Latest / Downshift With Tonnika / Why Great Technicians Struggle as Shop Owners | Aniz Lavji & Brian Gauthier - Ep 35

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Why Great Technicians Struggle as Shop Owners | Aniz Lavji & Brian Gauthier - Ep 35 · Downshift With Tonnika

• 00:00:01.82 Aniz I know, I'm horrible. 00:00:03.30 Tonnika Haynes It's terrible. 00:00:04.79 Aniz Terrible, I'm taking care of the customer. 00:00:05.25 Tonnika Haynes Brian, Anise, Anise, Brian. I don't know if you guys know each other because like Brian's on the tickety-tock and Anise is on the face space. 00:00:11.67 Brian Oh. 00:00:12.61 Aniz um'm on I'm on every space. 00:00:14.30 Tonnika Haynes You're on every space. But why you guys together? I chose to put you together last minute because um you have similar stories. So like last year was both of you guys' his first year at ASTA Expo. 00:00:24.18 Aniz OK. 00:00:29.22 Aniz Yep. 00:00:29.18 Tonnika Haynes And um so I know that Brian entered entered the industry because you're a technician and now you just opened your own shop in July, right? Hey, you have these use words, Brian. 00:00:41.69 Brian Yes, correct. I'm 00:00:46.33 Brian working on it. 00:00:46.65 Tonnika Haynes Okay, and then, Anise, I don't even know your background as much as we talk. 00:00:51.19 Aniz So I've been at this for about 20 years now. 00:00:55.79 Tonnika Haynes Oh. 00:00:56.76 Aniz So started a business back in 2006. 00:00:59.45 Brian Same as me. Give it to you. 00:01:02.74 Aniz We had a car dealership, but even going before that, I was studying journalism broadcast, which obviously now it makes a little more sense. 00:01:11.48 Tonnika Haynes Makes all the sense in the world. 00:01:14.84 Aniz But back then, as funny as it sounds, there were no Indian people on the radio or on TV. Like it didn't exist in my area. 00:01:25.30 Tonnika Haynes Okay. 00:01:26.30 Aniz I was the only, as politically incorrect as it sounds, I was the only brown person in my school. 00:01:29.37 Brian Thank 00:01:32.57 Aniz So there was me and everyone else was everyone else. So I was really singled out. So trying to get into an industry where you feel so singled out and the pay was not really what i was kind of looking at. I did that for about a year And I just did not feel like that particular color industry was going to welcome me. Like I wanted to be welcome. 00:01:56.80 Aniz It's not like the automotive industry. It's completely different. 00:01:59.53 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. 00:01:59.67 Aniz So basically i got a phone call from my dad. We were looking for a business and he said, well, there's a car lot for lease. You know check it out? said, sure. We went, we checked it out. We leased it in about 45 minutes. 00:02:12.57 Tonnika Haynes That's what's up. So you've been doing this for a while, but so ASTA Expo last year was your first year. 00:02:15.84 Aniz Yep. 00:02:16.82 Brian this 00:02:18.90 Aniz Yes, it was. 00:02:21.34 Tonnika Haynes Same for you, Brian. Had either one of you guys been to a training like that before? 00:02:29.22 Aniz I've never, no. 00:02:30.65 Tonnika Haynes Never? 00:02:31.16 Brian No, nothing I ever have. 00:02:32.98 Tonnika Haynes Why do you think that is? I'm just curious. 00:02:38.58 Aniz Brian, go ahead. 00:02:43.16 Tonnika Haynes Tell the truth. 00:02:44.73 Brian ah For me, I live in a small town and... Uh-oh, what'd I do? 00:02:52.50 Tonnika Haynes Nothing. 00:02:54.14 Brian I just never had that offered to me before. 00:02:58.55 Tonnika Haynes Had you ever heard of it 00:03:02.07 Brian I don't know if it's me. Not ASTA, not anything like that. I mean, other than and but the only thing that was ever offered to me is like community college. So... 00:03:12.57 Tonnika Haynes So how did you hear about Expo? 00:03:12.98 Brian I had outside of the shop I worked and I had no idea. 00:03:19.10 Brian i heard of the expo because of Check Engine Chuck. he yeah He had kind of taken me under his wing and helped me realize there's a lot more to the world that not everything needs to be sent to the dealer. 00:03:31.64 Brian ah now There was more that I was capable of doing, especially in the electrical diagnostic world. So he he basically called me one day and put me on the spot and said, do you know what ASTA is? And I said, no. And he gave me like a three minute crash course and then said, so do you want to go? 00:03:49.14 Brian I said, well, it's not really something I can afford. He said, I didn't ask you if you could afford it. I asked if you could go. I'm like, ah he goes, ah you will go and I will bring you, but i I need to know right now. 00:04:00.15 Brian I'm like, I need five minutes to call the wife and and see if this is something I can do. And that's kind of how I got there last year. i mean, I had to fund my way for travels and the hotel, which is no big deal, but getting there, getting signed up for classes and and just being a part of it was 100% because of him. 00:04:18.42 Tonnika Haynes That's awesome. Now, so do you think that you you're going to do it again? You're going to do it again. I'm not asking you I'm telling you. 00:04:27.86 Brian I am trying like heck. 00:04:28.95 Tonnika Haynes I know you're saying just open the shop you don't know if you can leave the shop and whatever. 00:04:30.58 Brian Okay. 00:04:32.43 Tonnika Haynes But if anybody else was in your shoes right now, what would you tell them? Like. 00:04:36.17 Brian It's not that I 00:04:37.30 Tonnika Haynes Go ahead. 00:04:40.92 Brian find a way, and which is exactly what I'm trying to do. And it's not that I'm worried about the shop being closed for three days or something like that. I can deal with that. um It's just opening a shop literally a month ago. 00:04:53.82 Brian i took every penny I had to get this place up and running. 00:04:56.71 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. 00:04:57.72 Brian um And the shop is, it's working. it's it you don't just open busy. So ah if the shop has enough money in the account where I know I can fund this trip and not come back and start over broke again, I would definitely be doing this. 00:05:12.25 Brian So. 00:05:12.68 Tonnika Haynes Anise. So you came down and um I know that it was hard for you to get, no, I don't think it was hard for you to get away from the shop. It was hard for you to be away from your family. 00:05:24.28 Tonnika Haynes um 00:05:25.18 Aniz for me, yeah, it was hard to be away from the family. I've got a wonderful wife and I've got three very young kids. At that time, it was five five seven and one. 00:05:38.24 Aniz So I've got young kids and my wife leaving the kids with my wife, it was hard to get help for them. So it was a struggle, but I, I just basically told myself there's, there's no way I can't go. 00:05:50.94 Brian No one. i 00:05:53.74 Aniz So I have to find a way because it's that important for me to make it to this training, which again, I didn't, I had no idea, but that ASDA existed until I, 00:06:05.50 Aniz I hope you guys have heard of the Jada mechanic, some guy named Jeff. 00:06:07.99 Tonnika Haynes ah Yeah, I think I heard something about some jaded guy, dude. 00:06:09.92 Aniz Yeah. Some Jada guy. But I heard about it on his podcast randomly. 00:06:13.05 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. 00:06:15.95 Aniz And from there, I was hooked because when he was talking about it, I said, why have I not heard about it? First of all, again, I'm in Canada. So things work very differently here. But once I heard more about it and what it's all about and the way Jeff was talking about it being like, 00:06:34.20 Aniz a family. Like you're going there, you're not going there, you're going there for training, but you're going there to see your people. You're going there to catch up with all the people you probably haven't seen for a year. 00:06:45.43 Aniz Hear are the stories, hear the struggles and get to a point where if you have a struggle, you've got people in your corner that are going to give you advice and tell you, look, Anise, I dealt with this exact situation and this is what I did to fix that situation. 00:06:53.64 Brian Here we 00:07:01.81 Aniz Because So much learning happens in the hallways and in the after, i call it the after party room. That's Mike Allen's room. But so much learning happens after the classes are done. 00:07:16.47 Aniz And you can't get that going to a you know a quick little NAPA training or something like that. This is the place to be if you really want to step up your game. 00:07:26.55 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. Like what were some of the key things that you took away that you were able to apply and that it paid for itself as soon as you got back home, Brian? 00:07:38.01 Brian For me, I didn't have a lot of experience with DVOMs, push button start, stuff like that. So there were several courses i took that were related to that. um And it was just nice to have like people like Keith Perkins, who is a tremendous teacher, to break down systems and make it so I could understand it and I could apply that back home. 00:07:50.99 Aniz yeah. 00:07:57.27 Brian ah And like you were saying, it's not just the classes itself. There's a lot in the people you meet, the like minds where if you don't understand something, these people sitting at a table next to the bar will gladly talk to you, talk talk to your ear off and explain it until you do. 00:08:13.30 Brian So just the connections you make, the you know the phone numbers I came back with in this phone are worth more than the whole trip it itself. To be able to call and say, hey, man, I don't understand this. And they're like, yeah, I got you. 00:08:23.87 Brian And they just walk you through it. These are people I would have never known about or met without going to ASDA. 00:08:28.38 Tonnika Haynes yeah there's a power in networking and connections and there's so much more than just the classroom stuff the classroom stuff is amazing the classroom stuff you got stuff for your technicians you got your stuff for your service advisors the social media girl everybody has a place right there at the AST Expo and I think it's it's makes me sad and we're trying to do a much better job and let people know that we're here and it's just right here in in Raleigh it's in the south it's sticky sweet it's nothing really that you have to be nervous about walking into those rooms because I feel like if you walk into the room at AST Expo you already feel like you're in there with a bunch of cousins crazy cousins weird cousins all the cousins are at AST Expo 00:08:38.97 Brian It is. 00:09:08.60 Brian not Well, not just that. There's the saying of 00:09:13.11 Brian And not just that, but the ah the thought of like, if you're if you feel like you're the smartest person in the room, find a bigger room. Every room at ASTA is a bigger room for you. 00:09:20.97 Aniz Yeah. 00:09:22.26 Tonnika Haynes I like how you put that. 00:09:23.74 Brian So. 00:09:24.01 Aniz I think if if you're going there with the mindset of you know, people are not going to associate with you because they don't know you or, you know you're going to go there and you're going to be alone. 00:09:35.05 Aniz you're There's no way you can go to this event and not meet people because people are not not there to, you know, criticize your business because everyone's business has got something that needs work on. 00:09:35.29 Brian Yeah. 00:09:48.95 Aniz yeah Nobody has a perfect business. And like Josh Parnell says, we're we're all lifelong learners. you're You're not going to be perfect. But if you go there with an open mind that, you know, I'm going to meet people, I'm going to learn some stuff. 00:10:01.38 Brian All right. 00:10:03.13 Aniz And even if even if you go and it's just a refresher on some stuff that you may have forgotten, it's worth every penny because you're you're not going to get that from any other kind of training other than going to these. For us, we have to go to the States. We don't have, you know, there's so many different expos in the States that you can go to maybe 20 or 30 twenty or thirty Steininger, year if you wanted to but for for me it's there's hands down like I can't miss sta after I went last year for the first time. 00:10:36.41 Tonnika Haynes So what do you think was your biggest takeaway? 00:10:39.29 Brian Yeah, once you attend once, you're... 00:10:41.08 Tonnika Haynes go ahead, b Brian. 00:10:41.56 Aniz Sorry, I didn't get that. 00:10:44.53 Tonnika Haynes Brian was saying. 00:10:46.99 Brian Nope, go ahead. 00:10:46.97 Tonnika Haynes No, I was going to say, what was your biggest takeaway for both of you guys? 00:10:47.39 Brian You were asking an important question. oh 00:10:50.87 Tonnika Haynes Like, you know, we're talking about going, we're talking about connections and we're talking about classes, but what's the biggest thing that hits you in the head like a brick when you're just like, wow. 00:10:54.30 Brian Hmm. 00:11:03.80 Brian The fact that you can walk in and there are people you don't know, and yet there are people you do know, whether it's, ah you know, Check Engine Chuck or Mr. Subaru or other big names that you're like, wow, I would have never met these people. 00:11:16.76 Brian And they're there for the same reason you are. 00:11:18.20 Tonnika Haynes Right. 00:11:19.60 Brian They're there to learn just as much. 00:11:21.62 Tonnika Haynes I like how you said that because I think sometimes people think, right, they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like we do. 00:11:22.04 Brian You know they're not there to just strut being a celebrity in a sense, but just. 00:11:28.66 Tonnika Haynes And that they're helpful. That's the best part about it. Like all of the ah social media celebrities and all of them, they are learning as well. 00:11:32.98 Brian Absolutely. 00:11:37.87 Aniz Yeah. Yeah. 00:11:38.84 Tonnika Haynes So not think not going to a training because you don't feel like you know anybody or you think or you think you know everything. 00:11:40.67 Brian Yep, absolutely. 00:11:45.46 Tonnika Haynes Like if you walk in a room you think you know everything, you like you said, you need to find a bigger room. But like there's a lot of big rooms at the AST Expo. And so we want to welcome a lot of people to keep coming. 00:11:54.74 Brian Yes, yes, there is. 00:11:55.74 Tonnika Haynes A lot of big rooms. Like, I didn't know who Richard was because that's not, you know, I don't follow the check-in and Chuck on the TikTok. and um And so, like, my son was like, Mom, how do you how do you know him? I'm like, it's Richard. 00:12:13.34 Tonnika Haynes scott He's got the glasses. It's just Chuck. 00:12:16.16 Aniz Oh my God. 00:12:16.74 Tonnika Haynes He's like, he's just a guy. He's a guy trying to learn and embrace the industry and keep keep moving forward. 00:12:18.26 Brian You know, I followed him for so long. 00:12:22.52 Aniz Yeah. But, you know, like, 00:12:26.23 Brian Yeah, and i and I followed him for so long and never in my life did I think we'd become such good friends to the point where I talked him almost daily. um And the amount of the amount of stuff he has taught me, showed me, the time he has spent on the phone, I almost feel bad for the hours he spent on the phone with me. 00:12:44.28 Brian um And he's pushed me to do so much in in less than a year. From going to ASTA to stepping out of my comfort zone and taking on projects I wouldn't normally even think about, ah to to taking everything I have and saying, let's go for it and opening a shop. 00:12:58.97 Aniz Yeah. 00:12:59.72 Brian So it's people like that that I want surrounded in my life because just that one person changed it. And there's so many more people at ASTA who have offered to help in such a way. 00:13:09.46 Tonnika Haynes And that's true. 00:13:10.42 Brian So. 00:13:10.74 Tonnika Haynes That's gospel. Because same thing for me. I would not be where I'm at without the Expo. First time I went to the Expo, I was um going because Lucas, I was hearing Lucas Underwood kept talking about it, kept talking about it. 00:13:22.84 Tonnika Haynes And honestly, at the time, it was only about three to four exits up the road from my house. So I don't have an excuse why not to go. But I really was afraid to go for my own reasons because I didn't know anybody. 00:13:32.06 Brian Yeah. 00:13:32.28 Tonnika Haynes Nobody looked like me, all of those things. 00:13:32.89 Aniz Yep. 00:13:34.60 Tonnika Haynes So, you know, those are the stories that I keep saying, because that's what my first first coach said. Those are just the stories that you're telling yourself. And then the other story that people tell themselves, like, I don't need it. I don't need it. 00:13:45.59 Tonnika Haynes You do need it. Like technology is always changing. 00:13:48.37 Brian Yeah. 00:13:48.43 Tonnika Haynes And then what happens is you'll get a technician, a wonderful technician like Brian. 00:13:49.57 Brian Oh, 00:13:52.92 Tonnika Haynes that now you've opened your own shop. So now you need to learn how to run a business. That's a whole different ballgame. And there' are classes for that as well. 00:13:59.20 Brian yes. 00:14:00.34 Tonnika Haynes And so it's just like, get out of your own way. make your way to the expo. And it is life changing. Like for me, I didn't know what an ARO was. I didn't know this. I didn't know that. and I knew marketing. 00:14:12.79 Tonnika Haynes I knew the body shop. I knew the body shop world because that's what I grew up in. But all of a sudden my roles have changed. I'm in a kind of a new industry, even it's still automotive, but it's a different aspect of it. But everything that just really lit the fire under my tail came from AST Expo. 00:14:30.49 Aniz you you know You talk about light lighting a fire. 00:14:30.80 Tonnika Haynes For sure. 00:14:32.69 Aniz i mean just before Just before the expo, which was in September, you know before that we were using up until June, and we were using QuickBooks as our point of sale for the whole repair a business. 00:14:33.54 Brian And 00:14:48.02 Aniz Okay. And now I'm looking back and that's stone age compared to like, I'm using tech metric, which is the greatest software ever made for shop. And when you go from that, and then I got tech metric in June or July, learned it July, August. And then I'm going in with that knowledge into ASTA talking with other shop owners and they've got similar softwares even, and getting their input on how to properly use it. 00:15:17.94 Aniz And you go from that, I mean, I'm i'm doing almost 50% to 60% more business than I was last year because I switched my software. 00:15:29.66 Brian Peace. 00:15:29.69 Tonnika Haynes And put processes in place. That is, that's crazy. Like, I don't think people understand what they don't know. 00:15:32.76 Aniz And 00:15:35.69 Tonnika Haynes You don't know what you don't know, but you get arrogance in the way or just maybe even just fear. 00:15:36.63 Aniz you know exactly. 00:15:42.09 Tonnika Haynes He's like, I don't want to learn anything new. I don't want to learn anything new. I don't want a new cell phone. I don't want to learn anything new because it's just like, ooh, but you know, when you get to the other side of that uncomfortable spot, then you know where the victory is. 00:15:53.90 Tonnika Haynes And I think that's what a lot of people are missing when they don't go to training. 00:15:58.10 Aniz you gotta You want to be able to work on the business instead of working in the business all the time. And again, I'll i'll tell you upfront, I'm working way in the business, but I've i've got a company that's helping me find ah someone to work in the front, a service advisor. I've got someone that's helping me find a tech to work in the back. So I've got that ball rolling, but some people that don't understand that you can't do everything alone, 00:16:25.08 Aniz and try to run everything alone, you know, it's not good for your mental health. You're not going to be able to grow your business the way that you may want to. And again, we're at work more than we are at home. 00:16:38.71 Aniz And the important thing is what's at home, not work. This is what we have to do to go home and be happy and provide for our family. So if we're going to spend so much time at the shop with our customers, 00:16:54.58 Aniz We need to make it worth it. And we need to make sure we've got people in place where we can leave if we have to. we're not We shouldn't be missing baseball games. We shouldn't be missing football games because, oh, I've got this customer coming in and he only deals with me. No, but that's not the right way to do it. 00:17:10.78 Aniz But if you've gone to training and you've had people from the Institute yelling at you with a cowboy hat on, okay, he's going to tell you, 00:17:21.62 Aniz that you're an idiot. 00:17:22.12 Brian I 00:17:22.34 Aniz You need to get your stuff together and put people there so you can have a life outside the shop. Okay? Because without the shop, you're still you. 00:17:36.15 Aniz But you need to focus on yourself. And i'm I'm saying this to myself. That's why I'm doing this. I'm not saying that I've got everything figured out because I sure as hell don't. But if you focus all your energy 00:17:46.52 Tonnika Haynes Same. 00:17:49.63 Brian I'm listening to everything you're saying because I'm a month in. 00:17:50.94 Aniz If you. 00:17:50.97 Tonnika Haynes yeah You're a month in you're years in and you're just getting, I mean, not just getting it. I'm 10 years on my own today. Today is my 10th year anniversary of me running everything by myself without my dad. 00:18:01.85 Aniz Happy anniversary. 00:18:02.55 Tonnika Haynes That beginning, working seven days a week, 14, 16 hours a day with elementary school kids. I'm the mama. 00:18:10.90 Aniz That's hard. 00:18:11.19 Tonnika Haynes I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, but you guys are the dad. 00:18:13.51 Brian boy. 00:18:13.62 Tonnika Haynes It's a whole lot more than the mama but when you don't know how to cut it off and you think you're saving the community. 00:18:17.59 Brian course 00:18:19.22 Tonnika Haynes but you're actually killing your home life. So what you're going to possibly run into, Brian, but it probably won't be so hard for you because you are now in train mode. As a business owner, Anise said something very strong. 00:18:31.42 Tonnika Haynes You have to work on the business and not always in the business. But I want to fix that a little bit for our people that are just starting out. 00:18:37.16 Brian I 00:18:43.29 Tonnika Haynes My boy Brian, you're going to have do bur both for a little bit. You're going to you're gonna have to do both for a little bit, but you're going to learn that, okay, I got to do this. I'm a max it out and then I'm ah afford to pay somebody to do this, afford to pay somebody to do that. So I don't want the people that's had a shop for six months think they can be an absentee owner the way that I am kind of. Like I don't have to be at the shop. 00:19:07.32 Tonnika Haynes I don't have to be there to open. don't have to be there to close. And that is a blessing. But before I was at there at six and I would leave at eight and there's still eight, nine, 10 o'clock nights, but it's because I choose to do it. 00:19:16.88 Aniz Yes. 00:19:17.37 Tonnika Haynes So that's the journey that training takes you on, getting out of your own way. 00:19:22.28 Aniz Yep. 00:19:22.26 Tonnika Haynes First, learning the roles, learning each role of the business so nobody can come in there and pull the wool over your head. 00:19:23.78 Brian Bye. 00:19:28.95 Tonnika Haynes So that means, Brian, you got to learn accounting and then all that crap other than just wrenching. And then you'll be like, you'll become the delegator. And then you'll just be the check writer. 00:19:41.82 Tonnika Haynes But that comes with time. That comes with time and coaching and experience and setbacks. 00:19:46.69 Aniz Yep, lots of stuff. 00:19:47.54 Tonnika Haynes And all of that good stuff. And the AST Expo, what what we do, we're going to bring all the trainers to you. We're bringing in all the trainers from marketing, training about technical stuff, training about ownership, training but about leadership. 00:20:02.49 Tonnika Haynes All of those different aspects that we don't know. Not we. I'm not a technician. I don't want to say you don't know what you're talking about. I kind of do cause I've been doing this shit all my whole life. Yeah, 30 years been on the check on the payroll. 00:20:12.66 Tonnika Haynes I know and i know it's hard for some people in the internet. That's what I i don't even read my comments anymore. Guys are like, oh, don't what you're talking about. Shit. um 00:20:20.64 Aniz I messaged a few of your comment people and gave them a piece of my mind because they, some of them are not nice. 00:20:26.74 Tonnika Haynes I don't read them. 00:20:27.74 Aniz no I messaged them and they blocked me, but I tell them like, going to lay off. 00:20:31.06 Tonnika Haynes The internet is hilarious. 00:20:31.11 Aniz Like, what do you do? 00:20:31.45 Brian the internet 00:20:32.09 Tonnika Haynes But here's the thing. Like Jim Coconis loves when I say this. but What you eat don't make me fat. I know my debt to income ratio. 00:20:38.27 Aniz Hmm. 00:20:41.50 Tonnika Haynes OK, I'm good. 00:20:41.68 Brian okay 00:20:43.29 Tonnika Haynes um I'm very, very, very good. So respectfully, Internet, kiss it. um But those who want to learn because I've been there, done that. 00:20:54.46 Tonnika Haynes Listen, listen to Brian. Listen to Anise. Listen to the people bring. But let me get off that soapbox because I can do that for a minute. I don't read the comments anymore because it's hilarious. 00:21:03.84 Aniz Some people are cruel, though. 00:21:03.80 Tonnika Haynes But back to ASTA. 00:21:05.04 Aniz They're cruel. 00:21:05.63 Tonnika Haynes What did you say? 00:21:07.67 Aniz I said, just side note, just some people are cruel. 00:21:13.94 Brian They also have their own opinion based on where they are. 00:21:15.36 Aniz Yeah. 00:21:17.02 Brian Because I have people who constantly tell me, how come you don't do AC work? I'm like, it's it's not profitable in my area for me. And they're like, no, no, no, you're losing out. You don't know what you're doing. So well it's seven grand a machine. 00:21:27.99 Brian You need three different machines. 00:21:28.18 Aniz Open your own mouth, then. 00:21:29.47 Brian In Maine, you have to have permitting it. And there's only one month a year that we do AC work. So why would I invest that amount of money into one month worth of work? It's not profitable for me. 00:21:40.41 Tonnika Haynes Say it with me, Brian. What they eat does not make you fat. Bump them. and And people, they have so many opinions. 00:21:46.46 Brian Yeah, it makes me sad. 00:21:48.64 Tonnika Haynes And then you go look at a profile picture and be like, I'm so sorry, bro. Like, why are you not at work? 00:21:54.12 Aniz Yeah. Going off what you were saying, Tanika, is all the different classes. 00:21:55.58 Tonnika Haynes Like, what are we doing? 00:21:56.57 Brian so 00:22:00.31 Aniz There's classes, and I went to some on how to deal with these type of customers that come in. yeah Like there's class, I can't remember for the life of me which class it was, but there was a class and the whole thing was basically how to deal with, I'm using air quotes, problem customers. 00:22:18.65 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. 00:22:19.06 Aniz People coming in trying to tell you how to run your business. It's like you did not pay the hydro, pay the mortgage or anything. here I'm running it the way that I'm running it. And if it doesn't do well, that's my own problem. But you don't tell me about doing or not doing AC. 00:22:35.01 Brian Live learn. 00:22:35.38 Aniz So there's different classes that are going to tell you, hey, look, this is the way that you can talk to the customer to deal with this. You can say, yep, I understand what you're saying is something that we're going to look into because something a comment like that, it ends a conversation because they want you to go and buy it right now. go call your Napa rep or whoever and say, hey, send me an AC machine. 00:22:57.48 Aniz But If you respond like I've learned from ASTA, oh, that's something interesting. We'll look into it. The conversation's over and you can move on to the next customer. 00:23:06.71 Tonnika Haynes Yeah, my version of that. It's okay. I love you. Bye. Yeah. So, but think about it. 00:23:10.68 Aniz Or that. I'll write that one down, yeah. 00:23:11.53 Tonnika Haynes If Brian was affected emotionally, like, oh man, why don't I have three AC machines? that's what you got your village for. 00:23:21.82 Tonnika Haynes Like if you get in the way and you're like, Hey Richard, somebody said something about the AC machine. I've been thinking about it and maybe I should go ahead and get one. And he'd probably talk you out of like, bro, why? 00:23:30.93 Aniz Yeah. 00:23:31.32 Tonnika Haynes Like that's, that's a community that's finding the right community. 00:23:31.47 Aniz Yeah. 00:23:35.19 Tonnika Haynes You know, making sure you're in the same room with people with similar or better mindsets because people will try their best to make you feel miserable because that's where they are. 00:23:35.95 Brian Absolutely. 00:23:44.12 Tonnika Haynes People will try their best to keep you down 00:23:47.03 Brian absolutely. 00:23:47.19 Tonnika Haynes Like the next thing you're going to run into is when you run your business and your pricing needs to change because you've added an employee or this and that and whatever. Now you've got a roof to pay for. You're not mobile. 00:23:57.63 Tonnika Haynes You're not working out of your car anymore. You've got things to pay for. 00:24:00.11 Brian right. 00:24:01.18 Tonnika Haynes And like, oh, man, won't you just hook me up? You didn't say that when you went to Chick-fil-A. So that is the thing. You're going to have people, the crabs in the bucket that are going to try to bring you down in the community that you've built from ASTA and the knowledge that you get from the classes kind of help you say, you know what? 00:24:09.35 Brian Okay. 00:24:18.18 Tonnika Haynes I'm going to give you the best. No, I can. No. Like learn to say no for me in that first year. The second year, I can talk about that all the time because we used to do anything that came in the door. 00:24:30.55 Tonnika Haynes oh Can you put this part on for me? Your daddy used to do it for me. Can you fix this tractor tire real quick? 00:24:36.99 Aniz Yeah. 00:24:37.34 Tonnika Haynes Your daddy used to do it for me. And it was just all these things. 00:24:40.07 Brian you 00:24:40.81 Tonnika Haynes And everybody was my cousin. Like, I'm your cousin. Like, I don't even know you. Like, I've never seen you. And you want to help the community. And here's the thing. A lot of technicians leave the shop. 00:24:52.98 Tonnika Haynes Because they think, and they probably can, a lot of them can't can do a better job than the company they were working for. And they think the owners are charging too much money because they think the owners are putting all of that money in their pocket. 00:25:04.98 Tonnika Haynes And they think they can go into the industry, open the shop and charge half the labor rate. And then what they end up doing is hurting themselves, their families and their livelihood period. 00:25:18.39 Tonnika Haynes Because you realize how much things actually cost to run a business. 00:25:23.15 Aniz Yeah, I 00:25:25.68 Brian Profit is not a dirty word in any way. 00:25:27.25 Aniz It's funny you said that because I just posted on Facebook yesterday that exact statement. 00:25:33.82 Tonnika Haynes Profit is only a dirty word to people when, I guess, when they can look us in the eye. Like, think about how much money people spend on things. They will go spend the money on the car, the Yeti, anything. 00:25:43.38 Aniz Mm-hmm. 00:25:48.26 Tonnika Haynes And they really don't think what they're spending the money on. But when it's coming to your fellow, your neighbor doing this job for you, you want him to do it at a discount. But if you ask Rick Hendrick to do it for you, you don't want a discount. 00:26:00.14 Brian Yep. 00:26:02.04 Tonnika Haynes ah He's flying around in helicopters. You're driving a Chevy and you want me to give you the discount, but you don't have the same anger for the guy that's making billions. You're mad at the one that's making. 00:26:13.51 Tonnika Haynes He's a thousand there, not the billionaire. 00:26:15.45 Brian yeah i 00:26:15.95 Aniz Yeah. 00:26:17.85 Brian One of the big conversations I had with Check Engine Chuck was understanding that customers, in a way, don't like to see you succeed off of them, in a sense. 00:26:26.36 Tonnika Haynes hmm. 00:26:27.96 Brian And that you're going to, he explained to me how you're going to understand a customer is going to be upset because you charge this much. But when you talk to a shop, another shop, they're going to say, geez, how could you do it so cheap? 00:26:39.80 Brian And you start understanding that they're the people who are going to support you are the people who understand the struggles that you're currently going through. 00:26:44.22 Tonnika Haynes Right. I'm so glad he got that in your head because that's something that I had to learn. I was called everything when I try to fix my shop and make sure it was profitable and I didn't have to look at the check and balance every day to make sure things were going to clear. And I had to stand firm in what I was learning. 00:27:01.06 Aniz Yes. 00:27:01.98 Tonnika Haynes Literally, one of my father's friends referred to me as a bitch. But he, oh yeah. Oh, i listen, Anise, I see that face, baby. 00:27:11.08 Brian Mm-hmm. 00:27:12.42 Tonnika Haynes People don't bother me because I know my debt to income ratio. yeah I can tell you that. But I'm telling you, he ate those words later on. He did apologize for it. 00:27:24.28 Tonnika Haynes Because I said, you don't have a problem with paying anybody else but me, but you want more effort from me. But your tribe will come. Those same customers that you start out with are not going to be the same customers that you end up with. 00:27:37.29 Aniz Yeah. 00:27:37.30 Tonnika Haynes Same thing for employees. 00:27:37.51 Aniz Yep. 00:27:38.54 Tonnika Haynes the same The first couple that you start out with are not going to get you to the next level. I've got clients that congratulate me. congratulate me. I used to be afraid to drive whatever I drive because oh I don't want anybody to think I make money, but I'm fixing your car. 00:27:53.49 Tonnika Haynes That's the same. I'm not beneath you, you know, but I've got customers now that are just like, girl, what are you doing? Where are you going on vacation? I'm so proud of you. This is what I'm referring people instead of the people that are saying, Oh, you could have hooked me up. 00:28:07.48 Tonnika Haynes Oh, you think you better than us now? What? What? 00:28:12.44 Aniz All these... 00:28:12.50 Tonnika Haynes But they all they don't give it it away to everybody else. So that's one thing that I really was able to take care, take take away from ASTA with coaching for me and with, with um you know, just with the community in the beginning. and I would send Lucas a direct message all the time and say, hey, I need a bitch check. Am I doing this wrong? Am I being too firm? Is this too much? 00:28:32.63 Tonnika Haynes Like questioning what I believed. 00:28:35.16 Aniz Mm-hmm. 00:28:35.86 Tonnika Haynes But then you have somebody with a similar mindset that's a little bit further than you saying, no, just keep fighting the fight. 00:28:42.03 Brian Yes. 00:28:42.10 Tonnika Haynes You're doing it right. And those are the conversations that happen in the lobbies and then in Mike's boom, boom room at ASTA, those connections. 00:28:45.24 Aniz Hello? 00:28:51.78 Tonnika Haynes You look at somebody and you're like, brother, I've been there, done that. I know it hurts and I know you're not sleeping well at night, but this too shall pass. 00:29:01.58 Aniz Hello? 00:29:03.19 Brian You know, I sat down at a table last year with Rich, Check Engine Chuck, and a couple other people that I knew from TikTok. And very quickly, that table filled up with 10 or 15 people I didn't know. 00:29:14.62 Brian And within a five-minute span, i'm not going to say I remember everybody's name, but we were all friends. 00:29:18.64 Tonnika Haynes Right. 00:29:20.12 Brian And it was ah talking for hours. I'm looking at the clock going, I got class tomorrow, and it's 1130. And I'm like, oh, boy. But it was worth it. know Just the the amount of people you're going to meet is astronomical. 00:29:33.16 Aniz you 00:29:33.18 Tonnika Haynes But here's the better thing, Brian, you wait until two, three, four years from now when someone's saying the same thing about you. Now, that is something hard for me to chew up and and accept. 00:29:44.73 Tonnika Haynes You know, when somebody gives you a compliment, you're like, oh, it's nothing. 00:29:45.53 Brian That would be cool. 00:29:46.77 Tonnika Haynes Oh, I like that. was nothing. But the fact that I'll get a text message from someone that I know is on their way up and has had a hard time and they're asking for advice and I can call and check up on them after I've given advice and they win it and they're winning. 00:30:04.06 Tonnika Haynes Like there's no other gift. as big as being able to help someone and actually seeing someone grow and go through the same things that you went through and you helped them. 00:30:15.93 Tonnika Haynes So that's that's my favorite thing about ASTA. 00:30:17.59 Brian Yeah, being able to climb the ladder 00:30:18.33 Tonnika Haynes I have been to all the trainings this year, except for Apex team. I haven't been to one of those, but I will be going this year. I've been about all automotive trainings. And I know I'm partial because ASTA is, you know, I'm on the board and everything. 00:30:32.18 Tonnika Haynes But the community that is in those rooms and in the lobby and just in the various meeting spaces, you can't pay for that, man. 00:30:40.15 Brian Yeah, absolutely. 00:30:41.99 Aniz There's no comparison. i think. 00:30:44.12 Tonnika Haynes You can't tell me I cannot call Brandon Steckler right now and say, hey, dude, my tech's having a hard time. 00:30:44.30 Aniz right 00:30:49.29 Tonnika Haynes Here's the phone. It's like, what's the price of something like that? 00:30:52.27 Aniz Well, Nika, you and i met again at Vision earlier this year and you know it was it was great, but it's And I probably mentioned it to you there. I'm like, it's it's not ASTA. It's not that because like, you know, that was my first time i didn't know anyone and you know, I'll be, umm I'm an open book. I had a night there at ASTA where I was not feeling good. 00:31:20.28 Aniz not Not my stomach or i was something like that. 00:31:20.31 Tonnika Haynes I know. 00:31:23.56 Aniz I was just not feeling good because I think I just got overwhelmed with all the people there, and I was just feeling down and out. I was in the Mike's party room, I'll call it, or actually I'll call it the learning room. 00:31:38.33 Aniz And I was just not feeling it because I flew in alone. 00:31:40.42 Tonnika Haynes don't know about all that. 00:31:43.06 Aniz i didn't really, really know anyone. So I went upstairs, and i mean, a couple people could see it on my face that I was just not feeling it. I went upstairs and I sat in my in my bed and I was just missing my family. 00:31:57.14 Aniz i was missing my wife. 00:31:57.55 Tonnika Haynes Yep. 00:31:57.98 Aniz i was missing my kids. And I'm like, what am I doing here alone? i have no one I feel that I can talk to other than people that I just kind of met online here and there before going. 00:32:10.07 Aniz Within about 15 minutes, I get a text from Benji. And Benji is sending me a long message. Hey, what's going on? I saw you leave. you know Come down. Let's let's hang out. 00:32:22.04 Aniz Another few minutes later, i get a message from Tanika. It's like, Hey, she sent me a picture of the bottles. She's like, let's have a drink. What's going on Come down. You're not going to get this kind of, uh, I call them like y'all are my family. 00:32:36.20 Aniz You're not going to get this kind of family feeling at another expo because they didn't have to do that. 00:32:36.54 Tonnika Haynes Yep. 00:32:42.14 Aniz They could have just went on and talked with all the other people that were there. that may have been first timers or they could have been people that are there for five or six years, but they took the time to reach out to me. And that meant I had told Tanika all the time. I think it meant a lot to me because I was in a real dark place because was, was missing home. I'm far away. 00:33:01.78 Aniz And it took the time to send that message, which they didn't have to. And that meant a lot. And I came back down and, you know, the rest of the, the rest of the trip was great. And I got to meet so many people that I've only seen their, their Tik TOK. So the videos on, 00:33:17.05 Aniz Facebook or listen to their podcasts. But you know you're you're meeting a whole different crowd at this expo compared to any other, in my opinion. 00:33:26.82 Tonnika Haynes You're meeting a part of the industry that we want to aspire to be. You're meeting a part of the industry that's not throwing wrenches anymore. That's the thing. Like you eat you go on social media and the thing that gets the most attention is the negative. 00:33:40.37 Tonnika Haynes And again, that's why I don't go into my comments, like really get a life. But we're not, yeah thank you, I appreciate it. 00:33:44.12 Aniz I'm going in there for you. don't 00:33:47.84 Tonnika Haynes We're not saying that we've got it all together. But what I'm saying is child and did that. And let me tell you, this is what I wouldn't do. 00:33:58.08 Aniz No, 00:33:59.38 Tonnika Haynes Now, if you choose to touch the stove, touch the stove, like Tanika, I touched the stove anyway. I know you told me not to do it, but I did. and I'm like, damn it. It's family. It's aunties. It's uncles. It's cousins. 00:34:10.42 Tonnika Haynes It's grandpa's Cecil. 00:34:13.10 Aniz she's not. 00:34:13.48 Tonnika Haynes It's going to get me. But it's got, if you've got, you've got so much wisdom in the room with Cecil and Dutch. You know, you've got so much youth in the room now. 00:34:24.15 Brian You know. 00:34:24.12 Tonnika Haynes Like, um' my son's excited about going. You got these 20-year-olds that are still excited about an industry. And so that that means, Brian, you've got people that are going to be looking up to you. anee that You're going to have people that are going to be looking up to you. 00:34:34.22 Brian Here's. 00:34:36.63 Tonnika Haynes And they're going to look up to you, Anise, for a different reason. They're going see this brown guy. like Whoa, you went? 00:34:41.42 Aniz Yeah. 00:34:42.87 Tonnika Haynes And that might not be dude. 00:34:44.62 Aniz 100%. I looked. 00:34:46.23 Tonnika Haynes Yeah, that might not be the calling that you want, but I'm gonna tell you, God told me, I don't care what you want, Tanika, take your goofy black butt in that room and make people feel comfortable. 00:34:52.30 Brian Thank 00:34:56.30 Aniz I'll roll with it. There's already one more coming. in I know that. So. 00:34:59.99 Tonnika Haynes And it's not about race, it's about inclusion and comfort and family and the industry. 00:35:02.86 Aniz Inclusion, 100%. 00:35:05.37 Tonnika Haynes And so if me being in there and being myself and having this podcast and ignoring comments, if I am reaching another young lady, black, white, brown, 00:35:05.51 Aniz Yep. 00:35:15.77 Aniz Even one. 00:35:16.33 Tonnika Haynes Asian. And it's just like, oh, well, I feel comfortable around her. 00:35:20.67 Aniz Okay. 00:35:21.21 Tonnika Haynes If you feel comfortable around a niece, Brian, there's going to be somebody that's looking for you. So there's going to be people looking for you guys at the expo. And I want you to do your jobs and bring them into the fold. 00:35:29.30 Brian That'd be cool. 00:35:32.69 Tonnika Haynes If you see someone that might be struggling or in the corner, not speaking to anybody, auntie said, you better go over there and be nice to your cousins. And those are the people that, like I said, the same way check engine Chuck or Richard, whatever want to call himself today, reached out to you and that jaded guy, how he spoke to you, even not directly, but how he spoke to you. 00:35:56.15 Tonnika Haynes You guys are going to be speaking to people by your actions. 00:36:00.92 Aniz I I'll be honest. A lot of the the reason, a lot of the reason I'll be honest with Tanika that I'm going is not a hundred percent for the training. 00:36:03.95 Brian I've 00:36:13.69 Aniz And I'll be frank with you. I'm i'm excited about the training. but I'm more excited to talk to other people that were in my position last year that are feeling afraid or feeling that this industry is eating them up or I'm not making money or I don't know what to do. 00:36:31.27 Aniz I want to talk to those people and tell them I was freaking there. i was using the same software that you can sell flower pots with. 00:36:39.22 Brian Yes. 00:36:39.93 Aniz Okay. ah Like it's ridiculous, but I've, overcome that. I've talked to people that have gone leaps and bounds ahead of me. And when you're getting this advice from people at this expo, there's no strings attached. They're not going to be sending you a bill. They really want to help and they really want to see you succeed. And they check in on you. Hey, how's it going from our conversation of September? Oh, you're doing well? Great. If you need something, let me know. 00:37:08.90 Aniz They're not coming there with the intention of just You know, I got to make sure that I don't give away any of my golden nuggets or gatekeeping. There's so much open information. 00:37:18.87 Tonnika Haynes No gatekeeping. 00:37:21.08 Aniz And, you know, one thing I've had on my desk, i someone gave me this as a gift when we first opened. I'll kind of put it on the camera. It says, never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life. 00:37:34.62 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. 00:37:35.77 Aniz And I've had this on my desk for 20 years since the first day we opened. 00:37:38.75 Brian Very true. 00:37:40.28 Aniz And every time someone comes in, they read that and they stop and think that we're so busy at work for nine hours, 10 hours a day. We go home, we barely make it in time for dinner. We tuck in our kids and we have dinner. We sit with our our partners for an hour. We go to bed. 00:38:01.10 Aniz But what are we doing? We're working and working and working because we have A lot of us have gone for training, but Tanika, you can agree with me. The industry as a whole, very few go for training and it's really sad. 00:38:18.26 Aniz And these are the people that need to be here. They need to be in these classes. They need to have a chat with the industry auntie. They need to have a chat with Brian. 00:38:30.78 Aniz and get all these nuggets to change their life. Because if you continue like this, who are you working for? When you're going to work, you're opening this business, you're trying to grow big, who are you doing it for? 00:38:43.73 Aniz You're doing it for your family, but they're the ones that are at home waiting for daddy and mommy to come home. 00:38:47.19 Tonnika Haynes suffering 00:38:49.43 Aniz But we're too busy at work for 10 hours and we tuck them in and then they grow up and they're 11 years old. you're like, well, what the hell just happened? But you're not gonna, 00:38:57.30 Tonnika Haynes Now, being at work for 10 hours is always not a bad thing. 00:39:00.57 Brian Roll 00:39:00.66 Tonnika Haynes But with when you're at work for 10 hours and you're miserable, when you left a career turning wrenches you're 00:39:05.14 Aniz Yes. Mentally drained. Yeah. mentally drained 00:39:09.14 Tonnika Haynes And yeah, it's mentally draining and you're miserable. And just because you don't know how to deal with that misery or you don't know who to reach out to. Because there's times that I'm just like sitting at and like, I just cannot. 00:39:22.30 Tonnika Haynes And that is true. Ten years in by myself, sometimes I'm just like, what just happened? I can't with these people. 00:39:31.42 Brian I mean, so life is hard. 00:39:31.73 Tonnika Haynes It's coming. It's 00:39:35.11 Brian Running a business is hard. We're all going to make mistakes and we learn from those mistakes, but it sure is a lot easier to listen and learn from someone else who's already made that mistake and can teach you or help prevent you from following that same road. 00:39:47.16 Aniz it 00:39:48.86 Brian Not everything needs to be that the hardest way to learn. 00:39:50.10 Aniz It doesn't matter if you've been at it for two years or 20 years, there's someone that's been at it for 30 and someone's been at it for 40. 00:39:50.42 Tonnika Haynes Oh, yeah. 00:39:57.02 Aniz So you're going to be learning at this expo from so many different so many different groups of people. And there's no clicks at this expo, by the way, whoever's listening. 00:40:09.27 Aniz If that's what you think it is, that it's all very clicky, or there's a whole group of people here, the whole group No, everyone's all mingling together and everyone wants to know what's going on in everyone's business because this is how you change the industry. 00:40:11.19 Brian No. 00:40:23.26 Aniz If you're not going to be able to talk with other people, give them advice, no strings attached, and be a part of this industry, that's the only way you're going to make it better and not make you know people think, oh, the typical mechanic, they're holding a grease rag over their shoulder, and that's all it is. 00:40:41.90 Aniz Mechanics and advisors have as much education as and as much skills as a lawyer or someone else. okay It's different fields, but you've got to put some respect on their names, really. 00:40:56.69 Aniz their Mechanics and advisors, anyone working in this industry, put some respect on that name because that's a hard job. we're not just out there, you know, turning wrenches and we go home and, you know, it's off our mind. I'm sure Brian, you go home and there's a car that's kicking your butt and you're thinking about it. 00:41:14.10 Aniz So you may be learning, you may be going on talking to Chuck and like, how the hell do i fix this? 00:41:15.71 Brian Oh 00:41:19.46 Aniz You're, you know, learning after hours because this is not an easy job. And when you go to these expos and you talk to hundreds and Thousands of people that are in the same situation, in the same industry that you're in, they're going to tell you the same. No, it's not easy, but you can persevere. You can get to the next level, but you need to do it step by step and do it the right way and take advice from the right people. 00:41:48.41 Aniz And I want to emphasize the right because you can get a lot of bad advice that people don't want you to fail, but you need to know who you're talking to. 00:41:49.08 Tonnika Haynes Oh yeah. 00:41:56.79 Aniz and understand that not everyone is there to help you, but the ones that want to help you, you're going to find them at this expo. 00:42:07.00 Tonnika Haynes Right. Is it what was great for you? 00:42:08.98 Brian what What was great for me was, okay. 00:42:11.27 Tonnika Haynes go ahead, honey. 00:42:15.70 Brian um Last year for in September, I was still working at the same shop I had been at for many, many years. um There were several people who kind of got to know my story, the situation I was in, and kind of where I was trying to go. 00:42:29.05 Brian A lot of that came from Check Engine Chuck and and how much he helped me. But walking around the expo, just kind of exploring and and meeting some people, whatnot, I had people that would come up to me and shake my hand. they're like, hey, Brian, you know, i I actually heard about you. I know your your situation. And I was there and I'm rooting for you. if you need something, here's my number. 00:42:49.21 Brian And that happened to me so many times. And i i went back and I was smiling and I'm talking to to Rich and he's like, what's going on? I'm like, man, I've got three numbers to three people I don't know, but they know of me. 00:42:59.83 Brian And I just, it blew my mind that everyone's kind of paying attention in a way. And once your story gets out there, it can change so drastically. 00:43:05.30 Aniz Mm-hmm. 00:43:09.27 Tonnika Haynes Yeah, that was go that's what I was going to hit on. 00:43:09.71 Brian So, and ASTA is definitely, you know. 00:43:11.90 Tonnika Haynes you can You've got so many people cheering from you from from the background. like ah I was like, I don't know. i asked you yesterday, what is your government name? But I've been watching Wrench in 88 for a while, and I'm just sitting here rooting from you for you know down here in North Carolina. 00:43:27.67 Tonnika Haynes And I was like, well dude, what is he what is even your name? there There's so much connection to be had there. But you being you were at a shop still when you came to the expo in September? 00:43:40.34 Tonnika Haynes Okay, had you had, okay, you had just exited. 00:43:41.46 Brian Yes. Oh, yeah. I just left. like 00:43:44.78 Tonnika Haynes Had you had any training? Did that owner offer you any training? 00:43:50.90 Tonnika Haynes So this is my message to the text. 00:43:53.05 Brian So throughout the years, yeah, I am 00:43:53.06 Tonnika Haynes That's crazy. That is absolutely crazy because I wonder if there's someone sitting out there just like you, Brian, that could use some training, just stuck in a little wheel and, um, 00:44:06.07 Brian absolutely. 00:44:07.61 Tonnika Haynes I want them to know that you do not have to come to this training with your business. Like this is open to everybody. Like if you're just an individual technician and you're like, huh, I'm interested in some classes. I want to do better. I want to move my business forward. I have ideas. 00:44:26.97 Tonnika Haynes Yes, you can come to AST Expo. You do not have to come with your shop. You take yourself a ah holiday pay of whatever. And I might get in trouble for saying this, but that's your brain. 00:44:40.72 Tonnika Haynes You're going and I'm talking directly to the camera. That is your brain. You're going to have to invest in yourself. If you're a service writer and you're stuck at this daggone shop and you know you can be so much more than you are and you have these ideas of what you want a shop, what you think a shop look like. 00:44:55.11 Brian Yeah. 00:44:55.96 Tonnika Haynes Go to training. You can go to training by yourself. Well, you won't be by yourself because we'll be there. 00:45:00.30 Aniz Mm-hmm. 00:45:01.75 Tonnika Haynes But you have to invest in yourself because I can't take any of Brian's knowledge. If you work for me, I can't take your knowledge from me you. But as far as my technicians, if they work for me, they are my toolbox. I don't have a toolbox. Those are my tools. 00:45:15.83 Tonnika Haynes Those guys help me make my money. Your tools help you make your money. I am going to invest in my toolbox. I'm going to give them as much knowledge as I can. Front office, back office, everybody. 00:45:26.57 Tonnika Haynes There's training for everybody. And I'm the owner that's willing to invest. Unfortunately, there are owners that are not willing to invest. They don't know, like, oh, I can't spend all that money and have them travel. 00:45:32.69 Brian Absolutely. Thank 00:45:35.61 Tonnika Haynes I shut my shop down. Everybody gets a hotel room. I want them emerged in the experience. I want them to be able to hang out at the bar. I want them to be able to go to this room. I want them to be able to go to the pre-party, not just be stuck in a class. 00:45:47.22 Tonnika Haynes so I want them to experience everything. So it's not just like a job for them, but whatever they learn, I can't take it from them if they decide to leave and they move on. 00:45:52.16 Aniz Yep. 00:45:56.38 Tonnika Haynes But what I can give them is say, hey, I thank you for working for me. And so I am going to continue to invest in you. It's like reciprocal. 00:46:07.48 Tonnika Haynes So I just wanted to put that out there real quick for technician, service advisor, um anybody who's in the industry and yourre your boss man or your boss lady is not giving back and you guys are not getting training and you're hearing about all of this and you're interested. 00:46:09.83 Brian Absolutely. 00:46:21.94 Tonnika Haynes Yes, you too can join and register by yourself. 00:46:27.73 Aniz I'll leave it. 00:46:29.91 Brian absolutely and If anyone who's watching this, if they're even remotely hesitant about it, the automotive industry is so much bigger than the four walls that you work in. 00:46:41.62 Brian Going to ASTA will really open up that for you. You're going to be able to find, again, like-minded people. you're going to be able to find information you didn't know was available to you. um If you're in a shop like I was in where the the going joke is send it to the dealer, you're going to learn that that's not always the option you have to use, that you can fix this stuff. And if you're uncomfortable with... 00:47:06.87 Brian ah where you're at in your knowledge now, this is just ah it's a step to to so much more. You're gonna learn so much more and have the capabilities to reach out to those who are willing to teach you. 00:47:19.61 Brian I was stuck in a shop that, um he was an older gentleman that he is very knowledgeable, but you know up until like 95. And then after that, it became difficult for him. He didn't wanna learn. 00:47:30.51 Brian And when I stepped in, there was nothing for him to teach me further than like the basics. 00:47:33.98 Aniz Yep. 00:47:36.25 Brian um So I spent many years with you know, if it was a can network issue or an electrical issue, like we we didn't touch it. We sent it away. And I thought that's what everybody did. 00:47:46.52 Brian I thought everyone sent it to the dealer. Um, so to, to have someone like check engine Chuck, who thankfully helped me out with that and, and got me to understand that I am capable of doing this and it's the training that I need. 00:47:58.62 Brian And going to ASTA was huge for that. So anyone who is watching this, I really do hope you, uh, even if your boss is not willing to spree for it for you, I hope you consider it. And anyone who's walking around, if you see me, come up and talk to me. i'm I'm friendly as can be, you know if you want to hang out, if you feel like you're alone, I'm here. 00:48:15.72 Aniz I was actually going to say the same thing. Anyone listening, if you're, you took the words out mouth, if anyone listening and feels like scared, like i I was when I went last year, you know, feel free to reach out to me, ask me questions, send me a message. 00:48:17.24 Brian So I'll be there. 00:48:32.47 Aniz And you know, there's no silly questions or anything. 00:48:32.82 Brian Absolutely. 00:48:36.06 Aniz And if if you want someone, you know, to be there that you know, you know me, you know, Brian, you know, Tanika, right? There's three people right here that are not going to turn you away. 00:48:47.26 Brian Absolutely. 00:48:49.27 Aniz They're not going to be like, why is this person talking to me We, I can, I'll speak for the three of us that we welcome anyone listening, come and talk to us. 00:48:55.82 Brian Thank you 00:48:59.35 Aniz We are not scary people. We are regular. We got the same blood, just a different negative, positive, you know, ABCDFG. We are all people. We would, 00:49:10.07 Aniz love to have anyone that's listening come to this expo. And you know for me, it changed changed my life and same with Brian and Tanika, it changes everything. don't Don't let the reason for you not to click that button to come, being afraid of being the only being alone, because you're not alone. 00:49:22.25 Brian very much. 00:49:30.30 Aniz You will have an immediate family as soon as you walk into a room. 00:49:33.84 Brian Hmm. 00:49:34.42 Aniz And Tanika, correct me if I'm wrong, Is there a special notation on a first time attendees badge? 00:49:40.76 Tonnika Haynes Yes. 00:49:42.14 Aniz So I didn't know about that until I think Mike told me, cause I had it on mine and he's like, have you had people come up to you randomly and say, hi? i'm like, yeah. He's like, yeah, that's your badge. 00:49:52.20 Aniz I'm like, oh, but 00:49:54.20 Tonnika Haynes Well, because we want to make sure first time attendees don't feel isolated. You know, we want to make sure that everybody's welcome. 00:49:58.86 Aniz a percent. 00:50:01.86 Tonnika Haynes I don't ah we don't want you to register and then come take classes and disappear to your room and go watch first 48. No, we want you like b Brian said, it's 1130. These people still talking to me. 00:50:12.25 Tonnika Haynes We want you in the lobbies. And it's not about we do the parties and we do those events because that's about networking. That's about you shaking it off and getting comfortable and finding finding your tribe. 00:50:22.83 Aniz Thank you. 00:50:24.44 Tonnika Haynes You know, it is survivor. So we're finding our tribes. You know, and that's what it is about. It is about so much more than the pencil pushing in the class. It's about when you're done being taught by Keith Perkins. You can actually have a conversation with Keith. 00:50:41.82 Tonnika Haynes He doesn't bite. When you're finished being taught by Rick White, he's sitting there with his cup of tea and he's ready to talk to you. 00:50:44.94 Brian Yeah. 00:50:48.89 Tonnika Haynes Like there's nobody that's walking out with security and nobody nobody's above anyone at the expo. We're all in this together, just like the world should be. Hey, we're just at different different levels of struggles. 00:51:00.35 Aniz Yeah. 00:51:00.54 Tonnika Haynes What I got going on, what you got going on, we all got some stuff. And I'm going to say this. I'm getting in trouble for this one. I hope Braxton doesn't make this a clip. So what I tell my employees is when we get in our own ways and we get in our heads and we're going through something, have to remind people we all have shit. 00:51:15.83 Tonnika Haynes Well, as a human, we all have shit. Now, sometimes you're constipated. Sometimes you got the runs. And sometimes it's just regular old shit. But we all have shit. So remember that when you walk in a room and you think you're around people that think they're better, and they they don't. 00:51:28.76 Tonnika Haynes They got some shit going on. We just don't know what level of shit they're they're at because they're gatekeeping their own shit. 00:51:35.15 Aniz Oh, man, he's going to making a good clip out of that one. 00:51:35.48 Tonnika Haynes So AASP, please come out. What'd you say? You want to use that one? 00:51:40.34 Aniz I said, Braxton's going to be making a good clip out of that one. 00:51:42.55 Tonnika Haynes you go to make that and We do. We have different levels of shit going on. I don't care how rich or poor or how new your business is, how old your business is, how many shops you've got. 00:51:46.76 Brian Thank you. 00:51:52.15 Tonnika Haynes I don't care that you got three shops and you did 15 million last year. You did 15 million with what? So, yeah, we're ah we're we're good. And I cannot wait to see you guys. 00:52:03.19 Tonnika Haynes Wait to see you guys at the expo. 00:52:03.80 Aniz Well. Going off what you said, Tanika, everyone's got their own shit they're dealing with, and ASTA Expo is going to provide any type of shovel to scoop it and fix it. 00:52:16.27 Aniz How's that? 00:52:16.87 Tonnika Haynes We've got shovels, Pepto-Bismol, all the things, prune juice, baby wipes. 00:52:21.52 Brian Oh, yeah. 00:52:25.85 Brian and And not just that... Everyone is there to help you. The last night of ASTA, I was sitting at a table real late with Check Engine Chuck, Mr. Subaru, a whole bunch of people. 00:52:37.27 Brian And they were trying to set up a laptop for me for programming so I could do module programming back back home because there's not a lot of that here. 00:52:42.74 Tonnika Haynes Mm-hmm. 00:52:45.31 Brian And these are people, again, ah Chuck is like the only one that's really close to me. Everybody else I've met over these three days. And this laptop is being passed around and they'll try this, try that. Oh, no, hang on. Let me log into that and help you. 00:52:59.86 Brian These these people don't need to do this, but they want to. 00:53:01.45 Tonnika Haynes Because somebody did it for them. 00:53:03.48 Brian And I. 00:53:04.12 Aniz Yep. 00:53:05.85 Brian Absolutely. And i I keep saying how beyond grateful I am ah for these people, because when I say they changed my life, they they really did. I mean, a year, a year ago, i was not in the position I'm in now. 00:53:18.68 Brian And that's that is because of them. 00:53:20.42 Aniz In one year, i went from you know using ah outdated software and not knowing my numbers to you know doing the business I'm doing now and being more outspoken in the industry and trying to talk to as many people as I can. 00:53:37.69 Aniz And like now, like I started a podcast and I've got my co-hosts from Canada's even coming with me on this trip, which he made a bet with Buckaroo Bob and you should never bet with Buckaroo Bob, but he's coming with me. 00:53:49.32 Brian Oh, that's cool. 00:53:51.09 Tonnika Haynes Never bad would look real pile. 00:53:53.17 Aniz So now I'm coming with one other person, which is cool, but you know, he's going to get to experience this expo as well this year. And he's super excited. 00:54:02.49 Tonnika Haynes Yeah, because they've done tools. is um and And that's another thing. If you've come to the expo and you you agree with everything that we're saying, not even everything, you agree with 50 percent, 67, 75 percent. Please tell somebody, do not gatekeep. 00:54:17.36 Tonnika Haynes That's not how we grow. Gatekeeping is not how we grow. There is one point seven billion cars. I don't know. i just made that shit up on this earth. We cannot fix them all. In your neighborhood, if there's five shops in your area, you guys cannot fix all the cars by yourself. 00:54:33.25 Tonnika Haynes Don't gatekeep. Because if we keep doing that, the industry is still going to go backwards. If we share the knowledge with that shop down the street that you know is not doing it quite right, maybe they just don't know what they don't know. 00:54:39.54 Aniz percent 00:54:46.20 Tonnika Haynes So I would say extend the invitation. Hey, bro, I went to this training last year. Maybe you should go. If they say, want go into training, then they don't want to go to the training. But you knocking on the door and inviting them, they might say, you know what? 00:55:00.25 Tonnika Haynes I think you're right. I might just show up. And maybe they'll show up for one day. Maybe they'll show up for all three days. But extend the invitation to your fellow shop owner, fellow service advisor, your fellow technician, and say, hey, I think you need to be in this room. 00:55:16.95 Aniz It costs nothing to be polite. 00:55:19.58 Brian Well, not just that. They may not oh sorry they may not know about the the actual expo itself, or they maybe they know about it, but they're scared because they don't want to go alone. 00:55:28.14 Tonnika Haynes Right. 00:55:30.14 Brian So if they actually know someone, whether you're a close friend or not, they say, hey, geez, he's right down the road from me. I do know him. At least they have someone to look forward to knowing while they're there, or they can look for. 00:55:39.74 Tonnika Haynes Look for me. 00:55:40.31 Aniz know i mean it It doesn't cost anything to be polite, really. i mean 00:55:44.75 Tonnika Haynes doesn't. 00:55:45.27 Aniz What do you lose by mentioning it to a shop down the road that, Hey, you know, I'm going to this expo, it's an automotive industry. 00:55:54.22 Brian Nothing. 00:55:54.74 Aniz It costs you nothing, but you may have that person's shop from going from here to here because they may learn so much that they've been trying to figure out for the past 10 years. 00:55:56.98 Tonnika Haynes it doesn't 00:56:07.74 Aniz And they may come at like, you know, Brian, man, thanks for telling me about this expo. I had no idea that this was even out there. And now next year, I'm bringing my whole crew. And then five years later, this guy's got two shops, maybe. 00:56:21.94 Aniz And he's like, I've grown. And if I didn't go and get training and be exposed to this, I would have just been, you know, writing paper tickets like ah all the other shops in my area. 00:56:33.40 Tonnika Haynes yeah They think it's a waste, but people don't know what they don't know. And then people are afraid to ask for help. I know I'm afraid to ask for help. I hate asking people for help, believe it or not. Tag on it. But you have to ask for help. That same shop that you know will shop your prices, say, hey, what are you charging for this? 00:56:50.97 Tonnika Haynes No, you can't do it like that, sweet. But they don't know any other way to do it. Like I don't want to be the cheapest shop or want to be the most No, I need you to base your labor rate based on what you have to pay in bills. 00:56:56.32 Aniz Yeah. Yeah. 00:57:02.84 Tonnika Haynes What is your health insurance? What does this cost you? What does that cost you? That's how you come up with a labor rate. and they're like, what? And so I just assume at this level that everybody knows that, but there's still people that don't know that because very respectfully, I'd say we've got these... 00:57:18.26 Tonnika Haynes awesome techs that were fed up with where they were. And then he went open a shop and they start wrenching and they are doing a hell of a job fixing the cars. 00:57:26.48 Brian Yep. Yep. 00:57:26.55 Tonnika Haynes But then there's more month than money. like Wait a minute. Where did it go? So, you know, learning QuickBooks and learning your accounting software and learning how to properly mark up parts and just be like, yeah, if I want to eat anything other than ramen noodles, 00:57:43.52 Tonnika Haynes I might need to charge another $10 an hour and not base my prices off of the dude that's working in his garage at home. You know? So... 00:57:52.08 Aniz Yeah. You know, you and i'll do I'll do me. And if you want to create generational wealth and not just be bottom feeding and doing a, you know, making 40 bucks here, 50 bucks here and thinking that you're going to be able to survive over time and provide a good, you know, standing for your family and be able to provide down the line. You need to get the proper training. You need to know your numbers and you're not going to get that all from YouTube. You'll get some information, but you're not going to get the industry standard with the kind of, 00:58:26.65 Aniz teachers that are at this expo. These people have been through it. They've been doing this for years. So what they're telling you in these classes, if you've never been, this is all tried and tested. i mean, you know, I took Rick White's class last year. 00:58:42.01 Aniz i took it again at vision because was awesome. I mean, you're, you're getting to meet and talk with these people that have been through all this, that have seen the struggles from countless other clients that they have, and they're able to pour all that Kool-Aid in a cup and hand it to you and say, here, drink this and this is what's going to work. 00:59:02.97 Tonnika Haynes There y'all go with the Kool-Aid again. 00:59:07.48 Aniz ah Tanika's got a whole lot Kool-Aid in that cup. 00:59:08.19 Tonnika Haynes Yeah. Got a whole lot of Kool-Aid in the cup. Well, guys, I am going to see you in, what, about six weeks? 00:59:18.87 Tonnika Haynes I have no idea. Yeah, it's about six weeks now. 00:59:22.20 Aniz like that, yeah. 00:59:22.44 Tonnika Haynes AST Expo is September 24th through 26th in Raleigh, North Carolina. um If you want to attend and you're listening to this podcast and you have questions, you can inbox myself, Tanika, Anise, um find Brian, if you know Brian, ask the question. 00:59:42.84 Tonnika Haynes um Also, if you're ready to to register, you're ready to push the button and make the commitment, you can get $25 off of registration by using my registration code, which is just downshift25. 00:59:43.32 Aniz Please. 00:59:44.22 Brian Absolutely. 00:59:53.65 Tonnika Haynes And again, that's $25 off registration. So hopefully i will see some new faces at the Expo this year. And I'll see Brian. I'll see you at the bar. 01:00:03.66 Tonnika Haynes We're side check engine Chuck. And Anise, I'll see you in the weebies. 01:00:10.22 Aniz Can't wait. 01:00:11.67 Tonnika Haynes All right. 01:00:13.50 Aniz All right. 01:00:14.59 Brian Well, I'll be there. 01:00:15.46 Tonnika Haynes right.