Confessions of a Shop Owner

Tektonic 2027 is coming up April 1-3, and if you missed year 1, you MUST NOT miss year 2. It's bigger, it's better, because is Tekmetric's conference. You know it's gonna be the best conference in the history of conferences. Get lower pricing now HEREIf you're like me and aren't good at marketing, don't do it on your own. Let the experts handle it. Touch HERE for more on Turnkey Marketing.47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HERE When I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Darrin Barney has built Barney Brothers, become a business coach, and eventually helped lead Elite Worldwide — but there was a point when running a shop was making him miserable. Darrin and Ginger Barney join Mike Allen and Bryan Pollock to talk about what changed.Darrin explains why he believes coaching may have saved more than just his business, how shop ownership can slowly consume your entire life, and why learning to lead differently gave him a new perspective on his employees, family and future. They also dig into what it takes to run a business with your spouse, why owners need to stop talking shop 24/7, the employees who are actually the hardest to fire, high-performance habits, EOS, the visionary/implementer dynamic and why the owner is often the biggest limiting factor in the business.Timestamps:00:00 – “I was miserable”00:26 – Intro00:56 – What exactly is Barney Brothers?03:54 – Mike’s Honda Odyssey goes off-roading09:17 – Running Barney Brothers and finding good technicians12:47 – Goals, marriage and running a family business14:57 – When the shop becomes your entire life18:02 – How Elite chooses its business coaches20:50 – The hardest employees to fire23:26 – High-performance habits for shop owners25:11 – EOS, structure and bending the rules28:39 – Are YOU the limiting factor?35:41 – What’s next for Elite38:05 – Escaping the shop-owner rat race41:14 – Working hard in the wrong direction45:07 – The fight that changed Darrin52:35 – Ginger tells the truth about Darrin54:49 – Booger walls & outro

Tektonic 2027 is coming up April 1-3, and if you missed year 1, you MUST NOT miss year 2. It's bigger, it's better, because is Tekmetric's conference. You know it's gonna be the best conference in the history of conferences. Get lower pricing now HERETurnkey Marketing has made my life SOOO much simpler, AND they've helped keep the phone ringing. Do you need these two things too? Learn more HERE47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!When I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREHow many automotive technicians are actually good at their jobs?Chris Enright joins Mike Allen and Bryan Pollock for a conversation that is probably going to make somebody angry. They dig into technician pay, craftsmanship, flat rate, productivity, tool costs, bad shop owners, bad service advisors and whether technicians sometimes need to take more responsibility for the situations they're complaining about.Chris argues that technicians absolutely deserve good money when they're producing quality work — but being underpaid doesn't give anyone permission to send bad work back to the customer. Bryan explains why some of the biggest quality-control problems he's dealt with can still be traced back to habits technicians learned under flat rate, while Mike breaks down why compensation has to come with clear performance expectations.Timestamps:00:00 – What percentage of technicians are actually good?00:54 – Intro01:26 – RC cars, hobbies and content creation06:24 – Does consistency actually grow social media?14:30 – Is ragebait actually bad?16:09 – Technicians want better pay — but what about quality?18:10 – Is flat rate causing bad workmanship?21:30 – The 95/5 rule for technicians24:30 – What should a good technician actually make?25:54 – How dealerships destroy technician productivity31:00 – What flat rate does to a technician mentally33:37 – Salary vs. flat rate vs. hybrid pay35:17 – A $120K technician who stopped producing37:30 – Why can't technicians turn the hours?44:10 – What's a reasonable level of technician production?51:13 – Do technicians really need $100K in tools?54:42 – Working for a bad shop? Chris says leave56:52 – How many shops and technicians are actually good?58:44 – “There are no good shops to work for”01:01:43 – Could Mike place 100 good technicians?01:02:06 – Shops need to market themselves to technicians01:04:32 – The technician test nobody could pass01:05:50 – What does a true “unicorn” technician cost?01:06:44 – Why a great parts changer can still be worth $90K+01:08:39 – The internet isn't real life01:09:22 – Final conversational grenades

Tektonic 2027 is coming up April 1-3, and if you missed year 1, you MUST NOT miss year 2. It's bigger, it's better, because is Tekmetric's conference. You know it's gonna be the best conference in the history of conferences. Get lower pricing now HEREMy marketing before and after signing up with Turnkey Marketing is pretty scary. In a good way. Get your marketing right today HERE47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you! Make your techs happier with Detect Auto. They'll stop getting "check noise" or "check vibration" from advisors with the customer concern tool. It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Book a demo HEREElite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREMike thought Carfix had a car-count problem. Then Matt Lofton started digging into the numbers and uncovered something much more interesting: a huge chunk of the shop’s volume was coming from state inspections that created almost no opportunity.In this coaching call, Mike and Matt break down ARO, gross profit per hour, state-inspection-only tickets, customer retention and why simply getting more cars through the door doesn't necessarily make your shop healthier. They also get deep into pre-booking appointments, including why Matt believes it's one of the highest-return strategies a repair shop can implement without spending another dollar on marketing.Plus: North Carolina State Fair economics, Mike's questionable relationship with fried food, SEMA/APEX, Matt's early days running what was basically a glorified lube shop, and why the piano tuner apparently has automotive repair shops beat at customer retention.If your shop is busy but the numbers still aren't where you want them, this episode might make you look at your car count very differently.Timestamps:00:00 – Using AI to automatically pre-book customers00:58 – Mike and Matt talk SEMA and AAPEX04:35 – How automotive parts manufacturing really works08:35 – Digging into Carfix's numbers11:29 – Effective labor rate is going the wrong direction13:20 – The NC State Fair is apparently hurting business16:26 – Mike's current ARO and sales opportunity18:53 – How much of the shop's car count is state inspections?20:28 – About 40 state-inspection-only cars22:56 – Why state inspections create limited opportunity24:53 – Should shops limit inspection appointments?26:29 – Calculating the gross profit target27:51 – The next problem Mike needs to solve29:13 – Why pre-booking takes months to pay off31:57 – Treat pre-booking like compound interest33:23 – Stop asking customers if they want another appointment34:42 – Matt's shop was basically a lube shop37:35 – What the checkout conversation should sound like39:18 – Even Mike's piano tuner pre-books appointments40:49 – Are state-inspection customers actually coming back?41:21 – The $300 steakhouse analogy44:10 – If there's no profit today or tomorrow, why do it?45:23 – Replace bad car count with better car count45:58 – Fly With the Eagles recap49:11 – Elite Ignite 202753:19 – Mike's AAPEX invitation

Tektonic 2027 is coming up April 1-3, and if you missed year 1, you MUST NOT miss year 2. It's bigger, it's better, because is Tekmetric's conference. You know it's gonna be the best conference in the history of conferences. Get lower pricing now HERETurnkey Marketing takes the stress of doing something I'm not good at off my plate. And gives it to someone who is. Click HERE for more.47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HEREWhen I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Mike Allen catches up with James Hornak and Nathan Ward roughly a year after their first appearance on Confessions of a Shop Owner—and a lot has changed. Their shop now has three full-time technicians, has been running roughly 180 cars a month at around a $955 ARO, and is pacing toward approximately $1.5 million in its first full year. They explain the strategy behind their controversial $29 oil changes, what happened when their first $100K month convinced them they could change roles too quickly, why finding the right service advisor has been harder than expected and how coaching and involvement in the industry accelerated their growth. Mike also opens up about the management mistake that wrecked his own shop culture, they discuss building strong DVIs without trying to sell every discovered item immediately, and Nathan casually declares that the goal for next year is $3 million. Oh—and James and Nathan finally reveal that they were behind the mystery Mike Allen shirts that had him accusing half of ASTA Expo of conspiring against him.Timestamps:00:00 – Mike Discovers the Mystery Shirt01:26 – Martini Bar at ASTA 😂02:24 – Is the Mustang STILL Broken?04:19 – One Year of Insane Shop Growth06:01 – Hiring Three Technicians in Year One09:24 – 180 Cars a Month & $955 ARO10:42 – The $29 Oil Change Strategy12:25 – Pacing $1.5 Million in Year One16:50 – Mike’s Shop Culture Fell Apart18:59 – $100K Month → $60K Month20:38 – Mike’s Best Service Advisor Was a Bartender21:48 – Why Coaching Changed Everything23:44 – Should They Buy a $2.5M Shop?27:54 – Paying Off Debt & Building the “F You Fund”28:30 – WHO MADE THE MIKE SHIRTS?! 😂38:04 – Profitable Enough to Spend Money on a Joke53:28 – The Free Diag Debate Returns55:59 – $5,300 in Discovered Work58:58 – The $3 Million Goal1:03:03 – From Startup to $1.5M Through Community & Coaching

Tektonic 2027 is coming up April 1-3, and if you missed year 1, you MUST NOT miss year 2. It's bigger, it's better, because is Tekmetric's conference. You know it's gonna be the best conference in the history of conferences. Get lower pricing now HEREIf you're like me and aren't good at marketing, don't do it on your own. Let the experts handle it. Touch HERE for more on Turnkey Marketing.47 Consultants brings your shop’s story to life on social media, helping Carfix engage 60,000 people in Raleigh in just a few weeks. See what 47 Consultants can do for your shop, and tell them Big Daddy Mike sent you!Elite Worldwide's Ignite 2027 is coming up in February and NOW is the time to sign up. It's happening in Vegas February 4-6 and it will be the best 3 days of your shops year when you attend. Save $100 when you use code CONFESSIONS HERE When I used the maintenance tool for the fist time with Detect Auto, my mind was blown. My advisors had the same reaction - and then SO MUCH MORE TIME. Learn more about Detect Auto and book a free demo now!Mike Allen and Bryan Pollock welcome Caleb McElmurry to talk about the realities of building a repair business when you’re still the technician, service advisor, estimator, parts department and owner all at once. Caleb started mobile, moved several hours away and essentially started over with a brick-and-mortar shop—and now he’s intentionally waiting until the business is consistently ready before hiring his first technician. They debate why hiring a cheap apprentice first can actually make a solo owner less productive, how many billable hours might signal that it’s time to hire, what types of jobs a startup shop should avoid and why some European cars can eat a new shop alive. Caleb also explains why his first major training event is focused almost entirely on business and service-advisor skills instead of technical classes, and the conversation turns into ASE certifications, technician licensing, customer communication, $1,000 AROs and why owners shouldn’t go home from training and try to change their entire business Monday morning. The bigger lesson: being great at fixing cars gets you started—but learning how to run the business is what determines what happens next.Timestamps: 00:00 – Why Startup Shops Should Be Careful With European Cars05:13 – Meet Caleb McElmurry06:01 – From Mobile Mechanic to Brick-and-Mortar07:09 – When Should Caleb Hire His First Technician?09:22 – Why Your First Hire Shouldn’t Be Cheap Labor10:05 – How Busy Should a Solo Shop Be?13:00 – Tow Trucks, Winter & Small-Town Shop Life16:00 – Stop Giving Jobs the “Go Away” Price20:29 – First Training Event: Don’t Implement Everything23:00 – Why Caleb Isn’t Taking Technical Classes25:00 – Should Automotive Technicians Be Licensed?30:00 – ASE, Apprenticeships & Industry Standards33:00 – Just Get 1% Better34:00 – Caleb’s Service Advisor Process36:42 – Do Customers Need Prices Explained First?38:00 – A $1,000 ARO in a One-Man Shop39:00 – Caleb’s Plan for His First Technician41:12 – The Difficulty of Turning the Business Off43:13 – Late Nights at ASTA