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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]:
Was hauling ass to work and I was driving like a moron and I was passing like eight cars on, on this little two lane highway. And one of them was one of our technicians and he just saw me and he knew it was me and I knew it was him, you know. And the next turn comes around and there was loose gravel in the turn that I got, baby. I low slide. I low sided and I had frame sliders on it because I was a very aggressive driver. And I knew that I was going to have downs and slid off and I hopped up. I was like, man, damn it. I'm walking over to start fighting my bike up and get it out of the ditch.
Mike Allen [00:00:30]:
And he pulls over and he is laughing so hard and he grabs my tank and he's just. Mountain of a man. He grabs my tank bag, throws it in the back of the truck. You have it when you get to the shop and picks up my bike and says, get to work. Off I go.
Mike Allen [00:00:44]:
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 associates associations we may have. There may be some spicy language in this show, so if she gets your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, it's time for Confessions of a Shop Owner with your host, Mike Allen.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:16]:
I want to be careful. It might be flat. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Jim Kokonis was very close to it.
Mike Allen [00:01:22]:
Okay. And he's a passionate speaker, if you know what I say. So. No. So we. We were trying to record with Jim Kokonis of today's class. So I think you know, and Justin Allen of Hunter Engineering, who I think everybody knows. Right.
Mike Allen [00:01:38]:
And we've been trying to get a recording down with them since day one.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:43]:
And our first attempt was like February.
Mike Allen [00:01:46]:
And it was an amazing episode. And the files were corrupted and so it was lost.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:50]:
We lost the episode.
Mike Allen [00:01:51]:
And then we had two attempts with technological difficulties.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:56]:
One or two.
Mike Allen [00:01:56]:
One or two.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:57]:
And then today, one time, Jim was in the middle of moving and he was on hotel WI fi. He was homeless.
Mike Allen [00:02:02]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:03]:
Living in a hotel. Only for like two weeks.
Mike Allen [00:02:05]:
Yeah. He had a quick close on his house. It sold immediately.
Darrin Barney [00:02:09]:
Oh, man.
Mike Allen [00:02:10]:
And he had to wait to close on for the sellers to get out of the house that he had bought.
Darrin Barney [00:02:14]:
Right.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:15]:
Oh, my gosh.
Mike Allen [00:02:16]:
And so this morning was like, oh, we're finally gonna make it happen. And then I didn't have My fourth camera set up and so I stole a camera from the podcast booth next door and a microphone and got it all hooked up. We got 45 minutes because I got to get all their shit back over there and plugged in.
Darrin Barney [00:02:32]:
But it worked out.
Mike Allen [00:02:33]:
So finally got it. But so I would say. Darren Barney.
Darrin Barney [00:02:40]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:02:41]:
Elite Worldwide and Elite Pro Service returning to the podcast for the second time.
Darrin Barney [00:02:48]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:02:48]:
Last time you were here you got about a million and a half views, so good job. I'm going to need you to one, one up that this time.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:57]:
So bring your want a solid 1.7 million this time.
Mike Allen [00:03:02]:
I think we're going to need to focus on efficiency and.
Darrin Barney [00:03:06]:
Just.
Mike Allen [00:03:07]:
I'm going to go with a half million views per 10 minute segment.
Darrin Barney [00:03:10]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:03:10]:
That'll work.
Darrin Barney [00:03:11]:
Yeah, that works.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:12]:
Actually, I think you calculated that wrong. I think a guy like you would calculate it six minutes at a time. Typically.
Mike Allen [00:03:18]:
Yeah, yeah. For six minutes. For 10 per 10th. Yeah. Because it's all about the hours. So.
Darrin Barney [00:03:26]:
No pressure though.
Mike Allen [00:03:26]:
Yeah, no pressure. So we have a very technically minded shop owner.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:33]:
I don't know about technically minded. Just I know a couple of things.
Mike Allen [00:03:37]:
Not tech. Well, you're a technician minded shop owner.
Darrin Barney [00:03:41]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:03:42]:
And I'm an evil shop owner who only cares about money over all other things.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:46]:
I only care about fixing cars.
Mike Allen [00:03:48]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:03:50]:
And there's a happy medium. You know, that's what. That's.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:53]:
We had to learn to be quite honestly honest. We're. We're like into probably, you know, if the happy medium is at, you know, if. If he's 0 and I'm 100. We're at 70.
Darrin Barney [00:04:06]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:06]:
We're at.
Mike Allen [00:04:07]:
Did you just call me a 0?
Darrin Barney [00:04:09]:
I. Whoa.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:10]:
Put you on the 0 side intentionally?
Mike Allen [00:04:12]:
I mean, you know what, Mike?
Darrin Barney [00:04:14]:
You're higher than a zero for me. I just. Wait.
Mike Allen [00:04:15]:
Thank you. On a scale.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:16]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:04:18]:
Of weight from 0 to 100, I would be closer to 0 than you.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:22]:
I will. There's no sumo suits to protect you.
Mike Allen [00:04:28]:
Okay. So last time you were on.
Darrin Barney [00:04:31]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:04:31]:
We were at Vision and Brian wasn't there. So you're getting to meet Brian today, which is exciting. This is really cool.
Darrin Barney [00:04:36]:
I've seen him online. But you know that Mietta video. So. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:04:39]:
That was good.
Darrin Barney [00:04:40]:
So I come from Grand Junction and that's where flying miatas from.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:43]:
Oh, okay.
Darrin Barney [00:04:44]:
And they do all the LS swaps into me. So I saw that and I was.
Mike Allen [00:04:47]:
Like, they actually make. Where they actually make miatas kind of cool. As opposed to me. I'm riding around with 94 horsepower.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:52]:
Somebody mentioned LS swapping and I thought a 4BT Cummins was more my speed. I'm like, dude, you got to put a 4BT in that. I worked with a guy, just a.
Mike Allen [00:05:00]:
Diesel smokestack right out of the hood.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:02]:
Yeah. I worked at a guy with a dealer that had a 4BT and a Nissan 3 300.
Mike Allen [00:05:06]:
That's ridiculous and amazing.
Darrin Barney [00:05:08]:
See, why not do a 6BT though? That's the thing. Just I don't know if it fit you. Make it fit.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:14]:
It will fit. You have to externally mount the radio.
Darrin Barney [00:05:17]:
You gotta, you gotta torch the welder.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:19]:
You'd probably cut the trunk out. Put the radiator down in the trunk with a couple cooling fans. I mean, you can do it.
Darrin Barney [00:05:24]:
Yeah, yeah, anything.
Mike Allen [00:05:26]:
Have you seen the trunk? It's really small. It can fit my book bag.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:29]:
I promise it'll fit a radiator. You take the spare tire and your team new stabilizer links out.
Mike Allen [00:05:34]:
So it's the last day of. No, I can't make that admission on the radio. I was going to talk about what I accidentally brought to the convention and I put it in the trunk of the Miata.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:46]:
Oh, yeah.
Mike Allen [00:05:47]:
When I realized. And it was a measurable percentage of the trunk capacity was taken up by. By that handheld device.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:54]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:05:55]:
So it was like. It's tiny. Yeah. Yeah. What are you gonna do? It's accidental. I'm. I'm used to coming to these conventions where I gotta fly.
Darrin Barney [00:06:02]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:06:02]:
So I leave most of those handheld devices at the house, you know, and I didn't have to fly this time. I just threw my book back in the truck like normal.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:08]:
Or when I was going. When I was driving away from my house on Wednesday morning, early in the morning.
Mike Allen [00:06:14]:
We're talking about my iPad, by the way.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:16]:
Yeah, yeah, iPad. So I left my cordless hole. I. Obviously to fly, I gotta leave my cordless hole puncher at home.
Mike Allen [00:06:22]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:22]:
And I, you know, get to Tim Hortons drive thru and you know, I'm big guy. I got a big truck, but, you know, you're a big guy. So I gotta unbuckle my seat belt to get in my wallet. And as I hit my seatbelt, I was cordless hole puncher equipped. And I. Luckily I was only two minutes from my house. So I got my iced coffee, I turned around, went home, put it in the safe, and then went to the airport.
Mike Allen [00:06:42]:
You don't just have it every day.
Darrin Barney [00:06:44]:
Gotta be careful.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:44]:
Every day. Every day.
Mike Allen [00:06:45]:
I mean, you think about it, there's a lot of those in glove boxes at the Airport parking deck every day. Right. I mean, you don't have to go.
Darrin Barney [00:06:51]:
To the house must.
Mike Allen [00:06:53]:
It's a great place to go shopping for off brand in.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:56]:
In New York state, your vehicle is not considered a secure place to store.
Mike Allen [00:07:00]:
That somebody steals People's Republic of New York instead.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:04]:
Yeah. The People's Republic of Kathy Hochul. Instead of really going after the person who broke into your vehicle and is illegally possessing your cordless hole puncher, they will actually charge you for not securing your iPad.
Mike Allen [00:07:16]:
Your iPad mini.
Darrin Barney [00:07:17]:
Yeah, yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:18]:
Pro.
Mike Allen [00:07:18]:
Yeah, yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:19]:
With.
Mike Allen [00:07:21]:
So last time you were on.
Darrin Barney [00:07:22]:
Yes, sir.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:22]:
Sorry.
Mike Allen [00:07:23]:
We talked about your history and Barney Brothers and your automotive focused business and how you became a coaching client of Elite. And then you became a coach. Right. With Elite. And then you became the owner of Elite.
Darrin Barney [00:07:39]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:07:40]:
I would really enjoy. That's quite the progression. Right?
Bryan Pollock [00:07:44]:
That's very cool.
Darrin Barney [00:07:45]:
Fun journey. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:07:46]:
The. The student became the master. Right. It's like you're like a living kung fu movie.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:51]:
You just explained that. I'm starting to sweat a little bit.
Mike Allen [00:07:53]:
Yeah, yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:54]:
I'm like. I'm like this guy. I. I understand the type of push this guy has now. I. I'm getting it. I. I understand.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:00]:
Darren don't play production. I now understand your drive.
Darrin Barney [00:08:03]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:08:03]:
You also have a certified badass daughter.
Darrin Barney [00:08:07]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:08:08]:
Who we met on the cruise last year who like, knows 17 different ways to kill you with her fists.
Darrin Barney [00:08:14]:
Yeah. Right.
Mike Allen [00:08:15]:
So.
Darrin Barney [00:08:16]:
Well, see, she was born two and a half months early, and so she literally has been fighting for me.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:20]:
Oh, she's born.
Darrin Barney [00:08:21]:
So she just like. It's just who she is. She's awesome, dude.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:23]:
I'm telling you.
Darrin Barney [00:08:24]:
I mean, you know, you're not supposed to, you know, be too braggy on your kids, but I. I'm really proud of her. All the kids, but she just like.
Mike Allen [00:08:30]:
But he's more proud of her than of you guys. Disappointed. I'm looking into the camera.
Darrin Barney [00:08:41]:
I mean, anybody who overcomes adversity, you know, and, and beats the challenges, that's. I love that.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:46]:
Plus, I never thought I'd be biased towards my kids, but my kids do cool stuff, so my kid's cool. I wish I was as cool as Sam. I wish I was as cool as Ron Mike. I wish I was as cool as my kids.
Mike Allen [00:08:56]:
I feel that sometimes. So when I was my wife, she was two and a half months preemie.
Darrin Barney [00:09:02]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:09:02]:
And two and a half months preemIe now is a problem. Two and a half months preemIE in 1978 is a bigger problem.
Darrin Barney [00:09:07]:
I Can't imagine.
Mike Allen [00:09:09]:
And she has a clear memory of a defining moment in her life that, and I don't know if it's a God given thing or what that decides how you react to these types of moments, but she remembers being at elementary school and her mom was in the guidance counselor's office and she was playing in the hallway right outside because they had sent her outside. And she remembers the guidance counselor telling her mother, amanda will never be a high achiever. Amanda will never go to college.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:40]:
I had that. I had that moment. I have a defining memory.
Mike Allen [00:09:44]:
And now she's got more college than she has grade school. Right. She's a board certified pediatric dentist who goes into the OR to do whole mouth rehabilitation on children with special needs.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:55]:
I had a teacher, I had a teacher tell me that I wasn't going to amount to anything. And I have more income than every teacher in the district. So it's okay now.
Mike Allen [00:10:03]:
Well, I'm super proud of Amanda, but she's always had that fire in that fight because, you know, a child hears that about themselves from an adult they look up to and they can be crushed and they can think, well, okay, it's going to be okay to be mediocre for the rest of my life because that's what's expected of me.
Bryan Pollock [00:10:17]:
Or they can choose to try harder.
Mike Allen [00:10:18]:
Or you can be like, you know what, I'm gonna show you. Yep.
Bryan Pollock [00:10:21]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:10:21]:
And I'm gonna, I'm gonna crush it. And she, she had that anger in her.
Bryan Pollock [00:10:25]:
For the rest, you can choose excellence.
Mike Allen [00:10:28]:
Yeah. So how do you instill that in children without a scarring experience like that?
Darrin Barney [00:10:36]:
So, like, can I tell a bit of a story?
Mike Allen [00:10:38]:
Yeah, absolutely.
Darrin Barney [00:10:39]:
You know, so the, when we were shop was still really struggling, right? And Ginger's pregnant with Allison. And we, she two and a half months earlier, we're in the hospital and everybody's like, dude, you got a million dollar baby. You know it's gonna cost you a million bucks. And I'm like, and I had nothing. I mean, literally had barely enough in our checking account, savings account, anything to make everything work. And I, I was so freaked out about this million dollar baby and how I was gonna pay for it. And so I'm at home one or two nights afterwards and I'm literally laying in bed and I couldn't sleep. And I'm like kind of praying to God and I'm like, help me out.
Darrin Barney [00:11:17]:
I don't know what I'm gonna do. How am I gonna pay for this baby? It sounds really silly now. But at the time, it was the biggest thing to me is how I was gonna pay for this million dollar baby. And so I, like, prayed about it. I kept praying, and I was like, okay, you help me with this. I will do everything in my power to raise those kids and make them into somebody.
Bryan Pollock [00:11:37]:
Right?
Darrin Barney [00:11:38]:
You know? And so then the next day, we're in seeing her, and she's in the incubation stuff and in the nicu, and they're in there where Ginger and I are looking at her, and we're doing this thing called kangaroo care, where you hold them on your chest, you know, for an hour, and then they put them back in. And they come in and they're like, hey, we need to come talk to you about billing. And I'm like, okay, here we go. So Ginger and I go. They take us, and it's in this makeshift office, and it's in this, like, stairwell with rusty pipes. And, like. I mean, it's like something out of a movie, right? And it's literally. There's a desk there.
Darrin Barney [00:12:09]:
What? I'm expecting this guy to come out named Guido to come out and threaten to break my legs. And that's what I felt like, right? And I'm sitting there and I'm like, I. It's like, just was so.
Mike Allen [00:12:16]:
Oh, some anti Italian sentiment there. Continue your story. I'm sorry.
Darrin Barney [00:12:19]:
Yeah. Like, it's heavy, though, because you're like, what's. What the heck's happening, right? And the lady's like, well, I have some really good news for you, because your daughter weighs whatever that thing was. She's like, the government's going to step in, and they're going to pay 100% of her medical bills. You'll just have to pay for a few little things, whatever. And I sat there and I just cried, and I did. And the lady's like, it's okay, sir. And I'm like, no, you don't understand.
Darrin Barney [00:12:42]:
You know, this is so. It started that, though, for me, of, like, what do I do to really. I hope I owe God for this. And so I did it with all three of my kids. And you've heard me talk about it before. It's like, I do monthly meetings with them, and I do so much stuff with them, trying to help them to be the best they can be. Not what I want, but what God wants them to do, you know? And it's like, you're seeing. Allison has really just taken it and really push it to a whole nother level.
Darrin Barney [00:13:10]:
I mean, she amazes me. Because that's the same thing you're talking about. They're like, she will never amount to anything. You know, not. They didn't see she wouldn't amount to anything. They said she's always going to be delayed. She's going to be sure she could.
Mike Allen [00:13:21]:
Have behind the eight ball forever. All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:13:23]:
Her voice was so raspy from the feeding tubes that they forced down her throat. When she would talk, she would. And it was like, it crushed me because it's like, you're gonna have that battle for all her life.
Mike Allen [00:13:33]:
Right.
Darrin Barney [00:13:33]:
But she's overcome it. She keeps going and she's just. Yeah, she's awesome. But anyway, there's just so much behind that where I hear about your wife and it's like, dude, you can do it, you know?
Mike Allen [00:13:45]:
Well, so then this is not where I thought our conversation was going to go. But how do you instill grit in children that are raised in an environment where they want for nothing? It's hard because I'm very blessed that my father built a good business. And so I grew up wanting for nothing. And I've been fortunate enough to be able to grow the business a little bit. And my children, they go to private school and you know, I like to think that they're not spoiled, but compared to a lot of America, they are totally spoiled. So how do I not have an entitlement mentality? I mean, we go to church, we go to small group, we do a family Bible study. I'm trying to get them to, you know, they all have chores that they have to do. But still, like I've got one that knows he's not a four year university individual.
Mike Allen [00:14:43]:
He's plenty smart to do it. He just has no desire. And that's what I should have done. I should have had the maturity to realize that. But I wanted to go have the party. Right. And so, you know, next month we're going to Wake Tech's apprenticeship and trade open house thing.
Darrin Barney [00:14:59]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:15:00]:
See if there's a specific trade he'd like to investigate further. I've got one who's going to take the world over.
Darrin Barney [00:15:05]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:15:06]:
She's already told me she wants to be the ruler of car fix. So we're going to talk about some. We're going to talk about some leadership mentality. Right?
Darrin Barney [00:15:13]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:15:13]:
And then I've got one kind of in the middle.
Darrin Barney [00:15:15]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:15:15]:
So the question is, how do you get those people who come from a place of not a place of want and need to still have that hunger and that drive and that thirst to be excellent.
Darrin Barney [00:15:28]:
That's. That's a great question. So this sounds really out there, but my, My wife and I are gender. We're talking about how do we help the kids understand there's more to life than charging an iPhone. Right. Because that's what we're. I mean, that's. That's our world is we're worried about how our phones are going to be charged next.
Darrin Barney [00:15:45]:
And it's like. So we, we talked to him and we're like, well, we're either going to go to China or we're going to go to India.
Mike Allen [00:15:50]:
Give them some perspective.
Darrin Barney [00:15:51]:
Yeah. And so we did. We took the oldest two, Dylan and Allison. We took them to India with us. And it was a life changing experience for all of us. Because you're walking around and there's like, literally you look out and there's some guy going to the bathroom in the middle of a field, right? And there's like, kids that have nothing and you're like, you. It was a culture shock. There were so many times we were riding in this bus and I look over at my daughter and she would look out and she would look at me and like, like, like, did you just see that? You know, look at me to see if I saw it too.
Mike Allen [00:16:17]:
And did you go on a mission trip or was this just a trip that y' all planned?
Darrin Barney [00:16:20]:
It was just. Yeah, we go on trips with a great guide that's very. Takes you in. And we actually went and did, like, humanitarian work and, like, helped cook meals and did all this stuff. So it's not just. Yeah, you see the highlights we saw at the Taj Mahal and all the cool stuff there, right? But it was like immersing in the culture. We walk on the streets. We actually went and were with the people.
Darrin Barney [00:16:42]:
And I think it really helped my kids, though, to see that there's more to life than the nice clothes, the nice shoes, the phone, all of those things. It's like there's people out there that really. They live 10 people in a little room that's as big as these two tables put together, and they're somehow happy and they smile and they're nice to you. You run into people there and they do the craziest thing. It's like, have you ever been to India? It's like, unreal. Okay, so there's so many people everywhere. You're walking down the street and you're constantly getting bumped into. Right? It's shoulder checked and it's like.
Darrin Barney [00:17:14]:
And what they do is they all Turn to you and they do this and they go, namaste. And it's the craziest thing because that busy and yet people are always constantly going, namaste. And I was like, what in the. Where am I? You know? And they're all so nice and they give you stuff, and it's like, they're really nice people. And to me, it was culture shock. We go from that, this loving culture of Namaste and my soul honors your soul on its journey is what Namaste means. There's a bunch of different interpretations, but that's my takeaway, Right. So I honor you.
Darrin Barney [00:17:41]:
It's like, no matter where you're at in life, it's like, I understand and good luck. You know, I'm here with you. You know, we're together. So we're doing all this stuff in India. We go through this and we come back into LAX. Okay. It's like 4 o' clock in the morning. We've been up for 28 hours.
Darrin Barney [00:17:54]:
However long the flight was, we're going crazy through. I'm trying to keep my kids and my wife, and I'm dragging all this luggage, and I get shoulder check. So I turn around and I do this namaste thing. This guy clocks back. He's ready to punch me and knock me out. And it was like. It was just such a different world than what I just witnessed in India, where it was like, peace. And it's like people have nothing but yet I'm gonna get knocked out because I accidentally bumped into some guy.
Darrin Barney [00:18:18]:
I'm turning around looking for my kids, and I get bumped into him. It was. I'm sorry, man. I really am. I didn't mean to run into you. But it was like, such a difference of where we are compared to.
Mike Allen [00:18:28]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:18:28]:
Where we should be as people. Right.
Mike Allen [00:18:30]:
I mean, one, I think that's a great message, and two, I think you shouldn't be a jerk to people at LAX like that. Darren.
Darrin Barney [00:18:39]:
What did I do? You know? I mean, seriously, I was like. Because the guy was. He was huge. He would have throttled me, you know?
Bryan Pollock [00:18:45]:
But it was like, ah, roid rage, guaranteed.
Darrin Barney [00:18:48]:
Well, I mean, he didn't know my daughter was behind me.
Mike Allen [00:18:51]:
Yeah, well, your daughter would have broke his. Broke his fingers. Taken off his fingers and shoved. Shoved his own fingers into his eyeballs. It would have been like. It would have been like crazy John Wick. Yes.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:02]:
Of humanitarian missions.
Darrin Barney [00:19:04]:
But it was. But I really think that it has to. But I don't know. I'm dealing with that with Adam Because Adam has an entitled mentality where he just. He sees that brother and sister are working hard and they're getting stuff. My daughter just bought a motorcycle. She's just turned 17, and she, like, worked her butt off to go buy a crotch rocket, you know, And. And he wants.
Darrin Barney [00:19:22]:
How do you feel about that? I'm actually good. Ginger. Do not ask. She's so pissed at her and me right now. And I'm like, she worked for it. She's got her license. She can't even ride it till February because she has to have it for a year.
Mike Allen [00:19:32]:
Motorcycle safety training, of course.
Darrin Barney [00:19:34]:
Oh, yeah.
Mike Allen [00:19:34]:
And then helmets and get her through the entry level course. And at GATT is an acronym. All the gear all the time. Perfect. At gat, ad, Gas, I don't care if it's hot. Asphalt still hurts. You wear all the protective gear head to toe, regardless of if it's a short ride just to the store, if it's just going to dinner, because cars don't pay attention and they turn left in front of you all the time. And a fender bender a mile from the house is just as deadly as going fast on the interstate in the wrong situation on a motorcycle.
Mike Allen [00:20:06]:
All the gear, all the time.
Darrin Barney [00:20:07]:
Okay, Allison, you're gonna watch this. I'll make sure wherever camera is right here.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:12]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:20:12]:
Allison. Yeah. Hear that? Okay, that's coming from Mike. So we gotta do that.
Mike Allen [00:20:16]:
I've got a half a million miles on two wheels. Before, I had children, and I've stopped. As much as I love motorcycles, I've stopped riding because I understand that the risk level is there now. You don't have children yet, and it opens up a whole new world to you. The way that you experience the world driving around it with no windshield and no roof is so much different than the way you experience it in a cage. So enjoy that adventure, by all means. Go to all the national parks you can on two wheels. But all the gear, all the time.
Mike Allen [00:20:46]:
Okay?
Darrin Barney [00:20:46]:
All the gear, all the time.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:48]:
You don't get a warning when you're gonna have an off.
Mike Allen [00:20:50]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:50]:
That's what we call. And you having an off.
Mike Allen [00:20:52]:
And you will have an off.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:53]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:20:53]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:54]:
And a guy I used to ride with, he. He explained it like this. He goes, I don't know what happened. I was on, and it was off. I don't know when you're gonna.
Mike Allen [00:21:02]:
So I used to. When I first got back into the family business, this was 2000 late. It was early 2002, and I would ride year round, regardless of the weather. I Had plug in heated gear and everything else. And so I rode to work and from work every day. I put two wheels than I did on four at this point in my life. And I was. I would do like 1500 miles every weekend.
Mike Allen [00:21:24]:
I would leave Friday after work and I'd come back Sunday night late. I was hauling ass to work and I was driving like a. And I was passing like eight cars on. On this little two lane highway. And one of them was one of our technicians and he just saw me and he knew it was me and I knew it was him, you know. And the next turn comes around and there was loose gravel in the turn that I baby, I low sl. I low sided and I had frame sliders on it because I was a very aggressive driver. And I knew that I was going to have downs and slid off and I hopped up.
Mike Allen [00:21:54]:
I was like man, damn it. Right. Because I knew I have to buy some plastic and everything else. And I'm walking over to start fighting my bike up and get it out of the ditch. And he pulls over and he is laughing so hard and he grabs my tank and he's just mounting of it, man. He grabs my tank back, throws it in the back of the truck and say you have it when you get to the shop. Picks up my bike and says and get to work. Off I go.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:17]:
I got high sided on gravel one time coming cuz slid out. You just like super right. It slid and it caught and it was like a catapult. And I was like from the middle of the road, like I was in somebody's front yard. By the time I hit the ground I wasn't even going that fast. I was going like 20, you know. But it.
Mike Allen [00:22:34]:
Yeah, yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:22:36]:
See we ride dirt bikes so I'm used to that. That's off road. That's dirt. Yeah, I mean things. But yeah, not. Not street stuff.
Mike Allen [00:22:42]:
Asphalt hurts. Yeah. So that's great Council. Well cool.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:47]:
What's nice about the Snowmobiles is there's 6 inches of relatively soft.
Mike Allen [00:22:52]:
Softish. It's not depends on how fast you're moving when you hit it.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:56]:
Well yeah. And snowmobiling is funny. People think it's like soft fluffy snow. No, they have million dollar machines. They're running over this like a ski resort.
Mike Allen [00:23:03]:
Right.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:03]:
To. To pack it down. But it's way.
Mike Allen [00:23:06]:
I would think that it's not the snow that causes the problem. It's the trees off the trail cause the problem.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:12]:
Have those?
Mike Allen [00:23:13]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:13]:
One time I was having an off and I threw my machine to safety but it, the machine was 100 pounds heavier than me. So when I knew I was coming off in midair, I was like, bye, I'm not hitting the ground on this because I will die. But I pushed my body off the trail and I had an off into a telephone pole with my body one time.
Darrin Barney [00:23:36]:
Wow.
Mike Allen [00:23:36]:
I feel bad for that telephone pole.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:38]:
It did break it. It.
Mike Allen [00:23:40]:
Your body broke the telephone pole?
Bryan Pollock [00:23:42]:
It was an old telephone pole. It luckily had been cut off. No wires on it. It was used as a gate post. It was this background and I broke the gate post with my body. Yeah, it was pretty bad.
Mike Allen [00:23:53]:
Was it mostly just your head that hit it?
Bryan Pollock [00:23:55]:
It was. I hit right here on my side, above my hip.
Mike Allen [00:23:57]:
I thought we were going to be able to.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:00]:
I had soft tissue damage. It was tender for like six years.
Darrin Barney [00:24:04]:
Wow.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:05]:
I was in pain every day for six years.
Mike Allen [00:24:09]:
I mentioned earlier that I thought we were gonna go.
Darrin Barney [00:24:12]:
I could ask about an off. What the heck is it off?
Mike Allen [00:24:14]:
You fall off the motorcycle? Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:16]:
It's a nice way of saying you fell off.
Darrin Barney [00:24:17]:
I didn't know if you like woke up and your brain's off and you're like, not catching and you know, I'm like, so.
Mike Allen [00:24:22]:
Are you familiar with the Isle of Man? Tt?
Darrin Barney [00:24:24]:
No.
Mike Allen [00:24:25]:
Isle of Man. TT is, is a, is a race. It's a week long race on the Isle of Man in the British Isles. And it's around this island. Huh. And it's an old, like ancient town, right? So stone walls everywhere and old pubs and you're driving across them. They have a mountain on the backside. You drive around the mountain.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:45]:
People that race it are. Must be the most confident riders in.
Mike Allen [00:24:48]:
The world because 170, 180 miles an hour on public roads with no safety barriers and no runoff on the side.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:54]:
Of a mountain, however fast the machine they're riding will go is how fast they ride. They don't.
Mike Allen [00:24:59]:
They have sidecar races where it's two dudes on a motorcycle and a sidecar. But they say, oh, what happened to so and so? Oh, he fell off. And what they mean there when they say he fell off is that he died on the mountain.
Darrin Barney [00:25:11]:
Wow.
Mike Allen [00:25:12]:
So they, they just don't talk about this. He fell off. So. Okay, that's crazy. We're not going to talk about that kind of fall off man.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:19]:
TT YouTube it.
Mike Allen [00:25:21]:
The on mic. The onboard cameras are.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:23]:
And you know the difference between like watching something on camera being there? Like, oh, you see it on camera, you're gonna get a little goose bumpy. I mean, these Guys, however fast this leader bike will go is how fast they're going, how fast they go.
Mike Allen [00:25:38]:
There's actually a documentary about a dude who got. He had a degenerative neurological disorder, and he was single at the time, and he. He was a passionate motorcycle club racer, and he knew that he was going to die and he was going to lose his motor function. So he sold everything and he moved to the Isle of Man. And he didn't even have a bike at the time. And for a year, he rode the course every day on a bicycle to learn the course super well, and then bought a bike and got like this fly by the seat of the pants sponsorship. And he raced the Isle of Man before his cognitive ability.
Darrin Barney [00:26:17]:
That's cool.
Mike Allen [00:26:18]:
Detracted. And he talks about at the end how he's asleep back at the cottage that he was renting the day after the aisle man, the TT was over. And he's going through the track with his eyes closed and he realizes another place that he could have picked up another two seconds. And he was like, I'll never get to do it again. But he's always racing it in his head, you know, so it's a cool documentary, so. And has absolutely nothing to do with Elite and owning a training company.
Darrin Barney [00:26:51]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:26:52]:
All because your daughter bought a motorcycle. We just lost 10 minutes of our. It's all right.
Darrin Barney [00:26:55]:
It was good. Yeah, it's good.
Mike Allen [00:26:56]:
I love it. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:26:59]:
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 [00:27:18]:
Okay. So you still got Barney Brothers.
Darrin Barney [00:27:20]:
Yep.
Mike Allen [00:27:21]:
But now you've got this monster Elite that you're trying to evolve and grow to the next generation. You are effectively the second generation of Elite. It was you bought from the founder two, three years ago. Three years ago now.
Darrin Barney [00:27:37]:
Three years in January.
Mike Allen [00:27:38]:
And you've got an awesome new program that you've built out 180, which I think is incredible. Isn't it cool? Yes. The more I learned about it, the more I think it's awesome. And I've had the opportunity to talk with Matt about it a few times, and we've recorded an episode actually talking about it. But give me your version of what 180 is, because Brian wasn't a part of that episode. I think it's super cool.
Darrin Barney [00:28:00]:
Well, I mean, what is so cool about it is it's like you've got all these shops like myself that we didn't have that extra money for coaching. I mean really, we didn't have it, you know, I mean it somehow made it work. But we came up with a program that's still going to give value and be able to help out shop owners without breaking the bank.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:17]:
Right.
Darrin Barney [00:28:17]:
You can get into the good stuff, you know, and get weekly coaching and get all the other stuff that helps shops.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:24]:
Yeah, this is bumper bowling. Yeah, this is bumper bowling before we learn to spin the ball.
Darrin Barney [00:28:29]:
And that's what I mean, it's been built.
Mike Allen [00:28:31]:
You guys spin the ball. What's that when you bow?
Bryan Pollock [00:28:33]:
I mean, people are good. I don't, I can't.
Mike Allen [00:28:36]:
No.
Darrin Barney [00:28:36]:
I still spend bullets.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:37]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:28:39]:
Part of life. Right. But it's, it's awesome because it goes with the basics and it gives a foundation of these things that you should have as a shop owner.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:48]:
Right, right.
Darrin Barney [00:28:48]:
And a lot of us, I, I didn't know some of this stuff. Yeah. I mean guardrail is exactly it keep you from getting it off. Right.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:55]:
I got you from having it off.
Darrin Barney [00:28:56]:
Yeah. But it's just, it's all there. And the best part is, is that you get a call, you know, with a coach.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:01]:
Okay.
Darrin Barney [00:29:02]:
And it's very endaled and detailed and then you've got all the self study stuff that you can do and still have access to resources and things to help you out on the journey.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:09]:
Gotcha.
Darrin Barney [00:29:09]:
And he gives you assignments and helps you out with certain things. Things. But it's really designed to help out the average shop. You know, I mean there's so many people that aren't at training. You know, think about the shops out there that don't have training.
Mike Allen [00:29:22]:
Over 100,000 automotive aftermarket automotive repair shops in the country.
Darrin Barney [00:29:25]:
How many are here?
Mike Allen [00:29:26]:
And it's the same 5,000 people that we see at all of these events.
Darrin Barney [00:29:28]:
Exactly.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:29]:
It's not even. And they all go the same.
Darrin Barney [00:29:31]:
So what about all those other ones that are just like you and I that like struggle? It's like, I mean you're going through it right now, right? Where you're just like busy, but it's like we're not making money or it's slow and you're. I mean it's just, it's life.
Mike Allen [00:29:42]:
We're.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:42]:
Our shop's an anomaly. We're. We have a geographical advantage where there's. There's no other. There's Nobody that can provide a high level of competency automotive service in our.
Mike Allen [00:29:56]:
Immediate area except Dan and Rachel.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:59]:
I said in our immediate. They're, they're 30 minutes south.
Mike Allen [00:30:02]:
Okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:02]:
And what's funny is in our area, that 30 minute drive, people are like.
Mike Allen [00:30:06]:
So we're like, it's too far.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:07]:
We're like the first competent shop headed south from Lake Ontario.
Darrin Barney [00:30:11]:
Well, life happens and it will. Yeah, it's part of life. And it just doesn't matter how good you think you've got it dialed. Life happens. We'll take you sideways and all of a sudden you wake up and you're like, what the heck happened? You know, and that's where we created this foundational program that can help even good shop owners, you know, and guys that are, are dialed in but they can still go and get some additional assistance.
Mike Allen [00:30:32]:
And the tools that have been built into it, the calculators and the in the process manuals and the guides and yeah, I can't imagine the amount of work that was put into building that program. And so you've got 180 which has all these tools and processes and everything else that so frequently hold up the evolution of mature, the maturity of a business. And then you got 360, which is weekly coaching. Yeah. Which is weekly one on one calls. And then you've got pro service which is a 20 group process. Then you've got master's program which is service advisor training. And then you've got Fly with the Eagles which is manager owner, kind of holistic three day program training.
Mike Allen [00:31:21]:
Is that is. Did I get everything? What am I missing? Yeah, I mean you kind of have something for everybody and I appreciate that. The thing that I love that I get excited about when I talk to people about Elite right now, obviously there's a special place in my heart for pro service and for the 20 group process because my entire adult life I've been involved with what eventually became pro service because my dad was already. But the 180 program I think is going to be a such a tool to help raise up so many shops around the country. And it's scalable and, and the price point is stupid good.
Darrin Barney [00:32:03]:
It's like, how can you not.
Mike Allen [00:32:04]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:32:04]:
You know, yeah.
Mike Allen [00:32:06]:
So I don't, I don't want to say the price point specifically because life happens and things change, but call and figure it out because it's less than you're paying per month for your shop management software probably.
Darrin Barney [00:32:20]:
And the best part is, is that you can get results. It's tomorrow. Tomorrow Yeah, I mean, it's. It's awesome.
Mike Allen [00:32:29]:
You're like, hey, how do I set this rate? How do I set that? How do I set up my. It's all there. It's all there.
Darrin Barney [00:32:34]:
And then the thing is, is we've got something for everybody, you know, and if you got 10 locations and you want to help to. To maximize that, got people in the peer group that have done it.
Bryan Pollock [00:32:45]:
From two bays to 10 base, 10 location.
Darrin Barney [00:32:48]:
From.
Mike Allen [00:32:49]:
Yeah, from two. From two bays to 100 BAS.
Darrin Barney [00:32:53]:
I mean, we used to. With the way things used to be set up is it was like we had certain requirements even to help basic clients. Right. And you had to be at a certain level for us to even help you. And it's like, it really bothered me because it's like there's people out there that are one man bands that are really kicking some butt, but we didn't have anything to help them. And that's when they need help getting.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:10]:
The next person hired.
Darrin Barney [00:33:12]:
And it's like, we're like, so we're all on our different parts of our journey and that's. I want to be able to help everybody that needs help.
Mike Allen [00:33:17]:
So one of the most exciting parts about that, I think, is that elite has officially embraced the free Diag model, and that's all they coach. And I'm sorry, that's.
Darrin Barney [00:33:27]:
I was like, oh, no.
Mike Allen [00:33:30]:
That'S totally a lie. Sabrina's off camera and she's like, oh, hell no.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:37]:
Can we be real? There's all sorts of ways to do things.
Darrin Barney [00:33:40]:
Oh, my goodness.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:41]:
And it's okay.
Mike Allen [00:33:43]:
And whatever way I'm doing it this year is the best way.
Darrin Barney [00:33:46]:
Yes, apparently.
Mike Allen [00:33:47]:
And I'm also super humble.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:49]:
And how many.
Darrin Barney [00:33:51]:
Let's stay away from that. Oh, my goodness.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:54]:
There's more than one way to skin the cat.
Mike Allen [00:33:58]:
So I texted to check with my team because I've got guys in classes all over the place. And I said, hey, how was class today? And I said, well, class was really good, but pretty much all the coaches think that we are what's wrong with the industry. And what.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:14]:
I think too many people are worried about what others are doing.
Darrin Barney [00:34:19]:
It's amazing.
Mike Allen [00:34:19]:
It's because some people get in their fields.
Darrin Barney [00:34:23]:
Really?
Bryan Pollock [00:34:24]:
Yeah. Other people's cake don't make you fat or something like that.
Mike Allen [00:34:28]:
What you eat doesn't make me fat. What I eat doesn't make you fat. That's what it was.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:31]:
That's what she said when I heard it. She said, other people. People's cake don't make me fat.
Darrin Barney [00:34:36]:
You missed the basics, though, of just getting back, taking care of people.
Mike Allen [00:34:39]:
Tanika, you actually need to sign up with Elite because every time I have an episode with Matt, you message me by noon on Tuesday when it's released, and you're like, I got fomo. What an amazing episode. He's so smart. Come on, girl, I'm talking to you.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:55]:
I was talking to Matthew. I love Matt. Well, I was. I've been a very heavy racing fan all my life, so, like, it's really cool to see Matt here. Right. Because I've watched Matt awesome for years. Right.
Mike Allen [00:35:08]:
So I wonder if I kind of get the vibe that he's, like, done with that chapter and, like, he talks about it.
Bryan Pollock [00:35:14]:
Because he talked about it, and I had. We have a customer who was a very avid racer, not only owned his own race team, but was flown to places to race for other people weekly. He's. He's also a farmer. Go figure. And he had to do the same thing Matt did, which was turn it off like a light switch.
Darrin Barney [00:35:33]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:35:34]:
Because he'll talk about it if you ask him to, but he will never bring it up.
Darrin Barney [00:35:37]:
Well, like, it's the past.
Bryan Pollock [00:35:39]:
Our customer doesn't go watch racing, doesn't talk to people who used to race, doesn't. Doesn't do anything because he said he's. It's like a competition addiction. And when this guy was trying to quit racing the last few years, he'd, like, have a season to start out bad, and he'd be like, this is great. This is the last year I'm gonna do this. I'm finally gonna quit. Then he win four times, and the next thing you know, you're selling a car, you're buying another $80,000 roller, buying another $80,000 engine to put in the roller, and we're gonna go racing again this year. And he's just like.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:10]:
Finally. He was like, you know what? And actually, agro business or whatever, the deal where agriculture has turned from this thing from just farming and wholesaling to having events on your property and everything else and all this stuff.
Mike Allen [00:36:27]:
Having a barn that's just for the weddings. Yeah, precisely. Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:30]:
Has gotten him busy enough to where he realizes, I really don't have time. I mean, they have a beautiful property where they put in all these sunflowers and they have agro tourism.
Mike Allen [00:36:41]:
That's what it is.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:41]:
Agrochourism. They have weekly concerts all summer. And finally he's busy enough. He's like, I ain't got time to deal that racing. We got we got stuff to do.
Mike Allen [00:36:49]:
So I'd like to know about the team at Elite, because we talked about you a little bit. We've talked about Matt, and we fangirled over him and his racing career.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:59]:
So should I ask him to sign my chest?
Mike Allen [00:37:02]:
Yes, please. Talk to me about the master's program for service advisors and the folks that you've got teaching that program, because one of them's in the room right now. So tell me about that.
Darrin Barney [00:37:12]:
I got to be careful here because she's. She's somebody that I really look up to and admire. She's awesome.
Mike Allen [00:37:18]:
Not literally. She's kind of short.
Darrin Barney [00:37:19]:
Yeah, she is. She's.
Mike Allen [00:37:20]:
You look down at her.
Darrin Barney [00:37:21]:
So.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:23]:
Right.
Darrin Barney [00:37:25]:
Come. Come over here and take your head into this and say, hi, I'm only.
Mike Allen [00:37:28]:
Vertically challenged, so I don't know when they can see me.
Darrin Barney [00:37:30]:
Yeah, she's right here. Yeah. So Sabrina was a service advisor and, you know, sold service and went through the master's program and kicked butt and was really incredible and did well. And it's one of those things. She was one of our superstar students, and then she decided to get out of the industry and was looking for a job, and we happened to Tom Amero that works with us said, hey, did you know that Sabrina is looking for a job? I was like, no way. I said, you reach out to her. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. That's up to you.
Darrin Barney [00:37:58]:
So we talked about it a little bit, and Tom ended up texting her and said, you know, hey, we'd like to talk with you. And it's awesome because we got somebody on the team that really cares about people, you know, as much. I. I really. There's something I just got this feeling about, and I just. I still love people, right? And she is taking that. I was scared to let go of it because I love it, the program so much. You know, I've helped so many people grow their lives, and I get to see the results because I work on them for six months.
Darrin Barney [00:38:28]:
Right. And it's something that to this day, Zach up at. In Alaska, he went through the master program, you know, and he ended up buying the shop and doing all this stuff. And it's just so cool to watch, you know, people go through the course and watch it change their lives.
Mike Allen [00:38:41]:
And, I mean, in 20 years, there are lots of guys that were there for, like, the legacy program, which is now a retired program, but it was a 20 group for store managers, and now they're coming to the meetings and they own the business because they bought the business from the first generation. There's a ton of that.
Darrin Barney [00:39:02]:
It's so cool.
Mike Allen [00:39:02]:
Yeah. And these are dudes that you would see. You go to a shop visit and the shop visit's three days long. And then there's one dinner where some of the key employees come to dinner and you meet them and so you don't see them for three days, but you hear about them and you talk about them and they come to dinner and you meet them face to face for an hour and a half. But then 10 years later, they're at the meeting because they own. And that owner has found a pathway to the retirement that they desire and sold it to someone who knows and loves the business and takes care of the customers the same way.
Darrin Barney [00:39:32]:
And a lot of times it's a service advisor because they're there and they watch them connect with customers and they watch them carry the message that they themselves believe in that business and they watch their advisor do it.
Mike Allen [00:39:41]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:39:41]:
You know, that's why I love this program so much because. And that's what I'm talking about. Sabrina, though, it's like she's taking that vision that Bob had when he originally created the course. I've taken and ran with it and made it my own. And then Sabrina is taking with it and running it and making it her own, you know, and taking that vision of let's help people and let's, let's help them on the journey. And it's all about connecting with people.
Mike Allen [00:40:01]:
And so Sabrina is in charge of masters and typically has a sidekick when they do the in person portion.
Darrin Barney [00:40:07]:
That's always me.
Mike Allen [00:40:08]:
Is it always you?
Darrin Barney [00:40:08]:
Up to this point? I mean, I think it will be until she kicks me out.
Mike Allen [00:40:11]:
Okay.
Darrin Barney [00:40:11]:
But I love the three days because I get to go spend three days presenting and sharing and it's, it's three.
Mike Allen [00:40:18]:
Days of in person class and then six months of weekly meetings. There's assignments, there's a midterm, there's a final exam. Yeah. You can't just graduate this program.
Darrin Barney [00:40:26]:
No. And it's all instructor led. It's not recordings.
Mike Allen [00:40:28]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:40:29]:
You know, hey, get into my program and here's a recording.
Mike Allen [00:40:30]:
And there's. Yeah, there's some team projects. Yeah, right.
Darrin Barney [00:40:33]:
She does progress reviews with owners. She does so much stuff of, you.
Mike Allen [00:40:36]:
Know, it's like taking a college course.
Darrin Barney [00:40:38]:
It is, it is. Yeah. I mean, it's accredited by AMI and it's got a lot of clout.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:42]:
Oh, wow.
Darrin Barney [00:40:43]:
That's pretty neat. And plus, I mean, it's, it's a pretty substantial investment for an owner. So they take it serious, too, because they're putting this money and they want to watch the results. And we do tracking sheets each week so they know exactly if their advisor is improving or not. Like we say, the proof is in the pudding, so you can actually look at the numbers and watch. Not the coolest thing lately is now everybody's talking about the Google reviews. They're like, I can't believe how much Google reviews we're getting now. Because this advice.
Mike Allen [00:41:06]:
Learn how to ask for. Learn how to talk.
Darrin Barney [00:41:07]:
No, you just learn how to talk to people and be nice, you know, because it's this transactional world that we live in. They don't want that. People want to be cared for. They want to feel like somebody cares for.
Bryan Pollock [00:41:16]:
Our Google reviews are really good. If I stay out of the office. Our guys in the office are awesome. Everybody loves them.
Mike Allen [00:41:25]:
So. And you've got a very young shop, right?
Darrin Barney [00:41:27]:
Yes.
Mike Allen [00:41:28]:
You don't have a lot of old dudes, old crabby, grouchy dudes walking around.
Bryan Pollock [00:41:32]:
I'm. I'm the old crabby, grouchy dude walking around at 39 years old. Yeah. And you know what? I. It's. Yeah, it's. It's good if I'm not up there sometimes you'll hear something going on and they'll need backup. They'll need the old crabby, grouchy dude that can set the tone for how this interaction is going to happen with somebody who's not familiar with the program.
Bryan Pollock [00:41:54]:
A new customer is not familiar with the program, but most of the time, they. All of our people love Justin William. They love him.
Mike Allen [00:42:01]:
It's awesome.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:02]:
Jeff out in life where they love Jeff. They love the guys.
Mike Allen [00:42:04]:
Okay, so that's Masters.
Darrin Barney [00:42:05]:
Yep.
Mike Allen [00:42:07]:
Now let's talk about Eagles.
Darrin Barney [00:42:09]:
Eagles, yes. It's still led by Joe Marconi.
Mike Allen [00:42:11]:
Okay.
Darrin Barney [00:42:11]:
The living legend, you know, I mean, he's been in the league since the 90s, you know, and so wait, real.
Mike Allen [00:42:17]:
Quick question, like, real talk, does Joe kind of hate me? I feel like. I feel like Joe's not a big fan of the mic. I mean.
Darrin Barney [00:42:25]:
No, he's never said anything to me.
Mike Allen [00:42:27]:
I mean, Joe, I mean, come on, buddy, let's go.
Darrin Barney [00:42:32]:
No, no. Honestly, I've never heard him say, you're not.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:34]:
After your performance on Thursday night, you're not in the calling out position. Don't do that.
Mike Allen [00:42:39]:
So I took a fall for the entertainment of the masses. That was fake. It's fake. It was entertainment. It was sports entertainment.
Darrin Barney [00:42:47]:
I must have missed it. So I'll have to go back and watch it, I guess.
Mike Allen [00:42:50]:
Sumo wrestling against. Oh yeah, the jaded mechanic.
Darrin Barney [00:42:53]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:42:53]:
Everybody evidently thought that he beat me, right? Badly. Four to nothing.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:58]:
I'm just saying, there's only.
Darrin Barney [00:43:00]:
I thought you got paid to throw it.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:01]:
There's only one host of this podcast that actually beat somebody on Thursday night and it wasn't you.
Mike Allen [00:43:07]:
Well, I mean, there's a reason to have weight classes in competition.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:11]:
I didn't ask anybody. They asked me.
Mike Allen [00:43:14]:
I also was told that I was doing it. I was not asked if I wanted to do that. Just like last night, dancing on that table for Tick Tock. Are you kidding me? That was a major OSHA compliance issue. Were you at the casino?
Darrin Barney [00:43:25]:
No, I was looking at the camera going, I did. I missed this, you know?
Bryan Pollock [00:43:28]:
Yeah, I. I wasn't there for that. I was already down. Me and sweet bread were sipping on scotch. Hospitality lounge.
Darrin Barney [00:43:34]:
So Joe does not hate you though. So I just wanted, I want to address that though, because he would have. Joe would have mentioned something to me if he didn't like it.
Mike Allen [00:43:41]:
Joe, I need you to send me some pastries so that I know that we're good.
Darrin Barney [00:43:43]:
Joe, you hear that? Okay. Can you write that down for me?
Mike Allen [00:43:46]:
Thank you, Sabrina. Okay, so Joe, Joe is the primary instructor.
Darrin Barney [00:43:51]:
Matt and Tom, they, the three of them team teach it together.
Mike Allen [00:43:54]:
Okay. And that is a two or three day program.
Darrin Barney [00:43:57]:
Three days.
Mike Allen [00:43:57]:
Three days. Okay. I think when I went many, many moons ago, it might have been a two day program.
Darrin Barney [00:44:01]:
It used to be five.
Mike Allen [00:44:02]:
Oh my God. I can't do anything for five days. I'm burning out on this on day three. So.
Darrin Barney [00:44:09]:
But it's like everything from profit loss to employee management to everything to hiring.
Mike Allen [00:44:14]:
And recruiting to marketing to it's. Yeah, yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:44:18]:
And the cool thing is just like we're talking about this morning, I was with Walking with Brian Walker and Eric Merchant and we're talking about how important it is to go and spend time with other shop owners because you just get different perspectives. Right. And that's what Eagles is. You sit there and you hear this different feedback from people and then they go to dinners and lunches together and you get to talk and get to know people, you know, and it's just, it's. Yeah, it's awesome.
Mike Allen [00:44:37]:
Eric is a 360 client.
Darrin Barney [00:44:39]:
Yeah. He's actually wants to be in pro service.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:41]:
Eric's my brother. Did you know that?
Mike Allen [00:44:44]:
Brother from another mother. They have pictures together that they had a caricature. You tell the Story.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:49]:
So last year at asta, Eric and I, we looked at each other. We're like we should. Between the two of us. I don't know, maybe it was his idea or my idea. He goes, we should convince people we're brothers. We had like 70 people on board the caricature artist last year. We had him drawing us to send a picture home to mom because we hadn't seen mom at the same time in 20 years.
Mike Allen [00:45:10]:
And so in the bottom of the picture it says to mom.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:15]:
We tried to convince people that Tracy Capriotto was our sister. And that's where we really started losing.
Mike Allen [00:45:19]:
Ground on this thing. Yeah, yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:21]:
It wasn't working out.
Darrin Barney [00:45:23]:
Tracy's awesome.
Mike Allen [00:45:23]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:24]:
I don't know if you can't have fun working mania. Right?
Mike Allen [00:45:26]:
I mean, I could see the resemblance. I mean you guys, Eric and I. No, no. You and Tracy. Maybe not.
Darrin Barney [00:45:33]:
Did you hear about her getting nominated? She's like going to be getting women an excellence award. Like a big, like one of the top awards this year.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:41]:
I didn't know that.
Darrin Barney [00:45:42]:
Oh, so awesome.
Mike Allen [00:45:43]:
So this, this won't be published until after Apex anyway.
Darrin Barney [00:45:45]:
Yeah. So it's really cool, man.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:47]:
Okay, we're good then.
Mike Allen [00:45:48]:
So APEX is first because when I.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:50]:
Got that text message two months ago, it was, was don't tell anybody. So I was a little alarm. But this will be published after.
Darrin Barney [00:45:56]:
Yeah, I don't know, 44 minutes.
Mike Allen [00:45:59]:
We'll edit that out.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:00]:
I literally the text message, can you keep a secret? I said no.
Mike Allen [00:46:04]:
I'm going to text Braxton right now and tell him at 44 minutes on the Darren episode to cut that out. Talk amongst yourselves for a minute. I'll forget. I will.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:15]:
I didn't know. Yeah, I didn't know if it was. Maybe it is. I could be confused. I. I spend most of my time confused. So you're probably right and I'm probably incorrect.
Darrin Barney [00:46:24]:
Oh, I have no idea. She just told me in person, you know, so I was just like.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:28]:
So they live. They live up by me. Carm lives about. It's about a 50 minute drive from my house to Carm. So we, yeah, we see each other more than at just these things.
Mike Allen [00:46:38]:
I think they come to Wilco for service on their vehicles. Right.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:42]:
They have either us or Dan and Rachel.
Mike Allen [00:46:43]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or other.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:45]:
We have an independent shop owners group they'll go to, they'll visit, you know, for service. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:46:50]:
Sabrina, where do you live? She said Georgia. That's rude of me. She doesn't have a camera or a mic. Where do you take your car for service? Okay. Still to the same shop she used to work at. Are they an Elite client?
Darrin Barney [00:47:04]:
No.
Mike Allen [00:47:05]:
What the hell?
Darrin Barney [00:47:05]:
I know, right? Yeah. If you cut this.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:11]:
Hold on.
Darrin Barney [00:47:12]:
Yeah, so yeah, royalty.
Mike Allen [00:47:15]:
Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah, copy.
Darrin Barney [00:47:19]:
And they just called out shop picks and big deal. And so.
Mike Allen [00:47:22]:
Yeah, okay.
Darrin Barney [00:47:24]:
So please.
Mike Allen [00:47:25]:
And at 46 minutes.
Darrin Barney [00:47:26]:
Please, please, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:47:28]:
Yeah, so also cut royalty and shop fix.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:34]:
I get it. That's. That's.
Darrin Barney [00:47:35]:
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly. I don't want to go down that road. There's already enough of that and I.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:39]:
Don'T know, explain to me.
Darrin Barney [00:47:40]:
Yeah, I try to stay out of that crap. So I understand.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:44]:
Yeah, I get it.
Mike Allen [00:47:46]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:47]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:47:49]:
Well, cool. So now we've covered 180. We've covered 360. Yeah. We've covered Masters.
Darrin Barney [00:47:54]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:47:54]:
We've talked a little bit about eagle Fly with the Eagles. I want to talk a little bit about pro service and the evolution of pro service. So I've grown up with Jim Murphy as the facilitator of pro service and it was his property that partnered alongside Bob and Elite. And my understanding is that now you have brought that wholly into the fold of Elite. And because Jim's approaching retirement, right. He's starting to pull back some and good for him and what a great life he has led. And he is. He's actually collected shop owners from around the country into this community in Arizona where they've all sold their businesses and retired and now they have homes, built a compound.
Mike Allen [00:48:33]:
They have homes back home and they have homes in Arizona. There's like six or seven of them, Right. That are like just the dearest of friends and they, they socialize together and they mountain bike together and they go out on side by sides in the desert community compound. I like it.
Darrin Barney [00:48:49]:
It's neat.
Mike Allen [00:48:50]:
Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:48:50]:
And he's, he's just, he's. It's time, you know, he's not going anywhere. He's still going to be involved, but he's just, he's. We're now letting Nick and Dan take it and run with it and.
Mike Allen [00:48:59]:
Well, that's what I'm talking about. The new. I mean, they're year end.
Darrin Barney [00:49:02]:
Right.
Mike Allen [00:49:02]:
And in this co leadership process of transition, but Nick is the primary facilitator and Dan is his sidekick in spandex. So Dan is another successful Elite client who built up a killer business and sold it and is enjoying this in retirement. And he's got a place in Chicago and a place in Arizona at the compound.
Bryan Pollock [00:49:28]:
Right, right.
Mike Allen [00:49:29]:
And so he's always Bouncing back compound. Tell me about Nick, the facilitator of that process.
Darrin Barney [00:49:36]:
Nick had bunch of shops and sold those to Gills. And then he was on board as a manager for them for. I don't know, I think they had 170 some stores or something like that. And so recommendation by Jim, and Jim says, hey, you need to meet this guy. So I started talking with him and I was like, wow, he's really sharp. And he just. He gets it and he's down to earth. He's not a pompous, you know, guy.
Darrin Barney [00:49:56]:
He's just down to earth. Awesome guy.
Mike Allen [00:49:58]:
Well, I floated this idea and production and planning, future planning for podcast partnership.
Darrin Barney [00:50:03]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:50:03]:
Always best if done live on camera. I floated this idea in Michigan last week.
Darrin Barney [00:50:10]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:50:11]:
And this like 5% chance this comes to fruition. But sitting at the airport waiting to go to the meeting, and this shop falls in my lap and they're like. A landlord calls me and he's like, hey, my tenant, I'm having to chase money. I know. You do a good thing. I'll give you a lot of concessions on a new roof and a new parking lot and, you know, clean up and paint the building and everything. Do you want to come take over this facility? And it's an eight bay tire store, but it's a Hispanic tire store. So for me, I don't know how to operate that business.
Mike Allen [00:50:41]:
So it would be a ground up buildup, but it would need to be a tire store and it would need to be a different brand because it's too close to one of my other stores. It couldn't be Carfix until I was like, well, Matt could probably. I love you. I love you, bro. But maybe in 2026, it's building a tire store from the ground up with Nick.
Darrin Barney [00:50:57]:
Yeah. Oh, my goodness.
Mike Allen [00:50:59]:
Yeah. Because, I mean, that's what he knows as he knows the tire business inside and out.
Darrin Barney [00:51:03]:
Oh, my goodness.
Mike Allen [00:51:03]:
Up and down. Right. And so, I mean, you know, Nick was like, yeah, sure, whatever. Just, you know, say what? But I don't know. We'll see. Yeah. If that store comes to fruition, then we'll have that conversation further. So.
Mike Allen [00:51:16]:
And now you're in this awkward position where you gotta be like, yeah, that sounds like a great idea.
Darrin Barney [00:51:20]:
No, it's good. I don't care. I mean, if we're helping people out, that's what it's all about.
Mike Allen [00:51:25]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:26]:
There's money on tires.
Darrin Barney [00:51:27]:
Well.
Mike Allen [00:51:28]:
And there are people out there are trying to figure out how to make more. More money in tires. Right. Because the independent repair side doesn't know how good tires are and how to maximize tires.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:38]:
Do you know how we went from two guys in a building to three locations?
Mike Allen [00:51:43]:
Sling in a bunch of good years.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:44]:
Lot of rubber, man.
Mike Allen [00:51:46]:
Slinging rubber.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:47]:
We love doing tires.
Darrin Barney [00:51:48]:
Tires are good.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:49]:
Love doing tires. Love doing tires for car.
Mike Allen [00:51:51]:
You said you're the biggest G3s in that.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:53]:
Well, G3x went away in our area because tire hub buyout.
Mike Allen [00:51:56]:
Okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:56]:
But yeah, one year we were the largest G3X dealer in the western New York market.
Mike Allen [00:52:02]:
Nice.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:03]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:52:04]:
And you didn't. And you didn't even have a road force balancer.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:07]:
I did not have a road force balance with them. One of our shops actually has two tire machines. They do so many tires.
Mike Allen [00:52:13]:
Yeah, I have two, but it's because one of them broke down and we just shoved it to the corner.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:16]:
Oh no. Ours are two getting used at the same time.
Darrin Barney [00:52:21]:
It's like we're gonna fix that one of these days. And so. Yeah, and we do.
Mike Allen [00:52:24]:
We'll get scrap metal for exactly 20 years.
Darrin Barney [00:52:26]:
Yeah. Nobody wants it.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:27]:
We do all the tires we kind of got out of like tractor tires.
Mike Allen [00:52:31]:
Like we were doing ag tires.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:33]:
Big ag tires. So big egg. So there's difference between ag tires and implement tires. Implement tires is like an 11L15.
Mike Allen [00:52:39]:
That's like on a bobcat.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:41]:
No, no, not a hay rake. On a tow behind implement. Right. We still do a ton of those. We actually stop, we hit. We have shelves of tubes that we stock. Only stock a fair amount of implements.
Mike Allen [00:52:51]:
That's a flashback to my dad's store, man. I hated the tubes, man.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:55]:
But you know what happens?
Mike Allen [00:52:56]:
You.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:57]:
You get to these farmers, they know that you're going to take care of their implement tires and take care of them efficiently. So now you have all the pickup trucks, you have all the every thing that you.
Mike Allen [00:53:05]:
It feeds everything else can do.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:06]:
They know that you do that. Air conditioning is very universal.
Mike Allen [00:53:11]:
Right?
Bryan Pollock [00:53:11]:
HV air conditioning. It's the same on a tractor as it is on a truck as it is on a car. So now you have their tractor air conditioning. You have so much service by just choosing to decide to make. You're not.
Mike Allen [00:53:25]:
Do you think in downtown Raleigh I can get a lot of tracker air conditioning?
Darrin Barney [00:53:28]:
I do probably not going to have.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:30]:
Any 9,000, 320 John Deere's. Pull.
Mike Allen [00:53:33]:
I thought you had to have like. I thought you had to go to the dealership to have your John Deere air conditioning worked on.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:38]:
You do not.
Mike Allen [00:53:39]:
They lost that lawsuit and now Right. To repair. Okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:43]:
We have a John Deere tractor at the shop for clearing the lot. And I fixed the air conditioning on that myself.
Darrin Barney [00:53:48]:
There's like a lot of ADD in this room.
Mike Allen [00:53:50]:
Do you know that Dan Bus diagnosed me with ADHD last week? That was the, that was the interesting fact someone might not know about.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:57]:
It's not good. Good. And I, I'm worse than he is. I'm very. I just.
Mike Allen [00:54:02]:
Hey. So everybody, this is Darren Barney from Elite joining us today.
Bryan Pollock [00:54:06]:
What day is it?
Mike Allen [00:54:07]:
Yeah, yeah, Squirrel. Well, I feel like we've kind of touched.
Bryan Pollock [00:54:11]:
Sorry.
Mike Allen [00:54:12]:
On your first visit, we talked about the growth of Barney Brothers and your. And today we've had the chance to talk about all the different stuff that Elite has to offer. And I feel passionately about Elite because they've been so integral in my father's life and business development and the transition to myself. And so thank you for that and thank you for continuing that legacy that, that Bob started.
Darrin Barney [00:54:31]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:54:31]:
Is there anything else that I've missed that we should cover, you think?
Darrin Barney [00:54:37]:
I think we're good. No. Is there anything else I needed to discuss about business wise?
Mike Allen [00:54:41]:
Where do you want Elite to be in 10 years?
Darrin Barney [00:54:43]:
I want to continue to help more people. That's the biggest thing. I want to help those people that like me. I, I really don't. I. I've said this before. I don't think I'd be alive if it wasn't for Elite. You know, getting there at 7 o' clock in the morning and working till 11 o' clock at night and just thinking that's the way of life.
Darrin Barney [00:55:01]:
I'd go home and be with, you know, my wife. And then once we had kids, I was better. But it's like, I don't know if I would be here if it wasn't for coaching and for Elite. And so I want to help out all those people out there that need that, you know, the shop owners that really don't know any different.
Mike Allen [00:55:16]:
So if somebody has heard this and they're like, okay, you've beaten me into submission, I'm going to call Elite. Who should they call? Where should they call? Should they go to the website? How do they get in touch?
Darrin Barney [00:55:24]:
Go to the website? I mean, Tom Amero is our sales guy. And so you know Tom, he's awesome.
Mike Allen [00:55:29]:
He got a heart of gold and he's delinquent gambler. He's been at the poker table every night. Yeah. Yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:55:34]:
So you know he's lds, right.
Mike Allen [00:55:36]:
And it's like, no drinking, no camping.
Darrin Barney [00:55:39]:
Yeah. But he loves.
Mike Allen [00:55:40]:
I was. He was doing shots. He was gambling caffeine every morning. I think he got a tattoo at the tattoo convention next door. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, Brian, but that's.
Darrin Barney [00:55:53]:
Yeah, I mean, just reach out to us, come talk to us at events, just come see us. We'll help you. I mean, there's something for everybody we can help you with.
Mike Allen [00:56:00]:
Awesome. Thanks, Aaron. I appreciate it.
Darrin Barney [00:56:01]:
So the biggest thing, though, to remember about Elite is that we're about the people. And that's the biggest thing that I'm really proud of is the fact that it's not transactional.
Bryan Pollock [00:56:09]:
I was just gonna say they're not transactional. They're about the people.
Mike Allen [00:56:12]:
They're a relationship based business. I mean, but that's just a running trope for the podcast, is that I'm, I'm. I'm a transactional business.
Darrin Barney [00:56:20]:
There's nothing wrong with making money. We all have to make money.
Bryan Pollock [00:56:22]:
I mean, there's transaction.
Mike Allen [00:56:23]:
I had a conversation about. Okay, we're just gonna go off on another 10 minute tangent and you got stuff to do, but we're good. It's. There is a segment of our community that wants to act like being profitable is evil. And that's some bs.
Darrin Barney [00:56:37]:
See, that's a bunch of crap. You got to make money to sustain the message.
Mike Allen [00:56:40]:
And if you want to do big giving and make big differences, it's a lot easier to do that if you've got a little bit of cash in the bank.
Darrin Barney [00:56:48]:
You know what, I tell you what.
Mike Allen [00:56:49]:
Or if you want a private jet so that you don't have to wait in TSA line, it also helps to have a little bit of cash.
Darrin Barney [00:56:56]:
Well, the thing is though, you're talking about impact. I have some friends that are extremely wealthy. You know how much money they give. I mean, one of my friends is a plastic surgeon. You know what, he goes and he like, flies to all these third world countries and does cleft pallet stuff and does it for free.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:12]:
Oh, yeah.
Darrin Barney [00:57:12]:
And that takes money to do that.
Mike Allen [00:57:14]:
Man is absolutely one. Because I guess there's a big hospital boat that goes offshore and, and goes to ports in Africa. And you fly and you live on the boat for three months and you just do surgery all day long.
Darrin Barney [00:57:27]:
You just take care of people.
Mike Allen [00:57:28]:
It's just medical missions.
Darrin Barney [00:57:29]:
Who do you think pays for that? You know, it's people that made money and they give money.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:34]:
I know.
Darrin Barney [00:57:35]:
I mean, it's just.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:37]:
I mean, it's people crying about other people making too much money. You know, how much money then people give away?
Darrin Barney [00:57:42]:
Yes.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:43]:
Don't give me stuff.
Darrin Barney [00:57:43]:
I mean, think about it.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:44]:
I know.
Darrin Barney [00:57:45]:
You know, you don't have to. It's like it's okay to make money. But the thing is, though, when you don't have it, you're. You're angry at everybody. Who else who does? It's just part of life, you know?
Bryan Pollock [00:57:54]:
No billionaire having his billion dollars has ever affected my life. I can promise you that. Okay.
Mike Allen [00:57:59]:
Yeah. I mean, what Elon does doesn't really matter to you.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:02]:
Good for him.
Mike Allen [00:58:05]:
So you heard it. You heard it here first. We're going to wrap the episode on this note that greed is good. All right?
Darrin Barney [00:58:10]:
Make money, it's okay. Charge accordingly. Charge what you're worth. Right.
Mike Allen [00:58:14]:
It's not money. Money is inanimate. It is the love of money.
Darrin Barney [00:58:17]:
Yeah, that's right.
Mike Allen [00:58:18]:
100.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:18]:
All right, just whatever.
Mike Allen [00:58:20]:
That's the second time we've referenced that verse this week, and I still can't remember what verse it is. Amanda, you know what verse that is by heart? Something in Proverbs. Proverbs. It's proverbs adjacent. All right, that's it.
Darrin Barney [00:58:33]:
Cool.
Mike Allen [00:58:34]:
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. 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, 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.
Darrin Barney [00:58:51]:
Me know what an idiot I am?
Mike Allen [00:58:52]:
Email mikeonfessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number 704-confess. That's 704-266-3377. 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 epis.
Bryan Pollock [00:59:30]:
You know I said Jess. You know I said Jesse.