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Power does not always come from pushing harder. Sometimes in life and in business, the smartest move is to slow down so you can move forward with control, clarity, and intention. Just like a great driver, growth means looking ahead, preparing for the climb, and knowing when it is time to change gears.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:00]:
Your benchmarks are going to be your benchmarks because you're going to have to price yourself to make sure you're profitable. But if your labor rate needs to be 180, and their labor rate, because they don't have a mortgage, can be 120, and they live in an 800 foot square foot apartment and they're meeting their needs. But I know what my needs are. My needs are hundreds of thousand dollars of needs. So again, what I consume does not affect your paycheck. So I know what my dreams are and I know what I like to drive, and I know when I like to go on vacation. So I have to work for that.
William Brown [00:00:30]:
Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Tanika Haynes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:34]:
We all know as shop owners, sometimes
William Brown [00:00:36]:
you gotta slow down in order to speed up.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:39]:
That's what this podcast is all about. It's time to downshift. Hey, Daddy.
William Brown [00:00:50]:
Hello. How you doing?
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:52]:
So for the people that live under the rock, that is my father, William Brown, the OG of Brown's Automotive. Daddy, you wanna tell us a little bit about your story?
William Brown [00:01:02]:
Not really.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:03]:
Not really? No. You gotta. Okay. We're all dying to know. We're all dying. Everybody on the interweb is dying to know who my daddy is.
Ashley Kaplan [00:01:10]:
Mr. William Brown.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:11]:
Mr. William Brown. The Brown Effect is what Carm called it. Oh, yeah. Carm named it Spicy. The Brown Effect.
William Brown [00:01:18]:
The Brown Effect.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:19]:
When'd you get started, dad?
William Brown [00:01:22]:
February 18, 1980.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:25]:
That's a long time ago. That was the late 1900s. That's when we got started. So I remember when we were at the family reunion, you start telling the story of how you got into the business. Can you give us a little version of that? Like how you first got the shop?
William Brown [00:01:42]:
How I first got the shop. I had a cousin that hit a truck.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:47]:
Your cousin hit a truck or y' all hit the truck?
William Brown [00:01:49]:
My cousin hit a truck with a tractor in the snow with no insurance. We were 19 years old, and the man wanted his truck fixed. So I said, I can fix it. He said, let's fix it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:04]:
Okay. And I did go into detail, Daddy. Go into detail. It's just us in the Internet, the whole wide world listening to you right now.
William Brown [00:02:12]:
It's friends. Nobody but a few thousand. A Cliff meat market Tom Robinson. He had me fix three trucks. I fixed those three trucks. Then another man, George Tate, made me fix his car. Cause I was working out of his building then. And the rest is history.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:35]:
The rest is history. It's not. There's so much more to that story. Because my dad was how old at that time, Dad?
William Brown [00:02:42]:
19.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:43]:
19 years old. 19 year old hoodlum running around wrecking cars.
William Brown [00:02:48]:
No money.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:48]:
No money.
William Brown [00:02:50]:
I think I had $150 in my pocket when I came to Chapel Hill.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:53]:
Yeah.
Ashley Kaplan [00:02:54]:
Wow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:55]:
So. But how did you know that you knew how to work on cars? How did that all start?
William Brown [00:02:59]:
High school.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:00]:
High school.
William Brown [00:03:01]:
We had a class at high school that had mechanic and auto body. And I took the auto body and I liked it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:08]:
Yeah. Did you think you were going to make a career out of it or you was just trying to find an easy class to take?
William Brown [00:03:15]:
I just knew I wanted to make cars look good. I didn't like mechanic, mechanical work. I like to make it look good. And I think I did a go kart. My mama wouldn't let me drive it because she said it was too fast, but it looked good.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:35]:
Yeah. Yeah, I can see that.
William Brown [00:03:38]:
I never got to drive it. I sold it then I did a couple of bicycles, sold those because I wanted a waterbed.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:47]:
I remember that. Waterbed.
William Brown [00:03:49]:
Yeah. And she said I couldn't have no water bed unless I paid for it. So I made it.
Ashley Kaplan [00:03:56]:
That is so funny.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:57]:
I know, right?
Ashley Kaplan [00:03:58]:
I've never experienced a waterbed. I'm showing my age.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:00]:
He like, dad had a waterbed when I was a kid. I couldn't get out of it, though.
Ashley Kaplan [00:04:05]:
I can picture that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:07]:
But. All right, so a lot of people, I tell a story all the time and I know I say it all the time, like, yeah, my daddy started shop, I guess. How old was I when you went, when you started all of that? Three.
William Brown [00:04:16]:
Three years old.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:17]:
Three. And so you mentioned the name George Tate. I know who that is.
William Brown [00:04:22]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:22]:
And nobody else knows who that is.
William Brown [00:04:25]:
So George Tate was. He had a lot of real estate in Chapel Hill. It was the biggest, largest black owned real estate developer in Chapel Hill. And he had a old storage building that he rented out to me, 300amonth and told me that I needed to buy it, not rent it. He gave me a price of $60,000 to buy it. And he said, I know you ain't got no money. So he's about $60,000 today or 20 years from now. But you're going to buy it? About 10 years I bought it, but he told me I had to fix it up to make it worth three times what I was going to the bank to get.
William Brown [00:05:10]:
And I borrowed the $60,000 from Central Carolina Bank. And that father's, I would say, early 90s, early 90s. And the man that loaned me $3,000. February 18th was named Mark Royster. Then he loaned me the $60,000 to buy the shop. He was the manager of the bank. The same man loaned me the money to build a new shop. It was in the six figures.
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:48]:
Daddy doesn't like sharing numbers, but I'm getting in trouble right now. How much was the loan debt? You had a $3,000 loan just for your rent and your improvements?
William Brown [00:05:59]:
Yeah, just buy tools for $3,000.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:02]:
Buying tools. And then the 60,000 was to buy 102 Cobb Street.
William Brown [00:06:06]:
Yeah, that was by the building.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:07]:
And when you sold 102 Cobb street
William Brown [00:06:09]:
because it burned down and I sold it and I was building another shop and it was.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:15]:
It was more than a million dollar shop.
William Brown [00:06:18]:
$1.8 million.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:20]:
There you go. Nobody's gonna die. $1.8 million. So you went from a dirt lot.
William Brown [00:06:27]:
I went from a plastic. She had a telephone poles.
Ashley Kaplan [00:06:30]:
Wow.
William Brown [00:06:31]:
At my aunt's house to the shop where you're at now. That was $1.8 million.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:40]:
It only took 46 years. You too could do that talking to the kid.
William Brown [00:06:46]:
It was. It didn't take 40.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:47]:
It did take 46 years. Because you moved to 2000. 2000. Is it 2000? 2001. We came. Yeah, 2001. Two weeks before 9, 11. And we're sitting here, and everybody knows that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:59]:
I call it the McMansion. But I know my dad's story. And I think when people look at you or they look at me, they see an easy way. But I like to think I probably don't know half of what you went through building a job. I don't know, a pinch of it, a fingernail, a toenail clipping of what you did. But I know that as an adult that I can think about what I would see. Like dad worked all the time. And I would be in the shop playing with the dogs, playing with Bondo, playing in dirt, running around to the other businesses.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:35]:
Cause it was carquest. Actually, it was motor barons at the time going over to Rice's Glass Company. And in that little area, there were another. There was another body shop that's still there. There was another, a mechanic shop on the other side of the building. And so I was a neighborhood kid running around to all of these shops. But I did see you work. And I remember dad had this old blue couch.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:58]:
It was a wooden couch with blue pleather cushions. And it was summertime and it was very sweaty couch. But I took plenty of naps on that couch while my daddy was working. And so I just wanted to let you know and let whole word. I really appreciate that. But I don't think people know what it takes to go from the plastic barn at your cousin's house to what is the square footage of both the shops combined on 15501 total about 25,000 square feet. 25,000 square feet. That takes vision and that takes dreams.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:30]:
But I'm gonna let you tell it the way you tell people. What do you think about dreams, daddy?
William Brown [00:08:35]:
Dreams?
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:35]:
Yeah.
William Brown [00:08:37]:
You need to wake up and do something.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:38]:
Do something. Do something.
Ashley Kaplan [00:08:41]:
That's kind of where I'm at is like hearing where you started and then seeing where you left things. Like how do you not get discouraged in the middle?
William Brown [00:08:50]:
Discouraged?
Ashley Kaplan [00:08:51]:
Discouraged. Like when you're not getting to where you're dreaming you want to be at. And it's taking way longer than you thought it should.
William Brown [00:08:58]:
It always gonna take longer because you don't know what you're gonna run into for one. But you can't give up, can't quit. Because if you quit, what you're gonna do?
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:08]:
Cause what is? What is? I mean, now all the coaches, and I love my coaches, you know, I know I love me some Josh. And Josh calls it quitting in a dip. Quitting when things get hard or when you can't see the next, the next. When it's about to go up. People like to quit in the dip and they come up with all kinds of excuses. But I was raised between my daddy and my grandma Kitty. Excuses ain't nothing but a made up lie. Like what do I say about feelings?
Ashley Kaplan [00:09:35]:
They don't fix cars and they don't pay bills.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:37]:
They don't. And so. But I was raised in that culture. And so for me it's not easy. But when I feel like, oh, it's time to quit. Oh, this is hard. This is hard. First of all, I can't call him.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:49]:
Cause he is not going to sit there and be like, I know, baby, it's going to be fine. You got this. He going to be like, what you going to do about it? You going to box the kick rocks? What you going to do? What you going to do? So what are you going to do? What are you going to do to keep going? That's the thing. I think a lot of people miss that they quit in the dip. And that's what they say in, you know, big guru terms now. But you can't quit.
William Brown [00:10:10]:
Can't quit.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:10]:
You can. I know, but what you gonna do next? You just gonna be.
Ashley Kaplan [00:10:14]:
I haven't even seen. I I have seen what, a speck of the iceberg. Of what? Looks hard.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:20]:
Yeah. You don't know hard.
Ashley Kaplan [00:10:22]:
No, I. I haven't experienced yet.
William Brown [00:10:23]:
But hard is something you don't know what you're gonna eat or where you gonna sleep. Stay for the shop. Sleep in your car. Yeah.
Ashley Kaplan [00:10:34]:
I don't think a lot of people are willing to do that, though.
William Brown [00:10:37]:
No. Especially young people. They can't do what I did, you
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:43]:
know, Not a lot of them.
William Brown [00:10:45]:
I mean, they want to quit. They want to run to mom and daddy, develop them out, but you got to do it yourself.
Ashley Kaplan [00:10:54]:
Yeah. I do respect that. Like, Tanika shares a lot of stories about you. That's why I was so excited to meet you. Is when you say, grandma Kitty, is that your mom? Okay. One of the things Sunika said you told me about won't go into detail because it was a really sweet conversation, but things got hard. And you. You can't go to your dad and say, I need help with this.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:17]:
No, I could tell this you're talking about the mortgage.
Ashley Kaplan [00:11:20]:
Just. Well, yeah, that's to share.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:22]:
Yeah. I mean, I. I am an open book. Because one thing I do say is my. My. My dad is amazing, man. Y'. All.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:28]:
Y' all know that. I think I probably don't tell him enough, but you're absolutely amazing. You crazy. But you're amazing. You're good crazy.
Ashley Kaplan [00:11:35]:
She won't take credit for nothing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:37]:
No.
Ashley Kaplan [00:11:37]:
Like, we're in these groups talking about I all the time. I'm so amazed by what you have over there and your people. And all you always say is that your daddy built it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:46]:
Daddy built that. Daddy started it. And he tells me. What did you tell me, Daddy?
William Brown [00:11:51]:
You took it to a whole nother level.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:53]:
Yeah. So is one thing. What you're talking about is I had overextended myself. I had a nice townhouse. I had a nice Cadillac Escalade I was balling. And then I had a baby. And them jokes, expensive. Keep the dog.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:10]:
They cute, but keep your dog. And I got. And I had a mortgage that. The rates went up, and I was losing my house, and I was gonna go in there and say, hey, Daddy, you know, you gonna help me get out of foreclosure, blah, blah, blah. And he was like, nope.
William Brown [00:12:26]:
No, I did it one time. I did it one time. I saw the mortgage statement, and I faded. I said, I'm not gonna do that again.
Ashley Kaplan [00:12:37]:
Yeah.
William Brown [00:12:37]:
Because I told her something. I came in office, she was crying.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:44]:
He don't care.
William Brown [00:12:45]:
She was crying because she wanted To Cadillac Escalade. So I told her, act like your daddy. Pick up the phone. Call Kelly. I can tell him to bring your Escalade. And she did, but I told her not to. First, I told her she didn't need it. She was crying.
William Brown [00:13:05]:
Cause I told her she didn't need it. I said, you want it, but you don't need it. That's the difference. I said, you want an Escalade, but you don't need an Escalade because you
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:14]:
had a. I had a Tahoe.
William Brown [00:13:16]:
You had a Tahoe.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:17]:
I had a Tahoe. And the customer ran into my Tahoe at work. And so it was in the shop. And so I had a rental car. And it was a new rental car. It was a newer Tahoe. Cause the Tahoe was paid for. Daddy bought it for graduation.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:29]:
It was a new rental car. So I got the new car smell and what black people call this. I got grown. I started smelling myself. I thought it was grown. And I wanted to go get a new Tahoe. But then I went. I saw them then.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:42]:
They had the new Escalades that didn't look like a Tahoe with all the moldings. It was a real Escalade. And I was like, I want the Escalator. I was like, you don't need to escalate. You can tell me what I need. And so, of course, what I do, I start crying. Tell me. Cause if my daddy tells me no, I am 49 years old.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:02]:
I know I look good. Yes, I'm 49. If he tells me no, it tears my whole soul up still as a grown woman. So him telling me no, you don't need it. He said, you can get it. And I guess he's probably tried look at me, crying and stuff like, get it. Go ahead.
Ashley Kaplan [00:14:17]:
Does it terrify me?
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:18]:
That's like a kid.
Ashley Kaplan [00:14:19]:
Because it's true.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:22]:
Cause my daddy told me no. I'm a daddy's girl. You tell me no. Why not? I'm a little spoiled. People say that I'm spoiled and not all at the same time. Because he makes me work. And he'll teach me a lesson in his way. So him telling me no.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:39]:
And then I bought an Escalade and I had the house, and then I had a kid, and I just could not afford it. But I do remember when you say, he's like, no, you'll get another house, and it'll be three times better than what you have now. And it is. You know what that house almost paid for. I am not. Dad was like, I Will never go through that again. But now there's some hard lessons. But all those lessons that dad taught in his way, have always been, they still apply today.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:05]:
Like, I know one thing that you ask me and you can ask dad, when will you have enough money to do what you want to do?
Ashley Kaplan [00:15:13]:
Yeah, I see a lot of people crash and burn. Like, business is good for a little bit, so they go buy this nice stuff. And then I, I, unfortunately that's a lot of people that I'm in the position to help now is help them get back to that spot. But I don't know when I will be. Like, when do I know it's appropriate to treat myself a little bit? Like, at what point in your business do you allow to spend a little bit of money?
William Brown [00:15:37]:
Okay, I'm gonna tell you. Like, I told her she wanted a pocketbook. And I think the pocketbook was a lot of money. Don't make no sense to me.
Ashley Kaplan [00:15:50]:
It costs more than you have to put in it.
William Brown [00:15:54]:
And I said, I told her she didn't. She couldn't afford it. And she said she had the money. So I asked her, if something happened to one of your kids and you couldn't work and you couldn't pay me, I will put you out. You know, your business would be over. I said, if you got enough money to pay me for a year, pay your other bills, then you can go buy something stupid, you know, she didn't buy the pocketbook then, but I'm pretty sure now she got a lot of them.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:28]:
Got a lot of stupid pocketbooks. Yeah, a lot of them is crazy. No, it's not a whole lot. But yeah, I do. When people like, oh, you got this and you got it. I was like, yeah, but I ate like a bologna sandwich at lunch the other day. I choose what I want to spend my money on.
Ashley Kaplan [00:16:44]:
It's the choose your heart.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:45]:
It's choose your heart and make sure you have the money in the bank account. Make sure you have six months living expenses at minimum. And then also not just for your personal. If something happens to the shop. How are you going to take care of your team? Yeah, how? I'm going to pay him rent. Like, why do you pay your daddy rent? Because that's not my shop. Like, people are spoiled.
Ashley Kaplan [00:17:04]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:05]:
And they really think I think people think people think I'm spoiled. That is hilarious. They just don't know him. He is not giving me nothing. But it gives me everything that I deserve and that I've earned. But just me getting something on a Platter. That ain't happening. And so when I do go buy something crazy that I feel like I've earned and that I can't afford, I do take my dad with me just so he can see me like, hey, dad, let's go buy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:30]:
Let's go buy a Mercedes.
William Brown [00:17:32]:
Yeah, I mean, you need to. Employees, everybody need to get what they want when they work. Make sure you, you can pay for it. Whatever she go get, I ain't got to pay for it, but, you know, make sure she. You can pay for it. And like you said, when do you know that you can go get something like that?
Ashley Kaplan [00:17:56]:
Right?
William Brown [00:17:58]:
When you know you can pay for it without worrying about everything else. Because you got. If you got a hundred dollars in your pocket, nine times out of ten, it ain't yours, right? You know?
Ashley Kaplan [00:18:09]:
Right.
William Brown [00:18:09]:
You got a light bill, gas, insurance, you might get $70 out of that hundred, you know, but when you can get up there, you can get 50 out of that hundred. You probably can go buy you something, you know, but just buy something. Cause you got $100 in your pocket, you ain't got no money, right? That ain't no money.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:31]:
I think people see the money in the bank and they think it's theirs, it's not yours. Because everybody gets paid first. When you're the boss, I know profit first says pay yourself first. And I encourage you that you need to cut yourself a check. You have to pay yourself first. But if you cannot do that, then you're not doing something right in your business. When. Or you just, you need to do some more right stuff, you're not doing enough.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:53]:
Like when people say, coaches tell people to work on your business and not in it. No, big dog. You need to do both.
Ashley Kaplan [00:19:00]:
Yeah, I think that that is a, that's not one of those things. You just like, take it for at face value.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:05]:
I think a lot of people take it for at face value and they think they can clock out at 5, 5:30, right. But people tell me that, you know, like, out, go home, have a work life balance. I have a wonderful work life balance
Ashley Kaplan [00:19:16]:
now, nine years later.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:17]:
Exactly. Because me and those kids with that shop, Saturday and Sunday doing cracks and crevices, doing this and doing that. I'll leave here and go to the shop for the rest of the day, right. Once I leave here on this Sunday, I'm gonna leave here, I'm gonna go to the shop because I know I'm going to Vision next week.
Ashley Kaplan [00:19:31]:
It's almost more peaceful too. Like when the workload, when the employees are gone and the customers are gone to just like actually get work done.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:39]:
Yeah, and I don't remember like dad would take, we take vacation or go somewhere he'd sleep the whole time. That joke was tired.
William Brown [00:19:47]:
Work 12, 14 hours a day average. It wasn't no getting off at 5:30, 6:00', clock, right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:52]:
I mean the phone stopped ringing and the doors were closed at 5:30. But there's still work to be done in the dip. That's when you're in the dip and you have to keep working. And you can't take what coaches say in certain things to face value if it does not apply to you. Because you will make anything apply to you to make yourself feel comfortable.
Ashley Kaplan [00:20:12]:
Take what works for you and leave the rest.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:14]:
Take what works for you and leave the rest and sit there and lie to yourself. And then numbers don't lie, people do. You sitting there lying to yourself about your checking account, your credit score, things like that. Or you're watching somebody on social media and you think, well, if they can do that, why can't I? But you don't know what they did. Like one thing I like to say, Shirley, my dad's sister, it used to make me crazy for us. What you eat does not make me fat. Worry about yourself. And that comes to other shops calling, calling around and hey bro, what's your labor rate? What are you charging for this? What are you charging?
Ashley Kaplan [00:20:47]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:48]:
What they are charging for what they're doing has nothing to do with you.
Ashley Kaplan [00:20:52]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:52]:
You have to charge according to your mortgage, your bills, your employees.
Ashley Kaplan [00:20:56]:
That's the frustration I have with like the benchmark metrics. Like okay, everybody has to be at this number, but that shop's overhead is different than that shop's overhead.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:05]:
Well, no, your benchmarks are going to be your benchmarks because you're going to have to price yourself to make sure you're profitable.
Ashley Kaplan [00:21:09]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:09]:
But if your labor rate needs to be 180 and their labor rate, cause they don't have a mortgage can be 120 and they live in an 800 foot square foot and they're meeting their apartment and they're meeting their needs. But I know what my needs are. My needs are hundreds of thousand dollars of needs. So again, what I consume does not affect your paycheck. So I know what my dreams are and I know what I like to drive and I know when I like to go on vacation. So I have to work for that. And I have to make sure my metrics are in line to make sure. That I'm paying my employees a premium and I'm paying 60% health insurance.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:46]:
Some shops don't offer health insurance.
Ashley Kaplan [00:21:48]:
Wow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:49]:
Exactly. I say 60% because they're worth it to me. Now, I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that five, six, seven years ago, but I can do that now.
Ashley Kaplan [00:21:58]:
Ignore that if you're my employee.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:00]:
Well, you had two jobs. You'd be Jamaica. And I have two jobs month so. But dad, tell me about this. You're retired now. What do you be doing all day?
William Brown [00:22:11]:
Working on a dream house. If I want to work that day, most of the time doing something around this house.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:20]:
So we are sitting in your dream house and you have had the plans for this house. You had the plans for this house in the 102 Cobb street location?
William Brown [00:22:28]:
Yes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:29]:
And I think it was in the 90s. Cause I was in college.
William Brown [00:22:32]:
96.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:32]:
96 is when you had the blueprint
William Brown [00:22:34]:
hanging on my wall.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:35]:
Hanging on your wall.
Ashley Kaplan [00:22:36]:
30 years.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:38]:
Wow. So when you ask somebody, how long does it take to get to where you're going? It depends. But I know that you did not want to be in a lot of debt when you did that. You did it your way. He's gonna do everything his way. He's gonna take a brand new car fresh off the semi line and remodel it so it'll look like a brown car. So he wants everything his way. And then you did it at your time, at your pace, ran your own race.
William Brown [00:23:06]:
I knew I wanted to build this house, but the shop came first.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:10]:
Right.
William Brown [00:23:11]:
And I wasn't gonna try to build this house until the shop was paid for. You know, shop came first.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:17]:
And so it's a lot of. It's a lot of economic stability that. But that comes from. In my opinion, that comes from you not having a silver spoon or whatever. I don't even know what to call it.
William Brown [00:23:32]:
Had a plastic spoon.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:33]:
You had a plastic.
Ashley Kaplan [00:23:36]:
A party spoon.
William Brown [00:23:37]:
You had a party spoon and a red solo cup.
Ashley Kaplan [00:23:41]:
Was it a solo or was it a one of the, like dollar tree bill?
William Brown [00:23:46]:
Whatever. McDonald's had crinkly cups.
Ashley Kaplan [00:23:48]:
The little wax paper cups.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:50]:
Yeah, whatever McDonald's had you been with. And then you wash them and then they crinkle up. You had to get another McDonald's cup.
William Brown [00:23:58]:
You had to get another one.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:00]:
But you virtually. I mean, I know it's not debt free, but you're virtually debt free. Cause I mean, people think you. People that know my dad think that he spends a lot of money. Just like when people think they know me. They think I spend a lot of money. But we were at a meeting and one of the guys that's on the board, he was like, I don't know your dad personally, but if you lived in Chapel Hill or Carboro, you knew who Mr. Brown was by what he was driving.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:26]:
Cause he was working at the time. He was working at Chapel Hill Tire, I believe. And then he also worked with Mike Allen's dad. I can't think of Mike's name, but auto protocol, I think it was.
Ashley Kaplan [00:24:39]:
Auto protocol worked with Mike Allen's dad.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:40]:
So. No, no. So they all came up in the same time, you know.
William Brown [00:24:44]:
Wow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:45]:
Yeah, it's crazy how small the world is, but wow, that's cool. But no, that is very frugal. You see what he driving out there? My favorite car, that Ford Maverick. I hate that car. I hate that. But you get to spend the money on your dream house now because you didn't spend a lot of money on dumb stuff.
William Brown [00:25:03]:
No dumb stuff.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:04]:
No dumb stuff. Fun stuff, but no dumb stuff.
William Brown [00:25:06]:
If I spend my money, I want to be able to see it next month, but I spend it on.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:11]:
That's a good point.
William Brown [00:25:12]:
I didn't want to pee it out. I put it up this smoke.
Ashley Kaplan [00:25:17]:
What, Tanika? You tell me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:19]:
I didn't say it nice like this.
Ashley Kaplan [00:25:20]:
She said don't look at food, but nothing but a potential turd.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:25]:
Yeah. You want to eat your money and poop it out. If you want to, like, think about the money that you're spending in the drive through at a fancy restaurant and whatever. Yeah. Like, what are you really getting out of it other than the turd.
Ashley Kaplan [00:25:36]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:37]:
And I know that. I'm so sorry that I just said that, but it's real. I really. People think about, you know, every time you go through the Chick Fil a line in Bojangles and I love me some bohunga. Listen, but you know what? Tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, I'm getting ready to
Ashley Kaplan [00:25:52]:
go to Kansas Bohungas.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:54]:
I don't handle bohungulus money right now because I got money that I want to spend, though. Because when I go to the mall in Kansas, I might see something that I want to buy. So you have to choose your heart. You have to choose what you're going to spend your money and choose it wisely.
Ashley Kaplan [00:26:04]:
I don't know. I never learned, so. I never learned anything like that growing up from anybody. So I don't know where I picked it up, but I think it was similar to what you said. I want to see where my money went the next month, I would have friends that I would look at, like, their budget and stuff and their income, and they'd bring all this money in and then have nothing left. I'm like, so what are you spending it on? And it's out at the bar, out at this restaurant. It'd be really easy for me, as much as we've been traveling lately, to have no money. But, like, even for me, I go to the gas station, I get the three dollar protein drink because it's gonna give me everything that I need to get through till my next meal for $3 instead of 15 at a drive through.
Ashley Kaplan [00:26:42]:
And then I'm just gonna gain more weight.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:45]:
Well, here's the thing. See, when you just said the three dollar protein shake at the convenience store, I'm like that shaking up with a dollar and fifty cents.
Ashley Kaplan [00:26:52]:
Right? I know.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:53]:
So those are the.
Ashley Kaplan [00:26:54]:
I know. Like, I was thinking about that today. I'm like, okay, so I've been buying, like, two a day. That's $6. I could. Like, after four days, I could buy the whole canister, put them in ziploc bags.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:04]:
But that's how you keep your money. And then it grows into something that you actually.
Ashley Kaplan [00:27:09]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:10]:
Need.
Ashley Kaplan [00:27:10]:
Right. Keep buying the fast food, never have the cars, the house, whatever.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:15]:
Yeah.
William Brown [00:27:16]:
Sacrifice somewhere.
Ashley Kaplan [00:27:18]:
Yeah.
William Brown [00:27:18]:
You know, a lot of people got, I guess, bad habits. I consider them bad habits. Smoking, the drinking, the drugs and all right. Then at the end of the week, they got nothing else.
Ashley Kaplan [00:27:32]:
Right.
William Brown [00:27:33]:
A lot of them still stay home with mom, you know, can't afford it. You broke on Friday or Saturday, gotta go back to work Monday. Living week to week, that's not living.
Ashley Kaplan [00:27:47]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:48]:
That's not living.
William Brown [00:27:49]:
That's not living.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:50]:
And then you get mad at the person that's actually living. And instead of having a conversation, it's like, ooh, how'd you do that? Like, I like having those conversations. Like, ooh, how'd you do that? Like, don't hate, appreciate.
Ashley Kaplan [00:28:00]:
It's like the difference from, it must be nice. And I want to work for that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:05]:
Yeah, that kid's. Oh, must be nice. It is. I'm very tired, but it is.
Ashley Kaplan [00:28:09]:
No, it's like, what do I need to do to get to this point?
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:12]:
Those are the questions that younger shop owners need to ask the shop owners that's been doing it for a while. And that's one reason why I adore Dutch. Like, Dutch people. Oh, he's old. Grumpy man. Yeah. But look where he came from. And look what he Has.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:27]:
And look at all the knowledge in between. Like, I think young people. I was lucky. Cause I didn't have any choice but listen to my grandma and my dad. If I didn't, I would be sitting in a whole different seat. I remember I got mad at dad, and I got mad at dad a whole lot. And I went to tell some family members about my daddy. Cause he got on my nerves and he is evil and he is mean and.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:53]:
And I remember that it got back to him. It got back to you, Daddy. And he said, the next time you talk about me to somebody, you make sure they got more than me. And I
Ashley Kaplan [00:29:05]:
damn.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:06]:
See, those are the things that, like, you know, people want to have conversations with their kids. Well, let me tell you, Jimmy, gentle parenting. Gentle parenting. I ain't had none of the gentle parenting. He was mean. But the point. I remember it, and I don't know, that had to be 20 something years ago, but I remember that statement. And it stuck with me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:22]:
Any situation that I've been in, any problem that we've had, any heads that we've butted, no matter how much my feelings were hurt or I was sad or the conversation didn't go my way, I remember every last one of them. Cause I don't remember him being wrong.
Ashley Kaplan [00:29:39]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:40]:
It didn't feel good. But what about feelings?
Ashley Kaplan [00:29:43]:
They don't fix cars or breaks.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:45]:
They don't fix cars or nothing. Yeah, the feelings don't mean too much. Nothing about nothing. And that sounds so harsh to say. Feelings do matter. I know my dad loves me. I know my dad's going to protect me, sure. But he's not going to love me too much that he was like, okay, baby, it's fine.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:00]:
Go ahead and touch the hot stove.
Ashley Kaplan [00:30:02]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:03]:
Like, you have to tell your kids no. You have to tell yourself no. You have to tell your staff no.
Ashley Kaplan [00:30:08]:
Well, I think those people, like, when you grow up like that, then you end up in the world with nothing's fair. Everyone's out to get me. Why can't I have it?
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:17]:
Like, why did I get a trophy?
Ashley Kaplan [00:30:19]:
Cause you didn't win a participation trophy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:21]:
You didn't win, Johnny.
Ashley Kaplan [00:30:23]:
Right, but I tried hard.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:24]:
I know you tried hard. Try harder.
Ashley Kaplan [00:30:26]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:27]:
Well, that's all Johnny can do. That's fine, Johnny. But it means if Johnny gets a participation trophy in middle school, in high school, in elementary school, he enters the real world and then everybody, oh, my feelings are hurt. Johnny, nobody care about your feelings but your mom, maybe your daddy, okay? But then he can't take A job. He can't take constructive criticism. He thinks he's supposed to come into the job making 40, $50,000 a year. Dude, you are at McDonald's. Why do you think you deserve it? I told him my mama told me I was special.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:03]:
You're special.
Ashley Kaplan [00:31:04]:
Oh, you're special.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:06]:
Little short. We can't say that we're gonna get canceled. Braxton fixed that we're gonna get canceled. But, no, I mean. And dad was never like that with me. Now, when I say stuff like that, it seems like he was never really gentle, but he was. I tell people I never worked for my dad.
Ashley Kaplan [00:31:26]:
I was gonna bring that up. Talk about that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:27]:
I never worked for my dad. I worked for William Brown. I didn't.
Ashley Kaplan [00:31:30]:
How did you separate the two?
William Brown [00:31:35]:
You got to. I mean, if she's gonna get where she's at today. I couldn't baby her. She couldn't have taken. She had to be strong. And I had to let her see the real world. And business is the real world. It's not like when I left the shop, I said, I'm gone.
William Brown [00:31:58]:
And I left.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:59]:
He left. He'd be like, oh, your dad still must help you. No, he don't.
William Brown [00:32:04]:
I left.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:05]:
He left. So, Daddy, what made you. The summer I turned 16? The summer you let me run the shop by myself. Lord. And you have to tell that story. Cause I'm pretty sure some people don't think that I'm telling the truth when I say, no, he left. When I ran the shop this summer by myself.
William Brown [00:32:21]:
It wasn't the whole summer, but I needed a break. And I knew she could do it. And if she couldn't, when I got back, I could have fixed it. But I need to let her do it without me helping, without me holding her hand. She did, and she's still doing it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:42]:
I think a lot of parents won't let their kids into the business. Cause they are micromanaging the children. Like, they won't let them just push them in the late. Let them figure it out.
William Brown [00:32:53]:
Like I said, throw them in the water and let them swim. If they drown, go to bed and make another one.
Ashley Kaplan [00:33:02]:
Y' all heard it here.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:05]:
There he is. That's my daddy. So you think I'm crazy, but no, I mean, push him in the deep end. But I know if my dad pushes me in the deep end, I'm going to sit there and I'm like, okay, I got it. And then. And I'm throwing doggy pad. He going to be like, okay, all right, okay. She ain't gonna make it okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:24]:
Life jacket. You have to let them grow. And it's hard. Cause I know daddy thinks that I coddled a mess out of my kids. I do. But it's hard not to do that. I don't. I know he thinks I do, but I know compared to other parents, I don't.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:38]:
And I know, like, when I left Jordan in Florida, I told everybody on the lipstick report. Yeah, I'm crying because it's my baby.
Ashley Kaplan [00:33:46]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:47]:
But he's not. He's a man. He's a man. He stinks. He smells like a man. But I know that between me and my dad and his bonus Gigi. His Gigi, his favorite thing in the whole world, his grandma. He's fine, and God's got him, and he can't do nothing but run into a brick wall.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:05]:
And if he keep running to the same brick wall, then we probably. That's a him problem. But you run into the brick wall and be like, oh, okay, don't do that again. But. So I like to think that I tell people that it was like, Mr. Miyagi. Like, I had been at the shop all my life, and you had been teaching me the whole time how to run the shop, even though I wasn't hands on doing it by myself. It's like wax on, wax off.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:27]:
But when it came time to start fighting, I was kicking people butts.
Ashley Kaplan [00:34:31]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:33]:
But yeah.
Ashley Kaplan [00:34:34]:
Yeah, I've never understood that, like, people. I'm not ready for the promotion. I'm not ready, like, to become a
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:39]:
manager when we ever.
Ashley Kaplan [00:34:41]:
Like, why weren't you watching the whole time? Like, watch what the other people are doing so you can grow into that. I don't.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:47]:
Right. Take something off my plate.
Ashley Kaplan [00:34:49]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:51]:
Because if you are at a job or you're at a shop, and if you're not in upper management, you're not the owner. You're listening to this. You're the service advisor. You're the parts person or whatever. You need to work that job as if I don't show up. Do they miss me? And if they don't miss you, if you don't show up, you're not doing a good job.
Ashley Kaplan [00:35:11]:
Does your phone ring when you walk away, too?
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:13]:
Yeah, if they don't miss you. Nobody skips a beat if you're not showing up. You. You call out with the flu for the week, and the shop is, like, smooth, and you come back Monday, they'll be like, hey, what's up, dog? You ain't doing your job. Good. But if you come Back Monday. Like, please don't ever do that again. Like, we needed you then.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:31]:
You. You're irreplaceable.
Ashley Kaplan [00:35:33]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:33]:
You're doing your job. So if you're not getting that reaction out of the people, if you have to take a day off or whatever, you need to step your game up.
Ashley Kaplan [00:35:40]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:40]:
Like, if you just want to do enough just to get by, just do it somewhere else and don't blame everybody else for it. But you need to make yourself.
Ashley Kaplan [00:35:47]:
There's a good balance in between the two.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:48]:
Balance.
Ashley Kaplan [00:35:49]:
Because you do that well. Like, you could step away for a
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:51]:
week and go now. I can.
Ashley Kaplan [00:35:52]:
Yeah. And they can handle it, but they definitely want your guidance when you're back.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:58]:
You know what? At this stage in the shop, they'd rather me be gone.
Ashley Kaplan [00:36:01]:
Really.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:01]:
Not to be bad, because I have. I like to think that I've built my team, that at this point, they won't miss Tanika to be relaxing somewhere.
Ashley Kaplan [00:36:10]:
Mm. That's sweet.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:12]:
I see it. Because 3 o' clock will come and everybody up front, like, see.
Ashley Kaplan [00:36:16]:
But that's because you poured into them. Like, that's when they talked. Josh talked about it yesterday, about showing the numbers to the team, showing them, what does it cost to operate this business? What are the benchmarks? This is how we, like, reach the goals together. And when we reach these goals, you get to make more money. So, like, it has them involved. And I think that's. That's a big part of it. They need to understand it takes every single person in here to get to that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:42]:
Right.
Ashley Kaplan [00:36:42]:
So, like, learn all aspects of it. And owners should teach people more than just their job. I know your job is this, but let me show you how I do this in case one day I'm not here.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:54]:
And the wonderful thing about it is, like, I remember when dad used to still wear the uniform, and then he went from a uniform to a suit and he stopped getting dressed up for work. And I thought that was awesome. Daddy come to work. Three suit. He cleaning the mud. He wasn't standing cars no more, but he could if he had to. And I know if push came to shove, you'd put a uniform back on.
William Brown [00:37:18]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:19]:
But you had trained the whole posse that you didn't have to do that. Now, one thing that I love is what Brett said yesterday. I was Brett, and people say it all the time, is when you have grown an employee to the point that they have outgrown the shop. I remember when you fired Curly.
William Brown [00:37:35]:
Yes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:36]:
Can you tell people who Curly is and why you fired him that story.
William Brown [00:37:40]:
Hmm. When I met Curly, Curly knew nothing about mechanics. You know, I don't think he knew what Fair Flyers was. But now Curly Guy owns a multi million dollar shop himself. And I fired Curly because I wasn't big enough, and I was holding him back, and I fired him. And I said, you can go out there and you can grow. And he did. He's doing good.
William Brown [00:38:13]:
Real good. Still doing real good. And I talk to him every week. That's been 30 years ago.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:23]:
Yes.
William Brown [00:38:24]:
You know, 30 years ago. And it's just like I taught him all I could teach him. So he went to Rick Hendrick, and the rest is history. He just kept going.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:36]:
He just kept going. I like how you said that, that you taught him all that you could teach and then you put them in the world. But, you know, the thing is, don't tell. Don't miss out on the part that when he built that shop, what did he do?
William Brown [00:38:48]:
Gave me a key.
Ashley Kaplan [00:38:50]:
Wow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:51]:
Right? So that is the type of legacy. Now, if you want to be an evil shop owner and have 18 shops and not have a relationship with your employees, that's fine. You can do that. But as far as me and my village, that's what I want. I tell people, like, I know if my dad has had 100 employees, and God forbid something happens, 98 of them gonna show up for them. You can't help and save everybody. Everybody's not gonna become a star employee. Everybody's not supposed to be on the bus.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:20]:
That's what we talked about yesterday. But for the people that you can, that is such a good feeling, and that's the feeling that I get now. Like, six, seven years ago, I was excited about making my numbers. I was excited about making that. Oh, I did another 20%. I was excited about that. I was just, oh, dad, this is what I did. This is what I did.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:37]:
But now I'm excited about. This is Ash, and this is my little automotive Niecy. And all the people that I get to talk to about that, I get excited about. Like, on the way over here, Stewart just getting back from Atlanta. I sent him to Atlanta for training. He's like, thank you for investing in me. I've met so many friends. We getting ready to do this.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:56]:
Ms. Tanika. He's like. He's like, we getting ready to do this. And that's the kind of building I want to have. But everybody's not supposed to be there. Everybody's not supposed to be on your team. And, you know, the same people that you get To a million dollars with is not the same people that's gonna get you to 2 million.
Ashley Kaplan [00:40:10]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:10]:
And that's hard to believe that you have to leave certain people behind and you don't really have to leave them. Like for example, Amber had to go because she had other things to do. She got two babies she need to take care of. She hasn't left me though. But when it's time for somebody to go and you need to understand when it's to let them go. For example, Leo, the young man that lived out here. I meant to say his name out loud, but I did all that I could for him and it just worked out. Brown's automobile is not the space for you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:34]:
And then when I.
Ashley Kaplan [00:40:35]:
Part of what helped him, hopefully he'll grow from there. Like even if it. Even if you can't see it today.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:41]:
Yeah.
Ashley Kaplan [00:40:42]:
Later down the line, you should look back and realize that had to happen so I could grow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:46]:
Exactly.
Ashley Kaplan [00:40:47]:
And become this person.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:48]:
And that's Eric. You remember I fired Eric. So Eric is a body man that had worked for dad. We've known Eric 30 years too.
William Brown [00:40:56]:
35 years.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:56]:
35 years and he still works next door. But when we were still running the collision center, Eric did something and he ticked me off and I fired him. And dad is like, I can't believe you fired Eric. The highest producing body man I've ever met next to Curly. He is amazing. Daddy taught him all that he knew. But he got arrogant. He got real arrogant.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:18]:
And another thing that you heard me say, one monkey do not stop, no show. But when it came for me to get rid of my own crazy monkey, you remember that? So dad retired and the shop was mine. And my monkey that I thought was the bee's knees was my right hand man. This, that and whatever was opening the shop on the weekend. I didn't have my post on my business. I wasn't going to the shop on the weekend. So he was running the whole business on the weekend behind my back. And I talked to him about.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:45]:
I was like, you know, we can't do that, blah blah this and blah blah that. And he said the next week he says, I have to go to court for a ticket. Like you get a ticket, you don't go to court the next week, go to court months later. So I'm thinking, but he quit. He quit and he quit and he left me and Albert Hyndry. Albert was just a lube tech at the time. He has been with me for a couple months. And I remember calling, daddy, can you Tell the rest of that story, dad.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:08]:
Why not?
William Brown [00:42:09]:
Why don't you tell it?
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:11]:
I can't know it. Daddy, you got to tell the story. Are you gonna. And I want you to say all the words.
William Brown [00:42:14]:
No, I can't say all the words.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:16]:
You. Daddy, I can't say the words.
Ashley Kaplan [00:42:21]:
Somebody tell me the story.
William Brown [00:42:22]:
I said that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:24]:
Well, I. Call me. Let's do the phone call. Daddy. Daddy. Okay. I'm crying, y'.
Ashley Kaplan [00:42:28]:
All.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:28]:
I'm crying, Daddy. I can't believe Jesus quit. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Nah, nah. I don't have a technician. It's just me and Albert, man. Man. And then what you say, dad?
William Brown [00:42:39]:
That your method?
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:42]:
That ain't what you're saying, Daddy.
William Brown [00:42:43]:
That's what I remember.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:44]:
That ain't what you're saying, Daddy, if
William Brown [00:42:46]:
you die today and get hit by a bus, what would you do?
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:49]:
And that's exactly what he said. Well, I'm crying. But then again, what did I tell you earlier? I've never worked for my dad. That was William Brown talking. William Brown said, if the MF got hit by a bus, what would you do? Dang, I guess I gotta hire somebody else. And that's another thing we do in the industry. We let people stay with us too long because they really think they hold all the balls. No, them are mine.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:12]:
And I'm going to juggle myself. And they might fall, but I'm going to juggle myself. And they will hold you hostage in your own business. And that's basically what he was doing. But like dad said, if he got hit by a bus, then what was you gonna do? Yeah, well, dang. I mean, I guess I really need to consider that. And I just had to do what I had to do. Now, like I tell people later on, he called me after I got to work and make sure I was okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:34]:
But still.
William Brown [00:43:36]:
But he needed to go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:37]:
He needed to go.
William Brown [00:43:38]:
You know, that was God way of making him go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:42]:
Yeah. And then I found. And that mean Albert had to step up, and he did, and he still is. And that left an opportunity for me to see, oh, I can grow. I can hire other people. So I had to learn the hiring process, and I've sucked at that a lot. But I've had some good people as well, so I've had some frauds come through. But right now I feel like I got an A team, so.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:02]:
Yeah.
Ashley Kaplan [00:44:03]:
Yeah, I love your team.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:04]:
Yeah, I love my team, too. So, yom Chicks, how do you think? Like, you hired a lot of people, dad. And you trained most of everybody. Like, did you ever have a body person come in that was already skilled?
William Brown [00:44:17]:
Yes. I had one man come in. He was an older guy. He didn't make it a day.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:25]:
He knew everything, huh?
William Brown [00:44:26]:
He knew. He knew too much. And I was watching him in my arms. I told him that he couldn't do what he was doing there, and he told me I was doing. I've been doing this for 20 years. I know what I'm doing. And he cursed me. He had some curse words in there.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:47]:
I don't know why he won't say the curse words.
William Brown [00:44:49]:
I don't curse. I said, you've been doing the 20 minutes too long here. You need to get your toolbox to leave.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:01]:
I know that's right.
William Brown [00:45:02]:
As it comes up here, I'm always right because I'm right. A wrong, and then I got to pay for it. So that mean I'm right. And if you. If you can show me a better way, I'll look at it. But in the end, I'm still right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:17]:
Because ultimately, you are responsible for everything that comes out that door.
William Brown [00:45:20]:
I got to pay for everything, right or wrong.
Ashley Kaplan [00:45:23]:
That's what they said, right? Delegate.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:25]:
Delegate.
Ashley Kaplan [00:45:26]:
Well, how did they explain that? Delegate. And give responsibility to other people, knowing that you are accountable for everything.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:32]:
You're accountable for everything. I can delegate, but at the end
Ashley Kaplan [00:45:35]:
of the day, accountable, but you are responsible.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:38]:
Exactly. Because you have to think about it in the court of law. I can't tell the judge, oh, my employee did that. No, that's your name. Your name is on this federal ein. Yeah, that's your check account.
Ashley Kaplan [00:45:48]:
You are responsible. Well, it's your job description.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:50]:
Yeah, that is your job. That's your responsibility. So, yeah, blame the blame game. Cause at the end of the day, I'm responsible. So it's not necessarily saying it's my way or the highway, but it's my way or the highway. Now, like you said, I could take your input. And I talk. Y' all know how I talk about the macaroni and cheese? Like, my Aunt Lynn started making macaroni and cheese, and it was good, but I still got the basis of the macaroni and cheese.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:14]:
And if you want to say, hey, won't you put a little of this in there? Mr. Brown or Mr. Nika, let's try this. I'm like, okay, let's try it. And if I don't like it, I'm not gonna put the ingredient back in there. But if I like it, I'm like, all Right. Big dog, I appreciate you. Yeah, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:26]:
But. Yeah. And that's part of ownership. That's part of leadership. I know it sounds like a joke, but that is leadership. Like, you cannot. Even though the guy was experienced, but you can't have him coming in and take over your whole shop. No.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:40]:
Because at the end of the day, you're responsible. But everybody else, I feel like you've trained.
William Brown [00:46:44]:
Trained too many people. A lot of people.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:47]:
Daddy's a teacher, Mr. Miyagi.
William Brown [00:46:50]:
A lot of people like Martin.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:52]:
Martin is amazing.
William Brown [00:46:54]:
Martin worked at the shop for two years, maybe three years, and I didn't pay him a dime.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:02]:
He was just hungry because I told
William Brown [00:47:04]:
him I wasn't training anybody else. And he told me, I'll work for you for free.
Ashley Kaplan [00:47:10]:
People don't do that anymore. I don't understand.
William Brown [00:47:12]:
Because you don't get paid to go to school, you know?
Ashley Kaplan [00:47:16]:
Right?
William Brown [00:47:16]:
You pay to go to school, but you don't get paid to go. He said, I want to learn how to do that. And that's been 20 years ago, and
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:26]:
he's still next door working for the other. And he's. He's good.
William Brown [00:47:28]:
He's good.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:29]:
He's good. He's a top tech over there.
Ashley Kaplan [00:47:32]:
That's a drive like I want to see in people. But it's so hard. Like, especially my generation, the generation below me, nobody ever wants to do that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:40]:
It's not true. Cause you're doing it. You just can't see it. And y' all are aggravating. You.
Ashley Kaplan [00:47:45]:
Aggravating. That's fair. I know I aggravate you all the time.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:49]:
It's a good aggravation. Cause I don't know why. I don't know why. It's not for me to understand, but it brings me much more joy for you to give me a call or anybody that hits me and say, hey, Ms. Tanika, this. Whatever. I love being your automotive auntie. Dudes do that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:07]:
The guys that detect autos. Look, I know this ain't my business, but won't you try that?
Ashley Kaplan [00:48:12]:
Okay?
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:12]:
Yeah. Won't you do this? Won't you do that? Consider this. I like being the sounding board, and I like to see you guys develop and grow. And there's much more coming to you and everybody in your age group. You guys 40 below, 30 belows. But we owners, old schools, we need to be patient. We need to chill. Like, there's some lessons that need to be learned, and you have to learn hard, because I know I talk to you harsh, but I also have to Understand that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:42]:
Okay. If you're opening up to me, I need to be available to you. Like, shop owners are quick to say, stupid hair, the stupid music. They're always on the phone and this, that, whatever. They haven't had what you had. Like, think about how many shop owners sitting in there talking about Benji yesterday. If he would not have poured into those people at that table, where would they be? They literally told him, dude, I don't know where I would be without you. He was a leader, not just a boss.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:11]:
It's a difference.
Ashley Kaplan [00:49:12]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:13]:
So he leads them and they respect him. They all spoke up on his behalf yesterday. Why he wasn't crying, I don't know, but I think I heard. I heard him crying last night when he went to sleep. I think I heard him sobbing. Yeah, but all of his whole team when he does something.
Ashley Kaplan [00:49:28]:
All of that made me emotional.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:30]:
It was amazing. But Benji had to come from a far place to get there, to be able to lead them. That came from a far place. Eighteen hundred fifty dollars. Statistically, I know. Statistically, I know. According to the government, I shouldn't know who my daddy is. And you should be broke, selling drugs somewhere or something like that.
William Brown [00:49:53]:
I miss my calling.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:54]:
You miss your calling. But so you have a story and everybody has a story, and everybody doesn't have a straight line to their destination, where it's going to be. But if you kept your story to yourself or if I kept my knowledge to myself and my William Brown isms and my kiddy isms and I didn't fuss at you, I would be doing a disservice to myself, my father, my grandma, my legacy, and my God. So stop trying to. Being a boss. It's a ripple effect and it's more rewarding. It is so much more rewarding to get that text from you, get that text from Katie, get that text from anybody. And those connection and the networking and get the text from my employees, Mr.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:40]:
Nikki, this, that, whatever I don't have, I can't buy no cars with it. But you feel good.
Ashley Kaplan [00:50:45]:
I don't know if I'll ever have it figured out, but you tell me a lot of things and it's that ripple because then I'm talking to somebody
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:51]:
and you say the same thing and
Ashley Kaplan [00:50:52]:
I say the same thing because I'm like, oh, Ms. Tanika taught me that. But anybody, like, that's what. Like, anybody can help anybody
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:02]:
and that you don't have to. I do not coddle you. You don't have to coddle them and you don't have to sit there. All these kids and their emotions, and you don't need. She knows that I love her, but I am going to fuss her slim out.
Ashley Kaplan [00:51:13]:
But I need that. And that's what I appreciate the most about you. That's why the other day I told you they went around the room. Think about a mentor in your life that instilled in you what the core values you have now is. And I listen to every single person talk about my dad, my grandpa, my this, my that. And I was like, I don't have anybody that actually gave me the good values until now. So mine were, like, reverse engineered, where I was like, I didn't like that. I didn't like that.
Ashley Kaplan [00:51:39]:
I didn't like that. This is how I would have rather had been led. So that's how I'm gonna try to lead until you came in the picture. And, like, you've never tried to put bubble wrap around my feelings.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:52]:
Okay, not about your feelings, but I
Ashley Kaplan [00:51:54]:
don't care about, like, I. I'm a very emotional person. I know. And I. But I don't. My feelings don't need to be what drives.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:01]:
Because I'll tell you, nothing to hurt your feelings. Right.
Ashley Kaplan [00:52:03]:
But I don't. Like, I'm not worried about you hurting
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:05]:
my feelings because I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I'm trying to wake you up.
Ashley Kaplan [00:52:08]:
I would be more worried if you said the softer version or, like, I don't want to hurt your feelings. So let me put it this way. If you hurt my feelings, it's because I need to fix something.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:17]:
Yeah. Because he hurt my feelings all the time.
William Brown [00:52:20]:
I ain't know. I never hurt your feelings.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:23]:
Daddy, we don't tell stories. No, but, I mean, all of it is necessary. Yeah, all of it's necessary.
Ashley Kaplan [00:52:29]:
Had you not raised her that way, you wouldn't be out here pouring into all of us.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:32]:
Right? So when people don't understand the heart and they quit in the dip, like Josh says, and they don't want to do the work and they don't want the constructive criticism, he wasn't hard. It was constructive criticism. He just never got to listen to Oprah Winfrey, so he didn't know the way to say it. Like, my grandma's the same way. Like, he's. He. His mama get on his nerves, but she be right. My grandma just.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:57]:
I think about the things my grandma would say. Like, if you can't buy it twice, then don't buy it at all. Like, and then when I bought the escalade the black one, she said, well, I did. Yes, I can buy it twice. Do you want one? Same thing about borrowing money. If you let somebody borrow some money, Daddy, just expect not to get it back.
William Brown [00:53:14]:
Not to get it back.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:15]:
You just have these. Those are the things. Like, those are the things that grandma would say, and it's like, okay, that makes sense. But why you gotta say it like that? Why couldn't you say it sweet? Cause they ain't got time for that. They ain't have time for sugarcoating. Cause then we already diabetic. We don't need to sugarcoat nothing. Mm.
Ashley Kaplan [00:53:29]:
Mm.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:29]:
The sugar just is more calories, and we don't need that. Well, I mean, I understand some people really need to hear it softly in the beginning, but once you find somebody that you really respect, just listen to him. Like, I really respect Dutch, and I don't think he knows how much. I think the first time I listened to him, I was like, is that my grandma? But he's white, and he has no hair. But I'm sure that's my grandma. And I was like, he sounds just like my grandma. And I was like. But then I see people in the audience like this.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:57]:
You can't say that. Yes, he can. So you do need a healthy balance of it, because you kids are coddled a whole lot. And then, like, facts over feelings. Facts. Feelings don't fix no cars. No is a whole word, a whole sentence. Yeah, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:15]:
Love you by next. It's hard. You have to. You have to toughen up a little bit.
Ashley Kaplan [00:54:21]:
Yeah, I am, like, trying to find that middle ground because I. I'll upset somebody because I'm just being honest. And then I'm like, oh, great, okay, let me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:30]:
And then you throw yourself on the whole. On the. But you're worried about other people's feelings too much right now, in your journey. In my opinion. Opinion. I want you to know me back to you. But anyway, so that is my awesome dad. What else you got to say to the people, Daddy?
William Brown [00:54:51]:
Like I said, don't give up. Can't quit.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:55]:
Can't quit in the dip.
William Brown [00:54:57]:
Can't quit. You know, when it's time to quit.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:03]:
And are you quitting? Are you just passing the baton?
Ashley Kaplan [00:55:05]:
Recalibration.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:07]:
Yeah, recalibrating.
William Brown [00:55:08]:
I'm gonna say pass a lot of batons. Yep. Pass a lot of batons.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:14]:
If you had to do it all over again.
William Brown [00:55:17]:
If I had to do it all over again, I would get more office education in the. In the office. Everything I learned in the Office was hands on, you know, not school. That what I, that what I would do different. Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:36]:
The coaching and the business like, you know, everybody knows. I think coaching is way important.
William Brown [00:55:40]:
I, I, I don't, I don't even know if we had the coaching stuff like y' all got now. You know, we didn't even have a cell phone, you know, fax machine. We had a calculator, a book, and a tablet. You know, we didn't have the communications that y' all got now.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:01]:
You know, the Internet, artificial intelligence, all that stuff. We got so many more opportunities.
Ashley Kaplan [00:56:05]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:05]:
Yeah. You think you can learn all this stuff? You want to come back to work?
William Brown [00:56:10]:
Hell no. I know I can deal with the people now.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:18]:
People are crazy.
William Brown [00:56:19]:
Yeah, because they said the customer's always right. Nope, not in my world.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:25]:
Not in my world. Look, my friends know that no, they're not right.
William Brown [00:56:29]:
Right is always right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:31]:
You know, I can help you understand it, but just cause you cause you feel that way, that's not how that happens there, kid. Nope. Well, daddy, this was fun. And by the way, I just want everybody out there in the inner Internet world to know. I said, dad, we're going to do a podcast. He said, what is that?
William Brown [00:56:49]:
What's the podcast?
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:50]:
What's a podcast? It's like, oh my God. Really? All right, well, this has been Tanika and Ash and Mr. Brown, the famous Mr. Brown youn do it again.
William Brown [00:56:58]:
I'll do it again.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:59]:
You'll do it again. Let's go.
William Brown [00:57:00]:
Give me some kind of warning that I can think about some things.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:04]:
No, we want to do it right off the rip. No warning. All right, guys, thank you. Make sure that we follow like and what else?
Ashley Kaplan [00:57:11]:
Share it to the world.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:12]:
Share it to the world. We'll see you next time. Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations hosted by myself, second generation shop owner Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy mindset, and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts. You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians, and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time. This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.