Latest / Downshift With Tonnika / Are Shop Owners Failing the Next Generation of Technicians? | Gerrot Jacobson & Chad Whitley - Ep 48
Transcript
- [Chad Whitley] (0:00 - 0:26) To just come out and say that student coming out is worth $20 an hour. I don't know that. The cost of living in the area that you're in may be okay to pay them 15 bucks an hour. The cost of living that I'm in, just outside of Charlotte, you're going to have to pay somebody 20 plus at that level with incentives and that kind of thing to show them that they can grow. 20 bucks an hour, eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, that's an $800 a week. That's $44,000 a year is what that is. [Zeb Beard] (0:26 - 0:41) Welcome to Downshift with Tanika Haynes, the automotive auntie. The thing about Tanika, she gets to know you. She'll laugh and cut up with you, but then she'll hit you with some knowledge that you may not want, but that you need. Let's downshift. [Tonnika Haynes] (0:47 - 1:02) All right, Garrett and Chad, we are live from ASTA Expo 2026. And so it's a little bit noisy, so we have to stay up on the microphone so people can hear what we're saying, because we're going to talk about some important stuff. What y'all going to talk about is important stuff. [Chad Whitley] (1:03 - 1:04) What you going to talk about? [Tonnika Haynes] (1:05 - 1:06) I'm going to just ask questions. [Chad Whitley] (1:08 - 1:10) I don't know that you can just ask questions. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:10 - 1:27) I can't just ask questions. I'm just going to be the interviewer, because I have no idea. I don't have, you know, even Jordan went through the program at UTI. I haven't had a tech that came to the shop from an automotive program. He worked with me for a little bit after that, but he went straight to Mercedes. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:28 - 1:40) So Garrett, who are you? I am Garrett Jacobson. I am an automotive instructor at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa. I've been doing this now for 13 years, so I'm pretty excited about continuing doing it. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:40 - 1:42) What did you do before you decided to become an instructor? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:43 - 1:50) I went to a community college myself in the great state of Iowa, cold state of Iowa, which by the way, I don't know how it's as cold in Iowa as it is here today. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:50 - 1:55) Yeah, it just turned into September all of a sudden in North Carolina. Like in the last 48 hours, it got cold. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:55 - 1:58) But yeah, yeah, I got off the plane and I'm like, I'm not into this. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:58 - 1:59) I'm not ready, right? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:59 - 2:08) I wore a beanie to the airport and I'm bald, y'all. Okay, I'm with you. And then I figured I could leave it in the car, but apparently I should have brought it with me. [Tonnika Haynes] (2:08 - 2:10) I guess not, but... You'll stay inside the building then. [Gerrot Jacobson] (2:10 - 2:37) I worked in various independent repair facilities. I never worked in a dealership. Dealership was just never my intention. I worked specifically in independence. And then the last place I worked was actually a franchise in AMCO. And I did DIAG work and that was it. So I was fortunate at an earlier age to be able to get into the instructing side of it. And I've enjoyed it since, but I've got to see both sides of it. As in, I was able to hire in some people that came from community colleges, and now I'm helping produce those community college students. [Tonnika Haynes] (2:38 - 2:39) Okay, so how's that going for you? [Gerrot Jacobson] (2:39 - 2:43) I love it. I mean, I'm blessed to be able to do this every day. Look where I'm at right now. [Tonnika Haynes] (2:43 - 2:45) I know. What made you come to ASTA? [Gerrot Jacobson] (2:45 - 3:01) I got a message from Justin Allen that said I should do this. And then I got a message. You friend requested me. I'm like, I don't know how these famous people are friend requesting me. Because I got like 130 people on Facebook because I delete everyone to keep it private. Right. So then when your face comes across, I'm like, I messed up somewhere. I did something bad. [Tonnika Haynes] (3:01 - 3:03) Who are these people? You're the famous person now. [Chad Whitley] (3:04 - 3:11) Far from, but we'll see how that works out later in life. Well, look, if they reached out from North Carolina to Iowa, you got something. That's for sure. [Tonnika Haynes] (3:11 - 3:15) Like Justin brought your name up a couple times. And that says a lot. [Gerrot Jacobson] (3:15 - 3:18) That makes me excited. I hope I get to see him. Yeah, I haven't got to see him yet. [Tonnika Haynes] (3:18 - 3:23) He's down here filming stuff and smiling and hugging babies. [Gerrot Jacobson] (3:23 - 3:26) The first two things for sure, guaranteed, because that's the only thing that we see. [Tonnika Haynes] (3:26 - 3:38) Right. Yeah. But so classroom versus the shop. Because Chad, you've had some people come through a program and take off. You're producing the people. Yep. What's the disconnect? [Chad Whitley] (3:39 - 4:05) I don't know that there is a disconnect with the right programs and the right shop owners. I think if you have the right shop owners with the right mindset that are bringing on these young people or the people that have just come through some sort of program that know that they're not 100% ready to be thrown to the wolves, then there's never a disconnect. [Tonnika Haynes] (4:05 - 4:14) I wonder if that's, I think sometimes I haven't had it, but when I hear people complain, I think that that is the problem that they think these kids are going to come in and just be ready to put a transmission in the car. [Gerrot Jacobson] (4:15 - 4:59) Yeah. I mean, on my side, that's what I see as well. We'll see the shop owners say, oh, they're ready, as in they're five-year tech. And that's not the case. What we are producing is not zero-day techs. When you take a zero-day tech into your shop, you know that they're a zero-day tech. And when you take in our community college graduates, you expect sometimes that they're a five-year. And I'm not saying specifically anyone in here, but that's the vibe that we sometimes get. And just kind of reeling that back, it is a part of a disconnect. We do see that. And I think you bring up a good point. The instructor in the program does drive that. And the communication from the instructors to the region as well, what to expect and how to treat and how to work with these students too. [Chad Whitley] (4:59 - 5:51) Yeah, absolutely. I think one thing that you guys have to do as instructors is build them up to where they see the benefit of coming in and staying in the industry, right? This is the potential pay. This is what you can earn. These are the things that can happen. But there also has to be a point that says, but you have to put in the work to get there. It's not going to be immediate. And a lot of those guys that come out of these programs, they come in pumped up, ready to roll, right? They think they're ready to make it happen. They're the master tech. They completed their stuff, right? And they come in and they want to make 30, 40, 50 bucks an hour, which is getting closer to the top side of pay. But they haven't paid their dues. They're not ready for that yet. That doesn't mean they won't be. What are they? [Gerrot Jacobson] (5:52 - 6:16) You bring a good point up on this. And what are they ready for on pay? Let's say they're a two-year graduate. Where are they? Because I do see that disconnect. You bring up a good thing there. You got to put in your time. And I do not disagree with that at all. But I look at it, and this is the fun part, is I'm on the other side of the table, literally, for you on this. Because I see the students say, they're not paying me enough. And I am doing these hard jobs and these things. [Chad Whitley] (6:16 - 6:57) So what is the right pay for a student? I think that's important to understand the area that you're in. So to just come out and say that student coming out is worth $20 an hour. Well, I don't know that. You know, the cost of living in the area that you're in may be okay to pay them $15 an hour. The cost of living that I'm in, just outside of Charlotte, well, you're going to have to pay somebody 20 plus at that level with incentives and that kind of thing to show them that they can grow. Correct. And make that happen. 20 bucks an hour, eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. That's $800 a week. That's $44,000 a year. [Tonnika Haynes] (6:57 - 7:07) And that's for a kid. But you know what we have going on right now is we've got, you know, McDonald's and Walmart and these warehouse jobs that are paying the same thing. But those are not long-term careers. [Chad Whitley] (7:07 - 7:08) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (7:08 - 7:33) And how can we compete with big corporations like that? And then we're also asking kids to buy all these tools. So they really have to be invested. So as a shop owner, I think the lowest I start is $25. But I have to think about it as a kid. If Jordan, I think he's over starting at Mercedes, which is a different brand, how much he had to invest to get there. [Chad Whitley] (7:33 - 7:33) Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (7:33 - 7:51) So we're asking these kids to invest a lot. Tools, tooling, time, knuckles, stress. And I think also I've heard that these kids get stuck in the lube bay and then they lose the interest. [Gerrot Jacobson] (7:52 - 8:52) You're hitting a point that I hear every single day. Yeah. And this is a hard thing because, you know, we have target distribution in our area. They'll start anyone that walks, all of us right now, at $25 an hour. Like, that's great. We've got to compete with that. Well, and then if they wanted to, you know, so our students could go do some technical stuff there on the line, be repair techs, and then they're just bumping their pay up from there. And we get to hear that, you know, even like our gas stations in the area pay $18 an hour. Why would I go work at the local dealership in those stuck in the lube rack for $15 an hour when I can do this? So, and then I got to go buy tools on top of that. There is those catches, but just to be clear on our side of it, we do have great employers though, too, that do work that way. But on the student side of it, that's kind of a catch. It is hard sometimes to swallow that pill when a student says, hey, I can go make $18 over here and do nothing today. Basically. And now I'm going to make $15 and I'm going to bust my tail over here. Oh, and then I'm going to have to buy a new snap-on ratchet this week for $150. And then I'm going to have to do this with a Milwaukee tool. It just, and I, it's. [Tonnika Haynes] (8:52 - 8:56) But that's the mindset of the tech. What did you come in for? [Gerrot Jacobson] (8:56 - 8:56) Correct. [Tonnika Haynes] (8:56 - 9:29) On the other side, he's just a weirdo. Jordan's just excited to go buy. You know, he's looking at stuff on Craigslist trying to build his tools up. You've got these kids, these young people that really want to stick with it and they're ready to invest. All right. I got to get this. I got to get that. And the mommy's saying, listen, you ain't got to get all of that yet. Just calm down. Calm down. Make sure we do it right. Let's save your money. But then you got another side that doesn't want to spend on anything. They don't want to invest. So do we have those people that don't want to invest? Are they looking for a job? Are they looking for a career? So how do you tell the difference when you're hiring these people? [Gerrot Jacobson] (9:29 - 9:33) Think about this at a parent's perspective, because I get to hear the parent's perspective a lot. [Tonnika Haynes] (9:33 - 9:34) I'm a parent. Gotcha. [Gerrot Jacobson] (9:34 - 10:38) Okay. So you bring your son to me and I'm going to say that you had to spend $5,000 to $8,000 in tools and in five years you'll make $50,000. You walk to the next door plumbing apprenticeship. They're going to say they pay for your tools and we're going to start you at $50,000 a year. And then you go to the next door at the same community college. I want to keep you in mind. And then you can say you're now an electrical apprenticeship. We're not only going to pay for your tools, but then we're going to pay for, we're going to say at the toolbox, the van that they drive around. Because that's more than a toolbox. I don't care what kind of transit or trans-connected driving. And we're going to start you at $65,000. That's my competition. Now for us, it's passion. I'm passionate about my industry. That's why I'm still in it. I mean, I could have left a long time ago. I don't come from a line of technicians. My dad's a finance director. It's not in our blood. It's a passion. So we have that and we have to believe in our students. But it is like, it's tough sometimes going all two doors down in the same building that I'm in. And going, I don't know. [Tonnika Haynes] (10:38 - 11:16) But here's the thing about that. Let's think about the labor rates of those other trades. Plumbers, electricians. And as a consumer, you need a plumber, you need a plumber. You're not calling six plumbers for quotes. You need a plumber then. You need an electrician. You need it then. The industry as a whole is disrespected by the public. And so it's so hard. It's difficult for us to charge what we need to charge. Because we get so much pushback from the customers and it trickles down to the employees. And so then we cannot figure out how to start them off at $65,000 a living wage. Because that is currently a living wage. [Chad Whitley] (11:17 - 11:50) But that's interesting. I talked to a friend of mine that works for a garage door company. So those guys are the same, right? They'll hire a guy, put him on a truck with another driver. And two guys will go out on a truck and service garage doors and springs and that kind of stuff. There's a disconnect. They get $400 for a service call. Get in the car, show up at your place, it's 400 bucks. You need a spring. They don't have it. They sell you the spring. They come back, put the spring in. They're there for 35, 40 minutes. And they charge you another $800 to put a spring in. [Tonnika Haynes] (11:50 - 11:53) And you pay it because you need your garage door to open now. [Chad Whitley] (11:53 - 11:53) That's exactly right. [Tonnika Haynes] (11:53 - 12:00) But they don't have the same respect for the actual vehicle that gets them back and forth to work to pay for the car to go in the garage. [Chad Whitley] (12:00 - 12:20) I see. That's the thing that I actually go in there. That thing has to go in the garage. But the second part of that is those guys cap out too. They get capped out. They're going to hit $30 an hour or $32 an hour or whatever and drive a truck home every day. And that's what they're going to make. They're going to make $65,000 a year. But they got a truck and they don't have to pay for tools? Nope. That's right. [Gerrot Jacobson] (12:20 - 12:46) That leads back to this passion part though, once again. Because they are going to tap out in five years. And you make a good point. Ours are building up that first five. That's right. And that second 30 is where we make money now is what I see. Because the technicians that I'm going to pick on myself versus yourself, you got a day or two more than me in the field. So you're going to end up making more. You stepped up a lot further a lot faster. So that's going to happen. We just got to get them to that point though too. [Chad Whitley] (12:46 - 12:56) So is that something that we have screwed up as a society? Where we have not taught delayed gratification properly? [Tonnika Haynes] (12:56 - 12:57) Oh no, everything's in the microwave. [Chad Whitley] (12:58 - 12:58) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (12:58 - 13:02) Everything's in the microwave. I can call and get a TV delivered right now. [Chad Whitley] (13:02 - 13:03) Right. [Tonnika Haynes] (13:03 - 13:13) Within 30, 45 minutes. I can go online, Best Buy, and somebody would deliver that TV to me right now. You've got instant food. You got instant noodles. You got instant coffee. You got instant everything. [Chad Whitley] (13:13 - 13:14) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (13:14 - 13:19) And so that's what the kids grew up. They grew up in an instant world. Everything is right there at their feet. [Gerrot Jacobson] (13:19 - 13:30) And that goes back to that door one, door two, or door three. What money do they see? The one that's right now. Right. That's the one that they see. Quite honestly, I mean, I'm in that same boat too. [Tonnika Haynes] (13:30 - 13:32) I mean, we cannot blame them. [Gerrot Jacobson] (13:32 - 13:43) It makes sense. You even saying it out loud. It's like, ooh. It is. I mean, it's dirty to say, but it's true. It's what happens. And that's a different perspective on my side of it. So that's what I see. [Tonnika Haynes] (13:44 - 15:10) And then the shop owners as well. Like you said, we want the guy to come in and we want to be able to make money off of him because this is a business we need to make money in. I love investing in my team. My whole team is here right now. I will take the time off. I will train them. But some shop owners do not do any of this. And so we've got the kids that are complaining that, hey, I'm not getting any training. And my thing to you is like, if you're not getting any training, I've said it before. I'll say it again. Do it yourself or find a place that will because there are other places out there. And that was my public service announcement. But I also know that if you don't train them, you're not going to get the money out of them. I have. And that's on dealership side and independent side. Because true story. Jordan came home like two weeks ago. He's at Mercedes and home and group. He said, mom, we've got five techs that thought they were getting ready to go down to Jacksonville for training, you know, dealership training. And they were all denied. They were denied training without a reason. They didn't tell them why. They do not know who to go ask to find out why. And so that has to be so disappointing because you have to think what they have to go to. You just don't walk to Mercedes and apply for a job. They send you through it. So now you've got people on your floor that are ready to go to the next level. And you just told them no. And we do the same thing. So, hey, that's crazy. So that's our fault. [Gerrot Jacobson] (15:10 - 15:24) Okay. So but you bring up another good point of if the shops are willing to invest into these students, don't you think they would stay longer and be happier? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, and I 100% agree on that because I do see that we do have dealerships as well that are phenomenal. [Zeb Beard] (15:24 - 15:25) I'll pick on our Toyota. [Gerrot Jacobson] (15:25 - 15:57) That's local. And they are beyond phenomenal. And it's driven by the service manager. He knows what to start students at. And then his assistant is she's amazing and works directly with them to get them training. You know, we had a master certified ASE master certified student of mine leave last year. And he's already into Toyota training year one. So that stuff does happen. And guess what? He's going to stay and he makes money. But then we also have that other side of that disconnect. Yeah. So we got to show them, I think, on your side of it that you got to invest too. [Tonnika Haynes] (15:57 - 16:14) So if not, if not, you're just going to lose them. And then you're going to have the same cycle over and over again. I can't find anybody. No, you're not willing to invest in anybody. Like you want this uniform to come galloping through the clouds to show up at your front door with this huge toolbox, you're ready to roll. [Chad Whitley] (16:15 - 16:16) We all want that. [Tonnika Haynes] (16:16 - 16:16) Yes. [Chad Whitley] (16:16 - 16:17) We all want that. [Tonnika Haynes] (16:17 - 16:26) I'm sorry. I want to see the mane behind the unicorn. I am here to save the day. But then when you get them, you don't have stuff in place for them. [Chad Whitley] (16:27 - 16:28) Yeah, that's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (16:28 - 16:33) And if you might just have a pony and a little unicorn sprout is coming. Well, we don't want to spend the time with them. [Gerrot Jacobson] (16:34 - 17:06) And I think a lot of the students on our end are willing to put that extra work in. You know, I got a text message from one of my students last night that said he finished all phase one for his Dodge Mopar cap stuff. And he said, should I tell my service manager? And my answer was absolutely like, well, yes, you should do it today, tonight, now. OK, I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing. I'm like, because that's going to get you into that next training. Now, whether his service manager sends him out for the ILT trainings or not, we don't know. But if the student has shown that, yeah, you should be investing. The problem is, on my side, I see a lot of on investment then. Well, they're just a student. [Tonnika Haynes] (17:07 - 17:51) I get a lot of direct messages on social media. People saying the exact same thing. Like, I came out of school. I got one this week. Came out of school. I've been a lube tech for a year and a half. I am tired. And what I say, hey, keep following this social media stuff. Find your tribe. Invest in yourself. Spend that $11 a month or whatever Scanner Dana calls. Instead of watching cat videos on YouTube, watch some automotive videos and find your way out of that hole. Because you do not have to stay there. And I think kids think they're stuck. And sometimes, you know, you want to be at a dealership because it's shiny. Because that's what one of Benji's kids told me. He was like, the dealership was shiny. And it was Honda. And he loves Honda. And it was fun. And he was just stuck. And if you didn't find Benji, he would have just left the industry altogether. [Chad Whitley] (17:52 - 17:58) So that's a good point. Because the community college depends on the dealerships. [Zeb Beard] (17:58 - 17:58) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (17:59 - 18:09) I mean, because they depend on the manufacturer's money to help invest, to have a place to put students, right? And those kind of things. [Gerrot Jacobson] (18:09 - 18:14) To help put students, yes. But you would be blown away how much investment they have invested into our program. [Chad Whitley] (18:15 - 18:17) I don't think I would be blown away. Who was that? [Tonnika Haynes] (18:17 - 18:18) The dealership? [Chad Whitley] (18:18 - 18:20) Because it's pretty close to zero, usually. [Tonnika Haynes] (18:20 - 18:23) Are you serious? I thought you were going to say some crazy amount of money. [Chad Whitley] (18:23 - 18:34) It's close to zero, usually. Okay. So maybe not program, but maybe facility. It's also close to zero. Well, you're not in North Carolina then. Okay. No, I'm not. [Tonnika Haynes] (18:35 - 18:40) In Chapel Hill High School, they are there. They are like vultures. They're first come, they're in there. [Gerrot Jacobson] (18:41 - 18:46) In Iowa, I mean, I'm an ASE ETL. So I go to all kinds of schools in our region. And this is not an uncommon thing. [Chad Whitley] (18:48 - 19:00) We're in Wake County right now. You go to Wake Technical Community College. They have a facility that was built with funds from Hendrick Group. [Tonnika Haynes] (19:02 - 19:03) I just know Hendrick. [Chad Whitley] (19:04 - 19:06) There's three or four other groups that went in. [Gerrot Jacobson] (19:07 - 19:15) And when you go in that building, you know who paid for that building. You're telling me you guys got nicer weather than Iowa and better buildings? Listen, that facility is nice. [Chad Whitley] (19:15 - 19:25) But see, that's not the only facility in the state. CPCC in the Charlotte region has a facility just as nice as the Wake Tech, supported by the same type of people. [Tonnika Haynes] (19:25 - 19:41) Yeah. Even in the Chapel Hill High School, Napa does a lot there. But when we go to a board meeting there, the dealerships are there. Yes. They are there. They have an alignment rack that's new. Their stuff is new. [Gerrot Jacobson] (19:41 - 20:16) We'll get people to show up to advisory board and those things. When it comes to a donation, to anything monetary, financially, anything, it is a very one-sided street. And that's not just a dealership, just to be clear. That could be an independent as well. I'm not saying an independent has the means to donate a car or a tool or something like that. But quite honestly, on either side, anything. We've got two cars donated in seven years. One of them is a 2005 and one's a 2013. Are you serious? Oh my goodness. That makes me sad. Do we go purchase all our own stuff? [Chad Whitley] (20:16 - 20:17) We've donated cars ourselves to the programs. [Tonnika Haynes] (20:18 - 20:20) Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I've got two. I've got a tow out there in Chapel Hill High. [Gerrot Jacobson] (20:20 - 20:30) It's in our budget to buy new cars every year. Interesting. Unless you are a manufacturer program, you have to be a manufacturer program to get those things. [Tonnika Haynes] (20:30 - 20:33) No, I don't believe that any of the community colleges are a manufacturer program. [Gerrot Jacobson] (20:33 - 20:40) They have manufacturer programs in the community college. But it's not Hendrix. And that's where they're getting the vast majority of the things now. [Tonnika Haynes] (20:40 - 20:41) And now they've got their pipeline. [Gerrot Jacobson] (20:42 - 20:47) And now their pipeline comes from the manufacturer. It does not come, in a lot of cases, from the dealer. [Tonnika Haynes] (20:49 - 20:56) Look at that. Nevertheless, I think it's absolutely wild. So what are you teaching these babies? [Gerrot Jacobson] (20:57 - 21:42) So I teach all the second year side of it, which is awesome. So I get to teach the advanced electronics-related stuff. And I get to teach engine performance, engine repair-related, automatic transmissions. The whole entire program itself, we need to start with basics and fundamentals. And we have an instructor in the first year side of it that obviously does that to build up to where we can get them hireable for you year one. That's our whole goal. I want my student to go work for you the first semester that they're in college. Because if we can partner together, think about what we can do. And we can be flexible on that time then, too. If they're working with us from 8 until noon every day, and then from you to 1 to 5 every day, or whatever that be. And we can partner up, too. And the communication's open. Then we get to find out, hey, this is where the student's at. [Tonnika Haynes] (21:42 - 21:42) Is it translating? [Gerrot Jacobson] (21:42 - 21:43) Absolutely. [Tonnika Haynes] (21:43 - 21:43) Right. [Gerrot Jacobson] (21:44 - 22:08) And then you also know, as an owner now, what, hey, this student did this today. And this happens to be in front of me today. This alignment, or whatever it is. Toss it at them. And that communication is, I mean, I'm texting people back all day long on these things. It's a lot of our good service managers, service writers, and owners that are that way, obviously. But it's beyond the automotive right there. We don't just teach automotive. I jokingly would tell you that. [Tonnika Haynes] (22:08 - 22:09) Are you teaching the common sense? [Gerrot Jacobson] (22:09 - 22:14) I would say 90% of what I teach isn't automotive. I know I'm joking in saying that. [Tonnika Haynes] (22:14 - 22:15) No, we're not joking. [Gerrot Jacobson] (22:16 - 22:16) Cleanliness. [Tonnika Haynes] (22:17 - 22:19) Y'all be surprised. I am not surprised by nothing. [Gerrot Jacobson] (22:20 - 22:24) Oh, we got showers. Let's use them, y'all. [Tonnika Haynes] (22:24 - 23:11) Yeah, I am not surprised by anything, honey. I remember Santana called me when we were in the last 20 group, remember? He was like, he's my son. He's 22. He said, mom, this new guy, he's like, oh my god. I had to talk to him about hygiene. And I was like, well, but here's the thing. When we were at UTI two years ago, the first time we were there, we were taking that tour. The general manager, whatever he calls himself, one thing that he says, he said, these kids do not know how to tell time. He's like, they don't know they have to tell time. They don't get to work, get to school on time, and things like he said. They just have to teach a lot of social skills that they should not have to teach 18, 19, 20-year-olds. But that comes from home. But you've got to get past all of that because you cannot bring that into the workplace. You cannot come in there and smell like a dang old hot dog all the way. [Gerrot Jacobson] (23:11 - 23:14) And that's when a student tells me, hey, I'm worth more than $15 an hour. [Tonnika Haynes] (23:14 - 23:15) You smell like it. [Gerrot Jacobson] (23:15 - 23:55) Sometimes, yeah, exactly. If you took a shower today, you might have been. Life skills are more than what we teach. It's gotten, 13 years ago, dealing with students, and I sound like an old head that you've been saying that, and I'm not. But it is a different student. We come in with greener and greener students. And sometimes, that's not a problem. And sometimes, it's different. But this year, we have really green students. They've never used a lift in their life. They've never jacked a car up in their life. They didn't know that there was a spare tire in the trunk. That's what we're getting in a lot of cases. That's OK because, quite honestly, in some cases, it's easier to teach them something than reteach them. [Tonnika Haynes] (23:55 - 23:57) Teach them the right way the first time. [Gerrot Jacobson] (23:58 - 24:01) Because instead of, Uncle Tony taught me this way. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:01 - 24:04) Just get a cinder block and put it under there. Oh, yeah. [Gerrot Jacobson] (24:04 - 24:07) You'll have it. But it just happens. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:08 - 24:14) Because that's how, I mean, how did you learn? You got your uncles and your cousins and everybody in the driveway working on that one truck? Absolutely. And that's how you got the bug? [Chad Whitley] (24:15 - 24:15) Not me. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:16 - 24:16) Not you? [Chad Whitley] (24:16 - 24:16) No. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:16 - 24:17) You didn't get the bug that way? [Chad Whitley] (24:17 - 24:42) No. How'd you get the bug? My people did not know how to work on nothing. I'm here to tell you. My daddy was a good engineer. And he engineered stuff. And how it stayed together, I have no earthly idea. OK. No, I got the bug. I was in high school. And took an auto class because I like cars. And I ended up at a competition in my second year. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:42 - 24:42) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (24:42 - 24:45) And won the competition. And said, huh. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:46 - 24:47) I might do this. [Chad Whitley] (24:48 - 24:50) Yeah. And that's basically how it happened. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:51 - 24:51) That's cool. [Chad Whitley] (24:52 - 24:54) Yeah. Had nothing to do with people working on stuff around me. [Tonnika Haynes] (24:54 - 24:54) Yeah, I was born this way. [Gerrot Jacobson] (24:55 - 24:56) What'd you win from this competition? [Chad Whitley] (24:57 - 25:01) What did I win? Yeah. A plaque. OK. Yeah, it was nothing. [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:02 - 25:06) Because I did the same exact thing as you. Like I said, my dad was a finance director. [Chad Whitley] (25:07 - 25:09) Yeah. My dad was an F&I guy at a car dealership. OK. [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:11 - 25:14) And I won a competition. Which happened to be a scholarship to go to school. [Tonnika Haynes] (25:15 - 25:15) Well, that works. [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:15 - 25:16) There we go. [Tonnika Haynes] (25:16 - 25:17) There you go. That tracks. [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:17 - 25:18) Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (25:18 - 25:22) So how do you spend a lot of time on hygiene, common sense? [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:22 - 25:22) Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (25:22 - 25:24) How do the kids take that? [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:25 - 25:39) A lot. Better than you'd think. They've never had a lot of pain. I get the vibe that a lot of students, or just people today, quite honestly, didn't, they weren't pressed to do anything. If you put these students to the ringer, they will do it. [Tonnika Haynes] (25:40 - 25:40) Oh, I know. [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:41 - 25:42) I'm that mama. Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (25:42 - 25:44) I'm Miss Tamika to a lot of kids that are not biologically mine. [Gerrot Jacobson] (25:44 - 26:12) They know no better than what you, us, tell them. Yeah. True. And it's not like they're disrespectful in a lot of cases. They'll do what we say. They just don't know. They just don't know. That's it. This is mean, maybe, but it's truthful. And that comes from home, usually. So myself and my coworker, Brian, we joke that we're papa. That we're taking care of these kids. It's not. And I did say kids, and I don't mean it negatively. [Tonnika Haynes] (26:13 - 26:13) No, just kids. [Gerrot Jacobson] (26:13 - 26:18) They're family to us. I'm with these students for 25 hours a week. I'm with my wife 25 hours a week. [Tonnika Haynes] (26:18 - 26:19) Yeah. [Gerrot Jacobson] (26:19 - 26:52) So they're family at that point. You got to bring them up and you got to show them these things. It takes a village. How to talk. When to talk the way that you want to talk, and when to talk the way that you should talk. Right. Because there's differences with that. I'm not going to go in front of a million people and start swearing. But at home, you might catch me cutting my hand. Yeah, guess what? Something's going down. So it's just when and where. But they don't even see that. They're going to walk around with their cell phone in their hand, never look up in the hallway. Put your cell phone away. Quit ordering parts only online. Call the person. Why do I got to call the person? Just because I want you to talk to them. Use your words. Literally, that's it. [Tonnika Haynes] (26:52 - 27:33) But I see it in the shop. I see it at the front desk. The kid's driving. Mom's coming in to bring the car. The kid's 17, 18 years old. He's driving the car. But the mom wants to talk for the child the whole time. And we think we're mothering. I am not that mama. My kids will tell you that. I'm not that mama. But they don't allow them to talk. They allow them to sit there, look at the phone all the time. And they think they, well, they may have it. This anxiety of making human eye contact. Not being able to talk to someone. Not being able to, not knowing what to wear to an interview. Not knowing that you cannot bring iced coffee to an interview. Like, that's the whole big thing right now on social media. Like, people that are bringing, you know, like, iced coffee to the interview and shaking it. [Gerrot Jacobson] (27:33 - 27:35) Seriously? I'm not saying this. [Tonnika Haynes] (27:35 - 28:07) And sitting there talking to you. Like, we're the best friends. Hey, what's up? Noted. Noted. I'm judging you from the beginning of this interview. And it starts at home. But parents are busy. They're having to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. We're not saying they're bad parents. They're coming from bad parents. But they just don't realize that I've been trying to make Jimmy's life easy for the last 16, 17, 18 years. Because my life was so hard. Okay? But you have just destroyed that child. [Gerrot Jacobson] (28:08 - 28:25) But isn't it easier for you to force them to be independent? I have a seven, four, and a zero-year-old. The seven-year-old, I'm telling you, he could run the world compared to some people today. Why? Not that I'm a tough parent or my wife isn't either. It's fine. But if he's hungry, he goes and gets his food. [Tonnika Haynes] (28:25 - 29:23) Listen, Santana's 22. Jordan's 20. And I can remember Santana's first sleepover. And it was Aaron Parker. I remember it was Aaron that said it. I made them. No, they made their own waffles. I don't cook breakfast. And they're making their waffles. Because that's safe. You got to toast them. A little butter. And Aaron said, Ms. Tanika, can you cut my waffle? And Jordan's probably pleading. Jordan's sitting there ripping his waffle up like, yeah, my mama don't cut no waffles. We don't do that around here. We were at a dinner with family. And he ordered a steak. And he was not over the age of 10. I don't remember how old Jordan was. But I remember his aunt on his father's side of the family said, are you going to cut that meat for him? And I said, no, I didn't order it. And she said, well, what if he chokes? And I said, well, he will not eat that big of a piece next time. Correct. Like, that's the mom I am. I am. You're going to keep touching the stove if you want to. My hands don't burn. But if you keep coddling them. And I do want to pick up my kids today and put them in my pocket. But then what is this big old, ugly, nasty world going to show them? [Gerrot Jacobson] (29:24 - 29:51) And in the moment, it was probably harder on you to just do all of those things, too, versus letting them be independent. You have to. We have parents come into our program, like I mentioned earlier. And they want to talk for the student all the time. And it's really fun. My coworker, Brian, stops. What do you think? And looks at the student. And just to get the parent to understand, like, no, this is his little life, right? Yeah. And that's why they don't know how to talk. And I have never been allowed. [Chad Whitley] (29:51 - 31:17) I have the same thing at the shop, right? I mean, it just happens. Currently, I have two young people job shadowing that will move into an internship. That if it works well, we'll go into an apprenticeship. That's just the way we kind of do things. The people that wanted them to come in for job shadowing and internship called me and did all these things. And I said, that's great. I appreciate you doing this. And bringing these guys in the shop. But I need to talk to them. So they need to fill out the application. They will come in here and we will have an interview. Right. And then we will go through the process. Because my job is not just to teach technicians or service advisors or whatever that is. It's to teach them to be people, to be productive people. And that's what we do. So even when they come in and we have high schoolers or young people that are in community college or whatever that is. We're teaching them finance. We're teaching them how to meet and be around other people. When we do our one-on-ones and our team meetings, they have to participate. This is a not sit in a corner and wait on words. That's exactly right. When we get back from this event, each one of my people will go through the things that they learned with everyone else. [Tonnika Haynes] (31:17 - 31:18) So they got to present what they learned. [Chad Whitley] (31:19 - 31:36) That's cool. I mean, we did a event last year where each one of my technicians created a PowerPoint and did demonstrations with the other people that were coming in the shop. So we did an open house. That's what they did. They had to do that. That's part of what we do. [Tonnika Haynes] (31:37 - 31:56) That's good. That's good stuff. I like it. I kind of like growing people more and more as the shop owner, as the leader that I'm trying to become. I like growing people. Because I want you to say, and I will tell you, if there's somebody working for me and it's like, if this is not going to be your job forever and ever, amen, I want you to say, I learned this from Ms. Tanika. [Chad Whitley] (31:56 - 31:56) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (31:57 - 32:25) She got on my nerves, but she was right. I remember she kept saying this and I just didn't get it. But now I get it because I'm in the world. And that's the difference between being in your mama house and being in the world. But how many of y'all are there out there? Exactly. That's the sad part. And I don't think there's many because shop owners, as we're supposed to, have to pay attention to the bottom line. So while you're sitting there trying to count beans and looking at the bottom line and not pouring into people, then you turn, it's a cycle that's crazy. [Gerrot Jacobson] (32:26 - 32:39) But if we had y'all and the way that you guys are doing it, and we're working as a community college, think of how seamless what I do would fall into what y'all are doing and what these students would be in five years. I mean, the industry would change then. [Chad Whitley] (32:39 - 32:57) But look, we're here at an event where most of the shop owners here are of the same mindset like we're talking about. But how big a pool is that in comparison to all the shops that you see and deal with and the owners and managers and technicians? You look, I mean, we're what? [Tonnika Haynes] (32:58 - 33:47) A very, very low percent. And then even in the comments, I try to stay out of the comment sections. Oh, that's just, that's stupid. That's stupid. No, you're stupid. Okay. Like we're not, I'm not saying that everything we do is right, but we're always trying to be better. And if we are going to get better by default, our team's going to get better and we're going to make better people. And then we'll get to raise this industry a little bit at the time. And then we'll have more respect in the community. Because one thing as far as social media, you know, marketing for my shop, I rarely market about automotive stuff. It's about, these are the people that are fixing your car. You real respect them. We're not going to, all you have to do is, well, my uncle brother next door neighbor said, yeah, well, tell them to do it then. Like we allow the disrespect that trickles down to our employees and we're trying to get it at 20% and forgetting every other KPI that really, really matters. [Chad Whitley] (33:47 - 33:48) Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (33:48 - 33:48) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (33:48 - 33:50) The KPIs you can't measure. [Tonnika Haynes] (33:50 - 33:55) The ones that you cannot measure. And we were talking and I'll talk to him later. Uncle Buck. [Chad Whitley] (33:56 - 33:56) Oh yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (33:56 - 34:56) He was talking about in Texas last week, being close to the finish line. And he was saying the average age for white male was 79. And I think he's 66. And he was, put the goalposts, put in what is the end zone and mark and see how close he is to that finish line. And once you start thinking about that, you're like, okay, what am I doing out here? What am I really building this business for? So you have an automotive shop. Like, what is your business though? What is your real goal? What is your real why? And as cheesy as it sounds, because it used to sound really cheesy to me seven years ago when we started talking about like, listen, I just need to make this money. Okay. So you made the money and you made some more money and you made some more money. For what? For what? Have you poured into the people that help you make the money? And if they quit and they went on in their lives, did they do better because of you? Because that is the KPI I'm going for. Because I want my funeral to be full. [Chad Whitley] (34:57 - 35:29) Isn't that a difference though? I mean, you look at homeless people. They can't think about what they need to do because they need to fill their belly. Isn't a shop owner the same? The shop owner's invested everything they've got. They've invested their life savings. They've got their family on the line. They've got themselves on the line. All these people around them, they got to be profitable. They, if they can't be profitable, can they think about anything else? [Tonnika Haynes] (35:29 - 36:12) And that's, again, it comes back to training. We're sitting here learning to be profitable because I did not know how to be profitable. Because I will tell anybody in an interview, like, hey, I thought when I was praying my prayer at your best, okay, God, I want you to bring me some customers and I'm going to be a yes shop. I'm going to say yes to everything and I'm going to make my community happy. And that means I have to give everything away so they would like me. That's what I thought service was about. You know, okay, yes, yes, yes. Oh, I'll make just enough money. I literally would sit there and say, okay, I need to make just this much to pay my bills, to pay my rent and pay this and pay that. And if God, if you give me that, I'll be fine. And then what we do is we do that and we don't know the bottom line. Because we haven't had the training. [Chad Whitley] (36:12 - 36:12) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (36:12 - 36:22) And we don't know our numbers as shop owners and we're recycling money. And then you turn 50, 55, 60, 70. And you realize I ain't made no money. [Chad Whitley] (36:22 - 36:23) Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (36:24 - 36:36) Yeah. So that's another thing about training. We got off subject a little bit, but, you know, we can don't go on that all day. You're training your techs, training yourself, training your staff and not just turning wrenches. It's about, it's a whole lot more than that. [Chad Whitley] (36:37 - 36:53) We get back to the training that we're talking about though. As a shop owner, the first five or six years, maybe in the first, oh, good Lord, I've been doing this too long. Maybe the first even 10 years. I don't know that I was ready to do what we do now. [Tonnika Haynes] (36:53 - 36:54) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (36:54 - 36:56) I wasn't ready. I mean, and I've been working on this. [Tonnika Haynes] (36:56 - 36:58) Meaning what? Ready to pour into somebody else? [Chad Whitley] (36:58 - 37:13) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I could probably, we poured in, but in different ways, but to pour into young people the way that we have to, the way that we have to raise them, the way we have raised our children. So we're raising them in the shop the same way. I don't know that I was ready. [Tonnika Haynes] (37:13 - 37:21) I think it's a mind shift thing because I would have to say the thing. I don't think I was ready either until maybe three years ago. Three, until about three years ago. [Chad Whitley] (37:22 - 37:50) Even when I started the process of getting the certified apprenticeship program, which is now, I guess, seven years ago now that I started that process. I wasn't ready. I just saw an idea and thought, oh, that's a great way to have technicians. I'll just grow my own, right? And we went through this process. During the process, I learned a lot. During the process, I set standards for what was acceptable for those younger people getting in. [Tonnika Haynes] (37:50 - 37:54) Now, were there standards that you had to lower? [Chad Whitley] (37:54 - 37:55) Oh, absolutely. [Tonnika Haynes] (37:55 - 37:57) In order to get them in the door? [Chad Whitley] (37:57 - 37:58) Absolutely. [Tonnika Haynes] (37:58 - 38:15) Yeah. So I wonder how many, because I can imagine that. I haven't had the program, but how many shop owners have to learn to bite their tongue and lower the standards and realize that I'm dealing, I've been here 50 years. You've been here 19. I can't expect you to know what I know. [Chad Whitley] (38:15 - 39:24) Right. That's right. So when I bring them on now, I tell them up front, I'm going to lose money on you the first year. You're going to cost me money to employ. I will make zero dollars and I'll go in the hole. By the time second year gets here, I need to break even on you. And I tell them that up front, right? But these are the expectations. This is what I need you to do and where I need you to learn in that first year. When we hit the second year, you should be able to work somewhat independently. And these are the production numbers that I need you to hit for us to break even on you for this year. I'm not going back and trying to make the money back that I lost first year. We're just get to that break even point. That way, when you complete the program, then I can start to be profitable. Are your levels of what I need you to achieve at the same as a guy that's been doing this for 10 years? No. Are you going to be doing the same work that he's doing? No. But you're going to learn it and you advance and you'll be prepared and you will grow. But it's going to take me three to five years before I can really be profitable, so to say, on you. [Gerrot Jacobson] (39:24 - 40:36) You're giving them a track, though. Yes. A lot of shops. I would probably say most shops don't give somebody that track. And if we gave, they would lose money. But we would retain people in the industry. You have to have some sacrifice. If you're telling me that you're willing to lose a year to make sure that you have 10 years, that sounds like it sucks. If I told you I had to lose something for a year. Some of us do that for 30 days once a year. We lose something because we get it the rest of the time. And it's fine. You're willing to lose something for a year for the next 10. That's great. How do we get shop owners to understand that? On my perspective, if I could send a student to you, both of you right now, and that track said, these are your set goals. Because what is the student used to with me? A goal. If I showed you my Canvas shell, they know what they have to do this week. Yeah. These things have to be done this week. If you're all saying these are your metrics, your rubrics, whatever you want to call it. By year one, you're doing this. Two, this. I don't care if it's a certification, if it's a whatever. Where is our industry in 10 years now? With y'all taking our people, it's a whole new height of professionalism and everything beyond that. [Tonnika Haynes] (40:37 - 41:01) But here's the question I'm going to throw at Chad. Because Chad has coached other shop owners in the past. If you have that technician on the books and you're coaching that, not you, but a coach, and you see that technician is not 125% efficient and is not making any money, what would be a coach's instruction to that shop owner? [Chad Whitley] (41:05 - 41:07) Do you want the industry answer or do you want the answer? [Tonnika Haynes] (41:07 - 41:17) Industry answer that most coaching companies, not saying yours or anybody that you work with, just in America, what would a coach tell that shop owner? [Chad Whitley] (41:17 - 41:43) Look, that bay is worth 40 hours a week. This is what you're giving up by not having someone that's not producing 40 hours a week in that bay. Are you willing to give that up? This is what it costs you per month, per year to give that up. Is it worth 100K? Is it worth 150 a year? Because that's what it's going to cost you. [Tonnika Haynes] (41:43 - 41:47) And what would the shop owner say? I don't know. [Chad Whitley] (41:47 - 41:49) That's what a lot of them are going to say. [Tonnika Haynes] (41:49 - 41:57) That's what a lot of them are going to say. Unless they have the right heart and they understand that every KPI, every cost does not show up on accounts receivable and accounts payable. [Chad Whitley] (41:58 - 42:02) Because we're in the people business, right? How many times have we heard that? [Tonnika Haynes] (42:02 - 42:07) We say we're in the people business, but we always... Everything ends up being a dollar amount. [Chad Whitley] (42:07 - 42:09) Yeah. Yep. [Tonnika Haynes] (42:09 - 42:09) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (42:09 - 42:10) Minimum level. [Tonnika Haynes] (42:11 - 42:16) Minimum level of acceptance. That's why I said you have to lower that sometime. [Chad Whitley] (42:16 - 42:17) You do. [Tonnika Haynes] (42:17 - 42:39) In order to get him there. Yep. And so when I've got you sitting there getting them ready. Yep. They're ready. They're at the start. They're at the line, ready to take off. And then they take off and they fall and they skin up some knees. And then they get back up and they take off again. But if you've got that guy sitting there doing this all the time, I'm going to sit on the bench, man. Yep. [Gerrot Jacobson] (42:40 - 42:47) And it'll happen faster than we think too. Yeah. I mean, it does. I get to watch it happen. So that's the unfortunate part of it. [Tonnika Haynes] (42:47 - 42:52) But the fortunate part of it is you've still got babies signing up. [Gerrot Jacobson] (42:53 - 43:30) We've never been more full. Yeah. We're hiring hopefully another instructor for our program next year. We over bleed every single year. In a great way. We have people beating the door down. And that's where it comes into the whole beginning thing. Passion. People still have passion for cars. There's no doubt about that. So there's hope for the industry. There's hope. And honestly, I see what we saw 13 years ago was different than what I saw five years ago. And I see five years ago was different than today. We have greener students than we've ever had. But I think we have better people. Like people people now than we had five years ago. We'll complain about the students have their cell phone number, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, it's not that anymore. [Tonnika Haynes] (43:31 - 44:12) Culturally, I think these kids are better than we think they are. I have a lot more heart. Yes. I've been reprimanded by my children about some of the things that I've said. Like, Mom, I'm like, oh, that was a little harsh, wasn't it? So they are better than what we give them credit for. And we are very judgmental. I'm a judgmental person. I'm not going to say that I'm not. But I think about Santana and his dreadlocks and Jordan and his hair. There's a lot of things that we have to look past. And if there is a problem that needs to be corrected, learn how to be a part of the village and redirect that kid slowly without breaking his back or breaking his confidence. Right. [Chad Whitley] (44:14 - 44:14) Right. [Tonnika Haynes] (44:14 - 44:27) We've got work to do. The adults have work to do. The adults in the industry have work to do. The shop owners, I don't care that you have 10 shops. I don't care that you did $3 billion last year. What did you really do for this good world? What did you do? [Gerrot Jacobson] (44:28 - 44:33) Wouldn't you think those shops would be the ones that would want to invest in these students? But do they? [Tonnika Haynes] (44:34 - 44:55) You know what? I think when they do it, they write a big check with the big old thing. And they go and they have a big old banquet. Yeah. And they're presenting it there. And they're doing it at the megachurch. And they're doing it all. They're doing it for show. Yeah. My opinion. Yeah, they give us. Argue in the comments. I don't give a crap. You know, I don't care about what nobody thinks. But they're not doing it from here. [Gerrot Jacobson] (44:55 - 44:59) They gave a big checkout for a scholarship. And it looks really good for the community. Now they sold a lot of cars. [Tonnika Haynes] (45:00 - 45:07) Yeah. Yeah. So what did you sacrifice for all the things that you received? Correct. [Chad Whitley] (45:08 - 45:10) So what do you need? [Gerrot Jacobson] (45:10 - 46:06) What do you need from shop owners? I mean, the biggest thing we need from shop owners is your something. What you just gave me. I wish I could have a shop owner like you. And you're saying you're building, building, building, building. If this is something y'all are willing to do. From every shop owner that ever hears this. If y'all can go. We're willing to work with that student. And give them goals too. Because they are young. I remember when I was 18. I didn't have goals. My goal was Friday night. That was it. Right. Let's go cruising. Yeah. Point is best part. For real. And then they don't have that. But let's help them look at that. And I'm doing that. I need y'all to go. This is how you get to. And in their head. It's always money. It's always money. Or it's time off. So we can't just say it's only that. But there's money involved. There's got to be something. A carrot. And we got to show them how to get to that carrot. Is what it is. A lot of shops don't do that. They'll just say, yep. Here's your $15 an hour. See you next Tuesday. [Chad Whitley] (46:08 - 46:18) Do you think it's because the shop owners are scared. And don't know where to start? Do I think it's because what? The shop owners are scared. And they don't know where to start. They don't know what the minimum level of acceptability is. [Tonnika Haynes] (46:18 - 46:22) How do I do this culture and leadership thing? What is the minimum thing? What do I deal with? [Chad Whitley] (46:23 - 46:34) What is a non-negotiable? And how do we make sure that we have chosen the right students to put that torch in their hand. And encourage them to get to that spot. [Tonnika Haynes] (46:35 - 46:38) I think that's just a lot of communication. Learning to lead. [Chad Whitley] (46:38 - 46:39) It is a lot of communication. [Tonnika Haynes] (46:39 - 46:41) It's a lot of work. That's a lot of words. [Chad Whitley] (46:41 - 46:41) One-on-ones, Tanika. [Tonnika Haynes] (46:42 - 47:20) One-on-ones. I still got my little 10 questions. I asked them one-on-ones. And it seems so corny. In the first couple times, it seems corny. Okay. What is it? I know Josh says, what does it look like to be on the other end of my leadership? And I'm like, Ms. Tanika, I think you back-crapped crazy. Okay. That's fair enough. But am I doing a good job for you? And you can tell. Now, you can tell who your team is. And I can tell you, like, if something goes wrong, they come together and figure it out. I watch them. Nobody's on commission or flat rate. But that tech's having a hard time. I never hear anybody say, oh, that's not my job. The people that say that's not my job, you smell them real quick. [Chad Whitley] (47:20 - 47:20) Oh, yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (47:21 - 47:32) You can smell them. And then we've talked about it. We give way too much grace. And you know, how did it go? What is that? What did you send me? Go ahead and read it. We all struggle with it. I have to find it and read it. I'm going to find that and read it. [Chad Whitley] (47:32 - 47:41) It's if you can no longer extend grace to an employee, then that employee no longer deserves to be employed. [Tonnika Haynes] (47:41 - 49:11) That's right. If you can no longer extend grace to an employee, you should no longer employ that person. That's the end point. Like, okay, I've tried. And one thing I like to say is, hey, see, I've got a great team. My team just let me know that we're going to have to go to a different hotel. They got rid of the hot tub. They're very upset. And this is the text messages that we get. And it's the little things like that. It's the little things like that are hilarious. But the thing, what was I going to really say? You know it with age and discernment who you need to give that to. And I did have the one kid that had the situations and he, I told him, I say, okay, kid, this is what's up. This is what I know. I know that this is probably not the industry for you. And when we sat down, he had agreed. He was like, Ms. Tanika, I think you're right. And I said, this is what I'm going to do for you because he's done so much for me. Maybe I did make a whole lot of money off of it, but he was a good kid. I said, I'll give you your two weeks notice. I'm not firing you. And he was confused. And I was like, no, I'm going to give you your two weeks notice because I don't want to leave you high and dry. But I just know right now, this isn't the place for you. It doesn't mean you're a bad person. I'm not a bad person, but this is what I can do for you. Do you accept that? Now he could have got mad and stormed off, but I had already built a relationship with him where he said, okay, she's telling the truth because he knew it. He knew it was coming and I gave him the opportunity. [Chad Whitley] (49:12 - 50:29) But I had that same conversation with a past employee that went through a, I'm just going to say it. He went through Lincoln Tech. Kid couldn't set a lift. He couldn't use a brake lathe. He didn't know what a torque wrench was. I mean, it was really bad, right? And he didn't have the mentality for it to work right for him. Great kid. Lincoln Tech does follow-up calls when they know where their people are. They called me and said, hey, I'm calling to ask about how such and such is doing. And I said, do you want the truth? And they said, absolutely, because we want to know what's going on. I said, how much this boy paid to come there? And they said, well, it depends because of scholarships and these things. I said, that's fine. I said, whatever he paid, give him his money back. And I told them that on the phone. And then she said, what do you mean? And I went through- They knew that before they let him out. I went through the stuff, right? Because they were in it for the money, right? And they said, well, at least you're working with him. I said, I can only work with him for so long. He don't know Jack. [Tonnika Haynes] (50:31 - 50:33) That's scary. Because that is a lot of money. [Chad Whitley] (50:33 - 50:34) It is a lot of money. [Tonnika Haynes] (50:34 - 50:35) UTI was expensive. [Chad Whitley] (50:35 - 50:36) Yeah. Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (50:37 - 50:40) But then I knew my student that was going in there. [Chad Whitley] (50:40 - 50:40) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (50:40 - 50:41) Yeah. He's a different breed. [Chad Whitley] (50:41 - 50:42) That's right. [Gerrot Jacobson] (50:42 - 51:41) So I'm going to take that and roll with that for a second. There's a reason. So we do what's called competency-based education. You have to prove to me you can do this before you even move on to the next thing. There's no more testing here. It's not going to take an ASE test. You have to show me that you can set that hoist and lift that car. And then you have to go get a truck. And then you got to go get an SUV. You can't move on. There is no next step until you get to that. And unfortunately, there are colleges that are that way. We're not that way. Right. And to help y'all, the best person that can come work for you is the person that you chose. Come to our schools. Believe it or not, they're public institutions. You can walk in the door and you can go see yourself. Oh, I want that one. Because when we go pick a puppy, that's... I ain't picking no puppy. We're out on that. We'll pick a cat. Then I'm good. Puppies are work. Cats are not pets. I can leave for a week and it still lives. [Tonnika Haynes] (51:43 - 51:50) Cats are not pets. A dog ain't going to live. A dog is the most loyal, cutest thing. It's the dumbest little animal in the world, no matter how... [Gerrot Jacobson] (51:50 - 52:18) You said it. It's the cutest, dumbest thing in the world. So what I'm saying is... Since it's a puppy, I guess. Pick your own puppy. Go and look. Because if you're going to go... I can see that that one can't use a hoist. That's bad. I can see that one can. And I can see that one's already had three cars on hoist today and has done two oil changes within the 15 minutes. I know I'm exaggerating. But yeah, go pick that one. That's my puppy. That's your puppy. You wanted that one? Go pick that one. [Chad Whitley] (52:21 - 52:26) But here's the issue in our area. I go back to the manufacturers putting money into... [Tonnika Haynes] (52:26 - 52:28) Oh, they get all the good puppies. [Chad Whitley] (52:28 - 52:28) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (52:29 - 52:30) They get all the good puppies. [Chad Whitley] (52:30 - 52:32) Because they have 60 bays. [Tonnika Haynes] (52:33 - 52:35) They have 60 bays and the floors are shiny. [Chad Whitley] (52:35 - 53:05) That's right. And they can bring these younger people on and all this shiny stuff. Andy Griffith Show. Andy Griffith Show was talking about Opie getting these things from a person. And Andy told the guy, he said, when you go fishing, what do you use? He said the shiny lure, right? So what does it do? It puts a hook in her mouth, right? It's the same thing. The same thing's happening at the dealerships, right? [Tonnika Haynes] (53:05 - 53:08) And then they're out there in the dealership like, oh my God, I can't breathe. I can't get no money. [Chad Whitley] (53:08 - 53:10) I'm not going. Not saying all dealerships are bad. [Tonnika Haynes] (53:10 - 53:11) Don't hear that the wrong way. [Chad Whitley] (53:11 - 53:33) Because there's a lot of good dealerships, a lot of good service managers that are pouring into these programs. But in our area, they're getting the first picks. So when we show up to job fairs that they host, a lot of these guys, they see all these shiny things. And how long does it last? We have to learn to be shinier. When they're on the lube rack for a year and a half. [Tonnika Haynes] (53:33 - 53:33) Yes. [Chad Whitley] (53:34 - 53:38) All these benefits look great, but they don't understand that we have the same benefits. [Tonnika Haynes] (53:39 - 53:43) Same. And most of the time, you don't need them because your mom and daddy still have you on the policy. [Chad Whitley] (53:43 - 53:44) Yep. That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (53:44 - 53:44) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (53:45 - 53:48) So it's different. It's different with what you have. [Gerrot Jacobson] (53:49 - 54:19) I think our regions are just so much different too, because quite honestly, our independence, we just had a job fair and we had more independence than we had dealers. And I would usually say that the vast majority of our students, it's the larger amount for sure. Go to an independent or franchise, which I'm still going to consider into that scenario. You're more mom and pop shop instead of those dealerships. So it seems different regionally. And I don't know how that mixes up, but on our side, they don't come in and pluck them out. They're too busy to come look. [Tonnika Haynes] (54:19 - 54:20) No, they're plucking baby. [Gerrot Jacobson] (54:21 - 54:26) But in our independence, they go, we need that nice puppy. Yeah. So they come get that one. [Tonnika Haynes] (54:26 - 54:33) Yeah. So we can't even get to the puppies. The puppies are gone. They have a private event for the puppies and we end up getting the mutts. [Chad Whitley] (54:34 - 54:37) When I first started going into the schools, right? [Tonnika Haynes] (54:37 - 54:37) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (54:37 - 55:11) The first thing that happened, you call and you say, tell them who you are and I always say, what can I do to help you? Because that's what I mean. What can I do to help you? And they all say, we don't have anybody for you right now. I don't have anybody for you. They're all placed or they're all with this dealership just sent three guys to BMW or whatever it is. I had to go and be there. I had to go and be at the meetings. I had to go and just talk to the kids and not try to hire them before they realized that it wasn't about me getting something from them. It was about a way to pour in. [Tonnika Haynes] (55:11 - 55:11) Right. [Chad Whitley] (55:11 - 55:28) And then from that point, then they started calling me and saying, hey, I've got this young person. You need to take a look at him. And I'll either say, OK, or I don't have room, but I know somebody else who can make sense. [Gerrot Jacobson] (55:29 - 56:29) The people that are in front of us, instructors, the people we're going to talk about, if there's more independence in front of me, I'm going to talk to about independence in front of my students. Simple as that. Yeah. So you're going to have the as an independent owner, you know, if they're plucking from y'all, I shouldn't say from y'all, but like if they're getting those good puppies first, if you're consistently in front of those instructors, my brain is going to go. I've seen red Kool-Aid now for the last 45 minutes. I'm going to think about red Kool-Aid tonight. I'm not going to think about purple. You're going to have to have one. You heard that red Kool-Aid. There it is. So if you're in front of me once a month coming to an advisory board, texting me, you send me, hey, I got these bad parts that I got off this car. Do you want to use them to bug a car? You're so relevant to me as an instructor that the likelihood of, oh yeah, this student, he's looking for a job and he's really good. The likelihood of me sending them to you is great. Yeah. Because you're there. It's not always about what we're getting from you. It doesn't cost you anything. [Chad Whitley] (56:29 - 56:32) Who's there. It's just the time. It's the calls. [Gerrot Jacobson] (56:33 - 56:52) And it's as simple as a text message. I have a text that he'll send me all the time. And I mentioned Toyota earlier. And he says, hey, I got this broken part. Do you want this? And he knows we have some Priuses that we can bug stuff with and blah, blah, blah. Well, they're in my brain. I've already talked about him twice to three times today now because he's always doing this for me. [Tonnika Haynes] (56:53 - 57:06) Well, then maybe shop owners are just telling themselves stories that the dealerships are taking them because the dealership is shiny, but we're not at the council meetings. We're not going to talk to the communities. We're not going to talk to Garrett. We need to go talk to Garrett and bring him apples and stuff. [Chad Whitley] (57:06 - 57:17) Right. But you think about it. You look at the size and how many kids are coming through a program. Where do they have to go in our area to get enough people through their program into a shop? [Tonnika Haynes] (57:17 - 57:17) That's true. [Chad Whitley] (57:18 - 57:30) They have to get them in a shop. And if you don't have enough independents coming, then you're not going to have enough independents getting these people. Yeah. Right. I mean, I'm a small shop. You're a small shop. [Tonnika Haynes] (57:30 - 57:33) Yeah. How many could you take? How many can you take? [Chad Whitley] (57:34 - 57:41) I mean, you take one. Next thing I know, somebody's calling you for another one. Somebody's calling for another one. Right. And you can't take but one at a time, maybe two. [Gerrot Jacobson] (57:42 - 57:56) How many do you graduate? Hang on a second. That is why keeping in touch with us. When you need that person, I got you now because you're relevant to me. It's not that you need a person for me every year. [Tonnika Haynes] (57:56 - 58:05) So we had to switch our mindset as a shop owner. What you said made sense to me as a shop owner. Then you said, wait a minute. That's not true. Still show up whether you can take them or not. [Chad Whitley] (58:05 - 58:06) Absolutely. You still show up. [Tonnika Haynes] (58:06 - 58:08) So I'm saying that to the people. Still show up. [Gerrot Jacobson] (58:08 - 58:32) And we're not even looking for much in a lot of cases. And quite honestly, so my big thing is I like to go to your shop. It keeps me... I just hate instructors that become irrelevant. It just bothers me because they stay in their little instructing area. And they never go see the shop. They never go talk to the owners. They never talk to the technicians. They never come to these events. They just... What they did in 83 is what they're going to be doing today because they're going to retire next May. [Tonnika Haynes] (58:32 - 58:33) Right. [Gerrot Jacobson] (58:33 - 59:33) Getting a good state check. If you say to me, hey, Garrett, I got this coil pack from this 22 Ford Escape that's bad. You should really have this for a case study so you can have it for your students. I know you got a car out there. I'm going to leave this afternoon when I don't have anything going on and come to your shop. It gives me a reason to come to you to keep that communication, to keep this networking open. It's those little things like that, that for us as a program, that's what built... I mean, I came into a wreck seven years ago when I started at Hawkeye Community College. And I mean a wreck. It was a terrible... We were not in a good place. But it's all of those little things that we've done for seven years at this specific facility now that have made it to where we're at. And then we get, and to answer your question, now we have, we were only getting 18 students. And then we got to 25. And now we, I mean, in our program now, we have 45 students and we were full in April. The first week that we were able to register students, we were full. We couldn't take anyone the entire summer. That's a good problem. [Tonnika Haynes] (59:33 - 59:34) That's a great problem. [Gerrot Jacobson] (59:34 - 59:37) That means we need to hire more instructors. That means we need to send people more places. [Tonnika Haynes] (59:37 - 59:54) You just hit the nail on the head. I wonder if shop owners, you, me, are thinking that we don't have Garrett's. We've got the guy that's been there since 1990. He's just ready to retire. So we have to understand and seek out that new level of instructor. [Gerrot Jacobson] (59:55 - 1:00:08) And maybe it's not... Yes, the instructor, first off. Yeah. Yes, I love that. But if you can't get to the instructor, there's always an associate dean and there's always a dean. If you met my dean, you too would... That you'd be here for 10 more hours. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:00:08 - 1:00:16) Really? Because I'm thinking if I met a dean, that they will just be all dean and shit. But that's the story that we just told myself as a shop owner. I would just assume that he'd had no time for me. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:00:16 - 1:00:17) This girl is crazy. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:00:18 - 1:00:19) See? See what I just did? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:00:19 - 1:00:21) Exactly. Yeah. I waited for it. I almost set you up for that. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:00:21 - 1:00:23) I see what I just did. Yeah. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:00:23 - 1:01:58) I mean, you're just turning on all kinds of switches right now. She will do anything for our program. If I texted her right now and I said I needed a flight home tonight, she would give me her credit card right now. If I said that I needed another instructor for our program tomorrow, she'd do it. I said that I needed a substitute to watch over my students. We have a shop manager. He could have took care of my students today. I said I wanted a substitute that was an A tech. He's a senior master tech from a Ford dealership. I wanted him to come in and teach for these two days that I'm gone. She said, okay. She's new. The other person that retired had been there for 30 years. If you can't get to the instructor, you can get to somebody. And I promise you, if you came to her today, if you came to her today and said, I want to walk into that shop and I want to tell Garrett about this and I want to go do this and I want to do this, and she's going to say, today or tomorrow? I like it. That's what's up. So, and there is, unfortunately, a lot of instructors. As an instructor, I go to a lot of instructor events. And I mentioned earlier, I'm an education team leader for ASE. So I go review schools for the ASE stuff. The only reason I started doing it is because when we had my first ASE review, when I came in, it was the good old boys club. You mentioned the iced coffee earlier. It was the hot coffee. If I had coffee and donuts, we passed our ASE. That was it. Because we were all friends. We never checked each other's stuff out. We never challenged each other. And I don't do that. I would rather you challenge me and be a better person than you just say, Garrett, man, you're good. Yeah. No, I'm not. I'm not good. I suck. Tell me. And by the way, tell me where I suck. And that's why we did this. But with y'all, I mean, that's where we can get these places. Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:02:00 - 1:02:47) That was good stuff, Garrett. I'm happy. I think I'm more excited for the future a little bit more now. Well, I'm always excited for the future because I don't see it as a technician shortage or doom and gloom and this, that, whatever. I am not. I'm not the negative person. I always try to see the bright side. And I do get to see the bright side because I get to see it through. I get to see it through Cody Burrs. I get to see it through Benji's team, through my baby Jordan, even through my techs in the shop. I get to see this youth still excited. And I am not going to let you get to my kids and make them think that this industry is bad just because you're mad and you didn't grow and you throwing wrenches everywhere. And I'm talking to you. Yep. Say something in the comments with your mean self. Because we got too much of that. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:02:47 - 1:02:48) Heard that. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:02:48 - 1:02:55) The negative gets the most attention. Just loud and ignorant and negative. Just shut up and let the happy people talk. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:02:55 - 1:03:09) Like Garrett. Students see that negative energy too. And they see it and they're like, oh man, is this what it's like? God's honor. I heard a student say this just last week. He said, yeah, I've been watching some of the stuff on the way the industry is going. And while I'm going to complete college, I just don't know if this is for me full-time. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:03:09 - 1:03:10) Baby, don't listen to that mess. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:03:11 - 1:03:14) Exactly what I said. There is a place for you and it's going to be a positive place for you. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:03:15 - 1:03:33) Yeah, do not listen to that. Just the loudest people. It's just like the evening news. They just got to give you a crazy, scary highlight just to draw you in. But these same technicians that are complaining, why didn't get another job yet? They're just mad because their knees hurt. That's it. Take care of your knees. They won't hurt. Then you'll make money. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:03:33 - 1:03:36) Okay, you asked me what can you guys do? [Tonnika Haynes] (1:03:36 - 1:03:37) First of all, what can we do for Garrett? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:03:37 - 1:03:41) What can we do for y'all? I think this conversation is a lot. [Chad Whitley] (1:03:42 - 1:03:42) Yeah. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:03:42 - 1:03:55) I mean, are we supplying the right student for you? Is there something that we're missing? We all sit here and go, oh yeah, teach them how to use a hoist and torque wheels down. It sounds like you're doing it right. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:03:56 - 1:04:01) It sounds like Garrett needs to teach a class on instructing, but it also... [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:04:01 - 1:04:02) Guess where I met Justin Allen? [Tonnika Haynes] (1:04:03 - 1:04:04) Really? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:04:04 - 1:04:07) He went to a class of mine that was called Meet the Modern Classroom. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:04:07 - 1:05:08) That's the thing. We need a more modern classroom. We need the shop owners to understand the unicorn is not coming through the door on the first day, but there's a little horn under his head. It just needs room and time to grow. I think we want instant gratifications just like the kids do. We all do. We're all guilty of it. It all comes to training and leadership. It all boils down to training and leadership. Once you realize or just think for a little bit, okay, I'm the problem. Let me slow down. Like I said, you'll get mad at a kid. I'll do it today. And I have to remember what my kids... You made a mistake. How dare you make this such a stupid mistake? You remember that time you did the same thing? And you know, you've been here on this world 50 years and you're still making mistakes. Why can't they? Well, we have to allow for grace to those who deserve it. And we have to understand that KPI is not on your financial statement. [Chad Whitley] (1:05:09 - 1:05:13) I've got a young technician that just completed my apprenticeship program, right? [Tonnika Haynes] (1:05:13 - 1:05:13) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (1:05:15 - 1:05:25) He had a vehicle in and he was replacing spark plugs in a Ford Maverick. He cracked the porcelain on a plug. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:05:26 - 1:05:26) Dropped it down. [Chad Whitley] (1:05:27 - 1:05:32) And dropped it down in the cylinder and thought he was going to blow it out. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:05:33 - 1:05:34) Push it further down. [Chad Whitley] (1:05:34 - 1:05:53) And it actually got stuck in the piston and we had to pull it apart to fix it. But when he came and told me, I looked at him and I said, okay, I guess you're going to learn how to pull the head off that thing, ain't you? And pull the piston out. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:05:53 - 1:05:58) I know inside you was like, oh my God. But think about how Chad would have reacted to that 10 years ago. [Chad Whitley] (1:05:58 - 1:06:28) Oh yeah, I'd have flew off. No doubt about it whatsoever. When he finished it and got completed with it once it was running again, I looked at him, I said, okay, so what did we learn? He said, I learned how important insulated spark plug sockets are. I said, that's exactly right. I said, so you lost the insulator out of your socket, right? He said, yeah, I've already corrected that. I said, okay, so we ain't got to worry about this happening again, right? He said, nope, not happening again. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:06:28 - 1:06:29) He'll never forget that. [Chad Whitley] (1:06:29 - 1:06:29) That's exactly right. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:06:29 - 1:06:36) But he'll never forget how you handled that. How you handle it, because sometimes we're going to grind our teeth. [Chad Whitley] (1:06:36 - 1:06:38) I did. When he came and told me, I can tell you. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:06:38 - 1:06:46) Boy, this muscle right here. I got a good muscle right now. Just walk away. And even if you're just like, you know what? I need to walk away for just a second. [Chad Whitley] (1:06:46 - 1:06:50) And I told him, I did tell him that. I said, hey, you got to give me a minute. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:06:50 - 1:06:50) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (1:06:52 - 1:06:56) And then 30 minutes later, I came back and I said, all right, this is what we got to do. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:06:56 - 1:06:57) Something about grace. [Chad Whitley] (1:06:58 - 1:06:58) Yeah. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:06:59 - 1:07:00) There's something about grace. [Chad Whitley] (1:07:00 - 1:07:00) Yep. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:07:02 - 1:07:06) Well, Garrett, anything else you want to say to the people on the internet? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:07:07 - 1:07:46) I hope that the independent shop owners more than anything can figure out how to reach out to us. And then the instructors that are listening to can reach out to y'all. Because there is a disconnect. I see it in a lot of colleges. I would love to see, when I go to the next college, wherever it be in my region, to review anything that there isn't that disconnect. I know it will still forever be there. But just let's find a way to open the communication for that. And also realize that, you know, in the game of would you rather, would you rather them learn about a lab scope or take a shower? Because that's what we had to... Sometimes when they come to you and they are a little greener, it's because we had to tell them how to shower first. That's as far as we got today. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:07:47 - 1:07:48) That being on time is late. [Chad Whitley] (1:07:49 - 1:07:49) There you go. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:07:50 - 1:07:51) And being early is being on time. [Chad Whitley] (1:07:51 - 1:07:51) That's right. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:07:52 - 1:07:52) Yeah. [Chad Whitley] (1:07:52 - 1:07:55) That's right. I think we call that what? Soft skills? [Tonnika Haynes] (1:07:55 - 1:07:57) Soft skills. Heard that. [Chad Whitley] (1:07:57 - 1:08:00) But sometimes you can't be real soft to get that skill. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:08:00 - 1:08:03) Yeah, I might have to punch you a little bit sometimes. Toughen you up some. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:08:04 - 1:08:25) And fortunately, I think this next generation that we're dealing with can take more of that hard soft skill. Yeah. It's changed back around to that. And I'm excited about that. Because I think the parents will realize like, oh God, what have I done? This next generation saw some of those kids and went, we can't be having that. That's right. So it's a good thing. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:08:26 - 1:08:42) Well, thank you both so much for joining me today. This was my second live recording. I feel like a superstar. I'm so glad you sat down. And I was just like, I need somebody to sit in here with Garrett because I wanted to be bouncing, bouncing, bouncing ideas. And I think we did a good job with that today. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:08:42 - 1:08:48) I wish you could have not been like, I wanted to fight. I was worried about it. I said, are you left-handed or right-handed earlier? [Tonnika Haynes] (1:08:49 - 1:08:50) No, no, no. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:08:50 - 1:08:55) I want to get some controversy out of it. But this is awesome that there are good independent facilities. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:08:55 - 1:08:58) There's going to be somebody that wants to fight about everything we just said. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:08:58 - 1:08:59) Yes. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:08:59 - 1:08:59) And let them want to fight. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:09:00 - 1:09:01) And they're going to do it in those comments. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:09:01 - 1:09:15) And they're going to do it in the comments. And I'm not going to read them. So fight all you want to amongst yourselves. And like, share, and follow and all of the good stuff on social media so I can keep coming to conventions. Because this stuff is expensive. I'm broke. It's crazy. All right. We're done. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:09:16 - 1:09:17) Awesome. Thank you so much. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:09:17 - 1:09:23) Oh, no, no, no. We're not done. We're not. Braxton, we're not done. If someone wanted to get in contact with you, how do they do that? [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:09:23 - 1:09:26) Well, you could try to add me on Facebook. It's probably not going to happen. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:09:26 - 1:09:27) He's not going to let you in. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:09:27 - 1:09:43) I'll look at it and go, oh, you're famous. Maybe you got the wrong person. But otherwise, LinkedIn's just fine. Or my email, Garrett.Jacobson at HawkeyeCollege.edu. You can just Google Hawkeye Community College and find me. I want you to continue. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:09:44 - 1:09:54) Please continue to do the good work. I'm extremely proud of this conversation. And I think Chad is too. And hopefully, we reach just enough people to make another difference in the industry. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:09:55 - 1:10:02) I hope we can connect y'all and my side of the world. Whatever disconnect is there, let's bridge that gap. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:10:03 - 1:10:05) I will be doing a better job at Chapel Hill High School. [Chad Whitley] (1:10:06 - 1:10:07) Go for it. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:10:07 - 1:10:12) Yeah, I'm doing a better job. A text message. Once a month. Text message. Anything. Anything. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:10:13 - 1:10:20) I have a couple ideas. They've got a girls racing program. I'm so excited to meet those girls. There you go. There you go. All right. We'll do it again next time. [Gerrot Jacobson] (1:10:20 - 1:10:21) All right. Thank you. [Tonnika Haynes] (1:10:22 - 1:10:56) 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. This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.