Welcome to The Gear Box Podcast—the ultimate pit stop for those looking to break into the auto repair business, grow their shop, and navigate the daily grind of the industry.
Thinking about opening a shop? Struggling to increase profitability? Wondering what it really takes to thrive in a competitive market? We tackle the tough questions, break down real-world challenges, and share insider tips from industry experts, seasoned shop owners, and those turning wrenches every day.
From leadership strategies to game-changing innovations, we’re here to help you shift gears and stay ahead of the curve. Buckle up—it’s going to be a ride! 🚗🔧 #AutoRepair #ShopSuccess #TheGearboxPodcast
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
My name is Jimmy Purdy, shop owner, master tech transmission builder, and the host of the Gearbox Podcast. Here I talk with new and seasoned shop owners as well as industry professionals about day to day operations within their own shops and all the failures and successes that come along the way, from what grinds your gears to having to shift gears in the automotive industry. This is the Gearbox podcast.
Larry Anderson [00:00:37]:
It sounds like you're in a closet.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:39]:
Or they say the theme is the Antique Roadshow. That's what everyone says. It sounds like you're watching the Antique Roadshow.
Larry Anderson [00:00:45]:
I see that. Yeah. This audio I brought my grandma's closet.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:51]:
And it's funny how everybody knows that damn show. That's the best part about it is like, everybody actually knows that show. I thought we all just kind of watched it in secret, you know, it was like our own little guilty pleasure. But no, everybody's watching.
Larry Anderson [00:01:04]:
It's not something I tuned into, but it was there for like five minutes. Like, I wonder how much this dumb thing's gonna go for.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:08]:
That's all it takes. That's all it takes is like two or three minutes and you're like freaking hooked.
Larry Anderson [00:01:12]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:13]:
Let's get this thing. I feel like my mic doesn't pick up as much noise as yours.
Larry Anderson [00:01:22]:
Okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:22]:
But you still sound. You sound good there. Cool, man. Apex 2024. It's your first time at Apex, huh?
Larry Anderson [00:01:29]:
It is, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:30]:
It's rad.
Larry Anderson [00:01:30]:
It's a good time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:31]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:01:31]:
It's a little overwhelming, but it's interesting.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:33]:
Yeah. Well, you're an accomplished shop owner.
Larry Anderson [00:01:37]:
It feels like that some days.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:40]:
It's always like that. Right?
Larry Anderson [00:01:41]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:42]:
But I feel like the setbacks are a lot. Probably a lot less. They're more minor now than they probably were in your earlier part of your career.
Larry Anderson [00:01:50]:
They're easier to take. Right. Like, so now it's. It's when things are happening and things aren't going as well as you'd planned or hoped, you're not as thrown off by them. Right. You kind of like, okay, we're just going to fix this a little bit, make some adjustments, put this thing back on track. Or, you know, oh, the election's going to happen and we're going to be slow right before it's going to happen, whether way, you know, whatever happens happens.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:10]:
Do you think it's like a mentality that you've gained or do you think it's the process you've put in place?
Larry Anderson [00:02:15]:
It's the mentality. I'd say that's the process.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:17]:
Right.
Larry Anderson [00:02:18]:
Because it's like Business is war. Right. And so once you get a little war hardened, it's easier to take. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:27]:
Especially the automotive business. Oh, my God.
Larry Anderson [00:02:30]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:31]:
We just get chewed up and spit out and. Yeah, we're the. Yeah. All the stigmas. Right.
Larry Anderson [00:02:36]:
They're all there.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:37]:
The negative reviews.
Larry Anderson [00:02:38]:
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:40]:
Can't get away from it.
Larry Anderson [00:02:41]:
Yeah. I got a negative review yesterday, a one star review on Yelp, which I dislike Yelp because we text him Happy Thanksgiving. And that was a. Harassment.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:53]:
Oh, wow.
Larry Anderson [00:02:54]:
I was like, okay. You know, I'm thinking to myself, I want to blast this guy just for, you know. No. Okay. We're gonna say nice things again today.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:01]:
So I guess so that never goes away.
Larry Anderson [00:03:02]:
No.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:03]:
You're saying you always. You're always vindictive a little bit.
Larry Anderson [00:03:05]:
Oh, absolutely. But now I have good people around me, so I can soundboard things real well and get it off my chest.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:11]:
Larry, don't do that.
Larry Anderson [00:03:11]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:12]:
Larry, no.
Larry Anderson [00:03:13]:
Yes.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:13]:
Put it down.
Larry Anderson [00:03:14]:
Please. Stop.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:16]:
It's an interesting process as you go through everything. Right. And I feel like you got. You have really good people at your shop now, right?
Larry Anderson [00:03:22]:
I have fantastic people. We. I focused on people a couple years ago because I didn't understand the importance of them. And that's really. Was a game changer for me. That's really allowed me to get the level of success that I thought I should be at. Was really honing that on people. Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:36]:
Yeah. And you brought up that, that, that text. Right. Like the automated stuff. Do you think a lot of these programs now that are kind of like hip and trendy, do you think they're like a splash in the pond? Or do you think that this is stuff that we really need moving forward? Right. And you have the experience to see the evolution of it. Right.
Larry Anderson [00:03:52]:
It's. It's tough. There's always new, something new shiny object over here. There's always a company doing better than the last company, but, man, they always seem to fall short. Like. No, like it always seems to be when all these things come out, they promise the world and deliver half of what they say.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:09]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:04:10]:
And so it's hard to. It's hard to know which ones to fall and which. Which ones not to. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:15]:
So I guess whatever works and whatever. Well, one of the things too is you're looking to fix a problem. Right. So you look at these new programs, these new. What do you call them? Businesses. Right. Or new. New things that are coming out.
Larry Anderson [00:04:31]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:31]:
And it's trying to fix a problem that doesn't even exist in a Sense. Right. Like, do we need automated texting going out? Do we, like, is that something, Is that a hole in our shop that we needed to fill?
Larry Anderson [00:04:42]:
I agree with you. A lot of these things are things that you don't need. Like, I mean, let's say for example, you need an AI chat bot on your website. I really feel that those are going to cause you more problems than good.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:51]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:04:52]:
But they're being pushed real heavily now. And I'm like, those are awful things. People want human connections. They know it's an AI chat bot. So I don't subscribe to some of that stuff just because of it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:01]:
Yeah, that's, that's the tough part about it. It just, it makes your life so easy and then it's very easy to cut through that and you can see like, no, that that's obviously chat like GPT generated. Right. Like we all know that. But we think for some reason because we're doing it, that someone else isn't going to notice.
Larry Anderson [00:05:17]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:17]:
You know, like they say people, a person is smart, but people are dumb. Right. So they think because they're sending out to mass groups of people, they're too dumb, they're not going to figure it out. But, but, but it's like, like you said, it goes out to that one person and that one person saw it and was like, get life to a bad review. Right. This is like, this isn't from Larry.
Larry Anderson [00:05:36]:
No. Yeah, and they know, like you said, they know. Yeah. I always struggle. Like I look at things where like all these products that are thrown at us, it's like maybe I don't want them, maybe it's not what I would normally gravitate towards, but maybe my customers do. So it's trying to figure out what really, what really works. Cause like I'm not a coupon guy. All the little things that they throw at us, like the.
Larry Anderson [00:05:58]:
You go shopping at Safeway or whatever and they give you a card and enter your phone number. I hate all those things, you know. But I do some of that stuff for my customers because they seem to love it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:07]:
Right.
Larry Anderson [00:06:07]:
So sometimes I gotta balance what I want and what they want.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:11]:
Over, over your years of experience, you've probably realized that you have like two or three different types of, you know, who knows, maybe 10 types of personalities. But the big one I got of see is you got the guy that doesn't want to fix their car, only wants to fix fixed. Bare minimum, you got the other one that wants to fix every damn thing that's wrong with it. Right. And trying to, like, trying to find a system that makes everybody happy.
Larry Anderson [00:06:32]:
Don't drop off the bottom ones. I don't want to fix them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:35]:
That's the advice, huh?
Larry Anderson [00:06:36]:
Get rid of them as fast as you can, right? Absolutely. You know, it's like, so people, People really make the difference. My service advisor, she is amazing at getting rid of that person. Like, it's. She, she. She can have a conversation and she does it nicely, but she's doing it in a way that is making that person that she feels is not going to be the right person in our shop, not come in. And if she's questionable, maybe she'll be a little softer, you know, and if she thinks like, oh, no, this person just digging on price, digging on price, digging on price. And we are not as super competitive on price.
Larry Anderson [00:07:09]:
We're not ridiculously expensive, but it's not our strongest thing. And so because we are turning profitable trying to have nice things for our employees, and it all comes at a price, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:18]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:07:18]:
And so she's really, really good at making those judgments, you know, on the fly, on the phone, you know, to kind of not get us in those situations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:26]:
Yeah, it's Mark too, because that leads to a whole different aspect. Right. It's a lot of things that we try to get away from. I guess as you start evolving, I mean, through my growing process was one of the things I had to do was do that. Right. If you don't want to pay to come in, then I don't understand what you want for me.
Larry Anderson [00:07:43]:
Yeah, yeah. It actually mutually beneficial, not one way.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:46]:
And it goes like the cheap oil changes and the free diagnostics, and it feels like the evolution kind of like resets. Right. And I see as we've moved into a bigger shop or we've gained more space, I'm thinking more of those lines of man. How do we increase traffic now? And the first thought you have is price. Right. For my brain, it's like the first thing we want to do is attract more people. Well, let's lower our prices. Because I feel like I forgot what a pain in the ass it was to get rid of all those people that didn't want to pay, you know, and so it's really refreshing to like start thinking, wait a second, if I go back in time, do I even want to expand with those people? Right.
Larry Anderson [00:08:23]:
No, no. You know, we've. We've learned things over the years tremendously. Right. We would get slow and we would take the wrong cars in and we would. We have a rolling, you Know, year we only take 20 year old cars. Right. And so as we get slow, that would, that would creep up a little bit or you know, we would adjust.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:40]:
Start making some exceptions.
Larry Anderson [00:08:41]:
Oh yeah, every time. And we hated it every single time. And some of these customers, they're still a bad customer. They potentially are a bad customer. And you invited them into your house and now you have to keep serving them and man, you just, it just doesn't go well. Right. And so you learn the hard ones. Say knowing is hard.
Larry Anderson [00:08:56]:
Right. And not not letting that line slide.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:59]:
Not hitting the panic button. Right?
Larry Anderson [00:09:00]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:01]:
I think it's anxiety and I think like what you said, getting war hardened, that's what I think that's what helps that. Right. Because as soon as you get slow, like, you know, like you know what's going to happen and there's nothing and experience is the only thing that can teach you that, I think.
Larry Anderson [00:09:12]:
Yeah, right. I think so. I mean, I'm a slow learner, so I don't, I gotta, I gotta learn the hard way every single time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:20]:
Yeah, that's why we do this every day, I guess.
Larry Anderson [00:09:22]:
It's tough though. I mean, so we got a shop full of technicians and service advisors. We're trying to keep everybody happy, keep them, you know, busy, employed, and nobody wants to go home early because we're slow that day. And so it's hard to hold that line sometimes. Yeah, you know, it's the important thing we have to keep doing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:37]:
Well, that's one of the segues too that goes into like getting into a coaching program. Right. And trying to go that route and trying to make sure that you're still sticking to your own morals instead of just abandoning them all and listening to what this quote unquote coach or facilitators telling you. Right? Yeah. And, and you've been through a few. And we were actually together in a group process. Right. Until recently and there's so many different aspects.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:02]:
And so I want to ask you, as far as your experience going through different coaching programs, how do you feel about the one on one coaching versus like the group process?
Larry Anderson [00:10:10]:
They're both different. I mean, so really I think no matter what coaching is, whether it's one on one or the group process, it's really about are you ready to do it right and are you willing to do it right? Like, so let's talk about the group process, for example. I've seen it go different ways. I've seen it where you have a room full of people that are driven and successful people that really want to just keep pushing the envelope of success. And that group has synergy and they move things along. And then I've seen it where I've had been in a 20th group years ago, that nothing ever changed. It was, it was. They would come, you know, every quarter, they have a group meeting and nobody would actually do any of their commitments.
Larry Anderson [00:10:51]:
There was no follow through. And that stuff doesn't work. Right. And so. But it really came down to those people were. They were at the time, older people that were getting close to retirement and they were looking for the way out, and they been so set in their ways, they weren't going to change anything about their business. Right. Yeah, you got to.
Larry Anderson [00:11:08]:
You have to be ready to learn. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:10]:
It's all about the people you surround yourself with, I guess.
Larry Anderson [00:11:12]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:13]:
And that's why it's so different between, like when. When the overarching, like, get a facilitator, get a coach. Right. Like, what does that even mean? Well, like, because there's so many different avenues and possibilities that you could take. And for me, it's our first experience going through a process like that. And so getting a different take, a different aspect is going to be nice, obviously. But it's tough for me with the amount of experience that I have, to see myself as being part in a group process. You know what I mean?
Larry Anderson [00:11:39]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:40]:
Like what? Like what right do I have to tell another shop that they should change anything? Right.
Larry Anderson [00:11:46]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:47]:
That's tough for me to swallow.
Larry Anderson [00:11:48]:
It's a challenge because sometimes you look at something like, you're telling me this. I have seen your business, I've seen what you do.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:53]:
Well, that and then the other side of it, for me to walk in and just say, hey, you should do it like this.
Larry Anderson [00:11:57]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:57]:
Even though I'm here, like doing this podcast, and I try to put out as much information as I can, it's different when you walk into someone's home and you're like, hey, you're. Your carpet's dirty, your curtains, you know, are crooked.
Larry Anderson [00:12:08]:
And yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:09]:
You know, it's like, that's their house. Like, let them do whatever they need to do to be successful. Successful. Right.
Larry Anderson [00:12:14]:
It's tough. It's tough because. Yeah. It's always easier to critique somebody else. Right. It's hard to go home and do it yourself. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:20]:
Yeah, that's true. On your own stuff, to look in the mirror and say, hey, maybe I'm screwing up.
Larry Anderson [00:12:24]:
Yeah. Maybe I'm the problem, not everybody else. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:27]:
So I want to segue back to Your recent epiphany when it comes to leadership, because I think that's a key component that's really lost for a long time. What was your epiphany when it came across that really set you down that path?
Larry Anderson [00:12:42]:
This is perfect because I know exactly when and where it happened. I mean, it's really just ridiculous. Cecil, or to us, Cecil, a one on one coach with me for years.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:50]:
Okay.
Larry Anderson [00:12:51]:
And he was kind of prodding me. He was like, you need to get your stuff together. You're not doing this. Why aren't you doing this? And he said, you need to go out and hire the absolute best tick text you can possibly find. And it seemed like a daunting task. Where do I find this person? How do I get them? I had a technician that left me, I hired at one of the staffing companies and just combed through people after people after people or technicians. And I finally hired a guy and paid him way more than I thought I should be paying a technician. But I set some clear expectations.
Larry Anderson [00:13:23]:
Cecil kind of helped say, you need to define these things very, very well with this person. When that person came on board and got up to speed, oh, my gosh. That person worked completely independently. I did not have to micromanage or manage this person nearly at all. He worked within the guidelines that we established and just chowed down work, got things done. And I was like, wow, that is amazing. I've never seen this before. Because I was hiring the wrong people.
Larry Anderson [00:13:46]:
I was pulling the wrong people towards me unknowingly. Right. And so I saw that happen and it was magic. And so I just said, nope, we're gonna go down and just keep doing the same thing over again. I'm gonna keep finding better and better and better people. And we replaced the entire staff except one person. Wow. And now I'm here and they're at work doing an awesome job.
Larry Anderson [00:14:06]:
And I don't have to think about it because I know I have the right people just doing it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:10]:
So easier said than done, I guess, huh?
Larry Anderson [00:14:12]:
Absolutely. Well, it's hard. You know, it's hard when you have a person that does fairly well in certain things and you need. They're not perfect. Right. And you got to keep looking for the best, best people. And maybe you got a person that's okay, but not perfect. You need to keep looking for that perfect person.
Larry Anderson [00:14:29]:
Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:30]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:14:30]:
And it's like, it's like anything else. Like your circle of friends you are, you become who you shine yourself with. So if your business is not the greatest of People, it can never be the greatest of business.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:39]:
Right? Yeah, yeah. Looking from the inside, the tough part is obviously finding those people, but then like constantly keeping and holding those people accountable is the other side of it.
Larry Anderson [00:14:50]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:51]:
What, what kind of things have you learned when it comes to leadership to keep those guys? Because those guys, those unicorns, Those top level 8x are the hardest to find their motivation and keep them motivated. What have you found to keep, keep that line of communication open?
Larry Anderson [00:15:05]:
So we, about a couple years ago now we started using the modified EOS business model. So it's opportunity, entrepreneurial, operational system and what it allowed us to do, we have weekly or bi weekly meetings to discuss anything that's going wrong in the shop. So if there's a problem, we're trying to flush it out constantly. Right. And then it allows us to have an open communication with all of the staff so that nothing ever becomes a major issue. Right. The cool thing is there's very little to, we always have something to talk about, but it never. Now it doesn't.
Larry Anderson [00:15:42]:
There's no major obstacles ever occurring because we've already talked about it. So if we're having a parts ordering process, if we're having, we're selecting the wrong grade of brake pads or you know, whatever that would be, we talk about it pretty quickly because we identify them very quickly. And then it just stops. And so being consistent and then there. One of the elements that the EOS model helped us with was having a structure to follow. And so we have our things we talk about and then we have a follow up the very next meeting. Hey, are these things on path? And if not, we need to go talk about them getting back on path. So it's constantly just, you know, going through that cycle.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:18]:
I think that's a pretty critical part of it. The meetings are one thing. Right. Like it's easy to set up a meeting. It's hard to actually execute the meeting. Yeah, it's even harder to get people to talk in the meeting. Like it's like this is like gradient that just keeps. And then like the follow up is even like, wait, what did we talk about last week? How's the buy in process? Like do you, was it like the third meeting, the second meeting, the first meeting? How many, how is it that you get the buy in to get that feedback? Because that's what's the critical part of it.
Larry Anderson [00:16:48]:
It's tough. I mean sometimes if buy in's 100% and other, other topics, it's. They don't care as much. Right. They're not. It's not as important to them, surprisingly. You don't want to get that ball rolling. It seems to take over itself.
Larry Anderson [00:17:02]:
They. They seem to expect it. I feel the accountability is the key. Right. Because years ago I've always had meetings with staff and it would always be that thing where we talk about doing this differently and then we would leave the meeting and we do it differently. That that day, the next day, next week would fall off.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:19]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:17:19]:
And nobody would visit back to it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:20]:
Right.
Larry Anderson [00:17:21]:
So now we don't allow that cycle to happen. And so since the staff sees it being more and more committed, we're holding everybody more accountable. They're more involved in as well.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:32]:
Right. So sounds. Another one that sounds easier said than done.
Larry Anderson [00:17:36]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:38]:
But I think it's like you said, the consistency and the repetitive of it.
Larry Anderson [00:17:41]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:41]:
And then holding your own self accountable to make sure you're holding them accountable, Right?
Larry Anderson [00:17:45]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:46]:
And is that. Is that something that you found you've kind of created on your own or was there like a certain aspect of coaching that helped you with that or.
Larry Anderson [00:17:54]:
So I am terrible with accountability because I have all these great ideas and I don't want to do any of them. Yeah. Like you're. You're everybody. You do these things that I've thought of and I'll follow up. You never luckily again the right people. So I have a manager, store manager, and he's the one that puts the meeting together. He's the one that puts in together.
Larry Anderson [00:18:14]:
And so he's more focused on the accountability. And it really works because it just, you know, the process. Just keep working the process.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:22]:
I see. When it comes. When it comes to leadership and trying to. The motivation, I feel like is your. Your. Your spot right where you're gonna shine?
Larry Anderson [00:18:30]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:32]:
Is it always financial? Does it take that it takes to motivate everybody or what have you else have you found to keep that? Because he's just not doing it for the goodness of his heart and soul. Right. Or maybe he is, but there's got to be a little bit of your influence that's helping him say, hey, we need this meeting done because this helps meet my job, makes my job easier, but there's got to be some incentive for him. Is it always financial for you or do you find some other thing that keeps them engaged?
Larry Anderson [00:18:56]:
So everybody's financially motivated to an extent, Right? Correct. But no, I mean, I think it's. They're doing it intrinsically. They want to business to succeed. They want to feel like they're they're part of something that's, that's moving well. Right. And making a difference in the community. They don't want to do it just for a dollar.
Larry Anderson [00:19:12]:
If all it was a dollar or ten dollars, whatever the number is, that fizzles out real fast right. Now, granted, we still do things like, for example, we're having a struggle with getting social media pictures. And so I have a hundred dollar bills, you know, on my wall. Like whoever, you know, gives the most social media content this next two weeks gets that hundred dollar bill. So there's money plays a part in it to try to get the action to come through sometimes. But more, more of it is, is having the right people that want to do a good job and they feel that they need to do a good job. If it was just about money, they probably wouldn't do it as much.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:46]:
Right.
Larry Anderson [00:19:46]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:46]:
I was going to circle that back to it sounds like you just need the right people.
Larry Anderson [00:19:49]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:49]:
And that also sounds like a Dave's Auto center thing, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. The video where he's like, do you follow me? And he's like giving everyone hey, you know what? If it works, it works.
Larry Anderson [00:20:00]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:01]:
You know, and I've tried those different processes too for our shop and say, hey, if you guys post a video and whoever gets the most likes or whatever, there's a financial incentive.
Larry Anderson [00:20:07]:
But it never takes off as well.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:10]:
No. And you would never. All you got to do is post a picture, do a video. Yeah. And try to do a program and process and all that. I never had success with it, but I guess you just can't give up, right? Like, you just got to keep pushing it.
Larry Anderson [00:20:24]:
You got to keep pushing. Well, and so like, as we were walking through today, I was. Took a Tesla class earlier today and I texted my staff pictures of me taking a test to class for social media. So I'm involving myself in this little contest we have for that 100 bill. Do you need to be involved? They need to be part of it. I need to be part of it. We all need to push each other to keep doing better, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:43]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:20:43]:
If it was just the 100 bill, I don't think it would work as well. So it's a constant reminder that have.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:48]:
You had you seen better success with that kind of that drive that way.
Larry Anderson [00:20:53]:
If, if I'm involved with it and I'm helping push it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:57]:
I see, right. You think a lot of guys get to that point where they just want to be an absentee owner and they forget that they got a keep Themselves involved.
Larry Anderson [00:21:05]:
I think everybody has that goal, but I think it's almost slightly unrealistic because nobody's gonna love your business the way you love your business. Nobody's gonna take care of the people you know, either your customers or your employees the way you're gonna take care of them. Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:19]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:21:20]:
I don't know how you achieve that. 100% absentee. You'd have to have a really, really high level manager to be filling those shoes. And as a one shop owner, I don't see that possible. Right. I mean, it's. You get close and I'm pretty close, but I think it's tough. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:36]:
You're still involved.
Larry Anderson [00:21:37]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:38]:
You still got to stay on top of things. You still got to take a Tesla class.
Larry Anderson [00:21:41]:
Yeah, right. Yeah. No, it's going on in the world. Yeah. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:44]:
You do that out of pure. Pure just curiosity or you gonna use that?
Larry Anderson [00:21:49]:
So both. I mean, I'm a tech. I mean, I grew up as a technician, so yeah, I find all this stuff fascinating. Like, why does it do this? How does this work? Why does it work this way? It keeps me engaged. Right. It does help me flush out the things that I need to push my technicians to go get more training on. Right. So if I understand it and I see value in it, I can tell them, hey, here's a good place to get training.
Larry Anderson [00:22:13]:
Here's a good information. And so they're not wasting their time with, you know, these random classes that suck, you know?
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:19]:
Yeah, that's. That's very fair when it comes to training because that's probably one of the biggest things that happens. You go to a training class, you go to two, you go to three, and it's just a bunch of nonsense.
Larry Anderson [00:22:27]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:28]:
No buying. Everybody's got their head down. No one's asked questions. It's a bunch of garbage content. You're like, why am I here? I'm never doing training again. Yeah, that's it.
Larry Anderson [00:22:34]:
Yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, you're a technician. You've been to those classes when it's like the teachers is presenting this book of garbage to you, and it's like, I just did my whole Saturday with this.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:45]:
And they're just reading page by page, line by line.
Larry Anderson [00:22:47]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:48]:
Why? What.
Larry Anderson [00:22:49]:
What is going on here?
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:51]:
Just showing you a video here. I found this really cool YouTube video. And then they start showing you some repair. You're like, is that that scanner, Daniel? You're showing me a scanner? I paid for this right now?
Larry Anderson [00:23:01]:
Yeah, yeah, I can subscribe to this. I don't need to. Why am I here right now?
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:04]:
Yeah, that's one of the polarizing things about training that a lot of people try to stay away from. Do you still find yourself like, on, like having to jump in, though, on the floor?
Larry Anderson [00:23:13]:
No.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:13]:
Okay.
Larry Anderson [00:23:14]:
No, I. I mean, very seldom, but it happens, but very seldom. Right. I mean, to be honest, the technicians I have now are better technicians than I am. I mean, I think rightfully so. I'm stepping out of the technician role almost 100%. And they are great people that are very highly trained and highly skilled. And so, yeah, we also set up processes so that if they do become stuck on something, they have another outsource for it.
Larry Anderson [00:23:41]:
So we use diagnation, identifix, things like that. So I am not the first resource. There's many of the resources first, and then if they exhaust those, let's go, you know, we can collaborate and figure something else out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:54]:
What's your. What's your role then? What do you. Where do you put yourself and what you're. When you're there? What are your tasks that you put on your plate?
Larry Anderson [00:24:01]:
Business development stuff. Trying to make sure the business is moving forward in a good quality direction. Okay, so like right now, rewriting all my processes and my employee manuals and putting them in a better package, always looking at marketing, trying to make sure a good marketing plan for the year, and then looking at financial forecasting.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:16]:
Okay. So when it comes down to processes and rewriting those, that's probably pretty foreign to most. And it's definitely one of the things that is discouraging because you write it, print it, you give it to everybody, and then it goes in the bottom drawer of their toolbox and it's never looked at again. Right. So then you put on the Google Drive, you show them how to get on the Google Drive, and yet again, they're just not part of it. And you see them again not following the process of the procedure. So it's one of those things that's very frustrating because it takes a lot of time.
Larry Anderson [00:24:40]:
It does, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:41]:
And then they don't follow it.
Larry Anderson [00:24:42]:
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. My friend, I wrote a bunch of these things years ago, and they're great documents. They're really well done. And we train them onboard an employee, we show them all these things, and like I said, they just kind of filed away. I. So that's just gonna happen, right? It's a challenge. It definitely is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:04]:
How often do you find yourself going back through and rewriting and reinvigorating the processes?
Larry Anderson [00:25:11]:
That's Hard on the answer. I'm trying to get the business to be more self managed. Right. And give the tools to my manager with some great structure that he can follow. So when you do a problem, he can reference back to this stuff and use that as the tool to guide whatever, whatever situation he's dealing with. Right. Whether, let's say, key handling something simple and somebody decides that they don't need to follow this and now he has a guideline to fall back to. Right.
Larry Anderson [00:25:37]:
That's where I see it going. It's there. No, but I think I have a path forward with it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:43]:
I see, yeah. So you kind of like, as far as the manager kind of running your day to day and then you're running the processes for it. Is there any sort of like disconnect that you're starting to feel as you become more pulled away from the day to day operations?
Larry Anderson [00:25:58]:
No, I'm gonna go back to the people I have, great people. And they really keep each other in line pretty well.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:06]:
Right. But I mean, as far as you're writing the process and you're not really overseeing each individual aspect of what's going on, do you find yourself kind of having to fall back on your manager, say, hey, does this process look right? Is this something that would work because you're just not able to see as much as you used to be?
Larry Anderson [00:26:26]:
Yes and no. I try to, when I write process, I try to write them as vague as possible, but still getting what I need out of them. Right. And so years ago when I wrote some processes, like I said, diagnosing a vehicle and it would be this ridiculously long process that nobody follow. Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:41]:
Yeah, yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:26:41]:
And it drives you nuts because it's the right process. This is what works, do this, you know, and then they don't. And so now I find myself leaving it as vague as possible, but with the constraints I need to get the job done. Right. And some of these things we have non negotiables. So some of these things are. No, you have to lock customers car doors. If you have this car in the parking lot, it has to be locked.
Larry Anderson [00:27:01]:
It's non negotiable. This is how it's going to get done. Anything outside of that, I try to leave just some basic guidelines in place and let the employee do their job. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:10]:
I think that's huge. I think that's a big old. That's a big golden nugget right there. Because that is a problem that I have personally and I've watched also when it comes to some of these Procedures and processes I've seen written. You're like, no one's gonna follow that. Right. Like, it's like step by step by step, like.
Larry Anderson [00:27:24]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:25]:
You get to about line four or five, it's like, yeah, I don't need to know, like, to put one foot in front of the other. Like, are you sure? Right. Like, because there's like that animosity walk. Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:27:32]:
You need this document.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:33]:
There's that animosity, right. Or the vindictiveness of like. And he's. They're obviously writing it because they're stressed beyond belief. So they're like, well, let me teach you how to wipe your own ass.
Larry Anderson [00:27:41]:
Right? Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:43]:
Calm down a little bit. Right. And then the common sense thing, where it's like, you see one problem and you want to write something down right away because someone's lacking common sense.
Larry Anderson [00:27:50]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:51]:
And that's the hard part for me too is like, how did you not know that you're supposed to lock cars up? Like, how many times have we told you to keep the window down when it's in the shop and the keys are in the. Like, I got to write this kind of crap down. And it's like, it's really hard to draw that line. Right?
Larry Anderson [00:28:03]:
It is, absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:04]:
Do I got right everything?
Larry Anderson [00:28:05]:
Like, you didn't tell me. So it's your fault. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:08]:
Right, right. And then you, like, gotta look in, gotta look inwards. And maybe it's something I did, it's my lack of management. But then the other problem is getting to the point where you can just be able to take the time on it. Cause if you're sitting there helping everyone in the shop and you're wrenching every day, you don't have time to like, go back and write this shit down.
Larry Anderson [00:28:26]:
Yeah. I think that's a self problem.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:29]:
I think.
Larry Anderson [00:28:30]:
I think most people fall into it is you have to staff yourself, staff your business to run itself. Right. And then that way you can be working on the things you need to work on as the owner. And most people have a really hard time making that change. Right. Because it's a. It's a dual problem, right? It's. Let's say you are the technician and you're running your business and you're in the technician role and you're diagnosing all the cars.
Larry Anderson [00:28:55]:
Well, now you're covering a certain amount of expenses for your. Your income's there, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:59]:
Yeah, yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:29:00]:
Now all of a sudden, now you need to make less money and hire somebody to do that. That's a huge Jump. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:06]:
It's true. It feels like a step backwards.
Larry Anderson [00:29:08]:
It does. Right. And I did it and actually I made more money doing it this way. Right. It was easier for me, but it took a leap of faith. It was rough. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:19]:
Well, every time you do that and kind of circle back to the coaching aspect of it, sometimes you get this advice and it's just not making any damn sense.
Larry Anderson [00:29:24]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:25]:
Right. And it's like you just want dollar for dollar, you want everything to be metric and attainable and an ROI on every single thing you do. And I mean, how do you feel about that? Like, is there an absolute ROI on every single thing you do? Or sometimes you just got to sacrifice for the greater good?
Larry Anderson [00:29:41]:
So both, I mean, to be honest, so it's both. For example, coaching. Right. Or a group six or the process. You know, our brought Hemi. This past couple months are not the best months for us. Right. Looking at expenses and coaching is expensive.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:58]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:29:59]:
And my wife and I were having a conversation last week and it was like, well, where can we cut some things back? Maybe it's the group. And my conversation with her went, no, that's the stuff that keeps us focused on making sure the business is moving the right direction. Now can I say that this is going to give me $10 or $100 or whatever the number is? No, but I do know if I, I don't keep focused that I go backwards and I have no idea how far backwards I go.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:24]:
Right.
Larry Anderson [00:30:25]:
And so it's hard to put a value on some of these things. Right. Yeah, it's, it's every time you go to, you know, go to training, whether it be a group process, a one on one coaching, a class, whatever, you always pick up something and it's collecting all these nuggets to put together to keep moving forward. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:40]:
I think it's like an intrinsic value.
Larry Anderson [00:30:42]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:43]:
A little bit. Like you can't really put, you know, the dollar behind it, but it's going to be there eventually.
Larry Anderson [00:30:47]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:48]:
Yeah. I feel like training's that way too, because you might not be working on a Tesla when you get back to the shop. You might not have one for the next six months, but when it comes in, you got a little bit of, hey, wait a second, I remember something about that. Right?
Larry Anderson [00:30:59]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:00]:
Yeah. And I feel like the same way with training, with education. Just constantly trying to make sure even though you're not working on it, you have the knowledge if it comes. And I think a lot of the big problem that I see is everyone always wants the Problem solved now. And I do too.
Larry Anderson [00:31:14]:
Absolutely. We all do.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:14]:
Like, like, I have, I have an employment problem. I need people. Like, how do I find people right now? Like, well, you should have been doing that a year ago.
Larry Anderson [00:31:19]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:19]:
That doesn't help me now. I need, like, it's too late.
Larry Anderson [00:31:21]:
Yeah. How much money does it take to solve this problem? I will pay it now.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:26]:
Can't help you like that.
Larry Anderson [00:31:26]:
Right, exactly. Like, I don't like this anymore.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:29]:
And that's obviously something that you still struggle with.
Larry Anderson [00:31:31]:
Oh, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:32]:
As we always will. But like you said, being, you know, as long as you've been doing it, you kind of got that callous built up. Yeah, I understand. Like, problems are going to come up and I got to put that on my to do list.
Larry Anderson [00:31:42]:
Yeah. Oh, yeah, Yeah. I mean, I feel like I'm successful, but I also always have that underlying feeling. I have a house of cards that I've built, you know, because we're a small shop, you know, there's only, you know, myself and five other employees. And so everybody's a key employee at some point, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:57]:
Yeah.
Larry Anderson [00:31:58]:
And so it's, you always have that nervousness of, okay, is, you know, is everybody happy? Is every content? Is this thing working well? And you just like struck a chord with me, dude. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:07]:
I mean, honestly. Because it's like it always feels like the other foot's about to drop.
Larry Anderson [00:32:10]:
Always.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:11]:
Yeah, you have, you have like a hundred and fifty thousand dollar a month. Right. Or you break, finally break that million dollars and you're like, well, enjoy it while it lasts. Absolutely.
Larry Anderson [00:32:19]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:19]:
It's like, is that bitter?
Larry Anderson [00:32:21]:
Is that like you seem like there, there is that animation of a guy being success, process of success. And he's climbing the ladder, coming the ladder, those stairs, and he falls back down. He climbs and climbs and climbs and falls back down and climbs. That's how it is. Right. We're always. Hopefully you're working further and further up the ladder every time, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:39]:
Yeah. Hopefully this, the step you fall back to isn't the bottom one.
Larry Anderson [00:32:42]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:43]:
Sometimes it always could be, right?
Larry Anderson [00:32:44]:
It feels like it. Yeah. Feels like it's going. It's always like you're about to step off the edge and who knows how far you're falling.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:50]:
I thought that would go away after a while. It doesn't.
Larry Anderson [00:32:52]:
It's still there. You slowly deal with it better.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:55]:
That's kind of depressing to think about. Just constantly waiting for the negative thing to happen. I guess that could be a mental shift though. I guess that's one of those things where you got to focus on yourself and just be grateful that you're in a better place than you were. I mean, like, for me. So the coaching process we have in the last two years we spent. It's. It's difficult for me to look back to the person I was before I started that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:14]:
Right. And can I really attest to all of that growth being just strictly because of coaching? Or is it. Am I just growing as a person? Or is it all. Yeah. Or is it all the books I read? Or is it all the people I talk to on this podcast? Like, there's so many, like, tiny little things that go. But, yeah, if you take one piece of that pie out, like, I wouldn't have got to where I am. Right. But it's just interesting and not.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:36]:
And it just doesn't shift. Like, like your story. Like your story about the realizing that you need to. Like, sometimes you have those moments that click and then. But for the most part, it's just a slow process, right?
Larry Anderson [00:33:46]:
Painfully slow.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:46]:
Painfully grow like, grown a beard or something. Right. Like all of someone here. Like, holy crap, look, I look homeless. I'm going to trim it up a little bit. Yeah, right. And it's. It's just interesting.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:56]:
And that's. I can attest that to coaching. So in two. We've definitely not the same person who was right the way I look at things. But am I better off? And that's the hardest thing because everyone wants to do the roi. They want that coaching process, and they want to say, I went from here and I did, you know, $500,000, and now I'm doing $1.5 million, all thanks to coaching. And it's like, that's such a weird, like, thing to, like, think, like, how can you get it from here to here? And you had brought up some of the coaching programs, and that's what they promised, right?
Larry Anderson [00:34:26]:
Oh, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:27]:
We'll take your business from a half million to 1.5 million.
Larry Anderson [00:34:29]:
We're going to show you the process. You're going to do these five things, and you're going to be rich and not going to happen this way.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:37]:
And that's what sells. Because what we all want, that's what our brain wants, right? It's like, I want that. I want that evolution. But, like, as we're talking here, and I'm nowhere near got the experience that you have, but we're kind of relating on the same topics, and it just kind of just seems like it's just that revolving pattern. It's you're gonna have problems that you're just never gonna be able to solve, but at least you can, you know, put a bandit. You put a bandaid on it.
Larry Anderson [00:34:59]:
Yeah. Like you said, you're not the same person you were two years ago. And I wasn't the same person I was 10 years ago. What? And it's. It's funny because Woody, the guy I bought the shop from, him and I were talking one afternoon and he's like, you've changed. You are a completely different person than you were five years ago. And. And you don't see it in yourself because you're just doing your thing.
Larry Anderson [00:35:20]:
You're listening, listening to, you know, self help things and different podcasts and taking training and all these things. You're growing as a person. You don't get to see it. You know, other people might see it in you more than you see it yourself sometimes.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:31]:
Absolutely. I think that's like the biggest. That's the biggest growing pain is not realizing and not feeling like you've moved.
Larry Anderson [00:35:38]:
Yeah, right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:38]:
Like, am I still standing still? Am I still dealing with the same damn problem?
Larry Anderson [00:35:42]:
Yeah. I go to the same buildings I've always gone to. I live in the same house. Like, what. Where's all this?
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:47]:
Where.
Larry Anderson [00:35:47]:
Why am I not seeing all these successes?
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:49]:
And I think that goes back to, like, always waiting for the other foot to drop because, like, you still feel like that scared kid on day one when you put the key in the door to open your shop.
Larry Anderson [00:35:57]:
Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:57]:
Like, that fear, from what it sounds like, never really goes away.
Larry Anderson [00:36:00]:
It gets easier.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:01]:
But is that like a driving force, though? Like, does that anxiety, like, if that was completely gone, do you think you would still be coming to these events? You think you would even care to keep the knowledge flowing?
Larry Anderson [00:36:11]:
I don't know. It's a tough one, Right. I'd say it gets easier. Right. I think that's the biggest thing I've learned because years ago I had another manager and he was a great guy and I wasn't ready for his level. Right. I wasn't prepared enough for what he was delivering. And I always had this uncomfortable feeling with him.
Larry Anderson [00:36:29]:
And I. And he. And to be fair, he did a fantastic job. And it was me. And I always would go to work and I. When I show up, I was always listening to the phone calls, expecting an upset customer. I was always expecting this problem that never existed. Right.
Larry Anderson [00:36:44]:
And now I don't have that. Now I just, I'm like, if there's a problem, I'm sure my Staff did the best they possibly could and for whatever reason, we couldn't make that person happy. It's just a mind shift that happens. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:57]:
When exactly when is this going to happen?
Larry Anderson [00:36:59]:
Along the way, a part of the journey.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:03]:
Another, another one that strikes a chord with me because it's like, you know, you see the email.
Larry Anderson [00:37:07]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:07]:
You see the Google, hey, so and so posted a review and just instantly like, here we go again, right? Another one star, right. Or you got a chat, right. Like someone's messaging the program and like.
Larry Anderson [00:37:17]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:17]:
Who's upset? Like on Monday morning? Like anxiety, Right. Like so then you just wait till noon to open that one.
Larry Anderson [00:37:21]:
Yeah. It's funny because I, I'm always trying to make sure I'm connected to my business. And so our, our CRM program, I get all the messages from the customers, all get sent to me. Right. And now granted, they're also sent to my manager and my service advisor. So they're actually going to answer them. But it's how I keep in touch. Like, are we, Are we.
Larry Anderson [00:37:39]:
Do we have upset people? You know, and so it's always my way to kind of keep the finger in the pulse if the business is going well. Are we upsetting people or not?
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:46]:
Man, that's a scary thing.
Larry Anderson [00:37:48]:
Absolutely it is, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:50]:
Do you think that's exposure therapy?
Larry Anderson [00:37:53]:
Must be, right? Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:54]:
That's the last thing in the world. I turned off my Google. My. On my phone. Like, I don't. If someone leaves a review, I'll just. When I get to the email, I'll check it. Because I used to have the alerts on my phone too.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:02]:
I'm like, I just couldn't deal with it. And not that I was getting bad ones.
Larry Anderson [00:38:06]:
Absolutely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:06]:
It's a five star. But like I look at it and I'm like, oh God, here we go. And I look, I'm like, oh, someone's happy. Interesting. I mean, okay, this one definitely is going to be. Oh, another one. Okay, cool. Yeah, I can't do this roller coaster anymore, man.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:18]:
This is an emotional roller coaster. I can't deal with it. Yeah, it's tough. But I mean keeping in tabs, I mean that's got a. Yeah, well, it allowed.
Larry Anderson [00:38:27]:
So it does a couple things for me. It allows me to know what's going on in the shop and then when there is something upset, most often the staff handles it and I'm not involved at all. But I do get that, that moment where I go and talk about with them like, hey, how did this get handled? How do we get here. How did this handle? So they know that I know. Right. It makes, it helps them stay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:48]:
Do you find value in those negative reviews, though?
Larry Anderson [00:38:52]:
Most often not.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:53]:
Okay.
Larry Anderson [00:38:54]:
I mean, most often it is somebody that is, is the wrong customer or they're just weird. They've done. They're just, they're mad about something that I'm like, why? What is wrong with you? Right, yeah. Most every once in a while you get something like, I earned that. You know, our business, we earned that. We did exactly what they said. That sucks. You know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:14]:
Do you find any value in those specific ones? Because obviously the first thing, like instinct, instinctually is you want to like lash out right back at them. Right?
Larry Anderson [00:39:24]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:24]:
And I've realized going through some of my older ones, I'm like, okay, I get it now. Like, and that's one of those growing phases too. I've seen. Like, oh, we really did screw it back then. But I remember my reaction when that guy left that review. I was like, we did nothing wrong. But it's, oh, yeah. But in the growth that we've had, I can look back and say, oh, you know what? We did really kind of screw up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:44]:
And I've reached back to people like two, three years ago. I'm like, and I'll just privately message them, hey, you know, sorry about that. We did really kind of screw up.
Larry Anderson [00:39:50]:
That's good. That's good on you. I mean, yeah, I agree with you. I totally understand. If I go back and read my reviews from five years ago, oh, man, we probably earned more of them. Or 10 years ago, it was like, oh, yeah, we really were not on the game. We are now.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:02]:
Right, Right.
Larry Anderson [00:40:03]:
It's harder to read those ones and the ones now. Nah, if you're not really happy with us, you're probably wrong.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:11]:
It's just when I had that eye opening moment, I just start realizing, like, where am I going to be in five years or ten years from now? And then without putting a whole lot of stock in those, in the crazies, like, you got to kind of trade. But it's like, well, hold on a second. In five years am I going to reread this review and be like, you know what? We weren't on the game that we are in five years. So I'm just, you know, at the point where I'm just growing and it's like, man, I just don't know. What, I don't know. But having that reflection for me was a big deal. Like, it was like, damn, I am not like anywhere near where I was back there and like. And then try to pull them back as a client too.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:45]:
Like, well, if I can make them happy even though they're mad enough to go on a public forum and leave me a bad review, they would be a customer for life. But do you want that person back?
Larry Anderson [00:40:56]:
Most often not. Right? Yeah. It's like, I don't want you mad, but I don't want you back either. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:02]:
So getting down to the end of this thing, I want to kind of just kind of recap on the coaching. Is there any sort of advice you could give to some. Someone if there are at Apex or just in the process of looking for coaching or looking for help? Is there any sort of tidbits or advice you could give from. From what you've been through with the different companies?
Larry Anderson [00:41:19]:
Yeah, I. You need to talk to all. I mean, I think all the companies offer something different. We. I've actually been through a lot of them at this point in my life, and they're all different. They all have good value, but some don't resonate with me or resonate with some other business, and others resonate perfectly. You got to find the one that fits you. The other.
Larry Anderson [00:41:39]:
The most importantly, though, is you got to be ready to make the changes. Right. It can't be. You can have all the great advice in the world, and if you're not ready to take it, it doesn't matter. And I can tell you, it's like Cecil gave me some advice years ago. He's like, you're screwing up because you don't understand. You're in the people business, the customer service business. You're not in the car fixing business.
Larry Anderson [00:42:00]:
And I'm like, this is crazy talk. This guy doesn't know he's talking about. And now I have a sign in my shop that says, we are in the customer service business. It was like, I wasn't ready. Right. And that's where the biggest challenge is. And like I said, everybody wants return on investment. I'm ready.
Larry Anderson [00:42:15]:
I'll buy it. Now. Let's. How much? How much is it? What do I get? And it's not that easy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:21]:
A lot of it's your cell phone.
Larry Anderson [00:42:22]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:22]:
You're looking words and say, what are. What are you willing to do? And then ask yourself the hard questions of like, what is it that you really want?
Larry Anderson [00:42:28]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:29]:
You feel like a lot of them get stuck in those coaching programs because they have no idea what they want.
Larry Anderson [00:42:34]:
Everybody's looking for the magic bullet, right. And it's just not out there.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:38]:
That doesn't exist.
Larry Anderson [00:42:39]:
No. No.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:39]:
You can't get it.
Larry Anderson [00:42:40]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:41]:
Well, Larry, appreciate your time, man.
Larry Anderson [00:42:42]:
Yeah, it's been fun. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:44]:
I mean, there's tons of knowledge right here.
Larry Anderson [00:42:46]:
Doesn't feel like it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:49]:
That never goes away either. And you're located just north of me. Yeah, Vacaville. North. I didn't screw it up this time. I don't know why. I kept thinking you were south, but there's too many.
Larry Anderson [00:42:59]:
There's a bunch.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:59]:
I think I was thinking about Victorville. For whatever reason my brain was. I know it's close. I didn't know. It's not.
Larry Anderson [00:43:05]:
It's not even. The name's close. I'm trying to give you a pass on it. Okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:11]:
And it's called Motoring Specialist.
Larry Anderson [00:43:12]:
You got it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:13]:
And you're a Euro shop?
Larry Anderson [00:43:14]:
Yep. Yeah, we do a little bit everything. But we're really more focused on the Bundag. Mercedes, Audi also. I.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:18]:
Nice. So if you're ever up in that area and you have one of those. Yeah, I don't know why you drive one of those vehicles, but if you do, Larry's your man.
Larry Anderson [00:43:25]:
Take care of you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:26]:
Thanks again, Larry.
Larry Anderson [00:43:27]:
Thank you.