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Power does not always come from pushing harder. Sometimes in life and in business, the smartest move is to slow down so you can move forward with control, clarity, and intention. Just like a great driver, growth means looking ahead, preparing for the climb, and knowing when it is time to change gears.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:00]:
For all those shops that are thinking that coaching is a scam and they just want us money and cookie cutter. That's not true. Because, like, if you do the culture stuff and the leadership stuff, all the buzz words that really. I'm not lying, you know, they get on my nerves. Well, they got on my nerves. But once you buy in, it all trickles down.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:00:16]:
Welcome to Downshift with my sis, Tanika Haynes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:20]:
We all know as shop owners, sometimes
Jennifer Hulbert [00:00:22]:
you gotta slow down in order to speed up. And that's what this podcast is all about.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:28]:
It's time to downsh. If it's not messy, that means you're not doing anything.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:00:38]:
Yeah, that's not true.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:41]:
My teacher used to say that my desk is a mess because I'm very busy. Like, no, it's not true. My house is a mess because I'm very busy. I can come up with all kind of excuses. Well, hey, Jennifer.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:00:51]:
Hello, Tanika.
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:52]:
How are you doing today? Good.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:00:54]:
How are you?
Tonnika Haynes [00:00:55]:
I'm good, I'm good. So I am going to let you. Well, should I introduce you? Today's guest is someone who has played a really big role in my growth as a shop owner. We've got Jennifer from the institute. Let's see, what else? Oh, and she owns Service Plus Automotive. And that's in New York, correct?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:01:15]:
It is. Northern New York, yes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:17]:
Do you have a lot of snow right now?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:01:20]:
We didn't get the snowstorm that the Northeast did, but we've had about 3 foot on the ground for months. So it's just been really cold all winter, so we haven't lost it. So our banks are passed up to the mirror on my traverse. The snow banks are. But that's typical for us this time of year.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:41]:
See, that is something I do not want to understand ever in my whole life. If we get 2 to 3 inches, North Carolina shuts down. So we would be out of business.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:01:50]:
I know. I was there at the end of.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:52]:
Yeah, we.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:01:53]:
End of January.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:54]:
Yeah. We don't have the stuff to do the things to get the snow up. Does make any sense?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:01:58]:
Yep, we do.
Tonnika Haynes [00:01:59]:
Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. Well, then you don't get to just be at home and be lazy. At what point do you guys, like, shut down? Like, how much snow would shut New York down?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:02:09]:
It's not the amount of snow. It's visibility. So if we get high winds and snow or snow that will move in wind it. They'll shut roads down because of visibility.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:21]:
But okay, we.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:02:22]:
We can get a foot. Foot and a half overnight and as long as it snowing by 4 in the morning, we can still go to school. Because we have the equipment to plow the roads.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:33]:
Nope. No. Because it's cold.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:02:38]:
It is, yeah.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:40]:
School buses. That means the kids have to stay outside to get on the school bus. But the buses probably wait for them, right?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:02:44]:
They do, yeah. They're picked up at pretty much every individual house. Because we're very rural. The county I live in has more cows than people, literally. So we're a very big dairy farming community.
Tonnika Haynes [00:02:58]:
That's wild. So people. Jennifer knows what it like. It's like to be in the bay, to be in the office, in the numbers, in the chaos and all the things. You spend your time helping other shop owners grow their business. And that horrible, terrible word leadership. You've been coaching me on leadership. Leadership.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:18]:
Leadership. So, yeah, she's also my coach. So, Jennifer, welcome to the downshift. I'm not really good at this yet, but I want to have fun for the next few minutes and we can just relax. So I'm glad that you don't get to have your wine. I know how you love your wine.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:03:35]:
I've been working all day and just got off of a coaching call with another Group 2 member, Bobby Lambert and his manager, Brian Miller. So, yeah, I'm in the thick of it and headed to vacation next week. So I'm wrapping things up here at the shop with my two current managers. So I'm going to be here till about six tonight just tying things up so I can leave for two weeks.
Tonnika Haynes [00:03:57]:
That's good. Problem? You just celebrated a birthday, a big one. I saw your very nice AARP card in the mail.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:04:03]:
I did. So I just. That's my daughter.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:09]:
God.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:04:11]:
I turned 50 on Monday and I've decided that 50 is fabulous and 50 is going to be a fantastic decade and I'm ready to soar into this and elevate other people around me, such as yourself and the group members that I work with and the leaders at my shop and get them to the next level. And I'm just ready to go. 50 is going to be a great day.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:33]:
Do the Sally o' Malley thing from Saturday Night Live. I want you to look it up.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:04:39]:
Ok.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:40]:
I like to kick and stretch. Have you seen that? I'm going to send you that. You're going to have to do the Sally o' Malley because I'm planning to do it as soon as I turn 50 as well. So tell me about your story. You grew up in the industry. Like, did your dad own the shop? As well. I think our stories are similar.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:04:56]:
They are. They're very similar.
Tonnika Haynes [00:04:57]:
I love the Cliff Notes version of that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:04:59]:
Okay, so kind of rewind to college. I went to school for human resources and operations management. At 22, I was offered the HR position for a seven store new car company, 375 employees. And I was brought in and said, this is your HR department, run it. I said, okay, throw me in the deep end. Let's go. Had two fantastic owners. Don and Al Carbone are just wonderful people.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:05:33]:
My manager Steve again was, let me know what you need and we'll help you and you run it. And I was 22, fresh out of college. So did that for four years. Worked an hour away from home, wanted to start a family. Knew having a baby and having an hour and 10 minute commute one way was gonna be really difficult. Dad decided that he was gonna move from the three bay old gas station shop to the building we're in now and built this building in 2001. I joined upon opening on July 1st of 01 and kind of the rest is history and kind of the same thing, like knew nothing about accounting, knew nothing about financials, knew nothing about service advising, not really managing or leading people. But here's the shop.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:06:26]:
Figure it out, jump in the deep end and let's go.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:30]:
Hey, been there, done that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:06:32]:
Yes. Yeah, our stories are very similar that way.
Tonnika Haynes [00:06:35]:
I didn't know they were that similar. That's cool.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:06:37]:
Dad decided to Semi retire in 2008. He had a. A safety background. And we're literally across the street from the Fort Drum military base and had an opportunity to go work for a construction company as a safety coordinator. Started that in 08. And I've been managing and running the day to day ever since then. And I love the industry, I love our customers, I love what we do. I love, you know, making vehicles safe and reliable and, you know, maintained so they can.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:07:13]:
Whatever the customer's goal is, is to meet that goal. Whether they're going to trade every three years, whether they're going to run the wheels off of it till 200,000 miles. Which, I'll be honest, in northern New York is difficult because we use pure rock salt on our roads. So rust is a large factor in vehicles for us and belong to a 20 group. Myself for 18 years prior to becoming a facilitator for the same 20 group. So learned everything I need to know about financials, KPIs, marketing processes and procedures, little leadership. I've had more leadership training probably in the past four years. Through the Institute with the High Performance and the Legacy Group with Michael Smith and prior to that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:08:04]:
But I give a lot of credit to my facilitator, John Waffler. He was very instrumental, especially in the KPIs and the financial aspect of that. And Tanika, you know that that's my strength and that's my passion. Even though I know you don't, but you're beginning to.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:25]:
I still don't like it. I understand it, but I still do not like it. I'm telling you, it makes my eye twitch every time I do it. It's like, oh God. But I get it, I get it.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:08:36]:
You have to be. That's your scorecard. We can go out and play this game of auto repair business all we want to, but the financials are our scorecard and to tell us if we're going to win or not net profit.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:48]:
Numbers don't lie, people do.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:08:50]:
And you know, I use that all the time and give in quotation marks. Tanika Haynes.
Tonnika Haynes [00:08:55]:
Yeah, numbers don't lie, people do.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:08:57]:
I actually used that this morning with a group member. So in. John was looking to retire in gosh, what was it now, 2001 or 20? 21, 22 in that time frame. Has joked for years that I've been after his job because of my participation the group meetings. And you know me well enough that I have a little bit of a takeover personality and if I think something and feel passionate about something, it's going to be said so as it should that that was prevalent in the group meetings for many years. Had the opportunity to start to work with the institute with Cecil Bullard and Kent and now are facilitating three groups working with about 58 shop owners, co facilitating the program with Aaron Woods. So we, we do, you know, content writing for the training that our group members receive. We do individual coaching, we provide resources.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:10:06]:
We just made the new financial forecast tool that we started to utilize last fall and both of us are shop owners. So we understand what it takes for, you know, you and our group members to do what you do day to day.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:20]:
I think that's awesome that you are still in a shop too because I think most people think their coaches or facilitators as if you like to call it, or oh, you just this old washed up shop owner. You don't know. You don't know, you don't know. But no, she knows.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:10:33]:
I do.
Tonnika Haynes [00:10:33]:
She knows. Yeah.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:10:34]:
Yep. I have the same struggles in my own shop. I mean, when I stand in the front of the room and say, you know, Our benchmark for parts GP is 55%. Well, there are months that we struggle to get there and have to make the same adjustments that I'm asking my group members to make and come back and have those discussions with my two managers here. So technology changes, staffing shortages, marketing frustrations and opportunities, and changing technology and marketing as well. So, you know, I'm learning along with you and doing the same thing.
Tonnika Haynes [00:11:10]:
And I love that you're very relatable. And I think that's part of the problem. People don't think that they can talk to their coaches about the ugly stuff. Like, for you, you've been so. You've been on your own without your dad for like, what's that, 18 years? Oh, math is mathing. So what was the hardest season for you as a shop owner? Not coaching, but like, as in the shop. When did you almost hang it up and say, you know what, forget this there?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:11:42]:
I love my dad. We are very different managers. He was always the good old boy system, you know, come on in, we're going to make it work. You know, do we really need to. Yeah, you know, do we need to really meet those goals and, you know, do we really need to push this for this performance? And yeah, we do. So when he decided to take a step back, I. It didn't take very long to turn the staff over because we are going to meet our sales goal and we are going to improve these processes. And we sold cars at that point, too.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:12:22]:
And we had 70 used cars out front and our traffic was insane. We had 500 cars a month, an ARO of 300, $400, and it was just a zoo. You had cars?
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:36]:
We had U hauls. Daddy wanted to do U hauls.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:12:39]:
Okay.
Tonnika Haynes [00:12:39]:
Are you serious right now? Yeah. It was new homes. Yeah.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:12:45]:
So we had the crash of what, 08, I think was cash for clunkers came in and we couldn't finance people. We couldn't buy vehicles under book value at auction. And so anyways, the used cars went away very quickly and we started to focus more on the repair side. And that's when some staff kind of showed their true colors. And I'm like, you know, we're going to do this, we're going to do it this way, and we're going to make it happen. And so I think that was the hardest part for me, is to build my own team. And I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of hiring mistakes. Not doing my research on the employee, not asking the right questions, hanging on to people for too long.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:13:35]:
I mean, all, all the things that most of us.
Tonnika Haynes [00:13:38]:
I think everybody goes to that, but I think some people just choose to stay in it way too long because I've done all of that trying to save everybody, But I've got quick to say, okay, this is not the place for you. You're not, you're not going to fit the program. We don't have the same goal. I wish you luck, but not here. Yeah, that is, that is hard because it's hard to find somebody.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:13:58]:
It is. And I feel we've done such a great job at building the team that we do right now. I mean, my, my oldest tenured employee is my lead tech and I think he was 14 years this year. Everyone else is, you know, six, seven, three years. Had a service advisor who just moved. So didn't leave us for any reason, but moved to, to a different part of the state and just hired a new service advisor that's coming in. Tomorrow is his first day. So it's the first employee we've hired in three years, which is a little odd to have to have a new team member.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:14:38]:
But building that staff and learning that culture's a real thing. And I know it's the buzzword in the business world today, but we've taken a lot of time to really define our why and hold people accountable to that. We're not here to make sales. We're not here to make net profit. We are here to service our community. And, you know, our core values are truth or, I'm sorry, trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement. So everything we do is based on those three principles. We're going to work together as a team.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:15:17]:
We're going to be trustworthy to our customers and we're going to do the right thing. And if we make a mistake, we. We own it and we take care of it. And we have to continue to improve for education purposes. I mean, technology's changing rapidly and if we don't stay on the forefront of that, we're. We're not going to be here in three to five years.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:40]:
Yeah. And for all those shops that are thinking that coaching is a scam and they just want us money and cookie cutter, that's not true because, like, if you do the culture stuff and the leadership stuff, all the buzzwords that really, I'm not lying, you know, they get on my nerves. Well, they got on my nerves. But once you buy in, it all trickles down.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:15:58]:
It does.
Tonnika Haynes [00:15:58]:
It all trickles down. Like, I think I may have told you that we were closed for Monday for Snow. And we have our Monday morning meetings before work. And I came on Tuesday, but I was running late, so I usually get there at 6:30. I probably got there at 8, 7 o' clock on the dot. And when I walked in the door, my team was sitting there on a Tuesday waiting for our Monday morning meeting. And that time I knew, oh, crap, this is real now. Still, the Monday morning meetings are weird because we still haven't got our flow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:16:29]:
We don't know what we're talking about all the time. I don't have it all put together, but it flows, it works, and it just trickles down. And as far as culture with hiring, I started to outsource my hiring. I know that I'm not good at that because I will be trying to save everybody or I'll have a vision like, oh, this is what I can turn this person into. But it's much easier just to hire the person that you need instead of a project so they can get in there and hit the ground running. So I'm ready for my next hire. Comes in on Monday. But yeah, all that stuff, it seems like buzzwords, especially the leadership.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:06]:
I got on my nerves so bad. And then I did the leadership class with Michael Smith.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:17:13]:
Leadership intensive.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:15]:
Yes, leadership intensive was intense. And I told Michael and I was like, I don't like it, this is too much. And people are out here crying, this is not right. But at the end of, we had a conversation after that, we met Zoom call. And I got it. I still get it, and I'm ready to take it again. And I understand it. I understand the power of coaching and training.
Tonnika Haynes [00:17:34]:
And, you know, what does it say? Training doesn't cost, it pays. That seems so cliche, but it's very true. And I wish more shop owners did it. And from what I understand, some people say 1%, something, say 10%, but a lot of people are just missing out on it and they're not even trying because there's so much free stuff out here, like the lives and the talks and the webinars and the YouTube videos. People don't even go and look for the knowledge. They just want to keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over. And then they say, oh, I can't find good customers, I can't charge what I want, I can't find good tips. You can, you can, you can if you just do the work.
Tonnika Haynes [00:18:15]:
Yeah, but it starts with me
Jennifer Hulbert [00:18:19]:
and someone holding you accountable. So, yeah, that, that's the one thing. When I was offered the coaching and the facilitation position with the Institute. That was one of my first questions. Is this going to be cookie cutter? Because no shop is the same as the other. And are we going to. I mean, I can get on a call with you and talk about KPIs and SOPs. I can get on a call the next hour and talk about hiring practices and, you know, some culture.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:18:50]:
Then I can get on the next call and talk about some marketing challenges. So it's really, what do each of our members need? And if the coach doesn't have the absolute answer within the Institute, we have the answer. I mean, we have a huge knowledge base with all of the coaches that we have in any aspect of your repair business, from your manager to your service advisor to the owner. So. And we're holding you accountable. And Tanika, you know, like in our group meetings, you have an actionizer. You're making commitments to the group and we review those and you're called out if you don't put the time and attention in to get it done.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:37]:
But, yeah, I didn't do what I was supposed to do.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:19:41]:
Nobody else in your business is going to hold you accountable to some of those larger items.
Tonnika Haynes [00:19:46]:
Right. Because you're at the top of the food chain.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:19:47]:
Correct. That's the power of the group process. And that's why I'm so passionate about it, because I lived it. The group process saved our business more than once from economic downturns. Again, I'm literally across the street from the Fort Drum military base. What happens when there's big unrest in the world? The 10th Mountain Division is an infantry division, and it's the most highly deployed infantry division in the country. They leave. My cheese literally moves to some other country when there's some big political unrest.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:20:26]:
So we have to be good at keeping customers who are going to be here. We have to be good at attracting new customers who are moving into the area. And we have to do it right or they're not going to come back. And when you take a whole brigade that takes five to 6,000 troops out of the area for a year, that's a dent. It is. And some of those families don't stay here. You know, if they don't have children in school and aren't established in the area, they'll go home. Because typically this is not village.
Tonnika Haynes [00:20:58]:
Right, Right.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:21:00]:
So it's, I mean, keeping our margins to where we needed to get to have them and having the downturn in car count, but still having some profitability because of margins and is why we're still here. And that's what the group process did for me a couple of different times throughout my 18 years of membership. And honestly is still doing it today because I still have an accountability partner for myself.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:28]:
That was my question. I was like, do you have a partner? Do you have. You go through the process still?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:21:33]:
I do, yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:34]:
Yeah.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:21:34]:
And someone who scrutinizes me and looks me in the eye and says, what the heck are you thinking, Jen? You know, get it together.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:43]:
So the coach has a coach. I love it.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:21:45]:
I do. Because everyone needs to be held accountable. And when you're not, things slip. And I'm guilty of that, too. I don't stand at the front of the room and pretend everything is perfect, because it's not.
Tonnika Haynes [00:21:58]:
And she doesn't. She doesn't. And I like how you said, who moved your cheese? That was one of my favorite books. I'm not sure who in the group mentioned that book, but that's the easiest read. But it's so common sense. And I think, like, if you have not read, like, what is it called? Who moved my cheese? Or where's the cheese? Something about some cheese.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:22:16]:
It is. I can't remember.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:17]:
Cheese book is amazing. And it's a short, easy read for people that don't want a book that's 500,000 pages. You just don't have time. You don't have to squirrel. You don't have the mindset to sit there and read it. It makes a lot of sense. So when you are dealing with shop owners come in here, what is the one thing that shows up? To me, I think it would be ego. I know my first couple of coaches, it was my ego.
Tonnika Haynes [00:22:46]:
Not the same, like, arrogance type ego. But I don't want to do that. I'm not going to do that. That's not going to work here. But I already knew it, all right? But I was like, okay, if you knew it all, why you got no money? So how do you break that? How do you. Do you guys have to weed certain shops out? I don't remember the process, the intake process. Like, if there's somebody and you already know that this person is not going to listen, they've already given you hell. Do you just say, well, you know, the institute's not right for you, or do you still try to go in there and save that shop?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:23:18]:
So prior to the Institute, when, because I was part of RLO training that the institute purchased, there was a course called Guerrilla Shop Management and that was required prior to becoming a group member. And it was a 12 hour course and it gave you the basics of the financial basics. The institute does it a little differently where we have more one on one coaches. So that's typically the process when you come in. If there's a level of knowledge that needs to be had, you'll go into a one on one coaching for a period of time. Sometimes that's two months, sometimes that's six months, sometimes that's a year until basic processes are in place and then step into the group process because what we don't want to have happen is talking about the same and I'll use the word the low level items every time we get together. If you don't understand what parts gross profit is or the formula to calculate it, then you don't know how to change it. And that's where the one on one coaching kind of handles all of that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:24:33]:
And then has someone step into the group who can discuss the level that we discuss it in. And I mean you came in as a one on one coach, a coaching client. I think I met with you two or three times and said you got to be in a group. Your financials were not 100% together, but could be very quickly with some focus. But your personality, your determination for improvement, your core shop processes were fantastic. And we just saw evidence of that in January because we were at your shop doing your review through the group process, always trying. And so I mean that's typically how we start. You have to have that basic level of knowledge and you have to be able to step away from the business.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:25:25]:
So if you are an owner who is a full time technician or a full time service advisor, you have to replace yourself to be able to commit to the group process. And all the time that it's going to take to do the homework, to meet with your accountability partners, to meet with your coach and to travel to the three in person meetings a year. So that's kind of how we handle it is individual coach, whether that's me, whether that's Aaron or the other owner coaches that we have, I think we're at a staff of eight right now for owner coaches within the institute, that that's the process.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:06]:
So everybody knows that you coach me. And this is my third coaching experience. First I was with Drive and they're out of California. And that was my first toe dip into coaching. I did like my facilitator, I did, I just didn't like the program. And then I went to 180Biz with Rick. That's still my homeboy. I love him, loved all his processes and whatever.
Tonnika Haynes [00:26:32]:
But I kind of felt like I changed. I like to experience different ideas and different ways of seeing stuff. I always say, for me, cooking is my thing. Yes. This is the basics, this is how you do it. But I'm going to look in other cookbooks and other recipes to see how I can put a little razzle dazzle on it. So coaching me, how bad is it? Be honest, what is it like?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:27:00]:
You, you think it's bad? You're not everywhere.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:03]:
Because I know my facial expressions. I'm just sitting there like, what in the hell?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:27:07]:
Oh yeah. But, but you've got stuff done. Yeah. I mean, you think that you're difficult, Tanika, but you're not because you take the, the homework, the tasks that I give you and you get it done.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:23]:
But I get it done.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:27:25]:
That's what I ask for. A coaching client. If you want to get to the next level, we can get you there. But you've got to put in the work and the work is real.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:34]:
I love it.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:27:35]:
It is.
Tonnika Haynes [00:27:35]:
I love and hate it. I'm not going to lie to the people, man. I just like, I don't want to do this. I won't do it. But once I do it, once I get my numbers in there, I can see the growth and I can see the percentage and I can see where I need to tweak stuff. It's so, it's not easy, it's rewarding.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:27:51]:
And for you, I can remember the first couple of meetings you were the full time service advisor and you thought, there's no way I can step out of this role because no one can do it better than I can. But guess what?
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:03]:
They can't. They try really, really hard, but they cannot be me. No. And it's funny because I was laughing in a, a zoom call earlier with amazing women in automotive, that whole network, it's like I don't know what cars are in the shop. I really don't. I'll see my favorite customer, I'll see the customer's name that I really know I need to go speak to and I'll make sure I see them. But I don't know all of the day to day, but I know that I have to look at my numbers, I have to listen to my phone calls. I have to do this.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:36]:
I have to make sure the training is going on. I haven't ordered any parts, I haven't checked on stock. I mean, I check on stock, but I haven't done all of the things that I was doing.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:28:44]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:28:45]:
And I don't know the last time I worked a full week at work, like they literally are telling me, are you going home? Well, you can go home now, Ms. Tan. Well, I do like to work at night. Cuz I can do all my homework and my number stuff at night on the weekend. But there's no need for me to get up at 5 o' clock in the morning and be there at 6:30 anymore. I still do it. It's just because I a habit. But I appreciate you taking me getting myself out of my own way.
Tonnika Haynes [00:29:11]:
Because what we talk about is working on the business and not in the business. And I'm doing a lot of working on the business still. Now I'm still gonna work in the business because I don't want them to try to get me and take my money. Sometimes you gotta do both.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:29:26]:
That's good oversight and management. So, you know, nowhere are we ever to say the owner is just gonna take a step back completely and not, not look and pay attention to anything, you know, that's not productive for anyone. Because I still review KPIs on, you know, a daily, weekly, monthly basis with my staff through the institute. You get the dashboard and that you get a daily email with the summary of the day and the summary of the week. And it's so funny because I travel a lot. Fifteen weeks a year, I'm traveling to group meetings so you know, I won't be here and we'll have a bad day. And before I get my daily email, I have a text message from my lead advisor saying just want to let you know what happened today. Because he knows what the first question's gonna be.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:17]:
And the store's starting to do that as well. I got a text from him when I was in Houston last week and he said, I just wanna let you know we did have these cancellations, but we did this, we've done that. And I was like, oh, look at you reporting. Cause you know, I was gonna be mad when I saw that my numbers.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:30:30]:
Right, exactly.
Tonnika Haynes [00:30:31]:
And it's, it's wild allowing myself to become the leader that I've known that I needed to be. And then after doing the leadership intensive, I'm not sure exactly what the, what he tells us to do, but we had to write our mission statements for ourselves, like who are you? And when I, when it all came out, I'm looking at it like that's not who I am. It's like, it is who you are, Tanika. It's not. I don't want to be A leader. You are a leader. Dag on it. Your leader.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:02]:
And people like to listen to you talk. I don't know why, because. But do it. And that was God talking to me. And then the devil was over here and then God was talking. So leadership is part of business ownership. And if you still want to just be a mechanic with a shop and charge people stuff, you can do that. But if you want to grow your business and grow your team and make a legacy and build a community and do all the good stuff, you know, this is all more than just fixing cars.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:30]:
And I think we say that a lot. And I think some people just really think that that is just the key word. That's just a popular word these days. And it's not. It is real.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:31:39]:
It is.
Tonnika Haynes [00:31:39]:
And you just have to buy in.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:31:41]:
I didn't realize how rewarding it was until I have two fantastic managers now, like building them to their position and seeing, you know, them hit the goals that I, I'm a little conservative, I'll be honest. And I, I have to remind myself that in the group process. And Michael Smith tells me all the time, don't put a ceiling on anybody. You know, tell them that there is no limit. But I tend to put a little limit on our goals here. And the staff's like, no. And they're, they're achieving them and I
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:13]:
love it because that happened to me as well. When I came back, we did our financial forecast. I was like, well, this is where we're looking at. And Stuart was like, yeah, so you mean we needed to get this much? I'm like, yes, we do. And they get just as excited because you know that I was really afraid to share my numbers. I didn't want my staff to see that. Like, oh no. Because then they're going to think it's all my money.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:35]:
But no, just getting them to understand this is what is needed to make sure your check cashes, your insurance is paid for. We can take, have that four day work week. This is what we have to do. Ready, set, go. And then they take the baton and they are just running.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:32:50]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:51]:
And they're using, you know, it's we. It's not, that's just, that's not my job. It's a we thing. What do we have to do to make this happen?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:32:58]:
Collaboration.
Tonnika Haynes [00:32:59]:
And it is so amazing. So I just want to read this email. I sent a tech, my service advisor to training and I said, okay, go learn the things. And he said, yes ma' am and thank you. This really means a lot to me and I appreciate you willing to invest in me. That's what it's about. And he said several things like that. I'm just like, look at me leading the babies and doing all the things.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:27]:
And I love it and I love. And I want more shop owners to experience that. Yep. But that doesn't happen overnight.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:33:34]:
It does not.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:35]:
Well, what scares me sometimes is when people think it happens overnight and they're looking at the highlight reels, Facebook posts in the wins and they forget about the losses. Work, the work, the work. That the time that I was on the desk and had to run the shop like we closed at 5:30, but I was there at 10 o' clock and there's a couple years you're gonna have to do that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:33:58]:
There is.
Tonnika Haynes [00:33:58]:
You're gonna have to work on and in and then slowly you'll work less in and more on. But it doesn't happen over tonight overnight. Not at all.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:34:07]:
It does not. And I mean I was a full time service advisor for years because number one, no one could do it better than I could. And number two, I was saving us money because I was saving that salary.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:20]:
But guess what, Me too, I was saving us money but I was emotionally discounting everything and I didn't even know it.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:34:27]:
I didn't know what I didn't know at that point. And now I have two fantastic advisors who follow the processes that I set that, that I'll be honest, I didn't always follow.
Tonnika Haynes [00:34:39]:
I don't follow them now. My own processes. If I go to the like, please, Mr. Nick, you didn't. I'll go back.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:34:47]:
Yep. No, they kick me off because they, I don't do it right anymore. But you know, seeing that growth in staff and seeing where the business is now, where you can take pride in. I didn't do all of the work, but I am responsible for putting the people in place to get the work done. And it's not easy. And you know, I have a lot of group members say, how do you take a step out almost completely out of the day to day of your business and help us? It's because I put good people in place and it took years to do that and it took a lot of work and it took a lot of tears and it took a lot of sweat to do that. But if you invest in the right people, and that's the key, the right people, they will band behind you and just take this, the ship higher than you thought it was going to be possible.
Tonnika Haynes [00:35:43]:
Right. We had OSHA show up the Week after, you know that. I know, but really looking for the body shop next door. And we used to own it, but they really thought that's what they wanted to look at, but they had to look at my stuff because that was on the paperwork. And I walked next door to let the Collision center know OSHA's looking for you. They were not here for me. And you better get your crap together because it looks like a crap show over there. And there was an employee standing beside the manager that I was talking to, and he's a young manager and he's going to be great.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:16]:
The first thing out of her mouth was, if we get shut down, do I still get paid Now? I thought about that, I looked at her, and she said it more than once. And I'm like, this is not about you right now.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:36:29]:
Correct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:29]:
But when OSHA was in the shop and the guys realized that what was happening, my people, they were looking at me like, what do we need to do?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:36:38]:
Right?
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:39]:
Like, they were like, like, what do. I was like. Like, we were. They were like, what do we need to do to make this go smoothly for you so we can keep our shop open?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:36:50]:
Correct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:36:51]:
But she had the mindset of, this is a job just over broke. This is a job. This is all about me. What happens to me if something happens. Instead of saying, hey, what do I need to do to help us get in line with what OSHA needs?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:37:04]:
Correct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:04]:
So that's the difference between an employee and a team member.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:37:07]:
Correct.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:08]:
And I would not have said that, and I would not have noticed that three to five years ago. And that's part of leadership.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:37:20]:
It is.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:20]:
And healthy leadership. And mine is not perfect. I'm still working on our stuff, and they know that I'm working on it. I'm like, guys, if I'm not here, I'm somewhere learning stuff. So we can do this. Right? We can do this without a lot of stress and chaos, and we can do our job and go home. This is why I'm not in the shop. I'm not playing.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:37:38]:
And they can see it if you're not honest and open of, you know what? I didn't handle that right. I admit and recognize in myself that I don't always do it perfect. But you know what? I'm gonna do better next time. And that's what I ask of you, too.
Tonnika Haynes [00:37:54]:
Let me help you and you help me as well, because I don't know what I'm doing. I don't. The first time I've had this situation, next time, it won't be like this. And we're doing the one on ones and you're asking the technician service advisor, hey, what can I do to be a better leader? Am I giving you everything you need to do a good job? And like our Monday morning meeting, I don't know what, the kid wanted to ask for something. I was like, aj, just say it. So he told the other take to tell me. I was like, no, tell me what we need. Well, I don't want to spend the shop's money.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:25]:
That's what we do. We make the money to spend the money.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:38:27]:
Right.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:27]:
And get what you need. Tell me what you need. Tell me what's broken. Tell me what's missing so that you don't think that I'm not out here just balling. I'm out here learning. So. And I want to make your job easier. I want to make this place comfortable for you.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:42]:
I don't want anybody throwing wrenches at anybody.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:38:44]:
Yep.
Tonnika Haynes [00:38:45]:
And so that's just how, in my opinion, healthy leadership actually works. And like I said, it trickles down and it ends up just going to your bottom line.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:38:53]:
It does. And that's why profit's not a dirty word. You need profit dollars to be able to buy the equipment that your technician needs to help do his job better. You need the profit to be able to attract those high levels technicians. Because we all know that there's a shortage of technicians. And if we're not, we don't have the facility, we don't have the pay plan, we don't have the benefit package in the environment that they can win in. Marketing is a, you know, we need marketing dollars to be able to attract the right customer. It all starts with gross profit and net profit dollars to be able to do that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:39:29]:
Right. And if the staff doesn't understand that, yes, you can come and ask me for that piece of equipment. And this is why we have benchmarks for, you know, our gross profit numbers. And this is why we have benchmarks for our expenses and to manage them. Because then I can say, yes, I'll be happy to go buy that thousand, $2000, 10 even $10,000 piece of equipment. Because it's what we need to be able to do the job that we
Tonnika Haynes [00:39:55]:
need to be afraid to say, he's only been with me for a year. It's like, yeah, this is not that shop bank. What do you need? Tell me what you need. Okay, let's figure it out. Let's get it. We'll look at it together. Is this the one? Is this the best one. Let's make a decision.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:08]:
Let us make a decision instead of me going to Facebook Marketplace and trying to find the cheapest option. Oh, Ms. Tanika, the lifts. Oh, yep. It's time to replace them. One, two lifts will be on the way. We get new lifts. We got new lifts.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:21]:
Who knew a technician would be excited about a new lift? It goes out faster, it's less work for you, safer. And that's what that bottom line is all about.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:40:30]:
Absolutely. Preach it, sister.
Tonnika Haynes [00:40:32]:
Yeah. So if there is. There is a shop owner listening right now, and he or she is rolling their eyes because they're stuck and they are in the same little loop and they're stuck. They don't know what they don't know. And they're too broke to get a coach, or they're too stubborn to get a coach, or they can't afford a coach. You can't afford not to have a coach, in my opinion. So there's a shop owner listening right now to you, Jennifer, the guru of the Institute, and they're feeling stuck. What is the first thing you would tell them to do tomorrow, not only as a coach, but as a shop.
Tonnika Haynes [00:41:10]:
A fellow shop owner? What would be your advice to that stuck individual?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:41:14]:
Well, you. You know, the more most important number to me is net profit, and that starts with proper parts and labor margins. So typically, the objection to raise prices is in between the ears of the shop member or the shop owner. Charge what you need to charge to make yourself profitable. You are not going to lose droves of business. You are not going to have customers walk away in hundreds like you think you are. Profit's not a dirty word. And we have stringent benchmarks because of that.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:41:54]:
And they're high. I mean, 55% on labor, 73% unloaded labor. I know there's a lot of coaching companies that do loaded labor. Make sure that you're pricing things at a point where you can survive and you can buy that piece of equipment and that you can send your technicians to training or you can offer the benefits that you can offer. A lot of it comes down to mindset, too, is you have to be willing to do something differently. And if you aren't growing, you're going backwards. And if you can recognize that you're not growing, then the need for coaching is even more relevant at that point. And, you know, whether it's with the Institute, whether it's with the multitude of other coaching groups out there, we all do great things.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:42:47]:
Does the Institute do it fantastic? I think so. But Coaching companies do all do great things and most of coaches that are out there want you to succeed and get joy from seeing your coaching clients succeed. So watch the podcasts, take some of the training, but make the improvements. Don't just listen to it and do nothing with the knowledge. Put it into practice and just start to make those small tweaks. If you are at a 30% Parch GP, get it up to 55 over a course of a period of time. Do it gradually if you have to, but don't do it at a snail's pace either because otherwise you're going to go backwards. And I've had five or six shops, local, mom and pop, little hole in the walls around me.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:43:43]:
Great people go out of business because they can't compete anymore. I don't want to see anyone in that situation, but they think it's just,
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:51]:
I've got the lower price. I've got the lower price. You know, that does that. That's not it all the time.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:43:55]:
It's not. And you're going to attract that lower customer.
Tonnika Haynes [00:43:58]:
Exactly. You have to know your customer. You know, I've had, I had a bad experience at the dealership. It was funny, it was crazy. I told him, I was like, I'm the one that says yes to everything. You didn't even present it. I don't have time, so I'm not going to haggle about price. I don't have time.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:13]:
So know your customer, charge what you need to pay your bills. Like it's crazy how many people are not paying themselves in the business.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:44:22]:
It is, it is. Do the right thing, but both for your customer and your staff.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:29]:
And they won't understand. Yep, a real customer will understand. I got a review maybe last week, week before last time gets away from me. And the review was, yes, they're expensive, but it's worth it. And they've had the same technicians for years. And he literally said that. And I was like, see? Hallelujah. And if you can't get your customers to get that and they haggle you on price, then that's not your client.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:44:53]:
It is not our client person.
Tonnika Haynes [00:44:55]:
Like we were talking about the levels of customers. Just think about the people that you do have that you can take care of. Stop spending time on bottom feeders. Yes, you wanna. Well, I can turn them into a raven customer. Can you? Can you really turn that one person into a raven? Do you want to really?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:45:12]:
Are they even a happy person?
Tonnika Haynes [00:45:13]:
Are they even happy? They're gonna complain about everything. But I always say, like, they really do not say the same things when they go through the drive through at chick fil, a McDonald's or Starbuckies. They don't haggle them. They're paying premium price for iced tea. Do you know how much a tea bag is worth? Like a penny. And you can get a gallon of iced tea out of a tea bag and they're charging you $3 for a 32 ounce. You don't think about that, but no, you don't. Fussing at me for the price that I'm charging you to fix the thing that keeps you going back and forth to work, picking up the kids from school that could possibly hurt you or your family and someone around you and you want to find the cheapest way out.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:00]:
So once people find their voice, I tell people, when you're talking to people, just smile at them, say yeah, and repeat what they just said. And usually you can get someone's like, oh yeah, you're right, okay. But they tried it. All you can do is say no. Just let them ask and say, no, we're not going to do that. This is what we can do. And they'll be like, okay then, but just don't break down. Say okay, I'll give you a discount.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:46:20]:
Nope.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:20]:
What?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:46:21]:
We do it for a reason. We do quality repairs. We're going to make sure your vehicle's safe. We're going to tell you everything that we see so you can make an informed decision. And it's your decision to make. But we're not going to cut corners on our end.
Tonnika Haynes [00:46:34]:
I'm going to present it to you and you get to say yes or no. Or then sometimes it's just maybe. So. Yeah. What gives you the hope in this industry? We always talk about the industry is bad and the injuries going forward bad and we can't find any technicians. I honestly believe that we have to build them now. We have to build some of these technicians. But what else? What in this industry gives you hope right now?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:46:59]:
We're never gonna go away. I mean, auto repair is always going to be there, people.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:05]:
You mean the AI going to come take their jobs?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:47:08]:
No.
Tonnika Haynes [00:47:08]:
The robots are not going to fix the cars.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:47:10]:
No. Working with the owners that I do within the group process just give me a lot of joy watching people succeed. Watch. I was on with a Group 5 member this morning and he has just a horrible year and a half of wrong staff. He's got the right staff now and things are just soaring and just watching the excitement on his face instead of the oh my goodness, what am I going to do? This is. I'm never going to be able to get through this to. I have the right staff and I put them in place and you know, I did. This gives me a lot of joy.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:47:50]:
But this industry is never going away. And one of the, or the motto of the Institute is better business, better life, better industry. And I firmly believe that we can change this industry one shop at a time by giving the owner the knowledge they need to have to go back to their own shop and say, you know what? We're going to be better in all aspects. We're going to build better managers, we're going to have better employees, we're going to make you better skill wise and we're going to, we're going to do a better job at servicing the customers because our industry has a horrible rap and we fight that rap every single day. But we had a customer in this morning and says, I've never had an experience. It was a, a woman who just moved. They just moved to Fort Drum. I've never had a positive experience like I have here.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:48:44]:
Your information was wonderful. There was no high pressure sales. You talked to me like a real person. You didn't make me feel incompetent because I asked a question on a part that I didn't understand and you explained it to me. That's what, that, that's what I want to see for our entire industry. And that's why I push shop owners to, to do what we do within the group process and to be real people. And I don't know, it fills my heart, it fills my bucket to watch the success of the owners around me, which trickles down to their employees, which trickles down to their communities. And just the ripple effect that we can have across the entire country is pretty amazing when you think about it.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:29]:
Yeah. The way you put it, that's perfect. I agree. I do agree. Well, Jennifer, thank you not just for this conversation and taking your time out of your busy day, getting ready for your vacation, but I also want to thank you for pouring into me over the last year and a half. I feel like it's been two years. Yeah, I don't know. I think, is it almost two? I can tell you guys firsthand growth is very uncomfortable.
Tonnika Haynes [00:49:54]:
It's very un. They call it growing pains. Yes. For a reason, but it hurts for a reason. You have to get uncomfortable to get to the next level, but it's definitely worth it. So when leadership feels heavy, when you question yourself, you just have to continue to trust the process. And I just don't want anybody out there in the Internet and the world Wide Web, Beyonce's Internet, thinking that when you see other shop owners winning, that they have it. If they don't.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:24]:
We are still crying. We are still struggling. We're still taking the classes, we're still coaching. We're still listening to the podcast. So once you change your mindset, you change what you're looking at. Read a good book, ask for help. Then once you can afford to get that coach, sky's the limit. Sky's the limit.
Tonnika Haynes [00:50:44]:
Go to the moon. There's no limit. There's no way. So, Jennifer, I'm gonna let you go back and wrap it up, and I hope you have a wonderful vacation. And I'll see you on the coaching call tomorrow and let me go do my homework for the Institute before I get in trouble.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:51:00]:
Well, thank you, Jessica. And I love your voice in the industry. So thank you for being just that voice of positivity and all that. You are in your ray of sunshine personality.
Tonnika Haynes [00:51:13]:
So if anybody wants to get in touch with the Institute, how do they sign up? How do they look into how to become part of this whole gang that we got going on?
Jennifer Hulbert [00:51:23]:
We are the institute.com. there is a connection button to our team to talk about any program that we have. And that ranges from service advisor training to manager training, owner training, group process, individual coaching, the legacy program. So if you want to be a growth engine and learn how to expand into multiple locations, we have a platform for that. But weartheinstitute.com and we'll get you there. You have my word on that. Because everyone within our organization is there to help the person in need to get to the next level. And sometimes that comes with pushing and shoving, and sometimes that comes with let me hold your hand and walk side by side.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:52:10]:
And sometimes you're running, come on here. A little ahead of me and I need to catch up, but we're there to support any level of your business.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:20]:
Awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Jennifer Hulbert [00:52:22]:
Oh, thank you, Tanika.
Tonnika Haynes [00:52:24]:
Downshift with Tanika is where we slow down long enough to have real conversations hosted by myself, second generation shop owner Tanika Haynes. This goes beyond your car count, your KPIs. We want to talk about leadership, legacy mindset, and the messy, beautiful journey of building something that lasts. You will hear stories from shop owners, technicians, and other industry leaders who are figuring it all out by themselves in real time. This is a space for growth, tough love, laughter, and leveling up.