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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]:
My name is Jimmy Purdy, shop owner, master tech, transmission builder, and the host of the Gearbox podcast. Here I talk with new and seasoned shop owners, as well as industry professionals about day to day operations within their own shops and all the failures and successes that come along the way, from what grinds your gears to having to shift gears in the automotive industry. This is the Gearbox podcast.
Dailey Kelley [00:00:38]:
Hiring techs call December man works as a dealer.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:44]:
Now'd you put them on, too, all the stickers and make sure you put.
Dailey Kelley [00:00:48]:
I didn't put them on. Yeah, well, I mean, it wouldn't hurt, you know, but, I mean, I've had people come in and apply and so on and so forth, but, I mean, you know as well as I do, you can sniff the bullshit out in a week. I mean, either you got it or you don't. If you don't got it, I mean, really, I don't really have much use for you. With the amount of, you know, workflow in which I have. I need someone to control day in, day out, get jobs done. I mean, I can diagnose everything, quote the repairs. I really need a great r and r guy that's efficient before I can break it down.
Dailey Kelley [00:01:37]:
And, you know, if it's a transmission that needs to be rebuilt, which I'm about to phase out, and that's just too time consuming, I do offer it. I can do it, but, I mean.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:52]:
The pay is just not there, man. It's. It's you. There's so much more work you can do in that time period that pays so much more than to spend 8 hours on a bench dealing with that. You know what I mean? And, like, you need to replace the cooler or you need to flush the cooler, and if you don't do it right, there's a potential for a comeback. It needs to come out 100 miles to check. They don't come back in 500, there's another chance for a comeback. They go toe with it in the first five.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:18]:
There's another. There's like, all these different things. And I'm not trying to say that you can always point the finger at the client, like, when something goes wrong, but, you know, if you've been through transmissions, man, they fail, right? Like, things happen in that 1st 10,000 miles just for whatever reason, right? And sometimes it's the fault of the builder. Oh, I missed that, right? Like, I missed the critical leak inside that caused the first failure. Cause once you get inside of it, it's like. It's like it just went through a barbecue, you know, you're like, I don't know what happened here. And most of the time you can catch. You can catch what, you know, what valve wore out or whatever, and you replace it, but sometimes you don't.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:52]:
And then it comes. So then you're in the middle of another build and this thing comes back to your door and they're hot to trot, right? Like, I don't know what it is about once they spend over five grand, but they're just. People just lose their freaking mind if something happens. You know, they come back collaring and screaming and you're like, just relax. I'll take care of you. Just give me a day. A day? Yeah, I'm in the middle. I feel your pain.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:14]:
I feel your pain, man. It's just. And I've been there, down, down that road. I'm like, I'm at the same. I'm at the same point. Like, I'll do one every, like three months. Like, that's my limit. You know what I mean? It's just not worth it.
Dailey Kelley [00:03:25]:
Which, I mean, I'm by no means perfect. Yes, I've lit the seal or something, you know, on an input shaft or something like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:32]:
Yeah.
Dailey Kelley [00:03:33]:
And, you know, when I test drove it, it was fine. And then all of a sudden it broke loose. You know, something like that happens, and it's unfortunate, especially being a one man shop. And then it comes back, you gotta tear back down. And I did a couple bench bills, and that's a cluster to say the least.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:53]:
Yeah.
Dailey Kelley [00:03:53]:
Like you said, people. People don't have heated flushers. There's no way that they can get all that metal and crap out of without a heated flush or even if it's a complete abomination, it needs to be replaced. But you know as well as I do, those fins expand, you know, under heat transmission operating temperature is like 100, 8200 degrees. If you don't get the fluid that hot, the fins aren't opening up all the way to flush all that crap out of it, to get it completely flush. And then all of a sudden, they put this transmission in and they're like, well, I drove 100 miles and now it doesn't have third gear. I'm like, you know, what the heck?
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:43]:
Well, they don't index the converter or whatever other crazy, crazy things they do when they install them. It's. I. Yeah, the bench builds is a totally different. Nope. And I started doing just standards only. Like, I'll do bench standards, but somehow they figured a screw away to screw that up, too. So I'm like, you know what? No, like, you know what I mean? Like, somehow they get the linkage arms crossed, and then it's bound up and be, you know, when they, you know, you get the two shift collars bound, and now it's stuck, and they're like, you need to come out and look at the dragon.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:12]:
So I got to leave the shop, and, like, it worked. I spun it on the bench, right? Like, it. So I get out there and just tap the linkage with a hammer, unsticks itself, and then everything's fine. It's like, really? I just spent an hour. Like, I'm over this.
Dailey Kelley [00:05:25]:
Yeah, well, you're a better man than me. I don't. I don't leave the shop. I have people call me all the time, you know, whatever. Will you come look at this? I'm like, no, I don't do field calls. You know, if you're my customer, I'll keep you as happy as possible. I treat you the absolute best in which I can and do honest work. But field calls, I mean, I did it when I was doing side work, you know, before going full time, legit in every time.
Dailey Kelley [00:05:55]:
It always winds up as I didn't bring enough tools, right, and bring the right tool or so on and so forth. And I'm like, just get it towed to the shop, you know? Hell, if it's something, if it's something I worked on prior, I'll pay for it, you know? I'll pay for the tow wheel.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:13]:
Yeah, yeah, that's. That's definitely the better way to go moving. I mean, it's just sometimes you get, like, a top loader, three speed, something like that. And like. Like, I'm not paying to bill. There's only so many things that could go wrong with this thing. So you run out and check in and something stupid like that, you're like, this is just a waste of my time. I'd rather.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:31]:
Yeah, I'd rather have something coming with an engine light die. Something like that. Like, something I know I can do. Easy, quick. Spend 45 minutes, bill an hour and a half on it. Cool. We're like, everybody's happy. You know what I mean?
Dailey Kelley [00:06:42]:
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:45]:
Well, Mister Daley Kelly, right? Did I say that right?
Dailey Kelley [00:06:49]:
Yes, sir. All right. Yes, sir. Yes, you did. Jim or Jimmy?
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:55]:
Jimmy.
Dailey Kelley [00:06:56]:
Jimmy. Jimmy Purdy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:58]:
The Jimmy Purdy.
Dailey Kelley [00:06:58]:
That's right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:59]:
Yeah.
Dailey Kelley [00:07:00]:
Good deal.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:00]:
You're out of Kentucky, then, right?
Dailey Kelley [00:07:03]:
Yes, sir. Barge town. Barge. South. Kentucky. We're about 1 hour south of Louisville and the Bourbon capital of the world. If you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:19]:
I guess that's a. That could be an argued point, though, right?
Dailey Kelley [00:07:24]:
To some. To some.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:27]:
It's not debatable. That is not debatable.
Dailey Kelley [00:07:29]:
Yeah. Love has been trying to take it for a couple years, but we'll let that down there.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:39]:
Think what you want.
Dailey Kelley [00:07:41]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:43]:
Well, cool, man. I said, appreciate you coming in, being on.
Dailey Kelley [00:07:46]:
Not a problem. I appreciate you having me. So, this is my first podcast.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:50]:
That's awesome.
Dailey Kelley [00:07:52]:
Fumble or ramble feet through a few things.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:55]:
So, you run your shop. You're kind of a one man show. You tell me when we got on here, somewhat of a helper, but basically kind of on your own. Anything, anything in particular that you specialize in or what's your. What's your shop look like?
Dailey Kelley [00:08:14]:
So, specialty wise, I would say heavy line electrical and drivability would be my main specialties. Do a touch of transmission work, and I do quite a bit of rear end work, so kind of everything. But specialty wise, I would say heavy line electrical and drive ability.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:45]:
Nice stuff. Will keep you busy out there, huh?
Dailey Kelley [00:08:50]:
Ah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:53]:
So you got quite a story to tell, huh?
Dailey Kelley [00:08:57]:
I've seen a thing or two and claimed to know it. Know a thing or two.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:02]:
So you start. You started in the dealership side of what kind of. Yeah. What pivoted you to want to branch out on your own?
Dailey Kelley [00:09:10]:
So, I mean, branching out on my own. Started to do them. I went to trade school through UTM, moved away from home all the way in Houston, so I moved all Houston, Texas. Went to trade school there at utmost, um, left there, and they got me a job in Indianapolis at a Ford dealer. Uh, I'm in central Kentucky, so there's actually two Ford plants in Louisville, the lap plant and the KTP plant. One's for Louvo assembly plant and Kentucky truck plant. So I thought it makes it, you know, go with Ford, you know, everybody around here has one. They work there, so.
Dailey Kelley [00:10:05]:
Moved to Indianapolis, out of Houston at a Ford dealership, Townwood Ford. Stay there for about eight months. Met a girl, my wife, now, who's awesome. Couldn't really do this without her, so that's cool. From there, moved back to Louisville, closer to home. Worked at Oxmoor for a year and a half, then I worked at Bailey for almost nine years. And the biggest thing for me about the dealer, once I got to Bailey, found people I liked, you know, great friends with service manager. I mean, we still talk to this day, no problems with most of my co workers, I'll say.
Dailey Kelley [00:10:58]:
But the biggest thing is, once you get certified and all, you know, you know your stuff, you're good at it. It's warranty work, and that's all fine and dandy. I can handle the warranty work as far as wages go, all that. But it's the fact of dealing with the manufacturer to get the approvals, like the approval time. I had four lifts for me, my personal use and one flat saw before I left because I specialize in heavy line and drivability. I mean, I would have to have engines tore down, heads ripped off, then have to take pictures, submit all these pictures to Ford just to get an approval when I already know what's wrong. How to fix vehicle, go ahead with the repair and get the customer back in the vehicle in a timely fashion. But it's under warranty, so Ford has to pay for it and they want all the documentation and so on and so forth, which kind of draws out my time.
Dailey Kelley [00:12:07]:
And at the end of it, I was eventually just fed up with it. It wasn't the people that I worked with or the atmosphere in which I was in. It was the manufacturer. Just the corporate way they went about it, you know? Yeah, the corporate structure and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:24]:
I mean, what would happen? Like, they go through something like that and you. And they don't approve. Like you took your. I mean, they're gonna. They're gonna approve it, right? Like, how many times you had something, you tear it down, and then they didn't approve the repair because it wasn't covered under the warranty. It just seems asinine. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Dailey Kelley [00:12:41]:
So as far as that goes, repair under warranty, it depends. They're gonna do the least costly repair, I mean, from what I had seen. So you see a lot of these four cylinder ecoboost engines cracking blocks, one five, one sixes, two liters warping heads. That was. I mean, that was what I did every day. But they would want proof repair as far as if the blocks not cracked, you know, saying a one five box not cracked, we'll put a head gasket and a cylinder hit on it. When me as a technician, being that I've worked on hundreds of these, know that that is going to come back in six months with the same issue because there's probably a hairline crack in between the cylinder wall, but you can't pick that up with a camera. I mean, whatever camera you have, I mean, a hairline crackhead, that customer is going to be dissatisfied and have to bring it back and have another engine replaced.
Dailey Kelley [00:13:55]:
Like, I think they should vet it in a way in which your tenure, you know, should be on display of, like, you've seen these issues before. Your comeback rating is less than 1%. You know, what you're doing. Let me fix it in the way in which it needs to be fixed. But, I mean.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:21]:
Right.
Dailey Kelley [00:14:22]:
You know, also understand. You know? I don't understand, I guess. But as a big incorporation, you know, you're talking about millions of vehicles on the road. I mean, so you're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in repair that they have to foot the bill for. I mean, that's just a. It's a vicious cycle. So, I mean, the corporate parts out of it is what I was sick and tired of.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:47]:
Well, and it's. It's just a disservice to the client, too. Right. Even if they're not on the hook. I'm not on the hook for the bill, and that's one of the things. I just had the same conversation the other day with a client about. About an engine and having an engine problem, and it's kind of like, well, what do you want me to do? It's got a noise. It's got an internal noise.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:05]:
Right. Well, what is it? Well, does it matter? Right? Like, do you want to pay me for a day of labor to tear this thing down to find where the noise is? Or do you want to cut to the chase and just put an engine in it? Because that's what it's going to be, right? Whether it's the wrist rod knock or lift or not.
Dailey Kelley [00:15:26]:
Or what?
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:26]:
Like, and, sure, some. Some of the time, you can have a bad lifter and stuff like that. Sure. But even if you do something like that, you wipe out a cam on these ls three s. Right. Where'd all that metal go? Right? Or the hemi tick. Right? Or you take one of those. I was like, where'd all that metal go? And so you're gonna spend 25, $3,000.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:46]:
Right, to repair this, and then what's the rest of the engine, like for the next two years? Three years? You're gonna keep this for ten years. So you've got, you know, a ball maybe the size of a marble, full of metal floating around your engine somewhere that shouldn't have metal anywhere, right? It's like, right, man? Like, exactly. What? Like, so let's cut to the chase here. What's the. Where do you want to spend your money? That makes the most sense, you know? And you get into these vehicles, and I think everybody kind of has that same standard operating procedures. Like, if it's got 200,000 miles on it. You're probably not going to call out a head job. You're going to call out an engine, because it's just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:23]:
You don't want to get involved in that shit, man. The Ford edges, right? You probably saw a. A few of those.
Dailey Kelley [00:16:32]:
Had one dropped off today.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:34]:
Not the edge, the flex, the one with the. With the leak coolant and the engine and the motor oil and all that. And just.
Dailey Kelley [00:16:40]:
No. So the 3.5. So it comes in flex edge.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:44]:
Yeah, it was an edge. Okay.
Dailey Kelley [00:16:47]:
Yeah. Flex edge explorer. The 3.5 naturally aspirated ones. But I will say this about those engines, because my wife actually owns one, and she wanted Explorer forever, and her aunt was selling a two liter ecoboost. I said, we're definitely not buying that one. I said, you find one with a three five, naturally aspirated. I said, well, so that. They are great engines, but that is their only Achilles heel, is that internal water pump.
Dailey Kelley [00:17:21]:
And it is a jive to get to it because it's the timing chain.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:26]:
Yeah.
Dailey Kelley [00:17:26]:
Other than that, they're great. But I'm not gonna sit in here on my pedestal. I've definitely made my bread and butter off those jobs because. Not that. I mean, I've done probably, I'll say over 150 of them ultimately, just in the three five engine they came in. Edges, explorers, tortures.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:53]:
I can't knock them too much because I have the explorers with. With the. With the three seven in it. So that's my daily driver right now. So I picked up an interceptor. Yeah, the thing moves, so I can't say anything too bad about them. I just. I've seen enough of them come in.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:07]:
I'm like, holy motor. That's a big job. Then you get some of them and, you know, you rip it all down, and then you realize how bad it is. And it's like this. This engine's no good, right? So you get it torn down. You're like, you need an engine. Oh, I thought it was just gonna be a water pump. Like, no, I'm not comfortable.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:22]:
I'm not comfortable. You paying me to, like, give this back to you and have it fail in a year. Because, you know, it's like nature where you're right.
Dailey Kelley [00:18:32]:
As long as the oil doesn't look like chocolate milk, as long as it doesn't leak internally.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:37]:
Yeah.
Dailey Kelley [00:18:38]:
Put a water pump in it and there go.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:41]:
Yeah, usually.
Dailey Kelley [00:18:44]:
Yeah, usually.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:45]:
But, yeah, some of those jobs, man, it's like. It's. It's just. It's the same with going back to the transmissions, right? It's like, it's just easier to sell them a remanufactured, given the remands warranty. Call it a day, right? Give you a nationwide warranty. Something else happens somewhere else around the country, in the state, they can take it to another shop, get another one put in. You make your margin on the part, you get your labor to install it, and that's it, right? It's just so much easier. And you even get those, you cut some of them you can repair, right? Sometimes you can either do like a valve body repair, readjust the band, something like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:20]:
But it just gets to the point where you do that. Comes back in a year. Hey, you just rebuilt this or you just fixed it, you know? No, no, just a repair. Oh, well, I spent like $1,500. Yeah, well, if I knew it was going to fail in ten months, I would have just put that money towards a new one. It's like, that's the conversation we had, right? So as of lately, it's just, I just try to push that even harder. Like, do you want to spend this 1500 now, or do you want to spend a little bit more? And a little bit more is usually twice, but at least that way everything's covered and you don't have to worry about anything with this transmission for the next three years. Let's just do that, right? Let's just cut to the chase.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:56]:
And. But then it's like, where does that line get drawn? Is like, now you're just a part swapper. Now you're just like, but what do you want?
Dailey Kelley [00:20:05]:
That's why I take a lot of pride in my work. And so, I mean, obviously I met you through AsOG, so I use tech metric, so I apply, you know, pictures, videos, everything of all the diagnostics in which we do. So we build a trust relationship between the customer and myself to where, you know, they see exactly what we see. And I try to keep it completely open. And, you know, as far as transmission jobs, I mean, you know, you drop the pan. You know, you do line pressure tests, so on, so forth. It fails, you know, next step, drop the pan. See how much metals on the magnet, you know, see what we're dealing with before we get, you know, heavily involved in this.
Dailey Kelley [00:20:53]:
And if it looks like a fuzzy wuzzy and full of metal on top of the magnet, you know, it's done. It's not really. Could I go in and rebuild it? Yes, I could. I'll go in. I'll put a zip kit in the valve body, you know, I'll put updated, upgraded drums and everything, all that from Sonax and Transco, all that. But I mean, at that point, we're putting updated or upgraded parts always. So I always do oem or better. We're putting up greater parts in it.
Dailey Kelley [00:21:27]:
Those parts cost more my time to rebuild it and do it correctly or research more than a remand, you know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:35]:
I mean, it does too. Yeah, within, within, yeah. $500. And you're looking at the, like, even though, you know, the remands aren't nowhere near the amount of quality that you're gonna, you're gonna put into it. But you know, the bottom line. But the bottom line is they get in the car and if it goes 1234-565-6785 whatever, whatever the speeds are, right. As long as it shifts through all tens, forward speeds and one in reverse, that's all they care. Like, right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:04]:
The consumer, the vehicle, right? They, 99% of the people out there, they don't know the difference. As long as it goes into gear and it goes down the road, they don't care how long it took you to do this or what part you put in. It's just as long as it's in, it works and it's warrantied. That's the bottom line. As for the exact. And I can't fault them for that, right? Like, that's a not, that's not a negative thing, right? But yeah, I mean, and then they said the research of putting those aftermarket parts in, like, sure, I can do a six, a few 68 rfes, few four l sixties. I got a pretty good recipe I put together. But, you know, there's, there's new stuff that's coming out all the time for these things, right? Like the 1968 rfps, they just came out with the updated kits for those.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:44]:
Like, there's, there's like nothing available for those stupid transmission. So you gotta do a little research and see what's available. And then like, does this, does that kit mesh with that kit? Right. Cause, you know, like some of those kits you can't really put together and. Yeah, it's a lot of time and research to get that stuff figured out. And I don't have laying down. Yeah, I don't know about you, but I don't have that stuff memorized top of my head, you know? Like, sure, you can do like seven to ten thousands per clutch, but realistically, like a three, four, three fours on a 460, everyone's different, right? Like, I like to set them up closer to 25 thousands. Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:19]:
With six clutches. Like, that's not ten thousandths per clutch. And you look at the book and it tells you to put 60. You know, like, it's crazy.
Dailey Kelley [00:23:27]:
I've got a notebook per manufacturer as far as that goes. Like, I do well with physically writing down notes, people like, you know, why don't you, you know, put your schedule on your phone? I tried that. I. It doesn't work for me. I have a planner that I pack around with me everywhere and I have. That is my schedule. I have to have you physically wrote down what your cause and return is in the date, which I will see. I can't.
Dailey Kelley [00:24:05]:
I can't do it on my phone, can't do it on my computer. But if I have it physically in front of me, that's what works with me as far as, like, build sheets as well, you know, like you say with transmissions. So I have a notebook for each manufacturer and I have, like one of those little Highlander highlighter sticky pad things for each transmission per their manufacturer. And that's what I go off of. I have to run it down, look at it, see it, and to be able to comprehend it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:47]:
Retain it.
Dailey Kelley [00:24:47]:
Yeah, exactly. Retain it. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:50]:
Sometimes I got to do all five. I gotta write it down, read it, gotta put it on my phone. I gotta put it on my computer. I gotta put it on the wall. I gotta put it on the whiteboard.
Dailey Kelley [00:25:00]:
Okay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:01]:
I'm not gonna forget that one. That one's there now. Yeah, it's, you know, not everything works for everybody. And I have the difficulty with that with, like, some. Some local shops around here and trying to get emails to them. Like, I don't do email. And, like, okay, so then I text them and just call me. So I got to call this one.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:17]:
I got to text this one, I got to email. This is like, all right, well, whatever works. You know, it's. It's nice when everyone can get on the same page, but at the same time you're like, hey, you know what? Whatever works. If you don't like checking your email, you don't like checking your email. Like, that's fine.
Dailey Kelley [00:25:30]:
Exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:31]:
I have six emails that I check, like, ten times a day. Right. Like, that's just me, though, so. I've always liked the planners. I've tried. I've tried. It's funny you say that because I have, like, so many notebooks laying around here in the office, like, that. I've tried to use to write stuff down and I just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:46]:
All of a sudden, it's like December, and I'm looking at this thing and it's, like, flipped to February. I'm like, wow, I haven't opened this thing up in a few months. I guess the planner was a bad idea for me, so.
Dailey Kelley [00:25:56]:
Yeah, well, everybody has their niche, but, yeah, that's what seems to work with, for me anyways. And that's what my wife even gets on. I do use Siri every now and again. I guess I found, like, if I have to do something, I can click the button, be like, siri. Remind me of 15 minutes to turn the flusher off and enter. Ding. So.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:22]:
Oh, there you go. Yeah, that's part. Okay.
Dailey Kelley [00:26:26]:
I added. There you go.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:28]:
Look at that. She knows you talking about perfect, man. That was awesome. Well, see that? You just use it now so we can check that box for the day. Huh? That was pretty.
Dailey Kelley [00:26:41]:
Yeah, exactly. I use it pretty often for just random little knickknack things, you know? You know, turn. Turn the parts washer off or such and so forth. I mean, I try to use technology to my advantage, but I'm still old school in the fact that I still write handwritten notes.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:01]:
Makes sense. So you're talking. You're in a pretty small town.
Dailey Kelley [00:27:06]:
I am, yes, sir.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:07]:
So how does that work with. It's always interesting to me to hear the different, you know, stories of, like, getting people to the door and, like, reaching out to the community. What's something that works really well for you? It's worked for you over the years. I mean, seems like you were at the dealership, so it seems like your hands were kind of tied up. Were you kind of getting a lot of side work at the time? Or was it just once you opened it up and let everyone know the floodgates open? Or how did that work out?
Dailey Kelley [00:27:33]:
So when I worked with the deer, like I said, I worked, the last dealer in which I worked at was Byerly Ford and by the forge in Lowell, Kentucky. So it's about an hour north, bars down, the town in which I live in. But I network with a lot of people. I have a lot of friends over the surrounding counties and so on, so forth. And I've done. I did a lot of side work prior to it, but I'd never had a lift. Like, I have a garage. Like a simple two car garage.
Dailey Kelley [00:28:14]:
You would say, no lift, anything like that. I would do, you know, knickknacks as far as, like, tune ups, dravid issue, check engine light, something like that. I would diagnose them, you know, just some extra cash. Sad money, as far as that goes. And, you know, if I could fix it, great, you know, with the equipment, which I had at the time, you know, makes a little extra money. If not, then I'd say, you know, it's beyond what I can do right here with equipment, which I got. But it also opened my eyes up to, you know, there's more to it. You know, there's a door opening, per se.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:05]:
The writing was on the wall, though.
Dailey Kelley [00:29:08]:
Exactly. And the calls were becoming more and more frequent, and I'm. It got to where. To the point in which it's either it was overwhelming in the fact either I've got to quit my day job or, you know, pursue this. And I took the lead. I did. And needless to say, it was very scary. Probably one of the scariest things I've done as far as quitting a job where I was, you know, well, not to say well known, but, well, you know, knowledgeable in the field, having a steady paycheck and saying, no, I'm gonna stop that and go out on my own.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:06]:
Now, at the time, do you think it felt like you kind of reached the. You're kind of, like, ceiling, and that's kind of what forced you out the door? Is that kind of what's got your mind walking? Because obviously, everything seemed like it was going in the right direction. You're in a good spot. Right. You had, like, a lot of things going. You're the lead tech, got a lot of certifications. I mean, you kind of set right, and that's when. That's when they say, idle hands at the devil's playground.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:31]:
Right? You're just like, yeah, I've kind of done everything I needed to do here. Do you feel like that kind of, like, pushes you out the door without having the next challenge to keep you. What do you call it? Occupied or.
Dailey Kelley [00:30:44]:
Yes. So you get it occupied. Yes. But also, at the same time, it's, um. So it's a fact, like I said, I get back to the Ford warranty part. Like, 90% of my work was warranty work, which. Okay, whatever. But a lot of it, you know, these are brand new vehicles.
Dailey Kelley [00:31:09]:
They're coming off with a lot of issues. Like, they don't even have wiring. Wiring diagrams properly printed out. For these, I'm talking 100 to 500 miles. And, you know, you get burnt out on the fact that you have to fight the manufacturer to get paid because obviously, I worked flat rate, and I make more flat rate. I don't. I don't want to be hourly per se, you know, I mean, I would make more flat rate than hourly and you just constantly beat your head against the wall. Whereas, you know, nothing is people work for, you know, you see the lesser certified technicians, you know, getting tune ups and, you know, break jobs where I don't even really like to do breaks, but I tune ups, you know, something just the easier, not so easy burns.
Dailey Kelley [00:32:14]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're over here smashing your head against the wall trying to figure out what in the world is going on with this, where it's a brand new vehicle and there's no really service information out about it. And you got the scope out, you got everything else, you got everything else hooked up to it and you find like it's an, just a bolt, this pinch of network wire. But you didn't have wiring diagrams with. But how do you claim that in a dealer world you can claim so much m time and so on and so forth, but when you get into jobs that are, I mean, you spend legitimately 20 hours on a job diagnosing something, you know, something you don't have the proper information for on a brand new vehicle and you figure it out and they pay you 9 hours. That sucks.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:14]:
Yeah. That's a gut punch. Yeah, because you can't really send that out. Right. I think that's maybe a luxury of. A luxury of the. Well, unless you have a big ego, but it's a luxury of the independent world, right? Like I can have a problem and it gets to a point like, you know what, this is not profitable. And so I need to, I need to, I need to turn it like it needs to go.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:36]:
And typically those cars are going to go to the dealer, right? Like I've, we've spent our time on it. I think it's time to cut ties before we get more invested in than we really need to because I don't have a good path right now. I've got five or six other after this that are going to be profitable to me. So why am I wasting my time on this one when I don't have a clear direction or a clear path forward? So it just goes to the dealer. Doesn't happen a lot needs to probably happen more. But I think the ego steps in. It's like, no, no, you can figure it out. You can figure it out, right? And then you start losing your ass on this thing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:08]:
That's like, and so that, that's, I guess what I was getting at was like the luxury of being able to send it to a dealer. But once you're at the dealer. If you can't figure something out, or if you get 20 hours in something, you know you're only going to get paid nine. How do you cut ties with that? How can you walk away from that?
Dailey Kelley [00:34:26]:
Oh.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:31]:
A bottle of bourbon, huh? That's pretty much it. But you don't. I mean, especially being the senior tech there, being a lead tech at the. It's not like it can keep going up the. The ladder there. So it's. It's stuck with you until you figure it out. Is that fair to assume?
Dailey Kelley [00:34:45]:
Yeah. Well, now, so what they. They were calling an FSE field service engineer, um, which I won't say a name is public podcast, but, I mean, he was. He was decent, and, uh. But he'd asked me do all these tests already. I'm like, I've done everything you tell me to do, and now I gotta spend more time doing it again so you can visually see it. And we're at the same conclusion after wasting two days worth of work. And so, I mean, it's a.
Dailey Kelley [00:35:26]:
When you get the really, really tough ones, they suck. They fight up. I mean, they just can. So going back to that, I will revert to that. The two individuals that brought me in another wing, fresh out of trade school, was Mike and rob. They're both transmission techs. And I remember it's when the escape first changed body sounds. And there is a customer complaint that there was a noise from 75 to 78 miles an hour, and then it was gone.
Dailey Kelley [00:36:09]:
And we would drive, weaved and ripped every interior body panel out of this vehicle. Had me riding in the back seat as he drove it 77 miles an hour. You could hear it sound like a coke bottle, like you're blowing over the top of a coke bottle. But from 75 to 78, you could hear any other speed going. And we fought with this thing for two months.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:33]:
Wow.
Dailey Kelley [00:36:34]:
And FSC was there. He came in, he came for almost a month. Dealing with him ended up. It was the frequency between the tires in which was on the vehicle and the rims that were equipped with the vehicle that made that harmonic noise at that specific speed. But you could hear it distinctly. And he was a guy, one, two, that trained me. So you kind of instilled the don't give up kind of deal. Um, but they figured it out.
Dailey Kelley [00:37:16]:
They got to the bottom of it. So that was a longest, prolonged thing I'd ever seen. But it. It was wild to me.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:25]:
Yeah, it's. Yeah, I. I don't envy those situations. You know, it's tough not at all. I mean, it's. You get. You get some of these that get stuck on. And.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:36]:
And for one, it's like, what's the next step? And then for two, how do you continue getting paid? And then how do you justify the amount of time that you've already spent on it, right? Because.
Dailey Kelley [00:37:48]:
Exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:49]:
You get to. You get to the bottom of so many things so quickly, right? Like, there's. There's a certain things that come in, and, oh, I've had it to this shop that shot whatever this, that, and the other. And you're like, within 45 minutes, you, oh, it's this. Boom. Nailed it. And it's like, over and over and over. You do that, and then you get one.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:04]:
You're like, okay. And then 2 hours go by. 3 hours go by. You're like, all right, hold on a second here. I'm getting, like, spun in a circle here. Is this me, or is this the damn car? You know what I mean? Because sometimes it's like, head. And then you're like, I can't justify spending, you know, charging because. But then you're like, but is it me? Because I've done all the.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:24]:
And you just get stuck in this vicious loop, right? Then you're, like, really shot in the dark because you're like, I'm all up in the head. You can't get this right now. And so it's so tough, man, to, like to. For one to justify, especially when you go out on your own, you're trying to, like, justify this cost to your clients, right? But, you know, you need to get paid for your time. Like, ugh. So it's like.
Dailey Kelley [00:38:46]:
So I get caught.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:47]:
Is giving up the right thing to do or not, you know, like, so.
Dailey Kelley [00:38:51]:
I get caught in that vicious cycle somewhat often. I'll say, if you get not as a gluttony for punishment, but, like, the difficult ones, you know, I like to push, push myself. You know, I want to figure out what's wrong with it. You know, I want to see what the actual root cause is and what is causing the customers concern. And being a hero is. Doesn't pay. I found that out the hard way. But in my head, it drives me crazy to the fact that I can't actually figure out what is wrong and getting paid for it sometimes.
Dailey Kelley [00:39:44]:
I mean, yes, I may go further in diagnostics often because I want to know what's causing this issue, because it's driving me crazy that I can't figure it out. And does it cause me to lose money? Yes, it does. But it's kind of like a mental psyche thing. And that is one of my biggest, I guess you would say falls for sure.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:18]:
Yeah. And sometimes you kind of. You try to chalk it up as training, you know, because it's like. Right, well, maybe the next one I'll know better and I'll make. Be able to make up for it because I know what now I've seen what could. Could happen, so I'll be able to eliminate that possibility after. Then you get some of them. Like, I'm probably never going to see that car again, so why am I wasting my time? Like a 1982 whatever, right? Like, well, this is training.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:40]:
I'm learning. But, like, why? I shouldn't even be working on cars this old anyway, right? Like, how many times am I going to see something like this come in with this? Like, so, yeah, it's still tough and it just. It really just goes back to just straight ego, right? Like, you just want to do it just so you can conquer the car, right? I mean, that's the bottom line. And that's the reason why we all do this anyway, right? Like, we want to fix what's broken. That's the goal. Like, it's broken. I'm going to fix it. And so you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:06]:
It's broken. You can't fix it. Like, then why do I even exist?
Dailey Kelley [00:41:10]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:12]:
Why am I even doing this every day? And it's like, takes one car, right? You'll fix 80 cars in a month, right? And then it's like this one just. Just trips you up and you're like, you know what? Maybe I should just give up. Isn't that amazing? Your freaking mind just does that to you.
Dailey Kelley [00:41:27]:
Yes, it does. And I will say my wife is a saint in that regard, because there's some nice. I'm just sitting there, just not in a good mood, and she's like, what's wrong? I'm like, you know, nothing. And in the back of my eye, I'm like, it could be this or that or so on and so forth, and trying to get the disconnect, being that the shop is more or less in my backyard is difficult. And it does wrap me crazy. But I have a very understanding wife, and she has seen me coming flat out, throwing stuff mad to calm and happy coils of cucumbers.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:18]:
So find you heading down there at three in the morning sometimes, I bet, huh? I'm gonna go check this out.
Dailey Kelley [00:42:26]:
Yeah. I mean, sometimes. Yeah. I'll be like, I left there. Yeah. So you got me. So, yeah. Oh, I think I left the battery charger on.
Dailey Kelley [00:42:36]:
I'm running out there, check something or something, and you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:40]:
And you think it's just because it's in your backyard. But, man, my shop's a town away from where I live. And I found myself in the cardinal past midnight, heading down to the shop to just double check something real quick or. Or had an epiphany. And I'm like, I'm gonna go check real quick because I'm not gonna be able to sleep unless I go. No matter how close or how far away from the shop, man, your mind will make you do things that you should not be freaking doing.
Dailey Kelley [00:43:04]:
You are 100% correct. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:08]:
Ridiculous, stupid shit this stuff makes you do, man, now.
Dailey Kelley [00:43:12]:
Well, especially, I mean, as a shop owner, you have multiple cars, or technician, you have multiple cars you're working on and you're thinking about all of them. But that is another thing I'm trying to work on. You know, being self employed, single, shop more or less, and trying to build a disconnect, I feel like is very difficult for me, especially. So I left the dealer in March of 23, and. And I only left because my loan got approved, more or less, to build the shop. It wasn't even built yet. And I was working out of the two car garage. You know, we never left.
Dailey Kelley [00:43:59]:
I bought some quickjacks. Whomever makes those, I'm sure you've seen them, like, you slide them in the vehicle.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:06]:
Oh, yeah.
Dailey Kelley [00:44:07]:
Quick jacks. They lift them, like maybe three foot or something. Common drag race world. But I quit and went to doing that. And even whenever I was just working at two car garage, the people that were building the shop right beside me said, man, you got a lot of people bringing vehicles over, dropping off to work. And I don't advertise anything. I have no Facebook page, anything. And a lot of people told me they were like, when, you know, when I talked to my father, other people, you know, friends, and saying I was leaving, opening my own business, they were like, man, you should, you know, buy a place in town or rent a place in town and all that.
Dailey Kelley [00:44:59]:
And I'm like, yeah, everybody says that, but I don't know if this is going to take off. You know, you're not the one paying the banknote every month. I. So to say, it's a little bit nervous. Yeah. So that's why I built this shop here. Hindsight's always 2020. If I didn't know it had taken off this fast, this quick, I definitely would not have built it here at the house you know, where I live.
Dailey Kelley [00:45:29]:
But it's been a blessing, to say the least. It's overwhelming at times, but it's been great, and it's been tough all the same. Go. But I'm sure you understand that as well.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:45]:
Yeah, I mean, you got that situation where I keep my, my personal stuff in the business. In the business, like, you know, pretty well isolated. You know, I don't want people coming to my house or calling my cell phone. Right. Like eight years ago, like, I eliminated my cell phone from anybody that affiliated with the shop. Right. Like, there's still a few select clients, but they're more, you know, they're. They're friends that became clients, put it that way.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:12]:
That's why they still have my number. And you probably know as well as anybody, like, you know that more. More clients become your friends. The friends become clients. So it's a very select few that have my personal contact information, but it's got to be a completely different ballgame to have for them to know that, hey, he's right there in that house. And that's like, do you get any, have you had any issues with that?
Dailey Kelley [00:46:35]:
Well, I hadn't until like a week ago.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:39]:
And I was going to say it probably takes a couple of years before that starts turning into an issue.
Dailey Kelley [00:46:44]:
Right. So, yeah, I did not until about a week ago. And. And it was a Newcastle, you know, I didn't explain everything in depth. And he came up and knocked up, knocked on the house door instead of just leaving the vehicle. I live in the country on a single lane road at the very back of the road at a very long gravel driveway. So if there's anybody back here that shouldn't be back here, I would know about. But he dropped the vehicle off.
Dailey Kelley [00:47:26]:
He tried to call me, and I was actually golfing in. Time was Saturday, and he was scheduled to drop it off Monday. Well, my wife had to work Saturday, and he came knocking on the door, and this saw my wife. And that's the first run in I've had with it. Um, but since then, I have placed an order for a drop off and pickup box to mount onto the shop to try to navigate that issue. But I'm trying to do the most with what I have currently. But that's the only big issue I've had. Um, and also out of respect for my neighbors, like I said, I live on a one lane road, so any customer which drops off their vehicle, I tell them, I said, if you're good, I offer them to drop it off the evening before.
Dailey Kelley [00:48:25]:
If you're going to drop it off the evening before, bring it before sundown, don't bring it at night. I try to cut down on all nighttime traffic, you know, I don't want anyone coming up and down the road at night just to try to, you know, keep my neighbors happy. Yeah, they're good to me, so I try to. I try to be good to them, you know, I'm trying to be respectful. And all regards as far as that goes. And, you know, I did, I had no idea this was going to take off nearly as fast as it did.
Jimmy Purdy [00:49:03]:
Well, that's awesome in a respect, right? I mean, it's always good when things go better than the, than anticipated with the way you run the place. So what's the goal? What's the goal with it? Are you gonna keep it like that or what?
Dailey Kelley [00:49:19]:
No. So the original go. Like I said, making that jump, the scariest thing I've ever done. And I said, look, we're going to start at the house, build a shop. If it fails, I can join the workforce. And hey, I got a sweet shop, you know, whatever I can pay for. And, well, it's been successful so far and going forth. I'm looking to buy a location in town within, within two years, hopefully one year, 18 months is my goal.
Dailey Kelley [00:49:58]:
Just to try to get the stress away from the house and get the work done in a more orderly fashion where I can hire more employees and offer a legitimate professional service. You know, mechanics, technicians, get a bad rep, you know, shade tree mechanics, whatever else. I'm as honest as they can. That's why I use the tech metric system. I think it's a great system. Open a shop in town within 18 months and hire individuals in which I can trust to do it and do it correctly. And I will pay them more than anyone else as long as they're up to par. And which standard should be because the individuals whose cars you are working on, they also share the road with you and your family.
Dailey Kelley [00:50:58]:
I mean, it needs to be done and needs to be done right. Torque specs need to be followed and it needs to be repaired correctly because that is someone else in their family behind the wheel.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:14]:
Absolutely.
Dailey Kelley [00:51:15]:
You keep them safe, you know, I mean, it's not some shade tree job to do it. You have ultimately someone else's family and many others and what you're looking after.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:29]:
Yeah. And being transparent. Right. And keep making sure that you know, everything, the whole vehicle is getting inspected and you're doing what you need to do to keep it safe and letting them know, this is what you see. And, I mean, that. That's really all it takes, you know? I mean, that's. That's. That's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:45]:
Everyone gets a bad rap, like, trying to find the right clients, right? Or like, oh, that's not my client. And I've said it before, and I never meant to say it, like, I'm so selective that I'm only gonna have, like, the highest end people come in. It's just the expectations of what they want. They're really not that high, right? Like, as long as you just communicate and you fix it, right? And you stand behind your work, like, there's really not much more to it, right? And then it just comes down to charging what you need to charge and knowing that if you're doing those things, you're doing it better than 90% of the other shops out there. If you just, like, it's not like this big, grander thing, right? Like, there's not like, this huge, big book of, like, days. Like, it's pretty simple, right? And then you can charge appropriately. I mean, it's still hard to sell. Don't get me wrong.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:29]:
It's not, like, simple, but it's like, some of the steps, you know? It's like. It's like everything you just said, it's like, that's. If that you just do those things. You can charge what you need to charge to be successful and more successful than you thought you were going to be, right? It's, um. It seems simple, but it's not easy.
Dailey Kelley [00:52:48]:
It's. Oh, yeah. When you talk about it, it seems very simple, but physically and doing it on paperwork is way more complicated.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:59]:
When you go unlock the front door and you walk in it just for some reason, something changes.
Dailey Kelley [00:53:04]:
Yeah. And I learned that very quick. I can fix cars all day, but I learned that very quick from leaving just a technician role as a. And then going to a small business owner. I learned very quick. Pen, paper and all. That doesn't all add up exactly correct.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:26]:
It doesn't. Yeah. The vision and the mission statement and the goals, man. It's like, I just want. I just need cash flow. I just need cars, right? Like, everyone wants you to do all these. These business things, right? Like, write down your mission statement, write down your vision statement, write down what your business is going to be in a year, and you're like, I have no freaking idea, man. I just need cars here so I can put money in the bank.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:50]:
Like, that's all I care about right now. And I think that's lost, man. That is so lost on, like, on 95% of us technicians that open shops, right? Like, you get all this advice and all these things like that. I don't really care about any of that shit. Right. Can someone just tell me how I get more money for the cars that are coming in and then more of those cars coming in? That's all that matters.
Dailey Kelley [00:54:14]:
So that was one big thing. When the big three, or whatever you want to come, went on strike, you know, I'm just opening shop. You know, I'm floating parts, all this. Well, when they went on strike six, eight months ago, whatever it was, I, you know, I didn't have a standard operating procedure, you know, repairs, x mount, blah, blah, blah, that you. This much up front. You know, I just floated all of it. And when the big three went on strike, now I do OEM went available, had the parts paid for, but they weren't showing up. And we'd call, you know, my supplier and so on and so forth, and they were like, we have it ordered, but there's no ETA because everyone is on strike.
Dailey Kelley [00:55:15]:
And I'm like, oh, shit. You know, I'm sloping like 30, $40,000 worth of, oh, no, you know, parts. And the first of the month is coming up, and my bills are due, and I'm like, holy shit. I said, so what are we gonna do about this? Skated through that much, you know, and that's a lot of stuff people don't see, you know, opening your own business. You know, people think you're slammed. The amount of bills and stuff that you have to pay is make your head shake. But that, that was the one time that I got scared. I'm like, well, I kind of more or less drained quite a bit of my funds to float these parts, and now I got to pay my bills out, and there's no parts coming in to get these vehicles out the door, so I can get paid.
Dailey Kelley [00:56:17]:
We made it through it, but after that, I mean, it taught me, like you said, a learning lesson. It did teach me this. So I've employed as SOP. Any parts bill over a $1,000 has to be paid for up front before work is, you know, performed. Pay for the parts up front, and then settle up for the labor and the rest of the bill once the vehicle is ready for pickup. Because I had several vehicles out here and over a. It got me in a real tight buying for a minute, but, I mean, I made it through it. What didn't kill you makes it stronger.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:56]:
Yep. Yeah. I said, all you can do is learn from it. And it's like those lessons never stop. And as long as you're amenable to them and you can take that lesson and learn from it moving forward because no one tells you that stuff when you start, you know, like you would think there would be like a rule book, right, or some sort of book you can get like, you know, but it's, you can't because everybody has a different way of doing it, right? And so what? One thing works for one person, might not work for somebody else, right? Your client list might not want to give you a parts deposit. Like, I don't know, you, right? So you might not even be unable to get that draw the first time around because all those people, maybe they didn't quite trust you enough to throw you a then have you say, hey, you know what? That part's not going to be in this week. That might have hindsight 2020, right? That might have put you in a bad position with the community, right? That might have tarnished your reputation a bit, like because they took the, took their money and then you made them wait and gave them a bunch of excuses and it might have been the first time they used you. So, I mean, I don't know, the universe does weird stuff, right? Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:01]:
The best way to learn and the best way to do it is just taking those licks and like learning how to deal with it and moving forward because it's not going to stop, right. It's never going to be easy.
Dailey Kelley [00:58:08]:
Oh, yeah. It's a super give and take, you know, going from a dealer, tech, you know, I never had to deal with you, not to say deal with, but talk to the customer, anything like that. I mean, I did on rare occasions, you know, big repairs, something like that. You know, I explained to them, you know, come up, explain to them what's going on with them, engine transmission, yada yada. But, you know, never really day to day kind of relations, anything like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:44]:
Never had to sell your, never had to sell your cell phone right now.
Dailey Kelley [00:58:50]:
And I was, as was a huge learning curve in itself. And the phone rings constantly. That's the biggest hurdle for me, being one man shop more or less, and the phone ringing and trying to get, you know, work done. So I've been, I've been in the shop, shop built, working for, since June of last year, so about 14 months now. And to say that I learned a lot in that time would be an understatement as far as phone ringing, learning how to mitigate tasks, get things done, implementing standard operating procedures. I only answer the phone when I first get there or return phone calls when I first walk into the shop in the morning, lunch, or when it closed. Just being so small, I can't be on the phone all the time and still get anything done, you know, as far as work goes. So just in that year's span, I've learned a few operating procedures that I have got me more streamlined.
Dailey Kelley [01:00:18]:
Get the customer's car repaired efficiently, get them back in the car, and get them back on the road.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:25]:
And don't be distort, be distracted. That's, like, no key, right? I mean, that's like, you can only do one thing at a time. I think too many people think they. They're, like, superhuman, and they, like, they're the only one in the world. I can multitask. Nobody can multitask, bottom line. Right? And that, just like you said, it's not worth putting someone's life in jeopardy because you're trying to make sure you're answering every damn phone call or taking every damn. Lock the damn door and put the phone down, fix the freaking car, and then deal with that next task.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:54]:
Right. That's hard, man. That is so hard to delegate to yourself to, like, iron that stuff out. So definitely kudos to you, like, getting that done.
Dailey Kelley [01:01:05]:
It's been a roller coaster, you know? I mean, well, you leave a good paying job. I mean, I made good money. I mean, yes, it was an absolute manda screw up, to say the least. You know, with the warranty, what, all that and leaving a good paying job to make the leap. Go get a loan from the bank to build a shop from scratch and do it all took a lot. Like I said, it's scariest thing I've ever done, but I did it. There's no looking back. And to say that I love it.
Dailey Kelley [01:01:49]:
I mean, I love them. Work for myself. It's great. You know that. But it is super high stress. More shrimp, way more stressful than I ever thought it would be. As far as running the business side, I can fix any of the cars all you want, but going out, getting loan now we have to pay for it. We have all the work in which we can handle, and even then, some.
Dailey Kelley [01:02:15]:
But dealing with it in a quarterly fashion is unbelievably stressful. Like taking something apart, something breaks. I've only got two lists in there now. It breaks. Have to order another part. It's stuck on there. Can't roll it out. So I put several standard operating procedures in place just for the fact in which I only have two lifts at the time right now, but hopefully, like I said, within 18 months, I want to buy a place in town, be able to hire more help, and ultimately, like, give the community a professional repair facility.
Dailey Kelley [01:03:11]:
That's completely transparent. That's. The biggest thing is transparent, is to come. And I feel like that's a big reason why. In which I have the workflow, in which I do. Because I'm. There's no smoke and mirrors, no pulling sheets, anything like that. It is what it is.
Dailey Kelley [01:03:32]:
It may not be the news in which you want to hear, but I will be honest and frank with you all day long.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:42]:
That's awesome. Tellable plan, man. I think you can do it. You got the resources and you got the mindset, right?
Dailey Kelley [01:03:50]:
No.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:51]:
And you're. And you're ready for some more stress, so you be all right.
Dailey Kelley [01:03:53]:
Oh, yeah. Bring it on.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:57]:
I love it.
Dailey Kelley [01:03:57]:
Add it to the pile.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:59]:
You've just taken a bite. You got the rest of the burger to get through.
Dailey Kelley [01:04:02]:
That's right.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:03]:
They say. Right. Well, I look forward to catching back up with you and. And, uh. And seeing that progression the next year. So we'll have to touch base again for sure. I don't know the next time you'll find me out in Kentucky, but, um, if I ever do, I'll have to look you up.
Dailey Kelley [01:04:17]:
Yeah, definitely. Give me a shout. We'll get off here. I'll give you my phone number. We'll get off here. We'll give you a place of stay.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:27]:
Never been. Never been in the deep south before, you know.
Dailey Kelley [01:04:30]:
Is that right? California. So I've been out west, but I haven't quite touched California. I've been up to old faithful and all those good spots.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:43]:
You got close. Yeah.
Dailey Kelley [01:04:45]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:48]:
I'd avoid. I'd avoid it if I were you. But I like it here, so that's all right.
Dailey Kelley [01:04:54]:
Well, if you enjoy bourbon and you want to come see the bourbon cap of the world, I get you have free place to stay.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:00]:
And there it is. That's all. You had me a bourbon.
Dailey Kelley [01:05:05]:
Oh, well, if that's your drink of choice, I've got plenty.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:09]:
Well, daley, I appreciate your time. Thanks for all the insight. Yeah. All the best. Mandev.