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The Gearbox Podcast brings on industry professionals to explore the day-to-day operations of owning and operating a shop. From common frustrations to industry-wide shifts, this podcast covers it with fun and insightful conversations.
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. Gilbert.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:00:37]:
Gilbert. Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:38]:
Cool. I just met you coming up the stairs. Yeah. Tell me about yourself.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:00:42]:
So, my name is Gilbert. I own co owner of Hallis Brothers Autoworks in Barrington, Illinois.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:49]:
Awesome.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:00:50]:
Yeah. So we specialize in bmws, mercedes, mostly Europeans.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:54]:
Oh, man.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:00:55]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:56]:
How do you do that?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:00:57]:
I love it. I would. I would choose to work on a terrible v eight, v ten BMW versus any corollas or Honda's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:05]:
Okay, so you're anti asian.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:01:07]:
I'm not anti. I love them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:09]:
Okay.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:01:09]:
I just cannot work on them. Like, they don't make sense to me.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:12]:
Interesting.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:01:13]:
Yeah. Like, engineering wise. Yeah, they don't. Especially like the older ones, too. Especially the. The transactional, the trends. Axle v six s. Yeah, they make no sense to me.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:01:25]:
That's why. So we. I grew up loving bmws. You know, I'm originally from Iraq, born and raised in Baghdad City.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:33]:
Wow.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:01:34]:
Yeah, I moved here in 2008, so I think that's why they wanted me. Wanted you to interview me. So I lived the war. I was there till 2005, so I grew up in the war zone. I was 15 years old when we left Iraq in 2005. I lived in Jordan for four years. In 2008, we ended up moving here through immigration. I'm sorry, refugee.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:02:01]:
Being a refugee. We came here to Chicago. So I started working in every other job that we came because my parents were forced to be retired because of their age and their health. So me and my brother, we were, you know, helping out with the house and paying bills and all that. And I was. There was weeks. I was working 80 hours a week, you know, 40 hours overtime, stuff like that, trying to figure out what we gonna do, seeing that back home. When I was twelve years old, before the war, I did work on cars with my dad's best friend in the summer.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:02:38]:
So I always had a love to work on cars, but I just did not know how to start, because the reason why I tried to get into shops and they were not paying much because you don't have no resume. So I was forced to not, you know, to work as a bartender and the bank, many factories. And then in 2012, I end up dating my wife. Right now that, you know, she was very successful. Have her own place, you know, graduate, doing a good job. Now she's a master, and she runs the department of UIC, research department for the transplant department in the hospital of UIC. So then she was telling me, like, like, why don't you start doing something that you love, like, something you, like, make it your career? Like, why are you doing working these jobs and you're getting tired? So I was like, I just don't know what to do because, you know, I always thought I was gonna be a soccer player because I was playing soccer since I was a kid, playing in professional, you know, with ranking in teams before the war. And then I just.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:03:50]:
In my head, that's all I was gonna be. I did not focus on anything else. So she was like, well, you love cars. You work on cars right now. You fix your own stuff. You work on your friends, your family. Why don't you just go learn it and make it your career? So I dropped everything. I got apply that you.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:04:09]:
I worked NTB, national tire and battery on. If you ever know, it's like, okay, like, my boys Firestone, they don't exist anymore. They're master. I forgot the company that bought them, but I worked there, so I kind of got a big pay cut because they start paying me minimum wage to be a tire tech.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:28]:
Oh, man.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:04:28]:
Yeah. And then I started going to UTI. That was in the 2012. In the beginning of 2013, I graduated. I ended up walking to 25, over 25 dealers, different manufactories, applying in person, talking to the service manager. But my goal was always to work for this dealership. It's called per lo. It's an honor, Joe.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:04:54]:
Perlo Group, they own most of luxury dealers in Chicago, downtown Chicago, and they own BMW, too. So my goal was to work for that BMW. So I got hired, actually, by them. They hired me. So I started with them as an apprentice, and then in nine months, they put me on the line. I thought, they think that was good enough. They put me on the line to be hourly, but, you know, get dispatched to work by myself. Not a team, nobody working.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:05:23]:
I don't. I don't work under anybody. And then after not even six months, I was already, you know, being a flat rate. Then they start sending me to all the master, you know, the training through BMW north of America, got my masters, became one of the only four technicians that they had in a 25 out of 25 technicians to do full, you know, engine, you know, timing chain rebuilding. We had a class action for valve guide seal going on one of the BMW engines. So I was one of the only four technicians that was able to do that. Well, to do that. Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:05:58]:
So was, you know, I was making good money booking good hours. One of the busiest BMW dealers in the nation after the one inmate, and I think in Florida somewhere. So we were the second busiest. Like, we're to a point where you go on Wednesday, you get work dispatch from Monday. That's how busy it was.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:17]:
Wow.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:06:17]:
So if you're lazy, you're booking your 65 hours. That's. You're, like, being lazy over there. But my goal was always to own my own business. No matter what it was I was gonna get into. I always wanted to work for myself and on my own business, not a job. So. Because a lot of people, they own their job, they still work.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:36]:
And that's fair. Yeah, absolutely.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:06:37]:
Exactly. So my. I was all. I always had the entrepreneur and me, like, I own. I wanted to own my job. And then, you know, I mean, my business and transition to where. Be, like an absent owner.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:48]:
Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:06:49]:
So we came to a point where my partner, now that everybody thinks my brother. So I call him my brother. He's older than me, though, the older brother I never had. So my brother. And that's why we're Hollis brothers. That's. That's another thing that people think we're brothers. So we were.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:07:05]:
I met him in NTB and he moved to pep boys. He was working over there, but we still had contact. We started flipping cars on the side in my garage, where we got to a point where we saved 100 grand. And then we were like, okay, it's a time for us to do our own thing. So after that, I started looking for existing businesses getting sold with the property because we wanted the property. We own sprout, we own properties. And we want. We don't like renting.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:07:35]:
We don't like, you know, people owning us. You know, we have to sign a lease and all that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:40]:
So it's nice when you're the landlord.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:07:42]:
Exactly. Me the landlord, and I can use the property in the future for leverage. Like, I want. I can pull a loan. I can do whatever I want, you know, again and put that property as a rattle or, like, against a loan or something. So that. That's another reason. So I found Hollis Brothers and Barrington.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:08:02]:
It's been there since 73. The same shop since 73. There were two brothers graduated high school, two twins. They graduated high school, and then they started working in that shop. It used to be a sitco gas station. Their brother used to rent the shop site. And then they. Their brother moved to Florida and they took over.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:08:26]:
Then after that, they bought the property from the owner, and then they cancelled the gas station. Then they kept it. You know, they digged everything out and everything. They made it just a shop. And then in early two thousands, they grow the business. They grow the property. They may. They made the building bigger.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:42]:
Okay. Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:08:43]:
So now it used to be three door driving, you know, just typical gas station driving doors, three bays. And then they end up adding three more bays. So have. And then one of the bays, they made an alignment. Okay, so now we have five bays in alignment. So I bought the property, we bought the business, the, obviously, the assets, everything else. And we've been there since November of 22, and it's been only me and my partner. And then we just hired an advisor.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:09:13]:
We've been. Thank God. You know, I got. And I discovered changing the industry. Bad cast on YouTube. One of their videos come up because all I do, even if I'm now wrenching, I'm watching YouTube. Cars, YouTube contact. Even my wife tells me, like, how do you do that? Like, how you're not sick of it? I'm like, I love it.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:09:32]:
Like, I love the satisfaction of watching people doing something even though they're working on this.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:37]:
There's so much to learn.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:09:38]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:39]:
You can't stop learning.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:09:40]:
And what I watch, I watch this guy who, he live in Germany, he works on bmws. You restore them, and I work on bmws. It's not like I'm watching something new. Like, I know what he's doing. But anyway, so their video popped up and it was like they were talking about, I don't know, somebody else's video. So I start watching them, and then I, you know, they mentioned their Facebook group and their podcast. So I started listening to them, and I was struggling at the shop. Like, we were busy.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:10:07]:
We were having cars, but we were not making. Their average repair order was like, less than 700. We were not making good money. We were barely paying ourselves. So I was like, you know what? Let me. Let me listen to them. I started listening to them. I went all the way.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:10:22]:
I'm sorry. All the way back to the first episode, and then I started listening. And then I got introduced to Cecil through them, obviously, in the podcast.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:30]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:10:31]:
And I was, like, mind blowing. They were talking about, like 60% or average of, you know, parts, gpu giving.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:38]:
You standards to kind of like, shoot for.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:10:40]:
Exactly. Yeah. So then I. I joined the group and. And then I left. One of. I left. I posted, like, hey, I'm struggling.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:10:50]:
We're struggling with car count or struggling with, you know, my. I don't know how to figure out my parts because I never owned a business before. And then Lucas introduced me to Adam. I don't know if you had, you know, Adam for the mastermind. And then I joined the mastermind, and it was like, like 90 degree, like.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:09]:
So one of the. One of the things I like to bring up is, like, the Facebook group itself is, like, so powerful.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:11:16]:
Correct.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:16]:
Right. The social media aspects, so powerful. The institute, like, beyond powerful.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:11:23]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:24]:
There's a lot of information that you can get and, quote unquote, free.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:11:27]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:28]:
And so I get a lot of kind of pushback. Like, oh, why would you. Why would you pay for a coach.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:11:32]:
Correct.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:32]:
When you have all this free information available. Right. It's.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:11:37]:
It's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:37]:
It's tough because the coaching that you get, especially with the institute, there's so much more than just, like, the information that you can read on your phone in a Facebook forum. You know what I mean? The thing, it's a great starting point. Sure. It gets your mind. It's to get your mind in the right direction, but it's not the same. Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:11:54]:
So I'm in a point where I am, our numbers are all dialed up. Like, our average repair order, we up to almost 300%.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:02]:
Nice.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:12:03]:
Like, this week, where average repair order is $1800 this week, and I did not work for two days, obviously, because I was here. So the reason why, you know, and the mastermind group, they got me to a point. Now they cannot. There is nothing else they can give me to a grow. But the coaching is different. It's altered to you. Like, they will help you. Like, I talk to them and I told them what I'm looking for.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:12:29]:
My goal is to grow off of out of the business. I don't want to stay. Right. I don't want to be the face. I don't want to ranch anymore. I want to just run the business, and I want to grow. I want to have at least four shops, you know, and that's my goal. So they introduced, you know, I'm working with Kevin now.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:12:46]:
I don't know if you know him, one of the coaches, he was around. So my goal was to work with Cecil, but obviously he's booked. He's, you know, everybody work with him.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:55]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:12:56]:
So I couldn't get with that. But Kevin is really good. He. He's a guy who owned multiple company, started multiple companies from zero, and then end up selling them. And that's what he does. Like, he likes growing to a point where there is no more growing. And then he leaves or sells it, and then he likes to work with people to help them to grow to where they want to grow.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:18]:
The MSO shops, correct.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:13:19]:
Yeah. So he's. He's one of these guys. And I. I think we been two months already. My advisor is. It's also in group and advisor in the advisor program that they have the training. So it's been good.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:13:34]:
It's been good. It's, you know, my. The thing is, a lot of people, like, they feel frayed. Like, I like to take challenges. You know, like, I was comfortable. I was making over 160 grand at the dealer. You know, like, I left. I left the dealer in September, and I was year to date, I was over 157.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:13:55]:
So I could have stayed over there by now, probably. I would have been making 200 grand. You know, that was. I'm talking about 22 when I left.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:01]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:14:02]:
So, like, even my family and my friends, they're like, dude, you have a good job. You love it. You know, I. There was not. I didn't leave because I thought, I can do it better. I hate the dealer. They're not. They doing this.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:14:15]:
I just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:16]:
Not your industry.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:14:17]:
Yeah, I just, like, I love it. I can. I can go back and work over there. I would be happy to go back work, but that's not what I want. I want to. To be me. Like, people know who we are, our business. You know, like, all this guy, like, you know, like Mike Allen, like, all that, you know, he owns multiple shops in rally in north rally or whatever it is, or, like, Lucas or, like, you with the podcast, like, like, you know, people want, especially in our area in Illinois.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:14:46]:
So that's another reason why I wanted to do.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:49]:
That's the big push. Right. And I think that's. It's funny say that because that's, like, one of the things that I think a lot of shop owners don't realize, right. Like, especially if you start from, like, a tech. Well, you. You went tech to shop owner.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:15:02]:
Correct.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:02]:
But a lot of the time, it's the resentment that pulls them from being a technician to being a shop owner. For me, that was kind of my path. Like, I just want to do it better. That was my thing. And I didn't realize. I didn't realize, like, how hard it is, how. No, not just how hard it was, but, like, how much my face was gonna have to be, like, in front of people, like. And, like, how many people gonna have to talk to.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:21]:
And I, like, I had a problem with that, like, I didn't like it. Like, I just wanted to be. I just wanted to fix the cars. Yeah. Put my head under the hood and do my thing. And I think, yeah. Getting out there and, like, more.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:15:33]:
The.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:33]:
The more exposure therapy, you get to it, like, right. Like, it helps, you know? And. And it's interesting. Cause your path's different. Like, you've kind of. That's the way you've been pushing. And I think a lot of MSO guys and not saying in a negative way, but I think you already have it figured out, and it's, like, so much more clear cut.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:15:52]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:52]:
You know, I feel like I'm stumbling through the weeds when it comes to my shop as far as, like, what my vision is, what my path is. What do I want to do? Oh, I want to make more money. I want to do, you know, obviously I want to pay the guys more. Oh, I need more technicians then. Oh, man, I never needed. Thought I was going to need two service advisors, but I got six techs now, so now I need service, two service advisors. Oh, now we're like, I thought 5400 sqft was enough. Now we need more square footage.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:13]:
So I'm, like, eventually, like, evolving and, like, I'm stumbling my way through this instead of having, like, a clear cut vision.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:16:18]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:19]:
So I'm impressed by your vision to, like, just jump forward and, like, know what you want to do and get into it. Because when I started the coaching program, my intro. Right. Cause they give you the intro and they give you the code. It's like, it's changed. It's only been a year, but it's drastically changed because I hit sales goals that I never thought were achievable. Right. Like, my goal is $80,000 a month.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:40]:
That was like, man, if we could do 80,000 a month, I freaking made it. Like, damn, I'm doing something good because I bought a shop that was doing 250,000 a year. Yeah, right?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:16:49]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:49]:
It's like, so the thought of doing 80,000 a month was like, there's no way mind blowing. Do we hit 104 in February? I'm like, well, I guess I got to change what I thought was possible.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:16:59]:
February is one of the slowest months.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:02]:
Well, if we had industry, we had it. We had an extra day this year, so, yeah, we had a leap here, so we had an extra day. But, you know, no, the way I.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:17:10]:
The way I look at it, it's me personally. Like, I. I live my life by goals. Like, if you cannot set up, set a goals for yourself you cannot achieve. Like, like, I can. Like, even when I achieve a goal, there is another goal is already set up for. For. After achieving this goal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:28]:
Wow.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:17:28]:
If I can. If I don't have a goal, I get law, I get, like, personally, I get, like, depressed. I can, like, focus. I be like, you know, like, tired of my job, like, not now. Why I'm loving doing what I'm doing, coming here and going to work, spending the time. Because my goal is to buy, like, my latest. Like, before I hit 45, want to have my four shops. I'm 36 now, so I want in like, less than eight years, I want to have four shops.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:17:58]:
So that's why I'm grinding. Like, if I did not have that goal, I would be, like, going to work lazy, like cooking rocks, like playing my phone. Because I know myself. That's how I am even at the dealer. Like, when I started, my goal was to book 60 hours. Why? Because if I book 240 hours and four weeks would get a $1000 bonus. I started doing that and then I was like, okay, I'm gonna try to do 80 hours average, or, you know, and per week I was there and then I started like, okay, if I book 100 hours per week, that's an extra $500 of bonus for that week plus the $1000 that I get for the four weeks that I've averaged for the month for 24, 240 hours. So, like, that, if I did not set up these goals, I would have been okay with the 60 hours per week.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:18:49]:
And it's okay if you're. Yeah, if you're that person, that's fine, but I just can't. Like, me personally. Even my wife, like, I was telling Lucas, they were asking me, like, David, it was like, why can't you be just okay with one shop? I was like, it's not. I can be okay. But again, like, it will get to a point where I'll be like, sick of it. Like, I'll not. There is nothing new for me.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:19:09]:
Like, there's no excitement.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:10]:
And do you go, I'm saying, okay, I get it.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:19:12]:
Yeah. And my life.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:13]:
I'm just curious how the transition goes. When you set the one goal and you crush that goal, how does your mind transfer to the next one and not automatically want the. So you don't mean like. Yeah, so, like, how did you just not automatically, you know, I'm gonna do a hundred, right?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:19:29]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:29]:
Like, that's the step process that I have a problem with because I don't want to set my expectations up to too high. Because you got to be realistic.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:19:37]:
Exactly. That's all.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:38]:
But then once you get to that point, like, how that. That's where I have the issue, where I get kind of lazy. Right. And that's like, oh, I hit my goal and it's like, I should celebrate this, but I can't. Right? Like, I don't know. You seem like you have that same personality where you're not gonna celebrate those goals. You're just gonna set the next one and move forward. And it's like, that's a problem, though.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:57]:
Like, I should be able to sit back and be like, hey, guys, let's go out to dinner. Like, why? Well. Cause we hit the sales goal. I never thought I was gonna hit, but we don't. I just like, well, here's the next goal, you know?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:20:06]:
No, no, I do celebrate, don't get me wrong. And it's when I'm saying in the talk, it gets. It sounds like I'm doing it in short period of time. It takes long time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:13]:
Okay.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:20:14]:
It does. And then I do set up short term goals and long term goals. Now, my long term goals. My long term goal is to have the four shops. Right? The fourth shop is my long term goal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:26]:
Okay.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:20:26]:
My short term goal now is to get this shop where is. We are one up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:35]:
Okay.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:20:35]:
Right. So that's my term. Because we can. This year, we can get to 1.2 easy with the numbers that we're doing if we keep up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:43]:
Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:20:44]:
And. But what I'm struggling with is my car. My. My car count. If I keep my car counts, you know, 50% higher than what I have, it would be easy. Hundred, 1.7, you know, per year. So that's my short time term goal. But I am working on both of them the same time.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:21:01]:
Yeah, but you do have the, like, the long term. You're working for you to achieve the long term goal, you have to first achieve the short term goal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:09]:
Makes sense. Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:21:10]:
And that's how you do it. So. So for me, like, when I was trying to. To get to a hundred hour, hundred hour per week at the dealer, my. That was my long term goal. But at the same time, my short term goal, it was to get my next certification to be able to get those jobs that they will. They will get me to that hundred hour goal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:31]:
I see.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:21:32]:
Do you know, san, that's how it is. Like. And I do that with everything. And, like, again, my wife tells me, like, like, why can't you just be happy? Like, why don't you just put your. Because I'm the guy who put his head on the polo. And I'd be, like, thinking my. My gears, like, you know, gears turning.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:49]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:21:49]:
Like, oh, yeah. So tomorrow, next week, next month. Like, I'm a dreamer like that. I'm, like, I dream. I have dreams when I'm awake. Like, you know, that's how I am. Just constantly, constantly, constantly think, like, I can't. Like, I'm the shower driving.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:22:03]:
Like, thinking about my goals. Like, I cannot just turn. I cannot turn it off. And I don't know if it's. I don't know if it's OCD. I don't know whether you call it. I don't know if it's turned to it. Like, I don't know.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:22:14]:
You know? But it's been working well. It's been working well for our life. And the same thing with, you know, like, in my. My relationship with my wife, with my kids, they're all like that. I don't want to make it like a business transaction. It's not. It sounds like it is, but, like, it's more, you know, just looking at the bigger goal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:32]:
And I think. I think it's important to kind of circle back on that and, like, when you set short term goals, not be so, like, what's, disappointed?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:22:44]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:45]:
If it doesn't work, because. Because then it spirals out of control. Like, if I didn't get this goal now, I'm never gonna get this. This big goal, so why even set this long term goal?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:22:53]:
Yeah, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:54]:
And it's like that. That's the thought process when the short term goals.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:22:58]:
Usually I don't set up a time. Like, I don't say, like, okay, in the. In a year or next month, because, you know, anything, it's life. You know, something happened, you get sick, family needs you, you're gonna have to pause it at some point so I don't get disappointed. Like, if it doesn't happen where I want it to happen, I'm still working toward it. I'm not giving up. That's what it is. That's what we need to do.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:23:19]:
And I think a lot of shop owners, that's what they. Where they get, you know, they. That's when I said they own their job because they focus on fixing the cars, turning as much as cars they can. They think that's how I'm gonna be a better business model than the other business models that I don't agree with. Correct. But our goal is we have to get to a point where we are not ranching and, like, run the business to what we think it should be and hire the right. Correct. The correct people to be able to give the customers the better experience that they had from the other place that they coming from.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:59]:
Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:24:00]:
So that's what we need to do. And that's how I am looking at it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:03]:
But yes, the customer is the client experience. That's what's important, you know?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:24:07]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:07]:
So it's not how well you fix the vehicles, even though that's like, I mean, that's the bread and butter. I mean, you gotta fix the cars. You gotta do that, but it's the experience. And without stepping back and knowing that I shouldn't be in the bays because I don't provide the best service to employees, to anybody, like, that's not where you should be. Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:24:27]:
And it's taken time from you focusing on, like, the marketing aspect, on following up with the customer because you're busy trying to finish this car so you don't make this customer mad because you promised him one to finish the car. So that's another reason. But I am struggling with that, obviously. I am running the business doing estimates, wrenching, about 20 hours a week, 30 hours sometimes. And my partner does the most wrenching. He's the, you know, the tech that we have right now. But again, him too, he's a business owner, and he does not want to. We are working where we do not want to work anymore as technicians.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:03]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:25:03]:
We just want to own the business, hire people. And then my goal is, you know, to pay. Right. You know, vacation, you know, give the right. The right benefits because all the things that you would. All the. Exactly. All the things.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:25:16]:
All the things that I believe, like, I don't want to do the bare minimum to be legal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:21]:
Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:25:21]:
Like the dealers, the other shops, like, oh, yeah, you have to give them two weeks or one week after a year. And that's all we given you. Or we. We cannot give you, like, a parent leave because legally I can do that. I don't have to give you that. The wife only is gonna get six months or, I'm sorry, six weeks or two weeks. So my goal is to be better, like I'm trying to, you know, do. And that's how I'm trying to attract, you know, employees because we're trying to do better than that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:49]:
Like, the benefits that matter, you know, benefits, lifestyle changes.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:25:53]:
Yeah. And then that's why we are trying to get our numbers correct to get to that point. And hopefully we'll do that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:01]:
Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, you got to have the goal. I mean, if that's, that's what, the direction you want to go.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:26:06]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:07]:
You know, and considering we're at Mars 2024, talking about marketing.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:26:10]:
Exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:11]:
I gotta, I gotta ask, how's the marketing with the euro stuff?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:26:14]:
So I've been, I've been, I've been struggling. I've been struggling with car counts big time. I've been. I messed up when I started. I went with auto leap before my sms. Okay, what sms you use but shopware. Okay. So I went with auto leap and they were the idea of all in one.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:26:34]:
I did not understand how these things works. Again, I never owned the shop, so I went with them. And then the CRM is not that perfect. The getting the reviews is not that perfect. Everything else is okay, is good. But again, I would love to have like, you know, like a different. Be like steer or shop genie. Like, I cannot have those because they don't integrate with them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:58]:
I see.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:26:59]:
So. And then I messed up again and I went with another company, which is. I should have went with shop marketing pros versus. It's called Heboo. I know you heard of them and I be you. It's. They do marketing, online marketing for every, every business is not just, you know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:17]:
It'S not automotive based and it's.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:27:19]:
They have templates for websites where my website, probably the design of my, you know, the template of my website, probably there's a restaurant that has the same templates of mine that they work. They work with. I say, so I messed up on that. And we've been, since I have them, I've been struggling with my car count. So I don't know what they are doing wrong. Where we do Google Ads, we do, you know, SEOs, I believe they call them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:44]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:27:45]:
Facebook ads. But I think the reason why I came in here to talk to, to the people, the vendors in person, I don't want to do it like on my phones and stuff like that. So I am switching to Sigma trick and then definitely I am going with shop marketing pros. We can.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:03]:
It's gonna be a game changer, man.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:28:04]:
I have to. I, like, I've been hearing nothing but.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:08]:
Well, you just got to know to hold them accountable and it's like they're going to be able to show you the tools.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:28:13]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:13]:
To know what you need to be looking for. And that's what's important. Right. Because you can hire anybody and they're going to promise you everything, but unless you know what you're supposed to be watching.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:28:20]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:21]:
You don't know.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:28:21]:
Yeah, so I'm gonna do that. And I was supposed to, I was thinking to either go with shop Genie or steer, but Dave and Lucas kind of give me some advices that I'm gonna follow. They were like, you know, you need to do your follow up yourself. You know, you try to ask for reviews and stuff like that by yourself. Do it like do in house CRM kind of thing to understand how that works, to be able to get the enough information of your customers. Then you have a good customer base of information, like the emails and all that stuff. Then when you hire steer or whatever, you, you will get good return on your investments because if you have a. Not enough.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:02]:
If you have, even if you have a big customer base, but if you don't have the correct information, especially emails, then.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:07]:
Right. It doesn't matter. Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:09]:
It's not working. It's not gonna work. Correct. So I was like, you know what?
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:13]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:13]:
I was like, you know, they, I was like, well, that makes sense. So I'm gonna probably, and they told me like, I need to join some bims and stuff like that and know these kind of groups. Where is it? Bim, I think they call me the.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:27]:
The group, the 20 groups.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:29]:
Those, those groups were you. It's, you have different, like H vac shopper.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:35]:
Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:37]:
What they call you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:38]:
Talk about different industry groups.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:39]:
Industry groups are there and then you're, you, you pass referral. Referrals and stuff like that. And then you work with each other.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:46]:
Right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:47]:
To get people, and then they're like, it's a game. Game changer.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:50]:
Align. You ever heard of a lineable?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:29:52]:
No, I never.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:53]:
It's a lineable.com. it's an online version of that where you can connect with other businesses. Yeah, that's a, that's a good one because it's a networking website and it's, it's similar to, it's similar to like a social media platform, but it allows you to send out invites to people, and then it starts learning who you are and learning your connections and it starts sending you more. And it's all different industries. So lineable has been pretty big. The one. Yeah, yeah. It's a, it's a good tool to kind of network and like what you're talking about with the genre of different businesses, so.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:28]:
Yeah, yeah. So that's what these events are for, man. Exactly.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:30:32]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:32]:
You got to come to Mars and you got to learn, like, in just talking to people. I was game changing.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:30:38]:
I was struggling before as te and I went to ASD and I took two classes of Cecil. And that being grade on the phone changed my life, I'm telling you. Changed. Like, dude, I was like, as soon as I came back, I started implementing whatever you're saying, rockstar on the phone.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:56]:
Oh, yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:30:56]:
Like, changing customers. Like shoppers like this.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:00]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:31:00]:
And as you know that, and I start, like, now, that's our. The way we. The way he talks in depth in that class is the way we do our, you know, like, when people are calling for shopping or trying to get an estimate on the phone, like, how we can get them to come in, we implement all that. And it's been working phenomenal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:20]:
Yeah. Procedures and processes that I don't have.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:31:23]:
So I need to work on that, too. Obviously, we're two owners and one employee. So in the advisor knows I have procedure for him, how to do check in a vehicle, you know, deal with the customer from the phone call all the way to checking in the car. So that's been good. But I need to, like, sometimes I see those videos on I. Sex, I saw of people, like, showing their shops and I see those big boards of their procedures and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:52]:
Oh, yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:31:53]:
Like, I'm like, like, mind blowing. Like, dude, like, how I'm gonna get to that point.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:57]:
Like, I need to get one at a time.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:31:59]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:00]:
One every day. Just do one before you know it. And then don't lose them. I have a problem doing them and then I freaking lose them. And I don't know what's the. What. Did I save that?
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:32:08]:
Yeah, I know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:08]:
I wrote a procedure for this.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:32:10]:
Yeah, I need that. Need a, like an employee handbook.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:13]:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:32:15]:
It's not, you know, I thought was easy, like, we were getting into the business. Oh, yeah. We'll do, like, I don't know how many oil changes will be paying the. Be paying the mortgage. And we got in there, I was like, dude, a little harder than. Yeah, a little bit thinking.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:32]:
Yeah, but you have the realization. You have the vision and path and the dream, dude, you're gonna do good things.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:32:38]:
Hopefully, man. Hopefully. I'm looking forward where our numbers are looking really well again. If I have the car count, we will be able to. To hire rock stars and then we'll be going, you know, I like leading the industry. Hopefully, when I like it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:56]:
I appreciate you coming on. Of course.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:32:58]:
I appreciate you, man. I didn't know you were here.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:00]:
This is awesome.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:01]:
I appreciate it. And I'm looking forward to listening to hopefully.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:04]:
Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:05]:
And then one more time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:06]:
Yeah, one more time. Shout out to your shop.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:08]:
So the name is Hollis Brothers Autoworks. You can find us at. At Hollis Bros. Autoworks. So a. Auto works. The works is spelled we are KZ Hollis. H o ll l is bros auto works.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:27]:
W e r k Z. Facebook, Instagram. And I have a TikTok. It's fairly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:35]:
It's there.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:35]:
Yeah, it's there.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:36]:
It's there. Yeah.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:37]:
It's under. My name is Gilbert Koshaba. So it's k h o s h a b as a boy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:43]:
A. All right.
Gilbert Khoshaba [00:33:44]:
Yeah. Thank you, man.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:46]:
Yes, sir.