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The Gearbox Podcast brings on industry professionals to explore the day-to-day operations of owning and operating a shop. From common frustrations to industry-wide shifts, this podcast covers it with fun and insightful conversations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
Welcome to the Gearbox podcast, where we dive deep into the dynamic world of automotive repair and ownership. I'm your host, Jimmy Purdy. An experienced technician turned shop owner with a passion for sharing insights, stories, and conversations with industry leaders. This is the Gearbox podcast. Think about training is, like, there's no sleep. You just.
Dan Thieken [00:00:37]:
Yeah, exactly for that.
Dan Thieken [00:00:39]:
Especially, like, sema and apex and stuff is like, man, you. Once you leave the trade show, you're just, like, straight to Vegas, straight to the strip. It's like, oh, man, I'm not gonna learn anything tomorrow. But I think. I think the big is just, like you said, getting meeting everybody and, like, making. Networking. I mean, I think that's. That's more important than anything else.
Dan Thieken [00:00:57]:
You know what I mean?
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:58]:
Yeah, it definitely is. And like I said, I was out at the vision just last week, or whatever it was, and the idea of networking was really awesome, but it didn't really happen that much for me, to be quite honest with you. I enjoyed being with my guys from the shop, probably more than I would have been with most other people, to be quite honest with you.
Dan Thieken [00:01:20]:
Yeah, that's. That's fair. Find it kind of difficult to do that, too, though, isn't it? Like, I don't know. Like, we're all there for the same reason. Right? But, like, when you're there, it's like, I don't know, you just feel like everybody's in their own little bubble, and you're like. You don't want to, like, bother anybody. Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:34]:
It's clicky.
Dan Thieken [00:01:35]:
Yeah. It's like, even though, like, we're all there for the same reason. Yeah, it's kind of like high school all over again. You, like, don't want to, like, walk up with your hand out. Hey, man, how are you? Like, who the hell is this guy?
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:45]:
Yeah. Especially if they're, like, a personality of sorts, uh, that you see in the groups and whatnot on their podcast or whatever. Um. Yeah, you like, you know, I'm not going to intrude on them. They're obviously busy. Yeah, I'll get my. I'll get my turn to meet people. When a time's right, I feel like you're.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:59]:
You're placed in front of people when you're supposed to be placed in front of people.
Dan Thieken [00:02:04]:
Yeah, that's fair. But also, you got to force the issue a little bit, I think.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:08]:
I'm not a forcer.
Dan Thieken [00:02:09]:
You got. Yeah, I think that that's probably, like, the technician style mindset, too, though, isn't it? Like, just kind of, like, you're just cruising in your own little world. That's real big ambitions, you know, like, we're all shop owners, so it's like, yeah, we don't have like, the highest expectations in the world. Yeah, some of them do, but for the most part, I don't think that's our ambition, you know?
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:35]:
Yeah, definitely. And I lack. I lack that hardcore technician background. I was never a hardcore tech by any means. I. I started very young just sweeping floors and changing oil, and that kind of transcended into ownership.
Dan Thieken [00:02:50]:
It happens one way or another, you know? Yeah, if you have the mindset. So where are you located exactly?
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:55]:
My shops in Millersport, Ohio. So just about 30 miles east of Columbus, Ohio, right in the middle.
Dan Thieken [00:03:02]:
And it's power sports, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:04]:
No, no, I had a full, full service auto shop, craggartire and service. And then the power sports thing, Briar Grove off road, that's a complete offshoot that started a few years ago. A high school friend of mine said, you should really probably do this because there's nobody in the market that does it in our area. And I'm like, all right, we'll give it a shot. Super, super guarded market, actually. Super protected market. It was hard to get in, inside of that market and start doing that, but we did it. That's what I mean.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:32]:
It's just.
Dan Thieken [00:03:33]:
What do you mean by guarded?
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:36]:
They protect the market a lot from people, just for lack of a better word, whoring out the pricing, like on Facebook marketplaces and stuff. So you have to have like, an established power sports business, and a lot of times it has to be a brick and mortar style store, or you cannot get vendorship with these suppliers. And it's a complete different supplier chain than automotive parts. And it's like super, super protected.
Dan Thieken [00:04:06]:
Wow.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:07]:
I had no idea. No idea.
Dan Thieken [00:04:09]:
Yeah, that's. I mean, I've never looked into it, so I wouldn't know either.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:12]:
Yeah, exactly.
Dan Thieken [00:04:13]:
That's pretty interesting.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:14]:
And it's a big market out your way, actually, you know, California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah.
Dan Thieken [00:04:19]:
Yeah, the power sports, like, there's guys doing like, the dyno stuff on them. The tuning, the power sports tuning. That seems to be a really big, big thing, too. But I don't know, like, what do I need to get into that I don't want? And then obviously you've like, like, you found out. It's like, really, this is like, you don't have the same support you do in the automotive field, you know? And I mean, that's. That's what helps, you know, if it wasn't for that, I don't know where most of us would be without the community and the networking and the stuff that we build up. I mean, to just try to do it all on your own from start to finish as far as, like, living your life running an auto shop. Man, I just.
Dan Thieken [00:04:54]:
No wonder why those little guys were so cranky all the time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:57]:
Oh, no doubt, no doubt. Yeah. But the. The bread and butter is the. The automotive shop. We like a 55% tire, 45% service center. We're trying to switch those numbers around.
Dan Thieken [00:05:10]:
Are you, are you focusing more on more on tires or more to service?
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:14]:
I focus on whatever's put in front.
Dan Thieken [00:05:16]:
Of me, but, yeah, that's fair.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:17]:
When in 1985, the company was started just down the street in a different little town. Guy was selling used tires out of his barn. So it primarily started as a tire shop, and that's where it evolved. And then when I took over 20 ish years ago, we went from tires to full service, and we doubled, doubled business the first year and never looked back.
Dan Thieken [00:05:44]:
I see, I'm. Tires interest me in the fact of I've never done them before, and it seems like, it seems like a good idea, but the more you talk to, the more people I've come in contact with that do tires, they always want to get more into maintenance, more into service right then than selling tires. And I'm like. And you look at, like, big, big corporations, like, America's tire, where it's like they don't do anything mechanical. And I feel like that's, like, the only way to really make that work. Like, you have to 100% dedicate your time to tires and nothing else, or it's just not profitable. And I don't know if. I don't know if that's really fair to say, because it's obviously profitable if you can split, split your shop and still make money with it.
Dan Thieken [00:06:29]:
But I just, it just seems like with tires, I don't see the. I don't see, like, the service aspect you can really give in that process. It's like, what's. What's set of four tires cost, right? And it's like, that's all anybody's looking for.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:42]:
Yeah, well, you get.
Dan Thieken [00:06:44]:
I mean, I'm sure you get your fair amount of price shoppers, as we all do. But, like, what else can you offer selling someone a set of four tires other than the price?
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:52]:
There are so many things to go into with what you just said. First off, I would say, um, you, the I coin I want, I wish I could have coined this phrase or patented it or something, but the tires are a win. The window to the car soul. I just posted that on one of the groups the other day. Tires are the window to the car soul. If you get them in for tires, I mean, that car, you can look at the brakes, the front end parts, and when you build that relationship, I would say probably 90% of our customers are repeat. And then that just opens up the service side.
Dan Thieken [00:07:28]:
So you look at the opportunity sell versus the actual sell. The tire.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:33]:
Bingo. Now, granted, we, you know, we make good profit on our tires. Do we make as much profit margin as some of the big box stores? No, but I look at tires as profit per minute type jobs, and it's really one of the quickest profit per minute jobs on the market, in my personal opinion. But I've been doing it for, you know, 30 years. But, yeah, so you get them in the door with the tires, and the service just, you know, keeps going. So the goal for us would be to flip, just maintain the tires that we're doing, but increase the service. So the more vehicles you get in for tires, the more service opportunity you have, and then just flop the percentages. We want to be.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:11]:
We want to be service heavy, but I'm never going to give up tires. I'm not going to do it.
Dan Thieken [00:08:15]:
Yeah, it seems like a good opportunity. I mean, and that's, you know, that brings up a good thing. Cause for me, we just got an alignment rack in right at the beginning of the month, and, uh, you talk about numbers and you. And you're trying to make this make sense. Like, you're trying to do the business thing, and you look at this piece of equipment, what's my Roi? How long is it gonna take? How many limits do I need to take? It's like, well, how do you factor in? Like you just said, like, you're selling tires, you're not really looking at Roi per tire. You're looking at the opportunity that's given to you after that. And that's how I kind of looked at it as well. Well, we.
Dan Thieken [00:08:45]:
We have another rack now, so now we can lift it, and anytime the vehicle goes off the ground, it's worth money. So that's how I looked at it. But I also looked at if we get them in for an alignment, and then we can do the shakedown, it's just one more opportunity. And so I don't know how to quantify that when you're, like, trying to do the business analysis, buying a new piece of equipment. I don't know what you would put that under. You know, as far as you're trying to, you know, make sure, like, okay, if I buy this, I'm going to take this many payments. So I need to do this many alignments to pay for it. So I was like, is that, like.
Dan Thieken [00:09:16]:
I just feel like that's a little off base. Like, I get it. I totally understand it. But also, if you looked at everything like that, like, how would you quantify a scan tool? How many codes you got to scan before you pay yourself back? I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:28]:
Well, it's funny is I never looked at it that way. I've just always looked at it as missing opportunity. And I can. A good example would be the moment there are two pieces of equipment. The last one I bought was the. That snap on passthrough pro with it, which is the card ack or something like that. Think it's through cardac, whatever. But I was sending to the.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:53]:
When I got to the point, I was sending three, four, five modules or computers out the door to the dealer. I'm like, I can't do this repair because I can't program them. And I don't have a mobile programmer in my area that would come out and do it. I'm like, all right, it's time. And then the same thing with the new refrigerant machine, the 1234 YF. I sent three repairs down the road, and I don't even know where they went, to be honest with you. We were the first garage in our area, probably a 20 miles radius that I'm aware of that ever got that machine. But it's more about the opportunity.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:27]:
I don't even. I've never thought about return on investment, not one time with a piece of equipment. I just thought I watched the opportunity come in and I watched the opportunity go out. And after three or four times that, a month, a couple months in a row, it made me really mad.
Dan Thieken [00:10:40]:
Yeah, that's fair. And then also once that client leaves, because you can't do the ac, what else are you missing out on? Right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:46]:
Yeah.
Dan Thieken [00:10:47]:
And if, like, that shop. If that shop couldn't do my ac, why would I go back to have anything else fix? So I think it's really important to, like, think about that when. When anybody's looking at buying equipment. I mean, yeah. Like spending 60, 70, $80,000 on a piece of equipment, you definitely want to, you know, put your. Your. Your ducks in a line, you know, make sure, like, there's something going on but I was having the same problem as a transmission shop. We do a lot of front end, you know, transmission, transaxle transmissions.
Dan Thieken [00:11:14]:
When you do that, you drop the cradle. You got to get it aligned right. And so that was one of my pain points, is like, man, every time we do a trans, we got to sublet the alignment out. Yeah, but it's only $120, and you only got to go around the corner. I know, but still, like, it drives you kind of crazy. And, I mean, I'm not sending the client away. We're taking the vehicle over there, lining it, picking it up, bringing it back. You start looking at that, like, now you got two guys out picking up this car, you know, and then a lot of the time, oh, we can't align it because this was left loose or the ball joints or, like, whatever, you know, this comes back, then we got to do it.
Dan Thieken [00:11:46]:
And they take. It's like. So that, like, I think the pain point was more important to me than the actual, like, well, it's going to take me eight alignments a month to make my payment or whatever it ends up penciling out to be. I don't know. I just. It's one thing that's been irking me in the last month thinking about, you know, now, obviously, the equipment is here sitting in the bay, and now I'm really thinking about the money I spent on it. Like, when you sign the contract three months ago, when it's on order, you don't really think about it, but when it's sitting staring you in the face, you're like, man, was that the right thing to do? Right? It's like. But it's just the next piece of equipment to grow, you know? I don't know.
Dan Thieken [00:12:18]:
And it's like you're trying to justify it in your mind, and, oh, maybe I should have bought a John beam. Maybe I should have bought something off of auction or something like that. But that's another piece when it comes to equipment. Like, why, if you're gonna have it for the next 20 years, why do you want somebody else's used crap, you know?
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:34]:
No, I get that.
Dan Thieken [00:12:35]:
I don't know. It's. It's a tough one to swallow.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:38]:
Yeah. I remember when I first took over my shop, I had to make a decision about upgrading equipment, and the first thing I decided to upgrade was the alignment rack and the alignment system. And I. We've always had Hunter out there since, I think I started there in 1996 when I was in high school. And it was a hunter system when I started. And even though I knew that we did alignments and I knew it wouldn't be an issue, that was my first big business purchase as the owner was that new equipment. And so I had to stomach, you know, shit at the time was $40,000 to get the rack and the alignment system, which is a bargain today. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:14]:
And so, yeah, it's a leap of faith. Even though, you know, it's, you're going to come out smelling like a rose. Hopefully it's still a leap of faith.
Dan Thieken [00:13:21]:
Yeah, I mean, it's a big payment. It's a lot of money. And then it's like, what else can I get with that money, right? It's like, well, no, you do your analysis and just make sure that's, I mean, if it makes money and you need it, like, it's, it's important to the business, you know? And for me, making the transition away from transmissions and doing more of the preventative maintenance work and front end work, it's like, it's kind of a pivot, you know, for us to kind of get out of the transmission and, you know, rebuilding industry anyway and kind of move more into service line work, which is the stuff that, you know, is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:53]:
Paying the bills and higher margins and everyone, like, margins.
Dan Thieken [00:13:57]:
You just look at what's going on and, I mean, I don't want to, like, beat up the tech shortage, you know, analog anymore, but it's like, try to find a transmission rebuilder that doesn't want to run his own shop. Like, that's the bottom line. Like, if you're good enough to build transmissions, you're, you're going to be pretty much good enough to run your own shop and to find one of those guys and put them to work and then try to build a system. It's just different than it used to be.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:21]:
Well, I think I was listening to one of your, one of your shows the other day, and you were talking about rebuilding transmissions now versus replacing them. And a lot of them, I think you mentioned a lot of them were more replacing versus rebuilding. And I had one of my young tech, my youngest tech actually has always wanted to become a transmission rebuilder specifically for the Chevy transmissions. And I'm like, why? I'm like, that's a why? That's a dying thing unless you go to, like a performance shop or something like that. And that's what he wants to do. He wants to own his own speed shop. And I'm like, man, are you living in the, are you living in the seventies and eighties or what's?
Dan Thieken [00:14:57]:
Going on here, you got to appreciate it. But then, like, also realize, like, man, you're gonna go through this. I don't know. And, and you can't just like blanket statement and say it's never gonna work, you're gonna fail, right? Like, maybe there's a part, there's a chance, but I'm telling you right now, the easy way is to not do that. But if you want a hard life, man, like, all power to you, like, figure it out. But I don't know. And maybe the times will change and everything changes and everyone goes back to these four speeds and everybody wants to, you know, resto mod swap everything. And I mean, who knows? Who knows really what the industry is going to be.
Dan Thieken [00:15:30]:
But right now in front of us, it's like we know what makes money. So you just keep pointing the, the ship that direction. Like, this is what is we need to do. I don't know. And to try to bring in a tech and teach them how to rebuild a 460 is kind of a waste of time because most of those just get junked. Like, if you can't do it for $2500, then they're just gonna junk the truck and you can't do it for $2500. So then what? You know, so you teach them the ten r eighties now, is that the new thing? Are they gonna fail? Like the eight speeds, the nine speeds, and there's so many different, there's so many different ones out there. It's like, it's not like the old GM.
Dan Thieken [00:16:12]:
Three speeds, four speeds, where once you did one or two of them, they were pretty much all the same. It's like everything's so different now and so much more complex and so expensive. And you can't compete with the remanufacturing companies. Like, unless you have that shop and their shops out there. We've seen them on, online, on YouTube. You know, these engine shops that can pull apart an engine and rebuild it better than the manufacturer. That's great. Million dollars worth of freaking machinery in the back.
Dan Thieken [00:16:36]:
I mean, do you want to. I don't know. And it's like, do you want to make that investment? I'm already crying about $60,000. I don't want to spend a million dollars in manufacturing equipment.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:44]:
Like, yeah, we, we had a young gentleman bring his, his 14 Silverado in just yesterday, actually, for a transmission issue. We're not, we are not a transmission shop. I don't do any repairs on them. We just strictly replace if we have to. And his dad came in with him. And I looked at him and I said, you know, this is going to likely be the transmission. Like, maybe it's something simple and whatnot. And we looked at it and had to price them a remanufactured transmission, transmission cooler, flush, all that stuff a little over five grand or something like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:18]:
And the dad, the son came in all upset to pick it up, pay the testing and fee and stuff. And the dad was going to go buy a new transmission, and I don't, I don't know where he's going to have it put in because that's not going to be our shop. And I'm like, I just can't wrap my head around how much is a new Chevy transmission? No idea. But anyway, I just thought it was funny, you know.
Dan Thieken [00:17:41]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:41]:
With the replacement versus the rebuild procedure nowadays.
Dan Thieken [00:17:44]:
Yeah. And that's the other issue I had, too, for a long time, was in the areas is a lot of shops around aren't charging what they should be. And so, you know, everybody turned into a transmission shop, you know, because they saw this big labor item and then they wouldn't mark up the transmission at all. Right. And they're thinking they're making a bunch of money. Right? Like, we all think that's the way to do it. Like, oh, it's a labor intensive, you know, I'm getting, I'm getting eight to 10 hours to do that. That's great.
Dan Thieken [00:18:09]:
You know, and then they don't mark up the unit and it ends up, they do it for $4,500, you know, out the door.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:14]:
Yeah.
Dan Thieken [00:18:14]:
And I'm looking at like, dude, just for me to, like, for me to re, like, rebuild it on the low end without any sort of upgrades that it needs, it's gonna be like 5500. I don't know how they're doing it for 45. And then it's like, oh, I know exactly how they're doing at 45. They're put, they're leaving a $1,000 on the table because they're not marking anything up. The fluids that cost the trans is it costs. They're not flushing the cooler like they're supposed to be like, so, yeah, and like, I can't, I'm just not gonna fight that. It's just an uphill battle, that it's like, I'm not racing to the bottom. I'm sorry.
Dan Thieken [00:18:43]:
You know, and it's like, what about, what do I go to each shop and, like, try to explain to each individual person, like, what they're doing wrong? No, it's never gonna work that way. And then it's like, meanwhile, my bench is empty. And if I had hired somebody, and I'm training them to rebuild, it's like, now they're now paying for them to stand around. So the whole. The whole thing was just. It was. It's like, I hate. I hate the fact of the bench being empty.
Dan Thieken [00:19:06]:
It does bother me, and I still do. Like, I got a three speed muncie back there right now. We pull out of a 57 Chevy. So it's like, that's cool. I'll do them as they come in, as the ones that aren't available as a rebuild. Go find a three speed muncie. Like, you're not gonna find a three speed monty. I mean, maybe you will.
Dan Thieken [00:19:21]:
There's probably somebody out back, maybe in Ohio, you know, back in the midwest, that knows where to pick one of those up. But for the most part, it's like, you're not gonna find one of those. So I'll go through it. That's fine. I can. You know, and I think that's a good place, a good use of my time. I'm okay with. I'm okay with keeping one of those on the road.
Dan Thieken [00:19:37]:
You know what I mean? Like, there's still a part of me that's like, I. You know, I don't want to just junk these old cars because no one knows how to fix them. So we got to keep that alive.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:45]:
There's. There's never going to be a. There's always going to be a place for those vehicles. Always.
Dan Thieken [00:19:50]:
Do you do any classic car stuff, or you got a cut off?
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:54]:
I mean, I have a. I have a theoretical. Theoretical cut off, which is roughly 20 years. But no, we actually have a pretty big classic car market in our area. We have one guy that does fabrication on them, complete redos. I think there's a world renowned upholstery guy, like, 20 minutes from me, 1520 minutes. Trent's trick upholstery or something. He goes to sema and does a lot of the food stuff.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:19]:
And he's just down the road from us, a lot of collectors. So we do a lot of front end work. They hang their new front ends. We'll definitely do the alignments for them. I'll do. Occasionally, we'll do some carb work. I have a guy that's really good with carburetors. He.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:36]:
He claims not to like him, but when I. When I pull one in and I see him licking his chops to figure these things out. But, yeah, there's there's a pretty big classic car market, but nothing more than, you know, some maintenance things and alignments type stuff.
Dan Thieken [00:20:49]:
So, yeah, it seems to work as long as you can draw the line in the sand. I've one thing I've always. I've always done is like, if we do something, it's like, you got to know how to chunk that job up. And I think a lot of, you know, service advisors or riders have a hard time with that because there's used to getting writing up the tickets as big as you can and then selling that job. And it's just different with the classics. You got to, like, this is, we're just going to do this and then, you know, we'll bring it back and we'll do, you know, B and C, and that seemed to work really well for me. So if it comes in, we'll do the whole sweep. I want to do disc brake conversions and I want to re gear it, and, you know, I want to do an overdrive conversion or whatever they want to do.
Dan Thieken [00:21:25]:
That's all fine, but we're not going to do that all at once. And then that's when they're like, what? Well, it's here. Why don't you just do it all at once? It's like, because I don't want it here for six months, and that's what's going to happen. You know what I mean? And that's what kills it. Like the tying up the rack time, that's what kills it. And a lot of people look at classics like, I don't like them. They don't make any time. It's like, why? Because it sits on the rack for too long.
Dan Thieken [00:21:44]:
Well, how much are you selling? Like, you're overselling these things. That's what I think. Like, I just think that's what happens. You sell way too much on it and then it turns in. You just. It's not the same. It's just not the same as selling 20 hours on a, you know, 2020 ram. It's not the same 20 hours on a 68 Malibu.
Dan Thieken [00:22:02]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:02]:
A lot of the guys that come in with their, their older cars, they have a list. They have a very specific list, and we don't typically try to sell them necessarily anything.
Dan Thieken [00:22:10]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:11]:
We had one guy years ago. He brought in his chieftain. I forget what year it was. It was a beautiful car, and he's a big laundry list, and he wanted me to paint the valve covers. And I'm like, I don't even paint. He's like, just paint the valve covers. Make a match, make them look pretty. I'm like, all right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:27]:
And we did. They turned out great. I'm kind of artistic, but still. But, yeah, they bring in a list and we get the list done, and it's typically time and materials type thing. It's. No, no special discount. It's. We.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:39]:
They pay us for it.
Dan Thieken [00:22:40]:
Right. Yeah, that's the thing. You got to charge for it. Like, it's the only way that works. It's. It's. I don't have a problem with it. I hear a lot, a lot of moaning about them, and a lot of people like, oh, my problem, I'm not making money is because I get all these stupid old cars.
Dan Thieken [00:22:53]:
And I was like, well, then just say no. Or just freaking charge. What you got to charge? Like, I don't know. It's. It's a pain point.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:00]:
People are scared to say no. And I learned that. I mean, I had trouble saying no. You know, even up to 1012 years ago, we just wouldn't say no. But at the same time, I don't feel like we were as busy as we could have been. And now that we've kind of. We're nearing a plateau in our, in our particular building, I'm very selective. I have no.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:20]:
No problem pulling that. No trigger right now. Nope. Not doing.
Dan Thieken [00:23:24]:
Yeah, I think it's important to start that from, like, even if you're not busy, though, like, I agree.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:29]:
I just missed the boat on it until I was on a comfort zone.
Dan Thieken [00:23:32]:
Well, it's pretty hard when you're not. When don't have. The phone's not ringing. There's nothing in the bays.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:36]:
Right, exactly.
Dan Thieken [00:23:37]:
But it's like, how many times? How many times does that happen? And then you pull something and you shouldn't, and then the next day, the phones are ringing off the hook and you're too busy trying to figure out a damn Volvo or something stupid you don't even need to be working on.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:49]:
And yes, I recall it was at least. It was at least 131 times.
Dan Thieken [00:23:53]:
Yeah. That you can count, huh?
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:56]:
But I remember. Yeah.
Dan Thieken [00:23:59]:
So you mentioned in your background, you didn't. You didn't start as, like, a real heavy tech. I mean, it. So have. Did you ever. Were you on the floor for a period of time or.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:09]:
Yeah, yeah. Brief. So. So how it all started. I'll give you the quick story. I started in my senior year in high school after I came back from a big group trip to Myrtle beach or something like that. My mom had went to work for this garage after her and my dad got divorced and she just got me, she's like, hey, you want to come start sweeping floors and changing oil and stuff? And I'm like, sure. So that's how it started.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:38]:
And that turned into learning. We're in a big agricultural area, so obviously I learned tires right up front, learned agricultural tires, going on service calls, doing tractor tire repairs, things like that. But ultimately, I became really good with people. I've always been good with people, but the people in the community liked me. The owner liked me. He saw that I took care of his business, and I took care of his people like they were my people. And there was a time with my first wife when we wanted to get married. I went to him and I said, listen, I want to get married.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:16]:
And I feel like I need to go into the bigger, the bigger ocean and make more money. And he's like, you gotta do what you gotta do. At that point, I was already kind of right on the shop for him. And I went away for three years, roughly three years just under they, him and my mom pretty much ran the company out of business, and I was out helping them, helping them on a Saturday do some things, him and my mom, and he said, hey, I want to sell. And you're the only person I would trust to buy my business. I'm like, well, let me talk to my wife. And I'm like, we're doing this, honey. There's really isn't a discussion.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:53]:
We're going to do this. And that's how it happened. And then pretty much it cut to cut two.
Dan Thieken [00:26:00]:
Here you are.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:01]:
Yeah, here I am.
Dan Thieken [00:26:03]:
So what was the, what was your driving force to make that decision or, like, push forward? Like, was it, was it? I mean, obviously we want to make money, but it sounds like you're. The shop wasn't in the best situation. So, like, coming into it and, like, obviously buying something that is supposedly, supposedly a business and you're supposed to be making money, but you're obviously going to have to be an owner operator. I mean, we all, I mean, I've made the mistake. I think most of us make that mistake of, like, buying a business because you just want to be the owner instead of looking at it as, like, a transactional thing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:34]:
But so the big driving force for me was I. I had already been there, right? So I saw how well the business could, and I saw the potential already. And so he started the business in 1985. So good, bad or indifferent, that name that the Craig retire name had been in the community for so long, and everybody knew it, and it was just really was a no brainer. And the drive. I knew I would make it successful. I knew it would make money. Bottom line.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:06]:
My mom actually told me if I didn't do it, I was stupid, because it was a cash cow. She called it a cash cow.
Dan Thieken [00:27:14]:
So mom had your back. That was probably the.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:16]:
Yeah, mom. Yeah. Mom gave me. She's like, you know, you should do this. He wants out. I want to stop. And ultimately ended up firing my mother before she quit. God love her.
Dan Thieken [00:27:28]:
Well, that'll make for an interesting dinner conversation, huh?
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:31]:
Yeah, right. And. But that's what it was. She just said, dance a cash cow. Don't. Don't look back. Just take it. She's like, you've been here for years before.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:40]:
Just come back and fix it. And I came back and fixed it. It's been beautiful. Really.
Dan Thieken [00:27:45]:
What was a. I mean, that. That's a. What's the word for it? It's interesting to think about that, because it just relates, like, you buy something and you have this chip on your shoulder to fix it. Right? Like, I'm gonna fix it, and, like, I just relate so much. And what was the biggest pain point that you can remember, like, when you first stepped in and, like, changing processes and, like, what was that big thing that you saw that really changed how it was that actually made it a cash cow? Like, because obviously, you saw there was some. Some things that were being missed, some things that were being losses.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:23]:
So there were two things. One, I had to get the. The former owner, Dave, he's a very proud man. That's his legacy. It's got his name on the building, right? And it still does because I bought the business name. To this day, he's. Because he rents the little building down at the bottom of the property. He sold.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:44]:
They split the property, and, uh, they sold the bottom half to farmer. So he rents that down office for. He does trucking and stuff like that on there. But to this day, he comes up to the shop, and. Which is fine. I love him to pieces. He's like a second dad to me, but he'll make comments like, we need to do this or we need to do that. And he's referring to us as a company, right? So Dave never could let go.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:10]:
He still doesn't let go to this day, even though he doesn't own it. So I had to get him out of the mix, and I had to come in, and my mom actually got on me. She's like, you're treating this like a hostile takeover. And I said, I have to. I said, he's no longer the face of this business. I have to be the face of this business. And I had to kind of run him out in a not, not so nice way. I wasn't mean to him, but I was just kind of like, matter of fact, this, you can't do this anymore.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:34]:
You have to leave. But the other thing was, when we switched to full service that first year, I hired as good as I could at the time, man. He was my, Sam was his name, and he was an ex aircraft mechanic. Very smart guy. And he was just able to take it. Help me take it to the next level. Yes. We went from like 400 and some thousand to nearly 900,000 the next year.
Dan Thieken [00:29:59]:
That was just adding. Adding service to it. Yeah, because it was, it sounds like it was just strictly tires before then.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:05]:
It was tires and, like some brakes and oil changes stuff, you know, and they still were doing alignments and front end work.
Dan Thieken [00:30:11]:
Okay. But just light, light service and not really.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:13]:
Yeah. Same was there to help with the drivability, stuff like that.
Dan Thieken [00:30:17]:
So how do you, like. That's such a fine, delicate situation, right. And you're trying to, like, push them out. How did you manage that? Like, how? Like, because obviously you don't want to have bad blood, especially because it's a family kind of deal. But then also, like, you know, he's going to be. You still want his goodwill. I mean, right? Because you buy the business. You buy his goodwill.
Dan Thieken [00:30:40]:
So you don't want him like, oh, this kid doesn't know what he's doing. He's, you know, he's doing all the right stuff. You don't want him badmouthing your business now.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:48]:
So the scary thing for me was I actually bought the company effectively on land contract. So the first contract was a five year lease, effectively. And after the five years, the business was mine, and then I still continued to pay rent. I had five five year contracts until he decided to sell the property to me itself, which we just concluded last year. But I was always concerned. I'm like, what if, what if I make him mad and there's some clause in there I didn't see, and he would, like, not renew my contract and I'd own a business, but I'd have no garage to operate out of and something like that. So that was kind of scary. But ultimately it came down to I had to put myself because he was still interacting with the customers and they would come in looking for him.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:36]:
So I had to place myself in between him and the customers. And I'd have to educate the customers that I'm now Dave's no longer. He's still here. But you, if you have something you need done, you come and talk to me or call me.
Dan Thieken [00:31:51]:
And, dude, that is so relatable. Oh, my God.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:54]:
Is it really?
Dan Thieken [00:31:55]:
Oh, it's, it's amazing. It's, and not just from, like, you to me, but I've got multiple shops in the area that's gone through. I've talked to multiple people that have had that same sort of experience. And it's just, you know, you feel like you're on your own and you're the only one dealing with it, but it's not, and it's like, it's amazing because it's exactly like I didn't have it to a point where I felt like I was scared I was going to lose my con, my lease or anything like that, by any means. But just having the clients come in looking for somebody else and just trying to navigate that the best way you can without saying, you know, for the 10th time today, he's not here. Right? Like, and so, but also, you don't want to lose his tail by saying, well, he's not here anymore at all. And like, okay, we'll see you later. So you're, like, trying to, you're trying to capture that sale, but also lead them in the direction that they not, they're not there for him anymore.
Dan Thieken [00:32:45]:
You know, it's like, it's so hard. It's so hard.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:48]:
It's so funny, because today, you know, some people have, because he would haul, he, like, said he had a trucking. He worked at the Columbus dispatch, and so he was a press operator there. He owned a trucking company. He hauled grain for the local farmers and gravel, and he had the tire shop. Right? So people still look for him today. Right? They'll make me gravel hauled, and they, they just have the, they just, they don't have his personal cell phone number. So they'll call the shop number, and they're like, you know, is David Cragar there? I'm like, you missed him by 20 years. He's no longer here.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:22]:
And then I find out what they need, and I'll pass along his personal cell phone number for. It's like a trucking thing or something. Yeah. But at the end of the day, after several, a few years went by, oh, and he started, he would try to sell tires, too, because he still had his, his vendor's license. So he would still try to sell tires to the farmers and, oh, my God, I had to call his attorney on that one, but I had to sit him down. I just said, you know, dave, you sold me the business. You have to be gone. I have to protect my livelihood.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:55]:
You did this. You did a great job at it. You came to me, and you personally told me that you would want nobody else buying or running your business, and it's time. It's time to put up or shut up, and you just need to stop. And that was what really got to him. And he.
Dan Thieken [00:34:09]:
Did you think it was like a vindictive thing or just a force of habit?
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:15]:
It was a little bit vindictive because of the way I think I came in, and I wouldn't change it for the world because I knew he was very strong willed and strong personality, and I wouldn't have done it any differently, to be honest with you. But I would say, yeah, he resented a little bit.
Dan Thieken [00:34:29]:
Oh, I see. Okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:30]:
But it is what it is. Yeah.
Dan Thieken [00:34:32]:
Yeah. Just interesting. I got. I got another one I know of a local tire shop, and. And he threw in through the same thing. They were. No, not related at all, like, at all. He was.
Dan Thieken [00:34:40]:
Just worked for the guy for 15 years, and, yeah, I ended up buying the shop from him, and he was an old, old man, and he. He just couldn't get out of his routine, and he kept showing. He, after he was still paid up and everything, he would show up, get behind the counter, start answering the phone. It was like, dude, you don't like. And there was a little bit of a language barrier, right. So, uh, it was like, it was just interesting because it was like, dude, he doesn't had. I remember him telling me and asking me, the new owner that took over. Right? It's like, I don't know how to.
Dan Thieken [00:35:09]:
I don't know how to get him out of here. Like, I don't know what to do, because he just shows up and gets behind the counter. He starts answering the phone. He what? And it's like, it just blew me away. Like, why? Like, he's paid. Like, what is he. Why is he even showing up? And he shows up and goes in the office. That's so bizarre.
Dan Thieken [00:35:26]:
And it's like, yeah, but it was like, it was. It was more of just trying to keep the business going, I guess, and without him there, it was gonna fail. I don't know. The guy was. He's an older gentleman, and he's. I think he had one too many. Um, I don't know, maybe smoked one too many tires or something like that. I don't know.
Dan Thieken [00:35:47]:
It wasn't all there, but a good dude either way. He's been in the community a long time, but it's like, it was kind of crazy to like see that. And that was two years ago, so pretty recent, but just interesting. The selling process, the buying process that everybody goes through and um. Yeah, I mean, having to go to his attorney and I mean that's, that's, that's kind of crazy too because for me it was a handshake deal and I think a lot of us kind of go through that and we just think, oh, we'll just do a handshake deal, I'll take over lease and you know, you do an owner goodwill purchase and you don't have any money in the bank account. That's, that brings up another point of like opening a shop and needing this reserve of cash. I don't know, I just, I feel like if you want it bad enough, you make it happen. And I didn't, I didn't have a hundred thousand dollars in the bank to go open a shop.
Dan Thieken [00:36:33]:
Like, who does? And if you do, why are you opening a shop? Like, you know what I mean though? Like, yeah, I mean, it's a smart way to go, but it's like if you got that kind of cash capital, like you're gonna go buy a mom and pop auto shop. Like, I feel like. I don't know. It's a tough thing for me to swallow and I think a lot of us have just basically fought and scratched our way from the bottom and made it work. Like, I don't, I don't think there's a lot of us that walked in with, you know, here's your 50 grand to buy your goodwill and your business and your assets and, and then I have another hundred thousand in the bank account just in case. Right. And it's like. And then you have to write up this contract for the business part of it.
Dan Thieken [00:37:13]:
So you're spending 300, 5400 thousand dollars and you still have that money in the bank account as reserve. I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:20]:
Yeah, my situation was very, I was very blessed. Effectively, you know, effectively. The business cost me next to nothing to purchase. I didn't have much money in the bank at all. I was married and worked for a, a smaller box store based out of Cincinnati and Ohio and the Ohio markets. And at some point after I took over or bought that place, one of my customers said, hey, I got a real estate opportunity for you in Columbus. I'm like, really? What is it? He's like, it was a transmission shop. I'm like, okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:55]:
He's like, I'll rent it to you. I'm like, I. Let's do this. I had zero money in the bank. So you talk about starting a business with zero money. Yeah, I'm one of those guys. And three months. About three months, and I had all kinds of wolves knocking at my door.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:12]:
I was in situational depression. It was disgustingly horrible situation for me to be in. I learned a lot, and I grew up fast, and so I had to walk out of the lease, and thankfully, he didn't come after me for anything. And then within eight or nine months, I dug myself out of a very large six figure hole with my vendors. And I never change that. I don't. I always say I won't change things, bad, good or bad. I'll never change things because they shape who you are.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:38]:
Right. But, yeah, anyone that thinks they can start a business with zero money, it's not a good idea. You need more than just your smile, for sure.
Dan Thieken [00:38:47]:
I mean, it helps, but I don't know. At the same time, it's. It's a tough situation because it's just so. It's hard to get that kind of cash capital, you know, to begin with without having some sort of passive income or something going on. And I mean, and to say, like, to be blessed, really, and make it feel like you're maybe the only one. I don't know. Like, that's the other thing, too. We're all given opportunities, and I think we all kind of take, not take it for granted, but feel like.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:15]:
Oh.
Dan Thieken [00:39:16]:
Man, I got this opportunity. I screwed it up, right? And it's like, well, we all get opportunities all the time, you know, like, and it's just about taking advantage of them. I mean, to be honest, like, I think to be blunt about it, like, you have to take advantage of those opportunities to the fullest, and if you don't, that's when you kind of screw up. And it's like you said, I mean, what if you didn't do that transmission shop, you know? Like what? You know, it's like you just got to go for it and take advantage of the opportunity that's placed in front of you. Yeah, maybe to work, maybe it won't, but, yeah. And I think that goes to, like, the pricing thing, too. Like, oh, I got into my position, and I didn't pay much for the shop, or it was easy for me to do, or I knew I had the hookup or I had this so I can afford to give my clients a discount and not provide, you know, and not pay my guys, like, whatever it is, it's like, I think that's a big problem, too. It's like everyone thinks they're giving this silver platter and they're like, oh, well, I was given.
Dan Thieken [00:40:08]:
This was easy for me, so I can pass on the savings in a sense. And I don't know, I don't agree with that either. Like, we're all. We all fight pretty hard to get to where we're at. We just need to, you know, charge accordingly and make sure that we can get compensated for it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:21]:
I actually learned a lot from my mom. My mom had no experience in the automotive world. She was a secretary at a high surgeon when she took that job at the tire shop.
Dan Thieken [00:40:31]:
Interesting.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:32]:
Yeah. So when I came on and I watched her, so she. He had a lot of shady people working for him from the standpoint, they were stealing from him on some level, money, time, whatever the case may be. So she kind of went in there and cleaned house where she had to. But. But I watched her over the years, like, you know, don't let people just open charge accounts, and you don't let people walk out the door without paying, and you have to charge the inspection fee. And my mom, who knew nothing about automotive work, nothing, she's like, you have to charge an inspection fee. And at the time, it was like, we did a brake inspection for 1995, or whatever it was.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:07]:
This was back in 96 when I started. But I was always amazed after the fact that it's not just an automotive thing, it's a smart business. Decisions on how to run a retail store or something like that. And I was always amazed at her ability to do that, although she had no experience in that.
Dan Thieken [00:41:27]:
Yeah, you're right. I mean, it's, it obviously goes. And all the coaching companies that we all see online and on Facebook and. And that's the step one, raise your rates and then just get paid for your time. And it's like, amazing that just having someone hold you accountable to that will make you enough money to pay for these coaching programs. And that's all it is, right? Like, and that's not like, all it is, like trying to simplify it, but it's just that. It's just your mom coming in and saying, look, if you just charged for the people that are here and then collected that money, all of a sudden you can pay rent. And, I mean, it really doesn't take a rocket scientist, but the problem is we have so much damn empathy, and we think what we've learned as technicians can be given away because it's so easy for us.
Dan Thieken [00:42:11]:
It's so natural for us, you know, and it's. And then we all given this, like, oh, well, you know, like I was saying, like, something easy was given to us. So I want to pay that forward, you know? But it's like, if you really think about it, the only reason why I know how to work on cars is because I couldn't freaking afford to fix my own shit. So I learned how to fix my own stuff. And so I feel bad when someone comes in and they have a broken car, like, well, I have the ability to fix it, so I should fix it for them so that they don't feel like I felt the feelings, I think, is the problem.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:40]:
Yeah, yeah. It's, it's. It can be real. It's hard to run a business off of feelings like that. But I also say you have to have a lot of compassion.
Dan Thieken [00:42:49]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:50]:
In my opinion. And we hear stories and we read posts and there's. I mean, I feel like there's a lot of not uncompassionate people in our industry. A lot of them. And it kind of makes my heart hurt because, I don't know, I just. I'm not wired like that. I'm not.
Dan Thieken [00:43:08]:
It's so. It's. It's really kind of a fine line from what I've. When you start gathering the information, you. And you're in this process and you're going through it and you're learning and you see where you started to, like, where I am now.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:21]:
Right.
Dan Thieken [00:43:21]:
And it's like, I can look back to see how much I've changed and I. And you can see that evolvement and you can. I could see myself in 20 years turning into that. Like, I could. I could see that happening. If you don't constantly check yourself, you know, and, like. And try to make sure you're following your vision. Right.
Dan Thieken [00:43:37]:
And, like, no, okay, that's crossing the line. We're not going that way. But it seems somewhat easy right now. No, we're gonna do it the hard way because that's the right thing to do. Right. And I just, I can just totally see it. So I see it as well. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Dan Thieken [00:43:50]:
And when it comes to, like, being. Saying, being compassionate about it, it's like, what is that? What is that? Right. Like, what makes it a compassionate business transaction in your mind? You know, like, how do you. How do you quantify a compassionate and still be running a business?
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:08]:
Yeah. So for me, and I think a lot, you know, and I say that because I don't talk to a bunch of shop owners. I talk to a few here and there, because our market, I feel like our market's very unique, and it's kind of like a cutthroat market. And I don't know why that is. So I don't reach out to a lot of people around me, but the ones I do talk around the country. But, like, on these Facebook groups that we're both all part of, some of the responses and the comments I'm hearing, they're very matter of fact. And.
Dan Thieken [00:44:39]:
Yeah, blanket statements.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:41]:
Yeah. I feel like they're almost, like they're almost commenting in a way, like, just to show how much of an a hole someone you can be. I don't know. And it's like, did you really say that to the customer?
Dan Thieken [00:44:54]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:55]:
Because if you, if. If you said that to my grandma, I'd come in there, we'd be having a different conversation.
Dan Thieken [00:45:00]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:00]:
I don't care if she told you you were too expensive or whatever the case may be, but you, I'm like, are you really saying that stuff to your customer in that way? And if you are, you should really rethink how you treat people right now.
Dan Thieken [00:45:14]:
That's perfect.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:15]:
That's one of them.
Dan Thieken [00:45:15]:
I mean, that's perfect right there. I mean, it's. And that's what it is. It's client advocacy with communication. Like, that's how you keep the compassion. And it is just taking the time to explain to someone that doesn't understand. Like, that's the bottom line. Like, if someone comes in and you have to explain why a $50 inspection is a $50 inspection, that's what you have to do, because you have to stay compassionate.
Dan Thieken [00:45:40]:
Someone, if you have 100 people come in and they're like, oh, that's what it is. Like, I get it. $50. That's cheap to look at my car. I'm cool. I'm into it. And you get one person come in, like $50 just to look at it, and you're like, you know what? Get the hell out of here then, right? I got 100 people lined up behind you. I think that's when you lose the compassion.
Dan Thieken [00:45:57]:
As soon as you have that sort of mindset, I think that's when you lost it. And it can be burnout or overworked or busy. And, I mean, I get it sometimes when I get for four of the technicians coming up, and I got, you know, the office, and my wife asked me something and someone else that's like. It's, like, too much. Like, that's it. And so I just start making decisions, like, you know, just to get them out of my face instead of making the right decision, you know, to have compassion in the. In the situation. But it's.
Dan Thieken [00:46:24]:
It's hard, like, hard not to go into overwhelm, you know, like, yo, what's happening right now? All of you, all at the same time, you know, it's like. But that's just how it goes, I guess. I don't know. Like, it's just the hardest thing to try to manage is your own mind when it. When it comes, you're sitting there all morning, and you're, like, twiddling your thumbs, like, cool. Everything's just going real nice. Then all of a sudden, it's like, fucking bomb goes off. Like, what just happened?
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:49]:
The shit show unrolls itself.
Dan Thieken [00:46:50]:
Yeah. Like someone just turned the fan on, I guess, huh? We're.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:55]:
Yeah, we're in our market is. We're in a very small community, very eclectic community. And people get mad. Like, we get a lady in today. We've looked at her subaru several times and found an issue with the coolant temp sensor, and it was. Had a pro, a long, long crank cycle, and we fixed that a couple weeks ago. And I truly feel like this lady's slipping into some sort of dementia. And I've talked to her son about it, and she still thinks that there's just because she doesn't think her 2013 Subaru, like, firing on the first ignition hit, right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:30]:
So she's like, the buyer's remorse. She's coming back from time to time. I'm like, she's like, I just don't think it's starting right. Well, we looked at it again today, and I couldn't replicate her issue, but she came in and she walked. She likes to walk. She walked down with her umbrella, and she's like, oh, how much do I owe you? I said, carolyn, are you kidding me?
Dan Thieken [00:47:48]:
You don't owe me anything.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:48]:
She's like, no, I got to pay you something. And so we have a lot of that in our community. They. They expect to pay something for anything. Even if you, like, check air pressures in their tire. They're genuinely insulted a lot of times or offended if you don't charge them. And that's when the $2030 tips show up. Free lunches.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:08]:
Some of the people bring us beer after work because I know we like to drink after work from time to time, and it's just so unique and yeah, it's just an interesting. They want to pay for it and you just gotta. It is what it is.
Dan Thieken [00:48:24]:
That is. It's pretty.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:26]:
I'm telling you, man.
Dan Thieken [00:48:28]:
Time to move to Ohio, I guess.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:29]:
Come on. No doubt the market's too saturated.
Dan Thieken [00:48:32]:
Don't do that. So you're in a small community. You have a lot of shops around you, though.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:38]:
So we're the only one in our, in our community. There's several. There's still several backyard mechanics, right? Excuse the cat climbing in the car curtains back there, but yeah, there's actually the next. The town nearest to us is about 1213 miles away. Saturated. There's, then there's a few Ohio shop owners in the groups that are up in Heath. There's one goodyear store around 9 miles from us, and then the other direction in Lancaster. Oh, my lord.
Jimmy Purdy [00:49:13]:
There are so many, so many shops. It isn't funny. It's like, how did they even get all supported from. How do they all get the business to stay in business? But in our area, no. The closest, quote unquote competitor, and I don't believe I have competitors, I don't think that way is about 9 miles from me. And they're, they're, they're a nicer looking goodyear retail store type thing.
Dan Thieken [00:49:37]:
Yeah. When you look into the metropolitans and you got these shops that are lined up back to back to back, it blows me away too. But I don't know, you take a look, I mean, take a drive through a neighborhood and realize that every house has three, average two to three cars. And you're like, okay, I get it. Like, you know, I think sometimes looking back, looking at the bigger picture, I do that sometimes too. You get slow and you're like, I guess I fixed all the cars. You know, it's like, yeah, and Ohio.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:04]:
Is like the epicenter right now. And so you have intel coming in, big chip factory coming in just up the road from us. I think it's only like 4 miles from Chris Enright's shop. Microsoft, Google, Amazon's already here. So for the next eight to ten years, foreseeably, there's going to be extreme growth in this area. The touristy style lake that I'm right near, they just redid the dam and stuff on that a few years ago. So they're making that a big tourist destination now. So the market is going to explode.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:42]:
So hopefully some of these shops that I imagine are starving if they can still, you know, hang on and do a good job, they're going to, you know, reap the windfalls. But the ones that those of us that have been around and can keep our heads to the grindstone or nose to the grindstone are going to do really well, I think.
Dan Thieken [00:50:58]:
What do you think the, what do you think the target's going to be as far as, you know, the influx? Because I think a lot. I think a lot of other areas are kind of experiencing what you're experiencing, especially outside of California. I think California's is always just naturally growing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:12]:
Yeah.
Dan Thieken [00:51:13]:
It's like as we lose, you know, and not by any means trying to say something negatively about it, but as the low incomes move out or the ones that sure, you know, it's like we're getting influxes of these huge investing companies, like millions and millions of dollars. And this infrastructure that's going in, it's like, just blows my mind. I'm like, well, everyone's got to drive. So it's like, it seems like there's this mass exodus, but, like, in our town, we've just, in this year, I think there's been 20,000 homes put in. It's like, well, I thought everybody's moving out. And not like individual homes. We're talking like condos, townhouses, like, stacked on, stacked on stacks is like, what? So, I mean, so I would look to the future and say, like, well, what's. What's gonna be the target?
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:57]:
Right?
Dan Thieken [00:51:57]:
We had Ev's coming in, right? Supposedly. We'll see if that's even going to come in. We got adas that's here or on the horizon, however you want to look at it. So it's like, what's the target? Like, what, what do you think the next evolution is going to be if you're gearing up for the next ten years?
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:15]:
So a part of my. Part of my. One of the reasons I attended vision was to start planning about my next eight to ten years because I don't. I don't want to be. I don't want to be doing this forever. And so my exit strategy has to be some. Something on paper. So I don't know if that's going to be, you know, we continue to grow it and we sell it, or if I just grow it and be an absentee owner or whatever the case may be.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:40]:
But if I had to target one thing, we're definitely going to work on. We're going to expand. We're going to put a three to four more bays on the side of the building. Hopefully within the next two years. I definitely want to do adolescents. I don't know if I'm gonna. I don't. I really don't know if I'm gonna focus on Evie.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:57]:
Only because we're so rural. I think there's gonna be a little bit of lag on that in our market. But if I have to, if I see that ball coming down the hill, then I'll go invest in some training, or I'll invest in someone that has already trained in that, and we'll make that stuff happen. I'm not afraid to make investment. Right, so. But the big target would be just my facility. To be honest with you, making it bigger so we can accommodate more people makes sense.
Dan Thieken [00:53:26]:
Obviously, it means hiring more staff. So the whole. The whole tech shortage isn't something that you're. That you don't even bat an eye at.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:34]:
No, I know, but I've never. Up until recently, I've never. Outside of the last guy, same. I had. I never went. I was never going towards that type of repair. We were all under car suspension, brakes, ac, that type of thing. We never did hardcore diag.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:50]:
But going forward, I was blessed to find a candidate through changing the industry. Some. Some young, younger. Well, 40 year old tech made a post about needing a job and in central Ohio, and I was able to get him. I've never had to recruit or look for a really high, high skill set, so I don't know if I'm gonna have to deal with the shortage like everyone says, but no, I've never had issues finding solid people that could come in and be trained to do stuff.
Dan Thieken [00:54:20]:
Yeah, I think it's just the people that are looking. Maybe. Maybe if you're not, like, wanted, then maybe you gotta look inward. I don't know. Shots fired, right? Like, I mean, come on now. Like, if you're having that hard of a time, maybe, maybe, maybe it is you. It's not that much you, you know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:42]:
Well, my new. My new. My newest hire was a service advisor. And I found, I think, Lola. Lola sent out a feeler.
Dan Thieken [00:54:50]:
Oh, cool.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:51]:
I contacted her about him and he came. He drove two and a half hours to come talk to me. And it wasn't an interview. I just said. I said, when you get some time, drive down to the shop, just hang out, watch what we're doing, have fun. And he was there maybe 30 or 40 minutes, and we parted ways. Didn't talk money, nothing like that. And he had already, the day before, he did a third interview with another shop in Columbus, and I finally made him an offer, and he seemed interested.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:23]:
And once he decided he was going to take the job, I said, well, why don't you wait until you get the other offer from this place? He's like, nope, not doing it. He's like, what you got going on? There's a hundred times better. And I'm coming. I don't care. I don't want to wait. So it's definitely about culture. It's definitely about culture.
Dan Thieken [00:55:39]:
Oh, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:40]:
Take that to the grave.
Dan Thieken [00:55:41]:
Yeah. I mean, yeah. Anybody with you got to be there 10 hours a day, 8 hours a day. You're going to take more money to be in a bad place. I don't know. What's the point of money if you're not having a good time? What do you do with money but go have a good time? So why wouldn't you want to have a good time while you're making money?
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:02]:
We brought him to vision with us, and he hadn't even started yet.
Dan Thieken [00:56:05]:
That's rad.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:06]:
So he, so we put him on the payroll for his first day in vision. So he started on Wednesday.
Dan Thieken [00:56:11]:
That's cool.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:13]:
And we just bonded. He bonded with my other young guy. He wants to kind of help run things. He's going to be like a hybrid foreman position. Hopefully he can work on the floor and help write service and stuff like that and help the other guys on the floor. And then my lead tech, we all went out there. We bonded like crazy kids. Solid.
Dan Thieken [00:56:33]:
That's cool.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:34]:
So it should be a good time.
Dan Thieken [00:56:35]:
Yeah. So when it comes to, like, going to vision and taking your staff, taking your crew there, what's some, uh, what's some tips for somebody that's looking to gear up to do something like that? Because that's, that's a big commitment, and everyone's gonna look at it and be like, oh, it's going to be so expensive. So you want to make sure you get you in your sense of money's worth. I think obviously, bonding is the most important thing. Like, if you're just there having a good time, that's worth more than any training that you can find there, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:02]:
100%.
Dan Thieken [00:57:03]:
Okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:04]:
So in my experience, because this is my first trip to vision, it was his and other young guys first trip, and then my new tech he had. This has been his second trip. And from my personal experience, and I'm probably going to make people angry, I was not overly impressed with some of the stuff there.
Dan Thieken [00:57:26]:
That's fair.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:28]:
You really need to research the instructors before you go. Not that they're bad, but the first day, I spent half my first class, and then I left. I didn't go back to class on Thursday. Friday was a fantastic day. Friday was the day the meat and potatoes I went out for. And then Saturday, same thing, half the morning class, I'm like, I can't do this. So the advice I would give is research the classes and the instructors, but not that you have a bunch of time, because if it's a tech class, so many of those fill up so quickly, you may not have time to research those, but the management and training, definitely research the instructors and maybe talk to other shop owners that have been, because lackluster for me, and I think talking to some other people because in Wright, travel with us because he is pretty much a neighbor practically to us. And he had heard some of the same stuff.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:30]:
He just mentioned that he had heard a lot of people say the same thing about it. Just some of the training just wasn't on point. This year is kind of. He didn't say this, but I felt like it was almost dumbed down. Um, but I'd never experienced their training before, so I don't have anything to compare it to.
Dan Thieken [00:58:45]:
Yeah, well, you never know where anybody's at in their.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:49]:
Precisely.
Dan Thieken [00:58:50]:
In their career, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:52]:
Yeah.
Dan Thieken [00:58:52]:
So, yeah, it's. I have the same problem when it goes. When it comes to training. And sometimes you sit through this two hour, three hour, four hour long lecture, for lack of better words, just to get one or two golden nuggets out of it. Right. And it's like, was that really worth it? Like that I really need to spend my whole day just to get those two pieces of information. But sometimes it is. Sometimes it's those little, those little tips that the one thing that you hear and you're like, and then that sticks in your business forever.
Dan Thieken [00:59:22]:
And it's like, okay, that 100% was worth that 4 hours because I'm gonna use it for the next ten years.
Jimmy Purdy [00:59:26]:
Sure.
Dan Thieken [00:59:27]:
But it does come to a point where you're like, okay, I've heard this, I've heard this, I've heard this, I've heard that. But then you get the fomo, and you're like, oh, what am I missing out on? Like, should I get that class? That does sound like what I need. And then you go there and sit in the class, and it's absolutely nothing about what the freaking title of the class was.
Jimmy Purdy [00:59:43]:
Oh, yeah, exactly.
Dan Thieken [00:59:44]:
Or not relevant or. Or, you know what really, really gripes me is when it just turns into a freaking sales presentation. You know, you do this class to learn something and it's just like this constant dangling the carrot from for the next 2 hours of like, well, if you want this and this, and it's gonna be so we have this package and if you're really looking to be leader, then you're gonna want. And it's like, that drives me. Absolutely. I cannot stand that. I can't stand being sold, you know, for one. And it's like, then I pay to go to a class so they can just freaking sell me.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:15]:
And let's face it, that type of, that type of curriculum shouldn't be allowed to be there personally.
Dan Thieken [01:00:19]:
No, but. And it's just fed in, like, and it's just fed in as like spoonfuls, right? Like it's like, here's, here's a little bit of good, a little bit of tidbits of good information. Like, oh cool, this is what we want to hear. This is something that's relevant. I understand what he's saying. Well, if you'd like to know how to do that, then you're gonna want to like, oh no, you didn't, man. Like that. Yeah, that's the stuff I get him walk out on.
Dan Thieken [01:00:40]:
Like, I can't stand that stuff. I don't know, but I mean, the classes, yeah, they're there for a reason because there's a lot of people that need it, you know, but yeah, don't be afraid to get up and walk out.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:54]:
Yeah. Cuz I'm just not wired to sit there. I'll fall asleep and that's just rude.
Dan Thieken [01:00:58]:
Yeah, I was like, I gotta use the bathroom. We'll be right back. I'm not coming back.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:01]:
Yeah, and the brakes are conveniently placed. Why you go way taking all your stuff? I'm. I gotta go.
Dan Thieken [01:01:08]:
I gotta go. I can't do this anymore. Yeah, I think. I think there needs to be more of a meetup and more of like a. More of a community kind of networking, more events going on there, you know, and I get the classes need to be there because that's what, that's the financial side of it and it's a business. Like they need to make money. But I just think there needs to be a little bit more of a camaraderie thing going on and, and hopefully this year at Apex, we can really get a ball rolling. Something like that.
Dan Thieken [01:01:34]:
But I know, like ASD last year, it definitely was pushed more in that direction, which was really nice. It was really about more meeting people than, like, just sitting there and listening. Like, I don't want to fly across the country, just go sit in a classroom. Like, I want to meet the people that I talk to here and talk to on Facebook and talk to and, you know, and get to know them face to face. And I think that's way more important than anything else when it comes to it. But then again, do you need to spend that kind of money to just go fly to Kansas City just to meet these people? You know, like, I don't know. It's, it's tough.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:05]:
Yeah. I just did the math today on that trip, and I got a little sick in my mouth.
Dan Thieken [01:02:08]:
I could see that. It's valuable, though, right? I mean, there's worse things. You could be spending money on it.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:15]:
Really. Yeah. We all, we all had a great time. We all had a great time. There's no doubt. But, yeah, just, just check into the classes you're going to take, you know, and if it says introductory, there's a good chance it's going to be introductory.
Dan Thieken [01:02:27]:
Yeah. Like spoon fit, like maybe a sales presentation for the actual class that you should be, that you should be watching. That's what it ends up being. I don't know. Well, I mean, it's good you got a new hire and you take them out there. I mean, that's like, you can't solidify that any further as far as educating people than that. And it's amazing how many other shops out there that are ran where they don't want to educate anybody. They don't want to take anybody to training.
Dan Thieken [01:02:52]:
They don't want to do anything but the bare minimum. And I don't know, it's tough. It's tough to get to a position where we all have this kind of network and we all are, in a sense, on the same page, and you try to find someone that's not in that mindset and get them to understand it without being that salesperson. And that's hard for me, too. There's local shops around here and I want to walk in and say, hey, look, this is what you need to do. But then I start realizing I'm just turning into that sales presentation that I can't stand listening to. So obviously, trying to get other, you know, get everybody on the same page is difficult thing to do.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:33]:
Yeah. The other thing real quickly is, you know, so many people when I came into this industry, you couldn't pay them to go to training. Like, I'm not going to go to training. So now we're just in this new era where people are a lot more open to going out there. I mean, the tech I just hired last year, Nate, his. One of his previous bosses wouldn't send him to vision. He had to pay. He paid $1,500, whatever it was, out of his own pocket to go.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:03]:
And so now you have all these technicians and shop owners that want to learn. They want to better themselves. And I think we talk about changing the industry. I think the industry is changing already right in front of our eyes, and I think some of us are blind to that, but I think it's a positive thing. A lot of people are more receptive to being taught stuff and being sent out to those types of events. It's a lot. It's a commitment from. Away from your family.
Dan Thieken [01:04:32]:
Yeah. I mean, that's. That's part of it. But the. But the actual thought process behind wanting to train is. It's interesting to think of why. Why now? Like, and I see the thought process of technicians that I have in the shop now where they just want to figure it out on their own or they feel like they need to know. Like, and if they don't, then they're failing.
Dan Thieken [01:04:51]:
And it's like, they don't want to google stuff, they don't want to YouTube stuff. They don't want to be the guy that has to be on the Internet to figure things out. And it's like, your job is not to know this stuff. Your job is to figure it out. And I don't know if maybe it's the Internet now that's, like, changing people's mindset. Like, oh, wow. So I don't have to just naturally know how this stuff works. I can.
Dan Thieken [01:05:11]:
I can learn it and then apply that. I just. It's an interesting thought because I see that a lot. And sometimes I got to go out there and they're beating their head against the wall on something. I'm like, did you google it? Did you go on you? No, no, I just. I just wanted to check a few things. Bro, you've been at this for, like, 45 minutes, and you haven't. You haven't.
Dan Thieken [01:05:29]:
Like, you haven't done a Google search on it. Like. Like, I get it. Like, you want to figure it out without help in quotes, but also, like, why? Like, I don't know. Is it cheating? Like, I don't see it as cheating. Like, you're just using the resources that are out there. Someone's already figured this out. Like, just use that resource, verify what they verified, and then make the call.
Dan Thieken [01:05:53]:
You know. I don't know. It blows me away sometimes.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:56]:
Yeah. And some of those same guys will. Will. They don't want to use Google, but they'll use identifix.
Dan Thieken [01:06:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. Because that's so much better.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:05]:
But that's a professional platform, which apparently now they market to diyers. I didn't know that. I found that out at vision. Whatever.
Dan Thieken [01:06:11]:
Wow. I didn't. Yeah, I didn't know that. I've been years.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:15]:
You can buy, well, all data does it apparently, too. But you can buy identifix. I think it's 25 or $29 for one car. One car use.
Dan Thieken [01:06:24]:
Wow.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:24]:
And then you can buy a three year subscription to all data for just, like, a few dollars a month. And it's the DIY version.
Dan Thieken [01:06:36]:
Oh, wow.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:37]:
Yeah. I think it's called all data. I think it's called all data. Dy DIY.
Dan Thieken [01:06:41]:
Oh, that's fantastic. That's going to be great. I'm all for it. You know what? You want to fix it on your own? I. 100%. I'll give you a job in a few years. That's how I see it, you know? Like, the more DIY, the better, because, you know, we can always use more. More, uh, more technicians in the field.
Dan Thieken [01:06:57]:
So you know what? You do it enough, I'll pay you to do it, you know?
Jimmy Purdy [01:07:02]:
Absolutely.
Dan Thieken [01:07:04]:
That's great. All right, man. Well, I appreciate you coming on.
Jimmy Purdy [01:07:08]:
Hey, man, it was my pleasure. I'm happy to. Happy to. Come on.
Dan Thieken [01:07:11]:
Yeah, it's good to meet you. I mean, obviously, always good to finally put a face to all the messages that we get back and forth.
Jimmy Purdy [01:07:17]:
Yeah. And I'm not a podcast guy, so I commend you for. For having a podcast that I like to listen to. And no offense to anyone else who does podcasts, but there's just. I can. There's something about you that's comfortable when you talk to your guest, and I'm like, I can listen to this guy all day long.
Dan Thieken [01:07:33]:
Well, that's good to hear. I appreciate you saying that.
Jimmy Purdy [01:07:35]:
No worries, man.
Dan Thieken [01:07:36]:
I'm just, you know, I started from the bottom like everybody else, and it's just like. I don't know. I don't know. I learned so much, and I love learning, and I feel like talking to. Talking to everybody, it's so. It's such a good learning process and, like, learning how we're all the same but a little bit different. I don't know. It just helps.
Dan Thieken [01:07:56]:
It helps with anxiety, for one. I mean, that's a big one. Like we're all. We all think we're all in this special little niche market, and no one else has to deal with the thing, things that we're dealing with. But it's not. We're all kind of the same. We all have kind of the similar story to start, and it's like we're all kind of moving in the same direction. It's just good to hear that.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:16]:
It's my pleasure. It's definitely been fun, man.