Latest / Downshift With Tonnika / Why Young People Aren't Choosing the Trades | Zeb Beard and Benjie Burris - Ep 19
Transcript
- Tonnika Haynes [00:00:00]: We've been worried about everybody's feelings and being politically correct. Benjie Burris [00:00:03]: What caused a lot of that shit, what's that? God blessed cell phones. We no longer make eye contact, interact with people, and we can't. We don't read body language. We don't give a shit. Zeb Beard [00:00:14]: Yeah, I don't know that I could blame it on cell phones, though. I don't know what to blame it on. It's changed in everybody, not just in our. What I'm getting back to. It's not just in our trade. That's the reason this AI stuff's taken over, because you can't get. You can't get a person to do it, so you gotta create a robot to do it. Benjie Burris [00:00:30]: Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Tanika Haynes. We all know as shop owners, sometimes you gotta slow down in order to speed up. And that's what this podcast is all about. It's time to downshift. Tonnika Haynes [00:00:49]: All right. I don't know what the hell I was thinking bringing to both of you guys on the podcast at the same time. Benjie Burris [00:00:53]: I asked you last night, you sure about this? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Zeb Beard [00:00:57]: A lot of good reels. Benjie Burris [00:00:58]: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Zeb Beard [00:01:00]: It's my two favorite bros. Two country boys. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:02]: Two country boys that's doing it right, though. I don't care how much them City Fox folks say, doing it right. All you guys are doing it right. And I look up to both of you guys. So here's the damn thing. I don't know who's going to get us in the most trouble, you or Z. Have y' all done a podcast together? Zeb Beard [00:01:17]: Never. We been together on one. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:19]: Really? Benjie Burris [00:01:19]: Nope. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:20]: Yes. Nope. Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:01:22]: Yes. Zeb Beard [00:01:22]: That's how I got to know Benji. I heard him on the podcast. I don't remember who's it. Benjie Burris [00:01:25]: It was Jeff's. Zeb Beard [00:01:26]: Was it on Jeff. Benjie Burris [00:01:27]: Jeff's. Zeb Beard [00:01:28]: I said, I got to meet this fool. He's my kind of people. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:31]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:01:31]: And we've been friends ever since that one. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:33]: Like, I don't know what I heard you say, but I was like, that joker ain't got a lick of sense. I think if my daddy was a skinny white boy, he would be dead. He said some shit and I was Zeb Beard [00:01:41]: like, that's my daddy. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:43]: I was like, dad, there's a guy got a big ass shop, just like you got a big ass shop. And he lives in his shop. You live in the shop. It's like, you live in the shop. I gotta meet him. And Jordan's like, yeah, he reminds me of Granddaddy. A whole lot with the stuff that you say. So that's. Tonnika Haynes [00:01:56]: That what we're talking about today? It's my podcast. I should know. Benjie Burris [00:02:00]: We're going to give lessons on how to speak properly. Me and Z, we're going to work on things. Zeb Beard [00:02:07]: We're going to teach you how. We're going to teach you how to do double negatives. Benjie Burris [00:02:10]: That's right. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:12]: You want to know? Zeb Beard [00:02:13]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:14]: Ain't. Zeb Beard [00:02:14]: No. All these. What are they? What do they call them when you put two words together? Can't think of it right now. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:19]: The double. Zeb Beard [00:02:20]: It ain't conjectures. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:21]: It's. Zeb Beard [00:02:22]: What is it? Tonnika Haynes [00:02:22]: Something like conjunction junction. Zeb Beard [00:02:23]: Maybe that's it. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:26]: So it's going to be an English class. Class Zeb Beard [00:02:30]: won't work. Benjie Burris [00:02:32]: All the good stuff won't. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:35]: About to. Y2. Benjie Burris [00:02:38]: Y2. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:39]: Give me one. Give me one from out in the Midwest. Benjie Burris [00:02:42]: Out yonder. Zeb Beard [00:02:43]: Out. Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:02:45]: N. Absolutely not. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:46]: Nam. Zeb Beard [00:02:47]: N. N. Not a ner. Damn one. Benjie Burris [00:02:49]: I. Tonnika Haynes [00:02:50]: Damn one. Braxton is over there like he's cringing toe. Benjie Burris [00:02:55]: Is that how you say. Zeb Beard [00:02:56]: No. I ain't never heard that word when you put two words together. I don't think. We don't call it that. Benjie Burris [00:03:02]: No, no, no, no, no, no. You can put that. Put that encyclopedia up. Tonnika Haynes [00:03:09]: What's that word? Compound word. No. Are you saying double entendre? That's not what that is. Zeb Beard [00:03:16]: No, no. Benjie Burris [00:03:17]: Y' all trying to get too fancy. We ain't that fancy. Tonnika Haynes [00:03:19]: I went to college for a little bit. Zeb Beard [00:03:20]: I said. I said conjunction. And you said the actual word for it? Tonnika Haynes [00:03:24]: No. Conjunction junction. I was just singing the damn part. Benjie Burris [00:03:26]: She was singing the. Singing the song from the elementary. Yeah, yeah. From the pbs. Zeb Beard [00:03:30]: It's a conjunction. Tonnika Haynes [00:03:31]: Yeah, that. Zeb Beard [00:03:31]: That's what I'm going with. I don't know if that's what sounds good. That's what we're using. Benjie Burris [00:03:34]: Sounds good. Tonnika Haynes [00:03:35]: All right, so I think I picked you guys because I was like, oh, Zeb. Brother keeps saying, oh, she won't even record with me. So Zeb did. He did an intro for me and Braxton because I was like, I want these two to do my intro, and we're going to rotate them. But Zeb's intro. We're going to do. We're going to do it. Zeb Beard [00:03:55]: Are we going to do it here? Tonnika Haynes [00:03:57]: We can redo it here. Zeb Beard [00:03:58]: It was. I don't know if I can do it again. It's one of them things. You just get it and you got to hit it. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:02]: You got it. Benjie Burris [00:04:03]: It took me three or four times, Tonnika Haynes [00:04:04]: but we can't say the bros in the hoes. Zeb Beard [00:04:06]: We can't say bros and the hoes. That's the best part. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:09]: I don't know. I was like, it's like for regular bros and for regular hoes. Zeb Beard [00:04:14]: And I was like, yeah, that's it. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:16]: That's what I told. And that's what it's like. It's for regular bro and for regular holes. Zeb Beard [00:04:21]: That's right. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:22]: No, but I think you guys are important to sit here together, because I think you're two powerhouses. And you know. You know it. You know it. Zeb Beard [00:04:29]: Oh, yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:30]: You don't take the credit for it. And I feel like when I'm listening to your stories that you have similar upbringings. Not, like with the family, whatever, but I think you came up in the industry kind of the same. Zeb Beard [00:04:42]: Yeah. Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:42]: Like you had a dream. Benjie Burris [00:04:43]: Yep. Tonnika Haynes [00:04:44]: You had a dream. And the way you built your business and the way you built your business, even though they're not the same, you have the same leadership style. He might cuss a little bit more and be a little bit more dramatic with it. You've toned it down just a little bit with your old age. Benjie Burris [00:05:00]: I've toned it down quite a bit. I have, but with that tone and downs allowed me to expand that leadership a little bit more and get the Tonnika Haynes [00:05:09]: hell out, because you're never at work now. This one won't sit down. Zeb Beard [00:05:13]: No. I got to be there. Tonnika Haynes [00:05:15]: But okay, not to be nosy. I'm 49. I'll tell everybody all day, black don't crack. I know that's right. And how old are you, Zeb? Zeb Beard [00:05:26]: I'm 47. Tonnika Haynes [00:05:27]: Okay. Benji, you're 40. Benjie Burris [00:05:29]: Just turned 49. Tonnika Haynes [00:05:30]: Just turned 49. Benjie Burris [00:05:31]: Just turned49. Tonnika Haynes [00:05:32]: So we're finna hit 50. And I've been in a business on my own for 10 years, but my whole life, since I was 16. I got a check since I was 16, so y' all do the math. I'm not doing all of that. We just had an English class with your wisdom and maturity. First of all, did you think you would be where you are now? And secondly, what in the hell have you learned in all of these years of being in this crazy industry that has nothing to do with a damn car? Benjie Burris [00:05:58]: Oh, shit. We ain't got six hours, dude. Tonnika Haynes [00:06:01]: We got an hour and a half. Zeb Beard [00:06:02]: I always dreamed of being where I was. I had my doubts at times, but I always dreamed of being where I am now. Like, if you had asked me. I entered the workforce at 14 years old, and at that time, I Had my vision was to be exactly where I am now. Now it was so huge and so large that I never imagined that I would ever get there. But now I probably passed. I probably passed my wildest dream that I had. Tonnika Haynes [00:06:35]: Did you ever. When you thought you were not going to get there, did you dial it back at any time? Zeb Beard [00:06:41]: I never dialed it back because I'm not a dollar backer, you know, they Benjie Burris [00:06:44]: have turned it up more. He keeps taking it to the next level. Zeb Beard [00:06:48]: There was times that I thought I might not make it, you know, what I wanted to be. At times I thought about reserving myself to whatever I was doing. But I never totally gave up on it. You know, I always had it in the back of my mind. Tonnika Haynes [00:07:02]: Yeah. Zeb Beard [00:07:03]: And I strayed. I mean, I didn't go straight here. I mean, I did, man, I did carpenter work, I drove a skitter, I worked in the logwoods. I've, you know, I've done a little bit of everything. Benjie Burris [00:07:14]: But you had a family you had to support. Zeb Beard [00:07:16]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:07:16]: And I always motivate you. Zeb Beard [00:07:18]: I always came back to this. Whatever I was doing, it always, in a way, it pushed me back to this industry. If I, if I was, I mean, like one one summer I built a house, a huge house. I helped build it. And even when I was up there hammering boards, hammering nails together or hammering boards and nails together, I'd end up over there working on the, on the company truck, on the company truck or the equipment or whatever like that too. I always ended up with a wrench in my hand no matter what I was doing. Benjie Burris [00:07:49]: So I ain't never got away from it. I started at 13 and I've told the story, you know, I wanted a horse. My parents said, you want a horse, get a job. And I got a job at a two bay service station. And I worked for that man for 17 years until I got pissed off and threw the radiator across the shop and said, you know, F you, I'm done, and left. But I've always been in this industry. Never, never see myself anywhere else. But I think whenever I started, I never really dreamed of owning my own shop. Benjie Burris [00:08:21]: I didn't. And if I had, I think I would have backed up a little bit and did, did a little bit more of the business side of it because damn, I made some stupid ass choices. I mean, just screwed up. And that's what I've told a lot of guys. Look, I might not be able to tell you how to do it exactly right, but I can tell you how not to do it right, Because I've made the mistakes, been there and done that. Tonnika Haynes [00:08:45]: That's important that people hear that. Because looking at you and looking at, looking at Dungalunga over here, he's like, you think he got it all together? No, dude, you messed up. Like, when we talked last, you was talking about. It was plenty of times I laid on the floor and I prayed to God, it's like, dude, help me. But then I think the best part of that conversation is you got your ass up and you did the work. Like, I was in a meeting and somebody was talking about, go home and I pray to God. And I was like, I was like, then what did you do after that? Like, cuz you thought he was going to come knock on the door and just like rescue you. Going to see like a light and say, here, my child, I've come to give you. Tonnika Haynes [00:09:16]: Like, I believe that the Lord gives you everything that you're. You're going to have when you're born. You already got it. You just have to figure out how to dig it out and use it. And like, you definitely have done a good job at that. So kudos. So that guy that you worked from when you were 17, then you threw a radiator. Why? You an asshole or he was an asshole? Benjie Burris [00:09:37]: No, no, I, I distinctively remember what happened. It was a, it was an older Honda and I was bolting the fans back on and I put the wrong bolt in it and I run the bolt through the radiator and instead of defecting that radiator out, he had me take it back out and put some JB weld on the bottom of it and put it back together, let it set up, put it back together. Well, the next day it was leaking and, and I told him, I said, all right, now we got to get it, we got to get a radiator for this thing. Well, if you wouldn't run a damn bolt through it, we wouldn't have this problem to start with. And. And it just hit me wrong and I threw the radiator across the shop and told him to kiss my ass. And that was after I'd worked for him for 17 years. Now, in full disclosure, the man was more like a father than he was a boss. Benjie Burris [00:10:19]: So. And I went, I went back and later on went back and tried to work things out. To this day, we have a great relationship still because he's a half a mile from my shop, so he's still alive still. You know, one of the, One of the biggest influences in my life was Avery Whitley. Tonnika Haynes [00:10:38]: So you're talking about the guy in the junkyard was a big influence in your life as well? Zeb Beard [00:10:42]: Yeah, he was the coolest. Some bitch I ever met. I thought he was. I mean, how we got started with him, we just started racing dirt track cars, right? And at that time, you'd buy all your parts for your car. You know, you didn't go buy a new engine. You go to the junkyard and find one. And so that was our junkyard guy. And we'd pull up there and he had a race truck and a fast boat and all this. Zeb Beard [00:11:04]: And I thought, man, this is the coolest guy I've ever met. And we made friends. We lived on a big ranch with a bunch of ponds on it. And I love bass fishing, of course. So me and him got to be free. I was just a kid, he was probably in his 30s, and I was 14, 15 years old. And he would come go fishing with me on those ponds. And then he ended up giving me a job. Zeb Beard [00:11:26]: Then I worked for him and he was a big influence. I wanted to be just like him. And in ways now I'm a lot like him, you know, still to this day. Tonnika Haynes [00:11:34]: Yeah. I think about when they talk about. People are talking about the technician shortage and this, that and whatever. And listening to both of you, it sounds like you were built, Somebody built you guys to be a Tex. You've got naturally born talent. I'm sure you've got naturally born talent. But there took the old man that you worked for 17 years and the guy from the junkyard, they pulled that stuff out of you. You've done a wonderful job in leadership and pulling great things out of people. Tonnika Haynes [00:11:57]: And I'm pretty sure you do the same thing. Your method has changed quite a bit because you have really been focusing on the leadership. How does that change your business? How does that change you building the checks? Cause you have a strong young staff to start with. Benjie Burris [00:12:12]: It changed me enough to where I had to back up and calm down. And I have gotten away from the do it as I say. I don't really give it do as I say. I've got away from that a whole lot. And I tell Cody all the time, I said, look, there's more than one way to get to the right answer. It don't have to be just exactly like you think it should be. You got to allow a little bit of freedom, allow the guys to make mistakes. And that's something that we've talked about earlier today is, you know, I've told all the guys in the shop, you won't never tear up as much shit as I have. Benjie Burris [00:12:46]: You won't never break as much stuff. Now, some of them might take that as a challenge sometimes, so, you know, you got to kind of watch that. But look, I got to where I'm at by screwing up. Tonnika Haynes [00:12:57]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:12:57]: And learning and doing it again. Like. Like you were saying, you got to get back up. You got to keep going. So being able to. To back up and say, what would you do if I wasn't here? Cody Burst gets so damn mad at me. He called me, asked me this, asked me that. What would you do if I wasn't here? Tonnika Haynes [00:13:15]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:13:15]: Make a decision, son. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:16]: Oh, that used to piss me off. Benjie Burris [00:13:17]: Oh, my God. Absolutely. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:19]: Just tell me. Benjie Burris [00:13:19]: Yeah, but what good does that do? Tonnika Haynes [00:13:21]: He doesn't. Benjie Burris [00:13:22]: What good does that do? All that does is daddy syndrome. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:25]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:13:25]: You know, I don't want to be the. I don't want to be that center cog of the wheel, dude. Fix it. Figure it out. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:31]: As I tell my service advisors, and not. Not too many texts are going to come to me, I'm not a technical person, but I tell the service advisor, I want you to come to me if you have to, with give me two. Two answers to your question. I will help you go through those answers, but please don't use my brain to do your work, because then I'm just going to take some of your money out of your check. Benjie Burris [00:13:48]: Like, if I got to do it Tonnika Haynes [00:13:51]: for you, then I might as well do it myself. Benjie Burris [00:13:52]: Why in the hell am I paying you? Tonnika Haynes [00:13:53]: Exactly. That's. Benjie Burris [00:13:55]: That's kind of how I look at that. Tonnika Haynes [00:13:56]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:13:57]: But again, you got to go back and you got to give them a little bit of rope, and sometimes it's enough rope to hang theirselves, but, by God, they're gonna learn from it. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:06]: Right? Benjie Burris [00:14:06]: You know, so I found out this morning we. We just bought a tire a little bit ago. We were doing some TPMS sensors, and that brand new Hunter tire changer just ripped the sidewall out of a tire. Zeb Beard [00:14:18]: I'm glad I'm not the only one that's ever done that. Benjie Burris [00:14:20]: Hey, man. But you know what? Tonnika Haynes [00:14:21]: He won't do it again. Benjie Burris [00:14:22]: Yeah, he won't do it again, you know? Tonnika Haynes [00:14:24]: Yeah. And then you. You going to him and fussing at him and just going hail on, and what does it do? Benjie Burris [00:14:29]: He's already. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:30]: If he's a good man, he's a good technician, and he loves what he does. He's already punished himself enough. Guarantee he cannot. He's playing that over and over in his head, and he will not do it again. So you go in the back there to tell him, boy, it did this. This stuff. Whatever. What's the point? So I'll say all of that to say that I have learned in the last couple years, with coaching and different training and podcasts, that leadership is the key. Tonnika Haynes [00:14:55]: You said it best. We were talking about a troubled employee that I had a couple, you know, a couple of days ago. You know what the best thing about the business is? The people. Benjie Burris [00:15:04]: The worst thing about the business is the people. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:06]: You can't see it any simpler. Zeb Beard [00:15:08]: Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:08]: Yeah. So I want to commend you or your staff. When we were at the shop, how everybody gave you your roses right there in front of you. That had to feel. I mean, what does that feel like? Benjie Burris [00:15:21]: I tell you, it makes you proud. It really does. But I love my guys. I mean, I love my guys, and not just as technicians as humans. And I want to see all them be better. Yeah. I want to see them be a better technician or a better advisor, but more than that, I want to see them be a better father, a better husband, better communicator. You know, Josh's class, Josh Parnell's class with the communication. Benjie Burris [00:15:48]: That's something that we've turned the. The whole shop onto, and the guys love it. Tonnika Haynes [00:15:52]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:15:52]: You know, being able to. To ask those questions and. And back up and help me understand that is huge right there. Help me understand. You know, now I have put my own spin on that. I've had a couple of pretty tough conversations with. Help me understand what the. You were thinking. Tonnika Haynes [00:16:09]: Right. Benjie Burris [00:16:09]: You know, been there, done that. But still, you got to kind of back up just a little bit and really make them think more. Allow them to think more. Zeb Beard [00:16:23]: That's something I struggle with. That's probably my biggest thing is being able to let go. I still try to do all of them. I still try to knock them out of the way. Let me do it and see, and that hurts their confidence. It's hard for me to build their confidence. I haven't figured out how to build their confidence like I really need to, because that's. That's not the way I did it. Zeb Beard [00:16:45]: When I came up, I was the one coming up knocking the boss out of the way. Get out of the way. Let me do it. So I don't know how to. Somebody that doesn't have that personality type is hard for me to learn how to. How to bring them up, how to get confidence for them. Benjie Burris [00:17:01]: Zeb, I Was very much where. Where you. Or with that style, attitude, whatever you want to call it. Five or six years ago, I had employees walk out. I've made them cry, quit, whatever, right there. But I don't want it to be all about me, you know, it's about that next generation. It's about all those other guys. And by doing that, that has allowed me to get a lot more of that freedom. Benjie Burris [00:17:32]: You know, you joke all the time. Well, you ain't never there. He ain't never there. Well, still there some. But by doing that and by giving them that energy to go in and make the decisions, that's allowed me to be able to back out a lot more. Now I'm still. Again. I've been on the phone with Cody multiple times this morning. Benjie Burris [00:17:54]: I'm still available, but, man, it's nice to be able to kind of get away some. It really is. I'm enjoying it. Tonnika Haynes [00:18:03]: You can get to Florida a little bit more, but. But here's the thing. You say you don't think you're that type of person. I don't think nobody really is. I'm Capricorn all day. What I say go. I know everything. Can't nobody tell me shit. Tonnika Haynes [00:18:13]: But I had to learn that that was not gonna get me any further than what I already was. I always felt like I had to touch every car. I need to look at every ro. I had to audit everything. You didn't do this, right? And why did you do this? Like I was looking at everything. I find that I do not look at much more than the KPIs and make sure everything is on track. And I listen to phone calls. I do phone call auditing. Tonnika Haynes [00:18:34]: So I audit the business, and I give them all the tools that they need to do their job. And I definitely want my team to be smarter than me now. It feels so good. Eyes not twitching. I'm here. I got here. What? On a Tuesday? Wednesday. I don't even know what damn day of the week it is. Tonnika Haynes [00:18:49]: Is it Friday? Zeb Beard [00:18:50]: I can't keep up with it either. Tonnika Haynes [00:18:51]: Yeah. So leadership is not something that everybody's born with. But I do think that it can be learned. And it doesn't mean that you're not Kid Rock, you're not a superstar anymore. It's that you're just gonna make a whole lot of little superstars. And that's what makes me feel good. That I can look at Haley or Stuart and I can sit there and coach them to a level that even if they don't stay with Me forever. They will remember that Ms. Tonnika Haynes [00:19:15]: Tanika did this for them. Same. I'll say the same thing for you. Benjie Burris [00:19:17]: Absolutely. Tonnika Haynes [00:19:18]: Yeah. And, like, Jordan called me from school a couple weeks ago. He's like, mom, you're a really good leader, and you're a really good boss. And I'm like, oh, damn. Thank you. Thank you. And at the end of the day, you know, we can buy the things we always talk about. World domination. Tonnika Haynes [00:19:35]: You know, I want me every Mercedes on the lot except for the ones that start with C. And, you know, you want to travel the world at each Oceans, mountains, whatever. But at the end of the day when you're called up, I want to say a good job was done. I want my father to say, well done, child. Come on in here. I told you about a couple of things, but come on in. You know what I'm saying? So that's what I feel about leadership, and it has really changed my business. Really changed my business. Tonnika Haynes [00:20:02]: So. No, no, maybe you should get on the leadership bus with us. Benjie Burris [00:20:05]: What's the. What's the saying? You can get anywhere you want to go in life as long as you help others, Help others get there, get to where they want to go. Tonnika Haynes [00:20:13]: Right? Yeah. So. Yes. How many techs do you have working for you now? Do you. Do you have anybody? Zeb Beard [00:20:20]: I got two. Tonnika Haynes [00:20:21]: You got two. Zeb Beard [00:20:21]: I got two techs. We kind of run a little different. So I'm the diagnostic guy, right? I do the diagnostic. We got a DVI guy. He gets the vehicles first. He does the DVI full inspection. He inspects everything. Then I come along. Zeb Beard [00:20:36]: Before I even go to the vehicle, I look at that DVI and the customer complaint. Then I got a pretty good idea which direction I need to go. I do the diagnostic, figure out what needs to be done to it. Then I got the two animals. I call them my son and cow. Cal's been with me since 2018. Of course, my son's been with me since he was three years old. He's been working in that shop. Zeb Beard [00:20:57]: So for the nuts and bolts apart replacement, it goes to the animals. And, man, I'm telling you, they can put out the work because they don't do anything but the nuts and bolts, like replace the transmission, replace the ball joints, replace the engine, replace the fuel system. Now Kyle's coming along. He's starting to do some diagnostics. He's helping me with diagnostics, and he's getting better at that. My son, he still. He can do some, but that's still. He's still Young, though. Zeb Beard [00:21:23]: He's 22, so he's still all about physical strength and stamina, so nuts and bolts is still his thing. Benjie Burris [00:21:30]: How old is Kyle? Zeb Beard [00:21:32]: Kyle is 20, upper 20s. Benjie Burris [00:21:35]: Yeah. Zeb Beard [00:21:36]: He may be 30 now. Benjie Burris [00:21:37]: Okay. Tonnika Haynes [00:21:38]: Yeah. Zeb Beard [00:21:38]: So he's getting up there as far as that goes. You know, he's. He's. He's not as. He's not as fast as he was, but he's still. Benjie Burris [00:21:45]: But he's a hell of a lot smarter now. Zeb Beard [00:21:47]: Yeah, he's still in his prime, you know. Benjie Burris [00:21:51]: Oh, yeah. Zeb Beard [00:21:52]: So as far as physical goes, he's a Marine and everything, so. Matter of fact, he's gone right now for. He was gone all year last year. 20. Tonnika Haynes [00:22:00]: Okay, I remember. Zeb Beard [00:22:01]: Yeah, he was gone for the whole year of 25. He's gone for two weeks right now. Some kind of military stuff, so. And then I got the cleanup guy. The cleanup guy. I talked about this on podcast. I recorded Brian yesterday, and we call him the cleanup guy. And I really need to find a new word for that, because that kind of sounds like a menial task. Zeb Beard [00:22:21]: Cleanup guy. Tonnika Haynes [00:22:21]: Actually, the cleanup man is the man that comes to your wife's house when you stay gone all the time. His name is Jody, and there's a song in the African American community about the cleanup man. I'll send it to you. Yeah, cleanup man is Jody. Zeb Beard [00:22:35]: Yeah, it's a little different. Tonnika Haynes [00:22:36]: We got to give him a different name. Cause you talking to cleanup guy. Oh, no, he keeps the maintenance technician. Zeb Beard [00:22:42]: Yeah, he cleans up and keeps. He keeps it organized. When the. When the nuts and bolts guys. When the animals get done, they got a mess. I move the vehicle out and I go drive it. And he comes in and he makes the bay look like new again. Puts up all the gear, cleans up Tonnika Haynes [00:22:57]: all the maintenance coordinator. Zeb Beard [00:22:59]: So that way, when I pull another one in there, it's ready to go. Tonnika Haynes [00:23:02]: Ready to go. You've got a good assembly line, but I need you to teach those other guys some of your diagnostic skills. Zeb Beard [00:23:08]: Yeah, Kyle's getting there. He's. He's working on it. Zachary still. He. He. He can do it, but he don't want to do it right now. So that's when he gets the. Zeb Beard [00:23:19]: Want to. He'll. Benjie Burris [00:23:20]: Once the. Once the hurts and the ailments start getting a little bit more and, well, his shoulders. Zeb Beard [00:23:25]: He does it. He's not. Believe it or not, he's only 22, but he's not a computer guy. So, you know, a lot of. A lot of a. Diagnostic guys think you're sitting in Front of a computer doing research. And he don't, he still don't. Me and his mama stay on to him all the time because he don't, he don't do his write ups on tech metric. Zeb Beard [00:23:47]: He don't like doing none of that. He likes for me to walk in there and say, son, that truck right there, put that engine in. That's what he likes. Benjie Burris [00:23:54]: What about like, like text to talk and, or talk to text, that kind of stuff? Is he, is he open to any of that? Zeb Beard [00:24:01]: He's not a tech guy. Tonnika Haynes [00:24:03]: He's got to learn to lead, though. Zeb Beard [00:24:04]: I know. I know it. That's what I told him. I said, son, it's all gonna be yours one day. You need to start working on this. And it'll. I'm hoping it'll come to him. Tonnika Haynes [00:24:14]: It's gotta. Well, you might have to do some dad work and just forcing on him. Cause that I was forced to talk. I'm not. Believe it or not, I am not a talker. Zeb Beard [00:24:22]: Well, now he likes to talk, but Tonnika Haynes [00:24:23]: that's the thing that would make me uncomfortable. So if the tech stuff makes him uncomfortable, as far as the computer, you have to force him to be uncomfortable. Benjie Burris [00:24:29]: Zeb, you know what? Tonnika Haynes [00:24:30]: I did get a brace or something, Benjie Burris [00:24:31]: say my wrist don't work whenever, whenever Cody got come up to that front and he's told this story before. Me and Christie left for three weeks during COVID We went on a cross country road trip. Cody didn't have a clue how to, how to do any type of service advising. But he kept coming out of that shop, out of that shop, out of that shop. Helping the lady up front. Tonnika Haynes [00:24:50]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:24:50]: And he got to the point, he's like, all right, well, if I can sell X amount. He set a goal with himself. If I can sell this amount and I'm going home, I'm going to dad's house and I'm going to pull out one of his polos and I'm going to wear a polo for the rest of the week. Sure enough, he did. He had his goal. And Cody's been in that front office ever since. He was a. He was a technician. Benjie Burris [00:25:07]: He loved the tech side of it, but boy, he has really excelled on that advisor side of it. Tonnika Haynes [00:25:13]: Yeah, that kid's grown a whole lot. Benjie Burris [00:25:15]: He has. Tonnika Haynes [00:25:15]: That kid. Benjie Burris [00:25:16]: He has. He's 25. He's 25. And like Zachary, I mean, he's grown up in the business. He's been out there his whole life. Tonnika Haynes [00:25:24]: Dad did the same thing to me. He just left 16 the summer of 16, he was gone. He was on vacation, and I was gonna seek a swim, but he already knew, you already know that he can do it. And I tell people he already knew that I could do it. It's like the whole wax on, wax off crap. I've said it a million times. I know it's gonna get redundant, but I mean, you know what he can do, and you know that he's not gonna fail your business, but you just have to get him out of his comfort zone. And that's a lot of things with young techs. Tonnika Haynes [00:25:50]: That's the thing. I think a lot of shop owners are not prepared to be the leader and the teacher. They just want to go in there, just do it. Just do it. It's like learning to teach somebody is so difficult. Just like when the boys start doing Common Core math homework. Zeb Beard [00:26:06]: Oh, yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:26:06]: Oh, my God. I'm just like, I don't want to learn. Nothing else is Jimmy, have three apples. But I mean, it's your, your duty as a business owner. If we want to bring young people in the industry, and we need to, because they're the ones that have the brain capacity to learn all this new technology and all the things that are going on with these big ass computers with wheels on them, we're going to have to learn how to be uncles and aunties and coaches and leaders, and if you have to throw a wrench at them, just teach them how to duck. Benjie Burris [00:26:41]: I tell you something that just happened to me the other day, and you talk about a proud, proud moment. So I was asked to speak in an advisory board for apprenticeships right there in Albemarle. And Ethan, my apprentice, he was asked to speak as well. Ethan don't do crowds. He don't like being front and center all the time. Yeah, yeah. But when me and him were talking about it on the ride up, I said, so how'd I get you into this? He said, I'll be completely honest with you. He said, I can't stand talking in front of people. Benjie Burris [00:27:11]: And I know this is the only way I'm going to get better at it because I'm going to have to talk in front of people. Tonnika Haynes [00:27:15]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:27:16]: So he had made out his speech and he was ready to go up there, and he knocked it out of the park. Getting comfortable, being uncomfortable. Tonnika Haynes [00:27:24]: Exactly. That's where your growth is. Like, I'm not a talker. And when Braxton kept pushing me to do the podcast, like I'm doing, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, oh, Ms. Tanika, you doing. Oh, my God. But then I started doing the lipstick report. Tonnika Haynes [00:27:35]: Just putting stuff on Facebook so I can stand to hear myself talking. It's like, oh, I'm not. I don't sound like everybody else. And then it's like, you shouldn't sound like. Benjie Burris [00:27:42]: It don't matter. You're not everybody else. Tonnika Haynes [00:27:44]: I'm not everybody else. Benjie Burris [00:27:44]: There you go. Zeb Beard [00:27:45]: I went through that for a while. It's been a long time. I didn't like. I didn't like the sound of my voice on camera. Now I'm. I'm the opposite of that. If I'm on a podcast, I listen to it. Benjie Burris [00:27:54]: Good to go. Zeb Beard [00:27:54]: I listen to it three or four times. Tonnika Haynes [00:27:55]: I'm going to listen to myself. Benjie Burris [00:27:57]: I do sound like cornbread in the background. Tonnika Haynes [00:27:59]: Sound like cornbread in the background. It's all good. It's all good if you. Cause we're unique, right? Benjie Burris [00:28:04]: Yep. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:05]: Why do you two think that we do not have enough young people coming into the industry? And I think it's more than just the old mean people saying, oh, it's bad. You should never do this, blah, blah, blah. In my opinion. I believe that one. Remember, we used to have career day? Benjie Burris [00:28:21]: Mm. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:22]: There's no career day. And I also believe that the parents do not respect the industry. Until this breaks down. Benjie Burris [00:28:29]: I don't think it's. It's not just our industry. Zeb Beard [00:28:31]: It's any. Benjie Burris [00:28:32]: Any trades. Tonnika Haynes [00:28:33]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:28:34]: I think we failed as. As first. We failed as. As parents because it. It starts at home. I don't give a damn what they say. It starts at home. But then the school systems have. Benjie Burris [00:28:44]: Have failed as well. And I think that, you know, I know for us at our age in the automotive industry, if. If you were, you know, causing troubles or whatever in school, you were pushed towards those trades. That's. That's where they pushed you towards. Well, now I think we're really starting to. To reap what happened, you know, what we sown and try to try to get a plumber to come out to your house or try to get an electrician to come out. My God, you're going to pay for them. Zeb Beard [00:29:11]: That's a big problem I got. You hear all these talking heads, Tom? Well, look at the H VAC industry. Looked at plumbing, man, it ain't no better. It's probably worse. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:22]: Yeah. They just got a little bit more. Zeb Beard [00:29:23]: You can't get your air conditioner fixed. You can't get your plumbing fixed. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:26]: They just replaced. Zeb Beard [00:29:27]: Me and Benji know we end up having to do it ourselves, we can't do it right. So it's not just our industry. Benjie Burris [00:29:33]: It's all. Zeb Beard [00:29:34]: And I don't think it's just the trades either. I don't that's. It's hard to find anybody to do a good job doing anything. Benjie Burris [00:29:42]: Taking pride. Taking pride in your work. Tonnika Haynes [00:29:45]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:29:45]: And you know, that's. That's something that. I don't know. Do we, do we take pride in what we do anymore? Tonnika Haynes [00:29:53]: I mean, I do, I know I do. Benjie Burris [00:29:56]: But. But as a whole, because, dude, I had a. I had a H Vac company come out the other day. I got a geothermal in my house. I so damn mad by the time I got done, I had I not been in Mexico on vacation, I'd killed somebody. They're supposed to be there on Wednesday, they show up on Friday. Broke a water line up under the house tour insulation. Zeb Beard [00:30:19]: Oh hell, I can name all of the. All of the trades that everybody talks about. Plumbing, H Vac. Because I just got through building a building and I had a house. I had two houses and in my old shop I added on to it three times. I have dealt with every organization that they talk about is so great and none, not a single one has done a satisfactory job for me. Tonnika Haynes [00:30:43]: But other people don't know that. Cause they don't know what to look for. Right, Right. So you know better. Zeb Beard [00:30:48]: My electrician, I'm not gonna name his name. Tonnika Haynes [00:30:52]: He's your electrician. He ain't got that many damn names to go with. Zeb Beard [00:30:54]: And he ain't the one that I deal with now. He's the one that worked in my new building. That was the worst. He's got every license, certification that you can have. And he screwed up more. That's a lazy, sorry piece of shit. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:09]: I go on and tell you laziness is serious. There's some lazy individuals in all trades. Zeb Beard [00:31:16]: I'll be fixing electrical stuff in that building for 10 years before I get it all straightened out. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:22]: Wow. Zeb Beard [00:31:23]: It's nothing big. It's just not pride in his work. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:26]: Yeah, that's wild. But that is so. Zeb Beard [00:31:30]: They're always talking about. Tonnika Haynes [00:31:30]: I get political and say that's just a miracle right now. But that for me, in my opinion, I think that comes from lack of the village. When I was growing up, there was a village around you. There was your neighbor, that mean old lady up the street. Anybody can whoop your ass and anybody can look at you. And you knew, okay, for example, in high school, Benji in high school for you, I had 15 inch subwoofers in the back of that 87 Volkswagen Go. And I had four of them and he, boom, boom. But if you pulled up to the light and it was a little old lady, whether you know or not you turn it down, you had respect. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:05]: And so respect has been leaving and leaving. And we've been worried about everybody's feelings and being politically correct. Benjie Burris [00:32:12]: What caused a lot of that shit? Tonnika Haynes [00:32:13]: What's that? Benjie Burris [00:32:14]: And God blessed cell phones. We have. We have. We no longer make eye contact, interact with people. And we can't. We don't read body language. We don't give a shit. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:25]: Yeah, I don't know. Zeb Beard [00:32:27]: I don't know that I could blame it on cell phones, though. I don't know what to blame it on. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:31]: I think I blame the lack of family. Zeb Beard [00:32:34]: I don't know what we can blame it on. But it's changed in everybody. Not just in our. What I'm getting back to, it's not just in our trade. It's not in just the trades. It's in computer programmers, everything. That's the reason it's AI stuff's taken over because you can't get a person to do it. So you gotta create a robot to do it. Tonnika Haynes [00:32:54]: True. Cause walking to McDonald's, you really didn't even talk to anybody. They want you to use a kiosk. I literally walked out of Bojang's the other day feeling connection. I was like, I gotta push. Let me just get in the car. Nevermind, I'm not doing all of that. Christy was talking when she got the soda last night. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:09]: She went and got those two sodas and the girl wanted a tip in a convenience store. Benjie Burris [00:33:12]: Paid $9 to get two sodas. And then she asked for a tip. Dan wanted the tip, Dan wants the tip. Yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:17]: So we've got our own self to blame. So how do we fix it? Zeb Beard [00:33:20]: I don't know. I've been studying on it a long time. I really don't have an answer. I wish I did. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:25]: Cause we got people like Jordan. Jordan got a 96 on his. Some kind of diagnostic test in Mercedes. He shared that with me this morning. Got 96. And what he had to do is show all of his work. And so he sent me to the board and had all the papers on it. I don't know what the hell I'm looking at, but I was like, that's a lot of words. Tonnika Haynes [00:33:43]: You've got these kids like Jordan Santana wants to be in the office. You've got the outliers, we gotta find the outlier. Kids and pull them in and be uncle and show them, but not be soft on them. Cause I was never soft on my kids. Now I love the shit out of my children. Never soft. Cause Carlos will tell you, when Jordan worked for him, he was like, I didn't even know my shop was that dirty till your son came and cleaned it up. Because I am determined to make my kids a very productive part of society. Tonnika Haynes [00:34:15]: I don't care what you do. I don't care if you're sweeping the floors. I don't care if you're the maintenance guy at Strokos Diesel. You gonna be the best damn maintenance guy in the whole world. I don't think these kids walk around with the pride because they don't have a parent to teach them about the pride. There's no community. The teachers are burnt out. It's just like a whole domino effect. Tonnika Haynes [00:34:32]: So I'm just thinking all the time when I hear people complain about nobody's coming into the trades and this, that and whatever. And these kids all think they can be gamers. I think the kids just are lost and they don't know where to start and they don't have anybody to trust. Zeb Beard [00:34:46]: Well, I think that's the only way you can save them. You're not going to save all of them. So you still got to be hard on them to find those outliers. You can't bring them in there. Like everybody's teaching right now. Oh, you got to bring them in there and pet them and buy them tools. I don't think that's how you do it. Tonnika Haynes [00:35:01]: Right. Zeb Beard [00:35:01]: I think that just gonna make the problem worse. Tonnika Haynes [00:35:03]: How do you find them? What are you gonna find them at? Zeb Beard [00:35:05]: I don't know where you find them. You just bring them in and beat on them. And if they survive the beating and they get to stay, if they don't, they're gonna win. Tonnika Haynes [00:35:12]: I'm gonna beat em. I mean, that's some truth to that. Zeb Beard [00:35:16]: Think about, toughen them up a little bit. The two animals I got, they survived the beatings. And there's untold numbers of them that didn't survive the beatings. And they left, Right? You know, I had one. That's why right now I'm not even studying on an apprentice. I tried to bring one in. It started in the same old deal. Oh, I just want to work for you. Zeb Beard [00:35:37]: You got the best, you know, you're the best. You're. You're all this. This for even had the big shop. You, you know, you're the elite you're this, that. You're that. I just want to learn from you. I'd work for you for free just to get a job. Tonnika Haynes [00:35:48]: All this. Zeb Beard [00:35:49]: Whatever you can have, whatever you. If you can just hire me to tie your shoes, I'll come in there and work. So I did. And he come in there and he did good at first, you know. And I did everything for this boy that I. Within reason, you know, I didn't bring him in there and pet on him. But I was easier on him than I was on my boy. And I was good to this kid. Zeb Beard [00:36:09]: I bought him a truck for his graduation. He had an old raggly car, and it was always breaking down on his way to. Or his mom or somebody had to borrow it or this or that. So I bought him a truck for graduation so he'd get to work. He drove that truck about two months. And then he started driving his old car again. I don't even know where the truck went. And then I'd get texts, I'm not going to be at work today because of this. Zeb Beard [00:36:32]: Not going to be at work today because of that. And then it finally got to be, where I just won't be at work today. And then it got to be. It wasn't even. Tonnika Haynes [00:36:42]: He just didn't show up without cleaning. Zeb Beard [00:36:44]: He didn't show up. He was a shop cleaner. That's how you started my place. And then started letting him work on a few trucks, you know, and it was. The work was not good. So just like my boy's been fired. Tonnika Haynes [00:36:56]: I've been fired several times. How many times you fired Cody? Benjie Burris [00:36:59]: Cody's been fired. Absolutely. Zeb Beard [00:37:01]: I never even fired this boy. And then we moved into the new shop and he started doing pretty good over there. And I said, well, you know, at that time, it was a horrible experiment. I built a lot of those rooms in there where workers could stay there if they wanted to. So I said, you can. You can get you one of those rooms up there, you know. I said, but I only got one rule. You can't bring nobody over. Zeb Beard [00:37:23]: Nobody's to come over here. Broke the rule. So I kicked him. I said, you got. You gotta leave. This fool brought one time, this before I even kicked him out. Didn't even kick him out for this. Should have him. Zeb Beard [00:37:36]: And another one was staying there. And we had the best month we ever had. Not because of them two, because of the rest of the crew, but they were there. So everybody in the shop got a big bonus because of that. And they went and put their money together and bought as much dope as they could buy. And I walked in to the break room because their rooms was right above the break room. I walked in the break room that morning and the break room is open to the customer. It smelled like, yeah, whatever in there Tonnika Haynes [00:38:09]: smell like Jamaica, mon. Zeb Beard [00:38:11]: And I thought it was the other one now, the other one took the file form. I said, get this out of my house right now. Tonnika Haynes [00:38:17]: Right. Zeb Beard [00:38:17]: And ended up firing him that day for Blue boats. Fired that one. Well, then we get the iPad that the other one had. And text messages started coming in between those two. Found out this apprentice was this other boy. Took the file for the Apprentice. It belonged to the apprentice. So I told him, I said, I'm going to give you a second chance. Zeb Beard [00:38:41]: I didn't fire him. And then it wasn't long after that he brought somebody in my house when I wasn't there. Nobody was there. Somebody I don't even know. So I kicked him out of there. He didn't like that. And that's when things really started going down. And I remember that week before I finally fired him, every day at 2 o', clock, I gotta go. Zeb Beard [00:39:03]: He had a lot of family problems, so I thought he was having family problems. I gotta go. I gotta go. Every day at 2:00'. Tonnika Haynes [00:39:12]: Clock. Zeb Beard [00:39:12]: And then he sends me a message. Just let me know when you got something for me to do and I'll come back. Tonnika Haynes [00:39:22]: Oh, that's a little arrogant. Zeb Beard [00:39:23]: That's when I knew he didn't like that he wasn't getting to work on cars no more. But he'd been messing up. I mean, he put a battery in a vehicle, the same kind of vehicle, put it in backwards twice. Twice. And at this time. So the last text message I got was, I'm not coming into work today. I said, just don't come back. Benjie Burris [00:39:47]: Don't come back at all. Zeb Beard [00:39:48]: If you can't be at work, just don't come back. Tonnika Haynes [00:39:50]: No. Zeb Beard [00:39:50]: Well, then he was mad at him and his mama and his whole family. I was evil, arrogant, you know, since I got money, I'm mean and all that. I think I'm better than everybody else. No, it's because you don't do. You didn't do your damn job. Tonnika Haynes [00:40:03]: It's so funny how people would deflect and blame everybody except for looking at themselves. Zeb Beard [00:40:08]: So when I got rid of him, I hired a 70 year old man and my shop has never been cleaner. And I imagine when this podcast airs, if any of them listen to it, I imagine it's gonna be a Bunch of, bunch of hate mail come out. Cause I made a post one day when the 70 year old man got sick and he couldn't come to work. I had to hire somebody new. I said, I need, I want somebody older because I'm done with these, I'm done with the apprentices for a while. I gotta have a break. And they saw it and then they were saying it was bad leadership and all this. Tonnika Haynes [00:40:36]: But no. Well, actually I had the second episode with Jeff Jada mechanic. We're talking about technicians taking accountability for some of their issues. Like you are not right. Yes. Oh, shop owners. Shop owners are not getting all the money that you think that we're getting. Like, chill out. Tonnika Haynes [00:40:56]: But people that just cannot look at themselves and say, okay, am I the problem in my business here lately with leadership, my focus is, okay, let me work on me. Am I communicating effectively? Am I giving the tools that they need? Let me make sure I check myself first. I'm not gonna go in the shop. Like, oh, whoop the whoop. You just that, whatever. All right, do they have everything that they need? Then I can go cuss you out. So I had a tech and he was decent guy, he wasn't the best and he made mistakes and we found a lot of mistakes after he left. But to God be the glory, that is what it is. Tonnika Haynes [00:41:26]: That's what I'm going to be with anybody. Zeb Beard [00:41:27]: Oh yeah. Tonnika Haynes [00:41:28]: But the way he quit that job after I felt all the things that I did for you, I had two of those that I poured into. And then the way they quit the job or the way they left things, I was like, I cannot believe these people. But I believe it just has to be the way society is right now and they get away with it. And so actually after that podcast, I didn't realize it was him. And I'm sure something's going to come up after this airs. But he put under and I didn't know it was him. He put under that clip. I wish I didn't rage quit. Tonnika Haynes [00:41:56]: I wish I had the conversation. So one, that tells me I was doing something right. And two, he has regrets. Calm the hell down. Like, dude, if you're missing a bolt out of something, you are the problem. You can't get mad at me. Cause I had to reprimand you. Like, grow up. Zeb Beard [00:42:16]: You still gotta have pride in your work. You can't blame. Tonnika Haynes [00:42:18]: You gotta have pride in your work. And if the owner of that shop is irritated or made and you do have to be spoken to, you got to remember the Same way a technician says, my toolbox got wheels. Our shop ain't got no damn wheels. You make a mistake, you can leave. I can't go nowhere. Zeb Beard [00:42:33]: That's right. Tonnika Haynes [00:42:33]: My name is on that building. Calm down. What I say go. Whether. Like my dad said in the podcast, and I know it sounds arrogant, I'm right, even if I'm wrong, because I've got to pay for all of those mistakes. So I think that's the thing about technicians, they don't get about shop owners. It's not always about a KPI, is that we are ultimately responsible for everything that goes under that roof. Your toolbox has wheels. Benjie Burris [00:42:59]: But it's not just responsible for just our shop. We're responsible for families, for health insurance. Zeb Beard [00:43:06]: Everybody on that highway. Tonnika Haynes [00:43:07]: Everybody on that highway. Because if something happens to that vehicle Benjie Burris [00:43:12]: that you just fixed, it's our ass. Tonnika Haynes [00:43:14]: They're coming after the me, not the technician whose name's on the ro. Benjie Burris [00:43:17]: Yep. Tonnika Haynes [00:43:18]: And if you're not willing to take that responsibility, shut the hell up. Cause I had to take full responsibility. That last problem cost me how much? $20,000. $20,000. Give me $20,000. Shut the hell up, then. Yeah. Zeb Beard [00:43:35]: Where was that little fucker when I was laying on the floor with my shop face down, begging to go out? I was wishing my toolbox had wheels. Tonnika Haynes [00:43:41]: Where were they when I was there with my damn two kids? And we would see them sweeping cracks and corners and shit. And I'm there on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Now you gonna say something about, I'm not at work every day? I wish I would. Zeb Beard [00:43:58]: Yeah. Talking about leaders, Tom. Talking about leadership. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:00]: Let's talk about building a brand and building a business and having respect in the community and being able to walk into Walmart like Santana said he was in Walmart and somebody called his name because he's always been. He's like, mom, three people said something to me. I don't know who these people are. We are part of the community. Zeb Beard [00:44:18]: That's right. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:21]: You can't be sitting here messing up stuff. They're not looking for you. They're looking for Benji. Antonio Burruss. That is not his middle name. It's like Lamont or Lorenzo or something. Zeb Beard [00:44:32]: Oh, I don't know. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:33]: But they're not looking for you. So if we all work together, you let me lead, you let me lead the best way I can, and I will continue to work on myself. I need you to wrench the best way you can, and you continue to work on yourself. But you are not the end all be all. And there's always something to learn. I've got shit to learn. You still in classes learning every day. Every single day. Tonnika Haynes [00:44:56]: Some podcast, some book or what. Every single day. Technicians need to take responsibility and learn themselves. And here's another thing. Left vision. And I'm going to get in trouble for this. Say whatever you want to say. I don't find me Left vision. Tonnika Haynes [00:45:11]: And I'm looking at people reading, complaining about training. Oh, this was the same class. This is the same class. This is stupid. Same class. And I'm sitting there in the hallways during class time, watching these young whippersnappers sit outside of the class, playing on their phone. They're not even going in class. They're watching TikToks. Zeb Beard [00:45:30]: Let me tell you, the maddest I ever got about something like it. And it didn't even have nothing to do with me. Tonnika Haynes [00:45:36]: Yep. Zeb Beard [00:45:37]: We got our local training classes that we had that come through every six months. And it's what brought me up when I started going to those. That's what brought me up. It really is. I wouldn't be where I am without those. And we got a dealership there in town, local dealership. And I used to work there back when I was a teenager and worked for the man what owns it. He's a good man. Zeb Beard [00:45:58]: And he was paying these guys to come to class. He paid for the class. And I'm pretty sure he was paying them to be there. Tell you what these son bitches did, they come in there. We had food. They come in there, got their food and ate, come in there and sit down in class till we took the. Tonnika Haynes [00:46:19]: The roster. Zeb Beard [00:46:20]: The roster. And some bitches got up and walked out. Tonnika Haynes [00:46:23]: No. Zeb Beard [00:46:24]: You know what I'd done if I found that out? I'd have fired every one of their asses. I wouldn't care. If I didn't have nobody working in the shop, I'd have went back here myself and done it. Tonnika Haynes [00:46:34]: That's what I love about you guys. That's some shit my dad would do. Zeb Beard [00:46:36]: And I remember that I saw the Ambassador do that. And I. If one of them some bitches ever come in my shop looking for a job, I'd never forget this day. I don't care how good they are. Benjie Burris [00:46:44]: What's the difference in that? And sitting right here in a class, right here at Tools, playing on her phone the whole damn time, paying no attention at all. Tonnika Haynes [00:46:51]: And I'm sitting there and you are in front of the class. Ganye. His name is Ganye, not Gaines. Tell Chris. He does not know how to say his last name. I said, so you guys are sitting in the front of the class. Zeb Beard [00:47:01]: I'm gonna sit in the front. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:03]: And these kids are in the back of the class playing on their phone, Benjie Burris [00:47:07]: not paying a damn bit of attention. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:08]: They're on there listening to podcasts, good or bad podcasts, and they're like, yeah, yeah, I'm not getting enough money. You ain't worth all the money that you think you worth, baby. I watched you. You didn't. You did not go in there and learn anything. If I'm paying for you to go, I'm paying for you to go. I'm paying for your hotel room. You're having fun. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:26]: You're networking, having food. Please get the knowledge, because the shop owner is not making you go to class. It's an opportunity for you to learn. Because when you leave that shop, if you leave that shop, you're gonna leave with more than you came with, and you're getting it for free. You're not having to pay for it. He can't take your knowledge when you leave. And then another thing. I don't know how you guys feel about this. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:50]: Sometimes shop owners are just shit. And they will not. Benjie Burris [00:47:52]: Absolutely. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:53]: That's true. They invest in their staff. Benjie Burris [00:47:54]: Absolutely. Tonnika Haynes [00:47:55]: And they don't invest in training and whatever. But I think sometimes we got a whole. Zeb Beard [00:48:00]: We got a whole pretty much estate full of them. I don't know. I ain't met nobody from Arkansas here. Tonnika Haynes [00:48:05]: It's not that many of us out there. I don't know if it's 10% or top 5% or whatever they say, but they're not training each other. Zeb Beard [00:48:13]: And then they won't run their mouth about shops like our. Tonnika Haynes [00:48:16]: They. Zeb Beard [00:48:17]: They charge too much. They ripping them folks off. Tonnika Haynes [00:48:19]: Yeah. Benjie Burris [00:48:20]: They ain't got a damn clue. Tonnika Haynes [00:48:21]: Have no clue. Benjie Burris [00:48:21]: No idea on financials. I just met a guy right here at Tools last night. Had dinner with him. He's from a Firestone. He said point blank, he had never. This is his first. First training event ever. He said, I never knew anything about this. Benjie Burris [00:48:34]: He heard about it on. On Jeff's. On the Jada Mechanic. So he came and showed up on his own time. They would not pay him at all. Pay him for being here. They wouldn't pay for his classes. They didn't pay for anything. Benjie Burris [00:48:46]: He said, all right, well, y' all gonna have to figure out how to do it for three days without me. He's here Thursday, Friday, and Saturday paying for his whole way. That's the kind of people right there that we want. That's what we want. Tonnika Haynes [00:48:59]: Because I hired Stuart maybe two weeks before Asta and he said he had never had any training. And I'm invested in him. He's with elite right now. I invest in training. You can take it with him. But here's the thing. If you are out there in the Internet world, Beyonce's Internet, because she owns it, and you love this industry, you hear about training. I'm talking to the camera. Tonnika Haynes [00:49:21]: That's why I'm not looking at you guys. Because this is a very deep moment. Go by your damn self. Whatever you got, whatever you got to do. If you want to be better, do not wait for your management to do it. You might be in a shitty shop. You'll stay there until you get yourself trained, because there's plenty of shops out here that are looking for you. You can go to the training. Tonnika Haynes [00:49:41]: You do not have to belong to a business to show up here. We are here, networking opportunities, just learning who people are and having conversation because trust me, we pee and poop just like you do. It's nothing special about us. It's just that we trusted the process and we did the work. Zeb Beard [00:49:57]: Did nobody pay for our training? We had to come. We had decided to do it ourselves. Benjie Burris [00:50:01]: We didn't know about to one more on that, too. If you come to these trainings, come out of your shell, go up and talk to somebody, and it's very intimidating for a lot of people. And I get that. But damn it, that's. That's where the, the magic really happens. Tonnika Haynes [00:50:16]: Talk. Yeah, ain't nothing special. Benjie Burris [00:50:18]: Come sit down. Zeb Beard [00:50:19]: Yeah, you don't. You don't even have to say nothing. Just walk. You see a group of. Just walk up, stand there, we ain't Tonnika Haynes [00:50:23]: going to remember nobody, no way. Zeb Beard [00:50:25]: No. Tonnika Haynes [00:50:28]: We'll just be like, yeah, I seen a long time. Who the hell was that? But no. Yeah, if you're. If your shops not investing in you and you are a technician that is really, truly dedicated to what you're doing, you are allowed to go and learn on your own. There's audible, there's podcasts, there's the Internet. The Internet was not available to. I mean, it was available. It took like 10 hours to dial up. Tonnika Haynes [00:50:53]: But we don't. You guys have so many tools now. There are so many tools. So quit the excuses, quit your bitching. If you want to be better, get better and get in a room with better people. And I'm going to get off of that soapbox because I feel strong about it. Zeb Beard [00:51:08]: That's true. We had another shop up the street. We had our little training class. That's when you see the true colors. You see it in those training classes. And we had a class and this shop. He had only been open a little while, but he'd been around. I've been knowing him my whole life. Zeb Beard [00:51:24]: The guy owns that shop. He come in there, and I could hear him in the back of class. He said, I don't really need this. He brought all of his techs. You know, he had two or three of them. He said, I don't really need this. I know what's wrong with the car when it rolls in. So I knew how it was. Zeb Beard [00:51:38]: So he come to that. There was two nights of it. He came that. Well, six months later when it rolled around, he didn't come. But one of his texts did. I said, where's your boss, man? He said, he didn't come. I said, yeah, he knows everything, don't he? He said, yep. He said. Zeb Beard [00:51:53]: And he told me. He told me he didn't know why I was wasting my money coming up here. That's a shop owner told that to his tech. Tonnika Haynes [00:52:01]: Because you know what? Benjie Burris [00:52:02]: So the tech had to come. Tech had to pay his own way to go in. That's bullshit. Zeb Beard [00:52:08]: What is that, man? Tonnika Haynes [00:52:08]: I think it happens more often than I'm aware. The more I speak to people and the more I do these podcasts, I realize there's some shit shop owners out there. Benjie Burris [00:52:16]: Oh, yeah, sure is. Sure is. Tonnika Haynes [00:52:18]: There really is. Now we joke about it. Like Mike Allen jokes about it. I'm a horrible shop owner. There's some people that's not even trying. And that's why the technicians are frustrated. Cause they are being. Their backs are being broken. Tonnika Haynes [00:52:27]: We, without respect. Like, they're really being used up and not poured into. And they think everybody's like that. Everybody is not like that. Zeb Beard [00:52:36]: Dogs. Tonnika Haynes [00:52:37]: And if you find yourself in that position, please, like, just find your way out. Benjie Burris [00:52:41]: Boxes got wheels for a reason. Them two boxes gotta be like, roll Tonnika Haynes [00:52:45]: it, roll it, roll it. To an independent. Cause even the dealership does that. The big box stores, they'll get this young kid. Kid who's hungry, he's bright, he's ready. He's been landing Legos for all his life. Get stuck in a loop, too. Benjie Burris [00:52:56]: Throw them on a damn loop. Zeb Beard [00:52:57]: And that's a problem. Cause they'll get the good ones, and then we get the bad ones. Like that little apprentice I was talking about. It's hard for us to attract those Good ones. Tonnika Haynes [00:53:07]: Well, because it's not shiny, and you're not shiny. You don't have the crispy uniform and all the things that you think are important. And you're missing out on the fundamentals. Benjie Burris [00:53:17]: Go into any of the community colleges, though, that the corporate and the dealerships are putting the money into. You've got the Toyotas, the GMs, the Fords. I mean, they're dumping a shitload of money into that. Look, dude, we can't. Tonnika Haynes [00:53:31]: Can't compete. Benjie Burris [00:53:32]: We can't do that. But what can we do to be better? How. How are we going to draw. Draw those texts, Draw those young folks? Zeb Beard [00:53:41]: Well, you haven't tried to explain to them, Tom, blue in the face, that, yeah, it may look better, but in the end it ain't. It ain't. The money's not better. It made the building. May look bad. Don't look better than mine. It don't look better than Yalls. Yalls are nice. Zeb Beard [00:53:57]: Yalls ain't huge, but it's like mine. But it's nice. It's nicer than the dealership I worked in. Tonnika Haynes [00:54:04]: And even with my service advisors. Same thing for service advisors at the dealership. They're burning them out. They're burning them at both ends. And I'm like, in the service advisor group on Facebook, and I'm sitting there laughing like, you deal with this. Zeb Beard [00:54:14]: They get on these podcasts. They're on Jeff's podcast all the time, talking about the stuff that they go through. I'm like, you can solve this tomorrow. Go work in an independent job. Benjie Burris [00:54:23]: Yeah, get your ass out. Tonnika Haynes [00:54:24]: We've got the same thing. Got health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, all of that and shit. I work four days a week. And Stuart, like, when Stuart first started working for me, it blew his mind that we were not doing 50 cars a day. I'm like, dude, we're not doing that. Just like, oh, yeah. You know, you can tell that customer, no, we can refuse service. Well, you know, we had to take everything. Benjie Burris [00:54:44]: We. Tonnika Haynes [00:54:45]: We don't do that over here. His aro was like 300 when he first started. That joker is writing up $1,200 a week ARO right now. It's crazy. But he's just like. Now he's like, oh, this is just refreshing. And, yeah, what do I do on Fridays? Like, my new tech came from the dealership. Monster dealership. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:01]: I don't know what to do on Fridays. Go fishing. Yeah. Oh, shit. Now he's got his fishing rods in Zeb Beard [00:55:05]: the car at all times, but you saw a few years ago, I'm not looking for nobody now. We had a slowdown in 25 and I'm burnt out on hiring right now. But I put the word out that I was willing to pay whatever. You just send me a list of demands. Crickets. Like you can solve all them problems that you're having. We'll just solve them right now. Whatever you want, just put it on a piece of paper and I'll see to it you get it. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:31]: Yeah. Zeb Beard [00:55:31]: I don't know if they thought I was lying. I don't think they thought I was lying. I think that took all the excuses away. Like, they come in there, they show me what you're working with. They talking about how good they are and everything. When we took all the. We took all the excuses away, if they couldn't come in there and perform, they could. Didn't have nothing to blame it on. Zeb Beard [00:55:53]: I think that's a lot of. They use that dealership as a crutch. Tonnika Haynes [00:55:56]: But you know what? And because you're only working on the same problems all the time. But here's the thing. If you came from a Toyota dealership and you're used to just doing this all the time and you get really good at it, you're gonna get bored with that. Are you not gonna get bored? Zeb Beard [00:56:09]: Oh, I know I am. Tonnika Haynes [00:56:10]: So you go up into Benji's shop and you're working on everything, every make, model, every year, that's gonna call you up. That's gonna give you a chance to increase your skills. Like, if you a real tech man or woman, I would think you would want a challenge. Like, ah, you never did this shit before. What is this? Zeb Beard [00:56:29]: Well, they ain't got no excuse if Benji's well known in the industry. Right? Tonnika Haynes [00:56:32]: Right. Zeb Beard [00:56:33]: If they go in there and don't make it there, the whole world's gonna see it. And then they don't have an excuse. They can't say, well, he didn't pay me enough, he worked me too hard, he paid me on flat rate and I didn't make no money. There won't be no excuses. The only excuse if he don't make it at Benji's is him. Tonnika Haynes [00:56:50]: And I think under the rocket. Zeb Beard [00:56:52]: I think that scares them. I think that's why a lot of Tonnika Haynes [00:56:54]: them stay there lying on their tally waggles. Zeb Beard [00:56:57]: Yep. Benjie Burris [00:56:57]: You know how I got the, the last tech? Isaac. Isaac's like 20. He's 22, 23. Right in there. Young. Came from Honda. Tonnika Haynes [00:57:05]: Young of them are over 30, are they? Benjie Burris [00:57:08]: Well, no, I Got. I got one that's 40. I got one that's 30. And then the other ones is 20, Isaac, 22, 23 somewhere right in there. And then Ethan just turned 18 yesterday. But Isaac came to us because we were going to some training. The whole shop, you know, any kind of training the guys want to do, whether it's at cpcc, where it's asta, whatever, so the whole shop, we were at some training at our local community college. He came to me, he said, I want to be a part of that. Benjie Burris [00:57:34]: He said, I want to learn different vehicles. You know, I'm pretty good on Hondas now and again. He is. He was. Was really good on Hondas. But he's like. So when we started talking about realistic numbers, he said, I. I can turn 40 hours. Benjie Burris [00:57:48]: I'll be able to turn 40 hours. And I laughed at him. I said, I'm sorry, but you're not going to turn 40 hours. You're not even going to be close. I think I can. I think I can. You're working on the same make, same model, over and over and over. Tonnika Haynes [00:58:01]: Assembly line. Benjie Burris [00:58:02]: We're going to throw you on a P series van. You know, we're. You're going to be working on an F150, and the next day, you might be on Avalon. The next day, you know, whatever, man. He come in and he got his ass handed to him. Tonnika Haynes [00:58:15]: Good. Benjie Burris [00:58:16]: He did. And I mean it. It took the wind out of his sales, but my God, to see the growth in this young man. Now, he's been with us for over a year now, and I mean, he. When he walks in, he lights. He lights up a room. Tonnika Haynes [00:58:31]: He really does. Benjie Burris [00:58:31]: He does. He likes. Tonnika Haynes [00:58:32]: Different kid than he was that I met last man. Benjie Burris [00:58:34]: He is an awesome young man. Awesome young man. But that's the kind of people that we want to attract into our shops. The ones that want to learn and are willing to go out of their way, right? And again, he came to us, you know, we weren't even hiring at the time. Zeb Beard [00:58:50]: I think that's how you got to do it. I think you got to let them come to you and then you got to beat on them and pound on them and whoop on them, and if they. If they survive all that, then they can stay. Benjie Burris [00:58:58]: They ready to roll. Zeb Beard [00:58:59]: I done figured out just patting on them and all that. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:03]: Now I got one I've been beating on for over a year and a half, and I'm just watching him grow. He still gets on my nerves. And I let him know daily, you Know you the shit out of me and. But the same. Same thing. It can go opposite way. I had one that I invested in, and, you know, he came in with a bad situation, helped him as much as I could. Housing, food, everything. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:23]: As much as I could. But week before Asta, it's time for training. We're getting ready to go there. And he's sliding down a little bit. I can't find nobody to watch my dog. You can find somebody to watch your dog and go to the club and you at the bar. Yeah, we're not going that far. We're going the next city over. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:41]: You can always get home to the dog who watches the dog in the daytime. Like this is. You're getting paid for the training. It's an opportunity for you to learn more. Something that I can't take from you. Then your favorite person, I believe it was Mr. Subaru's gonna be there. And you don't. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:55]: You don't want to go to training. Yeah. So that Monday, I fired him. Zeb Beard [00:59:58]: Yeah. I don't blame you. Tonnika Haynes [00:59:59]: I'm done. I can't want it more than you, but if I find somebody that's hungry, my God, I'm gonna feed you what you want to learn next. You want to do that? Let's do it. Let's do it. Because it's going to pay me in dividends and it's going to make you a better person. So I'm winning on both levels. I'm making the industry better, and I'm making you better, and I'm making my shop better. So for the people that do not invest into your techs or even your front office, your service advisors, like you're just throwing somebody in there on the phone with no training, then you wonder why shit don't work out. Tonnika Haynes [01:00:28]: That's on you. That's where leadership comes in. And that's the difference in me from three to five years ago to now. And people really have to go understand that. You are going to have to drink that Kool Aid. Oh, I shouldn't have to pay for leadership training. I know what I'm doing. No, you don't bullshit. Tonnika Haynes [01:00:45]: You don't bullshit. I think about. You know, we used to laugh about my aro when I first started with Rick White, shit was funny. I had no idea. I wasn't. I was like, y' all making money like that ain't no way. Ain't no way what? Y' all making money. This is not good in the middle of the day. Tonnika Haynes [01:01:06]: You know, lawnmower tires don't make money. Damn. But I'm serving the community. Fix your mindset. All that good stuff and it all trickles down and you get more money in your pocket. Better people. Yeah, all the things. What are you all doing tonight? Is there any party, Anthony, tonight? Benjie Burris [01:01:24]: I don't know. Zeb Beard [01:01:25]: I ain't heard. Benjie Burris [01:01:26]: I don't know. Tonnika Haynes [01:01:26]: I couldn't hang last night. I might be able to. Zeb Beard [01:01:30]: We made it to 11 o'. Clock. Benjie Burris [01:01:32]: It was still later down, but we was. Tonnika Haynes [01:01:33]: What you talking about? Zeb Beard [01:01:34]: I was headed that way at 9 o'. Clock. Tonnika Haynes [01:01:36]: We was dragging because at 9 o' clock I was like, I'm gonna go lay down. Then everyone's like, I'm gonna go lay down. Benjie Burris [01:01:40]: Rachel, come out with them margaritas. Oh, hell. Tonnika Haynes [01:01:44]: And we couldn't say no. Zeb Beard [01:01:46]: No, I was able to say no. Keith got me on that blue moon, though. I was going to bed and I stopped and Keith and Brian was there. And I'd never had a blue moon beer. He said, let's just get one. It's good to kind of cap off tonight. So I stopped and had one of them. I didn't get a margarita, though. Benjie Burris [01:02:03]: Next thing I know, you got a glass of milk. Zeb Beard [01:02:07]: Now I gotta have my. I gotta have my glass of milk with my bc. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:11]: What is that? Benjie Burris [01:02:12]: I thought it was a White Russian. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:13]: I was like, he's looking for some milk. Zeb Beard [01:02:15]: I'm a milk drinker, though. I can sit down and drink a gallon of milk. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:18]: I'd be toe up from the floor with some milk. Y' all be like, what is wrong with her stomach? Zeb Beard [01:02:21]: That's my favorite drink. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:24]: No, sir. No milk. That was funny. I was like, what the hell is that? That was a milk. Zeb Beard [01:02:27]: I gotta go take my bc. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:29]: Yeah, well, if nobody has ever told you, I'm gonna tell you that you guys are making a big difference in the industry whether you like it or not. And you are responsible for so many people looking up to you. Whether you like it or not, you are a leader. Zeb Beard [01:02:44]: Oh, I like it. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:45]: You like it? Zeb Beard [01:02:45]: I like it. Tonnika Haynes [01:02:46]: Yeah. And I like that you not always trying to be on your best hate behavior. I like that you guys are leading by example. This is what I did. This is who I am. I've come from this. Now I have this. And you too could be a part of the crew. Tonnika Haynes [01:03:00]: So I like that young people can see you guys in that light. Benjie Burris [01:03:03]: Own it. Tonnika Haynes [01:03:05]: Don't change it. Just own it. Don't change who you are. I know you're not, but if any point in your life, you're like, you know what? Let me change this up a little bit. Please don't. Zeb Beard [01:03:14]: Because we need you, not me, just Tonnika Haynes [01:03:16]: the way you are. Zeb Beard [01:03:18]: I'm gonna be me no matter what we know and not everybody gonna like it, and that's fine. I don't want everybody, like, that's fine. Tonnika Haynes [01:03:27]: That is fine. Benjie Burris [01:03:28]: I. I heard some. Some rumors this morning. I think. I think we're gonna have Christie up here teaching for long. Tonnika Haynes [01:03:35]: Really? Benjie Burris [01:03:36]: I think. Tonnika Haynes [01:03:36]: I think she'll do great. Benjie Burris [01:03:38]: I think Christy's gonna be teaching some. Tonnika Haynes [01:03:39]: What do you think her subject would be? Benjie Burris [01:03:43]: I don't know if I'm supposed to say or not. Okay. But it's gonna. It's going to be something towards helping technicians and advisors and owners be better Tonnika Haynes [01:03:56]: if we can get that communication. It's just a communication. The service advisors want to blame the techs, the techs want to blame the service advisors. No, no, it's not like that. Like I said, even with me, what I'm going to do is say, okay, there's something wrong in the shop first. Let me check myself, you know, like, is it me? I'm like, okay, they got the tools, they got the software. I think I'm communicating. I'm going to communicate via text, email, and whatever. Tonnika Haynes [01:04:26]: One on ones distant, whatever. All right, so this is looking pretty good. I don't think it's me. All right, what's the next thing? And it's not a blame game. It's just trying to figure out you're just trying to diagnose your shop. You're going to go through the flow chart or whatever. I don't. I'm not a diagnostician. Tonnika Haynes [01:04:41]: I don't know what the hell y' all do. But I tell you what, it's nobody. It's not one fault. So I think communication between the front office and the back office, that will be a cool class. I think she can teach that pretty good. Benjie Burris [01:04:53]: I think communication is probably the biggest problem in most shops. I think it goes back to communication. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:00]: It's not a trouble. Benjie Burris [01:05:01]: Front of house, back of house, whatever. I think it's always 95% of the problem that I see, even with our shop. Communication? Tonnika Haynes [01:05:11]: Yep. Benjie Burris [01:05:12]: Back and forth between front, back. It's tough. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:15]: And instead of picking up the slack, oh, there. You did this and you did that. It's like, oh, you dropped the ball on that. But what's. How am I gonna throw you under the bus? Cause you dropped the ball. How many balls have you dropped? Yeah, like, you know, working together to get it done for the greater good. Benjie Burris [01:05:28]: Let's fix it. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:28]: I learned how to do that. Benjie Burris [01:05:29]: Let's fix it and go on. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:30]: Let's fix it and go on. All right. Well, I'm finna head downstairs. I am so glad that you guys decided to come home with me. Benjie Burris [01:05:38]: Thank you for having us. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:38]: My two favorites. Benjie Burris [01:05:39]: Appreciate it. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:40]: I don't even know what we talked about the whole time. I don't know what this episode is gonna be named. I do not have an agenda when I do this. And I love it. I love that about it. Benjie Burris [01:05:47]: The assholes and the queen bee. Tonnika Haynes [01:05:49]: Yes. Say something. We'll fight you. Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations. Hosted by myself, second generation shop owner Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy, mindset, and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts. You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians, and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time. Tonnika Haynes [01:06:23]: This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.