Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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.
Jimmy Lea [00:00:00]:
If you're trying to present because you want the spotlight, you want the light shine on you. I want the fame, I want the fortune. That's a flash in the pan. If you want endurance, if you want longevity, bring value. Bring value to the service advisors, the managers, the owners. Welcome to Downshift with Tanika Haynes, the automotive auntie. The thing about Tanika, she gets to know you, she'll laugh and cut up with you, but then she'll hit you with some knowledge that you may not want, but that you need. Let's downshift.
Jimmy Lea [00:00:36]:
We need. So I'm downshifted. I'm relaxed, I'm easy going. I am ready for the conversation.
Tanika Haynes [00:00:43]:
Ready for the conversation. So I've got the jacket on today. I wore this at Tools last year. I don't even think I can wear it again. Because you can only jacket once, right?
Jimmy Lea [00:00:53]:
No, no, you can wear it many times.
Tanika Haynes [00:00:57]:
Bedazzle this jacket. That would be fun.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:00]:
Oh, there you go. That'd be good.
Tanika Haynes [00:01:02]:
So tell me this, what are you up to today? What do you do when you don't have a jacket on?
Jimmy Lea [00:01:10]:
When I'm at home working.
Tanika Haynes [00:01:12]:
At home working. And you're not in Jimmy Lee mode.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:17]:
What is Jimmy Lee mode?
Tanika Haynes [00:01:19]:
I don't know. You're a whole vibe Jimmy Lee. You're like the most, one of the most positive people, I think, in my opinion, in the industry. Very positive, very uplifting. I just enjoy when you show up. Like, you show up on purpose. Like, do you feel like you show up like that all the time, like your energy is there all the time?
Jimmy Lea [00:01:44]:
Yeah, I do. Yeah, that's. That's me. So when I unplug and this is what you're asking is what do I do after the hotel door closes and
Tanika Haynes [00:01:57]:
the jacket comes off? Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:01:58]:
And the jacket comes off. Yeah. I. There is definitely an adrenaline low. It's an adrenaline high when I'm with people. Batteries charging, I get charged. I. I'm excited.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:13]:
I love it. I want more. I love being around people. I love the interaction. I love talking, talking shop talking, networking, talking marketing, talking sales, talking. What can we do to make a difference in the industry? What can do to make a difference for shops? I absolutely love, love, love, love doing that. We can tell there are some people that being around people is exhausting. And for me, it's not exhausting.
Jimmy Lea [00:02:45]:
I, I love it. I love talking to people. And so what do I do when the hotel door closes? I hit a, an adrenaline low and I need just a few minutes to just sit unwind relax, be peaceful. And I think of nothing. I don't want to think of anything. I don't want to talk to anybody. I just want to veg for 20 or 30 minutes and then I'm ready to go again. Same.
Tanika Haynes [00:03:25]:
I like the thing I said. I was like, I need to walk away and just go to my room and look at the wall and look at the traffic. Like for me it was a traffic circle at vision, I could see the traffic circle outside of my window.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:38]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:03:39]:
Just watch people figure out that they cannot get out of the traffic circle.
Jimmy Lea [00:03:42]:
Right.
Tanika Haynes [00:03:43]:
Entertaining myself with that. So. Yeah. Well, that's good to know. So I hear you when you speak. You're on stage, you're doing the Jimmy Lee. You're encouraging, but you've taken. I'm not saying it's not you, but you've taken courses to improve upon that.
Tanika Haynes [00:04:02]:
I'm interested in that.
Jimmy Lea [00:04:04]:
Yeah. Just like any bodybuilder doesn't walk out of the gym the first day and. And they're jacked. It's a lifetime. It's a life skill. It's a skill that has to be honed and polished and worked on. Because if you don't work it, then you lose it. I used to play the piano.
Jimmy Lea [00:04:26]:
I can't play so well anymore. I used to play the trombone. I don't play so well anymore. I haven't played for 30 plus years. So you lose that talent. Same with speaking. You want to hone your craft. You want to own your craft.
Jimmy Lea [00:04:43]:
So just like we talk about service advisors honing their craft and becoming better, they're not a class a service advisor on day one. It takes time, effort, energy. It takes a coach. It takes reviewing phone calls, reviewing estimates, reviewing invoices, reviewing customers. Same with speakers. You've got to hone your craft. What is your opening sentence? What is your opening line? And that is the opening line that will hook them or not. What are you going to say? And then every story behind that has to support it.
Jimmy Lea [00:05:33]:
I work hard to not ever read slides. Slides for a speaker. Slide helps you to remember where you are and where you're going and what you're doing. The amount of content that should be on a slide deck should be low. The workbook should be read. The slideshow is just to remind you where you are in your presentation.
Tanika Haynes [00:06:03]:
I watched you work the stage in Vision the last class on Sunday. I didn't get to stay for the whole. Had to leave Your interaction with the crowd, calling people by their names, making people feel important, like I'm sitting here listening to you talk right now, and I'm trying to figure out how I can be more Jimmy Lee. Ish.
Jimmy Lea [00:06:24]:
We should get bracelets.
Tanika Haynes [00:06:25]:
What would Jimmy Lee do? What would Jimmy Lee say? How does that intertwine into your life? Like, I know that every day you're not wearing the. The beautiful shiny jackets when you walk through life every day, but do you wear, like, a virtual jacket that you put on every morning or.
Jimmy Lea [00:06:45]:
Yeah, yeah. I think we all wear a mask to a degree. And, and you put on your Persona, you put on your outfit for the day, you put on your mindset. And mine is a mindset that always, always, always, always looks for the positive. Always looks for the positive in every situation. I'm always looking for, what is that silver lining in this situation. What. What can we take positive out of this? So that's.
Jimmy Lea [00:07:21]:
That's me. So if ever you're in a situation and you need a positive spin, come talk to me. I can help you find it.
Tanika Haynes [00:07:29]:
Get the bracelet. What would Jimmy Lee say?
Jimmy Lea [00:07:33]:
Yeah, yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:07:34]:
WWJLS would you know about. Asta.
Jimmy Lea [00:07:39]:
Yeah, yeah. So. So not only looking at the positive when it comes to stress and stressful situations, humor is my go to.
Tanika Haynes [00:07:53]:
Okay.
Jimmy Lea [00:07:54]:
It might not be appropriate, but that's how I deal with stress, is to have those conversations and. And to find the. The laughter in it.
Tanika Haynes [00:08:05]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:08:05]:
Because eventually, hopefully, we all laugh about it.
Tanika Haynes [00:08:09]:
Right. It's like, well, don't do that again. I like to think that I kind of am similar in that, but for me, it has to. It's been a learning experience, and that has to also. It's been coming from the people that I surround myself with. Like, if you can surround yourself with a bunch of negative people, then you're going to end up negative. Same thing. You know, you want to be.
Tanika Haynes [00:08:32]:
Be with the smartest people in the room. You want to stay with smart people, stay with the positive people, whatever. And I think you do a wonderful job at doing that. So I wanted to give you those flowers. And that's another thing. I've been trying to give people their flowers, like, now a whole lot more often. But you do that for the industry, period. When you're.
Tanika Haynes [00:08:50]:
We're on stage, when you're in the room and you got your Route 66 belt on, you bring it. And a lot of us need it. A lot of shop owners need that. Do you feel like you have a responsibility in the industry to keep that up? Like, is that the role that you've been set here to play like, how long have you been in the industry?
Jimmy Lea [00:09:09]:
That's a good question. So if you go back to when I started in the automotive vertical, if you will, 2010, I was with logmycalls, selling call tracking phone numbers. They don't exist anymore in that form. The company's now called Conversa. And right along with Logmycalls was a company called Contact Point, Customer service and sales skills. And I was selling training for. For the automotive industry, for the rent to own industry, for the mobile mini industry, storage industry, construction equipment industry, the rent to rental. And I swore I would never get back into coaching and training because it's really tough to have that conversation that says, hey, your baby's really ugly.
Tanika Haynes [00:10:03]:
He's got a nice head of hair. But.
Jimmy Lea [00:10:06]:
But I know how to make it nice and I know how to make it pretty and I know how to. To change it so that baby will be pretty. So we did a lot of secret shopping, a lot of phone calls, a lot of sales and customer service skills training. One day they booked more conferences than they had people to present. So the CEO was going here, the president was going here, the vice president of marketing was going here. And they had another event and they said, hey, Jimmy, you. You want to go to middle of Nowhere in the middle of nowhere and present at this rent to own company business conference? I was like, yeah, yeah, I'd love to. You said, yeah, I like, no, yeah, no, I'm in.
Jimmy Lea [00:10:57]:
So I went and. And I was hooked. I was hooked. Hooked. Yeah, hooked. It was so fun. It was so engaging. It was so awesome.
Jimmy Lea [00:11:14]:
Just taking this. So weird, this, this audience on this
Tanika Haynes [00:11:17]:
journey, I want to be able to give and speak and Jimmy Lee, like, you do, like, I feel like I was wondering, how do you do it? Like, in this stage of my life, I've been saying, you know, I laugh a lot, I joke a lot. And you were just telling me that first speech that I did at the institute, at the summit. Yeah, I was really blessed to be for someone to even ask me to do that. But then I know that we all have a story to tell, right?
Jimmy Lea [00:11:52]:
Yep.
Tanika Haynes [00:11:53]:
And we all have, like, people to touch, things to do. And you're doing it like every day. This is your job. Your job is to uplift people and teach people how to do it. As a matter of fact, Jimmy, what is your job? What is your job in institute? What is your title? That is.
Jimmy Lea [00:12:09]:
I'm the vice president of Business development.
Tanika Haynes [00:12:13]:
Business development. I would have never guessed that you're
Ash Kaplan [00:12:16]:
just
Tanika Haynes [00:12:18]:
how did you become the spokesperson for the industry, though?
Jimmy Lea [00:12:21]:
Right. So if you go back to it and I love him, I love him, I love him. And I already told you, I got hooked. In 2010. Speaking, I was at a conference in Dallas, Texas. We were in the basement for an ASA national conference trade show. I was in the basement. I went up to Bill Haas and I said, hey, Bill, this is who I'm looking for.
Jimmy Lea [00:12:45]:
That's using call tracking numbers and marketing companies, websites, postcards, anything marketing realm that needs to prove that their marketing works. Who do I go talk to? And he gave me five people to go talk to. And I sold this one. I sold this one. I couldn't get a hold of this one. This one was already using call tracking. And then I demoed the last one, and the last one says, hey, I'm not going to buy your product, but I love your pitch, I love your passion, I love what you're talking about. I need a spokesperson.
Jimmy Lea [00:13:16]:
I need somebody to come and speak like you speak, because I am not a speaker, but I need a speaker to evangelize the business. And I was like, yeah, yeah, okay. No, I got this big deal coming. Yeah, you and everybody else. Well, it did come through. And I was working at autovitals.
Tanika Haynes [00:13:41]:
Oh, okay.
Jimmy Lea [00:13:43]:
I was at autovitals for four years talking about digital vehicle inspections. And I went all over all. Almost every state I traveled to. Almost every state except for North Dakota, South Dakota. Yeah, North Dakota, South Dakota. I think those were the only two states that I didn't present in with the digital vehicle inspections. And then I switched and went to Kukui. And I was at Kukui for five and a half years.
Jimmy Lea [00:14:16]:
It doesn't feel like five and a half because you got Covid in the middle of that. And that just screwed up everything. The whole timeline is just messed up. And then had an opportunity to come here to the Institute. So to your question, your question is, how do you present? How do you take that spotlight? How do you be that presenter that engages the entire audience? And it's probably the most simple, difficult thing that you can do. Simple and difficult, meaning you have to bring value. If you're not bringing value to the conversation, value to your presentation, value to the audience, then you shouldn't present. If you're trying to present because you want the spotlight, you want the light shine on you.
Jimmy Lea [00:15:01]:
I want the fame, I want the fortune. That's not the. That's. That's a flash in the pan. If you want endurance, if you want longevity, bring value, bring Value to the service advisors, the managers, the owners bring value to the audience. What do they need? What is it that they can implement on their own? So a lot of my presentations, I will say that here's the things you can implement on your own. And yes, you can go and do this. This is easy.
Jimmy Lea [00:15:29]:
You can't break this. This is stuff. You ought to have somebody hold your hand. Get a nerd, get somebody, get a millennial that knows that. Get a digital native. And I say nerd with all the love and compassion I possibly can, because I love my nerds. They have knowledge and information in areas that I am not an expertise. I can go to them and in five minutes they'll do something that might take me five hours, five days.
Jimmy Lea [00:15:56]:
Five days. Yes, ma'. Am. Absolutely correct. So bringing value to the audience, that's what you have to do. Or it doesn't make any sense, or you shouldn't do it, or it just won't connect because now people can smell it. They can smell, oh, this is all about you.
Tanika Haynes [00:16:18]:
That's the same thing. I think that could apply to service advisors in the front office, in a shop, all the things that you just said.
Jimmy Lea [00:16:27]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:16:28]:
What do you think, Ash? Because I'm thinking if you've got someone that comes to you with a problem and you make the problem out, well, you know, we can do this for you and we can do this and we can do this and we've got these accolades and we. And we're. And we're us, us, us, us, us. And you forget about the customer's needs and wants and what they're actually there for, then that could be very off putting.
Jimmy Lea [00:16:49]:
Yes.
Tanika Haynes [00:16:50]:
So what you said just can apply to shop owners and service advisors. All the same.
Ash Kaplan [00:16:55]:
It's going back to like human nature. You want to be heard, you want to be seen, you want to feel important.
Tanika Haynes [00:17:01]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:17:01]:
We're going to help keep you safe on the road. We're going to repair your vehicle, we're going to make sure that you are safe on the road. Because keeping you safe on the road also keeps me safe on the road.
Tanika Haynes [00:17:11]:
Exactly.
Jimmy Lea [00:17:12]:
But it's all about you right now. It's your baby, your vehicle, your money, your investment. Yes.
Tanika Haynes [00:17:20]:
So do you. What? What do you think? How. I mean, you're going to be with the Institute forever because that, that is. You guys have a big old family going on, but you do other things outside of the Institute. Yeah. Do you do other speaking engagements?
Jimmy Lea [00:17:33]:
I'm available to do them and no, I have not done much.
Tanika Haynes [00:17:36]:
Okay.
Jimmy Lea [00:17:36]:
Outside of the automotive industry and outside of the. The Institute yet.
Tanika Haynes [00:17:42]:
That's my favorite word here lately, is yet for me.
Jimmy Lea [00:17:45]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:17:46]:
Well, because I, I saw that you had, you know, you take the trainings and you, you got a certificate or something that was pretty cool that you.
Jimmy Lea [00:17:53]:
I did. I got the Certified Speaking Professional. It's a CSP designation with the National Speakers Association.
Ash Kaplan [00:18:02]:
That's so cool.
Jimmy Lea [00:18:04]:
Thank you. Thank you. As far as I know, I'm the only one in the automotive aftermarket that has earned this designation.
Ash Kaplan [00:18:11]:
Yes.
Jimmy Lea [00:18:11]:
Though there are many others who could earn it were they to apply for it. Yeah, A lot of the coaches and trainers, I mean that this is the industry of speaking. How can you improve your teaching? How can you improve your training? Yes, you may be able to come and give a lot of really good high intellectual information that goes right over the head of most people. But are you able to connect with the human adult learning as opposed to the way we were taught in elementary school and high school and middle school? That's a different. That's adolescent learning, child learning.
Tanika Haynes [00:18:53]:
So the trainer needs to be trained.
Jimmy Lea [00:18:55]:
The trainer needs to be trained. The speaker needs to be trained. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the art of what we're doing with the National Speakers association is there are coaches there that help you to improve your speaking skills and improve your presentation. Not only that, there's our speaker business as solopreneurs. A lot of these speakers are solopreneurs. They're out hustling. It's the gig economy for them.
Jimmy Lea [00:19:24]:
If they don't sell a gig, they don't put food on the table.
Tanika Haynes [00:19:28]:
Yeah, yeah. So during vision, well, after vision, on the socials, because, you know, the social media is so important. People were complaining about the training, but I don't know if the training is like, oh, it's the same old thing. The same old thing. But maybe just my thought, it was in the delivery. And the trainers are doing an excellent job with the material, but it's the delivery that's the issue, the delivery.
Jimmy Lea [00:19:55]:
And could it also be that the technicians, the service advisors are getting better and they don't need basic intermediate level information anymore. They do need advanced information, advanced level. So it could be one of two things or it could be a combination of both.
Tanika Haynes [00:20:17]:
Right.
Jimmy Lea [00:20:17]:
It's a different lipstick on the same pig. Well, then that gets redundant. I agree. If we need different levels of training, now, here's a beginner level, here's an intermediate level. Here's a advanced level, then, yes, we should be advancing our Skills and our level of delivery and the information we deliver. But what becomes difficult is somebody coming into an advanced class talking about Google. Google my business, and they barely know how to turn on a computer. I've had that happen.
Tanika Haynes [00:20:54]:
Yeah. So I'm gonna. Oh, I found out from Sarah and Tracy because I took some of that class. My word. I don't say. I say so.
Jimmy Lea [00:21:10]:
So that's your so so mental placeholder.
Tanika Haynes [00:21:13]:
That's my mental placeholder. I am working on that. I almost did it just then. And for the rest of this conversation, I am going to try very hard not to say that word on purpose.
Jimmy Lea [00:21:28]:
Excellent.
Tanika Haynes [00:21:29]:
What else? What I was going to ask you is about coaching versus going at it alone. You seem like a coachable type person. Oh, like, you seem like you. You not. You don't seem. You are a person that people look up to. You're a leader. How do you feel about coaching? I know you work for the industry.
Tanika Haynes [00:21:51]:
You work for the institute, which is a coaching company. How do you think that applies to life in general? Let's not talk about cars. Let's just talk about life. Because you seem like you have it all together. I'm not going to assume that you always have it all together, because that would be amazing. And I want some of that peel.
Jimmy Lea [00:22:09]:
You're right. Yeah. No, they don't make them like that. So in the. In the coaching industry, yes, we do coach and train and teach shop owners. And probably the best example I have of why a shop owner needs a shop coach goes to the point that a lot of people we talked to here recently are like, hey, you know what? I know I need coaching and training, but I'm going to get this fixed first. I'm going to get this fixed. I get this fixed, and then.
Jimmy Lea [00:22:37]:
And then I'll come talk to you. And the analogy is, you know what? I'll bet you clean up your house before the maid shows up to clean your house, right?
Tanika Haynes [00:22:49]:
I do. Why?
Jimmy Lea [00:22:53]:
Why are we doing that? Okay, we can let her, but we're not cleaning the house.
Tanika Haynes [00:23:01]:
It does happen. I can. Oh, wow, That's. That's a great analogy.
Jimmy Lea [00:23:05]:
So why would you, as a shop owner, say, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I've got to get my. My GP up first before I can hire a coach. That's why you need a coach, because a coach is going to help you not only do it right, but do it faster. Just like we talk about our computer nerds that do it in five minutes versus five hours. Or five days. Coach is going to help you get there faster.
Jimmy Lea [00:23:29]:
So what should your return be? How quickly can you judge if coaching is effective or not? And it becomes two parts. One is it should take in the three to six months you should see a hockey stick in your business, meaning you've been cruising along at this net profit and then now coaching. You should hockey stick up to a new level of understanding. Three to six months. On the flip side of that, if you are going to a coach and never doing your homework, shame on you. You will never change. Your business will be the same today, tomorrow, and forever. They will never change.
Jimmy Lea [00:24:09]:
No amount of leading that horse to the water will make that horse drink.
Tanika Haynes [00:24:15]:
Yeah, I, I'll keep asking that question to other coaches. Like, when do you tell that person, look, dude, you're wasting my money. Like you're wasting your time. You're. You're wasting my time. You're wasting my money.
Jimmy Lea [00:24:28]:
The first company, that coaching company that I've ever worked at, where if you're not doing your stuff, we're going to ask you to move on down the line. We're here to build the industry and we'll take your money to a certain degree. But at some point that is not painful enough for you to do your homework. That's not painful enough for you to change. Then we either need to raise our price with you because it's not working or you're not working it. And the most of the time is because people aren't working it. They're not doing their homework. Anytime you meet with a coach and that session is an hour every other week, every week, you should probably have in the range of four to five hours of homework that you've got to do working on your business.
Jimmy Lea [00:25:18]:
Now, from that one hour session, you should have four to five hours that you got to work on it.
Tanika Haynes [00:25:24]:
I don't think we can put it into work every week. I. I just can't stand. I know, like, my homework is late and the accountability partners, they'll call you out on it or whatever, but I'm not the best student Jen's gonna get me. I haven't done my homework in the last two weeks. I haven't. I've been traveling so much.
Jimmy Lea [00:25:45]:
Yeah, yeah. Well, I know.
Tanika Haynes [00:25:47]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:25:47]:
Delegation.
Tanika Haynes [00:25:50]:
I've been doing really good. That's one thing that I can say with the institute that I was able to more effectively delegate and get out of my own way.
Jimmy Lea [00:26:01]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:26:02]:
So I can do the working on the business part.
Jimmy Lea [00:26:05]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:26:06]:
I am literally not on the front desk. Anymore. It feels so good. It was scary, but now it feels really, really good. And I don't know what the mindset, what that shift change was for me. I might have to dig into that. I'll just think about that. But what do you think is the one mindset shift that shop owners have, that they get the aha moment and then they start to drink the Kool Aid and then they can start to build the business that they've been dreaming of and they're getting out of their own way?
Jimmy Lea [00:26:35]:
Yeah, I think they go in phases. Most shop owners grow up in the shop, so they grew up turning a wrench, and they love working on cars. And at some point they go through this, oh, I can do it better than you. I can be a better owner than you. I'm going to do this on my own. And so they bust out and do it on their own. What they don't realize is that. That the shop used to charge a hundred bucks an hour.
Jimmy Lea [00:26:59]:
And you thought because they were only paying you 20 bucks an hour, that they were putting 80 bucks an hour in their pocket. Well, that's not true. So here you bust out on your own. You're like, I'm going to charge 60 bucks an hour. You're a dead man walking. You're. The business takes more than 60 bucks an hour.
Tanika Haynes [00:27:18]:
Right.
Jimmy Lea [00:27:19]:
So the. They go through these phases of, oh, I can do it better and I can do it on my own. And. And as technicians, they've had to learn by that school of hard knocks. I had to figure it out on my own. I had to do it on my own. And there comes a point where, man, I just can't figure it out on my own anymore. I need to be a business owner.
Jimmy Lea [00:27:39]:
So there's a phase where they move from being a technician to working in the office. They hire enough techs in the tech that the technicians can work and govern themselves. Now they're working the front counter, the front office. So that's phase two to get them out of phase two. Tanika, you just barely transferred phase two to phase three. Business owner. You work on the business, not in the business. And there's phases that people have to go through.
Jimmy Lea [00:28:06]:
You can't just jump in day one and say, all right, you're out of the shop. You're now a business owner. No, you got to work that owner through those phases to get there so they can get to the position where you are now that you've got the front counter, you've got the people in place that are Taking care of the day to day, the business. They're doing the grinding, they're doing the gears, they are the machine front counters taking care of that business. Technicians, they take care of the cars. You, you have a finger on the pulse of how well the business is doing. And you are working on the business, you're working on the marketing, you're working on the, on the books, on the profit margins, on the profit level, on the efficiencies, the proficiencies. Now you're able to travel to different conferences and trade shows to pour into yourself more learning for yourself, more things you can take back to your shop and implement to become better.
Jimmy Lea [00:29:02]:
And at some point you're going to look at that and go, wow, we did this with one, let's do it with two. And two's good to what shops? And then you're going to want to do three. Now going from one to two is like having kids. One child is a handbag. You can take it anywhere. It's easy. We got this. Two becomes a suitcase, a handbag in a suitcase.
Jimmy Lea [00:29:28]:
Two, if you are not. If you're in the day to day and you're having to drag that kid around everywhere that they've got to go, that's what a parent does. And as a business owner, a shop owner, if you are not in a position, if you're not ready to run it as a business, it's going to become luggage, it's going to become a suitcase and you're going to have to. Everything you do is going to be right along with that suitcase. Three shops, for those that aren't doing it right, it becomes a trunk and you're lugging this trunk everywhere with you. The shop owners that are doing it right are able to put people in place. They have systems, process, procedures. They go from chaos to control.
Jimmy Lea [00:30:09]:
Just like Kent's presentation at Vision. I don't know if you saw that or not.
Tanika Haynes [00:30:12]:
I missed it.
Jimmy Lea [00:30:13]:
Oh, man. He had rave reviews. He had everybody in the palm of his hand. It was phenomenal. 78 people requested a business review.
Tanika Haynes [00:30:25]:
Chaos to control. I think a lot of shop owners think that the chaos is a part of business ownership. You think that you have to have your hand in every bag on everything. I'm guilty of that.
Jimmy Lea [00:30:38]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:30:39]:
Yeah. I got to do this. I've got to put. I've got to talk to each customer, I've got to touch each car. I need to know everything that's going on about everything. I need to do it, do it my way or, or not. Don't do it at all like you have to. I got to touch everything now.
Tanika Haynes [00:30:52]:
I kind of laugh at it. If I walk up front and I see a customer and it's like, hey, Tanika, what's going on with my car? I didn't even know your car was here.
Jimmy Lea [00:31:01]:
I don't know.
Tanika Haynes [00:31:03]:
Let's go find out. Let me find your service advisor. And, you know, for the customers that have known me for a while, that knew me when I would get there at no o' clock in the morning, leave at no o' clock at night, and be there seven days a week, they think it's funny, and I think they're proud of me, but it's kind of hard to do it. But I think people think the chaos is part of business ownership. And it doesn't have to be chaotic. It can be calm.
Jimmy Lea [00:31:28]:
It can be calm if you design it that way. It can be chaotic if you design it that way. What do you desire?
Tanika Haynes [00:31:35]:
I want both. I don't mean because people thrive. No, I don't. I love the comments.
Jimmy Lea [00:31:42]:
And then we will be chaotic at the conference.
Tanika Haynes [00:31:45]:
Yeah, we'll be chaotic at the conference. Conference chaotic. But no, it is so relieving to know that. Oh, my God, trust me, Jen will laugh at this. All the SOPs and all the leadership training and all the words. You're just like, it's not necessary. I'm sitting there. I'm telling you.
Tanika Haynes [00:32:01]:
Michael Smith would laugh. I would sit there and was like, there we go, trying to sell something else. Here we go with the. The word leadership. Leadership, leadership. KPI, SOPs, ABCDEFGs, all that stuff is so legit, man. I love sitting down, writing the process out right now. I love it that I can just put voice chat, gtp, and walk myself, you know, talk myself through what I'm doing.
Tanika Haynes [00:32:26]:
Put that thing on paper so somebody else can do it and say, hey, get this done. Like, Santana's working with me right now. And I said, santana, this is the task I want you to do. Give that to me. I need it by this date and this time. And I walk away and say, look at me. I'm a boss. And not.
Ash Kaplan [00:32:47]:
And.
Tanika Haynes [00:32:47]:
And having a staff that is better and smarter than you.
Jimmy Lea [00:32:57]:
Let them do it.
Tanika Haynes [00:32:58]:
Let them do it. It's like I was saying, it's like the kid, you know, your parent, you're saying, okay, your stores are like your kids. You're a parent. And Jimmy can't tie his shoes, but Jimmy's gonna have to figure out how to tie his own shoes. You can tie them every day, or you could velcro on it. Then he'll get picked at as an adult. But the first time, he might not tie that knot as tight as he should and just let Jimmy do it. I don't care if it takes Jimmy seven minutes to tie that one shoe.
Tanika Haynes [00:33:23]:
And if Jimmy put his shoes on backwards, let Jimmy put the shoes on backwards. Eventually Jimmy figure out that they hurt his feet. But you gotta teach Jimmy how to do it. And that is a hard thing to do as a business owner and a mother or father, because you think about it, if you could just go tie Jimmy's shoes, you can get out that door a lot quicker and get to the grocery store and get it over with. Just brush Jimmy's teeth for him. And I don't know why I'm just Jimmy, you're the kid right now.
Jimmy Lea [00:33:50]:
But I can handle it. I can take it.
Tanika Haynes [00:33:52]:
But you do know how to talk.
Ash Kaplan [00:33:53]:
I'm very guilty of that. Yeah. I'm so guilty.
Tanika Haynes [00:33:56]:
You know, it's called micromanaging. But we think if we just. I could just do it myself, and I do it faster. And I know what's right. Do you? Is your right. Is your way really right all the time?
Ash Kaplan [00:34:05]:
I don't know.
Tanika Haynes [00:34:06]:
I've learned that in the shop. Is not.
Ash Kaplan [00:34:09]:
I jumped in workflow the other day because I did. I did that. I was like. I was getting fresh. I'm not a patient person by nature, so it's something I'm working on. And I jump in, and I'm like, you know what? Let me just do this. And then I did something wrong and I made a mistake or I sent something to the wrong shop, and I ended up sending the shop message. And I said, see what happens when I try to jump in? Like, let me just, like, leave my team to just do it.
Ash Kaplan [00:34:30]:
I've trained them. I trust them. I just need to step back. It's hard.
Tanika Haynes [00:34:35]:
And then it leaves us opportunities to build, build, build, build, build, build. So that mindset that you can run a business, it doesn't have to be chaotic. It can be rewarding. Yeah, you can trust people, but you just got to get the right people in place.
Jimmy Lea [00:34:52]:
That's right. That's right. So what has coaching done for you, Tanika?
Tanika Haynes [00:34:58]:
Actually, it has ruined my life. I don't know what to do with myself anymore. I got all this time. Woe is me. It's freed me up. It's freed me up. It's lowered my blood pressure.
Jimmy Lea [00:35:13]:
Nice.
Tanika Haynes [00:35:14]:
I love to watch my team Interact with each other. I love the team that I've built. Some. Some of them have not made it. Some of them had to fall by the wayside on the way on this journey of becoming Browns Automotive, becoming that team. I've loved that I've been able to redirect certain employees and help their mindset and teach them what it is to be like on a team. And the way I've been able to do that is from the coaches that I've had and taking that information back and implementing it, having hard conversations, understanding the disk assessment and how people are different. And you have to talk to people differently.
Tanika Haynes [00:36:01]:
And certain tasks are for certain people. But on a personal level, just watching them interact with each other makes me so happy. It is beyond. It's beyond money. I know that sounds cheesy because you can't buy but so many things, but I know why I feel like I'm making a difference in eight people's lives right now. I started out with three employees. Now I'm up to eight. And yesterday, before I had to run to Charlotte, which is about two hours away, I went to the shop just for a second, and I walked around and I physically gave everybody a hug because I hadn't been at work for a full day in almost two weeks.
Tanika Haynes [00:36:46]:
I was like, I miss you weirdos. Yeah, this is my team. I'm providing, helping them feed their families. We're learning, we're growing. Technicians are learning and growing. Front office learning and growing. I've got one young lady I know she's not going to be a forever employee because she's in school, but I feel like there's so many things that I can teach her on an auntie level, on a business level, communications, things like that, that 10 years from now, she'll be able to say, I learned that from Ms. Tanika.
Tanika Haynes [00:37:20]:
I learned that from Brown's Automotive. And she'll be able to take that skill into another job. So coaching has allowed me to be the business owner that is really not all about the money. The money comes by default.
Jimmy Lea [00:37:36]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:37:36]:
It will come. If you set everything in place. You get to write margins, you get your right aro, you get your right client base, you know, the right customer, the avatar. You do your marketing right, you pay your people right, your front office is doing their job. It all works out. And so those benchmarks are hit almost magically.
Jimmy Lea [00:38:00]:
Yeah. And you said a key word there, Tanika, is that you have to have it set up right.
Tanika Haynes [00:38:06]:
Right.
Jimmy Lea [00:38:07]:
If it's set up wrong and you think it's magically gonna appear. It's not gonna.
Tanika Haynes [00:38:13]:
Yeah, it's not gonna fix itself. No, it's not going to fix itself.
Jimmy Lea [00:38:17]:
It's not going to fix itself. There's too many holes, too much to do. And because you don't know what to do, chances are you don't have a coach. You need a coach.
Tanika Haynes [00:38:27]:
Right.
Jimmy Lea [00:38:27]:
A coach is that person that can stand back, has no emotional connection to your business or to. To you. I mean, yes, there is, but there's no emotional att attachment. A coach can say to you, hey, look, you need to raise your labor rate by $60 an hour.
Tanika Haynes [00:38:47]:
I can't do that.
Jimmy Lea [00:38:50]:
Do you know there was a guy Cecil was training a guy here in Salt Lake area, Salt Lake Valley. Doubled his average repair order. Sorry, Sorry. Doubled his labor rate. Doubled his door rate. Because he attended a conference that Cecil was presenting at and actually turned into a business where it was a very expensive hobby that he was supplementing.
Tanika Haynes [00:39:17]:
Expensive hobbies. A lot of shop owners have that. Because I think. It's not that they're. They're not stupid. They just don't know. But they also, like you say you come from a technician.
Jimmy Lea [00:39:27]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:39:27]:
And the technician that turns into a shop owner. And you think that the boss is making all of the money because you don't understand the. The numbers part.
Jimmy Lea [00:39:36]:
Yep.
Tanika Haynes [00:39:36]:
But what happens is they think they're helping the community because they're giving away a lower price.
Jimmy Lea [00:39:43]:
Yep. They're selling out there.
Tanika Haynes [00:39:45]:
Yeah. They're. They think they're helping the community, but. Yeah, you're just helping people take advantage of you. But if you want to be the quality place and you want to give your employees health insurance, I would have never thought that I could afford health insurance for my employees. So when a customer complains about the price of stuff. Oh, you're higher than this place. I am.
Tanika Haynes [00:40:06]:
But my employees have health insurance and dental insurance and life insurance just like you do. And I mean, I can say it with a smile because I've learned if you say stuff with a smile, it works so nicely. Like, yeah, there's things that's happening back here, like expenses. And my employees are well taken care of. And they'll say, I never thought about it like that. Because they don't think about the industry as a bunch of professionals.
Jimmy Lea [00:40:31]:
No, no.
Tanika Haynes [00:40:32]:
Think about the industry is greasy. People that just fix cars, just dirty knuckles. But there's a company, and I love buying their stuff. Dirty hands, but clean money. Yeah, we're the people. We're the people that are keeping you safe on this road. Your car is one of the most expensive things that you're going to purchase. Why do you want the cheapest way out? Your car can kill you and your family and people around you.
Tanika Haynes [00:41:01]:
Why do you want the cheapest way out? And why do you want the uneducated technician? Shade tree mechanic? We're not going to disrespect, but there's some people, like your uncle, cousin, brother next door's neighbor to fix this vehicle that keeps you safe. It lets you go to work to make the money to buy the things that you love. But you want to disrespect the industry and that technician by asking for discounts. And things should be cheap. And the Internet said this and that. Whatever.
Jimmy Lea [00:41:37]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:41:37]:
Oh, yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:41:39]:
You want to think about the future when we travel to Mars or if we go back to the moon or when we travel to a galaxy far, far away?
Tanika Haynes [00:41:48]:
I ain't going.
Jimmy Lea [00:41:49]:
Who? Yeah, I don't think. I don't know.
Tanika Haynes [00:41:51]:
I want to go there. You guys can go.
Jimmy Lea [00:41:53]:
I. I did the orange line at Disney World for going to Mars.
Ash Kaplan [00:41:57]:
You're good?
Tanika Haynes [00:41:58]:
I'm good.
Jimmy Lea [00:41:59]:
Tell me about cured me. I am so good. I'm staying. But those that are gonna go, the first people that are gonna go are going to be technicians. Those who can fix a machine on the go, those that can build a plane while everything is falling to the earth, those that can make stuff happen and make it work. Those are the ones that are going to go first to these distant places, to these grand adventures, wherever it might be. Whether it's in the depths of the ocean or depths of the Amazon rainforest. You've got to have technicians, somebody that can be there to figure out the fuel and the air and the combustion.
Jimmy Lea [00:42:41]:
Okay, now the engine's running where somebody who doesn't know, doesn't know.
Tanika Haynes [00:42:48]:
How do you think we can get more respect for the technicians, the industry, period? Like, everybody's talking about changing the industry, changing the industry. But I think we gotta, we have to come up with a plan.
Jimmy Lea [00:42:59]:
It's. We have to educate the public, the mass public, the moms and the dads, the moms and the dads that have kids in high schools where currently the counselors are shoving down everybody's throat. College, college, college. You have to go to college. You have to go to college. No, you don't. No, you don't. You can go to a trade school.
Jimmy Lea [00:43:24]:
You can. Absolutely, you can. In fact, right now you can live very well in a trade as a tradesman from A trade school. The automotive industry just happens to be the pinnacle of education. Training, learning tools, equipment, scanners. That is required to do it. If you want to be a good tradesman, then carry a small toolbox, H Vac, that's your jam. Be an electrician.
Jimmy Lea [00:43:53]:
They, they don't have much tools compared to the automotive industry. Yeah. 110 and 220, that's. That's all you got to worry about. Well, and there's some that get into the 440s. I had uncles lineman. And then they started.
Tanika Haynes [00:44:09]:
Cool.
Ash Kaplan [00:44:10]:
That's hard work.
Jimmy Lea [00:44:11]:
Yeah. Yeah, it is hard work. Then after that they started their own electrical business for residential. And they're like, man, this is so easy.
Tanika Haynes [00:44:21]:
I mean I. My electrician, who's also a customer and a family friend, can't find anybody. But you said it does start at home. It does start at home. I remember Jordan is around December, November was going to school with me. Jordan, my youngest son, he was not himself one morning. He has a very, very bubbly personality. I don't know if you got to meet him at asta, but the boy is something else.
Jimmy Lea [00:44:47]:
He was running the, the DJ booth.
Tanika Haynes [00:44:50]:
Yeah. the poker night. Yeah. So he's not himself. And I'm like, what's wrong? And he said, mom, I'm not getting acceptance letters. And I'm thinking, so I didn't know you applied, you wanted. I had no idea he was applying to four year universities. Somehow I dropped the ball.
Tanika Haynes [00:45:09]:
Being a shop owner, second generation, I had him believing that up. I don't know how I did it, but that you should go to college. He thought he needed to go to college to make me happy. I was like, no, boy, I'm not paying for you to go somewhere for four years just to party and end up with a baskin weaving degree that you can't do anything with. So there's a, there's a shame there. My own son felt who family owns a business, felt like he needed to go to university.
Jimmy Lea [00:45:41]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:45:42]:
So. But we sent him to uti. He went there and he soared. Now he's down at the Mercedes school in Florida. He's going to. Yeah. So yeah, I think it is a great idea to get more traits in the school. My dad went to school.
Tanika Haynes [00:45:55]:
They had an automotive program, body shop and mechanical. A lot of these schools don't have that anymore. When I was in school, you could go to school for Barbara. Cosmetology, nursing, automotive shop, welding. They had all of those little programs in it. What are they doing now? Is There any of that? I know some schools still have it, but I'm pretty sure like maybe one per district.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:19]:
Yeah, my high school had like a hand. I don't remember what it was called, but it was like just a hands on trade class. And it did. It dived into a little bit of each thing. Like they learned how to work on circuits. They learned how to do some minor construction. They learned like, I think one time they touched a car. But it never like went into detail of each trade for people to really figure out what they wanted to do.
Jimmy Lea [00:46:44]:
It was like a very broad brush exposure to it all.
Ash Kaplan [00:46:48]:
Like a blue collar home EC class.
Jimmy Lea [00:46:51]:
Yeah. They would have been better off having a Boy Scout merit badge handbook.
Tanika Haynes [00:46:58]:
Sounds like it.
Jimmy Lea [00:46:58]:
Dive into each one that. I love the Scout Scouting program for that. The merit badges that they have. I mean, you got people like Steven Spielsberg that discovered photography and cinema cinematography. Because of the Boy Scouts. The photography bear badge.
Tanika Haynes [00:47:15]:
Why do you know that?
Jimmy Lea [00:47:17]:
I'm a Scout master. I was 18 years old.
Tanika Haynes [00:47:19]:
Okay. How do you know Steven Spielberg?
Jimmy Lea [00:47:24]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:47:25]:
I'm putting you on jeopardy.
Jimmy Lea [00:47:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. So most of your very first astronauts were all Eagle scouts.
Tanika Haynes [00:47:35]:
I've got one customer. She's got.
Ash Kaplan [00:47:36]:
I did 4H.
Tanika Haynes [00:47:40]:
I didn't do any of that stuff. I did. It was busy. Shoot.
Jimmy Lea [00:47:43]:
Your dad threw you the keys when you were 16. How you have. There you go.
Tanika Haynes [00:47:50]:
Yeah, I have my own.
Ash Kaplan [00:47:51]:
Your own?
Tanika Haynes [00:47:52]:
My own brown Scout. Oh, my goodness, that man. I need a lot of badges. I need a co. Badges on it. I went through the trenches.
Jimmy Lea [00:48:02]:
Yeah, you did trenches.
Tanika Haynes [00:48:03]:
It was good. I wouldn't trade it for anything. But like you said. I do agree, Jimmy, that if we had more parents understanding that everybody's not meant to go to four years. Don't waste your money. See what that kid wants to do.
Jimmy Lea [00:48:17]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:48:18]:
Don't push it on. Because even with Santana and Jordan, I never. I knew Jordan. Jordan's been tinkering and playing with Legos since he could crawl. I really knew that with Jordan, but with Santana, I didn't know what he wanted to do. But about three weeks ago, he did ask to come work at the shop, but I didn't want to force him into it. I didn't want to force him say, well, this is our family business. You should be here.
Tanika Haynes [00:48:40]:
I want him to want to be there. And he's not a technician. He doesn't have a technical brain at all when it comes to cars anyway. But at the front office, that boy is shining. I'm so tickled. I Am so tickled. I hope he doesn't get to hear this cuz you're doing a terrible job. Do better.
Tanika Haynes [00:49:00]:
Go back to work. Boy.
Jimmy Lea [00:49:01]:
What? Are you listening?
Tanika Haynes [00:49:03]:
You should be. But even we talk about blue collar. But imagine a young girl, young guy who loves cars enough, but they are more of a servant type spirit. Imagine that person at the front desk. Love it.
Jimmy Lea [00:49:24]:
That'd be phenomenal.
Tanika Haynes [00:49:26]:
That would be great. So we have all kind of ways to get these kids, these young people into the industry, but and make the industry look better and actually learn from them. I think by default everything will work out. And we really, like you said, we have to show the public that we are a wonderful industry and we're very important, necessary, gotta have us. There's no. Nobody's gonna be driving spaceships like on the Jetsons. And if we did, we would still not have technicians to work on them.
Jimmy Lea [00:49:54]:
Yep.
Tanika Haynes [00:49:54]:
To work on the spaceships.
Ash Kaplan [00:49:56]:
You know something Lola does. Is this like the skills teeny text? Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:50:01]:
It is so perfect. I think that is so smart. I want to do that. I think I'm gonna do it this summer. She puts her heart and soul in that. Do you know about that, Jimmy?
Jimmy Lea [00:50:10]:
Oh yeah. She does a phenomenal job. Having the kids come in and they get a run an air hammer and they get a turn wrenches. Yeah. It's phenomenal. I think she's doing a phenomenal job. Yes.
Ash Kaplan [00:50:20]:
Yeah. There's a company out in Arizona that it's like a skills lab that they take a car and tools and they go to a school and they like host a class. And I think that's so cool. I think we could be doing a lot more of that because.
Tanika Haynes [00:50:37]:
True. I think the institute needs to come up with a template to put that together.
Jimmy Lea [00:50:43]:
We're working on it.
Tanika Haynes [00:50:45]:
I know you are.
Jimmy Lea [00:50:46]:
We are. In fact, we're working with Weber, the college, the university to come up with continuing education certification that Imagine if you will, as a participant, as a member of the institute, you take all these classes and courses and they qualify you for college credit. And after so many years you get a BA and then you can get a BS Bachelor of Science in Leadership in Business Management in. Why? Because everything we're doing is what you can also learn in college. Accounting, payroll, hr, Marketing, sales.
Ash Kaplan [00:51:34]:
Yeah. That's the secret. I went to school for business management and accounting. I have learned far more being in the shop and now owning my own business.
Tanika Haynes [00:51:46]:
So true.
Jimmy Lea [00:51:47]:
You always do. You. You can learn the theater. The theory of it. The theory of it. You can learn the theoretical, but once you put it into practice, you learn even more.
Tanika Haynes [00:51:59]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:52:00]:
When you are there in the trenches. And now I need a. I need a tool. It has to be metal. It has to be hard. And I need to be this far apart so I can turn this nut here. Just. What's that called? Oh, that's a.
Jimmy Lea [00:52:12]:
That's a spanner. That's British for you. It's a. It's a.
Tanika Haynes [00:52:15]:
Wonder what that is. Okay.
Ash Kaplan [00:52:19]:
Something new.
Tanika Haynes [00:52:21]:
I think I learned more from college because I was working at the same time. I took classes on Tuesday and Thursday, but I worked at the shop Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And I would come in because my dad is the shop owner that started off as the technician.
Jimmy Lea [00:52:38]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:52:38]:
So there was things that he was missing.
Jimmy Lea [00:52:41]:
Yeah.
Tanika Haynes [00:52:41]:
As far as accounting and payroll and tax laws and all of these things. HR things. Marketing. I remember that he used to hate when I would be on Facebook. Oh, yeah, I was on your phone. But that is marketing, dad. I'm telling him what we're doing at the shop and he didn't get it. So that is that hands on experience.
Tanika Haynes [00:53:00]:
I feel like that kind of skyrocketed me for sure.
Jimmy Lea [00:53:03]:
I love it. I love it.
Tanika Haynes [00:53:04]:
But I did get on his nerves too.
Jimmy Lea [00:53:07]:
My. My brother went. He graduated from byu, has an A degree in economics. And then he went to work in the world. And he came with me. We were at Nevada Packaging for a while, selling boxes and bubble wrap, loose fill tape, that kind of stuff for packaging. And he was there for a minute and then he got. He trans.
Jimmy Lea [00:53:26]:
He got a different job. The general manager for a warehouse. Toys. Warehouse, it's called Mars. And they sold toys. And so he was always in the fulfillment. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Not that he was.
Jimmy Lea [00:53:37]:
He had a whole team. But then he came here to Salt Lake and he was working for some real estate companies. Then he went and worked for this big conglomerate PE company. And they said, this is the. This is the ceiling. Eric, you're not going to go any further than this. How come? Business acumen. What do I need to do? Master's degree.
Jimmy Lea [00:53:59]:
Okay. He went, he applied, he got into University of Utah, master's program in his classes. The instructors up there hate it. I'm sure he hated my brother being in this class because he would give the instruction and say, and what should you do? What's the case study? And the textbook answer. Textbook answer. Textbook answer. Comes to my brother and says, well, it just. It depends.
Jimmy Lea [00:54:25]:
There's so many factors that you haven't clarified in this situation that I can't give you an honest, good answer. What do you mean? Well, you didn't talk about this, this, and this. Because it'll affect this in this way. And what about this, this, and this over here? It'll affect it in this way. You didn't even talk about that. Well, that's not even part of the case study. Yeah, but for me to give you a good answer, don't I need to know this? Because he had real life experience. Book experience.
Jimmy Lea [00:54:57]:
He had real life experience. Completely different course for him. Completely different class, completely different experience. And I'm certain that those professors were glad when he was done.
Tanika Haynes [00:55:08]:
Yeah, please get him out of here. He knows everything. Professors never worked a job in their flipping lives. All they did was teach. Out of what?
Jimmy Lea [00:55:15]:
Yeah, some haven't. Some have. It just. It's. It depends. Yeah, that's correct. Those in marketing will teach you the history of marketing. Those that were accounting, hopefully they were an accountant.
Jimmy Lea [00:55:31]:
Hopefully they had some time as. As an accountant. Hopefully.
Tanika Haynes [00:55:34]:
That never changes, though. Accounting is pretty like math.
Jimmy Lea [00:55:39]:
Yeah. Go into core math. Common core math. Oh, forget about it.
Tanika Haynes [00:55:44]:
Oh, my goodness. You talking about wanting to fight some kids when they were in school, I was like, I. Oh, my.
Jimmy Lea [00:55:51]:
I remember.
Tanika Haynes [00:55:52]:
I. I really have a good relationship with their sixth grade teacher still. Because I wanted to fight Steve Harrison. Listen, I'm not trying to learn math again. I know the answer. But you have to show the work, Mom. You got to show the work. I ain't got to show nothing.
Jimmy Lea [00:56:06]:
Yeah, I got it figured out. Oh, that's. That's funny.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:11]:
I would love to finish a degree. I've been to school three times, dropped out each time. I'd love to finish one, but that's. My struggle is in the real world. It's so different. I get frustrated and I'm like, you know what? I've gotten what I needed from it, and I'm gonna go back to the real world.
Jimmy Lea [00:56:27]:
Well, look at Steve Jobs. He never graduated. Steve Jobs never graduated from college. He went to the college. He never paid for college. He would just show up to class, get what he needed, up on the floor at his friend's house, developed Apple, Apple kicked him out. He developed Pixar, sold Pixar, bought Apple back.
Ash Kaplan [00:56:49]:
So what you're saying, Jimmy, is I don't need a degree to be a genius?
Jimmy Lea [00:56:53]:
Yeah, no, you don't. You really don't.
Tanika Haynes [00:56:55]:
You born that way.
Jimmy Lea [00:56:57]:
Yeah. And if you had a degree, what would it mean? It's a piece to me.
Ash Kaplan [00:57:01]:
Nothing. I Think it's just the art of completing it.
Jimmy Lea [00:57:05]:
Yes.
Ash Kaplan [00:57:05]:
And getting past the finish line, but. And I'm a forever student. I want to keep going back, but again, I don't know if I'll ever get to the degree because there's so much unnecessary things you have to do to get a degree. So if I'm not going to go pursue a career in xyz, why am I going to put myself through the financial and mental strain of things I don't need? So I will probably go back to school 1700 more times and not finish.
Tanika Haynes [00:57:31]:
What you said is Santana's problem right now. Like, mom, this is not. This has nothing to do with life.
Jimmy Lea [00:57:38]:
There's a lot of online schools that you could probably work.
Ash Kaplan [00:57:41]:
Yeah, I'm obsessed with Coursera. That's what I love.
Jimmy Lea [00:57:45]:
Oh, nice.
Ash Kaplan [00:57:47]:
Have you heard of it?
Jimmy Lea [00:57:48]:
I haven't, no. No.
Ash Kaplan [00:57:49]:
Yeah. So it pulls courses from universities, so it's all actual accredited college courses, and you pay 60 bucks a month, and you can just do a course at your pace, get the certification, do another course.
Tanika Haynes [00:58:03]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea [00:58:04]:
Nice. That's. That's awesome.
Tanika Haynes [00:58:07]:
So to wrap it up, like shop owners, Coursera, get your degree. Well, don't micromanage. Sign up for coaching at the institute. Get a coach. Everybody needs a coach. I know some people are like, no, Tanika, everybody doesn't need a coach. I believe that everybody needs some sort of coaching, whether it's in your life or in your business, because you don't know what you don't know, and you need to get out of your own way. And once you do all of that, all the guests from God will come and fall upon you, and you will be more successful than you were the day before.
Tanika Haynes [00:58:37]:
And you can do that with the Institute and Jimmy Lee. Tell them. How do they get in touch with the Institute?
Jimmy Lea [00:58:43]:
Go right to our website. We are the institute Dot com. Click on Get a demo or get a business review. Let's connect. We're all over all the social medias. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Yeah, we're on TikTok. Go to YouTube.
Jimmy Lea [00:58:58]:
We have tons of content on YouTube. There have been people that have come to us after going through all 161 hours of content that we've got on YouTube and implemented it in their shop. And they're like, oh, my gosh, we implemented this. We implemented this. We did this. We did this. We're ready for coaching now.
Tanika Haynes [00:59:19]:
Give me more. Give me more.
Jimmy Lea [00:59:20]:
All right, well, you've probably done everything. All right, let's do it. So we, yeah, there's a ton of content there that you can implement from YouTube. Come to our, our intensives. We have a leadership intensive, a financial intensive, sales intensives. These are two to three day courses that you come right into. Ogden, Utah. So if you're a snowboarder, come to the winter ones.
Jimmy Lea [00:59:44]:
If you're a mountain biker, come to the summer ones and we'll just go have a good time, we'll learn and have fun and we'll just take it up to the next level. In October, we've got marketing for automotive repair shops. Mars Mars Marketing Conference in Mars in October. It's not in Mars, but it's at the headquarters.
Tanika Haynes [01:00:09]:
You're so unserious. I love it. I love your energy, I love your life. I love that you're such a bright light in the industry. If no one has told you that, I'm telling you that now. And just we ask that you continue to do what you're doing and, and teach us how to duplicate it and how to make it whole. Trickle effect and help us bring the industry up. One day at the time, One shop at the time, One shop at a time.
Tanika Haynes [01:00:36]:
Well, Jimmy, I do appreciate you spending the time with us today.
Jimmy Lea [01:00:41]:
Thank you, Tanika. I appreciate you.
Ash Kaplan [01:00:42]:
I want to say thank you as well, just for being who you are. Because every single time I get to see you somewhere, it's the highlight of the event. I'm like, oh, I'm going to sema and I see Jimmy and I'm like, yes. And you always remember my name. And I'm like, that makes me feel good.
Tanika Haynes [01:00:57]:
Yeah, it's like a beacon. It's this. The coat is everything. It's so much more than just a coat and we do appreciate it.
Jimmy Lea [01:01:05]:
Thank you. And one of these times we'll have to have a conversation about Back to the Future and Doc Brown and we'll tell you all about the jackets.
Tanika Haynes [01:01:13]:
That's scary. Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations. Hosted by myself, second generation shop owner, Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy, mindset and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts. You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time. This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter and leveling up.