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The Gearbox Podcast brings on industry professionals to explore the day-to-day operations of owning and operating a shop. From common frustrations to industry-wide shifts, this podcast covers it with fun and insightful conversations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
My name is Jimmy Purdy, shop owner, master tech transmission builder, and the host of the Gearbox podcast. Here I talk with new and seasoned shop owners, as well as industry professionals about day to day operations within their own shops and all the failures and successes that come along the way, from what grinds your gears to having to shift gears in the automotive industry. This is the Gearbox podcast. So your podcast is a lot of getting into the diagnostic processes.
Matt Fanslow [00:00:43]:
Honestly, no. They. Carm Caprioto, who, it's under his umbrella of the aftermarket radio network, I guess, had been planning or scheming that give me or have me do my own show for quite a while. And I think initially, the idea, before it was named or anything was recorded, was it would be very technical. And I'm like, but there's so many things I'm interested in. I'm so very interested in the personal stuff, too, like psychology and theories, be it just business management theory, be it game theory, economic theory, physics. Just. There's so many things that I'm interested in and want to talk about and would want to talk about.
Matt Fanslow [00:01:38]:
So the name diagnosing the aftermarket a to z was to try to encompass that. That is just. If it. If it can be tied into anything to do with the auto repair industry, be it the industry itself, the businesses, the shops, the technology, or the people operating in it, it falls under that. And that's kind of. I think I've ran the gamut. Like, there's no stone that I want to leave unturned.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:10]:
Yeah, that. That's everything. I mean. I mean, from what I tell my CPA, every. Anyway, yeah, that's all automotive stuff. Everything. It all ties back to that.
Matt Fanslow [00:02:22]:
And I felt like there's just stuff that was never really talked about. It doesn't get talked about. And not that I have all these wonderful lessons for people, but I think just, we're not alone where there's. Everyone's got stories to tell, or a lot of people are going through a lot of similar things. So it's. I think it really started out with substance use disorder. And talking about addiction, which I personally suppose, maybe arguably food to a degree, but other than that, have never really had a substance use disorder. But I married somebody that did, and then that process of learning more about it was kind of like, oh, wow, we got this all wrong.
Matt Fanslow [00:03:09]:
And there's so many people in the world, much less our profession, that suffer from it. That's kind of where it started. And then we're fixers, right?
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:20]:
Like, we just got to fix stuff.
Matt Fanslow [00:03:22]:
100%.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:23]:
That's what my wife says all the time, too. Like, just listen to me. I don't need you to fix anything. It's like, yeah, but my mind is wired to just fix things. I want to. I want to dive in, and I'm like, I'm on the same page with you. Like, the cosmos and universe and, like, quantum theory. It's like, stuff just enthralls me, and some people like, how do you listen to that stuff is like, how do you not? Like, it's just so interesting how this stuff works or how they think it works anyway.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:46]:
But that's the whole thing with diagnosing anything is a hypothesis, and you're just trying to prove yourself wrong. Really?
Matt Fanslow [00:03:52]:
Yeah, 100%. That's scientific method. That's what it is boiled down, you know, whether you're starting out with a customer complaint and you're kind of already formulating some of the possibilities, and then you start kind of testing them or gathering information to further support the hypothesis. Right. You know, you hear the engine runs rough. You're thinking misfire. So you go out there, maybe feel it. It's like, well, that does feel like a misfire.
Matt Fanslow [00:04:21]:
So you're supporting the initial hypothesis, or. No, it's like, no, this thing vibrates.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:26]:
This is.
Matt Fanslow [00:04:27]:
Wow. I wonder if this is like a motor mount or something like that. So it's what you're doing. You're working through the scientific method?
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:33]:
Yeah, absolutely. And then it comes down to psychology of. Of yourself, too, right? I mean, I think that's a big overlooked one, especially moving from, like, the tech to the owner role. Like, you learn. You have to learn psychology. Yeah, you have to. Yep. You know, to keep the techs motivated and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:53]:
And to know where they're at. If they're having an off day, you can start. I hate to say you're questioning their diagnostics, but you're kind of like, it's kind of having an off day. Let's make sure we double check this, whatever it is. I mean, it's just a good point. And this. The substance abuse is a good one to bring up, too, because you got to be able to catch that kind of stuff on the early onsets. And if you don't know what those signs are, then you can have a tech going sideways.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:15]:
You don't even know it. Service advisor, whatever. And if you're not paying attention around you. Yeah, it's. It's definitely, I think, part in the industry that everyone thinks we just, you know, drink a six pack every day after work and smoke cigarettes all day. And, you know, it's like. That's like the stigma of the mechanic, right? And it's like. But to have the mindset to fix these vehicles in this day and age, you have to be so technologically savvy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:39]:
You can't just. You can't. You can't show up work hungover. Well, maybe some guys can, but you can't. You know, my point is, you can't show up and diagnose a can bus fault, right. Or just like you, you just don't have that capability in your mind if you're way off in left field and substance abuse. Maybe some guys are better than me, but I can't do it anymore.
Matt Fanslow [00:06:01]:
Yeah, and the psychology aspect, too, is if you took your understanding of what addiction was from high school, what you were taught, you're looking at your techs or clients that maybe are suffering from it as some sort of flawed person or morally corrupt person, it's probably more so. And that's absolutely not the case. It's so much more going on. And I'm not saying we have to be. Not only are we fixing fords, but we're acting like Betty Ford clinic. Not that we're not healing them, but we're trying to put them in the best position to succeed or not make things worse. And I just find that stuff very important. And then, like you said, maybe.
Matt Fanslow [00:06:56]:
Maybe be able to pick up on signs early on before something bad happens or things go really off the rails. And then, you know, like, like you mentioned earlier, fixer personalities. Like, what? What can we do? Okay, first thing, you just. You got to stop doing it, and, you know, I'll help you dry out or something like that. This is much different.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:17]:
Much.
Matt Fanslow [00:07:18]:
There's a big difference between being sober and being in recovery. And, like, working a program. There's a lot of people that are sober for decades, but they're not really better or they're not in recovery. They're just on that edge of toppling over it. And it could be one drink or whatever, one. One hit, and it's almost right back at it. And that's not to imply that if you fall off the wagon, you're starting over from square one. But if you're not really working a program, it's close to that.
Matt Fanslow [00:07:54]:
You're not fixing the fundamental problem. You're ignoring that. You're just kind of white knuckling it through life, whatever that may be, to try to keep your job, keep your family together, and you're not focusing at all about underlying conditions that maybe drive you to the abuse section of the substance use.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:14]:
Yeah. You're still that person.
Matt Fanslow [00:08:16]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:17]:
But you're just. You just said no for the last, you know, 600 days, and it's like, until you change who you are and you're no longer that person anymore, then it's not even an option. I was. I was. I saw something a couple days ago. I don't remember what it was. It was like someone offers you a cigarette, and it's like, well, what kind is it? Right? Or, like, offer you a drink. Like, what kind of drink is it? Like, I haven't drank in a couple months.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:40]:
And it's like. Then you say, well, what is that? You know? Like, and you think about it, because you're like, oh, that is a good whiskey. Maybe I will have it. But it's like, if you're not. If. If you're not drinking at all, you don't even care what the brand is.
Matt Fanslow [00:08:51]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:52]:
Because you're not that person anymore. Like, it doesn't. I'm not a smoker, so I don't need it. Just an interesting thought. I mean, on that topic of, like, how that changes and how we've all. I think we've all kind of gone through that process, you know, of, like, drinking every weekend, three or four times a week, and you're wondering is like, am I drinking too much? Is that too much? Like, how much is too much? And it's like, oh, if the a guideline says you're. You should only be doing three drinks a week. And it's like, but, I mean, what's the guideline? Like? If you don't want to drink, don't drink.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:22]:
You know, like. Or smoke or whatever. Like, make that commitment. And then if it makes you feel better, then do it. But if it's not making you feel better, then I don't know. I don't know. I don't have that answer.
Matt Fanslow [00:09:32]:
Yeah. When did it go from I want to do this to let loose, to enjoy the taste, whatever that may be, to enjoy the buzz? When did it go from I want this to I need this now? Every night I have to have a six pack to unwind. Where before it was like, maybe you won't even do the six pack, but you'd have a couple and you didn't need them. Like, if you didn't have them, you weren't out anything. You didn't feel like, oh, crap, I could have had a couple, whatever. And. But no, no, now it's there's no chance that I am going to be able to go to sleep tonight or enjoy my evening without, you know, four cans of whatever, my favorite.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:32]:
And I think it starts at one and it turns into three pretty quickly.
Matt Fanslow [00:10:36]:
Yeah. And once it gets into the abuse section, then it's all she wrote. One isn't. You'd be lucky if it stopped at three. One is the twelve pack or however much you can drink before you pass out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:49]:
Yeah, yeah, that's that totally other side of it.
Matt Fanslow [00:10:52]:
Right, right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:53]:
I think for most, or for me, it's always been on that tipping of like, okay, I've had, you know, I've had two, I have one more and that's it. Right, and you. But it's like as a succession goes on, it's so hard to like, okay, that's it. Right.
Matt Fanslow [00:11:06]:
You might be one of the very lucky ones. And I don't know if that is such a, like a small percentage of people, but people suffering from substance use can't do that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:18]:
Right?
Matt Fanslow [00:11:19]:
It will be one or two and be like, I'm not even feeling this. I'm feeling, okay. And then maybe the two more put them over the edge. Well, now they're, they're gone. Forget about it. It's game on. They're not stopping until who knows when.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:34]:
Yeah. You know, as the years go on, it's just like the thought of the next day or the thought of the week. Thought of. I mean, in all reality, it's like thinking about just the shop and the guys, everyone that depends on me. And then it's like if I show up hungover, like I can't function, you know, it's like, I know I'm not gonna be my hundred percent sure I can function. I can get through the day. I was a hungover tech for a long time. I got stuff done, right?
Matt Fanslow [00:11:59]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:00]:
Was it good? I don't know. I mean, this stuff got fixed, right? I built a lot of transmissions the next day after being out all night. Like, I made it happen. Right. But to like take that next level and use the mental aspect too, and, and try to identify what everyone's going through and how their day is. Because if you don't, if, like, and that was my reality is a week, two weeks go by and I haven't checked in with anybody, you know, and as, as the leader, like, you gotta be there every day, twice, three times a day. Check. Hey, everything all right? Everything all right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:28]:
Um, and that's my learning curve right now, is, is getting better at that. And, and it's like, who would have thought getting in the auto industry would make you a better people person, you know?
Matt Fanslow [00:12:38]:
Right.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:41]:
Don't you just sit in back corner and you just throw wrenches and put parts on and hang parts is like.
Matt Fanslow [00:12:47]:
On a really good day. Yes, really.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:50]:
That's a good point, too. That is my, that is what I want to be doing. But no, it's amazing. And then you see the progress in yourself and you're like, wow, this is pretty cool. Like, I'm becoming a better person, you know? And it's like, it's just amazing. Who thought, like, all that psychology and all that mental stuff goes on, and it really put you in the position of, like, look, who do you want to be? Who do you want to wake up to be in the next couple months? Do you want to be the guy that's that you get to have a good time, a good time in quotes, all night, and then wake up and just do the bare minimum? Or do you want to, like, build your business and have good people around you and have them have a good life? And it's like, I don't know. I don't. I mean, seems, when you say it that way, it seems like what the right answer is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:32]:
But I think when you're in, that process is like, it's all about, you're kind of selfish. Like, well, I just want to have a good time every night, you know? And you're like, well, everybody else is, else is going out tonight, and I can get up tomorrow and do the same thing or whatever the addiction process is or whatever. Really, you're, I think you're, whatever's holding you back mentally. It's a big, it's a big learning curve that I don't think anybody talks about. When you, like, want to own a shop or run a shop. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:13:58]:
Yeah, you're it. Your reward systems run amok and you can't control it. And for whatever reason, you know, the, you know, when we're talking about substance use disorder or addiction, anything like that, it's just this big umbrella of so many topics underneath it. But your, your reward system is run amok, and it's to the point where you really can't help it without a terrific amount of work. And there's probably an underlying condition anyway, some undiagnosed, untreated mental health concern or issue. And if you were to work a program and go through the channels of some counseling, you may find out, like, oh, okay, you know, I I gravitate to meth because I was on Ritalin all through school. And once I graduated college, they cancelled my prescription. I can't get it anymore.
Matt Fanslow [00:15:01]:
I need it. I need it for focus. And maybe I started buying Ritalin on the street and it got expensive and my dealers kind of like, dude, why are you spending so much money on this? You can use this. It's the same thing. What is that? Well, you know, it's meth. I don't want to do math. Dude, it's the same thing. They're not necessarily wrong.
Matt Fanslow [00:15:21]:
And now you're saving a lot of money for the same substance, but you're not understanding the whole reason that you're gravitating to it and need it, quote unquote need it is you are medicating yourself for something that you were medicated for before, just legally and under the, um, supervision of a doctor.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:44]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:15:45]:
Right. And so now if you go in and can address the underlying causes and maybe get another treatment program or learn how to deal with your ADD or ADHD, you may, you won't need the meth anymore. Maybe get onto something legal, maybe find out you don't need anything. And now you can use this AdD ADHD part of your brain as almost like a superpower for fixing cars.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:14]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:16:15]:
And it really is like, there's some really good benefits. And I think it's why we do have a lot of real successful techs that are. That have Add or ADHD and have substance abuse issues. Correct. Usually self medicating, trying to help with their focus. And you said something else that I found very interesting. And we can get away from the substance use topic, though. It's like when you want to be who you want to be and you're learning about psychology and all this.
Matt Fanslow [00:16:46]:
I think it's also figuring out that you don't have. Every client doesn't have to be your best friend. They don't have to all like you. Like, you can find out that you can run a profitable business that helps you achieve your goals, helps your, everybody that works within your company achieve their goals and provide the services to your clients. And they may not be your best friend because you're charging them fairly. You know, they look at it as being, well, you know, you're kind of expensive. It's like, yeah, but, oh, they want the buddy, whatever. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:17:22]:
Can you hook me up? Like, hey, you know, okay, I come in here and I talk to you all the time and drink your coffee, and you were laughing. I thought we were. I thought we were kind of friends. Like, well, no, not really. And you can do this.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:38]:
If we are friends, why don't you support my business? Yeah, why is this a one way street for you? Like, I'm the one with the overhead. You're the one that just needs a view. You can walk. And I'd say, like, in a negative connotation, but, I mean, but you get my point. It's like friendship's kind of a two way street. I'm providing a service, taking time on my day to help you, and so you need to return that favor and support my business so you can come back next year and do the same thing.
Matt Fanslow [00:18:02]:
Yeah. Especially when we get into, like, real friends. Like, they're not just clients that hang out and talk to you and you get along with. These are people you've known for years, and now they're expecting you to take care of them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:16]:
Right.
Matt Fanslow [00:18:17]:
And not, it should be the other way around where they, you know, whatever the price is, if I can afford it, let's do it. I trust you. If you want to do something for them because they're your friend, that's on you. That's for you to do.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:31]:
Right.
Matt Fanslow [00:18:31]:
But they don't have any expectation for it. And then if there's something that they can do for you, it's kind of the same way, you know, if they're a landscaper and you commission them to build, you know, something in the back around your deck, you're gonna pay full price. And if they elect to take care of you or. Or do something of a discount, you may remember that next time they have their vehicle in. But that's. It's a whole different set of rules. Without expectations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:01]:
The trade stuff, too, you know, like, I don't want to trade. I'll just pay for your service and you come pay for my service. It's not. We're not doing the same thing. No, it's just so hard. And it's like when you're. When you're trying to build these relationships, when you're growing a business and you're like, oh, if I trade this stuff, that's gonna be. Be good, you know? But they say, you know, the friends won't become a client as quickly as a client will become a friend, you know?
Matt Fanslow [00:19:22]:
Yep. You inevitably end up friends.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:24]:
I'll leave you, you know.
Matt Fanslow [00:19:25]:
Yep. You inevitably end up in that situation where they're saying it. 2 hours of running conduit on your ceiling is much different than the 2 hours doing my front brakes. So I don't think that's an equal trade. And you're like, you have all the tools to do it, you know? You know, times, time. And I think my overheads higher than yours and whatever. And next thing you know, it's, you're not friends anymore. And it's like you said, it should just, let's just pay for it.
Matt Fanslow [00:19:57]:
However much it is. It is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:00]:
Yeah, there's no, there's no. It never seems to work.
Matt Fanslow [00:20:03]:
No, just never works out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:05]:
Very rarely. I'm sure there's other, you know, there's always a circumstance, but.
Matt Fanslow [00:20:11]:
It'S usually the ones that are fairly successful, and they just don't care, you know? 2 hours is 2 hours. Okay, 2 hours is 2 hours. But if they're needing to make a little bit more money all of a sudden, it's not so fair anymore. And now, and vice versa, it's like, hey, you don't want 8 hours to put that engine in your truck is much different than the 8 hours, you know, that you spent with a backhoe.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:36]:
Yeah. You know?
Matt Fanslow [00:20:38]:
Yeah, like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:41]:
You're never gonna find an apple to apples unless you estimate and estimate. But of course everyone's gonna fudge the numbers and make it look right. And so. And then everyone feels like someone's getting over on the other one, and it's like, it just never. And like you said, then all of a sudden, you're not friends. Just like that over that. And it's like all you had to do is just write me a check and I'll write you a check, and then we can write this stuff off and we. Everything, everybody's happy, you know? But on your, on your point of making everybody happy, that that is part of it is like, you're trying to make a friend happy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:08]:
You're trying to make a client coming in happy, and it's like, just say no, it's fine. There'll be another one coming through the door behind them. That's like, man, that's been a hard struggle for me. I mean, in the last five years, it's like, it's still just to this day, it's so difficult to see it being slow and not immediately want to start dropping prices immediately, want to start doing discount immediately start taking in that stuff, you know, and it's like, oh, it's been quiet around here, and I need to make sure everyone's busy. Maybe we should, you know, take on that, that diagnostic from that other shop that called, like, you know, I'll go and bring it in, I'll look at it for you, and then four or 5 hours later, I'm like, why am I doing this? Like, this is what I should be doing, you know? But it's so difficult to get out of that mindset. But it's just like you said, it's like, you don't need to make everybody happy, you know, you got a friend, like, oh, I've had it to four or five other shops, so, like, we'll keep looking because I'm not. That's not.
Matt Fanslow [00:21:56]:
I don't.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:57]:
I don't have time for that, you know? Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:21:59]:
Or I need a substantial amount of money down, or this is gonna be time and material, you know, if nobody figures it out and it takes me however long, you know, that's. That's what the price is gonna be. It's easy to say, what's your process.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:17]:
On that for you? Is like, taking something like that in. Are you like. I mean, I mean, it goes back to that mental aspect of, like, quantifying that situation and who the client is, what the vehicle is, and. And it's like, but how do you ticket that number on it and without getting them into $500 worth of diagnostics? And then it's like, well, I still need. I still need a little bit more time. Then it's like, how many vehicles out there? You're really going to spend 5 hours diagnosing, you know, if you really know what you're doing, because that's the other side of it. You get guys that, oh, I need a dollar 300 retainer to diagnosis, and you're looking like, wait a second, where are you spending all your time? There's only so many things that can be. And you got to come to the point, in my mind at least, to say, you got to cut to the chase and say, okay, look, you got to make a call.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:01]:
Like, I don't know. This is how I look at those processes.
Matt Fanslow [00:23:05]:
It's going to be a one or 2 hours kind of assessment. Can I. Can I get an hour on this thing to just get a feel of what I'm up against and depending on the situation, a lot of times they're diagnosed in that. Whatever amount of time, you know. Yeah, it's all over the place for, you know, a few minutes to an hour.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:26]:
Just.
Matt Fanslow [00:23:26]:
It depends. Right. Your experience. I just so happened to have seen this before I got lucky. It's an intermittent, and it just so happened to act up when I was standing here, and I figured it out right away or rather quickly. But then there's other stuff where this vehicle has been to three different dealers, four different independent shops, it's a weird network issue. And I don't know how I'm gonna figure this out. In under.
Matt Fanslow [00:23:55]:
I mean, 4 hours or more?
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:57]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:23:58]:
I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:58]:
Intermittent. That's a good. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:24:00]:
And then it's on them. Okay. And I can't guarantee you a repair. I can't. I can't guarantee you a diagnosis in 4 hours. This is what I plan on doing. I'm gonna have a lab scope here, maybe another lab scope here. I'm gonna go to this, you know, connector.
Matt Fanslow [00:24:20]:
And I'm going to just take everything offline that I can and one at a time, try to narrow it down to a branch. Here's my strategy. It's going to take a while. Or you know what? I started tearing some panels open to look at this, whatever junction block, and there's a lot of corrosion. Has this thing been in flood? Is this a flood car? You know, I bought it used. Okay, well, we move a little more, and it's like, you can see the water line. How badly do you want this fixed? And now it's Pandora's box. And again, it's their checkbook.
Matt Fanslow [00:25:00]:
Put it back on them. This is my plan. This is how much time I want. I hope to be able to do it in this time or less. If I don't, I'll kind of call you or have you stopped by, review what I've done, review what I plan on doing next. And that's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:18]:
Yeah, communication, right. I mean, that's the main thing. Yep. Communicate.
Matt Fanslow [00:25:22]:
That's where my question is, where the documentation helps, at least with, like, print off some waveforms. They don't have to know what they mean. They just have to know that you're looking at this going, this is what it should look like. This is what yours looks like. And I've got it narrowed down to the back half of the car. But it could be any one of these modules, which. There are 15 of them, and these three are buried, or any wiring or connector in between.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:53]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:25:54]:
And then it's back on them. And they might be like, okay, how much. How much more time do you think? Another. And I don't necessarily talk time. Dollars. Right? Try not to talk about time. And try to talk. Try to talk about dollars.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:07]:
It's like, that's tough with diagnostic work.
Matt Fanslow [00:26:10]:
It is terrible. But are they like, you know, another $500? I think this is my last 500. I'm gonna just. It's kind of gambling, right? It's playing poker. Like, I'll bet 500 more that you can figure it out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:26]:
Yeah. And then it comes to the point of like, well, how much is just to replace that whole harness or replace all those modules, right? Like, and that's. That's. That cut, too, is like, well, what if we just replace everything? I guess we could do that. And it's like, well, what was the point of all the other diagnostic than if we're just kind of replacing everything, you know?
Matt Fanslow [00:26:45]:
And I love that conversation, too, though. Right? It's controversial, but we do run into it where it's far cheaper to just replace the part than it is to try to do any testing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:58]:
Right.
Matt Fanslow [00:26:58]:
It's not all the time. I don't want to make it sound like every day, but it's definitely. There are times where it's like, it could be this or this and the amount of time to figure out which we could just replace the frickin thing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:11]:
Yeah. It's that 30,000 foot view you get. So you get your magnifying glass on, your microscope on.
Matt Fanslow [00:27:16]:
You're just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:16]:
And you're so deep in this thing, you take a step back a little bit. You're like, what am I doing right now? A transmission is a great example. Like, sure, I could probably pinpoint exactly where the fault is inside of an automatic transmission within the car. I can pro. I probably have the tools and I could probably figure that out. So I'm going to spend five, $600 of this client's money, tell them exactly what's wrong with it, when I'm going to tear it out and tear it apart anyway. Like, what's the.
Matt Fanslow [00:27:39]:
Those are really good examples. Right. Transmission engine knock. Like, are we. Are we really going to do the rod bearing? I don't. I don't think we're going to do it. Just a rod bearing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:49]:
Yeah. That's hard to. All the time to figure out which rod is actually knocking. Yeah. Why is that important?
Matt Fanslow [00:27:56]:
I know it is definitely in the engine. And we have ruled out any external causes. I'm going to sell you a remanufactured engine, a new engine, whatever quality, rebuilt one that I can stand behind and will stand behind and give you a nationwide warranty for x amount of months, years, x amount of miles. And I'm doing this because I care about you as a client, and this is me taking care of you, not. I am going to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with it. I'm going to spend a lot of time to do it, and we're just going to do what's broken. And away you go. And 10,000 miles later, 5000 miles later, it's got another noise and it's another bearing one out or something else, maybe totally, somewhat unrelated, but still internal to the engine, maybe caused by whatever caused the rod bearing to go out or was a repercussion of the rod bearing going out.
Matt Fanslow [00:28:53]:
So, yeah, it's very weird. And you hear about people still doing it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:58]:
Right. Just, I run across a lot too. With automatic trans. You get like a valve body issue. How long you been driving like this for? Oh, just a month. No, pull a pan and it's just like, you can tell the fluids been cooked for six months. Man, you, you know, the lockup solenoid went out. You've been driving around with the lockup in your converter.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:18]:
Oh, how much is the solenoid? You're missing the point.
Matt Fanslow [00:29:20]:
Yes.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:23]:
You know what I mean? I can honor. Yeah. And it's like, so do you want to spend four or $500 right now to replace that solenoid? I don't know how the converter is going to operate. I don't know any of that. It's a, it's a waste of kind of time and money. But then it's like that line where, I mean, okay, so we replaced it and it's working. But how much longer does the rest of it work? All the seals, all the frictions, everything's been cooked. You know, like the glue is going to delaminate off the frictions and who knows the rest, how the rest of it's going to last.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:50]:
And it's like every time that happens, a year goes by, hey, I came in, you rebuilt my transmission a year ago, and now it has no reverse, or now it has no second. Now looking in the records is like, I didn't rebuild your. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:30:00]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:01]:
But it doesn't matter because that thought's already in the client's mind. They've already told all their buddies, all their friends, oh, I went down there and they, oh, yeah, they rebuilt it. It was like, it was pretty expensive, so I'm pretty sure they rebuilt it. Like, no idea how much they had spent. It's been a year is like, so why even play that game? But it's, it's also difficult because we're fixers. And it's like, I can fix this. I can probably get this thing back on the road. You know, the Ford F 150s have the problem with the snap ring braking and getting into the three four sequence valve.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:29]:
And then they lose third gear, pull the valve body, take the little snap ring out, put a new one in the second gear servo and away it goes. But how long have they been driving it like that? Shifting from second, you know, and just from second to fourth or it's like I'm just not comfortable getting inside of those things and then having an issue later. Like you said, it's, it's all about do you want to spend $1500 now or spend that $1500 towards fixing it and not having a problem later on?
Matt Fanslow [00:30:56]:
Yep. I don't know exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:57]:
It's a hard thing. And on the note of the diagnostic stuff, um, having technicians go through that diagnostic process and kind of go way off in left field and now they spent two or 3 hours of the client's time. Like where did you go? Why are you, what were you doing? Why are you looking at this? Oh, I just, this, that, this. And, and it makes sense when they walk you through their process, but then you're also thinking, oh my, I can't charge the client for this, but I have to because it's your, I have to pay you. It's like such a difficult situation to be put in. And it's the same concept of like how do we just cut to the chase and get the technician paid and give the client a quality repair and make everybody happy. I want everybody to be happy.
Matt Fanslow [00:31:42]:
Yep. Yeah. Or somewhat agreeably unhappy, but definitely, yeah. You're trying to appease everybody and appease the equations. And it's, and they come in, clients come in so mis educated anyways, not just by the other shops, the previous shops, but so much online to just get so oversimplified. And I don't want to go the other way either and just say, oh, everything's just so complex either. Not always, but when it is, it's really complex.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:23]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:32:23]:
And they're coming in still under the idea, like, and this happens, customers will come in and they'll say, hey, I need, I'm supposed to talk to Matt. Somebody told me I needed to talk to Matt and they wait and they wait to talk to me and I come out there and they're like, I had my car to so and so, and they looked at it and they did this and it didn't work or, or they want to wash their hands of it. They said that you probably have a computer that will tell you more than what they have. And on a very, very rare occasion that might be true, but usually that's not the case at all. Whatever I have is not going to be for equipment, is not what's going to be the difference between me figuring this out and them not, but that's their idea is drop their keys off and for x amount of dollars I am going to plug whatever magic machine into their car and it's going to spit out what's wrong with it and I'm going to fix it. And they're just so mis coached. And I don't think it's any ill intent by the other shop and maybe even the YouTube videos or whatever streaming service that it's just, it's just ignorance.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:39]:
I mean, that's all there is to it. It's just, it's just ignorance. And it's just like the asking how much. You know, I think a lot of the time I get clients ask me how much something's gonna be and it's. It's really just cuz they don't know what else to ask.
Matt Fanslow [00:33:52]:
I agree. Yep, I agree.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:53]:
Like, what else do you ask? Like I haven't had. I've never taken my vehicle in for service. I've never been able to afford it. That's the whole reason why I do. I couldn't afford to fix my own stuff, so I had to figure it out. And now look, here I am. So I've never, I've never taken, I've never experienced that. So I couldn't even quantify exactly what it is they should be asking.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:15]:
Right. But I think I've come to the conclusion it's like I just, they're just calling around and I had a guy the other day call and wanted breaks, you know, and it's like, sure, you get the information, you go through your sales thing and obviously you go, okay, so why are we doing brakes? Right, well, it's got a hundred thousand miles on it. I figured to do it. Making noise, is it pulling? Like, you know, you go through your thing, it's like, no, okay. And it kind of caught me off guard. I've had a call, you know, I don't really answer the phone too much anymore anyway, but it kind of caught me off guard. I was like, why do you want to bring it in for breaks? Then I just figured it's due to just want to do the brakes, you know, like that. You just want to schedule that? Yeah, it's got 100,000.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:55]:
I'm sure it needs it. Okay, well, let's do this. Let's back up a little bit, you know, and we go through this because we always do the inspection process on everything. It's like, so let's do the inspection and then we'll let you know. What it needs because you got a hundred thousand on. There's probably a lot of other things. Let's not spend money on doing breaks. If you need actual.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:11]:
If you actually need other things, you know, it's like, oh, yeah, that sounds good. Let's do this. And it was just such an interesting phone call because it just, like, what do you call and ask for? You know? It's like, I'm calling around for a doctor, and I'm trying to get, you know, my yearly checkup, and it's like, I don't even know what I'm asking for. And they're asking me, well, what's wrong? I was like, well, nothing's really wrong. I just.
Matt Fanslow [00:35:30]:
That I know of.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:31]:
I just. Can you tell me? That's why I'm calling. And. And so I kind of related those two conversations because I call around for a doctor, and they're asking me what's wrong? And I feel like I should be telling them something. Like, I feel like I have this. My back hurts, you know, or something. Yes. I should just tell them something so I can just get the appointment made.
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:50]:
Because if I say nothing's wrong, maybe they won't take me in. I don't know.
Matt Fanslow [00:35:54]:
I was hoping you could just run me through a machine like idiocracy, except get the probes and all the right ports and then tell me what's wrong, and just don't tell me. I'm just effed up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:06]:
Can you at least make the probes different shapes and sizes so we don't mix those things up, please? Why are they all the same?
Matt Fanslow [00:36:17]:
No, no, I'm sorry. This one goes in your mouth. This one goes in your butt.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:22]:
It was already in my mouth. Watch that movie if you guys haven't seen that. It's fantastic.
Matt Fanslow [00:36:29]:
It should be Gatorade on the plants.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:33]:
It's got electrolytes. It's got to be good, right?
Matt Fanslow [00:36:35]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:36]:
Oh, that's funny. Yeah. I mean, it's the same concept, though. It's like I just tell me what's wrong. You know, like, give me an inspection, I guess, or something. I don't know what to ask for. Yep. But interesting to a phone call like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:51]:
And it's the same when they call for pricing. How much for a transmission? Well, why do you need a transmission? Who told you you needed a transmission? Why aren't you there to the place and have the people that told you you need a transmission do that? You know? Um. So you're calling for prices, like, and then you go through the whole sales pitch, you know, not the cheapest. And it's just, it's just interesting. And it's like, what are you looking for? What is it? What is it that would appease you? You want it cheap because you know it's not going to be good. I don't know.
Matt Fanslow [00:37:20]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:21]:
And I've gotten in the process, too. If I'm looking for service work, electrician, plumber, or whatever, it's like, I just, I just want to pay the one that's like, not the most, not the most expensive, obviously, but it's like, I've gotten to the point where it's like, you pay, get what you pay for. Yep. I don't want to call a guy off Craigslist. I want to call the guy that's got like a good Google rating. And it's like they answer their phone on the second ring and it's like, I don't know. You do it so much in your own business and you realize, like, wow, as I do this and implement these things, we have become better. And I know we provide a good service.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:52]:
So I know if someone else is doing that, they're going to provide a good service. Um, it's just interesting, the mind.
Matt Fanslow [00:37:58]:
Yeah, I want to call somebody. Like you said, answers on the first few rings actually seems happy. I did call that. I chose to call them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:06]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:38:07]:
Not bothering them. And then, yeah. Has, it has a reputation for doing good work. And maybe they're a little higher on the spectrum of quote unquote cost. Maybe they're not. I don't know. You know, the whole cost thing is just such a rough discussion with people because they will freely acknowledge on many, many things that if you spend a little bit more initially, you're going to save in the long term, they'll freely acknowledge this. But then when it comes to their car, okay, maybe shop a is $100 more for that front brake job, and shop b is, you know, whatever going to maybe use a little more economical parts.
Matt Fanslow [00:38:55]:
Maybe they have a slightly lower labor rate. And when they leave, neither are going to make noise, neither of them are going to pull, and maybe they might last about the same amount of time. But the thing that ends up happening with shop a is if there is an issue, shop a, with no hesitation, takes care of it, assuming warranty type, there's no questions. And they're apologetic. Let me run down. Where do you work? Well, we'll go get the vehicle. We'll retrieve it. We'll verify the issue, and they get the invoice and there's, it's $0.
Matt Fanslow [00:39:32]:
And they tried to minimize the hassle where shop b can't afford to do that. They can't afford to handle this the right way. And maybe it's not just that you have to drop it off at the shop. They won't go and retrieve it. But also when they go looking, whether it's truly warranty or not, the bill has a dollar amount on it because they can't afford to do it for free. You didn't think about that and now you're not. You're out more than $100. It costs you more.
Matt Fanslow [00:40:05]:
And that's not a regular situation, I don't think, except maybe, probably not on breaks. But I see it over and over again where it's kind of short term thinking on the client's part, and I get it. It's money you don't want to spend. It might be money you don't have, but you're playing the long game. Yeah, if you're playing the long game here, I'm not saying the most expensive shop always, but the shop that is has the reputation for maybe being, you know, expensive but doing good work and especially taking care of you when things go wrong. Like that's, when, that's when the value really manifests itself in auto repair is when things go sideways. Now the shops that can afford to take care of you do, and then the ones that can't afford you don't because they can't. It's almost like doing the real lost leader oil changes.
Matt Fanslow [00:41:07]:
At some point, they have to find something wrong with your car. They can't afford to keep giving away this labor and parts and whatever, they can't afford to keep losing money when they're doing this service. At some point, whether it's the shop itself setting that expectation with the text or paying the tax, compensating them in such a way that only really rewards them if they find something wrong, they will find something wrong, quote unquote wrong.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:36]:
Right.
Matt Fanslow [00:41:37]:
It's just, that's the way it works because it has to. And to get clients to think a little more that way. And it doesn't have to always be like, come to my shop. But to start thinking in that kind of strategy of long term cost savings, rather than initially looking at one bill going, well, 550 for the same job, I guess I'm going to the cheaper one. You know, that's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:08]:
Yes, 500 job. That's the, that's the thought process. It's the same. All shops are the same. And I'm getting the same service. They're just charging me less.
Matt Fanslow [00:42:16]:
Exactly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:17]:
Like. No, I mean, and I have this conversation a lot, where you spend $300 on a diagnostic plus a $100 repair. Right. Or they shotgun $400 parts in the parts in the car.
Matt Fanslow [00:42:30]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:31]:
So who's right? Yep. The cars fix eventually. Eventually they pull the trigger on the right part and put it in and it fixes it. The bill is the same to the client and the car is fixed. But one shop spent $300 on a super technical diag and got it right the first time with one part, and the other shop just threw every parts that's on identifix at it until one of them finally fixed it and the bill ended up being the same. It's like, so who's right in that scenario? You know? But I think it just comes down to the shop and the shop you want to run. It's not, there is no right or wrong, but like you said, one shop is going to be super busy because they just spent a lot of time putting a lot of parts on, spent a lot of time on that vehicle as a shop where the other one had one diagnostic technician working on that shop. So.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:11]:
And it goes to, in my opinion, you have, say, your shop a and your shop b, you have one that's busy all the time. All the time. Two weeks out, all the time. If you have a warranty, they don't have the time to get you in.
Matt Fanslow [00:43:23]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:23]:
Right. Where I've, I've got to the point where we don't do a hundred percent, we do 80, 90%. If that means that one or two days out of the week we're standing around, that's fine. Because I want to make sure if we do have something it would like. Hey, we're on it. We got a guy ready to go and we can afford to do that. We charge enough so we can have that cushion to afford that. So I just, I don't, I don't agree with being two weeks out.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:45]:
Meaning that means you're successful.
Matt Fanslow [00:43:47]:
No, I just know I, I don't even know where that thinking came from. It's just a bad perspective or maybe better words, but a bad perception of success and making money. I'm just not sure where they came up with that. But we're the same way. Try not to be booked out that far. If we are, we're adjusting something.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:16]:
Hey, you shouldn't have to be, right. I mean, you should run your numbers and have everything be profitable and not have to be. Yeah, it's nice to be busy. It's nice to see the weeks booked out, but not at 110%, you know? Like, and sure, if you got some rock stars and you're knocking some stuff out, that's a different conversation. But I think. I think what I'm saying is, like, overall, on average, right? Like, when you're two to three weeks out all the time and you're slammed and you're burning yourself out, like, are you making money, though? Are you profitable that way? Because, I mean, if. If you really are, you should be able to take, like, a ton of time off. You know, if you're smart enough, you should be taking a whole day off the week, in my opinion.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:55]:
Like, damn, if you're really killing it. Like, why are you working so hard? I just don't understand it. I think it's a. Yeah. Misconception the busier are, the more successful you are. And there's another process in there that's on the same kind of thought of, like, the definition of success, right?
Matt Fanslow [00:45:16]:
Yeah. That's a rough one, right? Yep. I wrestle with that. I do. I really wrestle with that question.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:24]:
Like, what does that mean?
Matt Fanslow [00:45:25]:
Like, I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:27]:
What did you want to do? What is it? I don't know what it is. Well, maybe write that down and then. And then go that direction. It's like you start, you. I don't know. I just want to fix cars. For what? For money? For time, for notoriety. I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:45]:
Like, what's your. What is it that you want? What are you trying to achieve?
Matt Fanslow [00:45:51]:
I think the generic response is always going to be, it's different for everybody. Yeah, but I. Yeah, I mean, I think there's benchmarks of it, not so much versus other people, but yourself. Like you said, what is it you're trying to achieve? And there's certain benchmarks, right? Like, and it changes over time, over. Over your life, the different phases of your life, you know, maybe in high school you want to make enough money to be able to buy a car.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:26]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:46:27]:
And that's successful. And you would like to graduate high school with good enough grades that your parents don't give you too much grief. And maybe you do have a chance to get into a college if that's the direction you want to go, and then the stuff like that. And then as you're working, it's okay. I would like to upgrade vehicles. My beater high school car isn't going to cut it. I would like to buy a house. I would like to meet somebody, something like that.
Matt Fanslow [00:46:56]:
And certainly there's benchmarks to that, but the big, grandiose. What is success? I don't know. I have no idea how I would answer that. I think everybody's a little bit different. Some people feel wildly and arguably are wildly successful when they just have good personal relationships, strong families where everyone's happy, healthy, productive, whatever, and live otherwise, financially, fairly modestly, they feel they're wildly successful. And then there's others where they have to have the nicest house on the block with the nicest cars and the biggest boat, and I don't know why they need that. And maybe they're not flawed for it, that that's the drive they have and good on them, and if they achieve it, great. And maybe some people, it's not even.
Matt Fanslow [00:47:58]:
Maybe it's almost like baseball, right? They. You walk up to the plate and you grab the bat and you swing as hard as you can at the good pitches and lay off the bad ones. And if you smack one out of the park, great. But if you got up there and at least swung at the good pitches as hard as you could and laid off the really bad ones, that, that was a pretty good. That was a pretty good opportunity. That that's a success on its own. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:29]:
It's a good analogy. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:48:31]:
You know what I mean?
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:32]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:48:34]:
Maybe that. I think there's a saying almost like, shoot for the stars. Uh, but if you only make it to the moon, that that's pretty good, too.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:42]:
Yeah. I mean, like I said, the main thing is trying. Yeah. Once you get up every day and you're like, try and you have a goal set and you're trying to get to it, you're going to swing and miss. And I think a lot of, a lot of people just the stop. I tried and I failed. Poor me. That's it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:59]:
Yep. You know?
Matt Fanslow [00:49:01]:
Yep. And they may look at somebody else and go like, why did they get up there and hit a double or whatever, get on base. And, you know, some of it's just, they're better than you at whatever we're talking about.
Jimmy Purdy [00:49:15]:
Yeah. Or they just took the time to, to figure it out, or they took some of the lows and instead of feeling sorry, they figured out how to get it, you know, I like that, that image of success. And everyone thinks it's a staircase, and as long as you put 1ft in front of the other and keep climbing the staircase, success is the top and you'll get there and it's like, it's not. It's like that. The dips it's all the. It's all the crevasses and the ditches that you get into. And it's linear. It's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:49:39]:
It doesn't go up, you know, because you could be successful in the next day. You're down in the bottom of the pit, successful in quotes, right? Like, you can be achieved where you want to go in the next day, you know, you. And I feel like it's like here at shop and maybe. I'm sure a lot can relate to this, where you have, everyone's pumping, right? Everyone's happy. You got three or four techs, two service advisors. Everyone's rocking and rolling. All of a sudden, two techs get sick. One of the SAS got a personal issue, the other one gets sick.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:06]:
And all of a sudden, you're. You have one technician and you in the shop, and you had six. You know, you had a team of six the day before, and it's like, if your definition of success is to have a good team, a good crew together, and you had that, the next day, everyone's gone, and it's like, I just lost everything, you know? And, yeah, it's just for the day. Like, it's not forever, but I struggle with that, too. It's like. Like you just feel like you're taking one step forward, two steps back, you know, and then everything's stripped away and everybody's gone. You're like, what just happened? Now I'm answering phone calls, writing up estimates, like. And you're like, this isn't my job.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:41]:
Right? There's like, no, it is. And it's like, that's what you're there to do, to step in. But, um, I don't know if you get my point about, like.
Matt Fanslow [00:50:47]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:48]:
How you get to that point. It's like, it's not. You don't get to the top and then slide down. It's just like. It's linear. Like. Yeah, I don't know. It's.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:54]:
It's hard to. But I like that analogy. I like that picture that I've seen where it's like, yeah, you got. Then you got to climb back out of the hole, you know, and then you're back on level ground, at least. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:51:06]:
And again, it's. The comparison is probably where it starts getting in trouble. You should be comparing yourself to what you were yesterday, a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, ten years ago.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:18]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:51:19]:
You start comparing yourself to others, it gets. Things start to get really wonky because they have to. Right? Because, you know, why did that person succeed and not me.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:28]:
Okay.
Matt Fanslow [00:51:28]:
It could have been all the time and effort they put in that you didn't see whatever the work was. You know, we're talking about auto repair shops. All the hours and hours spent on whatever groups, going to whatever classes, making the mistakes, learning from them, those ups and downs, riding them out. And that's. That's why they succeeded and you didn't. Or you have to reserve the very, very. I don't want to say likely. Likely is not the right word, but the good possibility of pure dumb luck.
Matt Fanslow [00:52:07]:
They were just right place at the.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:09]:
Right time or rich, a rich relative.
Matt Fanslow [00:52:12]:
Who knows what it was.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:13]:
They.
Matt Fanslow [00:52:14]:
They were out of there. Some mixer with their wife or husband they did not want to go to, and they end up rubbing elbows with somebody that owns a big fleet of whatever's and they're dying to find a repair shop. And you got. They got the opportunity.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:30]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:52:31]:
And it's just random. And you have.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:33]:
That's true.
Matt Fanslow [00:52:34]:
It's not to explain away stuff, but you do have to. Sometimes. You can do almost everything right and still it doesn't work out perfectly or.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:45]:
How you want it to.
Matt Fanslow [00:52:46]:
Right. And it's not to license you to be like, oh, well, you know, it's bad luck. You know, there's a lot to stack in the odds in your favor and increasing the probabilities of success. And I think that can outweigh bad luck. You know, good luck. Bad luck is generally, like one time things not over the course of years and decades. So, you know, they keep fighting and learning and improving and reflecting on things to keep getting a little bit better every day, you know, 1% better every day. By the end of the year, you're over 300% better than you were the day you started.
Matt Fanslow [00:53:27]:
So there's. That probably has a lot more long term effect, but it's just try. Try as hard as you can not to get overly critical when comparing yourself to others, because it just. There's so much you don't know. They might look wildly successful, and you find out they're way not.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:51]:
Yeah. You know, whatever it is. Yeah, yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:53:55]:
Or. Right. They have a pile of money, and they also have a kid with leukemia that they might be kissing goodbye forever.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:02]:
MM HMM.
Matt Fanslow [00:54:03]:
You want to trade places with them? Are you sure?
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:05]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:54:06]:
You want the nice, big Suv? Careful what you wish for.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:11]:
Yeah. Yeah. I guess that goes to be happy with what you got. But also, on your note of, like, bumping elbows with somebody, just show up. You know, I think one of my biggest, my biggest marketing I don't know if I call marketing, but I gained a lot of really good clients. There was a local JUJitSU doja that I started going to, and I went there for myself. I was going there because I was going through some hard stuff, and I was just like, you know, I did wrestling in high school. Like, I just feel Like I just, you know, I need to go get my hands dirty, you know, I just need to go, like, choke some people out, you know? And the camaraderie I learned there and the clients that I gained there, it's like, it was amazing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:51]:
It's like. And I didn't even think about that. I got there, I just went there for myself, and I started realizing I was like, wow. Like, once you get to know these people this intimately, you know, like, we're pretty close to each other. There's a lot of.
Matt Fanslow [00:55:02]:
Figuratively and literally, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:04]:
A lot of cuddling going on, and. And so you just gain a lot of trust, and it's like, oh, you own auto shop. Oh, man, I'm gonna start. And it's like, I still see the cars today, and it was years ago for some of them, and it was just. Just show up to these places, go out there and be social. And I think going to those mixers and those chambers events is like, those. I think those are the pivotal differences because you can market all you want and say you're the best, but unless they go meet you and shake your hand, you talk to them for ten minutes, it's like, it's huge. I just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:31]:
I just want to touch on that because you brought that up, and it's like, just get up in the morning. Get up at 06:00 in the morning, go to the gym or whatever, whatever your routine is. And I guarantee for two weeks nothing's going to happen. Right. But it's going to be one day. There's going to be one day you're going to run into somebody, and that's going to change the direction of where you want to go with your business or whatever you're doing. It's just, it just blows me away how that always happens. And it's hard.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:53]:
It's hard. I don't do it all the time, but it's like it never fails. Just. Just get a month goes. You do it for a month, and I guarantee one day of that month, something will happen, that you learn something or find something or meet someone. It just blows me away every time. How that works. Just show up.
Matt Fanslow [00:56:08]:
Yeah, I had an episode. We talked about brazilian jiu jitsu and learning to be training to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because you probably, especially if you're, you know, rolling with somebody that's a higher level, especially like a couple belts, higher chances of you having a lot of success are low and they're going to have you in some very compromising positions. Right. They're just going to toy with you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:39]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [00:56:39]:
And at some point, you have to learn to be kind of comfortable being uncomfortable so that you can find the way out. You know, it isn't just as simple as, oh, they have you in a guard or mounted, although mounted is probably a pretty good example. How are you going to get out? How are you going to reverse this? And so, yeah, that was a good episode. I think. I think martial arts, specifically brazilian jiu jitsu, has a lot of good crossover analogies and information to life and auto repair.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:15]:
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, if it wasn't so hard on the body, I'd still be going, but it's like, yeah, I ended up breaking a couple ribs and it's like a couple guys hurt their knees and I'm like thinking, man, if I, like, lose, if I, something happens in my hands, you know, or just something stupid, it's like you get competitive, you know, so there's like that aspect, but the ground level stuff going from white belt to blue belt and up into, you know, the higher ranks of the blue belts, that's when it starts getting a little dangerous and they want you to go to the, start going to the meets and it's like, I don't want to compete. Like, I don't, yeah, I know where I'm, I know what I'm going to do if I start competing and I don't need to be there. But learning the concepts and the art of it was, that was a big deal. And just doing something for an hour that wasn't anything to do with the shop or anything else that was going on in my life. Like, you don't get to think about anything else. That's pretty much, it's all on your mind for that hour. When someone, you know, when someone's around your neck or, you know, putting you in the compromising situation, you're like, that's all you have is to think about what you're doing and calm the mind down and then figure out how to get out because you start flailing, you start doing things that your opponent wants you to do, and then you just get sunk deeper into the trap, you know, it's the best way I can think of it, it's like, so you have to stop. And every single move, every single thing you do, every breath you take at that point is like, that is either going to put you on the track to reverse or get sunk deeper into his trap.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:42]:
And, yeah, I mean, you could take that in any industry. Like, you get a stressful situation, the first thing you want to do is freak out. You want to yell and scream at somebody, you want to tell them to get out of the shop, you want to tell them they're doing a bad job, but you got to stop for a second and take a few breaths and say, okay, wait a second, let me do the exact opposite of what my body and my mind is screaming at me to do and think about this. And it's like, what a huge shift in your personality when you can really use that. I mean, I'm not the best at it, but just knowing that that's there and a possibility and like, that actually works, it's like huge. And so, yeah, I think everyone, everyone should do it.
Matt Fanslow [00:59:20]:
It's such a chess match and it's. It's more accessible to a wider range of people because you don't need so much athleticism. You don't need, it's not like taekwondo or some of the karate's where you gotta have some athleticism. You're gonna be, the more athletic you are and quicker, typically, the more successful you're gonna be. And I get it. Experience come in and play, I get it. But you know, jiu jitsu just gives you that specifically brazilian gives you that ability. It's more of like a chess match.
Matt Fanslow [00:59:58]:
And it's. If you've ever played chess against somebody that's really good, like tournament winning levels, I'm not talking like big time fied stuff or professional grandmasters, but they're just, they think of the game on such a different level than you do or can where they're making. They're sacrificing pieces for position. And it's. That translates to us, especially as businesses, that sometimes you're going to be doing something that looks like a sacrifice, but you're doing so for the long term position. It's. You're not going to see it four moves from now, you're going to see it twelve moves from now, and you're going to be in a much better position to win. And it's hard to do that as a business.
Matt Fanslow [01:00:51]:
Kind of like you were saying with some people, they, they, they have a slow day and they go into panic mode and dialing people up like, hey, you know, you got anything for us? Or. Hey, remember that car? It was in here and, you know, we said it might need a timing belt. I can get it in right now. Just. And that might not be the play. It might be a slow play, might be better. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:17]:
Or usually is. Every time. It usually is.
Matt Fanslow [01:01:19]:
Yes.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:19]:
Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [01:01:20]:
Or something with marketing that may look like I'm giving up a lot for this.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:25]:
Okay.
Matt Fanslow [01:01:26]:
Yeah. It'll seem like that for the next month or two or three or six months, but it's going to start paying off.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:33]:
I think it's going to be like, perfect. Perfect example that. $5,000 to send out flyers. Yeah, but you're going to be busy for probably the rest of the year. Yeah. It's nothing if you look at the grand scheme of things, but it is. It's really hard to you. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:49]:
The instinct is there to just get them in quick and then before you know it, you've made all these phone calls. Now the whole shops full, people coming in, all for discount services. You have two clients behind these 50 that want to pay your full price. That would have been the exact same amount of profit as those other 50 that came in for that cheap oil change that you marketed, that you called out for. It's like, yeah, that short term win is exactly. I mean, the game of chess is a good way to put it. I'm not the best at it. I like the idea behind it.
Matt Fanslow [01:02:15]:
Me too.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:16]:
But it is frustrating to me, especially when you pay those play, those guys, they're really good. Like, oh, my God, how did, why didn't I think of that? I hate that feeling.
Matt Fanslow [01:02:26]:
Yep. Yeah. Or I mean, if you get really bored or you're just really interested, go watch some of the games where Alphazero is playing stockfish. And those are two chess engines. And Alphazero is kind of deep learning where the, its claim to fame was, and this is a few years ago now, was it was only given the rules of chess, the goal of winning, and it was allowed to self play for 4 hours. And in 4 hours it went from nothing to the strongest chess engine on the planet. But you watch how it plays and it looks wildly unintuitive, and yet you find out it's playing way down the line and not even so much its superior position as much as putting you in, uh, like forcing you to almost block in your own pieces, rendering your most, your strongest pieces unusable. You can't move it.
Matt Fanslow [01:03:27]:
You know, you can't move your queen because you boxed it in with a rook and a knight, and it attacks. This attacks the king, forcing you to protect it with a bishop. It's now that that piece is unusable, and that's the way it's playing. And it's just how slow and frustrating it would be to play something like that. That's these little inconsequential moves you're looking at going like, what is it doing a one? Why would it play a one? What a ridiculous move. And then you see it 1520 moves later, like, oh, I hate that.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:07]:
That feeling right there. Like, that drives me nuts. It's like a thousand knife cuts.
Matt Fanslow [01:04:12]:
Right?
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:12]:
Oh, why didn't I think of that? I should be thinking. Yeah.
Matt Fanslow [01:04:16]:
I think business strategy or leadership, not just always, like, marketing or stuff like that, but even just working on sops, working on processes just within the shop, like, you know, this is going to be really expensive to move the oil tanks. But, man, you know, if that was over there, it would save these four techs, on average, 50 steps a day. Yeah. Okay. The payoff's going to be way down the road, but it's there and virtually guaranteed. And maybe a horrible example, but thinking along those lines.
Jimmy Purdy [01:04:58]:
Right. The inefficiencies.
Matt Fanslow [01:05:00]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:01]:
And on that same point, as I'm pretty much looking at everything and a management system, like, I don't want to change management systems. Yeah, but if all the guys can be electronic and they don't have to come in the office and everything can be sent to them on their devices, how much time you're gonna save there? You know, you never know. It's not always 100%, but writing sops, I mean, that's just that in itself. I'm gonna spend a lot of time, and this isn't gonna do anything for me today, tomorrow, or even this week.
Matt Fanslow [01:05:29]:
Yep.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:29]:
Right. But in six months, when you hire a new tech, he'll know exactly what to do, and you don't have to spend the next week explaining to him how our process is. Yep. And it's like, yeah, most guys, I think, look, I'm not writing sops. Why? Because everyone knows what they're supposed to do, and I don't have the time for that. Okay.
Matt Fanslow [01:05:49]:
Our. Our shop really needs to have an onboard. Sorry. Onboarding system or procedure. We don't have one. And I think it's hurt us bad. It's hurt bad.
Jimmy Purdy [01:05:59]:
You don't know you need it until you hire someone. Right. And it's like, you're not hiring someone every day. Hopefully not. I mean, that's the idea is not to have constantly be onboarding people. So, yeah, it's difficult. It's difficult to write it down because then it changes, too. And two, three years, I feel like your onboarding process would probably be different.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:15]:
So, I mean, I have the same issues, like, what do I write down? Because when's my next. When's my next hire? You know, how is this shop going to be laid out in a year? Because ain't going to be the same as it is today. So, like, how do I, you know, then it will just write it down and then you just change it as you go. That's easier said than done. But I mean, the. On your point is, like, just having that thought process, I think, is what's important. Actually be thinking about that actively, even if you don't have anything written down. I think that's just important because that way, you're at least you're looking around, like, trying to figure it out.
Jimmy Purdy [01:06:49]:
Yep.
Matt Fanslow [01:06:50]:
It's tough. It's. It's tough to try to just step back and try to look at things from a different perspective. And not just physically, but also mentally. Like, how can I check myself out as a owner, manager, technician? How can I step back or employee, how can I step back and look at this differently? And as not, how does this look like? What does this look like to an employee, a potential employee? What does this look like to a client? What does this look like to, you know, a different owner? What if a different owner walked in here and looked around and they're kind of like, you know, what are they doing? You know, I just think that it makes a lot of sense to try to do that. It's hard. It's so hard. But it's so valuable just driving by your shop, trying to think about, what does this look like to a client? What if I have, you know, we'll just say our old shop before this one, the parking lot was gravel and the shop itself was basically an old machine shed.
Matt Fanslow [01:08:02]:
And inside, you know, it's white tin and pretty well lit, clean concrete floor, stuff like that, but poorly laid out. And I felt, you know, when I started there, that our angle to get cars was to go after the stuff no one else wanted to work on, which is mainly european vehicles, which are typically at least considered higher end. Many would drive up to the shop because, you know, advertising as much as we could that we work on european vehicles. And they would drive kind of up to the driveway and turn around and leave. And, you know, they're looking at it going I ain't taking my car here.
Jimmy Purdy [01:08:44]:
Oh, wow.
Matt Fanslow [01:08:45]:
You know that. And so it really forced the issue of a size location like, there, there's many reasons for us to get out of that place. One, proximity to the Mississippi river, not every spring, but many springs we flooded and we couldn't work for a few days or a week. We're also located, like, literally right next to a train tracks. So every time the train went through, six times a day, forget about talking on the phone, forget about talking to a customer at the counter, you had to wait for that train to go by. And the trains are long. And then just the looks of it, the layout and the size is almost impossible to grow. So finally, you know, after a few years, we, we get out of there, we get into this new building or different building, better location, kind of parking lots, nicer, but smaller.
Matt Fanslow [01:09:49]:
But immediately, those, those cars that used to turn around and leave, they don't now it's acceptable. And the number of euro cars, we start seeing that, especially the higher end ones, goes up. And sometimes I wonder if that was good or bad. But, yeah, I guess you gotta be careful what you wish for, right? But, yeah, it just kind of stepping back and I get it from the owner's perspective, the rent was so low. It was, the overhead kept so low because of it, but it now with, you know, triple, maybe I'll almost quadruple the, uh, payment. This is not leasing. He's buying. The, uh, the ceiling went way up, so, you know.
Matt Fanslow [01:10:41]:
Yeah, our overhead went up, but now the ceiling of income went way up, more than offsetting it. And then it's kind of like, could have, should have, would have long 15 years ago. Yeah. So, yeah, it's hard. Yeah, yeah, it's hard having, having the.
Jimmy Purdy [01:11:01]:
Network of people and not looking at your neighbors as competition and, and have building a community and having, that's the only way you're going to get a different set of eyes. They said, I've never been a client. I haven't been a true, you know, technician in five or six years. As far as a day to day, you know, and it's, and it's, I'm always gonna be biased to my own shop, so I can't, like, I can't look at this place as, you know, my place as a technician. Right. Because it's always going to be biased to me. I can't look it as a client because I've never been a client of an auto shop. And sure, I can look at it as an owner and put ASC plaques everywhere and all our training stuff.
Jimmy Purdy [01:11:36]:
But clients don't care about that stuff. And at the end of the day, it's all about bringing in money. So it's like sometimes you need that realization and have somebody come in, like, hey, man, like, this doesn't make any sense. Or I had, years ago, someone told me, pay one of your best clients to come in and evaluate your business.
Matt Fanslow [01:11:52]:
Like what?
Jimmy Purdy [01:11:53]:
Like, just take. Take one of them that. A frequent client, or even a first time one, and give them a discount service. Give them a free service and just ask for a true evaluation when they walk and how they feel. Because anybody can go on Google and give you a five star and the Karen's go on there and give you a zero star for no reason. But it's all in the valuable. It doesn't. It's just.
Jimmy Purdy [01:12:10]:
It's just a game. That's all it is. It doesn't tell you anything in my opinion. Like, there's just. It's just a game. But it's like, really ask one of your good clients, like, hey, what do you think? You know, have them look around. Oh, I saw that greasy footprint, you know, on all your light switches. Like, oh, you know, you're right.
Jimmy Purdy [01:12:24]:
I didn't really ever look at that little things, you know, it's invaluable. But, yeah.
Matt Fanslow [01:12:32]:
And for our clients, it was the smell. They would walk in and you could smell that it was an auto repair shop. So we went to great lengths to eliminate that, you know, redoing, you know, of course, painting, new drop ceiling, new flooring and air exchange system that separates the waiting area, office area from the shop completely. So the only way air from the shop gets into the customer waiting area is somebody leaves doors open. So. And now when they walk in there, you can't. You can't tell by the decor, you can't tell by the smell that you're walking into a repair shop. One of the.
Matt Fanslow [01:13:20]:
I mean, I take it as a compliment. Maybe not. Maybe I'm biased, but when people put open that front door and walk in and go, is this. Is this an auto repair shop? Is this. Is this automotive? Is this riverside automotive? That's. I take that as a compliment.
Jimmy Purdy [01:13:38]:
Yeah. Like, I get that.
Matt Fanslow [01:13:39]:
Because in their mind, it could be, you know, who knows what a clinic. I don't know.
Jimmy Purdy [01:13:45]:
Well, you just. You just set the expectations.
Matt Fanslow [01:13:48]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:13:48]:
And that one moment, you just set the clients expectations. Yep. It's like, you can't pay for that. I mean, I guess you did pay for it, but you definitely paid for it.
Matt Fanslow [01:14:01]:
But, yeah, it's a big compliment.
Jimmy Purdy [01:14:06]:
Well, cool, man. I appreciate you coming on.
Matt Fanslow [01:14:08]:
I really appreciate you having me. This is a blast.