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Power does not always come from pushing harder. Sometimes in life and in business, the smartest move is to slow down so you can move forward with control, clarity, and intention. Just like a great driver, growth means looking ahead, preparing for the climb, and knowing when it is time to change gears.
Jessica Watkins [00:00:00]:
I literally worked in a shop that was still using paper tickets. I had to transfer.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:04]:
There's one across the street from me. Like hilarious.
Jessica Watkins [00:00:07]:
The same information seven different times from onboarding a customer to checking them out. It was such a waste of time. The shop didn't want to invest in any shop management software. Having people who will stick their head up out of the sand and say, oh, is there a better option? Those are the really people that are going to take over.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:26]:
Those are the people that are going to take and continue to make the industry better.
Jessica Watkins [00:00:30]:
Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Tanika Haynes. We all know as shop owners, sometimes you gotta slow down in order to speed up. And that's what this podcast is all about. It's time to downshift. I don't like summer, so I'm good with that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:53]:
I don't like either one of them. No. Well, I like cold. You can get cold and warm up, like bundle up, but summertime you get hot. You can't get but so naked without going to jail.
Jessica Watkins [00:01:04]:
Exactly. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:06]:
So maybe they would let 23, 24 year old me walk around damn near naked, but not this version. So I would be locked up trying to cool off and then with all of the perimenopause. Oh my God, I'm dying. So, Jessica, you don't know Ash. Ash, this is Jessica. This is Jessica.
Jessica Watkins [00:01:30]:
Nice to meet you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:31]:
She has come such a long way as a. You two probably would get along. I do believe so. I met Jessica first when she worked for Rim Guard. She worked for Rim Shop and we would sublet stuff to them and then she moved it on up and started working for Auto Shop Solutions. So tell everybody who you are.
Jessica Watkins [00:01:54]:
Me or Ash?
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:56]:
You. Everybody knows who Ash is. I won't tell her.
Jessica Watkins [00:01:59]:
Sorry. Sorry. So I'm Jessica Watkins. I got started in the automotive industry in 2016. So 10 years exactly as of February, which is nice. I. I came from a marketing background. My dad had a marketing agency that I kind of grew up in.
Jessica Watkins [00:02:18]:
So I'm used to small business. I'm used to like rolling your sleeves up. My dad was if you got time to lean, you got time to clean kind of dad. So there's always something to do. If you don't have any work to do, he'll find you something. So I definitely learned growing up in a small business that there's always something to do and you shouldn't just be standing around. That just means there's opportunity for you to grow in the business in a different direction. If you've maxed out what your current role is? Well, I maxed out my current role with my dad's business.
Jessica Watkins [00:02:48]:
And I was like, I really want to do something fun. Cars are fun. I just really want to try cars. So I went to multiple different service oriented jobs, client facing, never could get into the automotive industry. Finally got in at Remgard, and I thoroughly loved it. It was so weird because I knew nothing about vehicles. I knew how to drive them and I could put gas in them. I.
Jessica Watkins [00:03:15]:
I could change a tire. And that is it. That is the extent of my abilities. And that was what was required to get me a driver's license, according to my father. So anything else was just beyond my, my realm of understanding. But when I got to Remgard, I was like, hey, guys, tell me everything. I want to know everything. I want to be able to do this as good as you like.
Jessica Watkins [00:03:33]:
I want to be the best at what we do. So when I started that shop, my boss was like, hey, I'll give you a hundred dollars cash if you can get us to a hundred grand in a month. We've only done it once. And I was like, okay, where are you now? He said, oh, we're at 81,000 or 84,000, something like that. So I started February 28th. So one day in February, and we closed the month out in the 80s. So the next month I got 100,005 as our total revenue for the month.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:09]:
You did it.
Jessica Watkins [00:04:10]:
So proud. I did it. I barely made it, but I did it. And they were like, well, some of this is on payments. They're payments that haven't been processed yet, so it doesn't count. And I was like, my first role in the job, my first month in the job, and I was able to hit these numbers, okay, if you don't like it, I don't have to stay. So they quickly gave me the hundred dollars, and I never let it slip under 100 grand a month for the rest of my time there. And I was there for three years.
Jessica Watkins [00:04:41]:
By the time I left, we were averaging a little over $240,000 a month. So I've more than tripled their business. And I helped them build a new facility that was much bigger, much nicer than the one that we were at. And I did all of that with only adding a couple of, like, helper technicians. I didn't add any A players or, or B players, honestly, which is pretty. And then from there I went to the tire store. I went to Oak City Tire, was there for a few months during COVID And then I went to a diesel mechanic shop, was there for a few months during COVID And I loved both of them. They taught me a lot.
Jessica Watkins [00:05:20]:
And then I found Auto Shop Solutions where I could have air conditioning, which was very important to me because I'm very fluffy and I need air conditioning. Working at rimguard, that was the one thing I can honestly say I hated the entire time was there was no air conditioning. So my office would get to be about 120, 130 degrees. And it was awful. So I wanted something with a bathroom because they didn't have a bathroom for ladies and they also did not have air conditioning. And I'm like, I have got to get something with both. So I walked into Auto Shop Solutions and Margaret was showing me around and she goes, yeah, here's a bathroom and here's a bathroom. And if you get cold, you can turn the air up or down.
Jessica Watkins [00:05:58]:
I was like, you have multiple everywhere. She's like, yes, ma'. Am. I was like, oh my God. This is brand new information.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:08]:
And you have air conditioning. It's a little.
Jessica Watkins [00:06:11]:
Oh my gosh.
Jessica Watkins [00:06:12]:
Where are you from? You didn't know?
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:15]:
I mean, it's 2020 something and shops don't have clean bathrooms for women or people, period. Nobody wants to in a dag on dirty bathroom.
Jessica Watkins [00:06:26]:
Exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:26]:
Doesn't have AC in North Carolina. Come on.
Jessica Watkins [00:06:29]:
Exactly. Especially at a powder coating shop where we had an oven running 24 7.
Jessica Watkins [00:06:34]:
Oh, no. You're stronger than me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:37]:
Ain't no way.
Jessica Watkins [00:06:39]:
Nope. I'm a. I'm a Madonna when it comes to air princess. When it comes to air conditioning, I need my ac.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:46]:
But no, as you get right now, I am less fluffy than I have been. So now I'm cold all the time. I'm freezing all the time. So I sleep with a heated blanket and that is my new best friend. Like, I get home from work and I plug that bad boy up and I push the button and I turn it on damn near iron. And I get it. I should have the smoothest skin because I sleep in the iron every night. That's what it is.
Jessica Watkins [00:07:13]:
That's too funny.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:14]:
I have not. Damn wrinkle.
Jessica Watkins [00:07:16]:
Yep. I. I literally set my thermostat to morgue. That's what it sat on all year long.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:23]:
It's cold in the house. I like it because it seems like it's cleaner. Right. It's cold in the house.
Jessica Watkins [00:07:28]:
But that is a weird thing. It does feel cleaner.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:31]:
It feels cleaner when the house is cold. It's like, hospital clean. You know, going to the hospital, a little humid in the air. That has nothing to do with downshift with Tanika and nothing to do with the automotive industry and us being better humans. We're talking about crazy, which is crazy. So I remember when you called me from over there, so tickled. I was like, oh, look at her, baby. She's grown up.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:53]:
She's growed up. And now you, like, run the whole show.
Jessica Watkins [00:07:57]:
Not quite, but I do like fun over there.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:00]:
Yeah.
Jessica Watkins [00:08:01]:
I actually just moved from Auto Shop Solutions to Velo, which is the parent company of Auto Shop Solutions, and I'm handling success there. But it was really funny because the first, I guess, week or two, they were like, hey, you've worked in the shops in North Carolina. Which of these shops do you know? Do you already have a relationship? I was like, tanika's mine. She's mine. Real quick. I was like, I don't care who has this account. It's mine now.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:25]:
And the funny thing is, like, as you grew, as you've been growing, like, I get different people. I'm like, I'm still gonna call Jessica. I know you're my person, but I'm gonna courtesy copy her on this email for the rest of her life, because I won't let you know. Don't play with me. But no, everybody's been great. Well, I do. I do secretly like Cece Jessica, just in case. Just in case somebody's tripping over there.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:48]:
But that just tells you how great you are. I appreciate everything that you do.
Jessica Watkins [00:08:54]:
So emails from you in my inbox. My whole day is just instantly better. So you send them anytime you want.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:02]:
So, like, we are three women in the automotive industry. Ash, Ash, you want to tell Jessica who you are and what you do? I guess, since everybody else now, I don't think Jessica knows you just yet because she's a busy lady.
Jessica Watkins [00:09:14]:
Yeah, I grew up in the industry. It's all that I really know, other than a short hiatus where I thought that I would try something stable and not blue collar. And so I've always been, like, business obsessed. So, like, exiting high school and starting college, I was in business management and accounting. And my first real big girl job out of school was accounting at a car dealership. So I was sucked back in, whether I liked it or not. And I did it for six months. It was the shortest job I've ever had because I realized how much I hated it, and I loved talking to people, and I would literally get in trouble for over, like, being over my lunch because I was like downstairs talking to the salespeople or the customers or I would just like see customers standing around.
Jessica Watkins [00:10:02]:
I'm like, hi, have you been helped? Just like I cannot help it. It's just in me. Um, and my love for cars too. Just like I, I just wasn't enjoying it. Doing accounting was terrible and I was doing titles and all kinds of stuff. So I got back into service. This is a little over 10 years ago and I just never left until recently. I stepped out of a shop in 2024 to build remote estimating as a service now for shops.
Jessica Watkins [00:10:30]:
Um, so now I have Golden Hour Garage. It's my company that we have an amazing team that are all former service advisors that remote now and they help shops with estimates, warranty calls, fleet. And then I am slowly working myself out of workflow eventually hopefully to start training shops and helping them learn how to operate more efficiently. So that. And that's what I love. I love fixing problems. I love cars. I love working on cars.
Jessica Watkins [00:10:58]:
I don't as much anymore or I love working on them. I don't do it as much anymore. I probably haven't touched. I haven't picked up a wrench in probably over a year. Maybe a little over. I know it's actually really sad. I miss it a lot. But there's just no time for it right now.
Jessica Watkins [00:11:15]:
So I'll get back to it when I can.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:17]:
And you'll get back to it?
Jessica Watkins [00:11:18]:
Yeah. And I'm so excited for the next projects or whatever I take on. But. And I love racing. So anything motorsports drift is my life, but anything that involves racing is all me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:33]:
So we are three super cool women and I love dealing with super cool women, especially young ladies. I think you guys are like two years old, let me tell it. And so it makes me so happy when I get to see young people in the industry doing things. And you. I think we have to figure out a way to tell more super cool young ladies that they could do it. Like, you're not actually turning a wrench. Jessica, you're in the industry but you're making a huge difference. Same thing for you, Ash, you're not actually turning the wrench.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:07]:
How do we get these young ladies to know that, hey, you might love working on a car like Ash, you like working on a car. You like drifting, you like doing this. You don't necessarily have to turn a wrench because all girls don't want to do that but they want to be a part of the party or like how do we convince parents that it's fine that your daughter can be in the industry. She. It doesn't mean anything. Like, it's worth it. It's fun. There's a space for us here.
Jessica Watkins [00:12:31]:
Right.
Jessica Watkins [00:12:31]:
Or they want to turn wrenches, but everyone tells them you're not supposed to. That that's what girls do. That was.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:38]:
I think I was anything is that you were told that's not what girls do.
Jessica Watkins [00:12:42]:
Yeah, I mean, my dad didn't. He. He raised me as a boy pretty much. I did all the boy things, but it was getting into the. When I got into the industry professionally that. Why don't. Why don't you try sales? Why don't you try the counter? Go sell this. And I did it.
Jessica Watkins [00:12:56]:
I'm great at it. I love it. But, you know, Tanika, you know, more of my background that, like, I loved working. I love solving problems. That's why I went to tech school. And I was like, no, I'm going to be a certified technician. Like, that was my goal. And I did it.
Jessica Watkins [00:13:09]:
And then I enjoyed working in the back of the shop. But then I got to the point where I realized, like, what you're saying is I don't have to be in the shop working on cars to still enjoy this. My skills are better used at the counter or dealing with people. We're now helping other shops do that better. So, yeah, we definitely need to be more inviting and welcoming.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:31]:
Yeah, more inviting. And invite them in. Inviting and welcoming. But as far as what you do on the other side, you're like helping shop owners in a different way. Jessica. So you're not with auto shop solutions anymore, but you would velo and they're under that. That umbrella. Correct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:47]:
What do you do for Day to Day?
Jessica Watkins [00:13:50]:
So right now I'm doing enterprise client success. So basically the same thing I've always done in every role, which is make sure to love on my customers as much as possible and be their trusted friend and advisor on what they need to help grow their business or help be successful in whatever that means to them. So I'm leveraging different products that are from V and even outside of V. And I'm saying, hey, you know, this is your issue that you have. Let's solve it together. Let's see how we can integr. Integrate together to make your life easier and your shop run more smoothly. Because the last thing I want to do is be like, hey, just because I'm with Velo, you need to use this product so that it'll work because it works.
Jessica Watkins [00:14:29]:
For everybody. It'll definitely work for you. And that's not necessarily the case. It needs to be effective for each shop. But I also agree that this industry is not super female friendly. It's gotten a lot better over the last 10 years, I will say that. But I think also letting women know that if you like helping people and you like learning things, you don't necessarily have to go turn the wrench. Like, my only driving force in life is to help others.
Jessica Watkins [00:14:56]:
So I'm very similar to you, Ash. I want to help people. I want to make people's day better. And I know for a fact if I go to a car dealership and I've done this twice now where I bought a brand new car and they took advantage of me or they tried to because they thought that I was easy prey, and I just want to break down those silos because that's not how it always is. And the more you can understand and take up for yourself, the more empowered you feel and the more control you have over the safety of your vehicle and just the, the ability to go in and say with confidence, oh, I understand what this is. And if I don't, I can ask a question, because that's something I don't think we could always do. But nowadays, if I were to go to any shop, I could go in there and ask a question and people would actually answer me. Whereas back in the day, that wasn't always the case.
Jessica Watkins [00:15:45]:
So giving it a shot now is nice.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:49]:
Well, you know what? Probably a lot more shops are still like that, more than we think. From what I understand, the shops that we know and love in our network of people that we've met over the years through different trainings and organizations, we're different, we're built different. We're the top. Some people say 10, some people say 1, but we're the top. Like you say you're working in a shop without a clean bathroom. That seems like so, like, why? Like, it's not 1985. Like, really this is, this is what we're doing. A shop with no ac.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:21]:
And you know, sometimes that doesn't make any sense to have ac, but just the little things. People still have not stepped their game up to understand that, you know, your audience is the mom with the minivan. And all of them don't have to go home and ask their husband. You should have a facility that is friendly to everyone that walks in the door, no matter the sex or the age or whatever or anything. So what you're doing with auto shop solutions and being there and being a woman in the industry, that's a big deal. I just want to let you know that I think it's a big deal.
Jessica Watkins [00:16:54]:
Yeah. I tell my customers, and you've heard me talk to people, I'll tell them like it is. Because that's how things should be. You shouldn't have to be scared to speak your mind. But I would have customers call me and be like, oh, yeah, well, we don't do that. I'm like, why not raise the bar? If you recognize that there is an opening or a way to make this industry better, your shop better, your customers happier, why aren't you doing it? Why are you scared? Because you'll be the. The reason people are happy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:23]:
You'll be the outlier, you'll stand out. And that's what we want to do. Right? That's part of marketing.
Jessica Watkins [00:17:28]:
Exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:28]:
Nobody wants to go to the cookie cutter shop with the. The dirty tech and the mean guy throwing wrenches in the back and the terrible music going on in the back. Well, my music in the back is bad too. But you know all the stereotypes, right, that the world has about shops and technicians and shop owners. Why would you want to continue to be that?
Jessica Watkins [00:17:47]:
Exactly.
Jessica Watkins [00:17:48]:
The change. Be the change.
Jessica Watkins [00:17:50]:
I literally worked in a shop that was still using paper tickets. I had to transfer.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:55]:
There's one across the street from me. Like, not across the street, right around the corner from my house. It's hilarious.
Jessica Watkins [00:18:00]:
Wild.
Jessica Watkins [00:18:02]:
Do the same stuff, the same information seven different times to. From onboarding a customer to checking them out, seven times per customer. It was such a waste of time. But the shop didn't want to invest in any shop management software. So having people who will stick their head up out of the sand and say, oh, is there a better option? What can I do to streamline? Those are the really people that are going to take over, and those are
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:34]:
the people that are going to take and continue to make the industry better. Because one thing that we say is, we got to make it better, we got to make it better. But how do we reach these people, the 90% that are still writing the paper tickets, that are still charging too little for their services? How do you think we could reach these people? Or can we. Can we, Ash? You think we can bring them along?
Jessica Watkins [00:18:55]:
Yeah, I think it just gets to a point when they realize they have tried everything on their own and they finally look for help. So by doing this, having these conversations, putting content out there, being friendly on the Facebook groups, how to do that. I know it's like, we're not supposed to, you know, be nice, right? No, but honestly, like, that's. That's where I'm like, there's shops that are struggling, people that don't want to ask for help. So if we're mean to each other on the Facebook groups and we get on here and we only talk about how bad other shops are, why would they ever ask for help?
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:33]:
That's true. So you're like, velo is now the grocery store for the automotive industry. I can come into the store and I can shop all the things. Are y' all just gonna buy up everybody? Is that the plan? World domination.
Jessica Watkins [00:19:48]:
Our goal is to be the number one provider of choice for automotive software. So anything you need to run your shop effectively. And we also have the best customer service, which you know this. I do let you have a bad day with my software.
Jessica Watkins [00:20:03]:
Tanika, I'm curious for you to share, like, what your shop uses Auto Shop for, because I know you use a different sms, but Auto Shop.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:14]:
Auto Shop Solutions is the company that she worked for prior to Velo. So they are website and marketing. They're my website developers. So that's it. I've been using them for a very long time. I wish I knew. It was over 20. It is over 20 years that they start developing my website.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:34]:
So, yeah, Auto Shop Solutions for website. I'm not sure what else they do.
Jessica Watkins [00:20:40]:
So Auto Shop Solutions, we do websites, Google Ads, Facebook marketing. Although I don't think anyone beats you on Facebook marketing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:49]:
Well, I do my own Facebook marketing because I'm a clown and I want
Jessica Watkins [00:20:54]:
to be examples to people. I'm like, this should be.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:57]:
I could do better with that. Well, people have to do it. Marketing's so important. But your dad is into marketing as well, so you kind of grew up in that. I don't think people understand how serious marketing is and actually how simple it is.
Jessica Watkins [00:21:12]:
Like it is if you spend the time to actually understand it. It's very simple. It's. What would you do to figure out what you need? You would Google it. You would ask a friend. You would, you know, depending on how old you are, go to the Yellow Pages, right? Like you're gonna go find the answer you need. So you need to be visible in those areas where someone would look, which typically now is Google, or, you know, AI chatbots looking for the. The resolution.
Jessica Watkins [00:21:41]:
Like, hey, my car is making a weird noise. Well, that's like going to WebMD and saying, oh, my God, I cut my finger. And suddenly I'm dying of of cancer or something that's completely unrelated.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:50]:
Like, you can't diagnose and cut that off. Yeah, don't diagnose yourself. But people don't. I don't think people understand marketing.
Jessica Watkins [00:21:58]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:58]:
And that I don't.
Jessica Watkins [00:21:59]:
Sad.
Jessica Watkins [00:21:59]:
Yeah. I'm not a marketing person. I. I am your target to market. I am a sucker for good marketing, but I do not know how to market.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:08]:
Well, at least you know that some people don't know that. They don't know that that is actually needed. Like people that don't claim a Google profile site, dude, it's free. Just claim your page, put a picture on it, put a dog on it, a cat or something.
Jessica Watkins [00:22:25]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:25]:
Buy from people that they know, trust and blah, blah, blah. That whole thing. It is true. Just put your face out there. And with marketing for me, like my Facebook page before, when Santana was still playing football, if I didn't update every week about the game or whatever he had going on in football, I would get emails from customers like, hey, what happened with the game? Like, oh, you're really paying attention to that. Because even if they don't like it, they're watching.
Jessica Watkins [00:22:51]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:51]:
So like now with the lipstick reports and then with the podcast, because we've got a couple episodes released just because they don't like it, you can still see how many times it's been viewed. And I think that's crazy. Like 2.5 bazillion views in 3 likes. So people are nosy. So marketing is to get the nosy people to come be nosy?
Jessica Watkins [00:23:14]:
Exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:15]:
Yeah. Is that. Is that the technical term? Marketing is for nosy people.
Jessica Watkins [00:23:19]:
That's exactly what I learned when I went to school for marketing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:22]:
Yeah, that's what they said. That was the whole book. Make the nosy people happy. Give them something to look at.
Jessica Watkins [00:23:27]:
See, this is what I'll come with. Tanika. I don't need to pay for school. I just need to ask Tanika the question.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:33]:
Got you. I got you. So, Jessica tell you got married on Halloween?
Jessica Watkins [00:23:39]:
I did. Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:41]:
You are a Halloween nut.
Jessica Watkins [00:23:42]:
I am.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:43]:
Why is this forever and ever is this is a new thing to you?
Jessica Watkins [00:23:47]:
Oh, no. Ever since I was a child, it's been my favorite holiday. Since I was like, I think that's so cool.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:52]:
If we see her, she's gonna have some Halloween type thing going on. But I thought the fact that you got married on holiday was amazing.
Jessica Watkins [00:23:59]:
And then my wallpaper, I don't know if you can see my wallpaper, but it's skulls and roses. But yeah. Is it? Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:06]:
I can see it. You've got a. Is that a black cat or an owl?
Jessica Watkins [00:24:10]:
That's an owl. And then this is Audrey from the little shop.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:14]:
Seymour. See more
Jessica Watkins [00:24:20]:
I also have my little owl in the corner, my little spooky owl. But yeah, I like one of those
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:26]:
people that have the eight foot skeleton. Do you have those?
Jessica Watkins [00:24:29]:
I have a predator of the night, which is very similar. It's got a 12 foot wingspan, but wow. The last windstorm just broke his knees. So I got to put him back together. But yeah, I have animatronics everywhere. When it's Halloween, I, I consider Halloween July 1st 5th through until the day before Thanksgiving because there's no other holidays you decorate for between them except Halloween. So.
Jessica Watkins [00:24:54]:
That's so funny.
Jessica Watkins [00:24:55]:
I probably. That I put up.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:00]:
Yeah. Your poor husband, he probably loves it too, though. That's crazy.
Jessica Watkins [00:25:03]:
He doesn't want me to take it down. That's the funny part.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:06]:
Well, he doesn't want you to take it down or he just like doesn't want the job of taking it down.
Jessica Watkins [00:25:10]:
He doesn't want me to take it down. He loves it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:13]:
He's like, to keep it up. That's like my Christmas tree. You know, we could have still have. We could have like a St. Patrick's Day tree right now. I had a Christmas tree in the shop up for the last couple years. Every day I would just redecorate it. But this year I took it down.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:28]:
I just decorated it every year.
Jessica Watkins [00:25:30]:
That's smart.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:31]:
Shop tree. It was fun. Customers enjoyed it. Some people didn't like it. Like, why you see on your trio, why you got your tree up now? All right, ladies, so let's talk about how do we encourage. We talked about getting women into the industry. What do you think shop owners can do to bring them in? Like, how do you make the shop more inviting for the ladies to come to the front desk and to be a technician in the shop? Or is that even a thing? Should we, should we even worry about that?
Jessica Watkins [00:26:07]:
Definitely worry about it. Because curb appeal is everything, right? Like, you're not going to stop at some place that you don't feel safe. And that goes for any, not just women, but women more so than anyone else because we're. I feel like we've got our head on a swivel a little bit more. But it needs to look nice, it needs to smell nice. It needs to be, you know, clean and inviting. Because if it's not, I'm not stopping. Like, literally, I had a really horrifying experience.
Jessica Watkins [00:26:35]:
At one of the shops I worked at, it got very violent one day and I was held at gunpoint. And ever since then I was like. And I'm still to this day terrified of going to parking lots by myself because I was held at gunpoint. And so I will not park any place that does not have a streetlight directly above my parking space if I'm going in at night or early in the morning. And I was arguing with one of my old co workers when we would go into the office, now we're fully remote. He was like, why do you steal my parking spot? I'm like, it's the only one under a parking, you know, like a street lamp and it's directly in front of the door. So, like, if something were to happen, I could run really quickly and get to the door. He's like, I don't even think about that.
Jessica Watkins [00:27:15]:
I'm like, of course you don't.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:17]:
Exactly. Because you're. You don't have to deal with that. I remember visiting another shop and things like my mom taught me things like that, have your keys ready when you're going to your car, going into your house. Park somewhere that's well lit. Bushes that are overgrown. Like, you have to think as a woman or just as a person, not just a woman. Fools will find a way.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:36]:
People think criminals are dumb. They are not dumb. They're waiting for us to be looking at our phone, not paying attention and watching our habits and this how they pounce and get you. But shop owners don't think that way. And that also is a part of marking.
Jessica Watkins [00:27:50]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:51]:
Yeah, my night drop box.
Jessica Watkins [00:27:53]:
I don't know if it's a general statement, but I feel like women, we tend to be more aware of our surroundings for that because of that. And that almost is why when there is a woman in the shop, the shopper tends to operate better because we're more aware of those things. And it's like to your point, Tanika, majority of women are the decision makers in households. Most of us are the financial decision makers as well. So if you don't have a shop that's safe and inviting for women, that is the big. Like, that is your customer base. So yeah, we have to. And I think shop should, should be more inviting and almost should want like, oh, we don't have a woman on our team.
Jessica Watkins [00:28:40]:
We need to bring a woman in. I think also, like, if I can speak for myself, I don't know about all women. I don't like repetitive problems. So if I go into A business, then it has a problem and there's no incentive to change it. Or like they're not willing to change it. And it's like, okay, then I'm not going to waste my time here. Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:01]:
Yeah.
Jessica Watkins [00:29:02]:
So that's for a lot of women coming into the industry is they're. They're going to come in and find areas that need to be improved. So I hope you're ready to improve
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:10]:
it, which is good. It's always good. Not even just a woman, but women are going to do it. Best to have someone else look at your shop from a different angle. Like, one thing I do in my front office is I'll just go sit down where the customer sit and then I'll look at the shop and what I'm looking for is that spider web that's been there that I'm nose blind to. I'm blind to because I'm in it every day. It's just like that. When you stand outside of your shop at the top of the street, what does it look like to the people that are passing by? You know, the weeds and the bushes that are overgrown and the paint that's chipping, those things are what help.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:45]:
What help people decide if they're coming or not. You know, if the office floor is disgusting, if the bathroom is disgusting, if it stinks. Smells are important.
Jessica Watkins [00:29:55]:
Yes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:55]:
So women are really, really good at that, but men are too.
Jessica Watkins [00:30:00]:
Have the security in your senses, like touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing those things, then you can't, you can't get to that trust point. So if the first thing you do when you walk in a building is it reeks immediately, that's one notch off of your trust belt. Right. If it's so loud in the back of the shop you can't even hear the person talking to you, there's no good sound barriers. That's another notch. And it's like, it just those little things that I don't think people think are as important as they are.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:29]:
Or if you can't even find a parking space because there's 10 junk cars in the front of the shop.
Jessica Watkins [00:30:33]:
Exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:33]:
Or if you even see those 10 cars that are at the shop, like,
Jessica Watkins [00:30:39]:
what happened to you, Jessica, is horrific.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:41]:
That is horrific.
Jessica Watkins [00:30:41]:
I had a situation with a customer. We had like a. Made it a point to have like a valet section where someone could just pull up and walk right into the front door and we would move their car for them because I had a customer that would do it. It wasn't intentional. We didn't have this in place yet, but she would do it. And I had asked her at one point, I don't remember what the question was, but she explained to me she had been violently attacked one day. I mean, all the things that I don't want to say on a podcast. And it was horrific and it messed her up so much mentally.
Jessica Watkins [00:31:14]:
When she came to our shop, she said, I have to be able to be right by the door. And actually there was a time where she went, but the parts delivery person parked right there. And so she left and she came back later and she called me and she's like, hey, I missed my appointment because there was a car in front of the door, so I couldn't stop. And so it's just like being aware of those things, like making things more accessible and you don't have to know everybody's situation. Like, no one is going to know, Jessica, that that's why you like to park under where the light is. But being aware that, okay, we need to have a well lit parking lot, we need to make sure it's accessible for somebody to be able to park close to the curb for whether they're handicapped or not handicapped. Yeah, all those things are so important. I.
Jessica Watkins [00:31:53]:
It really bugs me that you've worked in shops that don't have air conditioning and clean bathrooms.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:59]:
Well, the air conditioning is expensive and I can understand that all shops can't afford that yet.
Jessica Watkins [00:32:04]:
In the office or the shop.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:06]:
Oh, in the.
Jessica Watkins [00:32:07]:
You.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:07]:
Whoa. You didn't have ac?
Jessica Watkins [00:32:09]:
If there's no AC in the office,
Jessica Watkins [00:32:12]:
we had a window, but the window unit was in the waiting room and there was a wall between the waiting room and my office.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:21]:
That's just poor ownership.
Jessica Watkins [00:32:23]:
Yeah. If you can't work comfortably, how do I expect you to take care of the customers?
Jessica Watkins [00:32:28]:
Exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:29]:
No. Oh, I was just thinking in the shop, but an office with no ac? No.
Jessica Watkins [00:32:34]:
And the technicians need to be able to come in and cool down. No, I would not have that. I'm so sorry you went through that.
Jessica Watkins [00:32:40]:
It's okay. It was a learning experience. One thing that I think a lot of people don't think about, that I've noticed probably more so from my seat in the industry is the age of the shop owners. The vast majority of shop owners that I've worked with have been well over 55, 60 years old. And it's not saying that all shop owners are, but they're getting closer to retirement. So they also have the if it ain't broke, don't fix it mentality. A lot of Times, because they're like, I just need to get another three years out of this shop, and then I can retire or I'll sell it and it'll be somebody else's problem. So I think a lot of the mentality is, oh, this was fine back in the 80s, 90s, early 2000s.
Jessica Watkins [00:33:27]:
It's still fine for just the next couple of years. But then it's also separating them from their client base, where pushing that envelope just a little bit further over to the edge because they're just not keeping up with the times. But what I always encouraged my shop owners to do is I'd say, hey, depending on where you are in your life and who's available to you, either ask your mama to come to your shop or ask your daughter to come to your shop. And if she doesn't feel comfortable going to the bathroom, if she doesn't feel comfortable parking her car, if she doesn't feel comfortable, any capacity, she'll tell you and pull you aside and not make it embarrassing. Unless, you know, of course, you're my mother. No, I'm just kidding. Well, pull them up and have them do the service. And don't tell your team that it's your mom or your daughter or whoever.
Jessica Watkins [00:34:16]:
Find that trusted woman in your life. Have her come in and do an actual vehicle appointment and let her tell you all the things that are working and are not working so that you can fix.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:26]:
That's a good idea. That's a really good idea to get a second opinion from someone that you already know and love and trust. So, yeah, that is a great idea. But you got to get them to do it, because everybody thinks their shop is the bee's knees, and it's not.
Jessica Watkins [00:34:42]:
Oh, yeah, I had a.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:43]:
We always have work to do, guys. Always have work to do.
Jessica Watkins [00:34:47]:
One of my favorite shop owners is in Raleigh. I love him to death. I've worked with him forever, and Tanika knows this. If I can possibly take my vehicle to one of the shops that. That I've worked with before, I want to do it. Like, I almost turned around the day I went to your shop to have you take a look at my vehicle, but you guys were closing for lunch, and I wasn't willing to make you stay for. Through your lunch break for me. But I went to downtown Raleigh, get my car worked on just for an oil change, just to kind of see what it was like and see what he was talking about.
Jessica Watkins [00:35:18]:
And sure enough, I was ignored for the first 10 minutes that I was there. There was no one in the office. Nobody greeted me. I literally walked into the shop and was like, hey, anybody working here? And finally someone came up and was like, oh, I'll be right up there. And then another 20 minutes goes by. I completely missed my appointment window. And so I was explaining to him, I'm like, hey, you know, the person on the phone when I booked the appointment told me that he didn't want to book my appointment over the phone, that I should just use the Internet like everybody else and book it online. And then I get there and you guys weren't ready for my appointment.
Jessica Watkins [00:35:51]:
You never checked me in. You didn't do the full inspection of my vehicle. And when I went to check out, you overcharged me. You charged me $35 for an oil cap, which to me is ridiculous. So I paid it because I'm not going to be that guy. But also, like, I'm not going to come back to your shop. And he was like, oh, well, that's embarrassing. It's not bad enough for you to not come back, is it? I was like, you tell me, would you come back to that? Would you feel comfortable? Because I wouldn't.
Jessica Watkins [00:36:22]:
And even though you are reasonably close to my house, I'm not willing to drive out there for that kind of service and pay that kind of money for it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:29]:
But you will drive far for excellent service. And that's what people need to pay attention to these things. Because if your shop stands out because of excellent service and you've gone above and beyond, and the office smells good and it's clean and people look in your eye and they talk, and you can actually sit on the chairs, you can find a parking space, all of the good. All those little bit of things, you can be an excellent tech. You can have an excellent technician, you can have the best man in the back. But if you can't get the people in the front door, we can't get him to go to work. So all these little things, starting with marketing, this is a part of your marketing. Like, how are you treating that customer?
Jessica Watkins [00:37:07]:
It's your brand.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:08]:
Yeah, it's your brand. It's a part of your brand. What. What is on the wall? How old. How old is that plant? Please get the. Please, people, listen. Is everybody listening? Listen to Aunt Neat. If you don't get that artificial plant with three years worth of dust on the leaves out of the corner of that lobby, I'm coming to find you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:33]:
If you do not get those old magazines, your old magazines from 1995, Fishing and Wildlife. If you don't Update your furniture and get those folding chairs out of the front lobby.
Jessica Watkins [00:37:53]:
The folding chairs,
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:56]:
I'm coming to get you. This is all a part of your brand. This is all a part of marketing. Walk outside, look at your shop, fix it.
Jessica Watkins [00:38:05]:
I do have to agree.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:06]:
I'm talking about you.
Jessica Watkins [00:38:08]:
The shops that we talk about, like raising labor rates. And some people say, oh, I can't do that. We always say, yes, you can. If you have folding chairs. Maybe you can't, maybe you shouldn't.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:21]:
Do not raise your rates. Go to, go to the Daggone Facebook marketplace and find a chair. Something not the picture. People don't pantry. They think that stuff is superficial. Like, I don't have polished floors in my shop, but my shop floors are clean. I'm going to keep.
Jessica Watkins [00:38:36]:
Yes, they are clean.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:37]:
Because what if you have to take the customer out there? Oh, it's a shop, it should be dirty. It shouldn't. What if you want to go take your customer to the car and show them something, whether it's a man or a woman. Do you want all these old parts just stacked up? The part that you've had over there since 2001 and you're waiting for the car that it might fit on?
Jessica Watkins [00:38:53]:
Don't do that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:54]:
Yeah, do it.
Jessica Watkins [00:38:56]:
I like everything you said, Jessica. The one thing I'm stuck on that I'm like, that's a non negotiable for me. If you walk into a business and there's no eye contact or greeting within
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:07]:
like 10 minutes is a long time.
Jessica Watkins [00:39:09]:
I. I was gonna say like 10 seconds.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:12]:
Yeah.
Jessica Watkins [00:39:13]:
If there's no eye contact or greeting, I mean, as soon as I walk in the door, I will go somewhere else. That is a non negotiable. And that's how I train, like with advisors. I've had technicians, but my technicians knew better. If I saw a customer parking their car, I'm ready. I'm standing there waiting, technicians talking to me. The second that customer walks through the door, I. You're not my customer.
Jessica Watkins [00:39:36]:
That's my customer.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:37]:
Right.
Jessica Watkins [00:39:37]:
We can continue this conversation. It's a big pet peeve of mine. When I go into a business and the employees are chit chatting and cutting up and I'm sitting there waiting to be 10 taken care of. It's a big problem. But yeah, it's not hard. Just look up, smile. Tanika, when I walked in your shop, they know who I. They know who I am.
Jessica Watkins [00:39:56]:
They were I probably expecting me, but I still walked in the first thing. They weren't expecting me. Well, the first thing that happened is Haley looked up and Jada looked up, and they both smiled at me and made eye contact. One of Haley was on the phone, but she still made it a point to smile and greet me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:15]:
Yes, I'll be right with you. Yes, that's all it takes. Yes, that's all it takes. And even if we do cut up at the front desk, because we're there all day and we got to like each other, everybody will get killed by each other.
Jessica Watkins [00:40:27]:
I mean, you have to.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:28]:
I'm like, you have to. But here's my key. You're laughing. You're like, hey, Ms. Such and Such, if you know who it is, or hey, I am sorry. We are so unprofessional. But how are you doing? It turns you to a human.
Jessica Watkins [00:40:40]:
Yes.
Jessica Watkins [00:40:40]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:43]:
So just talking to someone, like, like you said, if you're on the phone and you, you know, you're in the middle of the call to say right with you.
Jessica Watkins [00:40:50]:
There's a quick mute button. Yeah, Quick mute button. Hey, I'll be right there.
Jessica Watkins [00:40:55]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:55]:
That's all. That's all. And they understand.
Jessica Watkins [00:40:57]:
Yes. They have seen them.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:00]:
Seen and heard and all the good stuff. And yeah, that's why we need more women in the industry, because me and I agree. That's not true, though. I, I. I'm a woman. That's not true. My father was really big on that. Really big on way things looked, smelled like.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:17]:
He designed the shop. I don't. Jessica, you've been to the shop, the Collision center next door. Like, it looks like a hotel lobby in there. And he designed that. That was in place in 2000. Early. We've always had.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:28]:
The lobby was on point. Everything's on point. Because he knew that early on. So, men, you can do it, too. You don't need a lady, but I think you should go get one to represent. But you can do it, too. You know what nasty is? Y' all hear me?
Jessica Watkins [00:41:43]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:44]:
On the Internet. Y' all know what nasty is and don't do it. And there's. I mean, even the bathrooms in the shop, they shouldn't be dirty. Just clean up.
Jessica Watkins [00:41:55]:
I literally drive to Maryland once a year to visit one of my clients, and I love them to death. I will love them until I'm dead. And I literally save up any issues for my vehicle, and I take it to them, and they do it for me. I drive from North Carolina to Maryland for that level of service because it. It just doesn't exist in my direct hometown. Now, obviously, I Can drive an hour or so and get to Tanika Shop. But, like, literally that the level of service that I've seen at Tanika Shop, when I watch people walk in and out of Browns, and I'm like, oh, my God, everybody's just having such a great day. Like, the fact that they shine so beautifully at the front desk, and their shine rubs off on everybody else.
Jessica Watkins [00:42:39]:
So it just kind of like that candle analogy. Like, lighting somebody else's flame doesn't dim yours. You guys, everything so much better because you're just so positive and engaging, and that's how it should be. It should be like that everywhere. And you guys have something very unique. And I wish more.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:55]:
Thank you. Thank you. I really. I work hard on it. And sometimes you think you're so busy that you can't take care of those things. If you don't take care of those little things, you won't be busy.
Jessica Watkins [00:43:06]:
Exactly.
Jessica Watkins [00:43:06]:
I have to admit something. A confession. We were talking about, like, how do we encourage more women in the industry? And I have not been the best at doing this. My approach has always been, if it's something you really love, go for it, but you have to have thick skin, be prepared for the abuse, because that's what I endured for a long time. And so that's been my advice. So I'm curious from both of you, like, I want to change how I encourage women in the industry. I don't want to paint it as this battlefield that they have to gear up to go into, but I think it's on us how we encourage, but also on us to be the change in the industry so that it's more welcoming. So how do you guys encourage women?
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:52]:
Ooh. So my. I think everybody's road to wherever they're going to get to is different. Right. So mine is different. And I am very, very blessed. And I hope I tell them enough that my dad raised me as the most feminist. I'm very feminine.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:09]:
I'm very young. But he raised me hard. He didn't. He didn't raise me scared. He didn't teach me, oh, well, you're a woman and you can't do this. He raised me, oh, you're a woman and you can do this better because y' all pay more attention to stuff. So my. My outlook is different.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:29]:
It is going to be hard. Everything is hard. Life is hard. Whether you're in the automotive industry, you're going to be a doctor, pharmacist, teacher. Everything is hard. We're not going to use being a woman. As excuse. We're going to use being a woman as a power.
Jessica Watkins [00:44:44]:
Absolutely.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:45]:
Okay. So if you walk into a room and you feel like you're being discriminated against, I'm raised to. I will show you better than I can tell you and I will do it with lipstick on. Okay. That's my. That's who I am. Now. There's been times that, for example, I tell people first, Asta, I didn't feel comfortable walking in that room.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:07]:
And there's been some rooms that I've been uncomfortable in, but only because that was the story I was telling myself, that I didn't belong there or I told myself I felt uncomfortable. I have, thank God, have not been in a situation that another man has been able to make me uncomfortable, whether he tried or not, because I've got clapped back like that and you can't tell me where the hell I can go. But the only thing that's ever kept me from going anyplace or going into any room or any situation was my mindset. So as long as your mindset is strong and you've been raised strong like that. So I think that I have a. That's my blessing. That's what I. That's my gift from my family that I've.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:52]:
I was raised as a warrior princess. So my encouraging. When I talk to you, when I'm talking to Ash, she knows that I'm like, yeah, I don't care. There's no crying in automotive. Like, come, come on here, boo boo. That's your excuse. Let's do it. Feelings don't fix cars.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:10]:
That's that negative industry is not going to get you where you want to go. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Now, I'm not telling that you. We're not going to cry about it. Not going to tell you. It's not going to be comfortable. It's going to be uncomfortable at times, but had less boohoo moments. You can have your boohoo moments, but fix your mascara, fix your lipstick or your lip glossy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:30]:
Let's go do something about it. We're going to put. Tighten up our bra. All right? And we're going to go do something about it. So I. My thing would be, is to be. I want to build a strong woman, a stronger. If she's not strong enough yet.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:43]:
And yeah. But I wouldn't say, oh, it's gonna be hard. And you know, it's mean. It's not.
Jessica Watkins [00:46:50]:
It's not.
Jessica Watkins [00:46:51]:
I think it also depends on where they're Starting and what their goals are. Because like Tanika's point, I don't turn wrenches. That's never been something that I've had a passion to do. I would love to learn, don't get me wrong, but I am very mechanically handicapped. I cannot put anything together. You can give me the instructions and a video and like hold my hand and I will still break it. So I mechanically inclined at all. But I am really good at organizing and I'm really good at talking to people.
Jessica Watkins [00:47:25]:
So just because I don't want to turn wrenches doesn't mean that I can't find a spot in this industry that's perfect for me. And that goes for women everywhere. You can be the office manager, you can be the service advisor. You don't have to go in there sweating your butt off in the shop with no air conditioning like I did. You can literally go and find a job that fits all of your needs. But just to your point as well, it's not going to be completely comfortable because change is never comfortable. There's always going to be something where you're just like, oh God, this is going to be so embarrassing. Like the first day that I moved tires into the shop, this guy dropped off four rims and tires together and he had put tire shine on it and I didn't notice it.
Jessica Watkins [00:48:09]:
And I went like this afterwards. Walked around the rest of the day with a Hitler stash and the guy tell me a thing. And it wasn't until 4:30 when I was getting ready to go home that I recognized in the rear view mirror of my pickup truck that the 7:30 drop off had the Hitler stash for the entire day and not one person.
Jessica Watkins [00:48:30]:
Oh no.
Jessica Watkins [00:48:31]:
There will be days that it's uncomfortable, but you also have to deal with diligence for yourself where you're like, hey, is this an environment that I feel safe? Is this something that will actually listen to me and show me the ropes or are they just going to leave me out to dry? Because if you don't recognize those places in the environments that you're putting yourself in, you might be shooting yourself in the foot. By starting like the ghetto place that I was where there was, you know. Gunpoints.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:57]:
Yeah.
Jessica Watkins [00:48:57]:
You know, that's a terrible situation. Don't. I don't recommend it. Don't do that. Nice that you feel comfortable, you feel safe, and then you can go from there in your career to whatever you want. But don't start at the very bottom of the barrel and work your way up because that's going to set everybody up for failure that way.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:17]:
That was a good question, Ash, because I want to be more encouraging to women. And I know sometimes I'm hard to. But that's just. I'm just that family member that's going to be that way. And then you're going to have a family member in the industry that's going to. I don't have another word, and it seems like a mean word, but that's going to maybe coddle you because you need that at times. But as for me, it's going to be you on box of kick rocks. You can get in my pocket.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:39]:
What we going to do? Okay, we cried about that. Now what, huh? Is we still. We still crying about that? We cried about that last week.
Jessica Watkins [00:49:47]:
So this is like. Yeah, but did you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:50]:
Yes, I went through that. I went through that and I made it. Nobody died. And. But that, again, that's the way that I was raised.
Jessica Watkins [00:50:00]:
We just, I think even to your point, Jessica, where you said, like, you don't have to turn wrenches, you don't have to do this. Just find what works for you in the industry is playing to people's strengths. Because there's things I'm not strong at, there's things you're not strong at, but somebody else is.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:17]:
So, yeah, you find your superpower and run with it. And then the things that you can't do, you find someone to do it. I mean, same thing with leadership. Same thing with me running the shop. And you know what I hate? I hate accounting. It's the dumbest thing in the whole world. Numbers are stupid until they're in my bank account. You know what I did? I hired an accountant.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:35]:
Hey, I will give you money if you take this off my plate.
Jessica Watkins [00:50:37]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:38]:
But what I do love to do, one thing that I know that I should outsource, I love to clean up. I cannot wait to go into the shop and clean up on Saturday. That is my mental health medicine, to go and get the cracks and crevices and clean, and it helps me think. And so I love to do that still. But if there's something that I don't like to do, again, accounting is the dumbest thing in the whole world. Numbers are stupid. I don't know why they exist. Who made numbers? Let's find them, fight them.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:06]:
I don't like it. And it's okay that I don't like it. But you find your strength, Your super strength is service. And you guys like fixing stuff and caring for people. Take that strength and figure out how to make money from it.
Jessica Watkins [00:51:18]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:21]:
And do it cute.
Jessica Watkins [00:51:22]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:23]:
Do it cute and do it count. So, Ash, you got to tell us one good story. Automotive industry store. Make it funny. I know you got a good, funny industry story.
Jessica Watkins [00:51:34]:
Come on. It's funny, but it's also gross.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:38]:
Oh, God.
Jessica Watkins [00:51:42]:
Not funny. I'm just. I messed up in the head. It's not funny.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:47]:
Let's lighten it up a little bit.
Jessica Watkins [00:51:48]:
Oh, gosh. Come back to me. Jessica, you go first.
Jessica Watkins [00:51:54]:
Okay. So I had this customer one time. He came to me, and he goes. He didn't speak English very well, and he's. He's like, bent rims. And I was like, okay, you got bent rim. Which wheel is bent? And he goes, yes. I was like, okay, well, it takes a lot to bend a rim.
Jessica Watkins [00:52:15]:
So usually there's only one or two that's bent on a vehicle at a time. Typically, this man parked in the wrong parking lot across the street. So I took his keys, and I went to pull it up onto a lift because I knew with the language barrier, it was going to be a long time of him trying to tell me which wheel was bent. So I put it up on the lift and spun the wheels, and all four of them were bent, which takes talent. It takes an immense amount of talent to bend four rims. And they were steel wheels at that, which don't even bend very often. Like, you have to really try. And I was like, were you going sideways down the railroad tracks? Like, what happened? And he was like, bent rims.
Jessica Watkins [00:53:00]:
And I was like, okay, it's gonna cost you the same for me to fix them or to replace them. And he's like, fix? And I said, that's dumb, but all right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:11]:
You only got in a junkyard in a minute for steel wheel.
Jessica Watkins [00:53:15]:
Like, it's nothing. But he didn't want to because it would take me two or three days to get them in. And I was like, it's honestly better for you, but you do you. Sure enough, a couple months later, he comes back, all four rooms are bent again. And I'm like,
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:31]:
what?
Jessica Watkins [00:53:32]:
I'm like, I'm sorry.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:33]:
Are you like, his job?
Jessica Watkins [00:53:34]:
I have no idea what his job was.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:36]:
Well, he was driving in Raleigh.
Jessica Watkins [00:53:38]:
Did you ever get answers on what caused it?
Jessica Watkins [00:53:42]:
No.
Jessica Watkins [00:53:42]:
His link keep me up at night.
Jessica Watkins [00:53:45]:
But he. I finally just kept ordering those rims, the steel wheels, and kept them on
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:51]:
stack, like, because he came that much.
Jessica Watkins [00:53:53]:
He came quarterly with four bent rims every time. And it cracked me up because I'm like, this this is comical. Like, who does this? Like, in what universe is this normal?
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:04]:
Hey, he's been the best customer. Yes. Four wheels. Let's go. I got it. Come on, R. We got you. I gotta tell this.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:12]:
Yeah, go ahead. I got a good one for you.
Jessica Watkins [00:54:15]:
Okay, this is the last one.
Jessica Watkins [00:54:16]:
I won't.
Jessica Watkins [00:54:16]:
I won't tell anymore. But I had this one dude come in, and he was like, oh, my God. My mother was an. Was a. A victim of a hate crime. She was a victim of a hate crime. I was like, oh, my God. Does she need help? Like, let me call 91 1.
Jessica Watkins [00:54:36]:
He goes, no, it's on my car. And I was like, oh, goodness. Let me see what's going on with your car. He's like, someone took sandpaper to my rims. And I was like, that is a very specific hate crime that takes a lot of effort.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:51]:
You must have piss somebody off.
Jessica Watkins [00:54:52]:
Oh, my lanta.
Jessica Watkins [00:54:53]:
Who carries the sandpaper with them just for the off chance they could find someone to hate, you know? You know what?
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:02]:
That was a.
Jessica Watkins [00:55:02]:
Tires.
Jessica Watkins [00:55:04]:
Don't slash tires.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:05]:
Sand wheels. Sand wheels. You're really pissed off.
Jessica Watkins [00:55:13]:
That's wild.
Jessica Watkins [00:55:14]:
I walk out there. Yeah. No, his mama just drove all over the curbs. And. And so he's like, she was a victim of a hate crime. She said, somebody did this to her while she was at the grocery store. I'm like, no, sir. She did this to herself.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:26]:
Your mama knew exactly what she was doing. Mama lied.
Jessica Watkins [00:55:30]:
I've been in the car with people that. Yeah, what curb.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:33]:
Oops.
Jessica Watkins [00:55:34]:
I'm like,
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:39]:
I had a customer come in for an oil change, A waiter. And I barely do waiters. I do, like, two a day. He has his waiting appointment, and it's an oil rotation. DVI waiters are going to wait. Okay. Haley comes to the back, and she's frantic. She's like, Mr.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:57]:
Nika, you need to come up front. This man says he's running out of oxygen, and he's mad. So he was mad because it was taking too long, and he was running out of oxygen in his oxygen tank. You know the little thing? He got me on the wrong day. He was furious. And I said, sir, how do you walk out the house without the right amount of oxygen? And he's like, well, this is taking too long, and this is not senior friendly, and I want my car. And I was like, well, we can't just stop. We have to finish the service.
Tonnika Haynes [00:56:31]:
Like, what? What do you want me to do? Well, I need to be compensated for this. I'm Running out of oxygen. And he kept saying he was running out of oxygen. And I say, for somebody that's running out of oxygen, you do a lot of talking. And us. And I said, that is your responsibility. I really don't know what to do with this one because he was mean.
Jessica Watkins [00:56:58]:
You're the only person that can get away with.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:01]:
It was me. What was I supposed to do with that?
Jessica Watkins [00:57:06]:
You're the only person that I know that can get.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:08]:
I remember I put that on, like, one of the ASOC Facebook or maybe changing it or whatever. And people were like, you should have hooked them up to the welding tank. And I was like, I know, right? Like, oh, God, customers are crazy.
Jessica Watkins [00:57:22]:
I don't have any, like, wildly funny customers.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:25]:
Well, you better not say anything disco, Dustin. You say that.
Jessica Watkins [00:57:27]:
Well, I just. Yeah. No, I won't. Most of mine are sad. Turned, like, heartwarming. The only funny thing I could think of is y' all like, I. I'm drift obsessed. I love drifting.
Jessica Watkins [00:57:39]:
And there was a shop. I was one of the last shops I worked at. They had never witnessed it because I. I was drifting in Arizona and I had moved to Texas, and so they never witnessed it. And it was a Christmas party. And one of our. One of the technicians from another location had his, like, brand new Mustang. And I was like, hey, can I play with your Mustang? And he's like, sure.
Jessica Watkins [00:58:02]:
Here you go. Here's the keys. So I think he was expecting, oh, this girl wants to, like, you know, rev it or play with the buttons, honk the horn, not ash. So we had this huge parking lot that wrapped around, like, it had a whole front section, and it drove around to the back. There's a whole field. And then, oh, I did. I did laps drifting his brand.
Tonnika Haynes [00:58:26]:
I would have whipped your ass. You got out of my car.
Jessica Watkins [00:58:29]:
It was so funny. No. So I. I get done. I did it about three or four times, and I come and I. When I go to pull up to the garage where everybody's standing, I skirt slid up right against the. The garage door, and I parked right there. And I look over and like, six grown men are like.
Tonnika Haynes [00:58:49]:
And the one that owned the Mustang would have been like, you lost your damn mind.
Jessica Watkins [00:58:52]:
No, they. They loved it. They thought it was hilarious. And he actually asked for a ride along. So he jumped in the car, and I did it again. Yeah. So if I asked to play with your car, I'm not.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:04]:
I will beat your ass. Just letting you know you've been warned. It's been documented to show
Jessica Watkins [00:59:12]:
she Scares me so bad with her vehicles. She parked one of her cars directly in front of my big ass pickup truck.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:21]:
And we were in Greensboro.
Jessica Watkins [00:59:23]:
Yeah. It was not big enough for her to park her car in front of my truck. And I ended up going off the the road onto the grass and went up to the next parking lot up to turn around.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:37]:
I was driving that car. I don't know where I went. I said, I'm not even sure why I was driving that car.
Jessica Watkins [00:59:44]:
You were driving it for the
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:48]:
fueling connections. Oh. Zeb wanted me to pick him up in something crazy.
Jessica Watkins [00:59:52]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:52]:
Oh, yeah.
Jessica Watkins [00:59:53]:
Car.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:53]:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Jessica Watkins [00:59:55]:
And so I was, okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:56]:
That's what it was.
Jessica Watkins [00:59:57]:
Because if you want to be a baller, you gotta do ball.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:59]:
Gotta do ball of.
Jessica Watkins [01:00:02]:
I was like, I'm gonna take out six other vehicles just to avoid.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:07]:
I would have fought you.
Jessica Watkins [01:00:08]:
I wouldn't do something I knew would harm anybody's vehicle.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:11]:
So, girl, I'm just letting you know,
Jessica Watkins [01:00:13]:
but you've been warned.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:16]:
All right, Jess, we've taken up all your time. So the people that want to connect with you under the umbrella of V, how would they find you?
Jessica Watkins [01:00:25]:
You can give me a call at 984-246-2716, or you can email me at jessica Watkinsvilo.com.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:33]:
and you've got all the automotive solutions for all the automotive people?
Jessica Watkins [01:00:37]:
I do, yes, ma'. Am.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:38]:
All right, you need something, go call my girl. She'll be good to you, I promise you. Well, that's another episode. Ladies, I thank you for taking the time with me, and we will see you on the downshift. 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.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:12]:
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.