They’re Married AND Mobile Mechanics?! with Ben and Jenna Dellaria

0:08Just don't give in to the people that are online that you see doing things. I'm not going to say you're not going to be the next star on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube. You could be. You could be the next MrBeast or something like that. But build a business and take care of your family and just do things right. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.

0:37So, um, oh wait, good. Yeah, we're recording, recording. Sorry, we're having a little bit of glitches here, ladies and gentlemen. So, um, tonight with me, joining me, um, is a real power couple within the industry, um, and a very popular channel on YouTube, um, Ben D'Elaria and his lovely wife Jenna from 3Ts Automotive. How are you guys doing tonight? Good. Pretty good, man.

1:01Doing all right. Is it hot there? Very. It's humid. This weather, it sucks. Same. Everybody thinks up here it doesn't get, it doesn't get hot, but I mean, we had this past week's been 80-something, but with the humidity we're pushing 90s, which is a lot. Is, is, is not enjoyable for August up here. Not— no. And I would suspect it's not enjoyable when you're not used to it all year long.

1:27Yeah. Like, we were much hotter, uh, end of July. Like, I had lots of days I'd go out and we'd be over 100, you know, on the tarmac, which is hot for Canada. But the— this humidity level now is almost worse because it just— it's heavy in the air. Yeah. Yeah. You walk outside, you can't breathe, and you sweat within seconds. Yeah.

1:47And I heard you've been talking about, like, you were saying you were feeling your age the other day, like it was really beginning to feel like the heat for you was making you think about, you know, going away from the mobile side and into a traditional, what we would call brick and mortar. When you started this journey, did you think you'd ever get there?

2:08Yeah, I did. It was always what I wanted. You know, even I remember being when being in school in the, what, 2001, 2002, I, you know, telling everybody, I'm gonna open a shop one day, I'm gonna open a shop one day. And then of course, you know, when the time had come, COVID was here and ended up mobile. And it's just kind of like one of those things.

2:30It's like, well, you know, you get yourself into a position in life where you're kind of stuck. So like, you know, the debt, the issues, you know, the amount of money you spend here and there and now, you know, saving money. For our daughter's wedding, you know, that side of our life has kind of been put on the back burner. But, you know, we're still relatively young.

2:51I'll be 45 in October. She'll be 45 in February. I think so. Yeah. So, you know, our time is, uh, it's not up yet. We still got 20 years worth of work and I'll probably continue to work even past that. So who knows? But yeah, it's the, Oh, there's a lot of factors, and I think I was mentioning it in some of those— my YouTube videos— that even just for her, like, you know, sometimes she's standing there staring at me do the work where she could be in a nice office and, you know, doing the things she needs to do.

3:25Like here, you know, where she's doing the billing and the invoicing and QuickBooks and things like that. Out there, she's got an office, but it's hot and it's crappy in that trailer. Yeah. And yeah, the age part of it kind of is, is getting there because it's getting hotter and hotter and I'm getting fatter and fatter every year and it's harder and harder to deal with the weather outside now.

3:47Yeah. My entire life I've worked outside. I've never, I've never not been out there. Always, you know, growing up with my dad cutting grass in South Florida is a different type of temperature. But, you know, for, you know, just my 40 years of being outside to work sucks, you know, and that's what it was. 6 years old, I was working with him.

4:07Using a blower and everything. And yeah, some days I tell her, I'm like, I want an office job. Like, I just want, you know, let's go build some other type of company and let's go just be in the air conditioning. She's like, babe, you're gonna be 300 pounds by the time you're done with that. Yeah, I know. Now, when I had you on last, Ben, um, Miss Jenna had not come into the picture.

4:29I mean, she was in the picture, but she was not out riding around with you yet. And I think it's really cool To see that kind of develop on YouTube and online everywhere. And I mean, I know you guys have, you know, an ever-growing fan base, and I just— I'm a sucker for strong, strong relationships and strong families, right? I really enjoy seeing it.

4:51I think it's so refreshing and important in today's society that we see that. And I just have to tip my hat to both of you for putting yourselves out there, because I know some days I can see the frustration and I can hear it in your voice with her when things are, you know, because Jenny, you know what it's like when it's not— the job's fighting them, right?

5:09And it's not going right. We get a little snappy or we get a little sharp sometimes. And, and, man, you know, it's different, eh, Ben, when it's like they're just your coworker. But when they're, they're your partner, your spouse, your wife, um, it's, it's tougher too, eh? And it's like, do you guys come home sometimes and just like, okay, you know, um, I need an hour away?

5:32Do you do that? Sometimes. Sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, It's more she needs an hour away from me. I don't usually ever need an hour away from her. She's— I say it till I'm blue in the face. That's why everybody, the animals, everything's just— everybody gravitates towards her because she's never mad. If she's mad, you really don't ever know it, or you'll know she's mad at me, but that's it.

5:57But like you said, it's when I get into like a diagnosis that's rough and I'm like frustrated, I'm not yelling at her or yelling in general, but my frustration isn't even at her either. But she's there and she's seeing what I go through. And it's not, not easy because that side of the mobile world is what a lot of people don't talk about.

6:18So like, you know, you could talk about Richard or Chuck, that's all he does, right? Not me. I'm working, you know, 8, 10 cars a day. We're, we're going to do this just like being in a shop. I built it the same way. So if I'm like, shit, I got this diagnosis that's beating my butt and I gotta get somewhere, I You know, my mind starts to play tricks on me and I start to get frustrated.

6:40So shop atmosphere would be nicer in that position. But yeah, Jenna, I gotta ask because you've obviously, you've been with him a while and you've heard all about the struggles of what it's like to be this as a career. But what was it like when you first got onto the trailer on the truck with him and then you saw it in real life?

6:56Was it, did, were you expect, was it more than you expected in terms of like, wow, I didn't know it was that tough? Some days, yeah. Yeah, some days I would say I agree with that. Yeah. And it's— go ahead. Sorry. I mean, it's okay. I grew up with my parents owning their own shop down in South Florida. So cool. Yeah. So I kind of know, but never actually did it.

7:21So yeah, it's— I mean, then you're familiar. You've seen it, right? I know, because I speak of my ex and, you know, she would hear me come home and rant, you know, back in the unhealthy portion of my life when that's what I did a lot of until I found outlets. And she would, she would know the language and the verbiage and what it meant and like, you know, all the kind of things.

7:47But I don't— she never got the— she never got to see me work on something that was like kicking my butt because I just— she didn't have to come to work and see it. Right. And when you would come home, you would unplug and it wasn't there. And then even when I would work on her own car at home, or, or, you know, in the shop and she watched.

8:07It was, it was easy stuff. It wasn't frustrating. It wasn't the kind of stuff that make you pull your hair out, you know. Um, that when you combine the heat and the camera and the, the sometimes the pressure, I'm sure I couldn't do it, you know. My hat's off. Is it easy? No. There's days I don't— I put the camera down and I don't record, you know, at all.

8:27Uh, you know, sometimes I'll take 2 or 3 days where I don't record anything because I need that mental break of not doing it and not frustrating her or taking anything out on her. Because that's like you said, it's not easy. I've had people sometimes, you know, oh, well, look at how he talks to his wife. Fuck you. Like, get out of here.

8:46Delete. You're blocked from my channel. Like, if you're that type of Karen on my YouTube channel, because we're not— when we're out there, we're not husband and wife. She is owner or an employee. Like, that's how we try to turn off while we're out there. But sometimes you can't, you know, you have to live with that person. So you have to watch, you know, you, you can't— I can't be the owner, the service writer, but I also have to teach her at the same time.

9:14And my way of— I've never had to teach anybody to do this. I've always just been the one that was training with someone to learn how to do this. So now that I had to train her, it's been a year. We're we just passed a year that she's been here, and to see the evolution of her, I'm like, well, I did something right.

9:31You know, like she's doing great. Yeah, she is. And but man, it's it's difficult. It's really hard. Well, I I watched one of your recent videos, and you said, babe, can you get me the load cage? You know, shout out to check into Chuck, and like she knew what that was. Yeah. Like that is so so flipping cool. You'll say, babe. You know, I need a 40-amp, you know, case, J-case fuse.

9:53And she hands you the fuse box. Like she knows where all that stuff is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's so cool to see that. Like she keeps her cool. You keep your cool. But I was going to ask you some days it's got to be having a camera going has to be a distraction when you're trying to get through the, through the day.

10:10Cause like we watch a lot of Chuck's videos and we know that like he's already gone in and figured it out. Now he's filming for the content sake. Right. You most of the time, you're right live in it. You know what I mean? Pull up, flick the camera on, then start to go through your steps. And I love it because we see your process right there live as it's happening, right?

10:29But I also see the frustration come through and I'm like, that's my boy. You can read it on my face. Yeah, man. But that's why I like keeping the camera on. You asked something right there, but it slipped my mind. Um, I like to keep— I like keeping it on and going through that, and I just deal with it, you know, on the edit side because I, I edit everything myself.

10:52Yeah. Um, but damn, you asked a question and I lost it. If you found it to be distracting sometimes? Oh no, I, I— for how long I've been doing YouTube now, it's, uh, second nature. It's easy. Um, it doesn't bother me at all. I think the biggest thing that bothers me is when I have to do something. So like when I turn the camera on and I'm like, hey guys, what's going on?

11:16Welcome back to the channel. I screwed that up probably 10 times every single morning. And then the same thing with my endings of the day because it's like, oh, I got to do an intro. Oh, I got to do an outro, man. Why can't I just stop doing it? Just be natural. And it works so much better for me when I do it that way.

11:32But see, when we start, because that's the same thing for me when I started, right? I thought everything and even again, some of the people that were guiding me in this told me it has to look like this. It has to you know, have an intro and an outro and a, and a, and a formula and a plan. And yeah, go watch Logan do a podcast.

11:49There is nothing, nothing contrived, planned. It's— it goes— it breaks all the rules, eh, Ben? Like, it goes, yeah, 2 hours minimum, no set script, people opting, language, and, and it's working. So I mean, I think that our audiences are out there are looking for genuine. And I think like we were talking before we got on here about some of the people that are genuine and some of the people that are not and how you can kind of see how their platforms are a little more polished.

12:19But man, they're not hitting what they want to hit. Their metrics are not what they— because people, real recognizes real, as I've heard some fighters refer to each other as, right? Real knows real. Athletes say that term a lot and it's truth in life. It's truth in life. Real recognizes real. So, you know, and I think the hard part about that, though, is that the ones that are real don't get the recognition and/or the visualization and all this, this view shit that we talk about all the time.

12:52And I think that's what the lore of all that, that steals people away and sticks them into that. So, you know, We get— they get flustered by all that. Like, oh, the money I can make on the views. Screw my— what would be the word? Huh? Monetization? No, no. Like, whatever I feel in my heart. What's like values? Yeah, screw my values.

13:19I want the money from the views instead. I don't— I'll never do that. Like, I'll always— my YouTube channel will always be us real life. That was what it was supposed to be about. It was supposed to be, this is the real life of running this business day in and day out. If we catch the phone calls, you're going to hear them.

13:36If you see us screw up, like the other day we just recorded, it was an Escalade. We did a compressor and a condenser for just a locked up pulley. Nothing major, but we're doing the condenser as well. Well, the freaking condenser was trashed when I opened the box or when she opened the box. I'm like, shit, I can't put that in the car.

13:57Yeah, on the video, call up AutoZone. Hey man, I got the store manager Steve. This condenser is busted. This is the address from where I am. Not even 10 minutes later, the dude, the driver came and brought it to me at the customer's house. So like, that's not a scripted thing. That's— it's a real life thing. And I, I think that's what sets my channel apart from others.

14:19But again, there's not a lot of people that care about watching an hour and 15 or hour and 20 long video, but that's okay. I don't care. I'm doing what I wanted to do, which was change the perception of what people think of the mobile world. But that has been changing in my mind over the past couple of years, ever since we've been on, because the world is just full of a bunch of idiots and it's very difficult to, to keep going on the same path when we're— because I always thought, oh, well, I'm going to change.

14:52I'm going to do my best to change the way the customer thought. I don't think the trolls that come out of the woods and get in our comments section are the ones we argue with, but those aren't the ones I'm talking to. I'm talking to the customer that really actually is the one that's probably lurking in the background and is just waiting to hear everything.

15:10And I tell this to my guys all the time in my school. Listen, you, you might be commenting on all the Facebook posts, but you don't care about that customer. You want the hundreds of thousands of people that are reading the comments that don't say anything, that go to your page. That's who you're looking for. The people you don't see. So I have to always remember that, that even though I get the trolls, especially on TikTok, yes, they— those aren't the people I care about.

15:37I care about the people that send me a private message. Man, thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate everything you have done. And I was able to start my business the right way instead of seeing these other guys. And I'm successful and I'm taking care of my family. And I'm doing it the way you teach and the way you tell us to do it.

15:55And I think that's— that is awesome. So I had to kind of change my perception on who I'm really helping. And it's, it's those people, not everybody else that everyone sees on the internet that praise. It's like praising an athlete. Why would you praise these people? They're not doing anything for you. Yeah, they don't even know who you are. You know what I mean?

16:14Like, you're wearing their hat or you're wearing their number on a jersey or something, but to them, you know, you are a faceless entity within the crowd. And, you know, I'm, I'm good with the fact that, like, I'm going to have my detractors and I'm going to make some people angry with how I— how blunt and abrupt I can be in terms of getting my words out.

16:39But I don't ever want anybody to be confused with what I'm trying to say. Like, I speak the way I speak with a very direct manner so that there is no confusion. He really did mean that. You know what I mean? Because I don't want it to be ever taken out of context. That's what worries me, because it comes back to— again, it comes back to so much information online.

16:58It's so much that's not accurate about even people. And what's an accurate opinion, really? It's an opinion. It can't be accurate or inaccurate. But I want the truth. I only want to put out truth, I guess what I'm trying to say. So it's like I'm very sometimes blunt because I think that You can, you can swing a hammer, man, or you can swing a feather, but like the hammer will get attention, you know?

17:24And I think that it's just like we talked about before we got on, you know, the particular video that I'm seeing getting so much traction from Sherwood today and then the comments on it. And it really, as, as strong as we are and as steadfast in my beliefs, Man, sometimes, hey, Ben, it's really hard to continue to keep wanting to, like you said, change this industry and teach people a better way when you see the comments in our feeds about, you know, you can't be efficient and quote a job for 40 hours and do it in 30.

18:02And if you still bill for it, you're stealing. I cannot I can't stomach all that down. I can't keep it inside. I just don't get why they— it's always our trade. I just don't see why it's always the automotive industry. I don't know where that originally— I mean, obviously it's social media. And because in reality, like, if we try to think back to like the '80s when they like, you know, retread tires and did shit like that, yeah, we had bad shops.

18:28They were, you know, oil down shocks and do bad things, but nobody talked about labor times. No one talked about, you know, oh, this job says it pays you 2 points. You know, it was a different world. So like the internet, I feel, has just— it's really destroyed it because you can jump on any place you can go and buy a part and just hire some jackass to do it.

18:52Yeah. And that's what hurts the auto industry so bad. And it's— it's no matter how big our voice gets, I think it's still going to be— we're still on the losing side and it's going to be a long time until that, that side changes. And but I do think it will change in time. But it's unfortunately probably not going to be until you and I are not doing this anymore.

19:12Yeah. Like, and I can understand people getting fixated on price. You can say Ben came and put brakes on my house, at my house, came to and put brakes on my house. That's a good one. Put brakes on my car at my house and he charged me, you know, $800. And somebody can go, I went down to wherever and I had brakes put on for $550.

19:34Ben must have ripped you off. And we have this conversation all the time where it's like, I almost tune out those conversations anymore because unless you're showing me paperwork that shows you use the exact same part numbers, bill the exact same amount of labor hour time-wise, right? I don't even care about the thing because we're— one's buying a fish and one's buying a chicken.

19:54You know, in the market. It's not apples to apples. But when I, when I see people now and we, you know, everybody can say, well, Rock Auto sells this part for this amount, and then ChatGPT told me the ProDemand stated time to do the job is 2.1 hours, so at a door rate between $110 and $220, this is what you should pay for labor.

20:21Not expect to pay, this is what you should pay for labor, you know, in that variance. And everybody goes, that's the most I'm ever gonna pay. Yeah. And that frustrates me because your process and my process can look completely different in quality control, verification after the fact of the repair. You know, I'll put my hand up. I was one of those guys in the dealer that like, I knew the product so well, I could slam the part in and park it.

20:47I didn't do any kind of verification after because I knew I'd done 3 EGR valves yesterday and it all fixed that code. It was going to fix this one too. Yeah, pattern failures. Yeah. When we're out here and all of a sudden it's like, I need to charge more time now to put the part in and do the verification, everybody all of a sudden is like, you're ripping me off.

21:05It's— we go back to this brake conversation now and it's like all these people going back and forth about disposable fasteners and why they can't be reused. Well, we know what the process is. It's because they come treated with Loctite. If you say don't dispose of them, that means that you have to then add time to clean them, reapply Loctite, and reuse them, check them for stretch, all the things.

21:30So it's easier to just say replace them. But now, because if we were to go and tell everybody this is the process without replacing them, well shoot, that's more labor. And now you're ripping me off because so-and-so did it for this amount without charging that labor. That's why I get on to so many people when they give so much away. That drives me crazy.

21:50I can't stand that. Yeah, it really— we talk about it all the time when we're at work. Like, it just— like, when we're listening to you or listening to Lucas or something like that, it's— or just scrolling around, I can't stand— I just, I can't, I can't stand it. I can't stand these guys that are out here just like, oh yeah, you know, $50 an hour, I'm okay.

22:11Or, hey, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this job for for this much because this guy said he's going to do it for this much. And why? Why are you doing that? I just, I don't understand. I don't understand the thought process of diminishing yourself, feeling like you're— it's okay to do it because everybody— I think I made another video about this.

22:31It was like the guy who put, I made $1,500 today. Oh yeah. No, you didn't. You didn't make shit today. If you— if, you know, come on, like Even a guy in my comments section— I'm not— if you're listening, dude, I ain't being rude to you— but he said, uh, what'd he say? Oh, he was trying to say— he told me some numbers and I'm like, dude, that's like 75%.

22:52What, what is your— that, that's just parts. Where's your labor cost? What do you— and he didn't say anything back. I'm like, I want to know what your COGS were. Cost of goods sold. That's parts and labor. That is your gross profit. You have a revenue, you have a gross profit after your COGS, and then you take your expenses off. And that's a net.

23:10That's every business. Why are we assuming that the auto industry is different? Because these guys don't take into account all of that cost of what it really takes to build the business. They just look at the end dollar and they're like, oh, perfect, I can pay my bills, I can buy some beer and cigarettes, and I can move on. And they'll go on to the next job.

23:29No insurance, no nothing. Ed, you face. Now, Jenna, were you shocked by some of the people that when the phone rings, what they're actually expecting or asking? Like, does it still shock? Yeah. Tell me about that. I can see Ben laughing. It's crazy. Because some— I don't hide my facial expressions very well. So when he sees me answering the phone, he's like, Calm down.

24:00But the questions, and like, for instance, a lady called the other day, her car won't start. She wanted us to come out that day. And I told her, unfortunately, we couldn't do that. We're not a service like that. We're scheduled out. So I told her we could put her on for next week. And she's like, okay, well, can you tell me who's, who's cheaper than Uber to get me around so I can go to work?

24:28Um, I said you can carpool with a friend. I mean, what else? Yeah, yeah, like, and that was just recently, but I mean, there's other ones that have been pretty crazy too, and I just, I shake my head. It's— yeah, because as much as people— when, when I can take a phone call from somebody, rarely, but it does happen, and they're The technical thing that they don't understand is one thing, but then I'll get comments like that where somebody will just like, well, what am I supposed to do?

25:03I don't know your situation. You could have 2 more cars at home or you could be without a car. I don't know that. So your situation after we hang up the phone is your situation. It's not mine. I'm only communicating this particular vehicle at this particular time. And I just shake my head sometimes because it's like, I think I want to say, Ben, that they're— it's because of the stress that they're under that sometimes like the, you know, the hamster comes off the wheel or something.

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26:20They're a partner in success. I've been in the trenches and I know what works. TechMetric isn't just managing shops, it's transforming them. Measure up by every measure with TechMetric. Hit the link in the show notes below for more. Yeah, yeah, there's— but that goes— so like, I, I always get these guys that are always like, oh, who are you using for an AI answering service?

26:41Fucking nobody. She is it because she or myself— she's learning from me I can learn how to— I know how to listen to that customer and understand where they are. And that's why I say AI is no good for this section of it. AI is good for certain things, just not this. Yeah, I can understand their nervousness, frustration. They've only got one vehicle and I can help calm them down, ease them, and make them feel comfortable with my company.

27:09AI can't do that. And she's learning that because she's like, well, is this your only vehicle? No, it's not. Okay, well, if it's not an emergency, we can get to you at this prescribed timeframe. And she's very— she's getting very good at keeping the detractors on the track. So you get these customers that constantly want to try to steer the train or steer the boat, and she's good at bringing them back and putting them back on path to make sure we sell diagnosis time, selling our initial charge to come out.

27:39And she's doing all that and she's getting all of the information, asking questions. So is it a crank no start? Is it just a no start? Was this— what is that? What kind of vehicle? What kind of engine? Sometimes she misses it, but when I tell her, no, this is what you should ask when they say this, and she learns along that way.

27:58And she's been doing that very well because she's learned now that when you get people like you're saying, they're not on our list, they don't get a phone call from us. Or they don't get on it. I watched one of your recent videos too, and you were in the middle of a repair and had a gentleman walk across the street from another place to start asking you about, you know, could you check out his Toyota for a battery light?

28:19And the Ford. Yeah. Excuse me. Yes. And I had so much respect for you because it was like I would have come unglued at that point. I wanted to, but he's the one that I originally did jobs for and he gave me the 3 across the street and then the guy across around the corner. So I was like, I'm going to hold my tongue.

28:38On this one. But he is the one that, if you watched the next video, I don't know if it's out yet, he's the one that kept saying, is there a cash discount? No, no, there's no cash discount here, buddy. Just because you're, you know, well, you know, that's that used car salesman coming out. And I go, I don't care. I'm not gonna take the risk of giving you your tax back for me to get a gigantic fine and then get audited by the IRS because you don't want to pay tax.

29:08I don't think so. And I'm not going to agree to it while the camera's rolling. Yeah. So, yeah, what's Fauci famous for right now? Recently, right, is I plead the Fifth. I plead the Fifth. So, yeah, exactly. Come on, man. Like, I don't know, but that's— I mean, that's the name of the game. You're— I got that in the shops too, though.

29:27It's not just us being out here being mobile. The things that I see here, some of the horror stories I hear from other guys I've never run into. I don't know, maybe it's just because I can judge customers better than most people. Because I, I like, I tell these guys all the time and they say, how do you do this? And I said, I don't like teaching her these phone call things.

29:48It's taken a year for me to teach her these things. You can't just put someone in a class and teach them. You're not going to get every complaint, every emotion, every whatever in order to be able to tell them how to do this. So when I knew that I always wanted to be a shop owner, I made sure that the jobs I had, I could follow someone.

30:10So in the dealer, I sat in the corner and I listened to the service writers. They didn't like it much, but I didn't care. I would go get coffee and kind of just hang out if I didn't have cars and start listening to things, see how it goes. Service managers, the dispatchers. And then when I worked in the shops, the same thing.

30:26I would watch the diag guys or the major diag guys and then the owners and the cert— every aspect that I could get my hands in or asked if I could follow them. They, they allowed, I did it because I knew that one day today was going to come that I was going to be in business for myself. And I was not going to be in business for myself if I didn't know how to do it because I was going to fail.

30:50I mean, my lawn service proved that. I had— I started the lawn service and I was like, my dad was successful. I'm going to do it the same way. And I failed miserably at it because it's a different area and that didn't work here down south. Grass grows all year. Where I live, it doesn't grow all year. 4 months out of the year, the grass goes dormant.

31:09We have bahia, and it's not— you don't cut grass, you stand around and do nothing. So I screwed up, but I had to rebuild that business into something else. So the same thing here, I had to make sure that I was not going to be a failure at this. And that— but that's what I— I don't remember where I was going in that.

31:26I go on a rant sometimes. But well, you— I I was very much the same way. Like, when I didn't have a car, I was probably harassing the service advisor— not harassing them, but I would just kind of stand there and listen to the, the conversations go down, right? Um, part of it back then was because, like, you had to, because, you know, it was— and it wasn't always malicious, but you had to know sometimes what the customer actually said so that you could— and it was dispatched to you because you only had 36 minutes, you know, what you heard versus what they wrote down what you heard was truth.

31:58And what they wrote down was maybe what they were trying to skew or think, right? And we don't want that. We want the legit real complaint. And the other thing was, it was just because like I wanted to better understand when the customer was in that headspace, what their attitude looked and sounded like, you know, because it would help me better understand them.

32:19And maybe I fail miserably, but maybe be a little bit more sympathetic to where they are. Um, you know, and it's— I'm not as sympathetic as I should be because it's like I, I was beat down for so long in the, in the flat rate world, you know, that it's, it's really hard for me. Like, I'll comment and people just kind of shake their heads because I'm like, they all have the money.

32:40Stop telling yourself that they don't have the money. They have the money, right? Yeah. But I mean, you know, I don't mean to cut you off, but what, what do you need if you're a technician being flat rate? What sympathy do you need to have? No sympathy for my coworker. You have a— yeah, you have a job to do and their job is to do this.

32:57Your job is to do this. Pay me to do the job. You get paid to do the job. Let's not freaking beat around the bush here. If you can't get the information for the customer, I'm going to go get the information for the customer because I need to do my job and get paid. I can't just continue to put no problem found on every freaking ticket.

33:13But, you know, you can go back to that. I didn't mean to interrupt you at all. Jenna, what's some of the weirdest requests that you've heard? Hmm, way to put me on the spot. Um, I will do that from time to time. Um, what was that? Um, well, the guy recently that was being a jackass to you that we— so out front we have a Hemi long block that we're doing.

33:40Um, okay, so he recommended us to somebody else, and that's the guy. Just, it's like he didn't understand how to— what the word no is. Yeah, go ahead, babe. So he called and he said, I want to— I want you to rebuild the engine. I said, we don't rebuild engines. And he said, but you're putting an engine in so-and-so's truck. And I said, yes, but we're swapping out the engine.

34:07And he said, so you'll rebuild my engine? No. I literally went back and forth for probably 15 minutes. And well, I just want to make some So I want to buff it up. Yeah, I want to buff it up. I want to make it more beefy. So if I get a new engine, then can you change a couple things like the cylinder head?

34:29I was like, no, we don't do that. Yeah, it was— I— for you, yes, it was very frustrating. What about— there was the guy, uh, I don't think you got this phone call, but, uh, when you were out of town, when you were out with Walker and I went to go do that, uh, at Logan's house, John He had— I don't— as a Nissan, he had something else that's got a turbo on it.

34:52And his text message to me was, he's like, I wanted to make— can you do a blowoff valve on this? I was like, no, yeah, I'm not doing that. Why would I do that? And he's like, well, I want it to go boop boop boop boop boop boop when it drives. I'm like, like, what the fuck was that? I'm like, no, dude, like, you need to get lost.

35:08I'm not doing anything to your car. I put an active grille shutter in the Nissan and then I'm not touching anything else. Because I saw you like a couple of times you were in the guy's garage with Um, was it an old Chevy? The green? There was a Corvette I saw you do like a radio head unit in. And then— oh no, that was a Corvette.

35:27Yeah. And then I've seen a couple of the other older cars and I'm just like, I'm just grimacing, right? Because there's so many of us you see in the, in the, in the channels we run in, Ben. People say, I don't touch like enthusiast cars. I don't touch restoration cars. We talk about, you know, um, Our friend, uh, Mr. Master Tech posted about how he did that transmission for, you know, I'm gonna say one of the local hot rod guys, hot rod club, and how it's haunted him to this day, you know, ever since, right?

35:58And it's— they're gonna kill his name through the local, you know, uh, the local, you know, collect— yeah, that's okay. You could kill my name and those people, who cares? That's— I don't know why I say yes to that shit, Jeff. I don't know. I don't. I— every time you ask her, I go to some jobs and I go to get ready to do it and I look at her, I'm like, why the— why did I agree to this?

36:21Like, what am I doing here? Like, this is the dumbest thing I could have ever done to frustrate myself on a Monday. Because when I do the schedule, I'm like, oh yeah, I get that done, let's make some money, I can do this, I can do that. And then I forget like how stupid our job is sometimes, you know? Like that Corvette, that was horrible.

36:39Yeah. But then what's the other one? The green one? The green— it's a Corvette Cobra, right? No, Cobra. Yeah, the guy is the green kit car. And he's got, you know, the Coyote thing in it. He had a rat in there that destroyed it. So I went to go look at that. But then the people that built it built it half fast.

37:01They used— yeah, you saw those connections they used. And I don't know, I like electrical stuff. So like I'm doing, uh, he's not really a customer, he's just more of a friend, but he's down the road. He's got that '53 panel. Uh, there was a couple of episodes I put some stuff out, but then I didn't because it didn't go well. But the car was great.

37:23I rewired, I gutted it, I put a Ron Francis wiring kit in it. We recently have done a cold air kit in there, which was actually one that is a direct fit that fits perfect under the dash for that truck. Um, we— she's deaf, um, but she can— she has cochlears now. She's been deaf her whole life, but she wanted a stereo system because she can feel it and she knows what she's hearing because she can learn now to hear based on the pitches.

37:52So we put all that in for her, and now we're doing a big, uh, radiate— we just sent the radiator over to— it's called Berry and Radiator. They, they recore them and clean them and reweld them and everything for you. And we had to figure out what that was. I figured out that the radiator was for like a mid-'70s B van, right, in this '53 panel that's got a 350 in it.

38:16So like even that, like, I like doing it, but I don't like doing it as a job. Yeah. Like those are jobs that like, no, I just, I need to stick to my everyday work, make money, take care of cars like I'm supposed to and move on. Those are the ones, like you said, they keep you awake at night and they frustrate you.

38:34And it's like, because it's never ending. They're never like this '53. It's that thing. I'm the only one that knows anything about it. And I will be bothered by that thing until they don't have it anymore. And it'll never be done. You know what I mean? It's never done. That's the thing I try to do to people is like, project cars are project cars, but project cars owned by enthusiasts are in a constant cycle of being worked on, improved, broken, and fixed.

39:03And it's, you know, oftentimes it's the owner that's got a hand in every part of that. And I don't, I don't want that for myself. No, not at all. And that's why this one's a bit different. They have, they moved away from a modern car. These are their everyday drivers. These are not like, uh, they don't take it to like car shows.

39:22Yeah. Um, they wanted it normal. They just wanted, yeah, for her to be able to use it and function. And so we, you know, soldered all the connections, heat shrinked everything, used connectors where connectors were warranted, like on the inside and stuff. But yeah, it's an everyday driver. So but still it will be until all the kinks are worked out of it.

39:45It's a pain in the ass. I'm lucky enough that they're the type of person that's like, just come by whenever you can. Yeah, you know, they live right down the road, which is cool, but still, like, I can't wait to, to not have it on my schedule because I don't want to deal with it. Well, and I remember you hearing you speak of the car in a couple different, but I kept thinking, when are we going to see the video?

40:05When are we going to see that? And, you know, there's a couple of videos that are out of when I had tore the wiring out and stuff like that. And then I think there's a couple where you see me working on. They have an '86 Chevy G-van, uh, the cream-colored one. Um, and I had showed the red '54, uh, F-150 he's got, and then I had showed the gray panel every once in a while.

40:30Um, and yeah, they, they pop up in some of the videos here and there, but, um, it's those long project jobs that are really hard to film because they take up so much space. And what's, what's the parts obstacles like for those kind of jobs. Like, that's— Summit is a big component. We get a lot— we, uh, we get a lot from Summit, and they're usually— because the place that gets from Summit, we can usually get it almost next day.

40:55Comes right out of Georgia or Alabama or something right there. So you're only like 4, uh, 3 hours from the north border. So you're sourcing the parts, you're not most of the time back and forth? Sometimes, uh, just depends on those types of— on that type of job. Um, like if it's, uh, interior parts and things of that nature, you do what you want.

41:17You want to do that. If it's the electrical on the engine, the water pumps and things of that nature, I'm choosing that stuff. Like, you know, your typical everyday things. Those are the ones. And that's what I don't like doing too, because, you know, we— I don't— I do it because I enjoy that and I like them because we're friends with them.

41:34But it's very hard to have friends that are customers. And this is like the only one that ever has been. Because they're so laid back and so easygoing. But still, like, I don't recommend to anyone listening to do that because you're gonna piss someone off and you're gonna end up hurting a relationship if you do that too much. So, you know, everyone's always like, oh well, friends and family price.

41:58They're gonna expect more from you on that. You know, we should definitely get into that because You know, the thing that I've— you've seen the same statement, you know, if they're really your friends, they'll want you to succeed. They'll want to see you succeed, which means they'll gladly pay full price. Exactly. And that's them. I heard that years ago from somebody, and it's one of those, you know, 5 or 6 key takeaway statements that have stuck in my brain and built my vernacular around what I believe to be my truth, you know, and it's It's all these people's— what's the cash price?

42:34What's the, you know, um, the cash price is the same, dude. Like, yeah, you know, it's the price, man. There's no credit card fees maybe, but it's still the same. Like, we don't know. And I, I just, I get— I just shake my head with some of the times with how people will say, well, you know, this one time I went there and I put in their parts because they were really in a, in a bind And, uh, the part didn't fix— you know, didn't fit, excuse me, wrong part.

43:02And now the car's tied up and tore apart my bay and all that kind of stuff. And I'm just— I'm reading the comments, just pulling my hair out, smoke's blowing out my ears, going, are you people not paying attention? Are you not learning? You know, because what I learn— I learn more from people's mistakes than I ever do making my own. I watch people, you know, make the error of judgment or the error of execution, then I go, don't do that, Jeff.

43:27Yes. And I think that's a lot of that has to do with the fact that I have a twin brother. So I like, I would, we were developing at the same speed, same rate, you know, like all that kind of stuff. So you could watch him trip because his shoes weren't tied up and go, always tie up your shoes. Let me do that.

43:44Yeah. Example, right? And sometimes you just want to yell at these people in the conversations, go tie up your damn shoelaces because like It's— I mean, that's not really what's happening, but you guys get what I get. But it's an everyday thing. I see it all the time. So like you said, you know, like them, I've gone through that before with them.

44:02But on me thinking like, oh man, like, it's expensive to do that. And she's like, I didn't ask you how much it was. I asked you if you could do it. And my answer is yes, I can do it. She said, good, I'll write the check. And that's what she does all the time. Same with him. They're like, I didn't ask you how much this costs.

44:20We know that this is going to be a money pit, but this is what we have prepared for and we know what we want and we trust you. So we want you to do the job. Other customers are not like that. Other people are not. Not everyone is like that. I've been lucky enough to build my client base that way. But going back to the people in the comments section, yeah, I don't understand.

44:41I don't understand why they put— I mean, I get it because I put myself in stupid spots all the time. But I mean, like, come on, you know, you do it once, shame on you. Do it again, you're a fucking idiot. Yeah, 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: Launch Tech USA.

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45:46So if you're ready to work faster, diagnose better, and stay ahead of the curve, visit our website at www.launchtechusa.com. Now you mentioned earlier you've got, you know, I think you said a Charger or something that you're doing a Hemi in. Uh, Dodge Ram pickup. Yeah, yeah. And you— because we forget sometimes that you have, you have another Like you'll do some of the bigger jobs, you'll bring them home and do them, right?

46:13And you don't tend to film that as much. Your content is, you know, what you guys are doing 4 days of the week out in the, you know, in these— in the field. Yep. Yep. How does that work for you guys? Like from a pricing, an estimate, you know, a promised time, all those kind of things. Like how do you find the time, Ben, when you're not, you know, like you go, you guys do 4-day weeks, which is awesome.

46:38But it's like the Friday, do you go out into the shop then and kind of pop away on those jobs, or is it an after-night thing? Usually it's after the day is over. Um, sometimes it'll be a Friday. Like, I tried to go out there this morning to do it just because I needed to get my body moving, and I didn't want to— yesterday we spent the entire day sitting on the couch, and I can't do that because I eat junk and then I feel really bad.

47:00I have to move. We did. Our daughter and her fiancé came over. They wanted to watch a TV show with her, and I didn't want to watch it, but I did, and I got stuck into it and got interested in it. But, you know, we had chips and dip and pretzels and dip and junk, and then we ordered in some dinner, you know, just a nice evening in the house.

47:20But God, you know, my stomach hurts, my body hurts, I'm aching. I ate too much salt. I need to move. So I was gonna go work on that engine. It didn't work out, so I didn't do it. But yeah, it's usually every day. Uh, if I plan— if I know I have this job, I plan accordingly. So like right now, where's the damn internet?

47:41Right now we have for next week— I know I really can't show this to you, but I've got Monday, we got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then Tuesday, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. But some of those are like Big jobs. Muffler Man— I'm sorry, that's 7. Muffler Man is another shop in town. I gotta go diagnose 2 cars for him, and then so on and so on.

48:06And then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5— oh, that's, uh, the drop-off. I have another drop-off outside, which is a 3.5 EcoBoost timing kit job. Same thing, you know, it's Motorcraft parts. I'm not doing anything without, right, you know, Motorcraft stuff. So, and then, you know, it's a timing kit on Thursday for a Honda Odyssey on top of 3 other diagnoses and a starter and, and that 53 panel.

48:30So yeah, it's every day I pack every day as tight as I can. And I am pretty like insistent on the schedule on how I do it. Sometimes I really overbook it, but, um, so going back to the timeframe, I tell them it could be a week, it could be 2 weeks. Yeah. It just depends if the rain holds me back. I'm not working on it.

48:50Yeah, you know, it is what it is. And if you can deal with that, you can deal with that. This truck was down 3 months, for a couple of months before we got to it anyway. And this act— this truck is— it beat me up too. This has been one that will have really fought me because it doesn't— so I'll ask you, you're a Chrysler man.

49:08Yeah. So originally when I first got to this before— so, all right, This Hemi, if one cylinder fails, it's still gonna run, right? Yep. Yeah, so it'll run fine. This truck won't run. You can't crank the truck and start it. It does not run at all. You have to open— you have to step on it to get it to start. Okay. And once you start it, you can feather it and keep it running about 1,500-2,000 RPM, nothing else.

49:36It'll, it'll die out. Um, I finally had gotten to the point where I did a relative compression on it, found cylinder 2 was dead. Um, the rocker fell off, the valve was stuck. Um, we're putting an engine in it anyway, but I found these 2 pinholes in cylinder 2 in the intake. There was holes in the damn intake that had sucked in and melted all of cylinder 2.

50:02I still don't know if the thing will run when I put the engine in. You're replacing that intake, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you're gonna be okay. I know I will. But in reality, that one beat me up because when I was looking at like scope patterns and stuff, the 12 versus the 13 is hugely different. Yes. And I had to reach out to Ryan Mullen.

50:25I reached out through a friend of mine, Faraz, because I don't talk to Ryan directly. Just I'd never have reached out to him that way. And he sent me one and I was like, I was like, no, send something back to him and tell him I think that's for the 12. And he did. He's like, oh shit, you're right. And yeah, the '13 is so different on the scope pattern on the crank and the cam, on the, the how wide it is.

50:48It's not a typical square, it's very, very short. And that threw me off big time on it, and amongst other things. But I finally got to the bottom of it. And you know, it— the engine replacement is not why it won't run though. The engine replacement is because the engine cannonballed and fell apart on that cylinder 2. Yeah, yeah, it's— I remember I had a, you know, and those are a funny thing because like you'll talk to the guys that have done the dealer path and they'll tell you, oh, I chuck lifters and cams in those all day long and I never worry about low oil pressure later on or any of that kind of

51:21stuff, right? And then we'll talk in our channels where it's like, nope, I won't, you know, so many miles, I won't open it up, right? It's getting, you know, a known good used or You know, rebuilt with a warranty, all those kind of things. And I can remember one of the ones I diagnosed for lifters, and it didn't take me long to diagnose.

51:41I knew what was going on, right? I kind of been around the block a while. And, uh, I pulled the valve cover off real quick and it's like, yeah, it's not moving. It's— they're collapsed. Okay, cool. And we lost the job because we got really zealous with trying to sell an engine. And, um, You know, we pulled the lift— like, I had the head off in no time, the lifter out, you know, inspected the cam with a borescope, no damage.

52:04So like, it would have really been probably okay with some lifters, but we would have been really okay with some cam and lifters, right? Like, we didn't need to probably put an engine in this. They caught it early enough, but we lost the job. And, and since then, it's been kind of like— because I've been saying a lot more lately that we got to be a lot more fluid and flexible in this industry because as things are changing and, you know, access to information and all this kind of stuff, training and who gets it and what's going to look like.

52:35And, you know, everybody's saying there's, you know, not my customer, but there's a customer, you know, for everybody. We're getting sometimes too regimented in what we think is the right way to do things. And, you know, going back to say the disposal of bolts thing for the brake jobs, you know, like there's Do I replace them all? Nope. I clean them and re-Locktite them.

52:55That's what I do. Because by the time I get my advisor squared away on, no, actually this is the published, air quotes, process. And we've got to wait an extra day now for the bolts to come in at the dealer because they don't keep them in stock. They reuse them too. It just throws a monkey wrench right into the whole machinery. And so that's where I guess without me going on a little really long rant is sometimes we're not We're not flexible enough.

53:27And that's where I think that it goes back to networking. You know, there's a few things that I draw a really hard line on with people and I'll say, no, that's just wrong. But I don't normally say to people, well, you doing that is wrong. You know what I mean? It's— we have to be— we have to meet our customer where they are, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.

53:46Yeah. I think the one thing that we have to continue to just say that they're wrong on is when people are talking about the money aspect, the what to charge for and charge shop supplies, charge markups on the parts, but buy the parts at a reduced cost. Don't buy it for what the customer can and then sell it for more. That's stupid.

54:10Do the right procedures, be a commercial account, do all that. But yeah, I get what you're saying. Like, so I give customers— I, I gave him an option. And I told him, I said, you can either, you can put a cylinder head on this because you obviously destroyed it and an intake. I said, but I would have to do some more teardown and you're gonna pay for that to make sure that the cam's okay and everything's okay.

54:30I said, but, or I could take this head and I could send it out and it could be redone, or, and there's only gonna be a year warranty on that and that's it. Or I can put in a long block and it comes with a 4-year unlimited mile manufactured warranty that's nationwide. Yeah. And that's what sold him. And it's a little over $9,000 for the job.

54:52So, you know, they didn't flinch. He flinched at it. He's an older guy. He had to borrow a couple bucks from his daughter, but he's like, I need the truck indefinitely. I don't, you know, and I told him, I said, I don't know if you did damage to the other side of the engine. Yeah. I can't answer that. I said, unless you wanna pay this or pay that for me to pull, pull that valve cover and go through this and go through that.

55:14I said, but right now cylinder 2's dead. And you have a vehicle that doesn't run because of lack of maintenance and things of that. And I'm glad he did because when I pulled the oil pan, there's sludge in there and there's crap in there. So something more came apart. And that's what I told him too when I was in his driveway and I took the initial payment for the engine.

55:34As I said, there's one thing you're going to have to understand here is you're going to hire me to come back and do your oil changes. If you can't hire me to come back and do your oil changes, you're going to void this warranty. I said, you know, in reality, they'll probably give you one because that's usually what some of these manufacturers do.

55:51They'll give you one. It's ATK, uh, which is owned by, uh, what's that giant, uh, used part? LKQ. Yeah. Um, and they own a couple of different places now, but they're really easy. I've had to do a transmission one recently, and even when I told the guy, I said, listen, this is on the customer. The customer had a leak and they didn't take care of it.

56:11He's like, we don't care. We're going to give them one and we'll pay you for it. And that's it. I said, okay, you know, that's fine. As long as you're not coming back and not paying me for it. He's like, oh no, no, no, that won't happen. We'll always pay you. He's like, I got to ask this question. Do you guys kind of feel better?

56:29I got to be careful how I word this. When you know that it's in a neglected pile and they haven't done their maintenance, is it easier to give the customer bad news? No, I don't care about giving them bad news. I give them honest news. Okay. And I tell them straight up. So I've had a lot of people where they get the timing codes, you know, P0011 or whatever it is.

56:51And they're like, and I look up at the sticker and I go, is this accurate? And they're like, oh yeah, it probably needs an oil change. I go, this was due in April last year. I said, it's been over a year. You haven't had an oil change? She's like, oh yeah, maybe I haven't. I go, well, we're doing that first. Otherwise we're not doing anything.

57:08I said, Charging you for my time today, and I'm going to come back and I'm going to do an oil change. That's why I want to start stocking oil filters, because this happens a decent amount. So I can start— just let's do the oil change right now. We're here, we're going to clear your codes, we're going to freshen it up, we're going to send you on down the road, and you're going to let me know in a week if this code comes back.

57:25And take it or leave it. And you do not give them the, the diag away because— no, fuck no, it only needs an oil change. You don't do that. People have heard me rant about, you know, former employers that would be like, oh, so it only needs an oil change, I don't have to charge it for the diag. No, this is how they learn that they cannot go over because engines burn oil now.

57:44They used to not, or whatever, or even if they did, they didn't go out of time, and now they go out of time. So now we have to teach these people, our motoring public, that maintenance is even more critical. Oil changes are still cheap, still $100, right? For— I mean, up here you can get them still for $80. I mean, I wouldn't go there.

58:01Yeah. You can get it. Yeah, it's like $60 at Walmart. Yeah. So you're getting synthetic oil, you're getting a filter that passes some kind of standard, and, you know, keep on that. And if it still is out of time, well, then we have a problem. But when you go out there and people go, there's no oil in the engine, I have a timing fault, the first step in any published service literature is to get the oil and filter up to spec and then reevaluate.

58:27And then reevaluate. Yeah, it's real simple stuff. Yeah, they don't, they don't understand that. I'm actually— now that you say that, I think a really good option for us would be to stop putting the mileage on some people's, uh, things, stickers, and just put the date. Because they're like, oh, but I'm not at the mileage yet. I'm like, it's not a pick one, it's a whatever comes first.

58:48Yeah, like, why are we still— because there, it's still that mindset that we argue with these people about all the time. Oh, well, this one happened. I don't want to spend another $100. I'm going to wait till this one happens. Now you want to spend $9,000 with me because you didn't do it on purpose or you didn't do it when you should have done it.

59:05You know, not just once, but you did it so many times. Yeah, I was going to say, you can only throw that pair of dice so many times and it's going to come up snake eyes, right? Because you get away with it. You push the interval. But all of a sudden now, I always found it was like much easier for me to, to And again, I'm not a sympathetic person, but it always— it didn't bother me nearly as much when I knew that they were not good at looking after their investment and that we had to hand them a big bill, because I always was hopeful that maybe this will be the lesson that, you

59:34know, steers them in life. But I, I think my tone changes if I go back to what you asked me. I think my— I'm always honest and I'm never rude. But I'll tell them straight up, like, hey, you didn't take care of the car. This is a lack of maintenance problem. Like, you screwed this up. If it's a person that's like, man, I did all the maintenance, I did all this, I'm like, I'll tell them more.

1:00:01I really feel bad for you. You got the crap end of the stick here, unfortunately. Or they bought something because they were trying to just get a car for their family and they got the crap end of the stick on something. I'll be a little more sympathetic. But not on my price. My price is still going to be what it is. It's still identical to what I would charge them if they screwed up.

1:00:20But yeah, maybe my, my tone might change or I might add in a little bit more of a, you know, I might give them something a little bit more. I'm not going to give them a discount or anything like that, but I might be like, you know, here's— I'm going to give you the oil change on this. You don't need an oil change on this, but here's a free oil change for later on down the road.

1:00:39Yeah, when you need us, we felt bad for you because this costs so much. This is what we can do to help you. Because then they're going to feel a little bit more— it's like that restaurant thing, you know, that you— the— it's 33% chance they're going to come back again or something, he says. So he says, uh, on the first time they go around, you go over and you talk to them, you give them something to come back.

1:01:01And then the second time, you give them another thing to come back and a free dessert. Oh, you got to try the chicken, or you got to try mistake. We've talked about that before on how to implement that in our company because, and it's just, it's just simple things, you know, it's a, here's an inspection, right? You want a 6-month evaluation, you know, HVAC companies do it all the time.

1:01:20Oh, we come out and give you a 6-month evaluation that you pay yearly. I'm not doing that to my customers, but if I see someone in that position, that's what I'll do. And it doesn't happen much, but if it's a dash job, or a cylinder head job, they're, they're going to pay whatever the other person's paying too. It's, you know, I'm like, oh, you bought a bad car, pay for a pre-inspection next time then.

1:01:43Yeah, exactly. And you and I have had interesting conversations about in the last couple of weeks about sympathy and trying to help too much. Right. And we kind of have been— and we're not putting anybody on blast here, people, so please don't take it that way. But, you know, we saw a friend of ours kind of do an engine job for a customer.

1:02:01You know, and do it for an absolutely very generous price. That's the most polite way that I can probably say that, Ben, is a very generous price. And very— I know that he's coming from a good place in his heart, but I also, you know, in conversations with him have said to him that like the problem is, is when we put that out there on the internet that we're doing that and it's getting us a lot of likes and follows and people are, you know, blowing his phone up saying, can you do my engine?

1:02:29And so on and so forth. What we now— somebody in your shoes has a really hard time going and doing that same job for that, for what you need to charge. That's the key here, because Ben's job is Ben's business. This other person, they have another regular job. This is just some fun money for them and a, and a way to feel good.

1:02:54But all of a sudden, when that's out there on the internet, somebody says you shouldn't charge more than that because He charged $25 an hour and he was there from 8 in the morning until 8 that night. And, you know, um, and I get it about wanting to help people, but when we put that out there to, to show something about ourselves, are we damaging the industry, Ben?

1:03:18All day, every day. Yeah, all day, every day. Jenna, do you get calls like that where somebody says, no, But I saw it and it should only take this long. Or how's that handled? Sometimes I have to put them on hold and ask him because I'm not really too sure how to answer them because I don't want to say the wrong thing, basically.

1:03:42But yeah, they have called and said, well, you know, I looked it up on YouTube and it only takes— should take, you know, 2 hours instead of the 4 hours you're telling me that it's going to cost. Well, that might be true, but we don't know until we get there. Kind of a 2-part question. When they call sometimes and you answer the phone, Jenna, do they try to disregard you and say, I want to talk to the mechanic?

1:04:08Because my good friends Frank and Margarita that have been on, right? My Canadian friends up here that are from Elmer, Ontario, 3D Auto. They got their podcast and, you know, they're big on TikTok too. That was a big thing at first. It drove Margarita nuts is the people would come in and not want to speak to Margarita. They only want to speak to Frank.

1:04:26Yes. Um, how do you handle that? Does it start to— like, you're pretty even-keeled, like Ben was saying, you don't get mad about nothing. But does that— sometimes it bothers me, other times I'll just push it off because that's just my— it was different in the beginning. Yeah, in the beginning I would always give a hold on a second because I wasn't really sure how to.

1:04:49No, I think it's more the customers didn't We have, I would say, 80% of our phone calls are return customers. So they were used to talking to me. So when she's answering the phone, they're like, is this Ben's? You know? And she's like, yes, I'm his wife. I answer the phones now. And then, and most of them have done that, but there's been one or two, they're like, well, I want to talk to Ben.

1:05:11And I'm like, I'm not fucking talking to them. I'm not talking to anybody. This is the point. Because I want to work on the cars. And she's like, okay, I'll do it. I got it. I'll get it. I'll get it. And she puts them in their place real quick. And she does good at it. Good for you, Jenna, because it has to be like, I would see the frustration when I did the interview with Margarita and you could see it, the frustration in her face.

1:05:31And it doesn't happen as much as it used to, but it still had to happen a lot. And some of that was like Ben, or not Ben, excuse me, Frank enabling it by Frank would just, you know, all that customer, it's the same as they say, they walk right into the shop, wanna talk to Frank. And Frank, you know, directs them, no, you got to go to the office.

1:05:50But it's those— I don't want to say sins of our past, but it's the way we used to do things that can still— what seems so innocent, right, and so casual and whatever, man, they can haunt us forever. Yeah, because you don't know how to change it. Yeah, I had customers like that in the beginning where when I didn't know what the hell I was doing, and I'm like, oh well, that customer, I never charged him from the beginning, so I don't know how to charge him now.

1:06:14You know, that would happen years ago. And I had to get over that. And they're not my customers anymore, right? Because they don't want to get charged. And that was my own fault when I first started that I screwed up. And we don't have that problem today, obviously. But yeah, that was, that was, that happens because you have, you build that rapport with that person.

1:06:35And that's what some of these people online don't understand. You keep starting your business out at super low prices, those customers are going to be there. And then when you raise those prices to the right one, if you go super slow, maybe you'll get it. But when you go from like, you know, $80 and not charging for parts to $130 and charging for parts, you're going to lose all those customers.

1:06:58You're going to start all over. Just start at the right price, build a real company. Like, don't, don't do that stuff. It's like, so like going back to what you were saying about people doing that on the internet, I understand doing something for people. We've done it before, but we don't do it for views. I usually don't even put that stuff on the internet.

1:07:17The one that I did put on the internet, which was early in the year or last year, the guy— we do it because Jenna had cancer 15 years ago. And so it sticks with her, like, so we care about people that have that. So this guy He couldn't afford to fix the car for his daughter. And the grandfather called us and we went out.

1:07:43And when he told us what it was, we ended up quoting the job. But then he agreed to the job too. He's like, well, I'll figure it out. I'll figure out how to do it. And I was like, you know what? I said, just don't worry about it. He's like, what do you mean? I said, just, you don't, you don't need to pay us for the job.

1:07:59We'll take care of the job. And he's like, I don't understand. I go, let me explain something to you. I said, I own this company. I'm gonna go buy the parts. I cannot pay myself. I said, it doesn't— in reality, it doesn't really cost me anything. I can just tell myself I'm going out on a weekend to help a friend. I go, and he— the guy broke down in tears and everything.

1:08:19I did put it on the internet because it was part of our ride-along, and that was the one where that Karen lady's like, well, he gives away a job, but how does he talk to his wife like this? And I'm like, fuck this, you know? So I don't put that stuff out there anymore because I, I don't need to have recognition for helping somebody.

1:08:35And I don't want monetization from helping somebody because it's the wrong thing in my eyes. And that's where I think social media destroys our industry. I'm all for people being on the internet, building a business, being a content creator, doing all kinds of stuff. But when you do it on the backs of my industry, I have a problem with it. Well, and you know, you and I have talked so much about how you can build your whole platform by simply saying that the other shop didn't do it right.

1:09:02They screwed them up and ripped them off. There's no second— they never get a chance to put their hand up and go, wait, I was at another shop and they came in and demanded that we only do this, and that's why it's now broke down in a parking lot somewhere and, and some fraggle hair is, you know, fixing an overheat problem, right, on a car.

1:09:19That's the second side that we never get to show. So like, when I see people that build their whole damn platform on that, I'm just like, I just flick the damn channel because it's just, it's It's rage bait at that point. It is. Yeah. But it's— I'm, I'm so— I'm fault of it at times. I get pissed at times and I'm like, all these fucking people, why are they doing this to people?

1:09:41And you forget, and I should know it, that there's always two sides to every story. And I always tell people this. I learned it from the lawn care world too. You'd go to some lady's house. Yeah. I don't know why he stopped showing up. What do you mean? I figured out in 3 months why he stopped showing up. Because you stopped paying the bill.

1:09:59That's right, you know. So it's the same thing, and I have to learn that too, or I have to remember it when I'm in the heat of the moment that that stuff happens. Because I just, I just went through it the other day with a lady that we're going back to on Monday morning. We have to— we went out there and I said, what is the main problem with the car today?

1:10:19She said the battery light is on. Okay, let me diagnose the car. Diagnose the car, didn't test drive, can't do anything. The thing doesn't really work. It's putting out like 15.5, 16 volts. I'm like, I'm not driving this, I'm gonna melt the car. Yeah, I go back, we solder an alternator. Now we solder this alternator because some other mechanics solder an alternator, plugs, coils, all kinds of different things to try to make it run better because their initial concern was that it was running rough.

1:10:43It needs a catalytic converter. It's got 10 PSI of back pressure. It dropped down to about 5 PSI after you started it. And as soon as I put the alternator in, I'm like, oh, this thing is great. It started up. It's got perfect voltage. The battery light's out. Let me go run it down the block, make sure everything is okay. It doesn't go anywhere.

1:11:03I'm like, ma'am, I got mad. I was like— and I didn't get mad at her and I got mad at the husband. I go, can you please tell me why you hired me? I go, I asked you the other day why you hired me and you said just the battery light and you said it was running rough. And I was lucky enough that I told that customer, I said, once I put the alternator in it and I can actually drive it, I can't answer if the car is going to be fixed or not.

1:11:24I told her that that day I diagnosed it. And she said, okay, I understand. Because she even said the alternator was like $711 to do the job. And, uh, she's like, well, what about the diagnosis fee? I go, you paid it already. And she's like, but it doesn't come off the ticket. I said, nope, that does not come off the ticket. That's for my time.

1:11:45And she's like, okay, no problem. Ding, TechMetric goes off because they approved the job. She just asked a question and I was just honest. I didn't, you know, expect her to say, well, I want this or I want that. I just answered the question and she's like, okay, great. And then when I did this and I told her, sorry, but you know, this other guy jacked you around.

1:12:02So in that video, I got really pissed. It's not out yet. It won't be out for 2 weeks. But I got really, really mad that somebody would do this to these people that are just trying to— they're just like, okay. But she was smart enough that finally said You know what? Stop. Yeah, I'm not spending any more money on this until I get somebody else out here to look at this car.

1:12:22And she did. And she actually went to other places that told her— I don't remember what they told her, but she didn't feel comfortable. And then she had called us. And when I told her all this stuff, she agreed to it immediately. And I think we're into it like almost $1,500, $1,600. It'll be fine once I put the cat in it. It'll drive fine as long as, you know, no O2 sensor codes or anything like that or anything got melted.

1:12:44But there's a reason why the cat failed. Well, it has to be for sure, right? And that's what I told her too. I go, there's a reason this is happening. I go, and that's going to rear its head eventually as well. You need to understand that too. And she does, hopefully. So we'll see. It's frustrating though, right? When you go to these cars and they wind up looking like a science project because it got a bunch of parts maybe that it didn't need, or it got the— like, we took off some really good parts and we put on some terrible aftermarket, you know, Amazon, eBay, whatever, you know, ignition coils.

1:13:17You're starting over and then you're fighting that battle of the, oh, it can't be that because the coils are all brand new. We see it now. I see it all day. The industry is— we're showing more and more people are putting out examples of parts being put on that didn't fix anything or made it worse. So I think the general population is starting to see that, like, wow, The parts quality is really crappy.

1:13:39Like, I can understand how, you know, Ben is at my place telling me I need an ignition coil, even though the guy— a different guy was here last month and put an ignition coil in the car, still broken, right? It's just, who do we hold accountable for that? Because I mean, the parts manufacturers are not going to stand up and go, we're sorry, we're going to take the high road here and only turn out stuff that like meets the standard.

1:14:03They're not going to do that. No, they're not going to go back to old school Delco Remy days and making really good alternators and starters that they used to in the, you know, '80s and '90s and stuff like that. They're not going to do it. They're— they still— they have to do the same thing. They're changing their way to combat with the cheap parts to be able to be on the same price level, to be able to stay in business.

1:14:24So they hire the cheapest person to make their parts now just to keep them relevant and keep those parts going. So it's all the same thing. So you have one falter in our industry that starts somewhere and then the whole thing just, it's like a domino effect. Every, every aspect of it has started to fail over the years. Eventually, if nothing's changed by the time we're done and retired, I'm afraid to see where the auto industry will be.

1:14:49I'm really afraid to see what it'll be in 20 years if we don't get a handle on it and get it changed soon. And unfortunately, and I don't, like I've told you before, I don't want the government stepping in, but It's like that whole thing in sitting at AutoZone in that parking lot. Somebody needs to step in. I don't care who the hell it is.

1:15:05Someone needs to step in and take those guys out of there. And now go ahead. I've— do I feel bad saying that? Because some of these guys are just trying to take care of their family? Yeah. But you're putting people's lives at risk and you're hurting the industry that has helped me take care of my family. And I freaking care about the industry.

1:15:22You got people that You might have football players that care about the NFL and will go through whatever they have to go through to make sure the NFL is great. And then they retire and they become part of the NFL to continue to make it great. Same thing with us. Why am I the jackass that wants to make the automotive industry great again?

1:15:41Oh, I sound like the other— that guy. But I didn't mean to say a political thing. Like, I don't pay attention to politics, but It's just, it's true though. Like, just come on, man. Like, stop faltering me because I want the automotive industry to be awesome again. I want the parts to be good. I want, I want people to make money. I want the industry to keep flourishing.

1:16:02But, you know, you just got someone always trying to tear you down for a billion views because I'm going to make money telling you that you guys suck. And see, that video went so rampant. I mean, it seems like almost every week now there's a video that just absolutely blows the doors right off, right? Yeah. And, you know, the backstory is that supposedly that's happening in the parking lot adjacent to the parts store, so they're not responsible.

1:16:26The parts store is not liable. All blah blah blah blah blah. Somebody is. Somebody owns that parking lot. That's right. Someone's gonna get sued when someone gets crushed under a car. And it became so political so fast where people were like— it was within the first 10 comments— somebody made a Trump comment and somebody made something about people from south of the border, and that's what was up.

1:16:44And I'm like, it's got nothing to do with that. We're not trying to shut it down or say maybe we should look at this with a different lens because of any of those factors at all. It had nothing to do with it. It's because of the attitude of somebody standing there with a $400 wristwatch on going, uh, somebody like Ben came and quoted my AC and wanted $1,000, and, and this guy that I don't even know his last name, and next week he might not be here in this parking lot, is gonna fix my AC for $200.

1:17:15That Ben or somebody at the other shop is just trying to rip me off, and I'm so tired of being ripped off. And I sit there and look at it and I go, you know what, like, man, and everybody's like, this is the part that starts to drive me nuts because it's just such a cop-out answer, is go, they're not your customers, don't worry about it.

1:17:33Well, they're not my customers. I wouldn't want those customers, but it's my flipping industry when they're Saying that they're in my industry and yes, they have tools and they repair cars. They're in my industry, albeit there's no basic level of competency shown. So standard, standard that says they're not hurting somebody. Yeah, exactly. Because if someone gets into an accident and actually kills somebody or actually hurts somebody, that guy is gone.

1:18:05He ain't going to find him. He ain't going to pay for it. You know, I mean, it's— you can even say the same thing about me. Like, I'm doing this job here at my house that's technically not supposed to be done. But where's the cross, right? I'm a mobile service. I would— I could do it at the other guy's house, but I can't do it at my house.

1:18:22Where's the— where's the limit on that? Where's the— where's the line before it's crossed? Right. If you want to open a shop and you got to open a brick and mortar, you have to do all these things with the EPA. You have to only open it where it's zoned. You can't have a business at home. But yet they can go do that and everybody can drive by and not say nothing.

1:18:44Yeah, right. Like, so I don't— it's just, it still goes back to, I think, just still stupid political stuff and money grabs, right? So like, our town used to be such a nice town. It was a, it was a farming town. There was farms everywhere. And now whoever's in charge of our freaking county It's just they're allowing every house known to man to be put up, ripped down all the farmland, and they're putting up houses and hospitals and banks and storage places like there's no tomorrow.

1:19:14Yeah. And we have almost quadrupled the amount of people that live here in the past 3 years. Even just on my block, I used to have trees everywhere. Now there's houses everywhere. I don't mind the neighbors, and that means there's more customers, but Sure, it's the same thing. Like, it's whatever makes them money, they go do, and they don't care about the mobile people at all.

1:19:35Well, I come from this place up in, you know, as people like to call me— one guy got right up in my, you know, and if I could reach to the screen, I would have, um, but, you know, calling me Communist Canada, right? Where I have to have a level of certain certification before I'm allowed to call myself a mechanic. I cannot say that I am a mechanic, you know, unless I have taken some type of training and got a government-recognized certification.

1:20:02And I'm not trying to say that that's the fix for the industry, but it's a good start point. Well, yeah, because I mean, all of those people, they're not going to go take the test. They probably— not one of them has ever probably taken an ASE test. No. And not a single one of them has liability insurance. Not a single one has a business checking account, uh, you know.

1:20:25But again, how are we gonna— how do we change that? How do we— you can't. Yeah, it's almost like saying, you know, well, the— you're not allowed to sell drugs, but people do it anyway. It's not on the same scope and caliber. Yeah, you know, but there's no— but the police are policing that, but there's no police policing this. There's no There's no automotive industry.

1:20:48Like, who's— they always used to say, oh, the ASE, the ASE, the ASE. The ASE is good in one thing in my mind, and that is making sure that I can stay up on today's stuff. Someone said it on your podcast once, and that has stuck with me ever since, and I don't remember who said it, but the ASE is a very valuable way to train yourself on where you need help.

1:21:10Okay, cool. So Who regulates the United States with us? Nobody. No one. No one at all. So you're— it's up to that county in Austin, Texas, where those guys are at. It's up to that county to put its foot down and say, we want to do better by our area, and they don't care. So it's the same thing here. We have, we have a light or a stop sign at the end of our road here.

1:21:37It's all 55-mile-an-hour roads. There are more accidents and problems at that intersection. We've been begging the county and the city to put a light in. Their answer back to us is there's not enough deaths. That's the answer on why they won't put the light in. What my son was almost— and my daughter was almost one of those deaths on both accounts. Both of them got into accidents.

1:21:57My son, lucky that he's alive in his— with the accident he got into. And my daughter, it was a fender bender. To a point, but she pulled out and 55 mile an hour took the front of her car, the bumper off. And, and you and I know sometimes in the real life world, it's not even how many numbers, it's who happens to pass.

1:22:18Yep, exactly. The people of influence, it's the people of that, that law judge or something. Yeah, right. Or local politician or prominent business person, whatever. Yeah. And I caught some flack because I said, you know what, like I respect any of those people in the parking lot. I respect that hustle. I really do. Because I respect them taking care of their family.

1:22:38I do not like that they're hurting my industry and my way of life and the thing that I have put over 20 years into. And see, you and I have talked before, and it's an unpopular conversation, but there's a lot of people that are out there doing the mobile thing that wouldn't be able to survive in a, in a brick and mortar.

1:22:57Like they, they, they didn't have it. They couldn't cut it. They either— maybe they just weren't like employable in the sense that like they want to be able to set their own hours. So they don't want to come in at 8 in the morning every day, right? And work, you know, 5 days a week. They want to have a very flexible schedule.

1:23:14I can, I can respect that. But it's the people that probably maybe were in 1, 2, 3, 4 shops and somebody kept saying to them, you just don't have it, kid. Well, they, they wind up in a parking lot underneath a jack stand telling Joe Public that I'm just as good as the guy down the street that's had a brick and mortar for 20 years, and, uh, I'm just as good as Sherwood Cook, you know, at Royalty.

1:23:41It's just I'm, I'm half the price. I'm a mechanic just like him. No, you're not. No, you're not. We got a kid here that's like that, and he— I tried helping him. His name is, uh, His name is Matt. He— I've gone behind him a lot on a lot of cars and he gets blasted on Facebook all the time saying this kid came here and he has employees, but yet he shows up in an Uber and he left all these bolts loose and did all this and that.

1:24:12And I'm just— we couldn't help him at all. He didn't— he— there was no, no saving him to make him understand what he was doing wrong. So we had to We had to boot him and, and get, you know, block him and everything. But because he's that— what you've done is you've started this school where essentially you're teaching other people that are just like, you know, um, I don't want to say just like you and Jenna, but, you know, are mobile technicians.

1:24:35And you're, and you're empowering them with like, these are some of the, the hurdles that you can avoid by listening to what you and Jenna teach them. Yeah. Uh, so it's Skool, S-K-O-O-L. Um, we've got almost like 1,600 members in there now. Um, and there's, there's a, a lot of activity to a point. People get more active when I'm giving them tools.

1:25:01Um, but yeah, that's the whole point. Like, so there's a classroom in there. Um, so I have like, you know, I have videos on startup, you know, get your insurance, get how to go about getting insurance or why available, you know, the 5 keys to success I called it. Um, I have videos on how to set labor rates, and that video is based exactly on Cecil Bullard, of his math and how he does it, and how to figure out— with a little bit of a twist on how to figure out productivity for mobile versus a technician, because he's setting that up as a business owner for a technician.

1:25:38Yeah, you have to kind of set it up for yourself. So like the same thing with all of the stuff that's on my schedule, I keep my windshield time to a minimum. So we drive a distance in the morning and then I'm 10 minutes in between jobs, maybe 15, and then back to the house, you know. So we try to stay in pockets to keep that productivity up.

1:26:00So we teach them to try to do that. And it's— it works out really, really well for most guys that actually follow it to a tee. Other guys, it doesn't. They're still having trouble grasping what we say and how to do it because they're just afraid. That's usually what it comes down to. But yeah, there's a community board, a diagnostic board, a tool board, and a place for them to kind of showcase their stuff and their setups.

1:26:27But yeah, that's the whole point of it is to encourage them that you can do the revenue we do, which is well over $200K a year. In, in total revenue, but you can also still pay yourself, you know, 6 figures a year with doing mobile the right way and not doing it for beer money and actually building a, a business, something that you can transition into a brick and mortar and/or stay doing forever if that's what you want to do.

1:26:58It's even scalable and/or sellable at some point. That's what I was just gonna say, because, you know, if you build it the right way, like you and I saw that one gentleman, I think he was on about a month or so ago when he talked about, you know, if you set your labor rate at $100 an hour in your first year, I'll show you how to make, you know, 6 figures.

1:27:16Oh yeah, the $80 guy, MAOS or whatever the fuck it's called. And, you know, I just kind of sat back and went, the math isn't mathing for me because I know that at that rate, for me to pay myself and be able to clear 6 figures, Man, I gotta put a lot of hours in, or I gotta like, you know, I gotta cut a lot of expenses out of what I think most people starting with insurance would be.

1:27:44Yeah. You know, and, and, and, you know, I'm not saying that he's wrong, but he left out a lot of convenient things about the difference between what he was trying to advocate for and what you try to advocate for. Yeah. Um, he, he does that a lot on a couple other platforms. Platforms. He just— and now he's doing the same thing. His videos are rage-baiting type things to get views because that's what he wants.

1:28:08And it's another guy. There's a couple of guys like that on TikTok. They try to sell a platform or they try to sell a program. They're trying to, uh, they're coming up with programs that are like identical to Jobber. They're trying to compete with Techmetric. And that's cool, like build something, do something, but don't Don't expect me to tell you that that is gonna not work— is not gonna work.

1:28:33Is the puppy— yeah, she's barking for whatever crazy reason. I don't know why. Um, you know, and the thing that I didn't like about— I don't like about it is I don't like you trying to tell all these other mobile guys that this is the only way to go and the best way to go, because that's wrong. Um, you don't need to buy leads.

1:28:53We've proven that and we've proven it time and time again that you don't need to buy into these programs and buy leads from other mobile mechanics. That's not going to work, especially the ones that, you know, are just loving to make memes. You know the guy I'm talking about? Yeah. Yeah. It just— he did the thing he's doing with Chuck. He tried to do to me once too, and I had a big long talk with him about it and We ended it well, but he's just, you know, whatever.

1:29:23Um, but yeah, the school community is— that's what it's for. It's to, to help people do that. Oh, so that's what I'm saying. So like, yeah, all these guys that are on here trying to make money on the backs of the mobile world pisses me off. I almost went that route at the end of last year because a lot of the guys— I have a just a regular group of like 4 guys that I talk with that have been my friends since the beginning, plus another couple of guys on Snapchat that I just don't use.

1:29:51But it's like, yeah, you should do that. You should, you should build, you should build a program that's training and this and that. And then, but when I was coming up with it, I felt dirty doing it. I felt horrible. And I was like, I'll never do that again. I'll make my money from the collaborations and things like that, like we're doing now with TechMetric, and let my community always be free to help these guys understand.

1:30:16I'm not going to force them to pay me to give them answers they can get for themselves. Yeah, that whole thing that went down between him and Chuck, um, to me seemed so out of proportion, blown out so fast. Because if you've spent, you know, and you've talked a lot with Chuck and I have spent a lot of time with Chuck. Yeah, he's similar to me in the sense that when he just says something, he's not saying it to be malicious, but he just knows it to be truth.

1:30:43Right? When somebody— when he corrects somebody, and that's it, he catches a ton of crap. Yeah, because he corrects things that are just not true. And I love people that do that because I— the one thing I hate on the internet is misinformation. It drives me bonkers when somebody says, you know, like, um, changing my ABS speed sensor stopped my car from stalling.

1:31:04Like, I can't, I can't, I just can't take it. I can't fathom it. In some weird universe, it could cause it to happen. But as soon as somebody says it and then somebody else believes it and somebody else repeats it, it's very hard to get that genie back in the bottle. So it's kind of like the same thing we're talking about. Yeah.

1:31:22So when Chuck is going out there and correcting people and let's be real, he's built himself a platform by now and proved himself to be credible enough that he has the right, I think, to be able to say you're wrong and I can teach you why you're wrong. Yeah. Here's examples. Here's real-world testing, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah. But for somebody to just get all butthurt about it because they got called out and they got shown, and then to escalate it to that, it's not a good look for us.

1:31:50It's not. And that's the thing, like the conversation I had with him, he blatantly said it. He's like, well, you're for the automotive industry and I'm not. That was his comment back to me in the comment section, in a private chat. Because he, he tried to call me out on something. And I was gonna call him out on the things he was doing.

1:32:13And then the post— oh, I, I had made a stitch of another company. And it got taken down by TikTok. Right. And he immediately was like, oh, he put up an AI thing of him getting mad at me and being all Mr. Funny and this and that. And I was like, listen, buddy, first of all, TikTok took it down. I said, we're not gonna play that effing game with this whole meme thing back and forth.

1:32:36I said, because I'm not going to play into it. And I said, and I sent him a private message and I talked to him like a man. And I told him, I said, I'm for the automotive industry. This is what I want. This is what I'm advocating for. I don't give you crap about what you're doing. You go do your own thing and let me do mine.

1:32:52And he agreed. He took it down. And, you know, because I talked to him about it, but I don't follow. I never followed him. But now I blocked him because I don't want to see the stuff he's doing to Chuck and everything. I don't want that childish crap on my page. And I just, I can't, I can't deal with that stuff because the same thing, I want to rip, I want to drive to his house and I want to kick him in the nuggets.

1:33:11And, you know, I just, I can't stand people like that. And that's childish for me to say, but it's, it's anger. I get so freaking triggered with these guys. I got to ask you, what's his, what's his grounding or thinking for why he's not for the industry? Is he one of them ones like I spoke about that probably didn't make it? I don't know.

1:33:31He never really said. Um, but I mean, you know, that's if you're just— I don't, I don't— yeah, I don't know. I, I could look back into it and see if I could find it, but I don't think there was a reason that he told me he was not for the automotive industry. Maybe it was like you said, like, you know, he has a thought process of the automotive industry was never there for him.

1:33:52I mean, listen, the automotive industry was never there for me either because there is no real automotive industry. There's The industry is you and I. It's the ones who make it. It's all of us together. Like Paul. Paul is the top. Steckler is the top. These guys, Cecil Bullard, if you give everybody a section, those guys are the top of the automotive industry.

1:34:16And it all trickles down into the rest of us and what we're all trying to do for it. But when you got guys like that that are just like, you know, tearing it down and always just out there for the views and making money that way. Good hustle. You're good at making content. You're not— I want to see you come and diagnose a CAN circuit.

1:34:37I want to see you do that and do it in real time and not fuck up and do what everybody else is doing. Oh, you don't care about that? That's fine. Then we're not on the same level. You're— we're not on the same conversation. It's not that you're not the— you're just someone that doesn't It doesn't— you're not in my view, you're not there, I don't care about you, I'm gonna move on to the people that actually care and I'm gonna help them.

1:35:01I take— and I probably shouldn't— but I take some satisfaction in seeing people that I've been engaging with now, sometimes going back 2 years on this plat— on TikTok at least, but whatever, on social media a lot longer. And, you know, I might have had them on as a guest and they— you can see their content and they were like This is my truth.

1:35:19This is my reality. And I say, as the older guy, I'll be 51 in November, right? This is what I've been there, seen that. This is where I think. And they go, oh no, man, you're wrong. And then I see their situation change. And all of a sudden they're now saying flat rate, like flat rate really sucks here. I loved it when I worked at this facility, but now it's terrible and I'm not working that anymore.

1:35:44And I go, see, this is the thing. Or flat rate works for you, but then remember that guy that you talked about in the shop over there that he could get through any problem that they gave him? Anyone, it did not matter. But he, hours-wise, production-wise, looked not great to you. And you, some of you put your hand up and said, he's not motivated, he's not hustling, he's not— Welcome to the reality of where it changes when you get a different perspective.

1:36:11And that's all this is about. But the amateur psychologist that I am is always fascinated by what makes people— Jenna's smiling, right? She's like, yeah, because what makes them respond? I remember Eric the Car Guy, who is one of the OGs, talking about when he started his platform, he looked me right in the face and says, I started my platform because I wanted to get back at the people that I had worked for, for what they did to me.

1:36:38Oh, they traded him. Yeah. And I can totally, totally resonate with that, totally relate to it. But at the end of the day, I keep saying it over and over again, we, if we're gonna put ourselves out here, we have a responsibility to be positive and to show the positive. And there's a local, a local guy, a new guy that's building a huge platform really quick.

1:37:00You know, it's down to 2 minutes and he works in the dealership and it's, you know, I'm gonna put this tranny in and, and, you know, it's supposed to pay me 8 hours retail, but it's only gonna pay me 4 So he takes a can of brake clean, he sprays it off. Now that's gonna blow up for him, and, and, you know, he's gonna get a bunch of whatever.

1:37:16He does not care if the comment is laughing at him or if the comment is telling him he's a crook, because he's hearing the cash register only. Yeah. And that's cheap, easy pop, right? We can all get pops that way. Yeah. But it's not helping the industry. No, that's not why I'm I'm still doing what I do and you're still doing what you do, I think.

1:37:39And, and yeah, you know, Jenna, did— if you'd have known that it was going to be like this, would you have— would you have said, oh yeah, Ben, I still want to come out on this road and do this with you? Or— yes. Okay, cool. I was ready to be out of my pharmacy. I would have done it either way. That could be frustrating too, for Sure.

1:38:02Yeah. Yeah. No, all those years working for corporate and all that crap. Yeah. I'm just glad that we— I'm glad we did what we did and how we do it. And like, and everyone listening, like, it isn't because I got a collaboration deal with TechMetric. That's not why. That deal didn't get put through until April this year. That was when it started.

1:38:28And that was because TechMetric reached out and they're like, hey, you talk about us all the time. I go, yeah, because going with your program changed our company for the best and made me understand my numbers. And they're like, well, since you talk about us so much, let's work something out. And that's what we did. So now it's— now it has grown into the fact that like we're more of a brand ambassador for them.

1:38:49So, you know, like we were saying, like next year I'm pretty excited to see what's going to happen with us because After this wedding is paid for and done, it's just, it's in December. Our daughter's getting married, um, December 7th. Yep. It's a pricey one, Jeff. We almost, I was, we were talking a couple of weeks ago on how we could try to swing this and get to Asta this year.

1:39:15And it just, yeah. But next year, I'll tell you what, next year we are going to go to Tectonic. We will be at Asta. I'm hoping to be at Tools as well. Yeah, you can guarantee that as long as the stuff we're doing continues, we will be there. But you can also guarantee that no matter how much I make from any brand deal, any anything, the same message that I am putting out today will always be the message I put out.

1:39:41I will never sell out the automotive industry for views. Yeah, it'll never happen. I'm not. Yeah, it's the same as I'm not going to go out there and start telling everybody that this is the greatest you know, uh, widget of the week. And then next week when that widget deal falls through, I'm gonna go and, and badmouth them. And I don't, I don't operate like that.

1:40:02That's not professional, right? And there's a new widget this week. I'm trying not to ever have to do that. No. Yeah, you talk about tech, you talk about Promotive, um, you talk about Asta, you talk about tools, you talk about all these places because it's what you do, it's what you believe in, it's what you care about. And that's the thing that I think drives us nuts about the internet, is that these guys are doing these things that they don't care about.

1:40:23They just care about that dollar amount later. If Lucas had never taken me to Asta— and I say taken because he took me, he provided me the means to go at that particular time— I financially couldn't have made it. Couldn't have made it. I was, I was unemployed, right? And so if he hadn't provided that for me and then you know, pushed me to do this, I'd probably be working at a parts store right now.

1:40:51Right. And I'd probably be a grade-A jerk telling you how to call it, because you probably would have been. You would have been mad at the industry so much at that point. Yeah, that I would have been telling them on the phone, that's not going to fix it. Quit wasting my time and hang up, you know? And it's because he put me on this path that, like, I still find the love for the industry.

1:41:13Like, I, you know, I get absolutely eaten up when somebody gives me a diagnostic problem. And because, A, like a lot of what I do is rinse, wash, and repeat now. Like it's not complicated stuff. I can do it standing on my head literally with one arm. Yeah. And, you know, so I'm still in love with the fixing and the solving the problem.

1:41:32I love that. Yeah. But man, like when— if I'd have known that I was going to get the slings and arrows that I have from, from from taking this on. Some days it is very tough when, like I said, going back to the comments of people, we're not supposed to win. You and I, we are not to win. People are to hate us because— and it goes back to what you said at the beginning.

1:41:55If you don't understand why people resent us so much, and it's— it goes back to this. You can, you can hang a new— I just bought a new TV yesterday, right? I can put that in my room and I went from a 43-inch to a 50. That's— I'm looking at that, that's an investment in my house, as crazy as that is, right?

1:42:14But whereas somebody, as soon as they put a tire on their car or brakes or something, it's a depreciating asset. And I get that, that's— they're terrible investments, but by God, they're friggin', you know, it's a different type of investment. It's not an appreciation investment. It's not for the long-term money grab. It's to keep you safe. It is to get you to the job so you can can do, you can make the money safely and take your family around and do the things you have to do.

1:42:42It's travel. If you don't want it, go buy a horse and buggy. It's an investment in your freedom is what it is, right? Because I was one of those kids that I lived out in the rural sticks where I didn't, I didn't have transit that could get to where my friends were. Yeah. So by the time I was 16, I was wanting a car bad because I wanted to get out of my little situation that I was in, my home.

1:43:01I wanted to be able to escape that for a little while. And pedaling a bike wasn't going to get me where I needed to go, right? So I appreciate people's cars and what it means to them, but by flipping God, man, I'm so tired of people— because I want to be profitable and I want to be sustainable— calling me a crook and a thief.

1:43:22I'm tired of that with this industry, and I don't know if I'm going to get over it. I don't know if I'm ever going to one time be able to hang up my hat and go, I'm good with it. They don't, they don't have to like me. They don't have to respect me, man. But I don't think— I don't know if the day comes where we all hear that you have quit worrying about it is the day that I would say most of us are in a lot of trouble then.

1:43:46Because if you feel like you're done, then I mean, that's how I see it. I've always— everything I've ever heard from you is my own same thought process. Like we've said last time, we're like cut from the same cloth. It's— yeah, if you're saying you're done, I'm nearly done. And I say it sometimes too. I'm like, I tell babe, I can't do this anymore.

1:44:07Like the, the mental strain of all of it. And I think a social media side, taking on the, the, the job of social media has been difficult instead of just running a company. Yeah. But it's like running multiple companies, and I'm okay with that because I always do. I want it to be more, more than what my parents ever thought, my family ever thought.

1:44:27But if there's a day where Jeff says, I'm done, we all, we need to go find Lucas. Because that means that if you're giving up on it, that means there's no end to it. And like you said, or like I said before, I, I think that it's going to be a downhill battle. Like for all of us, no matter what, because we're never going to— it depends on who we fight with.

1:44:52Okay, so do we fight with the trolls and the people that are always in the comments section? Like, if you look at my most recent, uh, YouTube Short, which is the same thing on TikTok, there's a different type of person that's commenting. The people on YouTube are saying, well, yeah, it's because you're doubling and quadrupling the price of the part. That's not the person I want to argue with.

1:45:17You can be the troll and make me my views on there and spread my word, so to speak. Great. Go ahead and do that. I'm not going to argue with you. And then you got the other people on there that are like, well, if you buy it for $80 and then he buys it for $100 and you sell it for $160, and I'm like, it doesn't work that way.

1:45:36That's not the numbers. So your head is on crooked. You don't understand that. I can't help you. I can't change your mind. I can continue to change the people coming into the industry's mind and help them understand. Like, who was that young kid recently that posted saying he was quitting the dealership and he was going to go do something else? It sucked that he saw that he was doing that because he just hasn't found the right shop.

1:46:02He hasn't found the right owner. He hasn't found the right service manager to take care of him. And to teach him those ways because there's not many Sherwood Cooks out there. There's not many L1 diagnostic places out there. There just isn't. So when we find more of those and more of those people are visual, great. So then our word, everything that we talk about, if we can help him, I'm happy.

1:46:29The amount of text messages and things I get is why I keep doing it, because I keep getting the message saying, Man, I'm so happy that I found you because now I'm doing this, like I said before. So I guess to help me and you on who to not hang up our hat is who are we going to argue with? We can argue with these guys all day long if we want to have an argument because kind of it's fun, right?

1:46:54Like we enjoy it at times. But I think the people that we're really helping is the people that truly want to be in the business that don't talk back to us. The people that don't see us. Because in reality, if all— let's just say that Sherwood Cook was never on the internet. He's one of the greats, right? Let's say Paul was never on the internet.

1:47:15He's one of the greats that believe everything we talk about. They probably aren't in the comments section fighting with the trolls because they don't care. Yeah. And those are the people we don't see. Just like you said before, how Um, we don't get to see the second end of the conversation where the other shop was like, hey, I didn't get a chance to, uh, defend myself, you know.

1:47:39Come on, why are you talking shit about me? The customer is the wrong one. Usually the customers that are bitching are the wrong ones, and we're fighting with them where we could just keep putting out that good word. And the good— and the customers that are on the fence We don't realize how many of those we might be changing their mind in the background.

1:47:59Truly, I think I— if when I continue to remember that only because I get the messages and only because I hear it from my customers, like, I tried so many other people and I'm really glad I found you because I always felt like I— like Dave Ramsey says, if you feel like you have to take a bath after dealing with someone that's trying to sell you something, They're not the person for you.

1:48:21Make them— make it so that that person, you feel like you learned something, that you feel good about something. And I think that's the people we will change that we have no idea that we're changing them. Yeah. And, you know, my, my inbox is like yours. It fills up with people that talk about, you know, how you touch them, you know, and change their trajectory or change their perspective.

1:48:47And That's the, that's the, that's the fuel that keeps me going. Yeah. You know, it's, it's so hard sometimes when you're having a conversation to know, are you talking to a customer or are you talking to somebody that's your, for all intents and purposes, your brother and your sister in this industry? And the customer side of it, like, if you're there, you're just background noise and I probably shouldn't engage with you.

1:49:12But the way I'm wired, I'm a Scorpio, I'm going to engage because like If you push me, I push you back. Yeah. My brother and sister, sometimes that, that going back to that hammer or feather analogy that I was talking about, sometimes I just hit them with the hammer and I've, I've pushed them away, whereas I should have been like, come here, I'm trying to, you know, my delivery sucks, but hear the message.

1:49:34Yeah. And that's why even my detractors and the people that like, I, you know, I I say, man, I really don't like what they're doing in our industry. I wish I could reach them and hear that story. Why are you the way you are? Why are you so angry? Why are you going out there? Or are you really? Is it just an act?

1:49:58You might absolutely love working there, right? And you might love the industry. You might be making, maybe you're making well over 6 figures a year working at the dealer and you just, You're getting pops because you want this money for something else. I don't know that. Yeah, but it's like, why are you doing it then? And then, you know, am I the one to say you shouldn't do it because it doesn't put us in a good light?

1:50:21Oh yeah, you know, yeah, I think yes. I think yes because you have the platform for it, and I think yes because you've lived it and breathed it. Same with me. We've been in it for over 20 years and we've lived and breathed every aspect. We've been in the dealership world, we've been in in the independent world, we've been in the fleet world, outside world.

1:50:39You've been in all those aspects too. So I think you have a voice that should be heard. When you have the guys that have been doing it for less than 5 years, no, I don't think their voice is quite ready to be heard yet, just because I don't think that they have lived it. They haven't been through all of it. They haven't seen what this industry can and cannot do for you.

1:51:01Or being in this type of field. But they're going to say the same thing about us. So it's, it's natural for you to feel that or say that. But to me and to everybody that follows you and cares about what your voice is and what your platform stands for, yeah, we say keep doing it. We say keep going the way you are.

1:51:25Yeah. Do we all get a little bit testy and shitty in comment sections and stuff like that? Sure. But like you said, I don't know if this person is a technician. I don't know if that commenter is this. All I can do is stay true to myself when I answer that one back. But sometimes I am, you know, it's taken me a long time to scroll past.

1:51:48I was not able to for a long time and I would get really upset and I would dwell on it really bad. But I've gotten better on it now. And now it's like, hey, don't care about I had a guy call me a communist Canadian last week and make a bunch of derogatory remarks about the fact that I'm Canadian. I have to say, first of all, that I'm not in love with how my country is being governed, but I am that one person that practices my right to vote as I see fit.

1:52:16I don't love it, but you cannot judge me by that. But then when I go back and it's like, first of all, we're discussing automotive, not political, but then they go to that level and it's like, then I go look at their profile and they deliver for DoorDash. Why are you in the comments? Yeah, why? You don't have a voice in this.

1:52:36And then they, they come in and claim they're some kind of great custom car builder and I know— oh yeah, right, sure you are. Yeah, but I had done everything that he claims he has done and who he claims he is, my profile would not say drive for DoorDash. Yeah, no, right? I would be so flipping proud of all these show-winning cars that I supposedly built in these.

1:52:58Yeah, the pictures would be there and everything else. And yeah, no, no. And I mean, and no, no, no hate for him driving for DoorDash, people driving for DoorDash. But still, like, don't— you get that all the time. People always, huh, don't put your 2 cents in where it's not needed. No, not at all. But that's how the internet is. It's full of idiots.

1:53:20I got so many cents to give though. No, no, not you. Yeah, them. Yeah, those people. Well, it's relative. It's relevant conversations. Like, I'm not on there complaining about door delivery services and, and why I think it's a rip-off or justifying the cost. I'm not in there. But they seem to come to our industry and run amok about how they're We are so terrible.

1:53:48You should do that straight back to him because that's how DoorDash is. So like, you know, DoorDash is, well, I could go in the store and buy that sandwich for $12, but why are you at DoorDash selling it for $14.95 plus charging me a delivery and charging me a fee and charging me this? But no one's bitching about that. Oh, they're happy to get their shitty overpriced cold takeout delivered to their house because they maybe don't have a car or they didn't want to get out of their jammies and go, you know, through the driver's room.

1:54:18I don't know, right? That's me all day. And I'm not— it was wrong for me to throw it under the bus and say, because hey, at least they're working, right? Okay, at least working. But I just wonder what brings— what is it about my industry that brings them into the conversation when they're not in my industry? I think the internet is what has brought them in.

1:54:39And the internet has made us like so. And now, okay, I say it has brought this in and we say that maybe it doesn't happen in plumbing or HVAC or construction. We don't know. We're not in it. We don't follow that content. We don't go there. We don't do that. I was in home HVAC, but that was before the internet, you know, so I have no idea what that world on the internet brings.

1:55:06I don't know if they say those things. I don't know if they are part of that or have to deal with it the way we deal with it. And I'm not going to go there and try to find that out. I mean, I could sit here and try to chase a bunch of plumbing videos or pool construction people, but we're not part of that world.

1:55:24So we have no idea if we just start reading the comments section. We don't know if that's a competitor. We don't know if it's just a pissed-off homeowner. We don't know, you know, any of those things. So it just goes back to the same thing. No matter what, I'm gonna just keep doing what I'm doing. It's what I— it's what I care about.

1:55:44I've questioned it so much, but if I keep coming back to it, then I feel like I'm doing right, you know? And if I keep saying that the guys that are doing it wrong are doing it wrong, I think I'm convincing enough good ones ones to keep doing it right. I'll never convince the guy that's doing it wrong to not do it wrong.

1:56:02Yeah, you never know. I don't know, some, some guys have reached out that, you know, were doing it wrong and they realized how to change and they've changed for the better, and that's awesome. You know, they've gone with TechMetric and, you know, from our recommendations, there's— I mean, I think I've had almost like 60 people already sign up to TechMetric just from our recommendations and stuff over the past You know, 2 years.

1:56:25Yeah, but the, uh, so how many have, how many have actually started charging for parts or actually changed their markups and used a parts matrix now? Well, probably a lot of them. Like, so I think that's what you and I really just have to always remember too, is just there's so many people we probably have touched and that haven't reached out to us.

1:56:49We're always going to get mad at the trolls. It's just the way it is. I gotta ask, because Jenna, I feel like sometimes we're just sitting there admiring you and we're not engaging you enough in the conversation. And what's some words of advice for somebody that's like working with their spouse day in and day out? Like, what, what can you kind of say?

1:57:08Because I feel like you guys, you genuinely have fun when you're out there working together. Like, you, you want to be there and he wants you there for sure. But what's some— because there's lots of other people that are they're side by side in shops all day long, spouse teams. And Lord knows, I, man, I sometimes get on them because it's not always a— from the employee side of things, it's not always the best combination.

1:57:32But what's some words of advice you have for people that are in that role, Jenna? You just have to remember that when you're working with your spouse, it's not your spouse. You're working with a partner. It's the best way to go about it is you guys have to work as a team. It's not, that's my husband, that's my wife, that's my partner.

1:57:53We're here at work and that's what we're doing. I mean, that's really the only way that I can explain it. If you look at it as, oh, that's my husband over there, I don't feel that that really works for anybody. You have to be able to separate the two. Yeah. Defined roles almost, right? Like, this is key players in a certain position, just like in any other successful business, right?

1:58:17I guess that's what you have to see it. Don't, don't take it home with you at the end of the day. Like, when he snaps at you, it's not because he doesn't love you, it's just because the, the car is not cooperating and it's frustrating him. It's hot, you know? Like, yeah, I totally get it, you know? Somebody has been there before him and butchered the you know, cross-threaded the bolts in, or like, we could go on, right?

1:58:40It's crazy. I never imagined half of the stuff that I have seen just in the past year. I would have never imagined any of those things. Ben, do you share the moments with her when you find the— I'll say the ghost in the machine? Do you go, Jenna, come over here, you got to see this, look at this? I'll be like, you need to see, you know, she— because most of the time she's not— like, when she's not in the camera She's usually right there.

1:59:05Like, she's not, um, she's not usually in the trailer like always on the phone or always on the computer. She's usually right at the back doors because she's the one handing me tools all the time. Yeah. And it was never meant for that either. She just figured it out and has— she's gotten to the point now where she almost knows what I need next, which is really cool because in the beginning she had no idea what the hell a quarter-inch socket was versus a half-inch socket.

1:59:31And she's just like handing me things and I'm like, you need to go away. Like, that's not even close. But, uh, yeah, she's— I don't remember your question. No, just, yeah, that was kind of good. Um, do you ever feel like, Jenna, that you wanted like— or maybe could we see it where you guys could work on 2 cars at a time?

1:59:53Like, Jenna, do you want to become a mechanic or are you just not No, see, he did teach me how to do brakes one time. That was fun. Right when I hurt my arm. Yeah. But no, you're probably good at bleeding the brakes by now, right? Like, you know how to do that? So I think I'm better. Yeah. No, because still, it's like every Monday morning, it's like she— the weekend comes in Monday.

2:00:18She's like, I'm fresh at this. I have no idea what we're doing. And I'm like, what? Or what are you doing? Like, this is not the procedure. Oh yeah, okay. It's like, holy shit. But in my defense, sometimes you call it different things and I'm like, that's not what you called it 2 weeks ago. No, no, no, no, no. Bleeding brakes is never different.

2:00:36When I say, okay, we gotta bleed the brakes, you're like, like, what are you doing? Like, push the pedal. And then she's like, she'll be in there pushing the pedal. I'm like, what are you doing? I'm pushing the pedal. Are you gonna talk to me? Like, I don't know when the third time was you pushed it and you're saying like, you gotta holding.

2:00:55Like, I know, I, you know, okay, go ahead. In Jenna's defense, I struggle that every time I start somewhere new because it's like everybody has a different vernacular or, or, you know, uh, script that they're going off of. Like, you know, how many times are you letting them put like You know, with the new guys, she might have them pump it like 12 times before you crack it.

2:01:17You don't need to. Yeah, but just to screw with them. Yes, but I'm not screwing with her. It's just another Monday morning. You know what that shows though, Ben, is that she's gotten very good at disconnecting from what we do. You and I have not. No, not at all. I can't not think about— ah, geez. That's the one thing that's definitely difficult with owning a business is No matter how much I try to shut off, it's difficult to shut off.

2:01:43Social media has made that worse. But there are cars that haunt you, isn't there? Yeah. Yes, there's cars that'll haunt me because I'm like, oh man, I don't know if— I don't know if this is going to fix this, you know? And that's the one thing that it has been pushing me towards possibly, you know, getting to a shop is being able to disconnect from that car and go do something else for a little bit.

2:02:07Mobile does not allow that at all. We are stuck with being at that customer's house and getting an answer. There's— if I don't do a lot of drivability because we don't run into it very much. So when I do run into a drivability, I'm like, okay, hold on, I need to reset myself here. I know the, you know, okay, you know your basics, you know, lean, rich, what codes you got.

2:02:32Okay, is this a false lean? Is it not a false lean? Hold on, let me rev it up. Oh crap, what did Paul say in that video when the, the fuel trims were going back, you know, together? Because in my head sometimes, you know what I think back to? Early or late '90s Tech 2, 128 on an O2 sensor, not voltage. I'm thinking milliamps and everything back in the day.

2:02:55And when he said it the other day in one of his videos, I was like, holy shit, that that brought me back, you know. But so you can't let that stuff go. You, you have to stay there. So that's when I have to make the decision on what we're going to do next. And that's another reason, and for how busy we are.

2:03:14I know I'll lose a lot of customers when I go into a location, um, but I'll build a whole nother set of clients at that point, and I'll build a better set of clients. Um, even though my clients now are amazing, I don't have the bad ones that much. Yeah. But it's, uh, yeah, that's why that diagnosis stuff and being in the weather and everything else is— I don't mind the weather as much as being able to go into a building.

2:03:42It's the— it's that— it's me on the job I'm doing and the time frame and the mental stability is going to be better in a shop. Yeah. Now I got to ask you, and we won't keep you much longer, did it make you a better technician when all of a sudden, like, you can't— because you know how it was at the dealer, right?

2:04:00You would go throw that job on hold and you go grab something else because you had to clear your mind, right? You hit a wall, you have to back up, slow down, reevaluate, circle pivot, whatever you want to call it, right? Is this force— has this made you a better mechanic on the sense that you cannot do that? No, it has— it hasn't.

2:04:20It's made me— okay, so it's made me a better technician on how to find answers and read because I am not a good reader. I dropped out of high school twice. I am pretty damn illiterate when I come to reading things. I skip over words and things like that, and I actually read things and read them in a completely different way than what was really there.

2:04:41So I have a hard time with that. So it actually makes me more frustrated and it takes me time. So like that Dodge or other things like the Nissan recently or the Toyota that had the, the O2 sensor problem, I'm surprised I got to the answer out there because having my mind in a controlled environment in a shop, I was always able to focus.

2:05:09Because if I needed to slow my mind down, I had an out. I start to constantly stress the next job. And because I stress that next job, I start to make rash decisions. And I'll go to her and I'm like, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. I got— I can't do this anymore. I gotta, I gotta quit. Like, that's how my mind will get out there.

2:05:31But that's just me. That's not because of mobile. That's just how my ADHD brain works and my anxiety and all that shit. But yeah, it's, it's, it's a give and take. I'm better at certain things, but I'm not as sharp as I was. And I'll tell you what, when I took the break from running a lawn service, I lost so much information and so much sharpness, I guess I could say.

2:05:56Again, if I had stayed in it, I'd be such a better technician than I am today. But maybe I won't be where I am today as a business owner. I was like that too. There was 2 things that made me start to— not made me, but I look back now and I go, if I could have just not focused on how long the job was taking me because it was costing me money, right, from a flat rate standpoint, how good would my skills have developed to?

2:06:25And then secondly would be like, if I have The worst thing an advisor can come and tell me is that I have 3 appointments that day. It's the worst thing you can do because I'm on job 1 and I'm thinking about job 2 and 3. And so my hat's off to people like you that have a schedule in front of you all the time because that starts to really play with my brain.

2:06:50We talk about lab scope. I don't use one. Not that I don't know how, But I'm so not confident in my ability with it that I'll almost find another way to get to the answer without you pulling it out of there. Right. And I'm resentful of how I came up through my career because I flat rated a dealer like, you didn't do that.

2:07:13You didn't grab it and yank it out. Now I understand the comments are going to follow up. Well, I use it all the time. Cool. Yeah, exactly. You didn't have one in the shop, dude. Yeah. So didn't own one. Right? So I'm jealous of all these people. Jealous isn't really the right word, but I'm jealous of them and the fact that their comfort level with it is so good.

2:07:33Like when I look at Chuck or I look at Ryan or I look at all Brandon Steckler, all these guys that are just wizards, wizards. Sherwood. When I watch Sherwood, I'm like, oh, I can't live enough years to be as good as he is. Yeah, right. But at the same time, I don't beat myself up because like, I— my, my successes speak for themselves.

2:07:58My record speaks for itself. I managed to get through, um, you know, and, and fix a lot of cars. I've saw some pretty cool stuff. And yes, I, I try to empower people with like— it's like social media is the devil, right? Because we see everybody's highlight reel, we see everybody's thing. But here's the thing, my fellow technicians that are listening to Ben and I in business, in, in the shop, whatever, don't compare yourself.

2:08:27Be, be, celebrate your own little victories and celebrate your own journey because you can get there. And just because you're not there now doesn't mean you're never gonna get there. It does take work, it takes perseverance, it takes that second You know, as my friend Brian Pollack says, it takes that second 40 hours a week. You and I know what that looks like now, right?

2:08:49We're probably putting in, you know, those kind of hours maybe that should be developing our craft into developing our platform. But it's one and the same. And, you know, don't look at everybody's highlight reels and start to say to yourself, you're never going to get there. You can never be. Celebrate your victories and you know, take solace in the fact that you're better than you were yesterday, you know, and, and that's worth something.

2:09:19And, you know, just keep trying to do that. And this will all start to make a lot more sense and go a lot easier if we just keep getting— and, you know, I— the only reason that I'm not pulling the plug on, on my, you know, frustrations and platform is because I can come on and meet really cool people like Jenna and Ben.

2:09:38And hear their stories and talk about their struggles and bare our souls to each other. And we realize that, like, we're not alone. We're not alone. And that's the key thing for everybody to remember here. So, you know, closing thoughts, Jenna and Ben. Close what? Closing thoughts. Oh, man. Babe, you want— you got anything you want to say? She's nervous. She doesn't know much to say.

2:10:03If you're— I'll give you a couple. If you're going to start— if you're going to do something with your wife, Pick and choose where she's going to be and let her come up through that where she needs to. There's, you know, I got some people in the group. I got one that actually lives around the corner from me. They're just starting out.

2:10:20She's at home with the kids and she's trying to do it. Good, you know, good luck. But, but find where you're gonna be. If he's in the field, you know, he's gonna, you know, you might be able to field his phone calls and things like that. But give her, give her small jobs. Answer the phone, don't answer the phone, do this, do that.

2:10:42She has kind of jumped in headfirst since the beginning. And she's taken it really, really well. Even with my not so friendliness. I'm not the nicest guy in the world. I'm— my dad and me, we definitely have some anger issues. But that's besides the point. She knew what she was getting into before she did this. So I'm lucky enough that she is what she, you know, is what she is.

2:11:07But, and with the business side, guys, mobile doesn't have to be shit. It doesn't have to be cheap. And I think that I've changed a lot of people's perspective on that over the years, especially like, like even like Chris Enright, like in the beginning, like he just did not have any— he's like, no, that's, that's not good. And I, I agree with him.

2:11:35It's not good if you're going to do it a certain way. But now when he makes content, he says, so what do you shop owners and mobile guys have to think now? You know, so like, you know, and the same thing, like even with you, I think like when we first got on, which was a year and a half ago now, You know, you didn't know what to expect or who I was, if I was going to end up turning into, you know, the other internet people.

2:11:58And I refuse to be that person. And like I said, next year is going to be— you guys watch our content next year, it's going to be vastly different. You'll— you're going to see if I keep growing the way I'm growing with my, my content, it's going to help us achieve what we need to achieve. And we're going to be one hell of a force to be reckoned with when it comes to other shops in our area and what we do.

2:12:22At least in my eyes. I might not be that way to everybody else, but it's— I will never live for that content. The content is second. Yeah, it's always second. Yeah, I think it's in, you know, because you and I've talked about as soon as you can get where people's main idea is to develop the content to where it's the biggest money factor, then I think you've lost sight of what you really were.

2:12:45Yeah. And I think that that's a slippery slope that all of a sudden it's like I can stick my toe in the controversy side of this a little bit and it'll blow up. Yeah. And then pretty soon it's like I'm nothing but controversy and I'm, I'm— it doesn't even matter. I could pull the plug on the business and I could, uh, and you know, my, my creation, create, you know, would, would carry me.

2:13:09Yeah. You're not— that's not the end goal or shouldn't be the end goal. Yeah, it shouldn't. If it's It should— you should always remember, like, anybody's content can get demonetized at any moment. And that's why I don't care as much about my subscriber count or the views or anything like that. I care about that because I care about reaching more people that I think I can help in business or do right by this industry, like we have said this entire 2 hours.

2:13:45But I will always, and I'll never use something or promote something that I don't personally use myself or that I personally believe in myself. So, yeah, I mean, it's, I don't know, there's so much we could, I could sit here for another 2 hours and talk with you, but closing statements would just be that just don't give in to the people that are online that you see doing things you're, you're not going to I'm not going to say you're not going to be the next star on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube.

2:14:16You could be. You could be the next MrBeast or something like that. But build a business and take care of your family and just do things the right way. Yeah. At least my perspective on it. You don't have to listen to my perspective. You tell me to kiss my butt. I don't know. Whatever you guys want to do. I appreciate you both being here.

2:14:35I absolutely adore you know, seeing your content. And I mean, I watch it. Thank you. Honestly, like, I just, you know, and, and I think that that's, you know, I relate. Like I said, I'm a sucker for seeing the family group thing. I really enjoy seeing that. Um, and I, and I think it's, it's a testimony— testament, excuse me— to your, you know, the strength of your relationship by how you guys can work together and, and, you know, have those days and going on a year, like we're, you know, everything is going well and we're not seeing divorces and all that jazz.

2:15:11I hate to see that, right? Yeah. Yeah. But I'll touch on that one last thing before you end it. That's something else to keep in mind. You can't grow everything at one second. So I grew this company alone last year. I ended the year at my best year ever. This year will not, because I took this year to build the business with her.

2:15:40Yeah, to make sure she got trained well. Now that she is trained well, we will— that's why I said next year will be a humongous different transition. I want to be able to prove that the mobile can do $300,000 a year. We're $58,000 off of that last year's revenue. So last year I did $242,000. This year I'll probably do just under $240,000 or so at the rate we're going because like I said, I haven't focused on that side of it.

2:16:14So next year, and that doesn't count that Tech Metrics stuff, that's, that's, that's a separate company that never is included. So I hope that in 2027 we can prove that what we're doing can be that kind of company if you just follow what the top people in the industry say. Yeah. Yeah. I think you guys are killing it. And I mean, and it's always, you know, I know you have so many irons in the fire and that's the other thing.

2:16:45It's not just trying to bring Jen up to speed. The, the wedding is a lot of focus. You know, you've talked— I've talked to you and there's been some days where Jenna's been tied up and busy and all that kind of stuff, and it's just, it's the way it's gonna go, you know. Um, I don't— we lost you for a second there.

2:17:01Yeah, you're back, you're back. Okay. Um, I was just saying though that like, I know that the wedding is, is, um, you know, taking some of the focus. It's, it's taken some days out of the, you know, calling it early and all that jazz, and You guys are doing amazing numbers. And I mean, and that's the only thing, the reason I showcase the people that I showcase in this industry is because I think not only are they doing the industry the right way, but they truly have something to offer in the way that they do it to other people.

2:17:29And that's why, so just like you, I, you know, you and I talked about how you just mentioned my name one day in a video and I was sitting there eating my cereal waiting to go to work. And there he's talking about my podcast. And it's been, it's been a joy to me to see the platform grow and to see you, you know, sharpen your tools, as per se, as we would say, and, and, and develop that, you know, that confidence in that voice.

2:17:56Yeah, that's what I love to see. And, uh, Jenna, you know, it's been great to see you come along too. So I mean, you guys, you'll be back again. Yep. You know, as always, it's, it's a pleasure for me to be able to, you know, showcase these people. And, and I, I can't do it without, you know, Techmetric and LaunchTech. Like, they are 2 of the, the companies that truly get what I'm about and what I'm trying to do.

2:18:20So I mean, I don't say it enough, but I try to say it as often as I can, is that they empower me to be able to do this. That's true, you know. And everybody, you know, as always, I love you all. If you're fighting with something, it doesn't matter if it's got a car or where you are at, where you're at in this industry right now, reach out to me, please.

2:18:40And, you know, my apologies if you've reached out to me and I haven't got back to you right away. Don't give up on me. Please keep pounding on the door because there's so many things going on right now. It's not that I ever don't want to get back to somebody. It's just that the inbox will quickly overwhelm me. So if you reach out to me and I haven't got back to you, reach out to me again, please.

2:19:06And we've got ASTA coming up in less than a month away, like we were talking about. I'm going to be there. If you want to sit down and have a conversation with me, please start letting me know now. We'd like to try and book some of that going forward, probably by the time this one— well, this one might come out in a week or two, this episode.

2:19:24So get a hold of me and say, hey, I want to have a beer with you, or hey, I want to record with you. I would love nothing more than to spend as much time as possible meeting people, as always, at ASTA and all these events and getting to hear your story and showcase you. So Ben and Jenna, I'm sure I'm going to see you guys at an event pretty soon.

2:19:46You will. I feel like Florida's a long ways away. It's about as far as you can get from Canada, Kingston, Ontario. At the same time, like I know that we will meet up at some point, and then I will definitely will share a meal and share a hug and have a good time talking about this because you know it's it's a lot to put ourselves out there.

2:20:09But I mean, when I have people like that, I surround myself like you guys. It makes it easier. So thank you for that. Awesome, man. And everybody, I love you. Thank you for all the support. We'll talk to you soon. See ya. Thanks, guys. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and like, comment on, and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it.

2:20:31And 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. Thank you to my partners in the ASAR Group and to Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say, in this industry you get what you pay for.

2:20:53Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10mm, and we'll see you all again next time.