many transmission issues they have. Ford's the same transmission, right? Like, yeah, or almost the same transmission. Like, it's just part and parcel. We have to get these people, um, like you said, expecting that, you know, if you keep it long enough, Murphy's Law says this probably will happen.

47:23Yeah, you know, you— or you can do your maintenance and it still probably will still happen. It'll just happen later. Yeah, you know, and that's what I say is there's nothing wrong with selling maintenance to a customer As long as you're clear that if it's already slipping, it probably won't fix it. Yeah. Now, uh, it's up to you. Do you want to— do you want to service it and try?

47:45Or— but we cannot any longer just say, okay, yep, that'll be $199, and not have a conversation with customer. You got to ask them, what's your expected outcome? Yeah. Why are you doing it? Why do you think you need it? You know, because you and I have seen it where it's like they may get in there and say, I got a transmission fault.

48:01Yeah, no, when you go and drive it, it's a misfire, right? Going down the road, it feels like a trans— torque converter— yeah, misfire. Yeah, they're happy. Like, you could sell them a $600 tune-up, they're happy because they're expecting $6,000 transmission. Yeah, you know. Yeah. Um, what's, uh, what's some of the challenges right now coming into the shop? Um, as far as challenges, I mean For us, one of the big things is like, I don't want to say quality of parts.

48:36You can say that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, our suppliers are great, but there's, you know, if you're going to do a repair, just go factory, depending on what it is. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, that's since kind of COVID everything just kind of, it, you know, tanks on that end. Um, you know, it's good to be backed by somebody that gives a good warranty, you know.

49:03And that's, you know, another reason, you know, why I try to explain to people you should, you know, choose our kind of shop because of that. And it's going to cost more. Yeah, we're going to put an OE part on it. Yeah, but you're not going to have to come back and try another vent solenoid or purge solenoid or another TP, TPS, I almost said TPS, TPS, yeah, throttle position sensor, which they don't even really use anymore, but you know what I mean, right?

49:31You're not gonna have to try a different throttle body before we finally get the OE one, right? Like, yeah, stuff like that. It, it, it makes me— that's the hardest conversation I have because again, when the people are like, but I saw it online. Yeah, that online part, yeah, there's a reason why that part costs this much and this one does. And that online part, like, sometimes it's the same brand.

49:53Yeah, but it's not the same line line within the brand, and, and they'll sell that to the DIYer all day long. Yeah, but they won't sell it to the parts store. Yeah, well, if the parts store won't carry it, there's a problem, you know. And then the OE stuff is like, it's a struggle sometimes. They're not— who was, um, somebody just did a video and they were talking about— oh, Ivan from Pine Hollow, uh, a 10-year-old, uh, Chrysler Stellantis product needs an ABS module, not even supported from the dealer anymore.

50:21Yeah, like, that's frustrating as heck that, you know, but there's nothing in the aftermarket, you know, there's workarounds for some of these modules that if you want to make the— they say you can't use a used one, but you can, right? EEPROM and all that kind of stuff. But this is all where we're getting into these customers that are just like, I don't understand, like, I don't understand why that part's not available, or I don't know why I can't use this aftermarket part.

50:47We have to explain to them like, I can't stand behind it and that's why I can't use it. Yeah. You know, it's got a record that I know is going to be, I'm going to be chasing my tail on it. Don't use it. And that's why it costs more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. And, you know, it goes back to educating the customer on what you're doing to their car.

51:10You know, most of the time if you explain that to somebody, they understand. Yeah. But it's just taking the time to explain that. I don't want to put something on your car that you're not going to be happy with. I wouldn't put it on my own vehicle. Yeah. You know, so yeah, that's kind of, I mean, we've been seeing a couple issues with that, but you know, we're working our way through it.

51:30And again, the OE parts, they have failures too. Yeah, they do. You know, like you've seen that enough by now, right? Some of it I think is their supply chain and the aftermarket supply chain are not all that different. Yeah. Right. There are, but it's It was somebody explained to me there's a different level of testing that the car, the part has to go through to be sold at the dealership.

51:50Now during COVID they threw that all out the window because whatever they could get is what they got because they needed it. I'm not mad at them for it. But now I don't like that we haven't been able to turn the corner back. That's what drives me crazy because they're using all this inventory up. Instead of getting rid of it and going, hey, there's just too many of them, they're like, well, we got to use it up.

52:11Yeah. How do you find— do you find a challenge of getting young people? Like, I know you have two younger ones, but— Yeah, we do have two younger ones. There for a while, we were having trouble finding some people. You know, I don't know. You know, when I was a kid, you know, you know, Dad would take me out and show me stuff or tinker with the lawnmower.

52:42Like, you know, nowadays, I mean, we had a really good young guy that was there before. He ended up leaving. He didn't want to do cars forever, right? Um, he was super smart. It would have made a really good ATEC someday, you know. He would just pick up, you know, I could show him something one time and he'd never ask the same question twice.

53:04Great, great kid, very smart. He, he was into trading, day trading stocks and is like, really? I'd never even thought about that at his age. You know, I was, I was doing other stuff, running around, you know, having fun. But, you know, and, and he was making enough money on that he didn't need to work. So now he's like a photographer, a sports photographer, and just does what he likes to do for fun.

53:25Yeah. And, you know, he's, he's— I think he might be 22 or 23 now. He still stays in contact with us and stuff. Great kid, but, you know, it's just like, just, you know, to think of that when you were that young and, and do all the research and read and, you know, invest your own money in, and, you know, it's totally different than what kids were doing, you know, you know, when we were younger, you know, it's just the technology is totally different, you know.

53:52That's— I think that has a lot to do with it. Um, 10 years ago, we were waiting for the next video game to drop, right? And then when we weren't playing the video game we were, how do I make my car sound different or sound like that one on the movie? And now these guys, I don't know if it's because everything's going EV or something, they just have no— like, cars are just tools.

54:14Yeah, right. Whereas from our generation, cars were cool as hell, man. Yeah, they said something about you that was part of your identity. And I think that we've removed that now. And I don't know necessarily how to get that back because it's not that it's completely gone, but it seems to be a very much like like you have enthusiasts. Yeah. Whereas everybody back in the day, like, their car said something about them.

54:36And now you see people and it's just a— it's just an appliance. Yeah. It's just like their cell phone. Yeah. 3 years, it doesn't matter what memories I have in this car, I'm getting rid of it and going to get another one. Yeah. And a completely different thing. It's like a cell phone. It's like, ah, you know, whatever, the newest one came out, I'll go try that one.

54:52Yeah. And I'm thinking, like, I still have the first cell phone I ever owned. It sits in the drawer, don't work no more. Yeah. But I mean, like, if we your father, grandfather probably has a truck sitting out back that they— you know what I mean? Like, it's— yeah, it ain't worth nothing to nobody. Yeah. But they always had that idea that like, it's got value and I don't want to pass it on.

55:12Yeah. That's crazy to me. Yeah, it's definitely a different way of thinking, thinking these days. Yeah. You know, um, the young people that you have, they're interested in learning? They are. Yeah. Like I said, I, I wouldn't say they weren't, you know, they're young and have The one has a kid and, you know, it's hard to get them to go to class at 7 o'clock at night.

55:34Then you sit there at almost 10 o'clock till you get home and that can be a struggle after you worked all day. But when they started coming to these training events like this, it was just like, now they're hooked, you know? Now they want to sit in the classes and they want to learn and they want to go to Brandon Steckler's class and they want to come back and pick up a lab.

55:52So the one I was talking to this morning, My one guy goes, hey, when we get back, can we pull one of the loaner cars in and just, you know, just play around with the lab scope? You show me a couple things. I'm like, yeah, I can do that. Yeah, before they were like, you know, didn't even know what a lab scope was before they started coming to these events.

56:10And, you know, if you're, you know, you want me to show you, I'll show you, you know, I'll teach you. And, um, you know, like I said, I don't know everything about them either, you know, but we can learn together. That's right. And that's the beauty of it, right? There's so much information that wasn't even available to us until a couple people started putting it out there.

56:29Like, for what used to be our impact gun, a little 4-channel LabScope, you know, I saw a guy in a video today and he bought an 8-channel HandTech on Amazon for like $100. And he goes, well, it's not the fastest scope in the world, but he says, for what I needed to do this parasitic drain, it's perfectly fine. Yeah. So he needed 8 channels because he's looking at 8 different modules waking up at once.

56:53That was his thinking, is I'm gonna go measure the current draw on each module. Yeah, when it comes alive on the, on the CAN. Like, we wouldn't have not even thought about that. Yeah, 5 years ago. Yeah. And there he's like, I need 8 channels at once, bang, $80. Yeah. Like, what used to be a DVOM was an advanced tool for some of us coming up.

57:13Yeah. Is now like these young kids, now it's not even the DVOM, it's the oscilloscope that they should be picking up first. Yeah. You know, and and talking to your phone, ChatGPT, how do I set this up? Yeah. And then ChatGPT gives the answers back and it's like, holy mother, like, yeah, there's so much. Show me a waveform, show me a known good.

57:32There you go. Yeah, like, I understand that, you know, AI is only as good as what we're putting into it, but it— I mean, um, Keith Perkins yesterday was like, if you're not using AI every day right now, you're already behind. You know, he's using it just to show us his slides for his show. He's got pictures and he's just like, ChatGPT, make me, make me look like I'm frustrated doing something.

57:58And, and it creates its own. It's incredible. Yeah, it is. Like, I'm behind and I'm 50 and I'm like, I'm behind. So, you know, yeah, we've used some of it. Um, you know, some of the AI, they were talking a lot about the AI in the classes, you know, this time around this year. It's coming. I mean, it's not going to go away.

58:18Yeah. You know, so why not learn about it? Exactly. I was kind of glad some of the classes were touching on different things and some of the other shop owners throwing around what they're using the AI for. And it's like, okay, maybe we'll look into that once we get back and get back to work. You hear some people talk about it and it's like they're going to use AI to replace service writers.

58:37Yeah. You know, I don't think we're going to get that far yet. Yeah. But you can certainly get them to like, an automated voice can, can take the phone call. Yeah. And, and book the appointment and, and ask some questions and get smart enough to go, okay, so Mrs. Smith is coming in for an AC complaint, you know, uh, instead of just, you know, Mrs.

58:56Smith is coming in and we don't know what she's coming in for, do you want to make an appointment? Now AI is smart enough to be able to say, okay, it's coming in for this, all right, anything else? Like, it can prompt and ask questions. Like, that's a good thing. My brain was slipping there for a minute. What— you kind of have— Brett talked to me this morning before we set this interview up, and he was talking with me about, like, his succession plan for Fadeley's involves you.

59:24Yeah. What do you think about that? Yeah, that's something we've talked about over the years too. You know, I told him that, you know, sort of what I've always dreamed of. I'd love to have my own shop, you know. And like I said, I was always fascinated with like the business side of it, um, you know, working in the shop for so long.

59:46Brett was always, you know, the business side of the shop. Brett did— Brett will tell you I don't belong anywhere near, you know, you know. So where his brother was more of like the tech, you know, guy, you know, Brett was always, you know, the service advisor in the front office. He was always like the face that was the customers seen when they came in, you know, and get to learn sort of both, best of both worlds from them too.

1:00:14You know, there's nobody involved with Brett's family that wants to take it over. Right. But for as long as I've been there, I knew Brett's mom and dad and his brother. And you know, they gave me an opportunity 15 years ago to come work there. You know, I'd love to carry that on for what they built. You know, they got a heck of a reputation.

1:00:36They did things a certain way that made them successful. You know, I would never change the name. You know, that's theirs. They built that. Yeah, that's theirs. They built that. You know, we've— so, you know, it's what I would like to do. You know, I'd like to do that eventually. Me and Brett have talked about it. Um, you know, Brett will come to me and say, you know, I'm not getting any younger, you know.

1:01:00You know, he don't want to do it forever either, you know. Yeah. Um, but, but yeah, it's something that, that we've planned and something that I'm interested in with him. Um, you know, we've had quite a few conversations, so I'm hoping that progresses, you know, in the next few years. How old are you now, Cody? I'm 37. 37? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Good for you.

1:01:19Um, so You know, I was proud, you know, I could be turning wrenches right now, you know, but I think better for me to learn the business side of things, you know, while I'm still young and while I still want to do it, you know. Yeah. And again, I think like if I had been at 30, like mid-30s, like, and I'm 50, if I'd have been mid-30s and somebody offered me that opportunity, I'd have jumped all over it right then too.

1:01:48'Cause it's not about making buckets of cash. It's not about that, right? It's about being able to step away from the grind on the body and then really see the other side. Yeah. You know, and appreciate it more. Like, that's the thing is I, man, I used to not have very nice things to say about a lot of shop owners. I didn't have it.

1:02:09And then once I started to network with more and more of them, I realized that a lot of them are really, really special people. Special people. Yeah. You know what I mean? It takes— now there's bad apples in every bushel, but they're, for the most part, the people that we're here with are truly some of the most incredible people I've ever met in my life.

1:02:27And it's because they get it. You know what I mean? Like they now, this generation, they understand like we have a duty to serve the community and our customers, but we also have a responsibility to the people that work for us. Yeah. And I think that that's where some back in the day, it got a little bit lost, you know. It was like everybody just threw up their hands and go, it's always been that way.

1:02:50Like, you know, you worked in a shop and I had the gas pump out front and you, and you, you know, you made a living, but that was it. And now I think it's like they're seeing that this is really complex stuff. Yeah. And, you know, we're still tasked with keeping our community mobile on the road, but like, by God You know, we have to, we have to charge for it.

1:03:12We know I have to know our value. Yeah. You know, um, I think that's the only way the industry survives because you talk, look at other skilled trades, they got replaced. Yeah. You know, and, and it's a constantly evolving thing, but it's like when you look at that and you go, how do we keep that from happening? Train, get better every day, you know.

1:03:30Yeah. What, um, what scares you? What scares me business-wise? All of it. Um, like, not like I'm worried about rattlesnakes or something, but you know what I mean. But yeah, yeah, business-wise, the industry-wise, what scares you? Um, you know, I'd, I'd say failure. Yeah, you know, um, you know, if you're, if you're, if you're scared enough of it, you're going to work hard not to, not to fail, right?

1:04:00You know. You know, it's all in the decisions you make, you know what I mean? It's not necessarily like I'm scared to fail. You're gonna have— you're gonna make mistakes, you know. It's how you learn from them, you know, how you fix it. You know, I wasn't always perfect working for Brett, you know. 15 years, you get to know somebody so much that, you know, but he you know, he didn't give up, you know.

1:04:29He kept me around for a reason, you know, and I stuck around there for a reason because he's, you know, they're a great family to work for. Um, but, you know, that would be my biggest fear is if I would take it over, um, you know, I wanted to succeed. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to tarnish. Yeah, because, you know, for to have him trust in me enough to, to even consider that, you know, you know, definitely means something to me.

1:04:59So that's very cool. I thought, like, when I was thinking, I was like, because you have some people talk about like, I'm scared about information being locked in, and I'm scared about the Right to Repair Act, and I'm scared about like, am I ever gonna be able to program a set of keys again, right? Yeah. And you went right to that, I think, which is the bigger thing.

1:05:17Yeah. Like, I'm scared that I'm going to disappoint somebody who has invested so much in me. Yeah. I think that's a really powerful thing to say. And I think it's very telling of how important, you know, Brett is to you and how important you are to him. Like, I think that, like I said, I sat there this morning and had breakfast with him and he just raved about you nonstop.

1:05:36Yeah. And all the times I've talked to him, he just raves about you constantly. Like, it's, it's, that's pretty cool to see, you know, because like I've seen lots of dads rave about their sons, but I haven't seen too many shop owners rave about their techs to that level. And that's pretty cool. It says a lot about you and it says a lot about him.

1:05:59So yeah, I mean, I think the industry's going in a really good place. I really do. I think it's like, yeah, the Right to Repair Act is a sketchy thing to navigate right now. But I mean, it isn't because we don't have people out there like Keith and everybody else that are like advocating for us. Advocate. Yeah. You know, saying we need to have access to this.

1:06:22But, you know, it isn't— they're out there fighting that fight. The scary thing for me is, is can we get enough of the young people to come in? And I think we can. I just think it means that we have to like show them that passion that we have for this and we got to pay them well, man. Like, that's just the thing, you know, like it can't be when I came up, man, it was hard.

1:06:44It was hard to— and it wasn't because, like, it wasn't greed. It was just because they, they didn't know how to have the conversation, the customer, to say, no, this is why we can't be $59 an hour, we have to be $68. Yeah, they're learning now how to have that go. And we're like, people are here now going, $59 and $68? Like, yeah, yeah, that's not that long ago.

1:07:05We're talking 20 years ago. Yeah, you know, so I mean inflation is one thing, but I find that like we're, we're finally catching up to where we can go along with inflation. I think we were so far behind before. We were way too behind. Yeah. Um, it's going to be tough. I think we're going to see less people own cars, less people to drive.

1:07:26Like, I think we're, you know, used to see maybe they had 3 cars in the family. Yeah, right. And they had like a Corvette and then they had 2 dailies. I think that may go away and it's going to suck. Yeah. But I mean, the, the costs are going to push that to that. Yeah. And, you know, we have to— again, it doesn't mean that because they— things cost more that we have to be, well, gee, do they eat or do they fix their car?

1:07:54That was never what it's supposed to have been about. It should have been about, I want to help them. Them, but I need to help my people that work for me, and that means that they have to be able to eat. Yeah. Which means I have to charge you. Yeah. And then go on from there, you know. Yep. Um, I wanted to thank you for being here, man.

1:08:11I was really looking forward to this, and like, you know, I know you're a little nervous, but you killed it. You're doing great. Um, and that's the thing, like, to be scared of, of this industry or what you were afraid of happening in it, that's one of the best answers I've heard in a long, long time. Thank you. You know, is to say, I want to preserve that legacy.

1:08:32That's what I'm worried about is letting people down. So good on you, man. Thank you very much, Cody. I appreciate that. Thank you for having me. Yeah, man. Reach out to any of us anytime. Cody, love to have you back on. Yeah. People that hear this and you have a similar story, that's what we're trying to really delve into is how do we move from a technician headspace and a position in the shop to a service advisor role?

1:08:53If you have that kind of insight on that, what you want to see, or if you've done it, please reach out to me, man, because I think it's something that we have to go— going forward, we're going to have to have that conversation a lot more. So Cody, thank you, man. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, we'll talk to you all soon.

1:09:08Yep. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and like, comment on, and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change.

1:09:30Thank you to my partners in the ASAR Group and to the Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say: in this industry, you get what you pay for. Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10mm, and we'll see you all again next time.