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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.
Rick White [00:00:00]:
You know, we discount the parts or we'll take labor off and do this to help people out. I said, well, here's what I want you to do. I want you, every time you give somebody a discount, I want you to go to the kids' savings account, pull the discount out and bring it into the business because you're robbing from your kids. Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Taneka Haynes. We all know as shop owners, sometimes you gotta slow down in order to speed up. And that's what this podcast is all about.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:28]:
It's time to downshift. So this is going to be fun, and I am such a rookie with this, but I am enjoying the conversations I've been having. But, um, I don't know what I'm doing yet, so I'm just doing it because everybody keeps telling me I should do it. And so I said, well, let's do it. But I do want to start off by saying I'm Tanika, for those who don't know, and you have to introduce yourself As if, you know, for the people that have been living under a rock. So who the heck are you?
Rick White [00:01:03]:
My name is Rick and I am here. Uh, we, I'm a president of 180 Biz and here to have some fun. Let's figure out what we're going to talk about.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:15]:
Well, what are we going to talk about? We're going to talk about me for just like this much. I wanted to tell you, like the official name of the podcast is Downshift with Tanika.
Rick White [00:01:27]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:28]:
And that came, that was inspired by you.
Rick White [00:01:31]:
Really?
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:32]:
Really? You got tea? I've got tea also.
Rick White [00:01:36]:
I have tea.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:37]:
I figured you had tea.
Rick White [00:01:38]:
I've got this here. We're going to use a little subliminal messaging, right? Join us or die.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:46]:
So I did. I named the podcast after you because you gave advice like 100 million times that I just didn't take because I'm hard-headed and I'm stubborn, right? Um, but that's been the thing that has stuck with me the most. And what you said was, Tanika, sometimes you got to slow down to speed up. And I was like, this is the stupidest thing I ever heard in my damn life. You were like, drop the car account, drop the car account. And I was like, I'm not dropping a car account. So I decided that, you know, that's basically downshifting if you're driving a 5 or 6-speed. And that's what you really have to do is you have to drop down to, if you're 6-speed, 5th gear or 4th gear, if you want to pass like 3 cars on a 2-lane highway just to get the speed, right? So that's why I decided to go with it because I believe a whole lot of people just don't know how to slow down, figure stuff out, and then catch back up with everything.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:44]:
And you helped me with that and you did that for me. And I wanted to give you those flowers since it's February and Valentine's Day is close by.
Rick White [00:02:51]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:52]:
So, there you go. There are your flowers, Rick.
Rick White [00:02:54]:
Thank you. That means a lot, Tanika. I think, I don't know if it's a human being condition, but it's definitely an industry condition where we want more and we think pushing harder and faster. Spending more time and just jumping all in, that's what's going to help us get to the next stage. And a lot of times it's actually, no, let's step back a little bit and let's take a look at this and let's do it smarter with a little less effort and see what happens.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:29]:
So how many times do you have to do that? Like, are you a coachable coach?
Rick White [00:03:34]:
Oh, yeah, I think so.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:36]:
Since when? Since the beginning?
Rick White [00:03:38]:
Yeah, I, I, you know, it's funny, I learned from every client. And I've, I've always been a learner. I'm still a learner. I'm still a student. I figure I'll stop learning the day I die. And maybe I won't, maybe I'll just figure some new stuff to learn later. But it really is, it's just being able to step back and say, you know something, there's a better way and, and being able to find that. And You know, new levels, new devils.
Rick White [00:04:08]:
You get it. You achieve something and all of a sudden we got new problems. And Einstein once said, you can't solve a problem with the same level of intellect that created it, which I think is just brilliant.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:22]:
It is.
Rick White [00:04:24]:
So being able to then learn more so that I can overcome those challenges then puts me to a new level. And then guess what I get? As a byproduct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:33]:
Tada!
Rick White [00:04:34]:
New Devils. And that's— and I think that's what life's all about. It's about becoming the best version of ourselves ultimately. And I think owning a business is just a really awesome way to help us get there faster or to go crazy faster. Well, I think, I think crazy is a byproduct that we don't talk about, but We all have that little bit of cray-cray going on, and I think there's nothing wrong. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:03]:
I mean, you have to be a little bit cray-cray and just to say, okay, I'm gonna do this and I'm going to trust myself to make my own paycheck and be responsible for everybody else's paycheck. Because I could just go to Food Lion and bag some groceries and not have half the stresses that I do. But driving a Chevy Cavalier, driving a Cavalier, a Pontiac Sunfire There you go. Oh, blue.
Rick White [00:05:26]:
My daughter had one. My wife had a red one. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:30]:
So yeah, that would be so much easier, but easy ain't fun. That ain't fun.
Rick White [00:05:34]:
But for a lot of people it is, but it's because they don't know how to dream. They don't know how to, you know, but it's, I think it's kind of like kids. If you, you know, we watch our parents and we go, oh yeah, they just screwed it up to the nth degree. We're just going to do it better. I'm going to do it so much better. But if we realized what was involved in having kids, I think we'd be extinct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:54]:
Oh my God, it's the gift and the curse. It is. And it's the best and the worst thing all in the same time.
Rick White [00:06:00]:
Absolutely. And it's the same thing with business. If, if we knew what was involved, right? Like, I can't tell you how many shop owners I start talking to and I'm like, well, why'd you start the business? I want more free time. That's like having a kid and saying, I want more free time.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:14]:
Yeah, it just doesn't happen right away. It doesn't happen right away. And you know what I think? I think sometimes that Because of social media and things like that, we see people, we see the highlight reels, that's what we call it, right? But I think the new shop owners think it's supposed to be like that, and they— it's going to be easy right away because I know what I'm doing. And then they don't. And when they don't know what they're doing and their bosses, they don't want to listen to anybody else, then they become unculturable human beings and bitter and disillusioned. I haven't been bitter. But I'm a know-it-all. You're a know-it-all.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:54]:
We have like the same strong D-I on the disc thing. That's why, you know, we almost slapped each other a couple times virtually because we're hard-headed. But I think a lot of people miss opportunities because they are not willing to be coached and get out of their own way.
Rick White [00:07:13]:
That was your favorite sprint. Was when we went through the DiSC assessments that week.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:20]:
Oh my goodness gracious. You don't know me.
Rick White [00:07:23]:
You were just, you were just lit up.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:26]:
I did love it. Cause I knew, I was like, oh yeah, that's me. That's me. I will run over you all day.
Rick White [00:07:31]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:32]:
And then tell me what to do. Yeah. And I'll back up and run over you again. And then I will probably come give you a hug to make sure you're okay. But I had to get that out of my system first. I had to run you over first.
Rick White [00:07:42]:
Yeah, that's fine.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:43]:
But it's hard being coachable. Especially when you have such a strong—
Rick White [00:07:48]:
Yeah, yeah. Part of, you know, it's sad because you and I, you're like, you're very involved with ASTA and everything like that. Um, I'm going out to Vision in a couple of weeks. We're doing a brand new class on delegating. And it's so sad because you see all these shops and, and we, we think that's the whole industry. And unfortunately, that's only about 10% of the industry. Right, the cream of the crop is going to these things. And there's so many shop owners out there struggling and having such a hard time making ends meet and feeling like they should know the answers or be able to figure it out.
Rick White [00:08:28]:
And for me, I think coaching is just— it's being able to stand on someone else's shoulders.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:39]:
Yeah.
Rick White [00:08:40]:
Right. It's being able to say, hey, you know, what landmines did you step on that you can see that I might, and how do I miss them and avoid them? And I think that's pretty cool.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:52]:
And a lot of people, I would think, are afraid to ask for the help because they think they should be right.
Rick White [00:08:59]:
It's hard to.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:00]:
It's hard to ask for help. It's hard to ask for help. It's hard to ask for anything. Yeah. And it really is. Do you, are you picky about who you coach or can anybody sign up for 180? Like, do you have a whole process that you can, you go through now to make sure that person's going to be coachable?
Rick White [00:09:21]:
It's not a huge process, but I do. So I basically, we do an intake or a kind of what I call them a discovery meeting. And when I do the discovery meeting— what's that?
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:33]:
I don't remember that.
Rick White [00:09:35]:
Oh, we did one.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:36]:
Okay.
Rick White [00:09:37]:
I have the notes from it if you want them. Oh, but what I do is I sit down, I talk with the, you know, the, you know, the shop owner that wants to join. And I'm basically looking for 3 things. I want, number 1, to see if I can help. Number 2, will they do the work? And then number 3, I want them to think, you know, listen to me or one of our team and say, okay, I like these people. I can work with them. I think they can help me. And if I can get those 3 things, then I think join, let's go.
Rick White [00:10:14]:
We have shops. We have some shops that are doing $300,000 a year, and we have other shops that are doing $5, $6 million a year. We run the gamut. We have different groups for each, for each section. Um, but I have one shop now that has a 5-year goal with $20 million a year.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:32]:
Are they hired?
Rick White [00:10:34]:
So yeah, yeah, yeah, they're out in Nevada.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:39]:
No, never mind. Sounds very hot.
Rick White [00:10:44]:
Yeah, only in the summer.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:46]:
So like, okay, people that don't want to coach, or they're on the fence about hiring a coach, like, I believe everybody should have a coach.
Rick White [00:10:54]:
I agree.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:54]:
I have to be coachable. Like I was going to say, you have a coach, right? Because you've grown your business. Like, I don't know. I don't have any idea when I started with you, but I know that you were my official first coach. I can't do dates. I don't remember stuff like that, but you were my first coach. How do you— I forgot what I was going to say. How do you tell somebody that you're not ready for coaching? Or how do you tell somebody like, we not going to work together? Like the red flags, like how do you, if you got a shop that's not listening to anything that you say, but you're charging them monthly and they're just not saying anything and they're blaming everything on you, but they're not doing the work.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:31]:
Do you fire them or do you just keep, keep pushing?
Rick White [00:11:34]:
We, we have a conversation. I don't push. I used to, I don't push like I did. Um, cause sometimes you're pushing a rope and that's hard. You know, one of the things I tell people when we start coaching, if they decide they're going to join us, is I don't want to push you. I want you to drag me. Like, I want you to be so excited about, hey, how do I do this? How do I do this? How do I do this? Because that's the kind of energy we want, right? You'd be amazed how many shop owners will join a coaching group and think just signing a check or writing a check every month is going to make the business better. And it doesn't.
Rick White [00:12:14]:
There's work. I mean, you got to do the work. But there's some pretty amazing things on the other side of that, like being able— I don't believe in absentee ownership. I think that's a myth. Right. I think you can reduce the hours. I think you can take more time off. But if you always got to be involved, it doesn't mean all day.
Rick White [00:12:37]:
Right. But it means being there. I don't think there's any really such thing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:42]:
Um, me either. I hear people's— I mean, coaches say that work on the business, not in the business, and that's true, but you got to do both. And I think, again, a lot of younger shop owners just take that and run with it. Oh, I'm supposed to be working on the business, I shouldn't have to be there. You better take your butt to work because you've taken your finger off the pulse of the shop. You have no idea what's going on, and somebody's stealing from you, they're cussing customers out, and you have no idea what's going on because all you're doing You're looking at numbers and you're trying to get the numbers where they're supposed to be. That's very important. But if you're completely absent, I believe that you lose the respect of employees.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:18]:
You lose the connection with customers. I think that's a, I think that's a little scary thing. But also you can't be like I was a couple years and micromanage everything and try to do all the jobs and wear all the hats. So I don't do that anymore, Rick. You'd be proud.
Rick White [00:13:32]:
That's awesome. I'm proud of you. That's a hard thing to stop doing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:34]:
I don't know what to do with myself. It is so hard to stop doing. But I got a TV in the back office, so I sit there and watch Dateline and look out the window.
Rick White [00:13:43]:
That's a funny show.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:45]:
The View? No, I don't want to watch those ladies.
Rick White [00:13:47]:
It's a fun— it's a funny show. I laugh. I don't watch it often because I usually start throwing things, but it's—
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:54]:
nope, Dateline. I just— especially if Keith Morrison is on, that's my dude. I really want him— like, remember this, okay? Something happens to me and I disappear in the desert. Okay, and it's a big mystery. I want you to contact Keith Morrison so he can narrate my whole crime-solving adventure.
Rick White [00:14:16]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:17]:
Yeah, that's who I want's voice in the background when they're saying she lit up a room, because they're going to say, yeah, she lit up the room at ASTA, and then she just disappeared. And then Keith Morrison has to come in and tell my life story.
Rick White [00:14:33]:
You know, everybody lights up a room.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:36]:
Depends on— is it sunshine or is it gasoline and fire?
Rick White [00:14:43]:
Some people light up the room when they walk in, and other people light up the room when they walk out.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:48]:
I like that. I like that.
Rick White [00:14:50]:
Yeah. Um, no, I think it's cool. I think that's so hard to do though, you know. And, and even me You know, we're working with coaches now. We have 3 right now that are amazing people. We got Eric, Jeff, and Summer. I don't know if you know Summer or not.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:06]:
I do know Summer.
Rick White [00:15:08]:
So she is in the group. She is a coach now, and it is absolutely awesome. Great group. Um, I was really, really blessed. My dad was put on hospice in October and passed December 16th.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:23]:
I'm sorry.
Rick White [00:15:23]:
And I was— yeah, I was able to take that time completely off and just be up there with my mom and dad, helping my— with my dad. Um, you know, it was funny, I went up there right after Tools and, uh, not Tools, Super Saturday. And, uh, I was sitting the next day, the Monday, with my dad, and he said, how long you're gonna be up here? And I mean, what do you say? So I looked at him, I said, as long as Mom needs help, I'm going to stay up.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:56]:
Yeah.
Rick White [00:15:57]:
And I was up there for, for 6 weeks, um, and it was very, very special. It was very special. So, um, it's, uh, and to right now, I, I have it. This is a ring his mom bought him when he graduated high school.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:14]:
Okay.
Rick White [00:16:15]:
So I wear that, I wear this all the— I wear it all the time now.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:20]:
So I didn't know— I figured out Summer, I knew Eric that was coaching, and I don't know the other name, but Summer was in my— Jeff, which one?
Rick White [00:16:33]:
Jeff Ford, the one from K8 the Shop from Canada.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:36]:
Really? I didn't know he was coaching for you. Look at you, you got a whole team. You've got a whole team. So do you think that they will ever teach for you? Like, will they do any of the conferences for you? Are you going to take it that far?
Rick White [00:16:49]:
Two of them want to. Oh yeah, if they want to, I'm not going to stop them. Let's— because part, you know, John Maxwell says it best, the real job of a leader is to build other leaders.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:59]:
I'm so learning that now.
Rick White [00:17:01]:
What's that?
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:02]:
I am so grabbing onto that right now. That is something that I just not wanted to buy into. You know, I don't buy into stuff very easily, but the leadership, leadership, leadership, that's been like the key, the punch word for the last couple of years. And I was like, leadership, I don't want to hear about it. Just go to work, do your job, sit down, clock in, clock out. But I did find in the last couple of months that it is so rewarding. Like the fact that I can not, I don't have to go to work and they're still doing the job and they're doing it and they're concerned with KPIs and they want to make sure they got the numbers done. It's just crazy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:39]:
And just watching people grow within the shop and watching them work as a team, I love it so much. But it's hard to let go of that stuff because, you know, I'm a micromanager. You know, I'll smother somebody to death. I will mother you, smother you, whatever you want to call it. But leadership is, um, that's what I'm working on. That's what I'm focusing on myself right now.
Rick White [00:17:59]:
I think that's awesome. And it's, it's amazing You know, somebody like Jeff. Jeff, when Jeff joined the group as a client, he was— he had just bought the shop. He was a technician and the owner died. So he bought the shop from the widow so that he could have a job. And he was one scared technician. And today, you know, he's working 2, 3 hours a day for the shop. And then as he wanted to give back and wanted to be a part of 180 Biz, which was awesome.
Rick White [00:18:33]:
And it's amazing to see the growth in people. Like, we got a text last week from a brand new client. In fact, you talked her into talking to us.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:44]:
That's my girl, Katie.
Rick White [00:18:46]:
Katie and Britt.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:47]:
She had one of the best weeks last week. Oh my gosh. She was about to explode.
Rick White [00:18:54]:
Yeah. And she had tried a couple other coaching companies that did not work. And it's not that they're bad companies, it's just not a good fit. And right, you know, and so we got to her doing that. And then I'm talking to her today and she goes, man, today this week has been terrible and everybody's down and, and dejected. And I said, I'm going to tell you what to do in 3 words. And she goes, what's that? I said, embrace the suck. I said, instead of being upset about this week, get excited about the fact that you can do like you did it last week and you can do it again.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:28]:
Yep.
Rick White [00:19:29]:
I said, it's not a straight— it's not like you have a great week and then another great week and then another great week. You're going to have a great week and then 2 weeks bad and then 1 really great week. And then, and then you'll have a month that's just the best month ever. And then you'll have 2 months where you can't figure out what you did wrong. You're like, nothing's going right. It's just a process and it's a ride. And the important thing to ask is, what did we do last week that we're not doing this week?
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:54]:
Yep.
Rick White [00:19:55]:
Right. And just start to apply that, and it, and it'll get better and better and better.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:01]:
I think she's going to be one of your greatest testimonies.
Rick White [00:20:04]:
I think so too. I— and Amy and Bobby, they're, they're doing amazing too.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:09]:
I mean, is that the people from the coast? I never got their names, but I knew, like, I don't know, like I tell people, I don't know why God sends these people. They walk up to me, I'm just like I don't know who told you that I knew. Let me— tell me what's wrong. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Yeah, you need to go talk to Rick because you, you can't live like that, sister. But even with Katie, you know, she was, um, gonna coach with the company that I coach with, and she just didn't think it was a good fit, and she didn't know what to do. And I said, listen, tell me what's wrong. Oh no, you need to go talk to Rick.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:44]:
Rick, I need you to call Katie right now. And Britt's a mess.
Rick White [00:20:49]:
He is a hot mess.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:50]:
I love him. And he gets along with Eric, and I think that is so cool.
Rick White [00:20:54]:
Yeah, well, when we, we first sat down, Katie and I sat down and talked in November, and we had a really good talk. And I said, listen, if we're going to do this, I need Britt to be in on this. It's— I don't coach you, I coach the both of you. I said, so it's the both of you or not at all. And she said, really? And I said, yeah, because it's going to put you in the middle. I'm going to tell you to do something he doesn't want to do it. He's not going to know why. And it's just going to be really hard for you.
Rick White [00:21:22]:
I said, we coach both of you. And I said, and it sounds like he's kind of burned out on coaching. And in November, she came back to me and she goes, he really is. And I said, fine. And then I think it was like middle of December, she reached out and said, can we talk, the three of us? And I said, sure. And we did. And they signed up. December 29th, and they've already doubled their sales, which is just amazing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:45]:
She had a fit last week. She— I think we talk almost every day, and I, I adore that. It's like every day. She is so funny to me, and she's got such a great spirit, and the kids. But what's the greatest— and she's going to actually record with me— the greatest thing that she said is on her parts matrix. She named her parts matrix Disney World.
Rick White [00:22:04]:
Yes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:05]:
And that is the money that she's going to use to take her kids to Disney. And if they change it, that means they're robbing their kids from the trip from Disney World. And I thought that was so awesome that she did that.
Rick White [00:22:16]:
And you know, she heard you, right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:18]:
Where is that?
Rick White [00:22:20]:
She was in the group and, uh, she said, you know, we discount the parts or we'll take labor off and do this to help people out. And I said, but you guys, I mean, you need more. And she's like, yeah. I said, well, here's what I want you to do. I want you Every time you give somebody a discount, I want you to go to the kid savings account, pull the discount out, and bring it into the business because you're robbing from your kids.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:47]:
Right.
Rick White [00:22:48]:
And that's where that started.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:50]:
You're so brilliant.
Rick White [00:22:52]:
No, no, just—
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:53]:
That is brilliant because you know what? You knew exactly what she needed to hear. And you didn't go by script. You actually listened to the client. Understood, okay, you got 3 babies, you want to feed them? You know, you knew what was going to trigger her. Like, that makes sense because everybody wants to help. Oh, you know, I think I'm charging too— guilty, I've done that before. But ain't nobody else— I mean, it's not— but they're not thinking about you. You're taking this money from your family.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:22]:
Like, why would you do that if you think about it? That's not the only way you can help somebody. You can make a profit and then help the community. Like, you don't have to discount everything because you're just discounting your services. That means you're disrespecting your shop, your employees, and yourself. And that's a lot to buy into as well. It takes a long time to get it, but once you get it, man, you just take off. Like, I think you just have to get it.
Rick White [00:23:44]:
Yeah. One of the things I say a lot is that nobody is going to value you until you value you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:52]:
Right?
Rick White [00:23:52]:
And Eric has such a great story about this. Eric had a guy come in really crying poor, poor mouth, you know. So Eric gave him a pretty big discount and ended up cuffing the bill back in the day. And this is when he and I had just started and he was scrolling through Facebook and saw the guy in Disney, at Disney World in Florida. With his family, and Eric looked at it and said, I can't afford to bring my kids to Disney, but he beat me up and he's in Disney. And he's just like, yeah, I'm done. Yeah, yeah, right, I'm done. So, um, yeah, it's, it's been— it's, it's a really fun ride, and I love doing what I do.
Rick White [00:24:48]:
So, I mean, it's Friday, it's been a long week. Uh, Jeff's on vacation, so I did 3 group meetings this week and, you know, some other coaching and I'm ready for the weekend. But I love, I love what I do.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:03]:
So I can tell, I can, it's a difference. It's a difference. That's why I'm always willing to say, hey, I think you need to talk to Rick. I think you need to, you need to reach out, go ahead and sign up for the free stuff. Just go be nosy. Because and then as far as coaching, not, not just you, I think you're great. But People are just afraid to test the waters, and I'm just thinking there's so many free opportunities. You've got your 10 Minutes on— what do you call it— Just One Thing on Mondays, and you got your roundtable once a month.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:31]:
There's so many opportunities for people to test the waters, but they don't even want to test the waters because they think they know everything. But you just don't know what you don't know. Like me, like, I had no idea. Like, my ARO, I can't even remember. I wish I could go back and see what it was back then because Benji still laughs at it. He can remember. It was in the hundreds. It was $100.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:50]:
It was $100-some dollars. So now I'm just like, dude, we got to get to $850. We got to get to $850. So this month so far, we're like at $760. I was like, okay, go team. But, um, the slowing down to speed up, charging properly, not discounting or charging people out of your own pocket or your heart, and just give them the service that they are paying for, and they will gladly pay it. One of my last, uh, reviews. It was funny.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:15]:
I haven't responded to it yet. The guy says, it's expensive, but it's worth it. You kind of get what you pay for. And I was like, thank you. And he gave me 5 stars.
Rick White [00:26:25]:
Yeah, I, my, when I had my shop, I was, everybody would say I was expensive but good. Because when I had the shop, our labor rate was 5% higher than the dealers. So we were considerably more expensive than the other independents in the area, like by about $40 at the time, which is actually— it was about 50%. Yeah. So, um, yeah, no, we were great. I didn't have a problem with it at all.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:04]:
But then they're happy, the employees are happy. I can pay health insurance, life insurance, dental. All the things, 401(k) that I was not able to do before. So if a customer complains about it, it's like, hey, I, I'm paying these guys. These guys are really— they've been here for years, okay? You've got a professional working on your car. Don't you want them to have a decent salary and insurance just like you have at your job? Like, why do you not have the same feelings when you go pay for an $8 cup of coffee at Starbucks? Do you get mad at them too? But I'm fixing the thing that could actually hurt you and your family if it's not properly maintained, but you want the cheapest way out. Make it make sense. People are peopley, but I love it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:48]:
I mean, I've got the value. It's fun to tell people, you know, this is what it costs and this is what it is.
Rick White [00:27:55]:
I did this thing. I was, one of our clients had some surgery and he was shorthanded and I ended up going out in April and I ran his shop for the front office for 2 weeks. So I wrote service for 2 weeks and for 1.5 techs, estimates. I wrote $100,000 worth of estimates in 8 days and sold $71,000. And that's why we teach advisors. But one of the guys came, one of the owners of the truck came in and he's like, You know, we're talking. He's like, you guys are just too expensive. And I said, too expensive? And he got kind of ornery with me.
Rick White [00:28:39]:
And I said, okay. I said, come on over here. And I walked him over to the other side of the shop and had him look out a door. And I said, see all those trucks right there? 40 trucks. He goes, yeah. I said, they all said yes, right? We're too expensive for you, and that's okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:53]:
For you, and that's okay.
Rick White [00:28:55]:
Yeah, that's right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:56]:
And that's okay. We're not for everybody. It's quite all right. You can't get mad. Like, it's okay. And then they kind of feel like they're left out of the whole club. Like, wait a minute. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:05]:
All those guys getting their trucks fixed. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, maybe you are. I mean, I can help you. This is what it's going to cost.
Rick White [00:29:12]:
But, but you know what the problem is? Too many people let that in and then they start to doubt themselves. And, and it's like, man, you gotta, you gotta value yourself.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:24]:
Yeah, but that's hard to teach. Like, I'm teaching my newest service advisor that, and he's great, he's amazing. He came from a big box store, and he was stressed about something. I said, hey, they chose us, they came through the velvet rope, they saw the stars. You have to close it. And if they don't want to pay for it, then that's okay. We can just say this: I'm sorry that I'm not the shop for you. Um, here's a reference.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:51]:
I love you, bye. And I say, usually they'll be like, wait a minute, you're not going to negotiate? No, I'm not negotiating with you. There's no more room for negotiation. I've given you the best price so that I can survive and you can be safe. Yes or no? And as long as you say— stay smiling while you're saying stuff. I get away with it because I smile a lot while I'm talking. And usually people have to learn that. Like, if you smile on the phone while you're telling somebody that, to bless— bless your heart.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:16]:
It doesn't sound—
Rick White [00:30:17]:
yeah, it took me a long time to realize that's not a good thing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:20]:
That's not a good thing. It's like saying a baby is cute hair. It's like, oh, that baby has the nicest head of hair. That's basically a Southern woman telling you that your baby's ugly because she can't find anything else cute about it.
Rick White [00:30:31]:
Oh, okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:33]:
Yeah, that's a lot of whole Southern stuff that will just tear you up inside if you knew what they were saying to you.
Rick White [00:30:39]:
Back in 2005 or 6, I had a we're celebrating 20 years this year.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:45]:
That's great.
Rick White [00:30:46]:
Wow. Isn't that amazing?
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:48]:
That's amazing. You want to have a party?
Rick White [00:30:50]:
I don't know. Yeah, just wake up and go, woohoo, next day. I had a client that— Vicki Ferguson. She's amazing. Love that woman. But I'd be coaching her and her husband and Charles, and she'd just be going, bless your heart.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:10]:
Bless it.
Rick White [00:31:12]:
I'm like, thank you, I can— I need all the help I can get.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:16]:
Um, bless your heart, honey.
Rick White [00:31:18]:
I moved to Virginia and all of a sudden, bless your heart's not a good thing. I'm like, oh, okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:23]:
No, but we have a sign in the shop that says that. It says bless your heart. And I remember a lady from upstate, she was like, that is so nice. And I was like, oh ma'am, it's not. And I explained to her why it wasn't, and she thought it was the funniest thing in the world. So yeah, if somebody from down south tells you bless your heart, just start fighting because they are just disrespecting you.
Rick White [00:31:43]:
Yeah, it means dumbass.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:44]:
I mean, it just means bless it because you, you just as dumb as a box of rocks. Yeah, but nothing— yeah, as long as you say, well, bless it. But anyway, so what's next for Rick? What are you doing? You've got people working for you, you don't have to do a whole lot, you've got babies and puppies and grandchildren running everywhere.
Rick White [00:32:03]:
I'm working more now than I've ever worked before in my life. Um, Doing lots of content creation. We're coming out with a VIP coaching program where right now I'm working with the Platinum Group, which is one of our coaching groups. But that's going to— I'm going to transition that to another coach and then I'm going to be very, very selective and work with certain shops on a one-on-one basis. Very intensive. And so we're working on that. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.
Rick White [00:32:44]:
We were going to Brazil in July.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:47]:
Cool.
Rick White [00:32:48]:
Yeah, it's— that's pretty awesome. It's our— how long are you going to stay down this time? Not probably 4 or 5 days after.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:57]:
Okay.
Rick White [00:32:59]:
Brenda's mom is suffering from dementia, so we— and Brenda is one of the primary caregivers for her, so we, we can't take a lot of time off right now. Um, let's see what else. I want to— I want to teach in the UK. I want to go out and train in the UK, and I want to go train in Australia and New Zealand. So if anybody listens to this podcast, rick@180biz.com, reach out to me. We can work out a really awesome deal. Um, I'll spend a month. I'll start on one end of Australia and the UK and just go across the, uh, the entire, uh— they won't know what hit them, man.
Rick White [00:33:36]:
I'll tell you what, I'm gonna set that— I would say, I would say that I, I'm gonna set back U.S.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:43]:
foreign relations, but we're kind of already doing that, so yeah, we're doing that, uh, by ourselves. It'll be fine.
Rick White [00:33:49]:
We'll, we'll be good. Um, But yeah, so we're looking at doing more stuff like that and just growing more and more content. That's where I want to go. I've got one— I've got a book I've got almost done. I've got 4 more books I want to write. So, there's just lots of content creation and coaching coaches is where I'm kind of headed.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:14]:
You got to get back on the service advisor training. I've been asking about it for 1,800 years.
Rick White [00:34:18]:
We're working on it. We're working on it. We're working on it. It's not going to be like the old one. We're gonna— we're refreshing it and, um, we're looking to make it actually a mastermind for advisors instead of just like a training program. Um, it's going to include phone training, phone skills, counter skills. It's going to include, uh, technical training for people that don't have— that don't understand how things work in a car. We're going to make it really simple for people.
Rick White [00:34:48]:
Uh, we're gonna I mean, there's going to be a bunch, and then there's going to be training. There'll be a place for them to vent, and, uh, we're going to set up communities for them. It's going to be pretty damn cool, I think.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:59]:
And I think that's going to be great because, I mean, the first— what was it, the green belt, brown belt, all the belts? Yeah, I thought it was cool because Amber, she really learned a lot from it. She didn't know anything about estimating. She was a nurse by trade. So I've been waiting for that.
Rick White [00:35:12]:
Awesome. Yeah, she did.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:14]:
She left me. She left me. Yeah, but I got two babies though. Oh my goodness, they're so cute. They're terrible kids. They're—
Rick White [00:35:22]:
they gotta be about, what, 3 now?
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:24]:
No, they're just 1 and a half. They're babies.
Rick White [00:35:27]:
I thought it was longer than that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:29]:
It seems like it's been forever. That's my homeboy.
Rick White [00:35:31]:
You know what it was? Because she was— well, she was just like—
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:38]:
she got pregnant, she had to stop working, like immediately because it was high risk. So yeah, it seemed like it was forever, but no, they're still like— I think a 1.5. By the other last AS— the last expo she was at, I think we were in the back sitting on the floor, um, not behaving in class. Because I remember in that class someone said, oh, I just want to make a million dollars. And my goofy tail, I just started laughing out loud. I didn't realize how loud I was laughing because like, yeah dude, everybody says that. But let's see, are you going to make a profitable million dollars? Because that's the key. Because everybody can— anybody can make a million, but did recycle money, or did you have a profit? And once people do that—
Rick White [00:36:18]:
yeah, so now today someone says, I want to make a million dollars, I say, in net income, right? And yeah, so I don't, I don't care about sales. Let's do a million dollars in net income. Let's figure that out, right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:32]:
Oh, I hate doing the numbers, but I love to see the bottom line.
Rick White [00:36:36]:
Oh, I love numbers.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:37]:
I love— yeah, my current coach thinks I'm a nut job. Jennifer's just like Tanika, put your numbers up. My eyes are twitching there. I can't look at all those numbers. But in the end, when I actually see the numbers, I'm like, yeah, little happy dance, little happy dance. So that's the fun part of being coach. Yeah.
Rick White [00:36:58]:
Well, I'm actually, I'm actually surprised you're like not in an, on an island somewhere or on a boat.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:06]:
Not right now. I'll go. So I'm going to Texas. For the Women's Conference in two weeks, and then, um, okay, the 17th, okay, in Dallas. And then I'll go to Benji's because Josh Parnell is going down doing some leadership training at Benji's, and I want to support that. Then we got Tools and Vision and all the things. And here's the thing, Rick, I'm very sad. Jordan's getting ready to move.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:32]:
He's moving. He turns 20 in like 3 days. His birthday is the 9th of February. Then I have to move him to Florida, so I'm dying on the inside. So I'll be busy doing regular work stuff and ASTA stuff for the next couple months, and then I will get on the plane and go to places, just random places. Yeah, and I'm enjoying it.
Rick White [00:37:57]:
I asked about Texas because I I'm gonna be out there in March doing the Texas Two-Step with Jon Firm.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:04]:
Oh my God, fucking Buckaroo Bob.
Rick White [00:38:06]:
Yeah, we got a brand new, got a brand new full-day class called Build Your Bench. Okay, and it's about putting your hiring on cruise control.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:17]:
I need that class.
Rick White [00:38:19]:
Well, it's a good—
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:20]:
I've got a good crew, but I need to— Jordan's been working with me and I need to replace him, and so I'm trying to find another B, B+ tech. To take his space. And then I'm gonna try to find one more guy. So I have 5 techs. I want 5 techs. I think that's what I can do now. We've got—
Rick White [00:38:34]:
I think that would work well. And Jordan's going to, if I remember, isn't he doing the Mercedes dealership down there in Florida?
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:42]:
Yep.
Rick White [00:38:45]:
Be excited.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:46]:
I'm so proud of him. I am. But that's like my little, that's my heart that I wear on my sleeve. That child is just I told him I probably— I need to see him every 6 weeks. I don't— I might have to fly down about every 6 weeks. It's not a long flight.
Rick White [00:38:59]:
No, no. And it's, you know something, it's awesome. I mean, I guess I have a hard time. Like, I have a hard time. Like, I was talking to Brenda about this the other day. We were talking, we were watching Landman.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:16]:
Oh, that's so good. Yeah.
Rick White [00:39:18]:
And they were driving— she was dropping her daughter off at cheer camp for a weekend. She was all broken up because her baby's all grown up and going to college. And, and I looked at— I looked at Brenda, I said, did you do this crap when you dropped the kids off at school? She goes, oh my God, I was terrible. And I went, oh my gosh. She goes, why? I said, I think I slowed down to let my daughter off at college, you know what I mean? Get out. Right. Tuck and roll.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:46]:
Tuck and roll.
Rick White [00:39:47]:
And what did I say to her? I said, I want you to be good. I don't want you to add to the population. I don't want you to decrease the population.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:57]:
Exactly.
Rick White [00:39:58]:
Right. Stay out of— I don't want to see you in the newspapers. Right. And in— I forget the third, the second one, and then the last one is jail. But if you're going to go to jail, You better have established dominance quickly, right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:13]:
So that's what I tell the boys. I mean, they can walk in here and say, do not add to the population, do not take from the population, make smart choices. Love you, bye. No, I'm very proud. I'm very proud, actually. And then it is a relief because when they both were out of the house, the first couple weeks I was crying, I was sad, and I was singing every version of Landslide that I could find. On the internet. But then I started to organize my refrigerator, and it looked like a convenience store.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:42]:
I had my waters, my protein shake, my seltzers. I had my snacks, and everything was perfect, and I can go and grab it, and I could find my leftovers from the night before. But then they both came back home. They're both back home, and I really wish the house did not smell the way it does anymore. But it's, it's, it's fun chaos for them to be around. But I know they're going to take back off. You want to hear something crazy? Santana has decided that he wants to work at the shop in the office. I never thought he would say that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:17]:
I never thought he would say it. I don't even know how to train him. It's so funny. I'm just like, just go work with Stuart. I don't know what to do, try to teach you how to do things. But yeah, I never thought he would want to do that, but he's been interested. He went to my 20 group meeting with me last week. He sat in class with us all day.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:34]:
He's just soaking up stuff. He's doing today's class and looking at all the free stuff that I can find him. So he's soaking it up. We'll see. We'll see. I might become a multi-shop owner after all.
Rick White [00:41:48]:
He, he, you just got to have a really strong conversation, right? One parent, because I've got kids working in with us now. We have two daughters working with us now. And I've had kids working with me in the shop and stuff, and I sit them down and I say, this is work.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:07]:
Yes.
Rick White [00:42:07]:
And this is home, right? In fact, you've met Brandon before, my grandson. Brandon's working for us part-time. He works 2 days a week for us.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:17]:
Okay.
Rick White [00:42:18]:
And he does all the video editing. And he was giving me some lip one time. He's almost— he's 17 now. And he was giving me some lip, and I looked at him and I said, you know, I'm gonna— I'll fire you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:33]:
And he looked at me, goes, grandchild.
Rick White [00:42:35]:
He goes, no, you wouldn't. And I said, go talk to your mom, go talk to Uncle Richie. And I said, go talk to Auntie Dee. And he goes, why? I said, because I fired all of them. I said, I can love you and not have you employed.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:50]:
My dad fired me. I think I got fired twice. Yeah, I got fired a lot. I got close to fired, like, yeah, because there's a difference. I still have a business to run. So that's the thing with Santana, he's so— he's me. So that's why I said, Stuart, I think I need you to train him, because I don't know, I, I'm not coachable and I definitely can't coach anybody. People say, oh, you should be a coach.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:15]:
No, I can't, because the Lord has not blessed me with the tongue and the facial expressions to be a coach and make money from that, because I will cuss you out and roll my eyes at you. So no, I can give you some advice and I can give you a hug, and that's about it. God is working on me. He's not that far yet, but so I'm excited for what he could do and what he's going to find out and what he's going to learn.
Rick White [00:43:36]:
I think that's awesome. I'm so excited. Yeah, I think that's amazing. And yeah, you know, it's funny, I did a group last night because Jeff was on vacation and I went to Christine afterwards and said, hey, how, you know, what was that like? And she called it tough love. So I, I guess I was pretty hard in there last night. So sometimes you need to be.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:59]:
Sometimes you need to be. My dad was really, really tough on me. I laugh about it now because I thought he was the craziest man in the universe when I worked for him. And at the end of our working relationship, I was actually calling him Mr. Brown. It's like, yeah. Mr. Brown.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:13]:
I mean, he wasn't dad, because you got to have some kind of cutoff time. 5:30, okay, now you turn to dad. Because people say, oh, you work for your dad. No, I did not work for my dad. I worked for William Brown. My daddy was at home. There was a difference, and he made sure we knew the difference. But I appreciate all of that stuff now.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:32]:
So we'll see how it works for Santana and Tanika.
Rick White [00:44:35]:
Just, you just got to make sure you're Put the same guardrails and guidelines that you have for everybody else with him. You know, don't make it harder. Don't make it work, you know, better, easier. My dad was horrible, man. He wanted twice the work and half the time twice as good as anybody else could do it in the shop. It was like— I was like, Dad, you know what reverse discrimination is? And he's like, no, no, no. You just keep going. But I'll tell you what, every time I saw him, I thanked him.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:12]:
Yeah. Same thing for me now. Well, but I can laugh with him about it now. It's like, and he thinks, he thinks I'm worse than he is. It's like, Dad, I am not as bad. Yes, you are. I was like, no, I'm not. You were terrible.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:28]:
You were terrible. So, and then like, okay, thinking, speaking of young folk. We got Jordan going into the industry, we've got Santana hopefully, then we've got kids like Cody Burrs. He's killing it. I'm so proud of that kid. I remember when we took the trip to Binti's shop and, uh, Cody was there and he was being— he was acting like his dad. I was like, you've got it honest, you're a jerk just like your dad. I said, but make sure you use it for the right reasons.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:53]:
I said, because he was like, but my dad— I said, yeah, I felt the same way. Learn everything you can for him. Shut up and learn. Because he's done it longer than you. But he's killing it now. I'm so proud of him. Like, Benji, I don't even know if that boy goes to work anymore. That's so—
Rick White [00:46:06]:
and that's, that's okay, right? Yeah. Um, we spent some time with Benji and, and, and Christy, and then we worked with Cody in the advisor program, and he just soaked it up, man. He just took off. Like, he is my poster child for that poster— for that advisor program.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:25]:
That's why you got to get it going so I can give you another poster child. A poster of man.
Rick White [00:46:30]:
You know, I know there's a lot of me, but I can only spread myself so thin. So we're working on it. We are working on it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:38]:
Awesome. Awesome.
Rick White [00:46:40]:
So that'll be coming. But yeah, you know what? It's really hard to ask for help. But, you know, when I hurt my back, I had a hard time with it too. But I think that was one of God's ways of helping me understand how important it was. And it was— it's always easy to give the help. It's a lot harder to receive it. And one of the things that Bob Berg said, which was absolutely amazing, was that giving and receiving isn't like this back and forth. It's a circle.
Rick White [00:47:11]:
And if you stop, if you don't let somebody help you, you're stopping them from giving and you're breaking the chain. And now I ask for help. Now I don't have a problem. I can ask for help.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:25]:
Amber came into my life, and I believe that's why she came into my life, so I would learn to accept the help, because I'm always the helper. And I don't— I think I was still coaching with you because I was in the hospital for like 5 days, and they killed me. Well, that was before the foot. Actually, no, you didn't know me then. I had, um, I had the foot, and that's when I really knew I can trust them because I had to be able to work for like 6 weeks. But before, I had a ruptured appendix.
Rick White [00:47:52]:
Oh no, that was before me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:54]:
Yeah. And so I was walking around work and in pain. And I almost, almost died because I didn't want to stop and go check on myself. So I don't think I was coaching with you. But she was like, you know, you really got to do better with this. And I was like, yeah, whatever. I've got people that need me, blah, blah, blah. But when I had the foot issue, and I had to have surgery, and my surgeon was also a customer who knew that I was crazy and that I would not sit down.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:18]:
Actually kept me in the cast for 6 weeks. And when he took it out, he said, well, you know, you didn't really have to be in the cast that long. I just wanted you to rest and make sure you didn't re-injure yourself. But when I came back to work, they, they were killing it. And when I would go to work with the cast on, she would literally take my purse and take my key, put it back in the truck and say, please leave. It's like, they don't need me. They do need you, but they're paying you back for everything that you've given to them. Yeah, so it is— leadership is amazing, coaching is amazing, Rick White is amazing.
Rick White [00:48:54]:
Oh, thank you. You are all right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:56]:
And we're going to wrap it up, but I do have one question for you, and this is going to be your just one thing. So if someone's listening to this and are going on and on and on, what is the one thing that you want them to take away from this conversation?
Rick White [00:49:13]:
I think the most important thing is to value yourself first. Like, know how special you are and know the value you bring, not in a performance-related, but just being on this planet right here, right now. You make a difference. And don't let other people Don't let other people stop you or slow you down from becoming who you want to become. Ask for help and learn. Like, just be a lifelong learner. Be curious. I mean, curiosity is a superpower.
Rick White [00:49:57]:
And just ask questions, don't judge. And work, work hard, but live and live hard. Live, live big. And, you know, we only— as you know, as far as we know, we only get this one go around here. And make it so that, you know, what is that old saying? When you, you know, you lived a good life when you were born, you cried, and when you died, the world cried. And I think that is like, make an impact. That's Like, that's a big thing for me is making an impact. And, you know, you're going to get some haters in the process and that's okay.
Rick White [00:50:35]:
It means you're making a difference.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:37]:
There you go. So, they gonna hate, it's gonna hate. I love it.
Rick White [00:50:41]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:42]:
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. PIs. 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.