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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.
[Tonnika Haynes] (0:00 - 0:21)
The pay. So there are some shitty employees out there that do not pay technicians properly for what they are worth. But the key word there is, what are you worth?
What do you have in your toolbox that is worth you making $125, $150 a year?
[Zeb Beard] (0:21 - 0:36)
Welcome to Downshift with Tanika Haynes, the automotive auntie. The thing about Tanika, she gets to know you. She'll laugh and cut up with you.
But then she'll hit you with some knowledge that you may not want, but that you need. Let's Downshift.
[Tonnika Haynes] (0:42 - 1:10)
We're in there like swimwear. Good morning. So it's 10 o'clock.
It's 10 o'clock where you are too. All right. So I'm guilty of not, I don't like to look up people because I don't want to have a pre, I don't want to guess who you are just by your Facebook picture.
So you got to, like you reached out to me and you said you're at tools with us and that was your first training and you want to talk about it. Let's talk about it.
[Bruce Bolin] (1:11 - 1:12)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (1:12 - 1:17)
I mean, can you hear my fan? I'm complaining about you. Mine is loud.
[Bruce Bolin] (1:18 - 1:20)
I mean, I don't hear it.
[Tonnika Haynes] (1:21 - 1:28)
He'll tell me he heard it. So I got to come back in. I'm back.
I can hear it now.
[Bruce Bolin] (1:28 - 1:28)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (1:28 - 1:34)
I mean, Braxton will figure it out. Braxton's magic.
[Bruce Bolin] (1:35 - 1:44)
Yeah. Yeah. He's got a wonderful way with those clips with everyone else he messes with those clips.
[Tonnika Haynes] (1:44 - 2:16)
They start stuff. I like them. Sometimes I'm like, look, Braxton, bring it back a little bit.
Come on, come on, man. But it worked. I mean, cause you want people to pay attention.
But the problem with the clips is that people don't go past that. You know, it's like, you know, news is like, Oh yeah. Tragic tragedy here on main street tune in at six and nobody turns it tunes in at six and nobody really goes to listen to the whole podcast.
And that's where the problems can arise.
[Bruce Bolin] (2:16 - 2:17)
Oh yeah. Without a doubt.
[Tonnika Haynes] (2:18 - 2:29)
Yeah. Not listen to the whole thing, but I like it though. I mean, I'm getting used to it, the podcasting and the clips and the, I don't, I don't think we do rage bait, but some people might say, so I don't care.
I do care.
[Bruce Bolin] (2:31 - 2:36)
Everyone's got their own definition of what rage bait is. You know what I mean? It's everything else.
[Tonnika Haynes] (2:36 - 2:39)
So I just like to think of my clips as commercials.
[Bruce Bolin] (2:40 - 2:41)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (2:42 - 2:46)
Preview of this week's podcast.
[Bruce Bolin] (2:48 - 3:09)
That's, that's pretty much where it started for me. Like I, I've seen a couple of like Jeff clips floating around and then I'm like, what's this, what's this all about? And, you know, started listening to his podcast and then that's when he, he threw out about tools and Hershey.
And I'm like, that's an hour away from me.
[Tonnika Haynes] (3:10 - 3:12)
Like never before at all. Like nothing.
[Bruce Bolin] (3:13 - 3:49)
Yeah, no, it's, I mean the, the, the most like training that I've ever done was, uh, like the Napa classes or whatever that are local to, to us. And even then, like, I wasn't going to all of them. I, I would go to whatever, you know, my boss or company would send me to.
So, but when I heard about that, I was like, Oh, like that's right around the corner. Like, let me see if I can get in there. Um, see if the company will assist in, in financing that, which of course they didn't.
[Tonnika Haynes] (3:50 - 4:01)
How did that all go? So you walk up to your boss and say, yo, it's a training. I want to be better.
This will help us make more money, make us more productive. And he said, he or she said just now.
[Bruce Bolin] (4:02 - 4:53)
Yeah. So, um, they're probably not going to like this, which I still have yet to hear an answer back about. Can I, or can I talk about them?
But the company I work for is Firestone. So they have their own internal training stuff and they do not pay for the trade show events. So ask the tools, SEMA, all that fun stuff there.
They're not going to pay for it. It's, it's self-financed, which I get it. Like they got their own thing that like, that's what they want to teach.
The thing I didn't like is that some of the classes at the, those training events are the same ones I'm going to go to at an app class. Right.
[Tonnika Haynes] (4:54 - 5:03)
So being that tools was your first one, how did it compare to how did that training compare to what Firestone has been offering you?
[Bruce Bolin] (5:04 - 5:54)
Well, so with where I'm at in my level of knowledge, there's not a lot of classes for me. Like it's, it's all like some of the basic stuff. Um, they, they do have some of the more advanced classes, but the last one I went to was, I want to say it was like 17, 18 and they flew me out to Colorado to their training facility.
Um, and it was like, it was, it was like a technical college school. If you will. And, uh, they had something set up with the one instructor there that he would do the advanced level, um, diagnostic class for Firestone.
[Tonnika Haynes] (5:56 - 6:02)
So that's not bad. I mean, that's better than what I can imagine other shops are doing, but that is a long time ago.
[Bruce Bolin] (6:02 - 7:05)
Oh yeah. Yeah. And it's, um, like my, so my area manager had said that, you know, there's, there's other classes that we can go, that I can go to, um, that are more my level rather than, you know, we'll say a basic beginner, um, technician.
Um, but he's like, uh, you know, check the calendar, see, see if it's on there and whatnot. And if not reach out to me about any class you want to take. So I'd again, not trying to throw them under the bus or anything, but I don't see anything on the calendar for advanced level stuff, especially not as quickly as, you know, tools that was a couple months ago, we got asked, uh, next month.
So it's, you know, it's, I'm finding that quicker, easier that I can get into something sooner and expand the knowledge that I needed one.
[Tonnika Haynes] (7:06 - 7:10)
So how long have you been an automotive technician? How long have you been in the industry?
[Bruce Bolin] (7:11 - 7:20)
Professionally? I've been working on cars since 2010. So we're going on like 16, 16, almost 17 years now.
[Tonnika Haynes] (7:21 - 7:26)
So how long have you been with them?
[Bruce Bolin] (7:26 - 7:40)
So I had two stints. One was from 2016 to 2019. And then most recent, it was two and a half years.
I think I'm at now.
[Tonnika Haynes] (7:41 - 7:42)
Okay.
[Bruce Bolin] (7:42 - 7:48)
So like, I've been there for a little while, but also been all over the place.
[Tonnika Haynes] (7:48 - 7:59)
What other shops have you been in? What kind of work environments have you been in? You and Firestone, we'd call them a big box store.
Sorry. No disrespect. Have you been in an independent dealership?
Where have you been?
[Bruce Bolin] (7:59 - 8:30)
Yeah. So, so I've been, um, through like quick lube facilities. Like, uh, the one I worked at was the lube center, which they're pretty similar to like Ford's quick lane or Jiffy lube.
Um, I've worked at places like that. I've worked at mom and pops, worked at dealerships, um, worked at other, I guess, corporate chain stores like Monroe. Um, yeah, so I've, I've been around a little bit.
[Tonnika Haynes] (8:34 - 8:44)
See, if I looked at your resume and some, another shop on a little bit of red ones, I just do has been in every shop in the world. What's his problem. What is not, no.
What do you love about it? What keeps you with us? Crazy people in the industry.
[Bruce Bolin] (8:45 - 9:32)
Yeah, honestly, like right now with where I'm at, like, I think it's the, for me, it's the high volume. Um, cause you know, you always have the, obviously you rely on your service advisor to get more work. So, you know, when even one person doesn't have a good day, whether it could be customer manager, advisor, myself, you know, something can always fall through the cracks.
So having that high volume will help offset the, uh, not selling of work or whatever, whatever it might be. Um, yeah, so I'm, I'm flat rate, been flat rate for ever. Um, so it's, it's for me, it's always chasing the money.
[Tonnika Haynes] (9:33 - 9:50)
So I'm not the podcaster that does the flat rate versus hourly. My guys are hourly plus bonus. Never been flat rate when we had a body shop, they were flat rate.
Um, that was different. What do you prefer? You prefer flat rate cause you can just knock it out.
[Bruce Bolin] (9:52 - 11:11)
Yeah. I mean, I've, I make really good money on flat rate. Um, so it's like, I worked for a shop that was hourly and they didn't charge for diags and they didn't properly track hours.
So when I was working for them, I was on a salary position with bonus that if I flagged, you know, over 40, I'd get X dollars more per hour or whatever. Uh, well, because they never billed diag and they didn't flag stuff correctly. I never cracked bonus.
So, but it was, it was a mom and pop place and they were really good people. Just, they were the typical shop that had cars sitting there for years because you know, like the customer would have eight cars. So he dropped one off and be like, Hey, whenever you get to it, you get to it.
Just figure it out for me. So like they didn't really have the drive per se to want to get stuff done. It was, you know, Monday through Friday, eight to five, five o'clock Friday, you clock out and you don't worry till Monday.
And then Monday starts to cycle all over again.
[Tonnika Haynes] (11:12 - 11:14)
But you rather work 10 days a week, which is fine.
[Bruce Bolin] (11:15 - 11:19)
Yeah. Yeah. Work 37 days a week and flag a billion hours.
[Tonnika Haynes] (11:21 - 11:43)
You know, every, I mean, everybody has their own thing. Whatever makes your boat float. Cause I'm a four day work week girl in the shop, but we, we, we burned through those four days, but that probably wouldn't work for you cause you want to work seven days a week and just keep it moving.
You must have really good young knees. So tell me, no, they're, they're, they're good enough.
[Bruce Bolin] (11:46 - 11:50)
They pop in the morning almost all the time.
[Tonnika Haynes] (11:52 - 12:09)
So I will hear and we'll hear in the comment sections when these conversations are happening, somebody is going to say, Oh, you should be open seven days a week. Oh, you shouldn't be, you know, to each his own. However you're in your shop and you're apparently where you're comfortable, you're happy at being a Firestone.
Do you ever have any desire to open your own shop?
[Bruce Bolin] (12:11 - 13:15)
Well, that's, that's kind of where I'm. I think I'm leaning towards in my five year goal here is, is look at branching out and, and get my own shop and just rolling into, you know, shop ownership and tech life until, you know, I can phase into just a shop ownership position. Cause yeah, it's, we just talked about knees popping.
It's, I'm not going to be able to work on cars forever. So I'm thinking, you know, if I can get something now where it's, it's, you know, set something up that when I am retireable, I guess you could call it that I'm not killing myself every day. Yeah.
So it's, you know, it's, I figured set myself up a little better, set the kids up, you know, do, do the whole, a whole, everything, get everything, you know, better for, for everyone.
[Tonnika Haynes] (13:17 - 13:20)
So in the next five years, that's in your five year plan.
[Bruce Bolin] (13:20 - 13:21)
Yep.
[Tonnika Haynes] (13:22 - 13:32)
So tell me what made you, so you listened to Jeff on the podcast, you heard about tunes and you were ready to attend. What really wanted you? What, what made you want to attend this particular training?
[Bruce Bolin] (13:34 - 14:23)
So it's tools, like I said, cause it was in my backyard was like, yeah, I might as well go there, check it out and see how it's going to be. And then I was like, you know what? Jeff's going to be there.
Like maybe I'll just hang out with him for the whole week, which I kind of did. And like, we ended up having dinner together, you know, Jeff, me, you Braxton, his, his wife, Benji. And I can't remember his wife's name.
And then Frank and Margarita, we all, we all had dinner together. And, you know, that was, I think that was like day two or three and basically me and Frank hit it off. And now, now me and him talk like all the time.
[Tonnika Haynes] (14:23 - 14:24)
Really?
[Bruce Bolin] (14:24 - 14:25)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (14:26 - 14:29)
I like Frank and he's pretty cool guy.
[Bruce Bolin] (14:30 - 14:57)
Yeah. We we, we send each other random stuff all the time. Like the one thing I sent, there was like, it was like right around July 4th was like a bunch of like July 4th, America, like stuff.
One of them being what's a kilometer. So I sent it to both Frank and Jeff and they, they both laughed about it. Frank was like, well, that's rude.
[Tonnika Haynes] (15:00 - 15:28)
But there's something to be said about that community. Like a lot of people know Benji and Chris, that's Benji's wife. We're pretty good friends.
Like once you step outside the trade show, that community that you can build from those relationships that you just, that just start up in a lobby or over a dinner, over a drink, those mean a lot. And they're going to take you a very, very long way when you decide to step into the other world of automotive and become the boss. Cause there's going to be a struggle with that one too, bruh.
[Bruce Bolin] (15:28 - 16:01)
Oh yeah. I fully expect it. When I, when I first started talking about it with my wife, I was like, Hey, like you're, you're probably going to be, you know, number two here where it's just me and me and you doing it.
And she's like, okay, whatever. It's like, then we got to get a shop dog. And I was like, all right, I'm fine with that.
It's like, if that's, if that's, what's going to, you know, get you locked in for, for my upfront person, then I guess that's what I got to do.
[Tonnika Haynes] (16:03 - 16:34)
Okay. I'm in. And then that's a lot of training that you're going to have to do when you, when you cross over to the boss side and they have that at schools and they have that at ASTA and all the other events like vision, so on and so forth.
And that is going to be a different set of learning. Tell me about, you know, when your boss decided I'm not paying for this, what really made you say I'm going anyway? Cause I'm assuming that you had to take your vacation time, pay your way.
Did you stay? Cause I think you didn't stay. You drove back and forth.
[Bruce Bolin] (16:34 - 17:33)
Yeah, no, I drove cause yeah. Cause there's only an hour for me and I'm used to, I was driving to a shop like for, for regular work every day, but it was an hour and 15 one way. So I basically, I was like, you know, I'm, I want to go to this training.
I want to see how it is, see if it's something, you know, that I should continue going to, or if it's something like, Hey, it's no different than the Napa classes. I'll just go to the Napa classes instead. Well, obviously some of the classes there are Napa classes, but other classes like Steckler's class and some of the other classes with better, I don't want to say better instructors, but different instructors that have different world experiences.
They, I think they're better than just the Napa classes.
[Tonnika Haynes] (17:34 - 17:47)
Yeah. Because I know that the complaint, of course, I don't take technical classes. So what I do hear the complaint is that a lot of the technical classes put on by the parts stores are kind of sort of like just big commercials.
[Bruce Bolin] (17:48 - 18:21)
Yeah. I mean, that can be depending on your instructor, but, you know, same thing, like they, they're obviously contracted to do their job, put on the class and, and, Hey, you know, we have XYZ product for this. Here's, you know, flyer of whatever's going on.
But again, like, it's not the only solution for stuff like that, but some classes better than no class.
[Tonnika Haynes] (18:21 - 18:25)
Like what bothers me? I mean, I don't do any training.
[Bruce Bolin] (18:25 - 18:45)
Yeah. Bottom line is if you're not doing any training, you're probably the same guy that still works on carburetors, nothing against it. There's gotta be someone who does it, but show me a car right now.
In the last 10 years that had a carburetor on it. You know what I mean?
[Tonnika Haynes] (18:45 - 19:55)
So, so for what I'm hearing is you're taking responsibility for your own career. You're not waiting for your boss to send you to class and this, that, whatever, because you've got bigger goals or whatever. And it sounds like you know, that you are responsible for keeping your skills current.
It's a lot, you know, you've got the Jada McKinney. You can listen to that. We've got the YouTube videos.
We've got a lot of, we've got a lot of opportunities out there for technicians to continue their skills. You know, I've got scanner Danner, Brandon Steckler. We've got a lot of guys out there that's given free content, a lot of it right there on YouTube.
And so if you can sit there and look at, I don't know, what do people look at while they're at work or listen to while they're at work, whatever you're putting in your head, if you can just sometimes turn on a video or podcast and increase your own knowledge, you know, you don't have, everybody doesn't have to wait for the balls. Cause even though Firestone is sending you to some training, there's things available. There's people out there in shops that are getting nothing.
They're just stuck in a shop that doesn't believe in training, or maybe they can't afford it for training, but you just can't use that as an excuse not to train.
[Bruce Bolin] (19:56 - 20:34)
Oh yeah. Like there's, I think it's garage gurus is the one. Cause I had a class with, I think his name was Bill.
He was like their, their subscription, their monthly subscription tier is like eight bucks. And I'm like for eight bucks, like that's, that's, you know, go out to lunch one day. And it's like, okay, like you can just, if you can't afford it normally, you can just skip lunch one day and yeah.
Like, like just pack a lunch and then you can, you for a whole month, you have access to all their content.
[Tonnika Haynes] (20:34 - 20:35)
Exactly.
[Bruce Bolin] (20:35 - 21:09)
So it's like, there's a lot of stuff out there that's definitely more obtainable than, you know, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on training. Like, okay, let's, we'll simplify it. You can go to UTI and get their whole semester, two years, whatever it is of automotive.
And it, you know, it'll cost you however many thousands of dollars and nothing against it. Cause I know your son's going.
[Tonnika Haynes] (21:10 - 21:12)
Lots of thousands of dollars.
[Bruce Bolin] (21:12 - 21:36)
So like the flip side of that is if you already have knowledge, you can, you can just expand it little by little. Like even I forget, I want to say it's on Jeff's podcast, but I forget who, who he says, says it get 1% better every day. I mean, even if it's 1% a week, like it's still going to drive you to being better overall.
[Tonnika Haynes] (21:37 - 22:47)
You know, we're not getting better for the boss. Okay. Just like a technician has a toolbox.
My toolbox has wheels. Exactly. And when you will that toolbox out of that place that you feel disrespected at and that you're not growing it, you will your body and your mind along with that.
So you, I believe shop owners should definitely invest in their technicians, just like our technicians invest in their own tools. Our technicians are part of our toolbox, but if you're in a shop that does not invest in training, that doesn't mean just get up and quick today. That means slowly invest in yourself, take the training, spend the 10, $15 a month subscription every now and again, when you're commuting the work, listen to something that is going to get you 1% better.
And that means maybe you'll be 1% faster and you'll get your job done quicker. And then you are a commodity. You are that unicorn that people are looking for.
You can turn yourself from a horse into a unicorn just by 1% better.
[Bruce Bolin] (22:49 - 24:21)
Yeah. And that's the thing is like, you don't even have to spend money. Like you're saying, like scanner Danner's got free stuff.
Like there's guys on Facebook that like, I've learned a lot of stuff. Just some of it's stuff. Like I don't, I don't do a lot of diesel stuff.
One guy that I've seen a lot is the skinny white dude that works on Ford, Ford power stroke. And he talks about the skinny white dude that works on Ford page. I don't know his name.
I just knew he's a skinny white dude. He works on Fords and you know, I've learned stuff from that and I'm like, okay, like that's, that's great information to have. Will I ever use it?
Probably not. But then there's another guy that he's he does a lot of like transmission rebuilds in his garage. And he, I think he works for a GM dealer.
And I found out from watching one of his videos about the newer Silverados, where you have to take the, the brake fluid reservoir cap off to press back the pistons, but you can potentially blow out. It's, I want to say it's like the pressure sensor or something in the ABS module. So I'm like, anyone that comes in, I'm like, don't even, yeah, don't, don't even like attempt to press it back, crack the bleeder and blow it out the caliper, make sure the master cylinder is topped off.
Like, I don't need.
[Tonnika Haynes] (24:21 - 24:29)
And that came from what? A 30 minute video? And you've saved so much time and potential cost.
[Bruce Bolin] (24:30 - 25:24)
That was, that was one of his like five, five to seven minute videos. That is like, you know, he, he, he brought up, I want to say it was like the, you know, service manual of like how to do brakes on the truck. And it's, you know, everyone thinks, oh, it's brakes.
I can do that. You know what I mean? And if you actually read the service manual, there's obviously specific steps you have to do.
And that's, that's one of them. And they, I think there's a warning label of like, you know, if, if it's done wrong or whatever, you can risk damage to the ABS module and no one takes into account until they do it. And then it's like, oh, now I got my, my $500 brake job that I was going to get, get done for $200.
Now it's costing me five grand. Cause I need a module.
[Tonnika Haynes] (25:25 - 25:28)
And all it took was five to seven minutes of just education.
[Bruce Bolin] (25:29 - 25:29)
Yep.
[Tonnika Haynes] (25:29 - 26:41)
That knowledge. And that's why it's important. That's why I keep saying it.
I know it sounds, she says the same thing over and over. You got to worry about yourself. Like it's your responsibility.
It's not your employee's responsibility. It's like sending your kid to kindergarten. Like right now it's back to school, right?
And your kids go maybe next week back to school time. And the teachers are saying, these kids do not know how to put on a coat or tie the shoe. And then you're like, well, you're the teacher.
You shouldn't be teaching them that. No, no, you're the parent. Be responsible for your own rescue.
And people are worried. Okay. And then another thing I've just, I try to stay off of the, the socials and not try to stay out of the podcast because I get so upset and I take a lot of things personally and I'm trying to learn not to do that, but the pay, the pay.
So there are some employees out there that do not pay technicians properly for what they are worth. But the key word there's, what are you worth? What do you have in your toolbox that is worth you making $125, $150 a year?
[Bruce Bolin] (26:42 - 26:43)
Oh yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (26:43 - 27:10)
And there's a lot of like, you will sit there and watch drift videos, cat videos and whatever on YouTube and TikTok, or you will go straight to comments to go to war with some people, but you're not working on yourself. You gotta worry about your damn self because your toolbox is your toolbox that I can't tell you how many times, you know, obviously, like I said, I've worked all over the place.
[Bruce Bolin] (27:10 - 29:56)
How many times I've went to a shop and I'm like, I'm the new guy, but I'm also learning everyone else. And it's like the one he was, I don't, I don't think he was master certified, but he was Toyota tech had most of his certifications. If not all, like I said, cause I don't, I don't know what he was.
And I had to, I don't want to say fix his problem, but he had a vehicle with, I think it was like a cylinder four misfire and he didn't want to rip it down to figure out the problem. I tore it down literally to where the piston was in my hand. And I said, Hey, it's tore down.
Get your, you know, rep, I guess I forget what they call them, but they're like general area, like reps to come in and basically approve or deny what we're going to do. Yeah. So I, uh, I tore it down cause I saw scoring on the cylinder walls and I was like, Hey, I think it's, it might be a short block.
I was like, but I'm not the one who sees this all the time. So it, you know, get that guy in here, have him look at it. I ended up going on, it was like a extended weekend vacation because the wife's aunt was getting married.
So I left engine tore apart in pieces all over the floor, came back to a missing cylinder head. And I was like, Hey, where's the cylinder head? And what are we doing to this to fix it?
And they're like, Oh, we're putting a cylinder head on. And when that guy showed up, he said the scoring in the cylinder walls wasn't bad enough to deem replacement. So I was like, okay, whatever.
And he, he said, we're going to put a cylinder head on it because they don't washer fluid, like with the head flipped upside down and it leaked down through the valve guides basically. And so we ended up doing, you know, more or less bearings and piston rings and a new cylinder head, throw it all back together, delivered it to the customer. You know, it's, it's under warranty.
It had like, I think 58 or 59,000 miles on it. And like I said, that other guy being master ish certified, didn't want anything to do with it.
[Tonnika Haynes] (29:57 - 30:16)
I'm like, I'm like, you're the guy, just because I'm a good test taker. I'm a really good test taker. I can read a book and take a test.
I could probably be an MD if I had to cut nobody. Cause I can read a book and take a test all day, but I know damn well that I can't do anything that you just talked about.
[Bruce Bolin] (30:17 - 31:15)
Well, and that's the thing is like, I'm like, Hey man, like, like why am I doing your work? Like, this is your job. Like you should, you're certified to do this.
I'm not, I'm not certified. I was not certified at all through Toyota, but I had, uh, I think it was five ASCs at the time, two of those being a one and a eight, you know, engine related. And they were like, Oh, he, he can do it.
He's, I've done a lot of other stuff just there. And yeah, I'm like, if, if I'm stuck doing this while he's stuck flagging hours, doing what I like to call wallet flushes, um, why, why ain't I making the good money too? So I'm like, yep, he's, he was the, he was the golden, golden boy of, of the dealership.
[Tonnika Haynes] (31:15 - 31:21)
Had been there the longest and all of that good stuff. It wasn't that?
[Bruce Bolin] (31:21 - 32:03)
No, he just, he flagged the most. That's all it was. He was doing all the nothing against them.
Like that's what he wants to do by all means do it. Um, I'm trying to fix cars. You know what I mean?
Like whether it's challenging or easy, like I want to do obviously more challenging, challenging stuff pays better, both knowledge and sometimes pay. But like, I want, I want something that's going to give me something out of it, whether it's, it's a learning experience or, you know, the, the, the good stuff, the green stuff.
[Tonnika Haynes] (32:04 - 32:33)
You care, you love your job and you're not there just for the money. Even though the money is good, it doesn't sound like you're there just for the money. It is, you know, you still get excited about fixing something.
So that means a lot. And that's the people that we want in the industry. We don't want anybody to say, Oh, I can go in there and I can make all of this money.
But then you don't care about anything that you're doing or you don't want to get any better at what you're doing. And then when it comes to pay, like when people say, Oh, I only get paid. And I was like, well, maybe that's only what you're worth.
[Bruce Bolin] (32:35 - 32:35)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (32:35 - 33:31)
You ever think about it like that? Like, that's what you're worth. And if you want to get better, it's possible.
It's all kinds of ways to come out there. You know, ASTA, it does cost money to invest in things such as that kind of training. But like you said, there's stuff out there right there on YouTube.
You just pick what you want to put in your brain. You know, while you're sitting on a cat, what are the videos that come across my algorithm? And I'm just like, what?
But then you do, you get stuck, you get dumb in his phone and you're sitting on the toilet and you're like swiping and swiping and next thing you know, 30 minutes have gone by and you ain't learned shit. But you can take that same 30 minutes while you're getting in the shower in the morning and just listen to what's going on. You really don't even have to watch every move that the technician or whoever's doing the video is showing.
It's just getting it in your head. And so education is very important. You got education, then you got common sense.
Some people ain't got that either.
[Bruce Bolin] (33:31 - 33:33)
Yeah, that's not so common anymore.
[Tonnika Haynes] (33:33 - 34:09)
No, no, no. It's easier to be ignorant. And actually, sometimes I think it's elevated.
It's like, oh, because that's what we're looking at. Stupid people on stupid videos. And they're making all this money just by being dumb.
You got people out here educating people. And then you got the same people that's liking the dumb videos that are technicians that'll go into the content where someone is educating them. And even if you don't agree 100%, there's always something you can learn from somebody, but they will tear it up in the comments because they know everything and they invent everything.
And they're the best things in sliced bread. Right? Right.
[Bruce Bolin] (34:10 - 34:10)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (34:11 - 34:13)
You decide if you're coming or not.
[Bruce Bolin] (34:14 - 34:14)
What's that?
[Tonnika Haynes] (34:15 - 34:17)
You coming to ASTA? Is it a done deal?
[Bruce Bolin] (34:17 - 35:25)
Yep. So me and Frank are coming. Frank's flying in and I'm picking him up on the way down.
And then we're sharing a room together. And we got some classes that align and other classes, he's got more shop owner stuff. Because I didn't decide until recently that I was going to do shop ownership thing.
So I think I'm going to go to Super Saturday, which is up in Philly area. Same people that did tools are doing the Super Saturday. I think that one I'm going to kind of branch out into more shop ownership management stuff.
Just to, again, I don't have a shop now, but I do do side work stuff. I'm like, you know, I'll just start leaning into that direction just to get, you know, it's information. All the information is good.
[Tonnika Haynes] (35:25 - 35:42)
You got money woes, accounting, marketing, how do you do this? And how do you do that? So that's going to be a whole different set of tools that you're going to need in your toolbox.
And I'm glad that you're even smart enough to do that before you have even found a building. So yeah.
[Bruce Bolin] (35:42 - 36:35)
Yeah. So the funny thing even about that is I actually, my realtor from the house that we bought back in 16, I reached out to him and was like, hey, do you do anything commercial? And he's like, yeah, kind of, sorta.
He's like, but I have a guy. He's like, what are you trying to do? And I was like, well, in the next five years, I want to see about looking into opening my own shop.
And he was like, oh, cool. Awesome. He's like, let me, let me talk to my guy, make sure it's cool.
And then I'll, I'll pass the information on to you. So I got a phone number now for a guy that does commercial real estate that I can talk to him, kind of get better understanding of like what I should do as far as that goes. Just, you know, again, so when I'm ready to pull the trigger, I got all my ducks in a row.
[Tonnika Haynes] (36:35 - 36:42)
Yeah. And then when you go to super Saturday, if you can, as I hear the babies in the background, if you can, I will tell you to take your wife with you.
[Bruce Bolin] (36:44 - 36:48)
So she's, I believe she's coming down to Asta.
[Tonnika Haynes] (36:48 - 36:49)
Is she?
[Bruce Bolin] (36:50 - 37:09)
Yeah. So as I have to double check with her, just to confirm, um, cause we didn't know cause she's, she's a preschool teacher. She used to be a paid volunteer, but now she's the other lady had stepped down.
So now she's moved up into the number two spot as a teacher.
[Tonnika Haynes] (37:10 - 37:15)
So if she can come, I'd love her to be my guest at the women's dinner. That will be fun.
[Bruce Bolin] (37:16 - 38:00)
Yeah. I'll, I'll, uh, I'll talk to her, say something to her, see, see if she's got anything figured out. Um, cause I don't, I don't think they start school till I think it's next month.
I think it's like right around the time Asta is. Yeah. So like actual like school school.
So my son's just turned seven yesterday. His school started last week. So, but the wife's preschool, which is like three-year-olds and four-year-olds doesn't start until next month.
I don't know exact dates, but I know sometime next month. So I'll, I'll talk to her, get some details hashed out. And like I said, I think she's, I think she's supposed to be coming.
[Tonnika Haynes] (38:01 - 38:15)
Um, but I don't, glad to have both of you coming. So I think when you sent me an email, you said that you have two potential little minions under your belt.
[Bruce Bolin] (38:16 - 38:16)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (38:16 - 38:17)
Are you mentioning somebody?
[Bruce Bolin] (38:18 - 38:25)
Yep. I got two. Um, I guess you can call them.
Well, it's not interns. What the, what the hell is it?
[Tonnika Haynes] (38:25 - 38:26)
Your mentees.
[Bruce Bolin] (38:27 - 38:53)
Apprentice apprentices. Uh, yeah. So I got one who, um, he started beginning of this year and he, he is very green, like very, very green.
So I'm, I'm trying to, to groom him in doing it right before doing it fast.
[Tonnika Haynes] (38:54 - 38:55)
Oh yeah.
[Bruce Bolin] (38:55 - 40:35)
I mean, I, I have them and there's, there's a lot of guys in the industry that they know their tools and they know what is tight with their tools, whether it's electric or air impact. I'm having this guy torque everything. And he's, he ended up, he actually purchased a $10,000 gear wrench toolbox set up with tools.
The whole works. There's a little extra stuff like, like he, he got a little mechanics chair and whatnot, like, you know, some extra not necessary things, but he, that kit came with, it was a half inch electric torque wrench. And I said, Hey, that's great.
And all, but you need a three eighth inch one. He bought one with all that. So he dropped 10 grand, you know, he's, he's ready to start doing stuff.
Um, so he's, I mean, I had him do, do a control arms two weeks ago. And then he did ball joints, I think last week. And then this week, while I wasn't even there, he did control arms on a RAV four.
And he actually had to, he texted me and was like, Hey, how do I do this? Sent me some pictures. And you know, I called him up and was like, Hey, you, you do this, this, it'll fall right out.
And he's like, how do you know this without actually looking at it? I was like, I've been in the industry way too long.
[Tonnika Haynes] (40:35 - 40:40)
And one day somebody will be calling him, asking him the same question. He'll, he'll know just like that.
[Bruce Bolin] (40:40 - 43:13)
Yeah. And like, I, I really liked that. You know, like he, he started out like everyone had a cart and a craftsman toolbox.
That's how he started. And it's like, okay, man, like, I know you're trying to do stuff. It's like, not that you need to spend all this money.
I said, but you got to prepare yourself for doing bigger stuff. And he started looking at, you know, individual boxes and tool sets and all this stuff and having to see an ad on phone Facebook for gear wrench. I think it's like their mega mod kit.
So I clicked on it and was like, Oh, that actually looks pretty cool. And I sent it to him. And so he started looking through it all and was like, Hey, what do you think about this one?
And it was like box, like big box, a little box, a tray, whatnot. And I'm like, that's probably a great starter set. It was like, you're still going to have to buy more.
I said, but that will definitely get you set for most of anything you're going to do. And then he, without even like missing a beat, he ordered it. And I'm like, Oh shit, man.
Like we probably have been doing it. How long has he been doing it? Including the time that he's been with me, I think it's been like a year, year and a half.
But prior to, not immediately, but a little while ago, he was, he spent eight years in the military doing engineering stuff. So he's got, you know, mechanical background as far as like nuts and bolts and taking stuff apart. But he's, he's got a drive to get as much knowledge as he can.
I actually, I've been, I've contemplated paying for him to go to one of these events. Cause then like I said, we know where we work's not going to do that. But he's also going to all the beginner classes and stuff through them.
So he's getting knowledge there and he's getting hands-on knowledge with me. But I want to, you know, open that door for, Hey, like get out there, learn some stuff, meet some people and, and, you know, just grow that way.
[Tonnika Haynes] (43:14 - 43:18)
Grow that he's young. So he sounds like he's might be 30 years old. Maybe.
[Bruce Bolin] (43:19 - 43:21)
Yeah. He's a, I think he's 28. Okay.
[Tonnika Haynes] (43:21 - 43:45)
So how do you feel about the future of the industry and the people, the young people that are coming in? Like I'm proud of my son and everything that he's doing, but then we hear the loudest people say, Oh, the industry is crap. It's, you know, it's crap.
This is crap. Everything's crap. How do you personally feel about it?
Knowing that you've got this young man coming in under your wing and you can see potential in him.
[Bruce Bolin] (43:46 - 44:22)
I think it really depends on the individual. Um, as far as majority rule, um, there's a lot of, I mean, my other apprentice, he's been there for three years. He's 23.
So he's, he's younger yet. And he has a hard time spending money on, we'll say everyday tools. He's got two BMWs.
So he will buy BMW stuff more than something else.
[Tonnika Haynes] (44:22 - 44:28)
And that's a whole mindset. You've got two BMWs, poor kid.
[Bruce Bolin] (44:29 - 45:08)
Yeah, I know. Right. So, but like I, I, I try to give him just as much training as I do my other apprentice, but like, he's not really, he's not really in it.
Like, I mean, he knows he can leave where he's at and go to sheets and make more money, which is like, that's the struggle with coming into the industry. It's like not a lot of people starting out make, ideally make any money. Um, but again, depends on where you're at.
[Tonnika Haynes] (45:09 - 45:24)
Yeah. But at 23, he's already not investing as much as you think he should. Um, and yes, he can go to sheets and get a job and make the same amount of money, but he can't retire from sheets.
[Bruce Bolin] (45:25 - 46:27)
Yeah. I mean, and that's the thing, like most he could do is like move up into management there. And then, you know, just like anywhere, if your store doesn't perform as good as they want you, or you don't move this or that product, then it's like, oh, well, it's gotta be management.
And they'll, they'll move management around. Uh, but again, like you're, you're capped out at whatever they allow you. Whereas, you know, us we're only capped out at, at what our knowledge is to fix a car quicker, faster, better.
Um, but then, you know, if we get to that point where we're capped out on fixing the car, then it's, you know, move into ownership. And then instead of one stores, now we've got three stores and you know, there's a, there's a lot of different ways to make money. What's up, dude?
[Tonnika Haynes] (46:30 - 46:32)
What do you got a teeny tech behind you?
[Bruce Bolin] (46:33 - 46:35)
Yeah, I'm a seven year old down here.
[Tonnika Haynes] (46:36 - 46:58)
He's going to be a technician like that. Where is he at? What's up, man?
You're going to be a technician like your dad. Yeah. You got to start working on your beard game.
Where's your beard? You got to have a beard to be a technician. You got to get a beard to be a technician kid.
[Bruce Bolin] (46:59 - 47:00)
Yep. You got to grow it out.
[Tonnika Haynes] (47:04 - 47:06)
They're ready to go to the beach dad.
[Bruce Bolin] (47:07 - 47:41)
Yeah. Yeah. We were supposed to spend the day there and I was like, Oh, I forgot.
Like, let me reach out to Tanika. Well, so I meant to put it in my other calendar app that me and the wife, and it got put into my Apple iPhone calendar. So I got the email yesterday and I was like, didn't see it till this morning.
And I was like, Oh, that's right. It's like, damn it. And I looked at the time and I was like, yeah, I need to get showered and get cleaned up.
[Tonnika Haynes] (47:43 - 47:45)
You could have stayed funky. You didn't have to shower.
[Bruce Bolin] (47:46 - 47:48)
Well, I mean, I had to look somewhat presentable.
[Tonnika Haynes] (47:51 - 48:00)
Well, I'm glad you took the time out of your day to spend this time with me. I can't wait to see you ASTA. You and Frank.
And what's your wife's name? Just in case I get to meet her.
[Bruce Bolin] (48:01 - 48:01)
Ava.
[Tonnika Haynes] (48:02 - 48:06)
Ava. You know Marguerite's coming with Frank?
[Bruce Bolin] (48:07 - 48:07)
No, she's not.
[Tonnika Haynes] (48:08 - 48:10)
Oh, Marguerite. I had to send her a message.
[Bruce Bolin] (48:11 - 48:11)
Yeah.
[Tonnika Haynes] (48:12 - 48:12)
Yeah.
[Bruce Bolin] (48:12 - 48:28)
And I'm pretty sure the only reason Frank's coming is because he made a bet with Buck and Bob. And of course he always follows through. So Frank had to bite the bullet on that one.
[Tonnika Haynes] (48:31 - 49:12)
I'm so glad that you got to meet all of these people. There's something to be said about community at these expos, at these trainings. You get a lot when you're sitting at the desk with your paper and your pen and instructor, but you get a whole lot more, in my opinion, you get a whole lot more from the community that you build around the expo.
And for me, it has been the truest thing that I could say. Like my community, my team of people, my weird uncles, aunts, brothers and cousins, I love them all. Yeah.
When you pick up the phone, when you have a good day, a bad day, a win or a loss, or you have a question, there's nothing like being able to pick up the phone and speak the language of your people. So let's look, the kids are getting ready to attack you.
[Bruce Bolin] (49:12 - 49:15)
Yeah, they're both here.
[Tonnika Haynes] (49:16 - 49:23)
And the baby's there too. Hey, baby. Hey, baby.
[Bruce Bolin] (49:24 - 49:29)
Yeah, she should be three next month.
[Tonnika Haynes] (49:31 - 49:43)
All right, I will see you in about four weeks. I'm not sure when this will be released, but I'll see you in about four weeks. We will catch up then and we'll get some dinner again.
And you have the best day ever.
[Bruce Bolin] (49:44 - 49:46)
Hey, we'll try. You do the same.
[Tonnika Haynes] (49:47 - 50:30)
All right, bye kids. Goodbye. Goodbye.
Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations, hosted by myself, second generation shop owner, Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy, mindset, and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts.
You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians, and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time. This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.