Ep 139: Hard Times are Meant to Grow You with Josiah Martin

0:00Your team wants a challenge. They want to step out and they want to show you what they're capable of. The best thing that you can do, because just coming from where I was at, is invest in yourself. Invest that time, that free time that you have into bettering yourself. You're listening to the Limitless Leadership Podcast, the podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train, and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought-provoking interviews from industry leaders.

0:31Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results? Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode. Uh, I'm your host, Josh Parnell. And before we get started, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, do all the things you need to on social media to help this this podcast impact people and build leaders, just like the one I have sitting in front of me today.

1:06Not literally, but figuratively, because I'm, I'm speaking through a Zoom screen to my main man, my friend. He's a shop owner, uh, out of, uh, you tell me, but it's in Pennsylvania. You're going to tell me exactly where it's at. But the shop owner of Limitless Auto Center— love the name for reasons that are obvious— but Josiah Martin, man, thank you for being here.

1:26Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here. And yes, Limitless Auto Center in Oley, Pennsylvania. Oley, Pennsylvania. Yeah, excellent. Well, go ahead. I was gonna say most people get it wrong when they see the spelling. We often get Ole or— no, nobody knows how to spell it, but gotcha. It's, uh, it's good. Well, Josiah, man, I'm, I'm glad we get to do this.

1:49You and I've been talking about this for a while, and, um, and so we finally get to sit down and have a conversation. Um, you know, we were able to meet in person last year at the Tools conference, which by the way is coming up. In fact, uh, as I'm sharing this, I, I'm realizing now I'm gonna have to put this episode before Tools is coming up, uh, because anyway, Tools is coming up.

2:09It's gonna be at the end of April this year, uh, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. So if you, if you don't have tickets for it yet, if you haven't registered for, uh, for Tools, now's the time to do so. Uh, you will probably see Josiah. Will you be there this, this year? I plan to be there, Lord willing. I'll be there with my whole team.

2:26So, okay, excellent. Yeah. And so your team was there, uh, with you last year as well. And, um, and you, you know, you and I've been following each other on social media for, for a minute. I think I first came across you on social media because I saw the name Limitless and I'm like, I gotta meet this guy. So if you would share with our audience, who you are, what you do, how you do it, and how Limitless came to be part of, uh, the, uh, be the name of your shop.

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3:58By partnering with their team of industry professionals across the US, you can truly own your golden hour. Golden Hour provides a virtual estimate building, extended warranty, fleet claim processing, loan advisors, and hands-on partner support so your team can focus on the guest experience and profit growth. Book a discovery call today. Limitless Leadership listeners receive 10% off their first 3 months. Sure. So I don't even know where to start to introduce myself.

4:24I guess I'm a father, a husband, a business owner. It really has been a journey as a business owner because when I first started out, I assumed it was just fixing cars and, and dealing with customers. And then there's this thing called leadership that I had to learn, and that's been a, been a journey. And my friend and I from back— yeah, for a long, long time friend, I think we've been friends for easily 15 years now— he reached out one day with a business that was for sale and said, hey, I know you're considering something else, would you consider going into partnership with me and buy this business?

5:05And thought about it for a little bit. It all worked out, and we were thinking about a name because most shops out there are just some form of the owner's names and auto repair, or then the location and auto repair. And we both said, well, we know what we may not be here the whole time. We may not be in Ollie. We may move.

5:28One of us may leave the— and buy the other one out. And so why pick a, a name that's going to tie us to one area? We want a name that encompasses everything. And we're also— my friends, my business partner is very interested in, uh, performance. Uh, we were dreaming big back when we were 25 and thinking that we can do it all and thought maybe we'd start some performance portion to the, to the business.

5:56And so we were going through names like what, what portrays that, and we fell on Limitless Auto Center. That's awesome. Awesome. Well, I mean, obviously I love Limitless because that's the name of my company as well, Limitless Leadership, uh, and we get the opportunity and privilege to, to serve an incredible industry of folks like yourself, Josiah, who who also get into business ownership and they realize, hey, there's a leadership side to this that maybe I wasn't coached on, or maybe I wasn't trained on, maybe I don't have a lot of experience in.

6:31And that's really where Limitless Leadership falls into place for a lot of fantastic individuals in this industry. Um, what got you into this industry and talk about your journey into business ownership as well. That's, that, that must have been a pretty big step of faith or leap of faith for you, I'd imagine. Leading a shop can be isolating, especially when you're trying to grow and still take care of your people.

6:52Tectonic 2026 brings together shop teams who care about the same things you hear on this podcast: coaching, accountability, training, and building leaders at every level. Expect hands-on workshops, role-based sessions, and honest conversations you can take back to the shop on Monday. Tectonic is happening April 9th through the 11th in Houston, Texas. Tickets are on sale now, and Limitless Leadership Podcast listeners can, can get $500 off standard pricing with code LIMITLESS500.

7:19Go to techmetric.com/tectonic, that's T-E-C-T-O-N-I-C, or use the link in the show notes. All right folks, as you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best. It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop success. It's about putting the right team in place. It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro. Making pro moves. And when I think about the pros, I think about Shop Marketing Pros.

7:46The know, like, and trust factor, that's a real thing, and Shop Marketing Pros understands that. That's why I wanna recommend Shop Marketing Pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know, like, and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know, like, and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level. So when I talk about making pro moves.

8:07This is the kind of move I'm talking about. This is the kind of standard-setting partnership that's going to elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. Yeah, so I started in the industry when I was, I'm just 16, and I started rebuilding starters and alternators at a, at a small shop and Started teaching me all the other things like vehicle electronics and had to learn how, how electronics worked.

8:40And a couple years into that, I got tired of the monotony. It was just the same thing every day, all day. And my brother-in-law worked at a shop, at an independent repair shop, said, hey, we're hiring. So I put in an application, got hired, and probably one of the best mentors to date was that, uh, that my employer at that time, he did very well at recognizing you, calling out where you were, your strengths, and encouraging that.

9:13Um, and he— about a year into it, year and a half into it, they needed somebody on the front counter. And me being outgoing, he said, hey, I think you'd fit. So We moved me to the front counter, and with that, he started teaching me the books. Like, hey, I want you to balance the QuickBooks. I want you to make sure everything's holding out, print out checks, do all— pay the bills.

9:37And so I started seeing the business side of it. So me being naive is like, well, I know how to fix cars, I know how to balance the books and run the books, I can run a business. So That's that I thought I was set up for. I really, really did. I thought I had the, had the world by the tail and it was, it was going to be my oyster.

10:00And it worked out fairly well for the first bit, and then we hired somebody and we hired another person and just started having a, uh, employer-employee issues. Nothing, nothing that nobody else deals with. It's just, you know, what what comes with having employees. It's the normal, like, challenges that we, that we encounter on a day-to-day basis, right? Yes. Okay. Looking at the time, I thought it was absolutely crazy, or I was— this, this was something totally unexpected.

10:33Now looking back, I was just unprepared for the— that side of it. Yep. And probably July of '23, uh, Bernell and I sat down one day and it was, it was a rough week. It was one of those weeks where you were contemplating, as, as I would joke, throwing the keys on the roof and letting the bank and the taxman fight for who gets it.

10:56Yeah. And, uh, we sat down and said, why are we doing this? Like, why? There's not that much money left over after we're done paying everybody, paying the bills, doing the upgrades. We have a lot of upgrades we want to do. We so the business we bought was in, was in business for since the '60s, and it had an established customer base, but the brothers that owned it weren't keeping it up to date, if that makes sense.

11:24It was, the tools weren't bad, it just wasn't, the scan tool was old, the, they didn't have all the latest stuff, so it was a lot of updates that needed to happen, and I know I stumbled across a Changing the Industry podcast, and through that I was like, I really think I need coaching. And we were talking about it more and more, went to Super Saturday, and Bernal met Rick White at Super Saturday, and he's like, hey, I really think I really like that class.

11:58So sat down, talked to Rick, and we ended up signing up, and that's That was the start. Love that. And so, so Rick is a friend of the podcast. He's a friend of ours. Rick White with 180 Biz. Shout out to you, my friend. Uh, he's an incredible influencer, incredible coach, um, and an incredible friend for that matter in this industry. And so, um, yeah, shout out to Rick.

12:22Josiah, you mentioned something that's really important, and that is you had an employer years ago recognize you. There's power in recognition. There's power in encouragement. There's power in motivating and inspiring. There's power in finding people's strengths, helping them tap into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results. And he saw something in you. He called it out in you, and it's really not even calling out, it's calling you up.

12:46Accountability is not calling you out. Accountability's calling you up. He sees something in you and he recognizes you. And I believe that recognition is the biggest ROI in leadership. I think a lot of us as leaders, we're really great at reprimanding, but not necessarily recognizing. Like, it's, it's easy for us to find what someone's not doing well, to find out all the things they're doing wrong, for lack of better terms.

13:09But are we actually highlighting and honoring them and, and calling, calling out in a good way the things they're doing really well? Like being able to identify strengths. I'll ask you, how did that employer and his recognition of you impact and change the way that you lead your team today? So that is, that's a great question. One thing, it definitely made me more aware that I need to recognize my, my team.

13:43I need to be very graceful. He, he was very graceful with me. So that means when When I made mistakes, it was always a, "All right, you made a mistake. Let's learn from it. Let's move on." And I guess he really taught me what it meant for a leader to be invested in my life. So, when we lead somebody else, I don't think we can lead them well if we're not invested in them.

14:11It's not about— too often, I feel like where businesses go wrong, where, where people get, get burned out in, in the corporate world and all that. It's because it's a, it's almost a machine that's designed to get, extract the most out of everybody for the, for the business. And I think it should be, it needs to be a win-win both ways. You need to be able to provide for your team what they need so they can give you what you need.

14:36That's good. He did that very well. Yeah, excellent. Um, let's talk about leadership. I mean, obviously there's a leadership podcast. If I were to ask you to define this question, what does leadership mean to you in your own words? How would you answer that question? I think it's being an example of what you're living, the example, and calling others to follow your example into the life that you see that they're capable of.

15:02Okay. How has your definition of leadership, your thoughts on leadership, how has it helped your business partnership with Brunel? And am I saying his name? I know I met him about a year ago. Okay, you're correct. Um, shout out Brunel. I remember you, man. So, um, how has it helped your partnership with Brunel? But also, what are some— what are some ways that you guys have been able to work through the challenges of maybe not seeing eye to eye on something?

15:35Or maybe there's, you know, you disagree on something, but you and I both know, Josiah, that we can disagree without being disagreeable, and we get to talk through this. Talk to us about that. Yeah. So how has it helped? I guess it's helped because I, I would— I'm trying to think, put this into words. Partnership. A business partnership isn't much different than a difference in a marriage other than, you know, the obvious.

16:07So you're doing money together, you're talking, you got to communicate. And so often you expect your partner to take the lead and discuss something, and if they're not and you recognize it, you need to take that lead. And that's one of the things that has— I had to learn after realizing that, okay, if there's something I'm seeing that I want to get to have discussed, I need to bring it up and talk about it.

16:38Um, that's— I'm sorry, the question again was how has my vision of leadership helped? Yeah, so, so, so yeah, I mean, basically, you know, you have your own thoughts on leadership, and I'm sure they're very similar to the way Brunel thinks about leadership. So I'm curious, how has, how has it helped your business partnership But also because of your knowledge in leadership and the things that you continue to learn, how have y'all been able to navigate the, you know, the, the, uh, inevitable challenges?

17:12Because I like that you highlighted the fact that it's really not that, it's not much different than a marriage besides the obvious, but in a marriage, just like at work, uh, communication is often the biggest pain point or biggest opportunity area. I'm curious, how have you guys been able to, over the years, learn how to navigate these things with each other and not against each other?

17:34Yeah, so I guess the biggest thing that we do is we came to the agreement, like, if one of us is frustrated with something that the other person is doing, we talk about it. We don't, we don't hide it. We don't let it fester because that's not going to— it's not going to benefit anybody by just letting it fester. The other thing, proactive.

17:59So we sat down with our— with a lawyer and drew up a partnership agreement that said, hey, if we ever do fight, here's how it's going to happen, here's what it's going to do. If, if there's ever a time when something goes sour and one of us wants to buy— force the other partner out, here's the process that they have to take, here's what it's going to look like.

18:20And so it gives each of us a a way of, I guess, making sure it provides a safe fall so it doesn't just completely burn out, burn down the business, because nobody wins in that. The other thing we did even from the start was when we paid ourselves, but we paid ourselves a set hourly rate with overtime from the start because we recognize that One area that partnerships struggle in is if they're paid salary or just 50/50 of whatever's left over.

18:55If one, one of the partners is putting in, you know, 60 hours a week and the other person's putting in 30, that there's a lot of tension from that. And we said, hey, we want to pay ourselves for what we're doing. And then whatever is left over after that is what we split. Let me ask you this, because as you are building a business and you're scaling and growing the way that you guys do, you're getting paid for the hours that you, that you work.

19:25And of course, production is coming from those hours. But with, with business ownership, there's also the work that happens before and after the work. You know, it's, it's the behind-the-scenes stuff. It's the early mornings. It's the late nights. How do you guys divide? How do you guys divide and conquer? That's, that's a great question. And I don't think we do well in the divide and conquer part because I do most of the If I guess I think Bruno would agree on this, I should say that before I say that I do most of the business, business leadership.

20:01I do most of the thinking. I'm the one that's listening to the podcast. I'm the one that's leading, um, where he does a lot of the day-to-day and in the shop side of it. Um, that's— and he does a lot of the— I will say one thing that I've recognized he's really good at is just taking the lead on the— any projects around the place.

20:28So, oh, we— the stone parking lot's looking bad, he sets up getting extra millings. Just, it all happens and it just happens. And that's one area that he's just great at. And I, I appreciate it because that's an area I, I'll get to it, but it might be, you know, you don't have to remind me every 6 months. Sure, I'll get to it.

20:48Yeah, um, great answer. Um, well, so let me ask you this too, and I, and I want to make sure that I'm respectful of the boundaries that you may have on this, but I know that last year especially posed a lot of personal challenges, uh, for you. And, and, um, with respect to that situation, my, my— the question I'm trying to ask without— although I'm beating around the bush— is How you can say, well, and that's the thing, I don't know how comfortable you are with sharing this, but if you're okay with it, share with the audience, um, you know, the kind of what you went through and what your family went through ultimately.

21:27And because, man, you are leading amidst incredible challenges, and I want to commend you first and foremost, and the audience will hear what I'm referring to, but man, um, you're a testament to what a great leader looks like and also a great father and great husband. But it's really, you know, I'll just say it because you're about to tell the story. Your son has a testimony that you've been able to walk alongside him in.

21:53If you would share that, and again, with respect to the boundaries that you may have around it. Yeah, well, thank you. First of all, I should be blushing. That's a very high praise call on The Testament to Leadership and all that. So my son was born with a genetic disease that the really only way to treat it is a liver transplant. So I actually have two children with that.

22:18My oldest went through it in 2020, and our youngest just had a liver transplant in June. And during that time, we were— the place that we get it done is in Pittsburgh, which is about 4.5 hours from where we live. So we were— I was fully remote for a little over 2 months, and I knew this was coming. We knew even before he was born that this was going to happen, and he was about 20 months old when this surgery happened.

22:48With that focus in mind, I had— we'd put effort into setting the business up so I didn't need to be there every day, and July was the first month that I was not there full month, and it was the best month to date at that time. So yeah, it was— that was huge. It was a blessing. It was a sign that, you know, all the prayers of, hey God, just please let the business function because I need— I'm going to be living without an income for, you know, 2 months.

23:21I need some form of income. Yeah. And that, that happened. And Brunel, through that time, was obviously leading. We would talk back and forth. We would talk about, you know, hey, what's— is there anything you're struggling with? And it— the whole team stepped up. Honestly, I think when you, when you present a challenge like that, there's not— your team wants a challenge.

23:43They, they want to step out and they, they want to show you what they're capable of. Too often we're not giving them that, and they stepped up to the challenge and It went great. When the pressure's on, we don't rise to the occasion, we fall to our highest level of preparation. And it's very evident that you and Brunel prepared for, like, you knew it was coming, you prepared for this.

24:06You guys compartmentalized, you time blocked, you set and kept boundaries that are necessary to make sure that everyone is staying in their lane, but also helping others when necessary and when, when, when, um, when able to. So that you guys can not just survive, but you can thrive like the month that you had in July. So man, props to you, kudos to you, and shout out to you, Brunell, for leading the charge when Josiah is obviously taking care of family.

24:36That's incredible. You mentioned, and by the way, thank you for sharing that as well, Josiah. You mentioned Rick White earlier. Rick White, I know, is an incredible mentor for a lot of folks in this industry. I will ask you, what is the best advice that you've ever received from a coach or a mentor, whether it's Rick or not? What is the best advice you've ever received from a coach or a mentor?

24:58So I struggle with perfectionism. I, I believe that I need to be perfect, and this actually comes from Tom Shearer. I don't know where he, where he heard it. I'm sure he heard it from somebody. And one day when I was, was really battling with something that wasn't perfect. He said, well, there was only one perfect man that ever walked the earth, and look what— look at what they did to him.

25:20And that has stuck, and it's something that I say a lot to this day when I'm struggling with something that's not perfect. Man, that is powerful. Uh, you know, haters are gonna hate. Like, there's always— like, people are not always going to agree with you. But also, um, you know, we know that things are not ever going to be perfect. Perfection is reserved for God, uh, and, and, uh, and it's not all— it's not often going to be pretty.

25:46But man, I love the fact that you brought, uh, brought Tom into the, into the mix here. Tom Scherer is, um, is in my very tight circle of, of people who I— man, he is— he's in my, he's in my circle. And, and it's, uh, it— not everyone gets in my circle, I'll say that. Tom Scherer is in my circle. And so shout out to you, Tom, uh, my main man.

26:08So awesome. Well, Josiah, Before we go, man, anything, uh, anything else for the audience? Like anything, message on your heart you want to share, anything that, uh, has been top of mind for you, or maybe something that you've learned over the years that if I were to ask you, best advice you could give to our listening audience, what do you think? I would say the best thing that you can do, because just coming from where I was at, is invest in yourself.

26:33Invest that time, that free time that you have, into bettering yourself. You're I don't know how many hours of podcasts like this one, all the, all the other— there's great ones out there— books, you name it, that I have listened to. And that's after hours, that's on my own time. And it has helped. It, it— you will slowly get better. You will slowly become the person you're striving to be.

26:59Um, can't— and also it's This, as the saying goes, we over— I'm trying to think— we expect more of ourselves in a year and underestimate what we can do in a decade. Yeah, that's good. And that, that is very true too. I had you ask me, because we bought the business in 2020, had you asked me if we would be here in, you know, 6 years, I wouldn't have believed it.

27:27It's much, much better than what I would expect. That's awesome. Good for you, man. And you, you, you absolutely deserve all the success that you guys have had and the continued success that you're going to have. So hey, man, you got a fan in me. Uh, I'm, I'm cheering you on, uh, from the sidelines in Texas while you're in Pennsylvania doing your thing.

27:45But man, keep on going through it and keep on growing through it. And, um, thank you for being on the Limitless Leadership Podcast, my friend. Thank you, Josh. It was an honor. And thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. As you know, we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results.

28:07So thanks again, everyone. Have a great day. Don't forget to smile today. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I'm Josh Parnell reminding you to keep leading well.