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Confessions of a Shop Owner is hosted by Mike Allen, a third-generation shop owner, perpetual pot-stirrer, and brutally honest opinion sharer. In this weekly podcast, Mike shares his missteps so you don’t have to repeat them. Along the way, he chats with other industry personalities who’ve messed up, too, pulling back the curtain on the realities of running an independent auto repair shop. But this podcast isn’t just about Mike’s journey. It’s about confronting the divisive and questionable tactics many shop owners and managers use. Mike is here to stir the pot and address the painful truths while offering a way forward. Together, we’ll tackle the frustrations, shake things up, and help create a better future for the auto repair industry.
Jay Huh [00:00:00]:
I went from one store to three stores and I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea I was so broke. I remember When I had three stores, I was standing in line at McDonald's before going into my second store and I remember thinking, I just have to open up one more store. If I had four stores, then I can net $4,000 a month. I thought I had to have $1,000 net from each store is all I could do. That was my thinking.
Mike Allen [00:00:20]:
Holy cow. Yeah. The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we or our guests may say do not necessari reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have. There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, here's your host, Mike Allen with Confessions of a Shop Owner presented by techmetric, the best software ever invented for any purpose ever.
Jay Huh [00:01:00]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:01:00]:
Good morning. It is day three of Vision 2026. We're here in Kansas City and today I've got Jay Ha with me of Carmetics in Durham, North Carolina. Not to be confused with Carfix in Raleigh, North Carolina. We're neighbors, very similar names and very similar locations, but two distinct, different businesses. And Jay, I think we've gotten to watch our businesses grow over the years. Kind of peripherally we've known each other, not been super close, but kind of watched each other before. I think we see a lot of the same resumes come across each other's desk and that kind of stuff.
Mike Allen [00:01:37]:
So most of the time that we've talked in the last several years has probably been checking references on dudes. But it has been really interesting to watch you from afar over the last decade. And one of the things I was just saying when we were talking before we hit record was, you know, the concept of the show Confessions of a Shop Owner is talking about the things that go wrong in the shop and the things that we change and the processes that we change so that they don't go wrong in the same way again. And before I ever had a podcast for sure, long before, you were living that reality out in a very public way online. And you know, you started, I mean, I think you were online sharing your day to day operations when you were a one man band. Oh yeah, back in the day. So tell me about your kind of origin story and then what led you to living life out loud? I think it was on in ASOC back in the day that you were sharing most of that.
Jay Huh [00:02:35]:
So yeah, dude, like ever since college. You remember Zynga? Have you ever done Zynga? Like it's like a daily journal thing that you did online in MySpace. So I used to do that. So that kind of carried on to Facebook stuff. I've always wanted to document stuff, right. So I've been doing that since early on. But yeah, I started from a home garage in 2015 of October and then I got kicked out by my HOA and then went into a shared building and then went into the six bay facility in the location I'm in now. But yeah, I mean that's how kind of how I started.
Jay Huh [00:03:10]:
I was the mobile mechanic for a little bit too.
Mike Allen [00:03:12]:
I remember like, man, when I first found asog, and I don't remember how long ago it was, you were one of the prominent names in that group at the time just because you were such a prevalent poster, you post on such a regular basis. And one of the most toxic things about social media is that people only post their wins. They post vacation pictures only. They don't post when they're crying, when they're fighting, when they're yelling, when things are going poorly. And what was so impressive about you and frightening from my perspective was that you were sharing all the dirty shit, man. I remember, I'm trying to think about it. I think maybe it was an oil. He had an oil out issue, like maybe a double gasketed filter or something and just an oil lake backing out of the bay or something.
Mike Allen [00:04:02]:
And he shared about it and everybody was bashing, you know, I was like, you sons of bitches. All of y' all have had that happen at least once.
Jay Huh [00:04:08]:
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Mike Allen [00:04:10]:
And you're just openness with that. What do you think it is about you that you're willing to share the good, bad and ugly?
Jay Huh [00:04:17]:
Man, I don't know. I just share everything online. I share all the good and I
Mike Allen [00:04:20]:
share all the bad.
Jay Huh [00:04:21]:
I share just everything. I don't know why I do that. But yeah, I've made plenty of mistakes. And you know, you were telling me about your podcast before I came on and dude, it's just confessions of shop owner. Everything that you've done wrong as a shop owner and just learning from people's mistakes, that's the best type of learning, is learning from other people's mistakes because you don't have to make the same mistake. And I remember like I went from one store to three stores and I had no idea what I was doing. I had no Idea. I was so broke.
Jay Huh [00:04:47]:
And I remember when I had three stores, I was standing in line at McDonald's before going into my second store. And I remember thinking, I just have to open up one more store. If I had four stores, then I can net $4,000 a month. I thought I had to have $1,000 net from each store is all I could do. That was my thing.
Mike Allen [00:05:05]:
Holy cow. Yeah, holy cow. Where were the other two stores?
Jay Huh [00:05:09]:
One was north, like Triangle Town Center Mall, Northeast Raleigh, and then shoot, like
Mike Allen [00:05:14]:
South Raleigh, Triangle Town Center. Not a good area.
Jay Huh [00:05:17]:
Not a good area.
Mike Allen [00:05:18]:
Not a good area.
Jay Huh [00:05:19]:
None of those were good areas. Yeah, I mean, I was wearing all the hats, putting out all the fire, so I was doing everything in the worst way. So. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:05:27]:
Yeah. Well, you. So you consolidated down and you went. I remember the, the time that I was a shop fix member. We had a little North Carolina group and we toured each other's shops and I wanted your shields before you moved to the big store you're at. You've been in that same strip mall for a long time now, right?
Jay Huh [00:05:45]:
Yep.
Mike Allen [00:05:45]:
And now you're kind of in the anchor unit of that strip mall. How many days do you have now?
Jay Huh [00:05:49]:
About 10 days.
Mike Allen [00:05:50]:
Okay. Yeah. I thought it was bigger than that, but anyway, I think you were four bays when I came and toured. Maybe.
Jay Huh [00:05:56]:
Well, it looked six bays, but it looked like four bays because it's kind of split.
Mike Allen [00:06:00]:
Okay.
Jay Huh [00:06:00]:
Yeah. So I went from a six bay to ten bay. Okay.
Mike Allen [00:06:03]:
And so that growth has continued. How is 2026 going for you so far?
Jay Huh [00:06:07]:
It's going great. You know, we're at maximum capacity. We have eight techs and so. Yeah, we're rocking and rolling over there.
Mike Allen [00:06:15]:
So do you. So is it eight, two posters and alignment lift and a QC bay or has that.
Jay Huh [00:06:22]:
So I have nine, two post lifts and alignment lift. But because of the way things are structured, I can't even fit another technician in there. I can't fit another box. So I'm all about efficiency. I waste no space. In fact, my tire machines, they're outside in a storage container and my guys have to do tires in a storage container outside. Yeah, but I mean, we make it work.
Mike Allen [00:06:42]:
Yeah. One of my shops is like that. I've got a 20 foot Conex that we just wired up and time machine and balancer out there. So, yeah, you just gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. Right. So you grew very publicly. You found a coaching organization which we'll talk about. Obviously you're.
Mike Allen [00:07:02]:
You're repping the brand Because I think that seems to be where your passion is right now and has been for a couple years is with Shop Fix and being a coach with shopfix also. Are you, have you. You're a coach at Shopix. I know that. Have you moved up in the hierarchy there and another level also or.
Jay Huh [00:07:20]:
No, I'm just a coach. I'm just one of the. I think we have like around 70 coaches now. Okay. So I'm just one of the coaches
Mike Allen [00:07:26]:
who's like the director of coaching.
Jay Huh [00:07:28]:
Well, Berg is a CEO. Okay. And then we have lead coaches. I don't know if you know Ryan Hillebrand.
Mike Allen [00:07:34]:
Yeah, yeah.
Jay Huh [00:07:34]:
Brandon Peavey and Patrick Murray. Those are the three lead coaches.
Mike Allen [00:07:38]:
So I remember Pat, Patrick Murray was just getting started when I was there.
Jay Huh [00:07:42]:
Oh, okay.
Mike Allen [00:07:42]:
And he's got the, he's got like a. Just a baller Euro shop, beautiful in the D.C. area. Is that right?
Jay Huh [00:07:48]:
I think Jersey. You know, he moved to North Carolina. Everyone's moving to North Carolina now.
Mike Allen [00:07:54]:
North Carolina is a hotbed of automotive, dude.
Jay Huh [00:07:55]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:07:56]:
We've got so much good stuff going on in North Carolina. I think there's a ton of really strong players that are shop fix guys in North Carolina. And then there's a ton of strong players that are old Igo carryovers into asta. Yep. But for reasons the Shop Fix group and the ASTA group don't seem to cross pollinate very much. And I wish that we could fix that, but it's a complex issue, dude.
Jay Huh [00:08:19]:
Well, this is one of the things that I always wanted is, man. I always wanted the industry to be united. Right. I don't get the division, I don't get the hate, man. I just think that. I think at the end of the day we all want the same thing. We all want to take care of our people, we all want to take care of our customers and we all want margin in our lives. Right.
Jay Huh [00:08:35]:
No one wants to become a shop owner and be broke and have no time for their family. Right. No one signed up to be a shop owner to work 80 hour weeks. Right. Everyone that wanted to become a shop owner, man, I want to work less. I want some margin to be able to spend time with family. But the thing is we just all become trapped in our businesses. And so that's what happened to me is like, man, I thought I kept on having to grow in order to get a little bit of margin back in my life.
Jay Huh [00:09:01]:
In terms of Monet, I mean, I was so broke back then. I grew up poor. Like I was abused by My dad. And the thing about this industry is it attracts those type of people. Like, we're all broken. Everyone's written us off, right? We have no self esteem and then we all come in and we're all here and we're all broken human beings. And now we have walls and defenses up and we all have this ego, but it's false humility because we're trying to protect and persevere whatever little we have left. So that's what I see.
Jay Huh [00:09:30]:
And I want to somehow break that barrier. And shopfix, okay, I think every coaching company, like whoever you're with, dude, they're gonna teach you the same thing, right? They're gonna teach you gross profit per hour or you know, labor capacity and the revenue and then chart of accounts, all that. Like, I think 90% of the stuff is same. But at Shopfix, what we do is like, man, like I've never been a part of any other coaching group, but we really focus on the person, the background, who you are and just believing in yourself again and just saying, I'm proud of you. And that's been the impact of my growth. It's not learning the numbers per se, it's just believing in myself and someone out there saying, well, Aaron Stokes, he's the first one that looked at me in the eye and he goes, hey man, I believe in you, I'm proud of you. And that just does something to you.
Mike Allen [00:10:20]:
It's definitely been my experience as well, is seeing that each coaching organization tends to have its own little spin on things. For, for me, Elite is very numbers driven and data driven and focused on understanding the analytics to a very high level. In my little exposure to Aaron and shopfix, it was you need those things, you need the fundamentals and that foundation. But it's a lot more about emotional management and understanding, self sabotage and, and confidence and that kind of thing. So I think there's definitely a need for that as well. I do want to go back. You mentioned all the haters. It drives me crazy how divided and disparate our industry is.
Mike Allen [00:11:18]:
It's also part of what's so glorious about our industry is because it is the independent aftermarket, we're allowed to do it the way that we want to do it. But it's also so hard to get everybody pulling in the same direction so that we can have meaningful change that sticks. For the very same reason everybody wants to tear down success. One of the analogies that I draw is if I'm driving down the highway and the speed limit is 65 miles an hour. Well, I'm a really good driver, so I can do 75, right? And anybody who's going slower than me needs to get out of my way because I know what I'm doing. Anybody who's driving faster than me is crazy and reckless, and they need to be arrested. Right? And so look at how awesome my shop is. And you should all follow me and do my business the way that I do it.
Mike Allen [00:12:02]:
And if you do it any other way, then you're stupid, and you need to learn from me. And if you do more than I can do, you must be unethical. You must be ripping people off or taking advantage of your employees or whatever it is. And, man, that drives me crazy that that's so prevalent across what we do. I know that. I believe that some of that underlying hate and shade that was thrown towards Aaron and Shop Fix early on because of the explosive growth that they had was jealousy because they were doing things that other people couldn't do. Now, there were other people that had specific instances. Like, there was one time he said this, and I disagree with that.
Mike Allen [00:12:47]:
So therefore, everything he ever said is wrong or evil or based on a lie. Right? Man, I hope that I never have to be judged for my entire life on my worst moment or on any one thing where I misspoke. But it's such a divisive thing.
Jay Huh [00:13:07]:
I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, if you're looking for a specific thing, then you'll find it. I mean, you can edit the clips however you want. I mean, someone can take this podcast and edit it the way they want and portray us to, you know, how they think of us.
Mike Allen [00:13:20]:
Braxton does. He just. He just edits the clips down to make them rage. Baity. So, you know, you just. I guess you just kind of head down and behave in an ethical way and do the best you can to help as many people as you can and go from there. What does. What is 2026 look like for you?
Jay Huh [00:13:43]:
I mean, for me, you know, a lot of people ask me, are you looking for a new shop or are you looking to grow? I mean, if the perfect opportunity comes, I will. However, like, I believe that every shop out there, we can just be a little bit more efficient. So I try to tackle efficiency more than just revenue growth or store growth, and that comes from opening up three shops and not knowing what the hell I was doing, Right? So I lost so much money and so much headache. So I realized, like most people out there, if you have about eight to 10 days. You can net a million dollars for one shop. Just one shop. And it's just so much easier to, you know. And your people are happier because you're pouring all your marketing into one location.
Jay Huh [00:14:19]:
It's just easier for me. My kids right now are 9 and 7. And man, family time. I'm never gonna give that up. I always take a week off every single month. We either go to Disney World, we take a cruise, but no matter what, redo something.
Mike Allen [00:14:34]:
I got to talk about cruises. Okay, so you've got a whole YouTube channel for cruises, right?
Jay Huh [00:14:39]:
I. Dude, I have channels for everything. I started and then I just give up on it. So it's been a while, but yeah, yeah.
Mike Allen [00:14:47]:
So you're a big msc, right?
Jay Huh [00:14:49]:
I am.
Mike Allen [00:14:50]:
So I've been trying to get my family to get on board with cruises for years and they never could, they never would, than ever would. And we're not going to like it. Well, last year I finally got my wife to go on one and she's like, holy shit, I love this. This is great. And so then we did a Disney cruise and we're doing Royal Caribbean cruises. And we're trying to figure out what is like, what's our cadence going to be, frequency and that kind of thing. Why MSC over like a Royal Caribbean or something else?
Jay Huh [00:15:16]:
Dude, msc, I've just. MSC is a lot cheaper than other cruises, right? You just get better value. I'm Asian, man. I'm still cheap, right? I might make a lot of money now, but I'm cheap, right? That always follows you. And that just comes from being broke early on, right? So. And that's something that Aaron has always struggled with. He's always sharing. Like, man, I struggle with, you know, spending like this.
Jay Huh [00:15:35]:
Like he's making millions. I struggle spending 40 grand on this one thing, which is just chunk change to him. But msc, they have what's called yacht club, and you have your own butler.
Mike Allen [00:15:46]:
It's like a boat within a boat.
Jay Huh [00:15:47]:
Oh, boat within a boat, man. Like, we would stay in the owner suite, which is the best room in the. On the whole ship. So it'll run you about like 15 to 20 grand a week. But a similar room in a, like on a Royal Caribbean would be like 60 grand, right? So it's like, it's like a small apartment. You're on the very front. You have a Jacuzzi out on the deck. The butler will like.
Jay Huh [00:16:08]:
I mean, I don't have them do this, but they'll unpack your luggage for you and stuff. Like that and just escort you everywhere, man. I want that.
Mike Allen [00:16:14]:
I want somebody to come unpack my shit.
Jay Huh [00:16:16]:
They'll bring you food on silver platter. But, yeah, man, we crew so often with them. We became friends with the Butlers. Like, we know, like, almost all the cre. So, yeah, it's been good. My kids grew up with the.
Mike Allen [00:16:28]:
How's the quality of food on the boat?
Jay Huh [00:16:29]:
I think it's great. Yeah, I think. I think it's good.
Mike Allen [00:16:32]:
All right, so, Amanda, we're gonna have to try msc. We're gonna try to get in the yacht club. Note it. That's cool. Also, I think, at the risk of pushing up on some stereotypes, you are an Asian man. Are you a degenerate gambler like me?
Jay Huh [00:16:48]:
Oh, hell, yeah, man.
Mike Allen [00:16:49]:
Okay. What's your game?
Jay Huh [00:16:51]:
I used to play poker.
Mike Allen [00:16:52]:
Okay.
Jay Huh [00:16:53]:
But now, you know, that's a lot. Takes a lot of patience. Right. So now it's all blackjack all day.
Mike Allen [00:16:57]:
Any craps or anything? You ever throw those?
Jay Huh [00:16:58]:
Yeah, I used to. I used to throw dice. Yeah. But now it's like blackjack.
Mike Allen [00:17:03]:
Yeah.
Jay Huh [00:17:03]:
You play craps?
Mike Allen [00:17:04]:
I love craps. And a little bit of, like, if the craps table's not good or like, if you get. If you get there and they don't have a good table open, you know, they got. Craps list is the only thing that's open. I got no interest in that. Yeah, I'll go play blackjack. Yeah. So.
Jay Huh [00:17:16]:
And then, dude, like, when. When I'm up in blackjack, like, a lot, I'll go to the roulette table and start splashing chips, man. Yeah. It is bad, man. When you're on a cruise boat and you're stuck on the boat and the only thing there is a freaking casino right smack dab in the middle. Gets a little bit dangerous.
Mike Allen [00:17:32]:
That's how you get in the yacht club. Yeah. Yeah. Gamble. Yeah. Yeah. All right, so you got. I love talking about hobbies and outside.
Mike Allen [00:17:41]:
So you're a degenerate gambler like me. You like cruises like me. I feel like maybe we're just secret brothers. I don't know.
Jay Huh [00:17:46]:
Yeah, maybe. I know.
Mike Allen [00:17:49]:
You get a place down on the coast?
Jay Huh [00:17:50]:
Yep.
Mike Allen [00:17:51]:
How has that been for you? We were almost there, and then there was fear of cost of maintenance and upkeep being so labor intensive, because salt air and everything else.
Jay Huh [00:18:01]:
Oh, dude, the salt eats up everything, man. It eats up everything. But, man, the reason why I got a place on the coast, you know, there's a saying. Success can be duplicated. So my thought was When I heard that, I was like, dude, I just gotta pick somebody that's really successful. I just gotta copy them and I'll get that same success. So who I picked was Aaron Stokes. And I just wanted to be everything like him, like everything he was doing.
Jay Huh [00:18:26]:
And so I'm Asian, right? I was like, I'm never gonna buy a boat, right? Because as soon as it hits the water, it's gonna freakin depreciate. It's probably the worst thing you can buy. But one time Aaron on stage was like, man, having a boat and having all your family on that boat and just looking out back and cheering the guy on the wake, Wakeboard, that's the best form of entertainment you're going to have. It's like the most wholesome fun. And you bring everyone together. And he had a lake house. You bring everyone together. He's like, man, I don't want my kids going over to other people's places.
Jay Huh [00:18:55]:
I want to make a place where we gather everyone here so we can keep our kids here. I heard that. I was like, okay, I'm going to buy a boat. And I bought a boat and I bought a place at the coast. And man, let me just tell you, since 22, we spent every summer there. And I've brought my employees, I brought friends. I mean we just had the most amazing time. Just, just like Aaron said we'd be on the boat and then like I'm in the coast at the outer Banks.
Jay Huh [00:19:18]:
So we can go out where no one else can get to. Like just these smaller islands and just private islands that we would find and just these private beaches. And it's just, it's just fun, man. It's just like you see dolphins out there and all kinds of stuff.
Mike Allen [00:19:31]:
Stuff that's awesome. So I. My brother's a big boater guy and he's always been like, we need. Because I live on a small lake, but it's no motorized boat. So it's, you know, paddle boards and canoes only.
Jay Huh [00:19:43]:
That's peaceful, man.
Mike Allen [00:19:44]:
Yeah. And so I enjoy that. But you know, he's got the big wake boat and everything down on a big, big water lake. And I think a beach house is in the future. One day we'll see. But what do you think is the long term goal for Carmatics? Are you gonna pass it on to the kids potentially or you have an exit plan or timeframe?
Jay Huh [00:20:08]:
So I thought about that too because I see all these, you know, like the equity firms buying out shops, right? And they're paying like Ridiculous multiples, you know, for crazy shops. I stole one owner, he's a friend of mine, he just sold his for at like a 5 or 6x multiple and he just One location.
Mike Allen [00:20:24]:
Yeah.
Jay Huh [00:20:25]:
And I mean he was netting, he's netting a lot. He did really well. And so I think about that. I'm like, well alright, so let's say somebody just offered me five million for my one location. Five million. All right, well I still got to pay taxes on that. And then, you know, I like to, you know, like once you have a finite amount of money, what am I going to do with it? Just put in the stock market. I don't know.
Jay Huh [00:20:46]:
But my business always cash flows and so I don't know if I could ever give that up. It's just I'm never at my shop. I went for the first time I went to my shop was like I think four days ago this year. Before then I didn't go into my shop. I think after Christmas is when I went out to give out some Christmas cash. And then before then I can't remember when I went in. So I've achieved 100% freedom in my shop. It prints money for me.
Jay Huh [00:21:12]:
My people are happy. I have good leadership in place. So I don't know why I would sell it.
Mike Allen [00:21:17]:
Yeah, sure, if it's automatic, you know, how often do you check in on it and monitor and set the guardrails?
Jay Huh [00:21:23]:
So we, we have daily goals. Like this is, I ask a lot of owners, this is like, hey, how did you do yesterday? Did you do well yesterday? And then a lot of owners were like, man, I feel like we did good. I think we did good or I think we did bad. Our car count was down. It's always like I think I feel. But we run our business off the numbers. We have absolute minimum gross profit dollar goals that we have to hit. And if we are $200 off, this is my mentality and this is my manager's mentality.
Jay Huh [00:21:50]:
Even if we're $200 off in our sales, in GP dollars, if we repeat this day every single day, then there's a day that we're going to go bankrupt. In the future if we repeat this, even if I have a million dollars in the bank so next year you're
Mike Allen [00:22:02]:
going to bleed it dry.
Jay Huh [00:22:03]:
Oh yeah. So with that mindset we have, my manager texts me and my advisors the numbers for the day, the sales numbers for the day and that, that's a guardrail.
Mike Allen [00:22:15]:
Do you count the sales when the customer gives the approval or when the cash Gets put in the till when
Jay Huh [00:22:21]:
the customer gets approval. So the idea is as long as I. And I'll just say by minimum numbers right now, 6200 HP dollars a day. If I hit that per day. And it doesn't have to close out, just gotta be approved because I know
Mike Allen [00:22:36]:
one day, I mean, it's gonna get.
Jay Huh [00:22:37]:
Yeah, it's gonna. It's gonna get closed out. And my people only get paid on the work that's closed out. So that's another guardrail. Right. Advisors get paid off of commission, off of GP dollars only. So they get paid when the customer closes.
Mike Allen [00:22:50]:
Yeah. So I'm trying to evolve my business to focus not on top line revenue. I don't focus on top line revenue.
Jay Huh [00:23:00]:
I mean, top line revenue does nothing to me. Yeah. Nothing for me.
Mike Allen [00:23:02]:
Yeah. I'm trying to get my team to not fall in love with the flashy $20,000 BMW motor because how long is that gonna take?
Jay Huh [00:23:12]:
Yep.
Mike Allen [00:23:12]:
How long's gonna go? Yeah, yeah. How much is the. Oh, we forgot this part gonna be eating in the margins. And it's a low margin ticket, but. Oh, the GPH is good. Yeah. But it was there for three days, you know, whatever it was. So we're trying to drive home that focus on GP approval per day.
Jay Huh [00:23:30]:
Yes.
Mike Allen [00:23:31]:
And each location knows what their number is, and they know what the minimum number is, and they know what the target number is. And so just trying to shift mindset and thought process in that capacity. But I am curious about celebrating the wins when they get the approval. But I have had some throughput issues where it's like we just can't get the big jobs out of the bay. And so it builds up and it builds up. I like it to be, you know, eight to $10,000 of GP on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday. Right. But what ends up happening, I'd like that to be what gets billed out.
Mike Allen [00:24:10]:
Right. What ends up happening is that's what's approved. But they bill out 4,000 and then 3,000 and then 12,000 and then 8,000 and then 35,000 on Friday. I'm like, guys, I mean, come on. So establishing that sense of urgency is something that we're struggling with right now. And this consistent sense of urgency, we got to help this person right now. They don't want their car next Monday. They want their car right now.
Jay Huh [00:24:36]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:24:38]:
So it's just a consistent coaching thing. You do morning huddles or.
Jay Huh [00:24:44]:
Absolutely.
Mike Allen [00:24:45]:
All that kind of stuff.
Jay Huh [00:24:46]:
Oh, dude, we do every single morning, 7:30 to 8:00 we have morning meetings between the advisor and technician. It's so important to have all those guys together. They don't realize it but they're in the same boat. But a lot of times it's just how the shops are designed. It's always a battle tug of war between the front and the back and they think they're at width, you know, they think they're on opposite sides but they're on the same boat. But each of them are holding a drill and just drilling holes in the boat, you know, and that's our opportunity to smack the drill out of them, you know. But yeah, every morning that's so key.
Mike Allen [00:25:17]:
So we do 7:30 to 7:45 with advisors in the morning and then we do a small huddle with technicians like 7:50 and then, you know, doors open at 8 for us. But I haven't thought about bringing everyone together. We do once a month after hours, everybody at all locations is invited to come together and we, you know, eat and drink together and talk about process and procedure which has been good for us but we've only been doing that for about five months. So just, you know, just trying to figure out how to, how to be better at what we do. Yeah, so cool. You're not looking to be an evil multi shop owner. You just want to have one badass shop that, that runs on autopilot. That's pretty cool.
Mike Allen [00:26:01]:
I do think a lot of guys that come to these coaching events or training events or join a coaching group and they see all the guys that are kind of put up on a pedestal as this is the player, this is a dog, right? And I went from one store and I quadrupled in a year and then now I've got nine stores or whatever it is and they see that as the standard and they can't be comfortable and happy with where they are and the success that they have because they're always trying to catch up and keep up that.
Jay Huh [00:26:30]:
And I think it's very dangerous if you grow in the wrong way because you're going to keep growing but you're not necessarily cash flowing, right? So you don't have any cash in the bank. And they have built a house on cards, right. Their business is built on a house of cars. One bad month will actually ruin their whole operation. I mean there's some, there's some shop owners that are doing great and doing big numbers and yes, like the shiny, like the best example is Luke Walker. He's an amazing, I don't know if you Know Luke, he's an amazing guy, the most humble, the most genuine guy I've ever met. And his, he has one store that does a million dollars month in sales. A million dollars.
Jay Huh [00:27:07]:
And I remember Luke saying this or Aaron was telling me about Luke saying this. It's like, man, he's like, everyone cares about my big store because, just because it does a million dollars a month in sales, but he only nets 10% of that in that store. And he's like, man, that store is a headache because think about how a
Mike Allen [00:27:22]:
lot to manage, dude.
Jay Huh [00:27:23]:
Yeah, think about how many advisors you have to have, how many GS's you have to have the support staff. And he's like, dude, I want nothing to do with that shop. You know, that's like, like I don't care about that shop. I care about my smaller stores that are netting more. And I think that's just a prime example. It's like even, even Luke with that $1 million shop, he wants to, he likes his other smaller shops more that are netting more. And I've noticed it's like, dude, if you want to net $100,000 a month cash flow, right, if you do, you know, if you net 10%, yeah, you have to do a million dollars. But at 30%, what is that? It's like only 330,000, right? So it's a huge difference.
Jay Huh [00:27:59]:
And the difference between a 330,000 revenue store and a million dollar revenue store, it's enormous. It's enormous. And so which one would you try to go for? Dude, I'm going to try to net 30% every time.
Mike Allen [00:28:12]:
Do you see the ability to get those super high net numbers being challenged and compressed more and more with labor forces being what they are?
Jay Huh [00:28:21]:
Well, here's the thing. I met with the, you know, CEO, Advance Auto Parts, they're in our town. So I had lunch with Shane o', Kelly, right? And then I asked him about, you know, the question I asked is, hey, do you think motivating employees work? And he drew this foursquare for me and he was like, man, high skill, high will employees, you delegate them. Low skill, low will employees, you fire them. High skill, low will, then you motivate and then like a low skill high will you train. But I had an epiphany at that moment. High skilled people will always make you money. Low skill people will always cost you money.
Mike Allen [00:29:05]:
So here's the thing. Outdated SMS just, they don't just slow you down, they cost you money. And I learned it the hard way before techmetric. I was wasting time on inefficient processes, manual updates, back and forth calls with customers. Now I handle everything in one place. Dvi, customer communications, payments, real time reporting. It's all in one page. Since making the switch, my average repair order has jumped from $293 to $916.
Mike Allen [00:29:31]:
And it's not just me. Tekmetric powers almost 10,000 shops nationwide. By the time you're hearing this, it probably will be 10,000 shops, helping them grow and operate smarter. If you're tired of losing time and money to outdated systems, tap the link in the show notes and see what techmetric can do for you.
Jay Huh [00:29:49]:
So in my business, I only flat rate or pay commission only for the advisors, flat rate, only for the technicians. And the biggest difference is it's not because I'm trying to be cheap, because I can't get cheap technicians, because all my technicians are skilled. Right. Skilled technicians are not going to work somewhere where you're going to be cheap. So I pay them very, very well. 401k, you know, 75% medical, dental, I provide whatever. But because they're high skilled, they'll always make me money. And I don't have any GS's, so it's easier to net without low skill people.
Mike Allen [00:30:25]:
What do you think about the concept that Hays has come into the market with in the last couple years? I mean, he's been doing it for a long time, a lot of people have been doing it for a long time. But he's made it more widely known in the training circles that we operate in about speed of service being the name of the game. I think the way that Shopfix says it is money loves speed, I think is what y' all say. Yeah, but they do the Rack Attack program and I've tried Rack Attack to varying levels of success. And like anything else, it depends on the people that you've got. Right. On how well it's executed. You said you have no GS's.
Mike Allen [00:31:04]:
How do you try to execute on speed at a very high level with nothing but high skill techs? Yep.
Jay Huh [00:31:12]:
Yeah. So for me it's all about perception. Right. We all agree that auto repair is getting harder to sell. I mean, our customers are broke right now. I don't know if you noticed it, but man, nobody wants to spend money on auto repair. And we advertise the cheaper oil changes to get people in and no one thinks that they're going to come in and just, you know, stay there for an hour. Dude, there's a take five oil change opening up right across the street from me.
Jay Huh [00:31:33]:
So customer perception is, dude, all changes should only take five minutes. If take five can do it in five minutes. Why can't you do it in five minutes? That's the perception. So I absolutely agree that sense of urgency, speed of service is everything. Because we have to come from the customer perspective. Right. Because they are the. They are king.
Jay Huh [00:31:50]:
Right. If we have no customer. And that's the biggest thing I see is, like, when I think about it, I see a lot of ego in the industry. And they were like, that's not my customer. Or, you know, like, I'm not gonna service them, or we're gonna do it my way, not your way. But ultimately, if you don't have any customers, your customers are the boss. So we have to give them what they want. And nobody wants to sit in that auto repair facility for an hour.
Jay Huh [00:32:13]:
Right. They all got something to do. So what we do, we don't do the rack attack because, you know, we can't have five people, you know, do the rack attack at once. I don't know the policy, really. But what we do is we do what's called the show and tell, or we call it show and sell. Yeah. And so, you know, before the customer even gets comfortable. Sit down.
Jay Huh [00:32:32]:
Our technician has already pulled the car in, you know, lifted it up, pull the drain plug. Right. And while the oil is draining, we will look for the biggest safety issue. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:32:41]:
We call it the ISO. But yeah, yeah.
Jay Huh [00:32:43]:
And I mean, that's. That you can find within 10 minutes for sure. Right. If you see a bald tire with wires hanging out, dude, are you not gonna see that right away or like, we will always. How long does it take to shake down a tire? Right. And if you have a tire rod with nine degrees of play, and if the customer doesn't buy the. That one thing, are they going to buy anything else? Probably not. So we use that kind of as a litmus test as well.
Jay Huh [00:33:05]:
But we always point out the biggest safety issue. Now, we got a lot of flack. I remember Aaron talking about this, and we got flack from this other YouTube channel about. Oh, you're not telling them the whole story. No, we tell them the whole story. Actually, once we sell the work right. We give them a ride home. So they're not in our facility all day.
Jay Huh [00:33:21]:
We check out the rest of the car, present the rest of the ticket to the customer, and then we start to work. So that's where the misconception comes in.
Mike Allen [00:33:29]:
Well, that was a little bit of rage baiting. Too. That dude was looking for content engagement, I think.
Jay Huh [00:33:33]:
Well, I think you got plenty of it. Right.
Mike Allen [00:33:37]:
I think we had actually had this conversation. We were doing an RO audit with a team at one of the stores last week because tech average quote had really tanked abnormally. Because that store, historically it had really like right in line with where we wanted it to be. And what we had said we had discussed, you know, if the customer's not going to buy the ISO or the, you know, the one thing, they're probably not going to buy other things if the one thing that we presented to them is the most urgent, most safety related, most visually compelling item. Right. And so I said, don't waste time estimating all the other stuff, just document it. You still got to tell them. Absolutely.
Mike Allen [00:34:17]:
And I didn't communicate clearly enough in that it was one of those Tuesday night meetings. Right. With everybody from all locations were together. And the way they interpreted it at that store, not the other two, was don't finish the dbi, just go ahead and back it out. And so our tech average quote just tanked. Even though I was telling them not to quote those things, but it became a crutch. They're like, oh, well, if I didn't sell that, I'm not. And well, that customer's not gonna buy anything.
Mike Allen [00:34:48]:
I'm not even gonna look. You know, it's like we have a professional obligation to let them know the condition of their vehicle. Absolutely. And just like with multi stage sales, you know, if we do a show and sell or an ISO presentation and sell them on one thing and we put them in a loaner car and get them down the road or get them an Uber home or whatever it might be. We can't start on those brakes or those tires or anything else until they know about everything else that the car needs that we see. Because you never want to be in the situation where they say, well, I wouldn't have approved that first thousand dollars if I had known it needed $2,000 more.
Jay Huh [00:35:20]:
Absolutely, that's exactly right. I agree with that 100%.
Mike Allen [00:35:23]:
So you know, that methodology and however you want to package it and brand it and teach it is not unethical as long as you're ethical.
Jay Huh [00:35:34]:
Absolutely.
Mike Allen [00:35:35]:
Yeah.
Jay Huh [00:35:35]:
I mean, at the end of the day, whether you're flat rate or being paid hourly, if you're an unethical person, you're gonna take shortcuts no matter what because they're still lazy. So it doesn't matter if you're flat rate or, you know, and it's just about hiring good people. We want good people working for us, you know?
Mike Allen [00:35:50]:
Yeah, for sure.
Jay Huh [00:35:51]:
So, yeah.
Mike Allen [00:35:54]:
There is one thing that I feel like we gotta talk about and that you said, you know, Aaron kind of became the guy that you were trying to emulate is that he was your role model. And I know that you went and got the house at the coast and you got the boat and you got an airplane. You started flying airplanes. And we lost Aaron last month in a tragic accident. Everything that I've read says that it was a really sketchy approach that never should have been approved in the first place. And it was just autopilot into terrain, which is horrible to think about. How has that impacted the team at Shop Fixed and the industry as a whole? Because love him or hate him, the man had an incredible impact and changed the lives of thousands of families in a positive way.
Jay Huh [00:36:39]:
Yeah. Well, you know, there's a saying or there's a quote I've read, and the strength of the leader is revealed in his absence. And one thing about Aaron, he was a leader and he has gathered, I mean, the coaches that you see and shopfix, I mean, each, every. I think Aaron has brought all of us together and we have become stronger than ever. And we're just for the mission. The mission is to keep the average small business from destroying the average small family. That is the mission and we're going to see it carry forward. And I know it sounds weird to say, but, you know, actually I'm not going to say because this can be misconstrued.
Mike Allen [00:37:22]:
Yeah.
Jay Huh [00:37:23]:
But that's the mission and we just have a heart for just a lost and broken shop owners.
Mike Allen [00:37:31]:
Wow. So, yeah, I'm saddened, as is the whole industry, to lose Aaron so early. I think it was incredible what he was building and what he was doing, and it was incredible to sit back and watch him operate and maneuver and just from the outside looking in, not even any kind of behind the scenes, I imagine behind the scenes it was even more incredible to watch him operate. Yeah.
Jay Huh [00:37:58]:
Well, the thing about Aaron is, like, I'm always afraid to get close to leadership, like in churches and stuff. I don't know if you go to church, but I've been in churches where I became, you know, in that, you know, this inner circle and you start seeing things and you start getting disappointed. And I was like, man, when am I going to start seeing things about Aaron or the inner circle of shopfix? Once I start peeling back the layers, what am I going to see? And I've been Actually this month. It's three years since I've been coaching for shopfix now. And who Aaron presented himself to be on stage, that's who he was in person, like 100%. So yeah, he was one of a kind. I don't know if there's anyone else that can. I've never seen anyone like him.
Mike Allen [00:38:44]:
What's next for Shop Fix?
Jay Huh [00:38:47]:
3,000 members. It's gonna be 3,000. Who's gonna be
Mike Allen [00:38:52]:
the owner of ShopFix?
Jay Huh [00:38:53]:
Oh, Aaron's wife Lydia has always been the owner. Yeah. So she's always been the owner and Berg is the CEO. Yeah. It's just crazy how things played out. It's as if this was planned out like everything was already in place. And for the last few years, Aaron hasn't been part of the planning for the conferences or anything. You know, he would speak on stage, but everything's been put into place.
Jay Huh [00:39:14]:
It's almost as if this was planned out and Aaron had a 10 year goal that he laid out for Shop Fix. So we're not skipping a beat. In fact, because of what's happened, we're even. We're stronger than ever. So it's bittersweet for sure.
Mike Allen [00:39:29]:
For sure. Well, Jay, thank you for coming on, dude. I appreciate it and thanks for sharing your story. And I'll let you know how my family's first MSC cruise goes. Probably will be yacht club because, you know, I'm not quite the baller that you are, but one day, well, maybe we'll be on the same boat at some point and we can, we can play craps together.
Jay Huh [00:39:47]:
Oh, that'd be great, man. That'd be great.
Mike Allen [00:39:49]:
Thanks, dude. Yeah, see you. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner where we lay it all out, the good, the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes. So why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit and maybe have another drink? You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover? Or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mikeonfessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number 704-confess. That's 704-266-3377. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to, like subscribe or follow.
Mike Allen [00:40:24]:
Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. See you on the next episode. Loop.
Jay Huh [00:40:57]:
You know I said, jeff,