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Confessions of a Shop Owner is hosted by Mike Allen, a third-generation shop owner, perpetual pot-stirrer, and brutally honest opinion sharer. In this weekly podcast, Mike shares his missteps so you don’t have to repeat them. Along the way, he chats with other industry personalities who’ve messed up, too, pulling back the curtain on the realities of running an independent auto repair shop. But this podcast isn’t just about Mike’s journey. It’s about confronting the divisive and questionable tactics many shop owners and managers use. Mike is here to stir the pot and address the painful truths while offering a way forward. Together, we’ll tackle the frustrations, shake things up, and help create a better future for the auto repair industry.
Mike Allen [00:00:00]:
I like fell in love with how awesome I was for a while, and I became very much an absentee owner, but I hadn't yet established the systems and processes. I just thought I had strong players in place that would just run my business for me if I paid them a lot of money, right?
Travis May [00:00:15]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:00:15]:
And it worked for a little while until it didn't work. 2026 for me is going to be working in my business more than on my business. I failed to work in my business for a period of time that was long enough that we kind of drifted off course a little bit.
Mike Allen [00:00:31]:
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we or our guests may say do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have. There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, here's your host, Mike Allen, with Confessions of a Shop Owner, presented by TechMetric, the best software in the History of Ever.
Mike Allen [00:01:08]:
Okay, it's the last day of Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2026, and I am here with Matt and Travis. Matt, if my listeners know, have, you know, is director of coaching, head of coaching. What's the official title?
Matt Lofton [00:01:27]:
Director of coaching at Elite Worldwide.
Mike Allen [00:01:28]:
Okay. And we talk once a month and publish conversations about what a train wreck my business is for everyone else's amusement. And Travis, you're, you're another of Matt's victims. Is that right?
Travis May [00:01:40]:
I am indeed.
Mike Allen [00:01:41]:
Okay. Introduce yourself real quick for those that don't know us.
Travis May [00:01:44]:
My name is Travis May, shop owner of G&M Automotive Center in Hesperia, California.
Mike Martin [00:01:50]:
Okay.
Travis May [00:01:51]:
Hesperia, California is Southern California, but we're in the— called the High Desert. So, okay, from LA, if you're down in LA, you want to go to Vegas, I'm halfway between there.
Mike Allen [00:02:01]:
Okay, so you're a good stop for the breakdowns and— right, right.
Travis May [00:02:05]:
You have to get to the top of the Cone Pass there, and everybody's car seems to not like that, uh, that grade.
Mike Allen [00:02:11]:
Oh, 120 miles an hour across the desert tears up some tires too, I would imagine. So, um, how long have you been there?
Travis May [00:02:18]:
So it's a legacy shop. My grandfather started the company in 1967. So I think we're on 59 years now. And so my grandfather started it. My dad took the business over in the early '90s and really, you know, grew it, made it much larger than where it started. And then within the last, I would say, 10, 12 years, I've been running the operation. And May of last year, I took the leap of faith and we put a deal together for me to buy them out. So that's where I'm at now.
Mike Allen [00:03:01]:
I might want to talk to you more about that because I have a story about buying my father out of our business as well. But before we get into that, I do also want to introduce Our other guest this morning, Mike, just tell us real quickly who you are, name your business, where you're from. It'd be great to hear.
Mike Martin [00:03:19]:
Sure. Mike Martin, owner of Kerner's Auto Service. We're in Utica, Michigan, about a half an hour north of Detroit.
Mike Allen [00:03:26]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:03:26]:
And how long have you been in business, Mike?
Mike Martin [00:03:28]:
I've been the owner of the shop since 2010. Okay.
Mike Allen [00:03:33]:
Were you an employee and you bought, or how did that work?
Mike Martin [00:03:37]:
I was not an employee. Hearing the end of this story is a similar situation. So it was my father-in-law's business. He went through a couple attempts internally from employees to purchase it. My wife and my brother-in-law had no interest in the business itself. So it was my wife's idea to take this on, and she recommended that I do it. So that's how it came to fruition.
Mike Allen [00:04:01]:
Now, did you have any background in automotive prior to this?
Mike Martin [00:04:04]:
Automotive, as far as working on cars, it's something I did as a kid, never was a career. I came from labor relations. I was director of labor relations for an automotive quality control company. So that was where I was at at the moment when I left that and started the process with Koerner's.
Mike Allen [00:04:23]:
So that's a pretty hard transition. Did you get a coach right away, or did you flounder around like most of us for several years before you did that?
Mike Martin [00:04:31]:
I floundered around for several years, yeah. The plan initially was to work underneath my father-in-law and learn the operational side of things. And I don't know that, nothing against my father-in-law, but it didn't happen the way we had planned. I worked on cars for 2 or 3 years with him. I learned a lot from my mother-in-law who was a CPA, and she also was doing the books at the time. But it took probably a good, 3 years of operations and before I started thinking about how I was going to do things because it just wasn't functioning the way I wanted it to and I wasn't the person that I wanted to be. So getting into arguments with staff and things I'd never done before in my previous career.
Mike Allen [00:05:16]:
So yeah, copy that.
Mike Martin [00:05:17]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:05:19]:
So how long have you guys been with Elite?
Travis May [00:05:21]:
So funny story there is I won't— yeah, I might as well. There was a time where my father and I weren't seeing eye to eye, and I left for a couple of years. I felt that it was— there was a need for me to leave. And I won't name any other shops, but I left the area for a couple of years, and the shop I landed at was actually an Elite Worldwide shop at the time. And there is where they introduced me to Elite Elite Master Service Advisor course. I was approached and said, Travis, I'd like to send you to Elite Master Service Advising course. And of course, back then, I thought I was a pretty good service writer. I was top service sales.
Travis May [00:06:10]:
My ARO was good. I was always good with people. And I'm like, I don't really think I need this, do I? Well, long story short, I ended up going. And I'm going to tell you what, when you think that you are the big man on campus as far as service writing goes and you don't need it, they're going to open up your eyes to a whole new perspective.
Mike Allen [00:06:30]:
Humble you a little bit, right?
Travis May [00:06:31]:
They're going to humble you a little bit. And I'm going to tell you, it's probably one of the best decisions I ever made personally because I didn't not only learn at the master's course, I was taught tools that I didn't even know. You know, they opened up my mind to think of things. Speak differently.
Matt Lofton [00:06:50]:
Just people stuff, right?
Travis May [00:06:51]:
People stuff. Yeah. The biggest thing was tonality. So I had, you know, I learned tonality. And once I learned the art of tonality, that was a game changer for me. So fast forward, you know, 10+ years later, as I started running my father's shop, being the, you know, glorified general manager at the time, I, you know, my dad was old school. You know, he didn't need anybody to tell him how to run the business. We're not changing.
Travis May [00:07:22]:
You know, I've done this, always done it this way, right? I've always done it this way. I'm not a college educated. I never went to school. So I'm always on the job training. You know, that was my education. My college was showing up to work. And if it worked, it worked. If it didn't, scrap it.
Travis May [00:07:40]:
Try something new. So I had always wanted to partner with, um, an Elite Worldwide because I wanted someone to help me look into my business and, and, and be my coach, be like, you know what, yeah, you are doing good things, this is— you're doing the right things, or hey, have you thought about doing this?
Mike Allen [00:08:00]:
It sounds like the nature of your conversations with Matt are way different than the ones that I have. Oh, mostly with Matt it's like Mike, don't be a dumbass. Right, Mike, stop.
Matt Lofton [00:08:08]:
He's actually got a better coach than you do.
Mike Allen [00:08:10]:
Okay, so he's got Joe. Oh yeah, well, okay, well, that's the Godfather right here, huh? That explains it.
Travis May [00:08:17]:
So yeah, no, it, um, I, I, I've been partnered with Elite Worldwide for probably 3 or 4 years now as far as the coaching side, uh, of it goes, and I've sent multiple service riders through the training. Um, I got one of them getting ready to graduate here and I think a week or two, right? From the February class.
Mike Allen [00:08:36]:
I would tell you that the master's program service advisor training is unlike anything else in the industry that I've found. And that there is the accountability level and the midterm and the finals. And you don't just, you don't just breeze through it. Yeah, you can't sleep your way through it. And the ongoing interaction with the owner as well. So they know how their student is doing through the process, right? Now it requires a commitment on the part of the owner to let them be away from the counter for some time every week. And obviously they're traveling to wherever the course is being hosted for a few days and everything else. So I think it is the most dynamic service advisor training in the industry right now.
Mike Allen [00:09:18]:
And it has been for a long time. Yeah, absolutely.
Travis May [00:09:21]:
I haven't heard of anything different.
Mike Martin [00:09:24]:
No, no, no. All the programs that I've been aware of that are out there are your 3 to 5 day sessions and that's it. Here's your training, go with it. And this is the accountability is just what makes this so successful. Because if you can't change yourself in 6 months of the right and correct habits, then I don't know how else to say it. Like this is the script to do, to follow. Like this is how you have to do it in order to make sure that yes, we can do it through a month of training, but 6 months of doing consistency, and accountability. And from an owner's standpoint, it only benefits the owner as well, with them realizing the process and being, being a part of the process as well.
Mike Martin [00:10:07]:
So it only benefits the owner from that standpoint too.
Mike Allen [00:10:09]:
I agree. Well, and I think the other training that's out there, I mean, it all has some good content, right? And I think the 6-month part is the part that you were touching on, is part of what makes the difference, because you got to form new habits. And you come back fired up from a class We've all done it, gone to a conference or something and come back fired up from a class and ready to change the world. And then real life at the shop slaps you in the face and you fall back to your previous base level of performance 'cause that's the habit. I mean, I'm the world's worst at this. I know what I should do and how I should operate the business. I'm really good at talking about how things should work. I'm not super good at executing on how things actually work in my business.
Travis May [00:10:53]:
It's up here though.
Mike Allen [00:10:54]:
Yeah, yeah. I might be a great teacher one day. But Mike, what was your journey like finding Elite?
Mike Martin [00:11:03]:
So 3 or 4 years into running the shop, I came to know Elite through Mitchell at the time that I used. They had a partnership with them. So I've been with Elite for over 9 years now. And much of what I went through was self-discovery and realizing what I needed to change. And those first couple of years with my coach, Douglas, It was amazing. And we still have regular conversations. It was the change on myself and not necessarily just changing numbers and paying attention to that, but is like one of the first things I— one of my first goals that I ever had was to become a better manager. And that's what we focused on.
Mike Martin [00:11:44]:
And that in and of itself allowed me to institute a lot of the changes going forward after that. And involve the employees as a part of that.
Mike Allen [00:11:54]:
Okay. Well, guys, how was 2025?
Travis May [00:11:59]:
2025 was really, really good for me. If I had to look back at 2025 and pick out the positives, obviously getting a deal done with my dad finally after probably a couple years of back and forth, back and forth. That was a a big win for me. And as far as business goes, it was, it was good. It was, I think, the first quarter for me, January, January, February, March. It didn't get off to a hot start last year, but then in the second quarter, third quarter, we, we picked up quite a bit. Fourth quarter, end of October, we did real well. And then for some reason, the faucet turned off in November big time.
Mike Allen [00:12:50]:
We hear that across the country, right? Yeah, it was—
Travis May [00:12:53]:
I think I ended up doing half of my goal, monthly target goal. So I don't know if it was a government shutdown that caught up or combination of that and Thanksgiving, Christmas. I'm not sure. October, we— I mean, December, we landed on our feet. So overall, You know, fairly happy with it. Definitely looking forward to this year, though.
Mike Allen [00:13:17]:
What are the big goals for this year?
Travis May [00:13:19]:
The big goals this year for me is probably more owner discipline, more owner discipline. So staying out of the profits.
Mike Allen [00:13:40]:
Staying out of the problem. Make some damn money and keep it.
Travis May [00:13:43]:
Yeah, stay, you know, just have consistent months throughout the year. Keep my fingers out of it. Wait till the end of the year, see where we land. You know, it's easy as a shop owner, you know, you're, you're making, you're, you're making money, right? And, uh, you can kind of put your fingers in it here and there a little too many times throughout the year.
Mike Allen [00:14:02]:
Right, right.
Travis May [00:14:04]:
So it's, it's, uh, the shop needs a new roof, right? On the house, maybe garage door, maybe some landscaping out front. So that's my biggest goal, is just to stay a little bit more disciplined as an owner.
Mike Allen [00:14:17]:
Yeah.
Travis May [00:14:17]:
And, uh, really get a true look at, uh, the end of the year.
Mike Allen [00:14:22]:
This will be your first full year as the, as the man, right?
Travis May [00:14:26]:
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that. So, um, that's probably my biggest thing this year.
Mike Allen [00:14:31]:
Well, I think accountability and keeping clean books and keeping the corporate welfare within reason is something that you need accountability partners that you can share the books with openly and they can ask questions and you can answer honestly. So it's kind of hard to do that with your buddy down the street or your buddy from church or whatever it might be to a degree. But being in a peer group or having a one-on-one relationship with a coach, I think is the right way to go for that type of stuff.
Travis May [00:14:59]:
Yes, it is. And Joe is not afraid to call you out. I believe that he is. He can dissect a P&L and call BS.
Mike Allen [00:15:07]:
Joe called me out last night, actually. He's been, he's been, he's been chasing after me like, hey, man, why don't you let me on your podcast? Like, I will, I promise. I'm 26. And he called me out last night at the cocktail hour, and I was like, tomorrow. Like, haven't you been told you're coming on tomorrow at 3 PM? He's like, I have no idea. So he didn't get his marching orders yet, but now he knows.
Travis May [00:15:27]:
Now he knows.
Mike Allen [00:15:28]:
Mike, how was '25 for you?
Mike Martin [00:15:30]:
Oh, 2025 was excellent. I had bought the business and paid for the business a long time ago, but there was an issue hanging over our head with regards to the building. My father-in-law built the building with a partner, and it was a 5-year process to try to get the partner to finally let go. So last year, with some emphasis the prior year of getting the deal done, we were able to finally close it in January. So I was able to purchase the building, which is something I was striving to do for several years. So our—
Mike Allen [00:16:02]:
Congratulations.
Mike Martin [00:16:02]:
Thank you very much. Yes, that was a great, great thing to be able to accomplish and a big goal from my standpoint because it was on my agenda every single year for 4 or 5 years in a row with my coach. And we were always putting that out there and how are we going to make this happen? And I think 2020, the push in '24 is what made it happen. So Our year started off tremendously well. Like, we had the best January on record. February was lights out. We had a winter in Michigan for the first time in 4 or 5 years. So a lot of that impacted it and benefited us.
Mike Martin [00:16:37]:
So we rode the month or the year out and did tremendously well overall for the year. And we saw some great opportunities that came our way with regards to new accounts and so on that has helped us. But I did see a little bit of a lull in November and December, but nothing that really like ended up, we ended up maybe 2 or 3% up for those 2 months from the year before. But we ended up 17% up from the year before. So maybe not the same growth we saw like 3 or 4 years in a row from 2020, but there's still some, we still benefited overall and we saw some positive change for sure.
Mike Allen [00:17:19]:
2020 to '24, we had all that free government money getting pumped into the economy. That was kind of like a sugar rush. And I feel like we're kind of crashing down from that.
Matt Lofton [00:17:28]:
But a good analogy, Mike. I'm going to steal that.
Travis May [00:17:31]:
It is a good analogy.
Mike Allen [00:17:32]:
I feel like I got that from you at some point. I certainly didn't come up with it. I 100% stole it from someone. And I mean, Matt, I feel like I'm not including you in the conversation. Tell me about '25 and what's planned for '26.
Matt Lofton [00:17:46]:
Yeah, so '25 was a, it's a great year for us as well. It was a challenging year just because we had big audacious goals for last year and we had a lot of change that had to happen structurally and internally for that to happen, more so on a process standpoint than people. But so I cracked the whip pretty hard last year on trying to get our customer experience where I really wanted it to be and be consistent with our sales process and a few other things. Really pushing some heavy car count goals. So we were, we did a, we had a 31% increase year over year from '24 to '25. So it was a good year. We left some meat on the bone. And I'm a, I struggle with this because I'm a, it's easy for me to see the areas of opportunity and the growth and I don't celebrate the wins quite as long as I probably should.
Matt Lofton [00:18:36]:
So we had a nice little Thanksgiving lunch at the shop where we went over our yearly wins. And then I wake up the next day and I'm right back to being that guy that says, what the hell happened yesterday?
Travis May [00:18:49]:
Short mind. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:18:52]:
Well, a long memory for the things that go sideways and a very short memory for the wins. He's like, well, good job on doing your job. We're supposed to win. Yeah.
Matt Lofton [00:18:59]:
So I'm like the Bill Belichick of, you know, right, auto shop owners. Just like, do your job.
Travis May [00:19:05]:
That was just— that was yesterday. We're in today now.
Matt Lofton [00:19:09]:
So, but, uh, no, we have— we have— we got some pretty cool goals on for this year and excited for it. We got to get past some of this weather. We need that snow to stay up there in Michigan where you are, Mike. And it doesn't help us like it helps you.
Mike Allen [00:19:22]:
Sure. Yeah. It's not cold enough to actually break cars. It's just cold enough to break businesses. Yeah. So Matt, I know that you've got to bounce because you've got to go introduce the next speaker up front. But I'm going to let you sneak out. But can I keep you guys for a couple more minutes? Absolutely.
Matt Lofton [00:19:37]:
Really quick before I go, I want to tell everybody, I've gotten a chance to know these two over the last two years. It's been a pleasure of mine to be able to get to know them. From a client standpoint, I get an opportunity to talk to almost all the elite clients and talk to the coaches about their clients. And when you asked me about clients that you should have on, you know, I specifically mentioned these two. And the reason is because they, you know, they do the work, right? You know, when we always ask coaching, you know, I think there's lots of great coaching companies out there. I don't think it's the coaching company that makes the great client. I think it's the great client that makes the you know, the coaching process work because you have to be willing to take the advice and do it. So I want to congratulate both of you guys on, on the success that you've had and, you know, inside of Elite and, um, and, and taking the, taking the advice that you've been given and putting it into practice.
Matt Lofton [00:20:21]:
And it's been really cool to, you know, talk to Joe over the last couple years and, and, right, learn how much of an impact you've had on him and how much your business has grown. And same thing with you and Douglas, Mike. And, um, so looking forward to, uh, seeing what you guys can do in '26.
Mike Martin [00:20:36]:
I appreciate that very much.
Travis May [00:20:37]:
Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Mike Allen [00:20:40]:
I will tell you that I don't want to get into a session. I will tell you that I have talked to coaches from all over the industry over the years, and I don't know that I could ever do it because I would get really frustrated with owners who come to me every month with the same problem, and we give them the solution, and they always have an excuse as to why that solution doesn't work for them or why they haven't implemented the change or anything else. The guys that come into a coaching organization and just take the advice and do it, man, they make a world of change so quickly. And some of the big players that you'll get to know if you come to these elite events and maybe one day you move into pro service potentially or that kind of thing, there's some dudes out here that are just dynamic and it's because they surround themselves with people who know more they get the advice and they take action right away. And if I were a coach and I had to have the same conversation about the same problem 6 months in a row, I'd turn into an asshole, right? And I do respect that about Elite because there are some organizations out there— back up— I have heard that there are organizations out there that as long as the check clears, they'll keep you on board and keep telling you to do the same thing over and over and over. I've never been with another coaching organization to speak of, so I can't really I can't say that from personal experience. I know that Elite will give you accountability and then kick your ass out if you're not actually doing the work, which I appreciate and I respect.
Travis May [00:22:10]:
So I couldn't agree with you anymore. I definitely don't have any experience with any other coaching programs, and I don't want to. I never will, because I already, I already have a taste of what these guys offer, what Elite offers. I'm a guy that I love to be challenged by somebody, and Elite challenges you, you know, and they hold you accountable. So that's the biggest thing, you know. We're going to put this blood, sweat, and tears and run into it, run in a shop, you know, we might as well, you know, invest in ourselves and do our part. You know, it starts, starts with us. So, you know, they're not going to— if someone's not going to take the coaching seriously, What's the analogy? There's probably an analogy for that.
Travis May [00:22:57]:
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.
Mike Martin [00:22:59]:
I had a conversation with another elite coach yesterday, and he made a comment to me that really drove home. And he says, if I'm going to take on a new client as an elite coach, I have 3 rules: 100% of the time, 100% of the time, 100% of the time. He says, if you cannot deliver 100% of the time, you cannot be my client. It's a perfect example of how this program works. And the biggest struggle early on is making yourself do that and achieve that 100% of the time, every time. And once you're able to do that, you know you can achieve these things and you set your goals to be realistic as far as personal growth. I think after that, you know, you have more confidence in yourself and you're able to achieve them a lot better.
Travis May [00:23:45]:
I agree. I think if we could jump to results right away, like a new, a new client and a coach having results right away, and that new— that owner felt that bleed off into his team right away, you know, that's wishful thinking. But once a coach puts in the time and the effort, the blood, sweat, and tears, and making the adjustments, keeping an open mind, and start seeing a little bit of those results, they'd be surprised at how quickly that bleeds off into a team. You know, what do you think about that?
Mike Martin [00:24:17]:
Oh no, absolutely right. Yeah. And because once you're able to change yourself, you know, having that impact on the team is so much easier.
Travis May [00:24:24]:
Correct.
Mike Martin [00:24:24]:
Because you understand the process and you understand how to communicate to your staff what it is you're trying to achieve.
Travis May [00:24:29]:
Right.
Mike Martin [00:24:31]:
I agree.
Mike Allen [00:24:32]:
Shift gears a little bit. One of the questions I've been asking everyone, because, um, I love coming to events like this, but one of the things that I've realized as the podcast has grown is that I don't actually get to attend a lot of the event content because I'm in here having conversations with folks, right? So did you have any awesome takeaways from yesterday? Any specific speakers or topics that were discussed that you were like, holy cow, that's awesome?
Mike Martin [00:24:59]:
I love coming to these because every time I come to an event like this or anything that Elite puts on, you're in a different timeframe. Your priorities are different. Your mindset's different. It's almost like starting the process over again every time you come to an event like this because you're reintroduced with things that maybe didn't make sense to you before, maybe weren't applicable to you at the time, or you thought you couldn't possibly implement these type of ideas. So I heard a lot of things yesterday and then this morning with Damon West as well, as far as his analogy with the coffee bean.
Travis May [00:25:32]:
And great analogy.
Mike Martin [00:25:33]:
Yeah, absolutely. And the impact of that. And some of the reminders yesterday were things that I used to do that I broke away from, and with the motivational speaker that we had yesterday, and those were like setting, just setting 3 goals every day. And so that's one big takeaway from this event that I had. And I like the approach that with the vendors that are here, it wasn't a— we didn't spend time listening to a pitch.
Mike Allen [00:25:58]:
Yeah.
Mike Martin [00:26:00]:
The intention there was to use their business as a means to explain how it benefits the shop owners, but not in a way that you were just listening to, you know, how good is my product and you should buy my product.
Travis May [00:26:13]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:26:13]:
I think that was, I'm not privy to the internal conversations, but I believe that it was a very intentional instruction given to those vendors that were here. If they were given stage time, it was not to be a sales presentation, it was to be educational and informative.
Mike Allen [00:26:28]:
Hey, it's me, Mike's kid. Want to tell us your wild shop stories? Or maybe you just think my dad's totally wrong. Call us at 704-CONFESS and leave a message. You can tell us we're awesome, or you can tell us we're idiots. We're cool either way. That's 704-CONFESS. Just don't make it too weird.
Mike Allen [00:26:46]:
Here's what we see with this trend and this technology or whatever it might be, and here's how you can utilize that information to better your business. If you don't want to do that, come talk to me out in the hallway and we're going to have a service that can help you with that. But here's the information that you need. You need, right? And I think that's a way better way to go about it.
Mike Martin [00:27:02]:
How difficult is that for a sales guy?
Travis May [00:27:04]:
Yeah, yeah, no, I, I agree with you, but I, I like this, this format of the, the vendors, uh, going the more educating route. Yeah, um, because we, we already get a lot of that in our industry. We got sales reps coming in weekly, right? Now, you know, not to name no names, I guess. Am I allowed to name names? Napa's, O'Reilly's, Parts Houses, you know, credit card processing guy that's just promising that you're, you know, he can save you thousands of dollars a which I've never seen that yet. But I liked how they stuck on topic with the education. You know, they're planting that little seed. And if that sparks interest from a potential client, then they'll go visit them at the booth.
Mike Martin [00:27:44]:
Yeah, definitely came into this with a different perspective of that. All right, there's a bunch of sales guys here. This is what we're going to listen to.
Travis May [00:27:50]:
Right.
Mike Martin [00:27:50]:
And our first breakout that we had yesterday, I thought that's what we were going to experience. And it was nothing like that.
Mike Allen [00:27:56]:
It was great.
Travis May [00:27:57]:
It's been a really good experience. I think that Elite's done a great job of putting— this is my first time at Ignite. Is it yours? First time? Yes.
Mike Martin [00:28:04]:
Yes. To Ignite. I had done some previous ones with the— with Bob Cooper.
Travis May [00:28:08]:
Okay. So yeah, my first time at Ignite. I've always gone to the Fly with the Eagles.
Mike Allen [00:28:12]:
Yeah.
Mike Martin [00:28:13]:
Which is another great—
Travis May [00:28:15]:
yeah, another great program.
Mike Allen [00:28:15]:
So I've got, uh, Joe and Sabrina. I'm recording with them this afternoon, so we're going to talk about Eagles and Masters in depth. But both great programs. They are, especially if you're trying to build up like the Eagles program, if you're trying to build up a manager internally from within your business.
Mike Martin [00:28:33]:
Exactly what I'm doing right now. He went to fly with the Eagles earlier this year or last year. So when they were up in Grand Rapids. So and I'm trying to mentor a manager at the moment and trying to get him to understand things that maybe I haven't been able to communicate up until now. So and I enjoyed the Eagles for as many times as I've gone for the same reasons I've said it before, is that you're going to hear things things that you couldn't have used before. And now you're— and obviously it changes every time a little bit. And when you go to these Fly with the Eagles, but obviously the network is fantastic, you know, networking with different shop owners just like it is here. And that's the huge benefit to these is you're surrounded by a bunch of shop owners that are in the same place you are.
Mike Martin [00:29:13]:
Not, not all the shop owners that are in your area. Like, I can go to 5 different shops within 10 minutes of me, none of them are where we're No, me neither.
Mike Allen [00:29:22]:
Yeah.
Mike Martin [00:29:22]:
So it's—
Mike Allen [00:29:23]:
well, and even if they are, they're not comfortable sharing because they view you as the competition, right? And look, there's more cars than I can fix. There's more cars than you can fix. We don't have to— it doesn't have to be that way. I'm very fortunate that in North Carolina there's a very strong trade association, uh, ASTA, Automotive Service and Tire Alliance. And, uh, so one of my shops is literally, uh, Immediately next to it on this side is a shop that I'm good friends with, and immediately next to on this side is a shop that I'm friends with. I don't know him super well, but all three of us are members of the trade association. We all go to training events together and we all know each other. And like, when I moved into that building, I talked to them both first.
Mike Allen [00:30:02]:
I was like, hey, are you guys cool if I come in here? And they're like, yeah, of course, why wouldn't we? And next Friday night, there's a second floor in that building that's totally useless for automotive repair, so we built like a lounge and like a— almost like a bar up there. And so next Friday night, I've got like 30 shop owners from around the state coming to hang out at the shop, and we're just gonna do pizza and beer and hang out, you know, play a little poker, play some video games.
Travis May [00:30:27]:
Um, that's super cool.
Mike Allen [00:30:28]:
It doesn't have to be— it doesn't have to be like, oh, I can't talk to you, you know, you're the enemy.
Mike Martin [00:30:33]:
That's, uh, it's a good point because I, I got to that, you know, realization, um, not too long after starting with my coach and having that ability to reach out to these shops when you have a problem. And even just like, hey, this vendor is not working anymore for this particular service, who are you using? And it— when you walk into a shop for the first time and they see your shop name and they just want to know what you're doing there, but after you walk in for the second or third time, they know why you're there. And you're— they're not there— you don't think they're, you know, they don't think you're there trying to steal their employees or steal their business or trying to buy their business, right? You're there for information and that relationship. And just like in here, like it's, you know, you're surrounded by those same type of shop owners. So we thrive the most off of this type of interaction. Our coaches are fantastic, but this is where we succeed.
Mike Allen [00:31:26]:
Yeah, I would tell you that if you're listening to this and you're not part of a peer group, you're not part of a trade association, you're not coming to events like this or Vision or, Apex and SEMA is so big that it's— you're almost anonymous and there's not— unless you already have a peer group that you're part of. I wouldn't say that so much other than for the spectacle. ASTA Expo in North Carolina, Tools in Pennsylvania. Yeah, you don't have to live on an island. You don't have to be alone in this struggle that is small business ownership in the automotive space. Join a group, join a trade association, join a coaching organization, go to these training events. Build a network. I mean, they're all pretty inviting events.
Mike Allen [00:32:09]:
Hey, stay at the hotel where the event's being hosted. Yes. And hang out in the lobby bar, even if you're not a drinker, have a soda water, you know, and hang out and make friends. And that was one of the things that was odd to me early on was I'd be talking to my 20 Group facilitator or to a coach about problem X and they say, well, call these 3 guys. They all have solved that issue. Like, I don't know these guys, though. Just— they're in Elite. Just call them.
Travis May [00:32:39]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:32:40]:
And you call them like, oh, hey, man. Yeah.
Mike Martin [00:32:42]:
Like, this is what I do.
Mike Allen [00:32:43]:
Yeah.
Mike Martin [00:32:43]:
Yeah.
Travis May [00:32:43]:
Like you've been friends for years.
Mike Allen [00:32:45]:
It's like, you know, it's not what you know, it's who you know.
Mike Martin [00:32:48]:
Right.
Travis May [00:32:48]:
That's true.
Mike Allen [00:32:49]:
Connections. So one more question, then I'll let you go. I really appreciate you guys' time. Just very quickly, what is the biggest thing you're struggling with in your business right now?
Mike Martin [00:33:07]:
Um, I'll jump in there first.
Travis May [00:33:08]:
Yeah, go ahead, you take it first.
Mike Martin [00:33:11]:
This might be a generational thing, and I've come to realize this over the last several years as my staff continues to be younger and I continue to get older. Um, my generation has expectations that may not be realistic or relatable to the next couple generations that are below us. And there's some personal growth that needs to happen there, that, that my common sense is not the common sense of my staff. And it's not any fault of them. It's because they just have never been, you know, brought up the same way that we were brought up. And that can— I, I see this because I'm trying to coach my shop manager right now, and he's been with me for 6 years. And he has exhibited so much of what I've done to the point where he's now getting the same pushback that I was getting before because of the expectations that I have that they're going to do the right thing. I know they're going to— they have no intention of doing the wrong thing.
Mike Martin [00:34:07]:
But the issue is, is that I just assume that they're going to do what's right. And it can— it's not just the repair itself. It's through the entire process itself or as mistakes happen.. And it, like, having that realization is something that I is going to concentrate on for the entire year. And I'm going to do that by having more meetings with my staff. They may not like this, and they could be 10-minute meetings, but I want to have— and I'm going to involve my shop manager in those. So instead of having yearly reviews, we're going to still have a yearly review, but we're going to have quarterly sit-downs. So maybe we can— I can I can adjust my expectations based off of that, not necessarily what, you know, what the expectations are of the staff itself.
Mike Martin [00:34:53]:
Like, I can adjust mine to be more realistic with how they think.
Travis May [00:34:57]:
So I like that. So for me, you know, and those that are listening, is that, you know, I've got several years of really, really keeping my nose to the grind— ground. And working on my business. So for me, I don't want to say— they do say if your business can't run without you, you've only created a job, right? So for me, I'm going to start learning and trusting my team, trusting the process and procedures that I've had in place a little bit more.
Mike Martin [00:35:39]:
And it's hard.
Mike Allen [00:35:40]:
Absolutely.
Travis May [00:35:41]:
It is very, very hard because, you know, you just, you want to be into the, you know, look at all the details. But I do find myself in the trenches, you know, inputting myself into the trenches when I probably don't even need to. And it's true to sit back and just let, let what we've created play out and go from there. So for me, I'm going to, you know, that's what I need to work on this year. And really just trust in the team, trust in everything I've been doing and just trusting it.
Mike Martin [00:36:11]:
I've been there. It's a big struggle.
Travis May [00:36:13]:
It is.
Mike Allen [00:36:15]:
Well, so I fell in love with how awesome I was for a while and I became very much an absentee owner for a while, but I hadn't yet established the systems and processes. I just thought I had strong players in place that would just run my business for me if I paid them a lot of money, right? Right. And it worked for a little while until it didn't work, right? And so, you know, 2026 for me is going to be working in my business more than on my business, which is the antithesis of what we hear all the gurus and talking heads say. But I failed to work in my business for a period of time that was long enough that we kind of drifted off course a little bit. So sometimes you got to re-engage and get back in there. I don't want to say in the trenches because I'm not going to be in the shop, you know, no busted knuckles for you. Yeah, no, no hanging metal. That's— that would be a disaster.
Mike Allen [00:37:15]:
Um, but being on site 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week again, which has not been the case for several years, is probably a lot of what 26 looks like for me.
Travis May [00:37:27]:
So, well, the good thing is you've got, uh, you've got good people around you.
Mike Allen [00:37:31]:
I do, I do. I was fortunate to have, have that peer group. Well, guys, any, uh, parting words of wisdom that you want to give to anyone? Don't eat yellow snow.
Travis May [00:37:43]:
Yeah, I don't have to worry about that in Southern California, so, you know, we'll all stay away from, uh, California comments.
Mike Martin [00:37:50]:
If, if you, if you don't have a coach, get a coach. And I, and this is nothing personally against Elite, but just get a coach, right? And I, I've I've heard so many stories of people here that have had several different coaches before they got here, and it's—
Matt Lofton [00:38:03]:
but it—
Mike Martin [00:38:03]:
that's the first step, right?
Mike Allen [00:38:05]:
Well, the coach that's right for you and your business right now might be great for right now but might not be the right coach in 5 years, correct? The coach that gets you to $1.5 million might not be the same coach that gets you to $5 million, right? Or to $50 million, right? So, um, just like every other aspect of your business, you need to be, uh, evaluating regularly and adjusting as needed. It's the same thing with your coaching relationship because there are plenty of people in all the coaching organizations. It happens here too, where the coaching group just becomes a social circle. It's almost like a fraternity, right? Right. And that's okay, right? If your business is running really well and it's profitable and you want to go hang out with your friends, super. But interview multiple different coaches. Maybe Elite's not the right company for you. I believe that they've got something for everybody., but find somebody that does click with you.
Travis May [00:38:55]:
Correct. So I got, I do got one thing I'll leave them with. Yeah. Is for the shop owners that have years of experience or years invested in being a shop owner, maybe the, you know, the older shop owners that have been a friend. More mature. More mature. There you go. I encourage them if they are that struggling shop owner, maybe a little older in age, And I encourage them to reach out to Elite Worldwide.
Travis May [00:39:23]:
Keep an open mind. If they're tired of the struggle, they— Elite Worldwide and their coaching services will, will help you. And they will, they will help you.
Mike Allen [00:39:33]:
If you're 30 years into your business and you don't have an exit plan, you need a coach to plan the exit.
Travis May [00:39:40]:
Right.
Mike Martin [00:39:40]:
So stop having only that.
Travis May [00:39:40]:
Yeah, absolutely. Stop having that mindset of, I don't, I don't need somebody telling me how to run my business. I don't need anybody in my books.
Mike Allen [00:39:47]:
I, I promise you, like, you're coming from a place of a little bit of bitterness there, buddy.
Travis May [00:39:52]:
Yeah, my dad was like that.
Mike Martin [00:39:53]:
Yeah, I can't tell you how many of the social media posts I've seen like that. Like, this is my way, this is how I do it. Yeah, you have to have an open mind in this. And I want every shop around me to succeed. Yeah. And I want to help them however I can, even if it's just words of advice on, you know, what I would do in that situation. But I want them to succeed. And if you have that approach, especially from somebody who's been through this before, You know, there's nothing wrong with offering your advice.
Mike Martin [00:40:18]:
And those, again, those networks that you talked about earlier, just having those networks, right, thrive upon that.
Mike Allen [00:40:24]:
So awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on, guys. It was great to meet you. Um, likewise, thanks for sharing your stories. Absolutely. And I'll see you out in the lobby. Sounds great. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out— the good, the bad, and sometimes the super messed up.
Mike Allen [00:40:39]:
I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes. So why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit and maybe have another drink. You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover? Or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike@confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS.
Mike Martin [00:41:03]:
That's 704-266-3377.
Mike Allen [00:41:03]:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow. Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you on the next episode.
Mike Allen [00:41:35]:
You know I said yes.