Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Power does not always come from pushing harder. Sometimes in life and in business, the smartest move is to slow down so you can move forward with control, clarity, and intention. Just like a great driver, growth means looking ahead, preparing for the climb, and knowing when it is time to change gears.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:00]:
Like, I don't want to be 50, 55, 60, saying, I wish I would have done this. I'm gonna say, I did that and it was fun, or I did that and I will not do that again. And people say, why were you in Montana? Why were you not in Montana? There's so much to see in this country. There's so much to do in life. You can't wait till you're 65, 70.
Greg Buckley [00:00:19]:
No.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:19]:
To start living, you don't live every day.
Greg Buckley [00:00:22]:
Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Tanika Haynes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:26]:
We all know as shop owners, sometimes
Greg Buckley [00:00:28]:
you gotta slow down in order to speed up. And that's what this podcast is all about. It's time to downshift.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:41]:
What's going on, Uncle Buck?
Greg Buckley [00:00:43]:
Nothing, man. Nothing. It's making my day right here. This is it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:45]:
This is it.
Greg Buckley [00:00:46]:
This is it. Yeah. Being here with you on your show down.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:49]:
We can talk soup and downshift all the same time.
Greg Buckley [00:00:53]:
We make a batch, you know, so I've been tectonic.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:59]:
Tectonic is being. It's wild. He spent some money on this thing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:01:06]:
I think it's seven figures.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:08]:
That's me too. Yeah, that's. We can't be nosy like that. But yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:01:12]:
Yeah. I mean, from what? Here's the key. Whenever you go to one of these events and you don't have to pay for any booze at all.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:21]:
Right.
Greg Buckley [00:01:23]:
That's.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:24]:
You didn't have to pay for one single meal.
Greg Buckley [00:01:25]:
Not one meal.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:26]:
Not one breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Greg Buckley [00:01:28]:
It was first class food.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:30]:
Somebody complained about the lemonade.
Greg Buckley [00:01:32]:
Seriously?
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:32]:
Somebody complained about lemonade. Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:01:36]:
People part of that change industry podcast.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:38]:
Probably those dumb suckers. Duck pluckers. But no, this is. This is good. Oh, yeah, this is good. Well, the classes could have been longer. I think that probably needs to be adjusted.
Greg Buckley [00:01:53]:
Yeah, I think it'll happen next year because they're moving down to the convention center. Yeah. Which is going to be pretty good.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:58]:
But speakers were great. Oh, the panel that Mike did.
Greg Buckley [00:02:02]:
Oh, that crazy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:03]:
That was a good panel. I took a Facebook Live.
Greg Buckley [00:02:05]:
I know you did. And I recorded.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:07]:
I did on Soup Live. So it was on super live too. Good. That was good. He had some good questions. And he did. Still was himself. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:14]:
Rifle a little.
Greg Buckley [00:02:15]:
I would have given him about another 10 minutes and we'd be fist fighting.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:17]:
Yeah. I told him, I text him when he got off stage. I said, you know what? If Cecil was a good 20, 30 years younger, he would beat you up backstage.
Greg Buckley [00:02:25]:
He would have.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:26]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:02:26]:
He would have got up and really made. Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:29]:
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. It would have been Jerry Springer show up in there. Because Mike and he knows how to push people's. But that's why I love him so much. I know. Yeah, he's a good kid. But you know what? If Mike started acting normal and being very professional, we think something was wrong with him.
Greg Buckley [00:02:45]:
Yeah, it would.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:46]:
If he came and had a really good professional podcast and was polished, we'd be like, what's the matter with Mike? Somebody check on him. So it is what it is.
Greg Buckley [00:02:56]:
That's right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:56]:
What have you been doing?
Greg Buckley [00:02:59]:
Really? Just hanging around. Just doing. Building the shops, getting them together, you know.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:04]:
Building one shops. What do you mean?
Greg Buckley [00:03:05]:
Well, I mean, just getting them getting to the enterprise together. That's our goal for this year.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:10]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:03:11]:
Is really get to hone the enterprise, make sure we're all good, get the processes down, and, you know, the future might open up for another one. We're kind of counting on.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:21]:
How hands on are you with that. I thought you were leaving it to the.
Greg Buckley [00:03:26]:
I'll tell you, I'm not really that hands on. I really don't go in as much as what I used to, but I think that might change a little bit. You know, I had a spell, you know, after my procedures, you know, with the heart and all. That woke you up?
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:45]:
You look great, by the way.
Greg Buckley [00:03:46]:
Well, thank you. You know, what happened was I realized that, hey, man, the Superman cape got a little tear in it. Now I got to be careful. But more importantly, when I got done that, I had a time when I really was mentally not right, and I couldn't. In fact, I didn't even want to leave the house for about two weeks. Told my wife, and she goes, well, why is she a doctor? You know, and like a, you know, a mental doctor, you get what's going on.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:16]:
A therapist is what it's called.
Greg Buckley [00:04:18]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:18]:
A mental man. Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:04:20]:
You know, see what's happening? No, but no. Kind of like took me out a little bit. So, you know, I told the boys, I said, listen, you know, I'm kicking back. You know, we had been on that route, but I got to the point where I wasn't. I didn't feel like I let go too much, you know, and my coach, I pretty much dumped the business on him, and I stepped back, like. And, like, the coach was running my business and. Yeah. And that's exactly what was taking place.
Greg Buckley [00:04:56]:
I was out of the scene. I wouldn't make a meeting. I would find an excuse, you know, all that kind of stuff. And finally, you know, the coach calls me out, sends me an email, tells me, you know, I'm this on that. And, you know, I go, you're pretty much right. Yeah. I go, I said I let go too much. And I told.
Greg Buckley [00:05:19]:
I said, I let you have too much authority where it's my responsibility, you know, so worked all through that, and it gets a little deeper, you know, where I didn't feel like I was wanted, you know, and this is the thing that I'm speaking with. I'm speaking about down in Dallas at the asl, okay. It's called mattering. You know, where do you matter? How do you matter?
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:41]:
Right.
Greg Buckley [00:05:41]:
And so when everybody in your family tells you that, hey, look, we got this, we're okay, you know, and you're
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:49]:
like, you don't need me anymore, because they tell you that's what you want to do. You want the shop to be able to run without.
Greg Buckley [00:05:54]:
Yeah, exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:05:55]:
You don't know. What am I supposed to do now?
Greg Buckley [00:05:58]:
Exactly. Right? Your identity, your everything. Like, you know, where do I go? What do I do? You know? And yet it's a sign of success where, okay, you're here. Your shop still humming along. I'm here. Shops are still humming along. That's what we want. Right.
Greg Buckley [00:06:13]:
But when we get there, if you
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:15]:
don't have another job to do. They talked about that on the stage today. You know, you sell the shop and then you get 5 million, $10 million. Yeah, but where am I supposed to drive tomorrow morning?
Greg Buckley [00:06:27]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:27]:
It's like people that retire and go right back to work.
Greg Buckley [00:06:29]:
Yeah. So for me, I've been diving into a lot of nonprofit work.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:33]:
Okay, I saw that.
Greg Buckley [00:06:35]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:35]:
You know, so you did find your way back to doing something.
Greg Buckley [00:06:37]:
Yeah. And it's really. It's really great. I. I'm really involved with some really good groups. In fact, I leave here and I go. And we're. One of the charities that I support is having its major fundraiser tomorrow evening.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:51]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:06:52]:
Down at the beach. And I'm.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:54]:
How inconvenient.
Greg Buckley [00:06:55]:
Oh, yeah, I know, right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:56]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:06:59]:
It's. It's a concert for the kids with this organization called Paul Cares. And we help kids who are getting into culinary and musical arts. So they're musicians or they're chefs.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:11]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:07:12]:
And there's a little small venue, about 65 people. We get an axe from around the country, regional, and then all the proceeds, you get like a three course. This is no joke. This. This place is. It's like a speakeasy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:07:27]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:07:28]:
Right. There's only 63 seats. It's got major acts that come in and they play an intimate setting. The prices are anywhere from like $59 to $89. Okay. And you get a three course dinner, get some wine and you get great entertainment and so. And 100% of proceeds go to the, to the mission. So that's cool.
Greg Buckley [00:07:54]:
And then on with the other ones while I'm interviewing. What Autism Delaware. I just did those.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:00]:
I saw that one. Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:08:01]:
Beautiful people. Beautiful people. And then I'm on the board with the YMCA down in there and I'm an ambassador for them. So this is my path, you know, where I want to help others, I get involved and you know, it's. It's more than goodwill. It. You know, my dad always taught me. Like your dad taught you, you know, support those that support you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:24]:
Yes.
Greg Buckley [00:08:24]:
You know what I mean? You got to bring it home every once in a while. So that's what, that's what, that's what Uncle Buck's doing. That's what Uncle Buck's doing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:32]:
I like it.
Greg Buckley [00:08:33]:
So, you know, it's a lot of fun.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:35]:
It makes me sad that you had. You were saved. The doctors were able to fix you.
Greg Buckley [00:08:43]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:44]:
But you still felt broken.
Greg Buckley [00:08:47]:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you feel that. And I don't know if. I mean, I can only speak for me, but you know, you go so long and the thing is that once you start to feel vulnerable in terms of health, you get scared. You get, you know, what if. And then in my case, well, what if I what, something happens and I'm not there for my family?
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:14]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:09:15]:
And then you start going, well, that's why I didn't want to go out of the house, you know, until one day I got in the truck and I said, damn it, I'm just going to go down to Millsboro. I'm going to take that 85 mile drive and I go on the highway and I'm driving like 90 year old white knuckles and I'm doing 55. I never do in the far right lane. Yeah, exactly right, pops, man. Exactly right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:38]:
You are. You're the old man now.
Greg Buckley [00:09:40]:
I'm definitely an old man at that point, cuz. I never drive 55 or 65. I'm, I'm, I'm.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:46]:
You were fragile and scared and driving. Scared, Running scared.
Greg Buckley [00:09:50]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:09:51]:
But no, you went back into the office.
Greg Buckley [00:09:53]:
Yeah, I got back in slowly but surely. Started going back in and seeing the guys, getting back used to it now this past month or so, really getting back involved in doing Things and talking to the boys and having the meetings and doing what I have to do to be an owner.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:09]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:10:09]:
You know, and they're okay with it, but they. I still got to give them their wings. I got to let them do what they want to do, and they're doing a great job. I mean, I. I got no complaints.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:19]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:10:20]:
You know, just little things.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:21]:
But you did it. I mean, they can do it without you because you taught them how to do it with.
Greg Buckley [00:10:24]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:25]:
It's like the boys right now. I was coming back from Florida to see Jordan, and I'm just thinking. I'm just so sad, but I'm so flipping happy. I got to his apartment. He was still in class. I opened the door. The apartment's clean enough for a boy. His bedroom was a hot mess.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:41]:
Bathroom's clean, Kitchen clean. I don't know if he cleaned it because mom was coming, but I don't think so. And I'm just thinking, he went to class, and he's gotten there on time, and he's really enjoying it, and he's got. When I moved him the first time I moved him, got furniture and pots and pans and stuff, and he said, hey, mom, I want some plants. I have. I'm a plant, mom. I am a crazy plant lady. And I was like, you want plants? I was like, yes, I've got another one.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:07]:
I got a plant baby. The plants are still living. The plants are growing.
Greg Buckley [00:11:10]:
So he's taking care of them.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:12]:
He's taking care of them.
Greg Buckley [00:11:12]:
There you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:13]:
And I'm just thinking, I want to go in there, and, mom, I'm cleaning. There's nothing that needed to be cleaned. And I was like, okay. He doesn't really need me as much. He still needs my money, of course. I was like, this boy. Is the refrigerator stopped?
Greg Buckley [00:11:27]:
Mm. Mm.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:30]:
He's got his crazy posters on the wall. I'm respecting him as a young man. I'm like, look at this. This is what I did. And I don't like this chapter because I want you to need me.
Greg Buckley [00:11:40]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:41]:
So the same thing with a big one. He went to college. He's back home, and he. He is home, but he. You raise him to not need you. You build your employees to do their job and do it better than you. And so when they have a situation, like they had a situation last Wednesday, and I was able to coach them to it through it, they didn't ask for a lot of help. They were like, this is what's happening.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:06]:
This is what we think. And this is what we think we should do. This is what I'm going to tell the customer. I want you to go over to make sure I'm not missing anything. And I'm like, damn it, you've got it.
Greg Buckley [00:12:16]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:17]:
Okay. I'll sit back here and watch Dateline. They've got it. And I'll go up there and pet a puppy and hug a customer every now and again. So if I can see a customer coming, and I love. And I'm like, oh, hey, how you doing? Whatever. How's my car? I don't know. No idea.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:32]:
Haley's gonna take care of you. Stuart's gonna take care of you. And if they don't, let me know, you know, a little humor there. But you raise them up the way they should go. That's good parenting. Yeah, that's your parenting. That's your coach. I mean, you as a leader.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:46]:
Like, Josh talked about leadership today, and that's not really something that I really bought into that much a couple years ago. Just show me how to make money and get out of my face. Yeah, I don't hear about this part.
Greg Buckley [00:12:58]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:59]:
Like, me and Michael Smith from the institute. I've told him twice. You know, you really get on my nerves, Michael, with all of this hocus pocus stuff. But now when he talks, I'm just like, yep, yeah, I was stubborn again. I didn't want to listen to it.
Greg Buckley [00:13:09]:
That's right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:10]:
But I have found that with leading your team and empowering your team, when it's either at work, if you're not in the automotive industry, I found that people in the automotive industry are. That are not. Are also listening to my podcast. So it's pretty cool. No matter what industry you're in, if you're a leader and you're leading properly, that will affect your KPIs. That's going to make you money, period. Because you're telling them what they need to know, what they need to do to do their job correctly. They want to win for you because they respect you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:46]:
And then they realize, if I win it, if I play this base, she's gonna play this. This guy's over here on this base. And I don't do baseball, but whatever that is, if everybody's in the position and they're playing their game to the best of their ability, we're all gonna win, and then the customer's gonna be happy, then they're gonna spend more money, and then we get more money on commission. It all just trickles down. Yeah, it's like A trickle down effect.
Greg Buckley [00:14:11]:
Well, the thing is, a coach's favorite saying when they're doing their presses is, I gotta put them in a better position to win.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:20]:
Yes.
Greg Buckley [00:14:21]:
And that's what leaders will do. So let me ask you this.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:23]:
What's that?
Greg Buckley [00:14:26]:
Outside of your dad, what other life experiences do you think made you a better leader?
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:34]:
It was my grandmother, too.
Greg Buckley [00:14:35]:
Okay. Your grandmother. That's right. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:36]:
Grandma Kitty. I laugh because, you know, we have a lot of podcasts and YouTube videos of the gurus, the Simon cynics, or all the people that we listen to when we want to get refreshed. Right. My grandmother always did that. There's a guy named Les Brown.
Greg Buckley [00:14:55]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:14:56]:
And I believe Les Brown was probably one of the OGs of motivational speaker. He's back there with Jim Rohn.
Greg Buckley [00:15:04]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:04]:
He's an older black man and he's funny and he tells his story and he's just very motivational. And grandmother always listened to stuff like that. And as a kid, it got on my flipping nerves. But it's not like I can control the radio. And we didn't have headphones, so whatever kid was listening to, that's what we're gonna listen. And grandma had. We lived in Charlotte, and grandmother had her shop in Albemarle. Actually, it was called Troy.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:25]:
So it was about an hour, hour 15 outside of Charlotte, maybe longer. And that's kind of how I know Benji. Cause it's out in the boonies, like in that area. And she would always listen to that. She was always wanting to do better. And grandma's a Capricorn like me, and she. Get out of here.
Greg Buckley [00:15:45]:
You're a Capricorn?
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:45]:
Yeah. No, I'm not bossy at all.
Greg Buckley [00:15:47]:
I'm a sweet little lamb, not a goat.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:50]:
You are.
Greg Buckley [00:15:51]:
Yes, I am.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:52]:
So you know how we are.
Greg Buckley [00:15:53]:
What date?
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:53]:
January 3rd. 18th. Yeah. So grandma's the 15th.
Greg Buckley [00:15:57]:
Okay. Oh, man.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:59]:
Yeah. So Capricorn. Capricorn. And I. She was. As a kid, I thought she was the meanest person in the world and the smartest lady in the world and the richest lady in the world.
Greg Buckley [00:16:08]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:09]:
And I wanted to be like Grandma. So I got to. And I don't know if he went to the Institute, think in Florida. But my story is not. It's not a story. My life is. I got to see both sides of the tracks and I decided I want to live over there with grandma over there on them side of the tracks. Because we get to do stuff and she works hard, but we have stuff and it's fun and outside of being a beautician.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:32]:
So anyway, her beauty shop, she had two. She had one in Charlotte. She had one out there in Albemarle. And she served underprivileged in black communities that didn't have, like, a beauty shop or anything like that. So she go up there, like, twice a week, maybe three times a week and work all day. And not only did she do hair, she would sell things like socks and purses and earrings and stuff. Like, she had a little market. She was always hustling.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:59]:
So watching my grandma hustle, and then I could watch the rewards. I remember when she bought. I want to say it was an 89 or 90 Nissan Maxima. And that's when it had the key list entry with the little buttons.
Greg Buckley [00:17:15]:
Okay. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:16]:
And that's the year it starts at. The key is in ignition. It talked to you. And I remember grandma going to buy that car, and she bought it in cash.
Greg Buckley [00:17:24]:
Okay. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:25]:
Wow. And I remember the guy telling her that if you buy this in cash, we have to report you to the IRS. And she said, okay. Anything over $10,000 needs to be reported to IRS. And she was like, okay, so. And I was like, damn. Yes. Grandma said, so what?
Greg Buckley [00:17:43]:
That's right. She said, so What?
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:44]:
Yeah. Sir, Mr. Car Salesman. My grandma said, give her her car. And I just thought it was cool. But it also.
Greg Buckley [00:17:52]:
That's a big impression.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:53]:
So she made a big impression on me.
Greg Buckley [00:17:55]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:55]:
And same thing with dad. You know, he was young. My dad was. I tell people was funny now. I was a high school project. Dad was 18.
Greg Buckley [00:18:04]:
There you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:04]:
Yeah. And so when he bought his shop, I think he was, like, 20, 21 when he first started working.
Greg Buckley [00:18:10]:
I think that's what he said. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:11]:
And just watching him work all the time, watching him work, and I adore him. So if he was out there milking cows, I would be a farmer right now, because I just respected him that much, and I just wanted to be around him. I wanted to be around the greatness. So it's those two. Those two make the biggest impact on me.
Greg Buckley [00:18:32]:
Well, that's. That's a huge impact. Yeah, it's a big impression. And that's the same way that I think most entrepreneurs will look at something. Like, I know for myself, my whole family, they were all in business. You know, there was my grandfather and his six elder brothers, and they were into either booze, they were bookies, they were painters, they were leather tanners, furniture salesmen.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:59]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:18:59]:
They had it all. And one was an accountant. I think that Was Frank the oldest one? Yeah. And so our whole family dinners were bunch of ballers. Oh, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:11]:
But, yeah, my grandmother's brothers and sisters, like her. My uncles. Well, I guess it'd be second uncles and great. Is it great or second? I don't know. But her brothers and sisters. Concrete. Concrete. And like the cousins that are my age, they're still concrete cowboys.
Greg Buckley [00:19:25]:
There you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:26]:
So they get it from their grandparents. Concrete real estate, all the things. Just watching a family full of hustle. Hustlers.
Greg Buckley [00:19:33]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:33]:
And ballers or whatever you want to call it in this day and age. And just as a kid, getting together and going on family vacations and family trips and saying, look, this is my family. We're a bunch of nut jobs. But everybody has their own business. Is.
Greg Buckley [00:19:45]:
And. And I'll tell you what. I know for a fact I couldn't work for anybody. I don't know about you, but I couldn't. I. I mean, all the times my dad fired me and how many times that fired me.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:55]:
I don't know how many times I got fired. I got fired for a T. I got fired so many times.
Greg Buckley [00:19:58]:
I got about 10.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:59]:
He would fire his own daddy.
Greg Buckley [00:20:00]:
Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the funny sign for me was, I'm in the bay, right? And me and my dad, we're butting heads at the time, right? Because like anything else, I'm trying to tell him I'm doing it my way. And he's going, nuh, no, we're still sticking with my way. You got time. But I kept going at him. And so we had a tire dealer down the street, Mickey Dwyer was his name. So Mickey would come up for gas every week because we had gas at the time.
Greg Buckley [00:20:28]:
And so I'm in the bay, and dad comes up to me, hey, hey, son, come on out here. Talk to Mickey, you know. I want you to see Mickey Dwyer. I go, okay, all right, no problem. Put my tools down. And I walk outside, and Dad's grabbing. He says, hey, Mickey, how you doing? Hey, Gino, what's up, buddy? He says, hey, you need a tire guy out here, right? And he goes, yeah, I'm looking. He goes, well, here you go.
Greg Buckley [00:20:51]:
He pushes me off.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:53]:
And he fired you when he got you another job, though.
Greg Buckley [00:20:56]:
And the next day, I'm slinging tires down at the tire.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:59]:
I'll show you better than I can tell you.
Greg Buckley [00:21:00]:
I didn't. You know. And then one time. One time, he. I was rebuilding my 67 Mustang, right? I had the motor out and had that. It was Racked. And I'm tearing it down. And I, I bought another car and I bought another one.
Greg Buckley [00:21:15]:
All Mustangs. I ran out of money, right? And I got this car sitting on the side of the building and it's sitting there for a little over a month or so. I come into work one day, it's gone. He goes, I said, where's my car? Where's my car? You know? And he goes, I had a toad. He goes, you ran out of William
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:35]:
Brown stuff right there.
Greg Buckley [00:21:36]:
He said it, he had a toad. And he goes, you ran out of money. You don't have nothing. I don't want nothing sitting on my lot.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:44]:
And you said, okay, I couldn't do nothing. What could you do?
Greg Buckley [00:21:46]:
He wouldn't even tell me where he had it towed away from.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:49]:
To this day, you don't know what happened to the car.
Greg Buckley [00:21:50]:
You know, I mean. And I said, okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:52]:
You never did that again though, did you?
Greg Buckley [00:21:53]:
Ever again.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:54]:
Every time daddy would punish me, like any kind of punishment I got, I never forgot it.
Greg Buckley [00:21:59]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:59]:
I mean, it would just be like, dang, okay. I will never forget that lesson next. I'm so sorry. Yeah, but you can't do that. You can, you can do that. When people say you can't do that,
Greg Buckley [00:22:10]:
you can, you can, you can. Yes, you can.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:12]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:22:12]:
I mean, and, and you, it made me realize, hey look, you know, you can't go out spending more than what you got, you know, it's. You got all these cars around you, Greg. And you know, and I loved Mustangs. I still do.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:23]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:22:24]:
And I had had a 67 I was rebuilding and I picked up a 64 and a half convertible from down the air base. And then I had a 65 and a 68 fastback and hard headed. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and it was crazy. It was crazy. And then, you know, we had, at one time we had five locations, all gas stations.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:45]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:22:45]:
Right. And we just mismanaged. We just didn't know how to manage at that time. But I was running a shop. It was a 24 hour shop on a main highway in Newcastle. And so I'd have pulled a 24 hour shift every once in a while. And I wouldn't say no. You know, I kept up with the grind.
Greg Buckley [00:23:05]:
But that's the kind of stuff that, you know, I look back on it and the lessons I learned from not just him. But I think we're fortunate that our families were all in business. We have so many lessons and I know that I can look at some of my good Friends that had the nine to fives and they may have made out okay, but they certainly didn't have the life that we had.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:29]:
Not happy, not fulfilling.
Greg Buckley [00:23:31]:
No, not fulfilling.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:32]:
Always. It, I mean, somebody else's. You can be fired in a moment.
Greg Buckley [00:23:35]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:36]:
Yeah. So my cousins called me. Like, I think I was on a flight here. He was like. Cause I just finished listening to your podcast. He's like, you motivate me all the time. Like, yeah, I'm glad because I'm so glad. We're just.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:50]:
I got a wonderful family. My dad's side of the family. They're all nut jobs and they're. But they all work so hard. You can all. You can look up to them. It's real people.
Greg Buckley [00:23:59]:
It's real people.
Tonnika Haynes [00:23:59]:
It's just real people doing real people stuff. Yeah. And then like I say, you know how many times daddy fired me? Or at the Last two, the three years we worked together, his name was Mr. Brown. I would cartoon kill him every day like an anvil. Just sit there and look at him like, okay, dad, okay. Well, it got to the point that he didn't like the job anymore. I don't think he was happy with the shop because we grew from, I don't know, I would say thousand square feet to 25,000, but that was part of his dream.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:31]:
But he really liked the art of fixing a car. Yeah, he loved. He loved the. He's an artist by heart. And so the customers and the bills and the complaints, because he grew more money, more problems, I don't think he enjoyed it as much. And then I was ready to implement processes because I had went to school for business. He was a auto body man that opened a business and by God, was very successful. And I wanted to change things.
Tonnika Haynes [00:24:55]:
And he was like, can't do that, can't do that, can't do that. Because even after he retired and I started running the service department because he decided to rent out the body shop. Well, I would make changes. And he said, that's not. You wouldn't. I wouldn't do that if I were you. Well, I learned otherwise, dad. And so when I would tell people no, when I start firing customers and I started to limit, there's no walk ins, no waiters.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:18]:
We're not doing this, we're not doing that. Well, limiting waiters because it was. We're on the highway and we would get people that would stop, I need air, I need air, I need air. And it's not the people that you could turn into a customer.
Greg Buckley [00:25:31]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:31]:
It Would be a nastiness about it. And so I had to self correct that. Like, hey, this is not. This is like three gas stations you pass to get here. And I can't have him drop everything right now because at the time, I probably had a check and a half to do this. I can help you, but hold your horses.
Greg Buckley [00:25:50]:
Yeah, right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:25:51]:
Like, there's customer service, and I love servicing a customer. I love to. I love a thank you, and I love a smile. But what I want. Yeah, we do. I do. And I love a thank you. That's why I will cook for you all day.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:02]:
Just so you can say it was good. That makes me happy. That makes me whole. But when people take advantage and they're just nasty because they think they can be. Because you're just a dirty mechanic and it's just a dirty shop, and all I need is some air. You can take your monkey, but somewhere else with that. Now, if you want me to help you, I'll be glad to help you. And yes, we do have to write this up, because if I touch your car, I'm liable for whatever I do to it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:23]:
I just want air. Well, you're just gonna go to the gas station because I'm gonna check and I'm gonna see if there's anything in your tire. We're gonna do it, right? Yeah, Well, I don't want that. Well, you don't want to be here. And with a smile, of course. And trying to control my customers, Trying to make sure I was attracting the clients that I wanted and not saying yes to everything that threw daddy off. So you're not gonna. You're not gonna be able to do that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:43]:
I am.
Greg Buckley [00:26:44]:
Yeah, you are. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:45]:
Well, I did. I done it. I did it.
Greg Buckley [00:26:46]:
That's the hardest part.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:46]:
He respects it now.
Greg Buckley [00:26:47]:
That's the hardest part of when, you know, there's a transfer of ownership from one family member. You know, it's rough. You know, I. I mean, the lesson I saw from my own dad. And, you know, again, I talk about it, but in 2006, right, we were. We were moving to the current location from the. From his original. And he kept saying, I want 40 years.
Greg Buckley [00:27:16]:
I want 40 years here. I gotta have 40 years. So we stayed until his 40th anniversary at that shop, but it cost us because the person that we ended up getting the building from, the place we're at now, when I called him, because my attorney, There's a whole fiasco. So we're having issues with the oil company, right? We gotta leave. They're jacking up prices. It's a whole crap show.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:45]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:27:47]:
So my attorney goes, find anybody who has a service bay that you can jump into. First person we wrote to was Mr. Sheldon. And sure enough, he says, where you been?
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:00]:
Been waiting for you.
Greg Buckley [00:28:01]:
He's been waiting for us since 1999.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:04]:
Ooh, this is a lot about you guys.
Greg Buckley [00:28:06]:
Yeah. And he knew about. He was a transmission rebuilder, and he had bought this place, but he. He was retiring. So when we found that out, it was easy. But dad didn't want to go. He refused to leave. And it got to the point where I had to tell him, dad, you can't be here by yourself.
Greg Buckley [00:28:26]:
You know, he was 60. 66, right? 2006. 66, I think that's right. Yeah. And you can't just be a cashier at this place. There's not enough money for you to pay the rent. If we leave, you know, the rent from us goes away. How are you going to meet the bill? They're jacking your rent up.
Greg Buckley [00:28:48]:
You're not meeting the volume. You know, that whole game. And finally he came around and he goes, okay. But we made it to his 40th year. But after that, we were out.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:58]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:28:58]:
You know, and that was tough on him. That was really tough.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:01]:
That is sad to listen to, because that. I mean, that's how many years of his. 40 years of his life.
Greg Buckley [00:29:08]:
40 years. Yeah. Of him.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:10]:
And you got to close that door one more time.
Greg Buckley [00:29:12]:
Yeah. And so we kept everything we could. We kept. They used to have a placard over the name of. Ceramic placard. And in fact, I still have that, I believe. Yeah, it's still there. Well, I have it now.
Greg Buckley [00:29:25]:
Eugene G. Buckley, proprietor.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:27]:
That's old school right there.
Greg Buckley [00:29:29]:
Oh, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:29]:
Yes.
Greg Buckley [00:29:30]:
Oh, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:30]:
I love it.
Greg Buckley [00:29:31]:
Yeah. And I still have it. And so we're coming up on our 60th this year. This is our 60th year, July 7th, I think. So we're trying to get a little celebration about that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:41]:
That should be a big party.
Greg Buckley [00:29:42]:
I hope to. Because we used to do a lot of cool stuff, and that's what I miss. I miss. I mean, we would have. I mean, dad and I, we built the crown of the Statue of Liberty for July 4th over top of the building on PVC.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:01]:
Okay.
Greg Buckley [00:30:02]:
And it had lit. It was lit. We had jazz bands come in.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:07]:
You got to do something, because USA is turning 200. 250, right?
Greg Buckley [00:30:11]:
250.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:12]:
Yeah. That's. That's a week's party you should be having.
Greg Buckley [00:30:14]:
Oh, it should. It's got to be. I mean, I'm trying to find uniforms right now and shirts for. With red, white, and blue and 60 on it right now from a couple of vendors. But, yeah, we. We had the band. I dressed as Keystone Cops. We had walking Statue of Liberty.
Greg Buckley [00:30:30]:
Dad was in a straw hat. And then, oh, my God, the things we used to do. You talk about hustling. We were friends with a nightclub owner and a promoter. So he had the number one club in the Wilmington area. And dad, at the time, he was selling hot dogs. We had three or four hot dogs. Gene's dogs were all around the city.
Greg Buckley [00:30:53]:
He.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:54]:
Dad don't know how to sit down. He didn't know how to sit down. I love it.
Greg Buckley [00:30:56]:
Oh, no. So plus, being he was into racing and boats and all that. So the promoter comes up, and he goes, hey, G man, I'm doing this big, big beach thing because you want to sell hot dogs like Coney Island. And dad goes, yeah. So here we are. We're piling tons of sand. We're building a beach inside this disco, right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:21]:
Oh, he was having a beach party in the club, inside the club. Oh, my goodness. I thought he was going to the beach.
Greg Buckley [00:31:25]:
Oh, okay. So we had the hot dog carts. We had us dressed up as beach, like lifeguards. And we're in there slinging dogs in the middle of this club. And it was so good.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:39]:
Dogs and liquor. Hot dogs and alcohol.
Greg Buckley [00:31:42]:
I mean, that's the kind of stuff we used to do. And he.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:44]:
You can still do it.
Greg Buckley [00:31:45]:
You talk a lot about your grandmom, right? And how she hustled. This is what we. We live this life, you know? And it. It started when he was in Pennsylvania, because I was originally born in pa. And so we lived with my grandmom, and my grandmom would take in. We call them strays, but they were kids who didn't have a home, right? So the first five years of my life, I mean, it was kind of like a revolving door. They were characters, thank goodness. They were all good people.
Greg Buckley [00:32:20]:
Nothing really happened, but we had this flavor going through this whole house. And my mom. My. My mom Gertie. Dirty Gertie, I called her. Oh, dirty, dirty, dirty girl. She hated me when I said that, but I said, come on, my mom, you know I love you, and she gave me that smile. And she was from Chincoteague, Virginia, and it was always chicken and dumplings.
Greg Buckley [00:32:46]:
And what was her Sunday dinner? Yeah, chicken dumplings, beans, and my grandfather made navy soup. But we would have all the people in there. And then she had a pool.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:58]:
Everybody was at your house, at dirty
Greg Buckley [00:33:00]:
girl's house, Dirty Gertie's house. Old dirty Gertie. And she was a character. And yeah, it was that shadow. We grew up for five years, then we moved down to Delaware and we had originally apartment. Then we moved into album Park. Just some crazy stuff, you know, the things I've done. I don't know, man.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:23]:
It's a whole full life.
Greg Buckley [00:33:25]:
It's. It's a really full life.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:27]:
Really full life.
Greg Buckley [00:33:28]:
Yeah, I mean it's been. It's been good. And I think like we talked about all of these elements that we experience has made us not only who we are, but how we are leading and what we see in others. I mean, my experience, I'm not the hard ass leader because I know, I know that you know what it felt like. Yeah, I know. The best to get out of people is to work with them, lead them, you know, take their best skills.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:56]:
Yeah, I know you good at this. It's not. Hey, can you give me five more words at next week's.
Greg Buckley [00:34:03]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:03]:
Staff meeting? Just. I know you don't want to talk.
Greg Buckley [00:34:05]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:06]:
Or do you have everything that you need to do your job right? And I don't know if that's just a snack or if that's a tool. What is it that you need for me to do your job better?
Greg Buckley [00:34:15]:
That's. Well, we have to ask that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:17]:
Yeah, right. Because I don't know. Because I had to take. He's like, you know what I need? I need one more of these jacks. I said, okay, what else do you need? The newest guy. I'm diabetic. There's no diabetic snacks in there. I should know better.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:28]:
I'm diabetic. Make sure I got some diabetic friendly snacks.
Greg Buckley [00:34:32]:
There you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:32]:
And that little simple thing. Let him know I'm listening to him and I'm going to do what I said I'm going to do. And sometimes I do forget. Like you as a father, you told that kid, yeah, I'm going to buy you those skates.
Greg Buckley [00:34:45]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:45]:
And you did not buy the skates because you just did. Were bad. You just. I forgot. So every Monday or whenever we do a meeting, is there anything you need from me? What am I missing? What is it that I can't see? What have I grown nose blind to here in a shop? Help me help you make your job easier. Because without you, I can't do it.
Greg Buckley [00:35:02]:
I can't do it. You're right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:04]:
You can. Your toolbox has wheels and that works both ways. My toolbox has wheels. Like, yeah, their toolbox has wheels. So we don't want them to use it, do we?
Greg Buckley [00:35:11]:
Correct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:12]:
Let's see if we can keep them parked.
Greg Buckley [00:35:13]:
And that's what we were talking about on the panel today, where they were, you know, where they said, look, it ain't all about the money.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:18]:
I had a tech tell me that early, early on. Yeah, he said, it's not always about the money. And I was like, really did not start looking at things differently because I, I've.
Greg Buckley [00:35:28]:
I mean, we've all had them, but we have, I mean, I have a tech with me that will, will go to 40 hours, but he won't strive for 45, 50, 60. But he's a good solid tech. Yeah, he likes to go home, cut his grass, manicure. Meticulous.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:46]:
Oh, yeah, you know.
Greg Buckley [00:35:47]:
Yeah, that's my nephew.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:49]:
Okay. You know, because money doesn't drive him.
Greg Buckley [00:35:52]:
Doesn't drive.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:52]:
He's got to make sure I pay the bills and I can eat and then I want to see the lines in my grass and I need to go fishing.
Greg Buckley [00:35:57]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:58]:
So now my newest guy, we're on a four day work week. He said he's been in maybe six, I don't know how long he's been there. He says, I didn't know what to do with myself on Fridays. And I said, go fishing. He said, I can go. You can go fishing? Yeah, you can go, you can go any. You can go to the park and walk, you can sleep all day, whatever. You want to go get another job.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:15]:
You have the freedom to live. And not just work to live. You work to pay bills. You're actually working to live.
Greg Buckley [00:36:22]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:23]:
Because we are told that you have to work, go to school, get a good job, pay bills, you retire and then you die.
Greg Buckley [00:36:32]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:33]:
Like, I don't want to be 50, 55, 60, saying, I wish I would have done this. I'm going to say, I did that and it was fun, or I did that and I will not do that again. And people say, why were you in Montana? Why were you not in Montana?
Greg Buckley [00:36:49]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:49]:
It was beautiful.
Greg Buckley [00:36:50]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:51]:
And I, when Ken told me, you want to go? Yes, I booked my flight.
Greg Buckley [00:36:54]:
That's a bucket list for me, by the way.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:55]:
I was like, yeah, it is beautiful.
Greg Buckley [00:36:56]:
I know.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:57]:
So beautiful. There's so much to see in this country. There's so much to do in life. You can't wait till you're 65, 70. No, just start Living. You live every day. Every single day.
Greg Buckley [00:37:08]:
Yep. You got to do it every single day for sure. But the thing is, how do we, how do we instill that into our team members? I mean, they got a lot of. I mean, let's face it. Yes. I think life may be a little bit more difficult for them nowadays. Maybe it's not as it's more complicated than what we might have had, but still, you know, when we look at them like, I got a young man who is a GM master tech world class technician. His thing was, he says, can I get off early? One of the things he goes, all I want is to get off early on Tuesday so I can pick up my daughter.
Greg Buckley [00:37:49]:
You know, they were divorced and all that. And he's trying to rebuild his relationship with the daughter. I go, absolutely. I said, that's no problem. But then he came up and I always check on him. How you doing? How you doing, man? Are you okay? What's going on? And then he's slowly coming out of his.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:07]:
The shield.
Greg Buckley [00:38:08]:
Yeah. And he says, man, I'm having a tough time. I don't know what to do on Saturdays. You know, I go, you know what he was telling me? He's kind of like, you know, I don't have too many friends. And I said, man, meeting people is rough these days and all that. And I kept thinking, I said, what could I put this young man into? Where could I show him or direct him to go? And I know we could think about it, but what about all of our other team members? How do we kind of make them look through a different lens and, you know, do that?
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:46]:
Well, people don't go outside anymore because they just follow everybody on social media.
Greg Buckley [00:38:52]:
True.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:52]:
People don't pick up the phone and call each other anymore. They just check on you via your Facebook status. And so I think this generation grew up with that. And there's a really big disconnection and how to fix that, I don't know. They're going to have to learn to unplug. Like, I don't know how old this young man is, but what do you love? What have you tried? Like, one thing that my grandmother always said is teach a man to fish. It's not the whole thing. He'll eat for a day or all of that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:24]:
He'll never get in trouble. He'll always have somewhere to go. Doesn't have a hobby. Everybody's hobby is on their cell phone. Everybody's hobby is connected to WI Fi. I know I did a lipstick report one day and I Was like, do you even enjoy your mortgage? Just go sit on the back porch. Yeah, like sometimes people are so busy doing so many things that they're not doing anything. Maybe he needs to learn how to rip some lips, go fishing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:52]:
Maybe he can start bowling. But he also needs to realize, and this is something that I realized early on, and I attribute that to Asta. Your friends do not have to look like you. So none of my friends look like me anymore. Very few look like me anymore. Like, Jordan is hilarious. I don't know if you met Jordan.
Greg Buckley [00:40:09]:
I don't think I did.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:10]:
Jordan. Jordan is hilarious. And I remember he was much younger and he said, mom, all your friends are all white men. I was like, they are. Because that's who I bond with in the industry. And they have knowledge and I want. And they're funny. And then, you know, and Santana went out with me to Josh's thing at Benji's house.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:30]:
And he's like, these people just really know. These are really your friends. I was like, yeah, I know. Cause he's like, well, where are we gonna stay? We staying at Benji's house. You don't stay at nobody's house. This is Benji's house. And he walked away. And I remember he just made some connections.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:47]:
And this is a 22 year old young black man. And he had to leave to go to work. So he had to leave early on Saturday. And he texts me back and this is what he says. He said, hey, that tall man, I didn't get to say bye to him. It's the one that was talking, and he was talking about Jim Kokonis. Oh, he fell in love with Jim Konkonis some kind of way.
Greg Buckley [00:41:08]:
Did he?
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:09]:
Yes. He had so much. He's like, I really enjoyed listening to him. I'd like to meet him again. And I'm thinking, but that's a connection that he wouldn't have made otherwise. So sometimes we'll let race and sex and status and financial status get in the way of a true, pure friendship.
Greg Buckley [00:41:28]:
Sure it does.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:30]:
So there's things for us to do that don't cost money. There's things to do outside of work. But I think social media and the Internet really messed up the connection between humans.
Greg Buckley [00:41:40]:
It did. And I don't know how to escape it. It's tough anymore to put the phone down or forget about it. I know that a few people that I know have completely. That they're not even on it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:52]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:41:53]:
You know, and they. They carry a flip phone. And that's it. Yeah, that's all.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:57]:
Sometimes you have to unplug. I tell you what. I met Chrissy Falco, rich wife at Women in Auto Care in. Where were we? Fort Worth. We probably hang out all the time. She literally lives 20 minutes from me. Never knew it.
Greg Buckley [00:42:14]:
Really.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:15]:
We've been to lunch. It's the best. We've got the same flipping birthday. Our birthdays are the same.
Greg Buckley [00:42:20]:
Really.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:21]:
And, yeah, we've had lunch twice here. It's the best. It is the best. I love that woman. And I would have never talked to her 10, 15 years ago.
Greg Buckley [00:42:30]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:31]:
Because what do. I don't know. Anything. I don't know her friends.
Greg Buckley [00:42:34]:
Do your friends, like. Okay, you're talking about expanding your circle.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:39]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:42:39]:
Okay. Do you find that your friends kind of stay more cloistered?
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:45]:
I lost a lot of friends.
Greg Buckley [00:42:46]:
Yeah. Yeah, same here.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:49]:
Yep. That's a hard one.
Greg Buckley [00:42:55]:
It's. It can be tough.
Tonnika Haynes [00:42:58]:
Yep.
Greg Buckley [00:42:59]:
Yeah. I mean.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:00]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:43:01]:
Now I. I know that now you're tearing up. Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:05]:
Well, I lost a lot of people
Greg Buckley [00:43:06]:
that I thought were friends that were friends. I see. Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:09]:
So. But Kim Walker would laugh at this. She said I don't have enough testosterone in my body. I will cry over anything, but nobody's been replaced.
Greg Buckley [00:43:18]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:20]:
The whole thing that you check on people via social media.
Greg Buckley [00:43:23]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:24]:
I like to show up for people. And I might show up too much because the Capricorn in me wants to think. But they didn't show up for me.
Greg Buckley [00:43:32]:
A shame. Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:34]:
But I have to give grace and forgive because maybe they didn't know how to show up for me. And I also don't know how to tell them that you didn't show up for me.
Greg Buckley [00:43:46]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:47]:
So they haven't been removed.
Greg Buckley [00:43:50]:
But they're. But they're like, here.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:52]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:43:53]:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. At some point, they may come back around.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:56]:
Some point they may come back around. And I'd be open to that. But I know I can't chase it because I have so many other people around me that are helping to fill my cup.
Greg Buckley [00:44:06]:
That's. There you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:07]:
And I've been invited into rooms that I thought I'd never be invited into. And I've made some great connections right here in the industry, right at the shop. Customers that turn into a friend.
Greg Buckley [00:44:20]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:20]:
Other shop owners. Man, woman, the wife of the shop owner. Just getting together just to cackle and have a drink here at an expo or whatever and not even talk business. Just talk about. Just stuff.
Greg Buckley [00:44:32]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:32]:
Because we all have so much in common. And. Yeah. Hands. The color your hands and feet will really keep you away from people that you are just alike.
Greg Buckley [00:44:43]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:43]:
So I'm glad I'm so. I've never been closed to stuff like that. I think some people are.
Greg Buckley [00:44:49]:
I think we need to. Yeah, we need to have. We need to be open enough to. To. To be attracted by other people or. Or another circle or get involved. Like, we're not afraid to enter, as you say.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:03]:
No, that's. I am. I really think entering the room is very important. And I was telling somebody right before, the only time that I was told that I couldn't enter the room was by the spirit that was sitting on my shoulder.
Greg Buckley [00:45:20]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:20]:
Nobody has ever said, tanika, you do not belong in this convention center or you are female shop owner and you don't know what you're. Nobody's ever said that. Only.
Greg Buckley [00:45:33]:
Only. Spirit on your shoulder.
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:34]:
The spirit on my shoulder, yeah. And then I would just.
Greg Buckley [00:45:38]:
You flicked it away,
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:41]:
and then I'll just go in the room. But I was telling the person, you know, we did a thing for Tech Metric, a couple. He's like, you know, what do you do now? Like, I want to know what you do now. What do you do now? So now I feel like I laugh and I say, automotive auntie, because there's a lot of youth walking around here now. It is so marvelous. And I get excited, and this is where social media is good. They come up to me and they're like, oh, Ms. Tanika, I wanted to meet you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:10]:
I'm just like, why? Why do you want to meet me? And I said, I decided that, okay, Tanika, your next journey is to be the person that you wish you saw 15, 20 years ago in the industry. You need to become that person for somebody else. Not because you're somebody special. You're some guru. That's not it. Maybe it would have been a little bit easier for me not saying that. It was hard if I saw someone that I could relate to instantly. For example, we've done hunter equipment, and Justin Allen did a women's only alignment class.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:54]:
And I remember having that in one of the women's group that we were doing this for ladies only, and Justin was going to teach it and I was going to be there and a Napa rep. All the women were going to be there. So Kumbaya, sister, right? This lady says, oh, we don't need that. We don't need that. We should be able to go into the room with the men, and we don't need that. I was like, you don't need that. You don't need that. I needed that sometimes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:17]:
Even though my dad raised me very well and I had the confidence that some women don't have at a young age. But sometimes you do doubt yourself. You still doubt yourself. Now every now and again shows up. So if I can be in the room and then my little niece can see me and say, oh, what? Okay, I do belong here, and that's all I do that day. And to God be the glory. But I'm not gonna let her stay there. I'm just like, okay, come on now.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:42]:
Come on across the hall. The big, white, scared men are not gonna get you. Come on. They ain't thinking about you. So that's. That's who I want to be. And that's where I think the industry. That's why I think my job is right now in industry.
Greg Buckley [00:47:54]:
I think you. I think you are absolutely finding a place within the industry. But, like, I. I think I might mention you before I said, I. I personally don't want to see you play the short game, you know, and you got. You got a voice that carries outside of our walls, you know, and you've got a Persona that goes way outside our walls. You do. You can.
Greg Buckley [00:48:21]:
That's what I'm trying to say. I just don't. Don't deny it, you know, but learn to work it for the. For the betterment of somebody else.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:28]:
Yes. You know, I want to make sure I'm doing good.
Greg Buckley [00:48:32]:
You're starting off on a good foot. I mean, you guys, you got. You got a lot going on, and with all of the experiences that we just been talking about, you know, they. They come in handy because you don't want to. You don't want to treat somebody the way you were treated.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:50]:
Right.
Greg Buckley [00:48:50]:
And you always want to make somebody better.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:53]:
Yes.
Greg Buckley [00:48:53]:
Okay. And that's what, you know, us caps are known for.
Tonnika Haynes [00:48:58]:
Yeah. Was in the leadership intensive, the Institute with Michael again, and I remember he said, I need you to, you know, write down your why. And my why has been changing. Kids are grown, shops running. All the things are lining up. What do I do with myself?
Greg Buckley [00:49:22]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:23]:
Don't know what to do with myself,
Greg Buckley [00:49:25]:
but it comes to you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:27]:
It comes to you, but it's been there, and I've been. I've been not listening to it. So Braxton was recording, and Braxton is the young man that does all the editing and stuff for the podcast. And Ms. Tanika, you should do a podcast. Shut up, Braxton. Shut up. I'm not doing that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:44]:
That's stupid. I stutter. I Don't want to do it. Ms. Tanika, you should do a podcast. And I wish. I haven't memorized it. But when he said, write down your new why, it just flowed.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:56]:
And I said, okay. God wants me to do exactly what I just said, and I gotta stop not doing what he told me. My next assignment was when we were in Montana. We were talking, and everybody was saying, you know, what are you struggling with? And we're just talking at the table. The ladies talk at the table after dinner. And I said, I prayed the prayer, Jabez. And I asked God to enlarge my territory and keep me from doing harm. That is not a stingy prayer.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:28]:
Some people think that's a stingy prayer. It's like, no, enlarge my territory, but keep me from doing harm. And I said. And he said, okay, my child. And he came down and said, okay, my child. I will do this, and this is your assignment. And I was like, no, no, that ain't what I meant, Jesus. That's not the territory that I wanted you to enlarge.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:50]:
Sir, is this my blessing? You mean I gotta talk to people and I have to make eye contact because I'm an introvert? I really am. I will have to go to my room and recover from this before I go to a party. Yeah, but it's fine, because my grandma did not go for that. She would say, what's wrong with you? The cat got your tongue? I would be hungry if I wouldn't speak up. I called my dad for the longest.
Greg Buckley [00:51:15]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:15]:
So, yeah, talking and being open, that's not for me. And that's one of the reasons I started doing the Lipstick report, to make myself talk and to listen to my own voice and things like that. And, yeah, so the prayer that I prayed, and God said, okay, okay, my child. I will bless you. And then I told him, that ain't what I meant, sir. And he was like, oh, you don't get to tell me what to do. I'm your daddy. And I was like, God, Jesus, is this how this works? Yes, it is.
Greg Buckley [00:51:46]:
Must have been.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:48]:
I called him by his whole name, Jesus Antonio Christ.
Greg Buckley [00:51:51]:
Listen, there you go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:52]:
And. But be careful what you ask for. Yeah, but I love it, and I hope great things come from it. And if only I reach seven people and make a difference in seven. Seven.
Greg Buckley [00:52:03]:
You know what? You made a couple points the other day about just that. Yeah, right. I'm not worried about who's listening. Whatever. You are your audience. You're your fan. You're your fan. Right.
Greg Buckley [00:52:15]:
And that's who you worry about. It doesn't matter what the numbers are. It's a matter of, did you put out a good product? Did you put your voice out there? Did you make people feel something different? And when they come back to you and go, man, Tanika, I mean, you hit me over the head. That was great.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:31]:
I get them in the direct messages from people that are not even friends. Like, I got two last night, and it was like, what's this? Are you stalking me? But it makes me really feel good. But that's not why I'm doing it. I'm not doing it for the likes, and then for my little serotonin, whatever stuff in your brain.
Greg Buckley [00:52:47]:
It's not ego.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:48]:
Yeah, it's not ego.
Greg Buckley [00:52:48]:
No, it's not ego.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:49]:
But if somebody can hear me and, like, yesterday, the lipstick reports, like, eat some chewing gum. Your breath stink. Maybe somebody forgot that. Did you see that one?
Greg Buckley [00:52:57]:
I was afraid to come in my Mentos. I was gonna say, if I can
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:00]:
make you laugh real quick and you're having a bad day, then good. Cause I'm trying to make myself laugh, too.
Greg Buckley [00:53:05]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:06]:
But I prayed that prayer, and it seems like that's what Jesus Antonio Christ wants me to do. And I will do that. I will be kicking and screaming and cussing the whole time, because he knows that I say words, but I'm working on it. And so that's why I was like, okay, let me go to these conventions.
Greg Buckley [00:53:23]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:24]:
Because this. This time, I met a couple young ladies. Like one lady that worked for Tech Metric. She was just adorable. And then Gabby, that works for Kukui, was. I like nieces. Everybody, come here. Look at all the young people.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:37]:
And it's great. It's great.
Greg Buckley [00:53:40]:
And that's. That's who you reach.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:41]:
You're going to be Auntie Automotive Auntie. It is too funny that you know that. What's his name? Richard Check engine. Chuck calls me tt.
Greg Buckley [00:53:49]:
TT yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:53:50]:
There you go. I mean, I like it. That's part of my new why am I crusade. What do you want to do? You're doing charity work?
Greg Buckley [00:53:58]:
Yeah, I'm doing. Yeah. Got soup radio going on. Shop soup. We're building it up little by little.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:05]:
I'm on DJ one time. I'm gonna.
Greg Buckley [00:54:07]:
Do you know what? I've. I've. The invitation's there. We're going to get that together. I've got all kinds of things planned out, but it's a slow roll, a little bit slower roll than I would have liked, but it's getting there and I'm putting the pieces together. So this whole kind of like network that I want to build is going to be right on point.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:27]:
If you build it, they will come.
Greg Buckley [00:54:29]:
But we got. I got some good things. And the 302 side where I'm interviewing all of the local, the Delawarean groups and the YMCA and, and oh gosh, Special Olympics. I'm learning, I'm learning how to interview properly, you know, I hired a coach, a podcasting coach.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:51]:
Oh, cool.
Greg Buckley [00:54:52]:
Clint Ravenscraft. Great guy. I had followed him decades ago when he first started.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:56]:
There's a podcasting coach?
Greg Buckley [00:54:58]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:54:59]:
Wow.
Greg Buckley [00:54:59]:
Yeah. And he's one of the OGs, like the original podcasters. And he started off on the floor of his room. He was selling insurance and he decided just to whip out the laptop, an old beat up thing, and he has pictures of it. And then he grew into this voice, you know, but he's really solid with his information and his style. And I had been involved with a lot of info marketing groups, you know, and that's helped me learn marketing for the shop, you know, I mean, really well rounded from YouTube to podcasting now and all of that. So I got a hold of Cliff and he had come back online, he took a break and he's called the pot was the podcaster Podcasting answer man.
Tonnika Haynes [00:55:47]:
You've got to send me a link or something.
Greg Buckley [00:55:49]:
Yeah, I will. Yeah, I will. And he's a great guy. Him and I, we. I mean, I had him for about three or four months of coaching and he just refreshed everything for me. So now I know what direction I'm gonna go to. And we had this funniest conversation. Cause I said, I said, cliff, I said, I'm having a problem, man.
Greg Buckley [00:56:10]:
I said, right now I really hate my industry for, you know, just everything was going on, so much going on. Drama, anger, all that stuff. And he came to me and he goes, hey, Greg, you know how long I've been doing this? He goes, you know what? I hate the podcasting industry. And I go, what? I'm like shocked. I'm like. But he goes, it's all a money grab because all the people doing this, doing that. And he goes, I know that they have to make money, but it's not the right content. Everybody's doing this or doing that and they're all talking, you got to do video.
Greg Buckley [00:56:43]:
And he's saying, you don't have to do video. So we're going back and forth on strategy and all this stuff. But we had a really honest Conversation. And I've got it, I've got it available to record, to put it out there, you know, because we had links that were sent or that whatever fathom they take notes on. Okay. So I got the video and the content for him. But he's a very good grounded person, him and his wife and they've got all. We just have good talks over style content.
Greg Buckley [00:57:20]:
And he was always like, why, why? What are you doing? What are you doing? And I go, well, I want to go here. No you don't. Yeah, so I mean I'm learning a whole new thing because this will be a career move for me. I really have enjoyed my time with technology. I mean I've been making movies and being on video since I was 12.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:42]:
Really?
Greg Buckley [00:57:42]:
Yeah, I mean I got the old time splice out and cut and splice, edit and do all of that.
Tonnika Haynes [00:57:49]:
So you get to do full circle and do what you really, really, really want to do. Producing, editing.
Greg Buckley [00:57:54]:
I had, I had all the ld. I was the videographer for everything and everybody. And even with this non profit, I'm the videographer. And I was at 4 o' clock this morning editing video that, that goes on, that goes on the, the TVs, the monitors tomorrow night.
Tonnika Haynes [00:58:15]:
Oh really?
Greg Buckley [00:58:16]:
The, the director, he calls me up, he goes, hey, can I add some more slides? And I, and I told him, I said, franny, I'm going away. I go, I can't. I don't know what condition I'm going to be in. Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:58:26]:
So you know, you're messing up my drinking time.
Greg Buckley [00:58:28]:
Yeah, he was too. So he said, come on, can't you do it? I go, okay. So I got it done, you know, and I enjoy it. You know why? Because it just feeds him your imagination and, and that's, it's healthy. And then I can go back and I can relate to technology and understand the digital side and bring everything in. But you know, overall that's what Uncle Buck's doing. And I'll still be the shop owner and be the dad and be the guiding whatever for some people. But we're doing, it's fun.
Greg Buckley [00:59:05]:
The most important part is I gotta find my groove again. This is what it comes down to. That's what mattering is about. Finding who you are, where you're at and get back on it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:17]:
Get back on it.
Greg Buckley [00:59:18]:
Get back on it, man, and have fun. You know, we're only here for so long a season. Yeah. And so for most guys it's like, well, how am I going to go out? What do I Want to go out? Like, do I want to just wimp out, or do I want to go out like a shooting star?
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:34]:
Guns are blazing.
Greg Buckley [00:59:35]:
Yeah. I want to go out like a shooting star.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:37]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:59:37]:
You know, blaze, you know, beautiful. That's it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:41]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [00:59:42]:
You know, and so when I'm done, I'm done. But until then, I'm gonna keep trying to do something, whatever. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:51]:
I love it.
Greg Buckley [00:59:52]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:52]:
Yeah. So just keep on keeping on.
Greg Buckley [00:59:54]:
Yeah. Yeah. It's. It's all good.
Tonnika Haynes [00:59:56]:
Well, we got to get out here because Mike's gonna get us. Sunil's kicking us out at 6. Oh, pack it up. Are you going to tools?
Greg Buckley [01:00:02]:
Oh, yeah, I'll be at. Yeah, I got the whole crew from Millsburg coming up. Yeah, I'll be up there.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:06]:
Cool.
Greg Buckley [01:00:06]:
Yeah. You know, checking things out.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:08]:
Checking things out. Well, don't get too far into everything else. That we miss you in this world. Oh, you've got so much to contribute still.
Greg Buckley [01:00:18]:
Well, I appreciate what the industry's done for me and. And everything I can give back to it. I'm more than happy to. I. I just want to be. I just want to talk common sense and give you real world stuff.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:32]:
Yes.
Greg Buckley [01:00:33]:
You know, if. If I hurt, I'll tell you. I hurt.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:35]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:00:35]:
If I tell, I'm you. To riding high and riding high. I'll tell you all my warts. I don't care. You can learn anything about me you want.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:43]:
Yep.
Greg Buckley [01:00:43]:
I don't care.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:44]:
No KPI talk. None of that stuff. Just real stuff.
Greg Buckley [01:00:47]:
No.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:47]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:00:48]:
Tell you my music, my history, what I've done. Done some stupid stuff.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:52]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:00:52]:
You know, it was fun, though. It was fun. God, it was fun.
Tonnika Haynes [01:00:57]:
I'm still here. I don't know how.
Greg Buckley [01:00:59]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:00]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:01:00]:
And, you know, I just. I don't know, Tanika, I've had a really great life.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:06]:
Good.
Greg Buckley [01:01:07]:
And it's still a great life.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:09]:
It's still a great life.
Greg Buckley [01:01:10]:
Still a great life. I got a great family. Got a really, really, really great wife who's honest as a day as long. Can't stand how honest she is. Tears me up.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:22]:
But if she wasn't, you'd probably have an ego like this. She'd be like, oh, honey, please sit down. She will reel you.
Greg Buckley [01:01:28]:
But back in, she takes me down. In a heartbeat. In a heartbeat. And I'm going, what? Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:36]:
You know, hey, you rather hear from her than the outsides?
Greg Buckley [01:01:39]:
Oh, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [01:01:39]:
It's just like, why didn't you tell me I have a booger in my nose? She's the One that's like, hey, yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:01:45]:
But then, you know, like, today, like, I forgot some stuff that I'm. That I. I packed my. My own son. I normally do, but I called her up. I go, I forgot my socks. I forgot my pair of shoes. I said.
Greg Buckley [01:01:57]:
I go, honey, I said, how come you're not here? And she said, she's. Huh.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:01]:
Exactly. I told you.
Greg Buckley [01:02:05]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:05]:
I love it. I love it. That's good. Well, then I'll see you in a couple weeks.
Greg Buckley [01:02:09]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:09]:
Pennsylvania.
Greg Buckley [01:02:10]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:11]:
And I really enjoyed sitting down, talking to you.
Greg Buckley [01:02:13]:
I love this. I love. Good love just getting real, you know, and sharing what we've been through. And that one. You're a Capricorn.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:20]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:02:20]:
God, that's even better. Yes.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:23]:
Yes.
Greg Buckley [01:02:23]:
You know, not too many of us kind of want to chirp about ourselves a little bit, but.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:28]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:02:29]:
You know, because we can be some mean people.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:30]:
Oh, yeah. I choose to be the nicer Kevin. I can be mean, though.
Greg Buckley [01:02:34]:
Oh, my. My sister, she's a Leo. And she knows. She goes, I know when I get on your wrong side because you just come in and you go like that. It's. You take action.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:47]:
I can cut my eyes at somebody like, nobody's miss, like, huh? We're not doing that today.
Greg Buckley [01:02:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. They reach a point.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:53]:
Yeah.
Greg Buckley [01:02:54]:
And after that, Done.
Tonnika Haynes [01:02:56]:
Done.
Greg Buckley [01:02:56]:
Yeah. So. Well, it's a great time. I really appreciate you having me on.
Tonnika Haynes [01:03:00]:
Absolutely. We're gonna do it again.
Greg Buckley [01:03:01]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [01:03:02]:
Do it again.
Greg Buckley [01:03:02]:
Yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [01:03:03]:
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.