From Military Discipline to Automotive Leadership: How Brett Clancy Built a Thriving Franchise

[0:00]  there's some people out there that are awesome and uh and they can they they've been where you've been they know what you're doing and and they can speak into you and uh that made all the difference and so you know I started getting around other people that were like me and you know we we gradually got to where you know we're now very direct when we have a when there's a problem Brewing we deal with it immediately and I I have a a leadership group that when we need to we pull them all together and it's it's it sometimes we have a four on-one conversation and uh but to be sure that we're fair with people and that we give them not only a here's here's the issue but give them a path for you know reconciliation so they

[0:49]  can you know get in line with what we're doing or determine maybe this isn't the place for them and you know cuz I had to I got to be humble enough to know that I'm not I'm not everybody's cup of tea and what we're doing isn't everybody's cup of tea you know it doesn't have to be there's so many things out there in so many different people so um you know I just had to realize that but to hold a person in a place not correcting them and then creating that toxic place is that's the worst thing you can do as a leader to people you know is have a place where nobody's happy and and everybody's struggling you know to just get up in the morning all right guys welcome back to a

[1:48]  brand new episode of the heart and hustle podcast now I'm incredibly blessed to be sitting across this table from another amazing leader I've got Brett Clancy here sitting across the table from me he is the owner and franchisee of Christian Brothers Automotive Brett welcome to the show man good to be here Keenan thanks for having me so Brett you know part of what I thought was really interesting was how somebody becomes an owner of an automotive chain if you will now to kind of talk about how you set yourself up for this opportunity you said that as you became a college graduate you had zero debt that put you in a position to make some good decisions how did you come out of college with zero debt well it starts with a mindset I it I didn't even have a credit card um and I remember go with first day on campus um being shocked that there was a table

[2:37]  there and it was some credit card company come and sign sign your life away yeah and I thought you do realize these people don't have any money so exactly so uh but yeah we just um you know my we put I put my wife through college first so I worked full-time and then she came out and she got a job doing even better than I was doing at the time and so uh that whole thing was um I had told her the only reason only way she would go to college is if I promised to go after her and I said oh yeah you know being a newlywed guy thought yeah she'll forget about it and she didn't graduation day said okay it's your turn and I'm like ah so uh so we uh we did that so we spent seven years with

[3:26]  one of us in in college our first seven years a marriage and and uh so just you know worked in between and uh you know worked when we could and and uh and they of course had our first first born uh while I was in school and um you know bought a house while we were in school and and uh thanks to the the GI bill I got a got me one of those zero down uh deals that Dave Ramsey would just have a fit you know told him you were doing it ahead of time so so uh but yeah it was just you know it was just a mindset and you know we've always been very debt averse and and uh it's one thing both me and my wife uh came to understand very early and that's the power of compound

[4:15]  interest and you want it working for you not against you and U you know you get that debt going and it's working against you it's very hard to get out of then now were you while you were putting your wife through college right before you thought that she wasn't going to hold you to the agreement that that you made what kind of places were you working in where you could afford to put your wife through college build a h you know all these type of things what were you doing yeah so we uh so my family had a door and mill work business and uh we uh I kind of grew up in that just working as a kid but I um I uh I worked at uh Kenworth in the factory uh when I got out of the military and decided assembly line um just wasn't going to be for me and uh so went to work for my dad and I did everything from drive trucks to uh

[5:04]  to being on the back end of things purchasing um inventory control that kind of stuff so it's kind of Warehouse we had we had about 50 employees at our Peak back then uh and uh it was it was it was a fun business um I had I did sell for a while but I found uh there was a big void in the back end which was hurting me my ability to s sell so I went I jumped into the back end of things and really kind of got my found my my gifting was really in the operational side of things so um so that's that's what I was doing and um you know but working for your dad I don't I know some dads I guess are real a lot cooler than mine mine mine was teaching me the value of a dollar every

[5:52]  day I was going to say you know I also I started my company back in 2014 with uh my father as well and it's an interesting experience working with people who you love you know what I mean because they hold you to a higher standard they can teach you some lessons that are a little bit sharper than everybody else but you also kind of as the young in have to kind of take it on the chin and look for understanding of why you're being taught these lessons absolutely and I I figured working for my my dad is still the toughest guy I ever worked for and um nobody has nobody's ever had that uh you know taken away from him he was he was tough so I I I knew early on if I can work for this guy I can work for anybody how do you think that sets you up to be a leader of your own organization because we talked a little bit about your passion for

[6:38]  sales right you pivot get into operations find that that's your gift how do we become a franchisee of multiple locations here how's that work out well uh you know a lot of times I feel like I'm channeling my dad because my dad was he was an awesome leader uh to have a company with 50 employees doing all kinds of things um take takes some bandwidth and uh he was he was a military guy as well and so you know you you if you want to learn leadership join the military they will teach it to you uh so just using those kind of skills just um uh just kind of programmed me that was going to be the way I was going to end up and and pretty much my whole career I I generally whatever I start at I end up running eventually and uh

[7:26]  sometimes quicker than others uh as we discussed uh previously but uh um yeah it was um you know and then the whole franchise thing just timing was everything we uh I was getting kind of um to really could see the end of the end of the line of where I was at and uh and when Christian Brothers popped up in the uh area where we were living at the time uh it was just kind of one of the things well I'll see if see if I qualify and I just one step step at a time time and next thing I knew I was qualified and um being told I had to move so I set off a whole another adventure so what are what are some of those early conversations like right cuz one of my favorite conversations is you know

[8:13]  working a 9 to-5 then jumping the chasm to having a 247 365 is a completely different animal so what were some of the conversations you were having with your wife other support system about like hey I'm going to make this jump and become the owner of my own franchise well we uh um we we had a this wasn't our first go round we were uh I was a an Edward Jones Investment guy for four years two years before the World Trade Center blew up and and bled to death for two years after and I was just too new in the business and and just couldn't sustain it and really we got to a bad place financially and my wife finally told me because I that's one of my shortcomings I I won't quit anything and I was F you know every day I got up how am I going to make this work and uh she

[9:02]  finally just said we're at the end of the Rope um you need to you need to go get a job how is that realization for you because when we have the stick to itness nature of us right quitting is not an option sometimes it takes someone who we truly respect and love to say Hey listen this is the end of this journey we need to Pivot were you readily available to do that or were you kind of taking a little bit of convincing yeah now you know I I learned I learned long ago you know my my biggest that's my wife and if I listen to her I I realized long ago she sees things that I don't see and hears things and senses different things and her opinion uh on things a lot of times is just dead on and and she's speaking into a blind spot for me and uh so when she came and told

[9:51]  me that I I you know of course you know there was a lot of back and forth well really how how broke are we really you know and and basically she said there there in not another dime I can squeeze out of this thing and and U you know uh we need to we need to we need to Pivot and so a lot of guys at the time were were doing the same thing and and it was that was a rough time for the investment world you know and then with all the sarban Oxley and everything that came in there was a lot of lot of transition a lot of new things coming down the pike so uh uh so I you know we you know we didn't really battle over it I when she told me it was over it was over and so uh but fortunately I you know I had a

[10:40]  great net I've always been a networker and you know I had a I had a job the next day so um you know worked for a couple startups after that uh which was fun because they were entrepreneurial guys and and doing you know really Haywire stuff uh outside of the box and it was brutal uh tough to make money uh and I was making enough but you know to get things by but we weren't making Headway and so uh finally I did did score a job with a um a local uh Body Shop Supply Company and uh became became their vice president you know in a few years uh after making a couple bold um recommendations that uh they took me up

[11:30]  on and and then I had to pull it off and and that's that's being an entrepreneur so even though I was in I didn't own the business I was in in an entrepreneurial Enterprise and was operating as such and really um one of the biggest things that always determined where I take a job is what I can learn while I'm there and I thought you know I can learn you know to how to run an organization here we had we had three stores at the time three locations uh that Rose to five and I think he's beyond that now so he's he's done very well uh his kids have all come in and and uh taken up you know positions in the company so they've got a lot of bandwidth now they're able to

[12:17]  run a bigger organization and it was it was great it was great for me but you know all things get get to you know you get it built um and that's my my challenge is I'm a builder not a not a maintainer oh you're like a you're a person who loves the growth process figuring out overcoming the challenges and then you're ready to cut it Loose yeah and I I'm I'm that guy on the Colby uh index if you ever look at that I'm a I'm very high on the quick start yeah very low on the follow through uh so I have to surround my people myself with people that do that and love that and uh so uh that was kind of the the challenge there eight years of that and then Christian Brothers was there it actually about six

[13:05]  years cuz it took from the time I started talking to Christian Brothers to the time we actually moved to Idaho and opened that store was over two years wow it takes about a when when all the lights are green uh it takes over a year to build a Christian Brothers Automotive shop so uh so and then the rest of it was just getting in the queue because they you know Christian Brothers builds as they with the cash they got they don't they don't borrow money they they they build with you know with their own what a concept so that limits how many you do a year um I think right now their pipeline's very full I don't know how many years out they are but you know we're we're growing at about 25 a year now wow and when I joined we were growing at about 10 a year so it's

[13:55]  really multiplied it's been a been a great great time to get into this industry and you of course then the the Manu manufacturers and all the you know inflation has has made it to where people are hanging onto their cars a lot longer so um you got to have good skilled people that can keep those cars on the road and and we really uh are doing well at filling that that Niche what was it about the Christian Brothers franchises that kind of really aligned with you because you could have I'm sure looked at many different opportunities was there something special about this opportunity yeah it it's a you know it's a faith-based company that was a biggie for me um in my previous uh work we you know we were a couple of Christian guys and and and pretty you know pretty

[14:44]  active in our faith and we were we had a discussion one day about what it is to be a Christian business versus a christian-owned business and that was really kind of a key conversation for us um and we what was that conversation like Brett what kind of what is the difference in what that conversation you guys had so we were it as a result of our conversation we we determined we were a christian-owned business so you got a guy that's an owner that he's got a he's got his set of you know rules and things that he lives by and and that's how he runs the business and where whereas a Christian business we're a little more active in um um expressing our faith through the work that we do and so what

[15:34]  really attracted me to Christian Brothers was they are an overtly Christian or organization uh when I was with the previous company we were more of a covertly uh you know we didn't and we don't advertise it anyway it's just it wasn't in our name we didn't have you know crosses on the wall you know things like that there it it was I mean I've I've been into some guys that they got crosses or crucifixes on the wall it's it's very evident when you walk in there um but you know with with the previous company that just that we weren't there yet but we were evolving that way and uh so we we did get some outside coaching through a group called C12 uh we were part of that for eight years uh I was anyway he's still part of that and to this day um but when I was

[16:25]  looking at that you know as we transitioned that basically then it's like how do you care for your employees and so we brought in we had a chaplaincy service that came in uh visited all our stores we had a chaplain guy that you know came out and visited and uh you know so we provided pastoral care for our employees should they want that you know of course nothing's ever forced and we don't you know we don't set criteria like you have to be a Christian to work here but we do adhere to Christian values and how we operate you know we don't lie we don't cheat we don't we're very transparent we we try to do the best for everybody and and we're in a we're in a tough business you know a lot of people they're at a disadvantage when

[17:13]  their car is broken most people don't know don't even know how to lift the hood of the thing you know um and so they've got to be able to trust you because you're going to you're going to tell them what it's going to take to maintain that car and keep it in really good you know operating you know as near New as you can possibly do which seems like in direct contrast to the reputation right that the automotive space really has I have an experience in this we recently sold uh my girlfriend's car to one of her friends and she sent us an email or sent us a text and said hey I just went to go get my oil changed and they said I need a new radiator I need a new alternator I need all four um rotors that I need to have replaced and so I sent her the invoice of the work that we literally had just done before we sold

[18:00]  the car and she was like oh I think these guys were lying to me I guess I can't trust the people at the body shop or at the you know the Jiffy Lube wherever she was at and it seems like the faith element of your guys' business do not lie do what is right is in direct contrast to that but it also can be used as a superpower for your guys' culture it is and it's unfortun I hate hearing stories like that but unfortunately they they do occur um we uh when I talked to the founder of the company which was a pretty cool thing when I was going through the process of being selected as a franchisee you have an interview with the CEO and found her and he uh he he explained to me that their whole G their whole goal was to be a light in the automotive industry and so what does that mean that

[18:48]  means showing people showing everybody how how you can do it because at the end of the day um there are so many broken cars out there that need help you don't need to cheat people you don't need to you know dream up stuff that's wrong with the car it's just going to be it's coming in faster and you can take care of it believe me um especially when you start doing the business right you'll word them mouth and and just our own you know just our customers telling you know people we've got raving fans out there you know so you don't have to do that but what's really cool is you know we have a certain way we do things we have training that's uh we do put an emphasis on on the biblical background on what we're doing and why we do it and uh again it's you know it's we don't

[19:38]  we're not shoving it down anybody's throat but you know when when they when you hear that that saying hey go the extra mile what does that mean where did that come from well that's a that's a Biblical uh passage where you know a guy was being compelled to carry carry a load for a rush or a Russian a a Roman soldier they were they could compel you to carry their stuff for a mile and so to be uh you know and Christ's answer for that is take take that load for two miles you know go the extra mile so that you are not you're not a slave you're of your own free will you are serving and so that's kind of where it comes from and so you know we all say

[20:27]  that all the time but really when you think about where it comes I had no idea where that came from yeah and yeah the verse is escaping me right now but it's uh um but it it's in there trust me yeah so um but you know we we explain these things and and you know a lot of people wow you know it's just part of our culture you know we are still a Christian Nation and uh so a lot of the things that we were found in on we've been saying these things for 250 years you know so um you know there's a lot of lot of cool stuff in there so but that was the thing and then we you know when you bring people up in this system and you teach them how to do it you know it'd be great if everybody stayed with me forever but you know people's lives change their trajectories change we've had several people that

[21:15]  have left on great terms with us and they've gone on to other shops and what's awesome is I know that they are spreading that light because they're going to go in there with with with our way of doing doing things and then um you know that somehow there will be a you know a change in the culture of where they go and that's that's a win you know so that that accomplishes our long-term Vision you know there's a a phrase that says train them so good they can leave treat them so good that they stay right absolutely at any point in time during your career did you ever feel a certain way about people leaving the organization to kind of pursue their own passions and bigger opportunities I think when I was newer in it it it almost felt like a betrayal um yeah because I do really try to treat my

[22:04]  folks well pay them well uh you know be sensitive to you know what's going on in their lives you know and you know and you you allow employees to tell you what's going on in their lives you can you can make a difference and you know sometimes people don't want to hear it um sometimes it's messy and uh sometimes you got to just have Grace for people and help them through things because uh they'll they'll they'll if they come through it okay they'll be the greatest greatest employee ever had and uh but you know as I you know grew up a little bit got a little more um mature in my leadership i i i nowadays I just feel like it's a win for either you know because it's our it's our overarching

[22:53]  one of our overarching Visions is to be that light so I know if they go somewhere else they're going to they're going to be that light you know as well so how have you changed as a leader in the 11 years that you've been spending in this space right with your own organization you're the boss how have you changed the way in which you lead others um that's been an awes that's the best part about being in business is the the growth that you can engage in um you know I I started off really being too far on the mercy side and and to the point of you know I would not have those difficult conversations uh that you need to have with people um and and it would end up costing me uh you know just not only an emotional baggage and heartache but in

[23:44]  um you know it hurt the business you know because you would lean away from those those conflicting conversations I was always afraid to have those cuz I didn't want to hurt people's feelings and I um I'm a I'm a type A guy I'm a driver off the charts um I I remember a guy gave me one of these things uh one of those tests the disc test and he was walking around and he had a comment for everybody and he came up to me to give me my results and he said there's a desert island somewhere in need of a dictator and I'm going to send them your name and you know when you're when you have that type of personality you really have to um be careful of how you treat people because it's very easy to be um insensitive and and um and even hurtful

[24:33]  and and it's not something you mean to do but it just you're wired that way so in being aware of that then pulling back so far to where yeah I became a dmat and really ineffective and so uh that took about three years in you know I kind of got to a crisis point where things weren't working I couldn't fix them uh and I but I was transparent with people that I was you know that I respected and and uh knew as leaders in this in this industry and they gave me some great advice and I took it and basically uh we had to I had to change out the whole front crew of the shop and and start start it all over again and with me running you know doing writing

[25:20]  service doing everything why' you have to do that Brent because I we just had a toxic it became a toxic um environment and that it just I couldn't turn these people and so I also needed get get some coaching on how to manage me and you know because ultimately I was the problem uh I was the I was the you know the Block in the Stream there and so my my just unwillingness to do have those conversations and to be direct and have that Vision out there so that everybody knows what they're doing um you know it was I I needed you know I wasn't going to get there by myself because my best thinking got me there you know so uh we

[26:10]  had to you know that's when I really discovered coaching um as a as a superpower um there's some people out there that are awesome and uh and they can they they've been where you've been they know what you're doing and and they can speak into you and and uh that made all the difference and so you know I started getting around other people that were like me and you know we we gradually got to where you know we're now very direct when we have a when there's a problem Brewing we deal with it immediately and I I have a a leadership group that when we need to we pull them all together and it's it's it sometimes we have a four-on-one conversation and uh but to be sure that we're fair with people and that we give

[26:59]  them not only a here's here's the issue but give them a path for you know reconciliation so they can you know get in line with what we're doing or determine maybe this isn't the place for them and you know because I had to I got to be humble enough to know that I'm not I'm not everybody's cup of tea and what we're doing isn't everybody's cup of tea it you know it doesn't have to be there's so many things out there and so many different people so um um you know I just had to realize that but to hold a person in a place not correcting them and then creating that toxic place is that's the worst thing you can do as a leader to people you know is is have a place where nobody's happy and and everybody's struggling you know to just

[27:47]  get up in the morning this is why I love the landscape of Entrepreneurship because most of the time right we are forced to look in the mirror at our own inefficiencies they say that a business will grow to the strengths of the CEO of the leader whoever that is and if your business isn't growing past what you think it should be then sometimes we need to look in that mirror and have a true conversation with ourselves about what we could be doing better and it sounds like you've been trained and you've had a lot of experience in looking into that mirror of Entrepreneurship yeah and it's it's sometimes very hard to look in it's scary it is but you know after you do it for a while then it becomes automatic and and what's really a um you know a a gutsy move is to ask ask your team what they think of you um a 360 review is is is a scary thing

[28:39]  and and and especially if you do it anonymously so they can talk freely I I agree and that was something I did when I was 31 years old with my team for the first time and I'll tell you what some of those Anonymous responses that came back were very much aligned with Keenan likes to be a starter he's an idea guy he needs to work on his follow through we constantly are pivoting XYZ um and that took a lot of time for me to be humble enough to accept those pieces of feedback and kind of think about them and how it'd be better in the future that sense of humility is really tough for a lot of people to grasp yeah but boy the value in it you know I always knew I had a follow through problem and but why and you know so through coaching I've fig I've I've gained understanding on why I

[29:28]  am the way I am you know just because I I don't follow through doesn't mean that's really something I can really effectively fix it's just because it's I'm wired that way so as a leader when I'm looking for team members I got to find people that that are complimentary to that so there's some people that they can't they can't think up an idea or or in uh or you know a or create a vision but man they can take a vision and just tear it up and those are the people that a guy like me needs to have around them because uh otherwise you know I'll I'll come up with a vision and two days later here's a new vision you know I mean it just and so I have to I have to know

[30:18]  that about myself so that I don't frustrate my team members but I also have to have good implementers that can take that ball and run with it and even run with it to the point of errors and mistakes and you know and that's probably been the biggest thing um and that's really the difference between a to me a corporate person and an entrepreneurial person is uh you get a bunch of entrepreneurs around and what do we like to talk about we like to talk about our biggest failures and our biggest mistakes and the stupid stuff we've done that's that's what we spend our time with and I my short time in the corporate world boy mistakes are covered up and you don't bolster your resume with the mistakes that you've made to ascend the

[31:05]  ladder right you don't and and that's just that's how you have to be in that world and um you know we had a we've had some great people come through our organization but a lot of them we've had some corporate minded people that just could not get what we're doing and uh and it's hard and uh fortunately I was you know when I started this I was young enough and flexible enough to where you know you can change but not everybody can I mean it's just depends on you know um one thing I like about your podcast you get a lot of people talking about growth mindsets and and you know if you adopt one of those then you'll never you'll never stop um you know so when things change like the world's changing in in 11 years

[31:53]  automotive repair has um I can't believe the difference what we're fixing today and and what's coming down the pike um you know we've got a lot of new stuff coming down and and you've got to Pivot you got to be you got to be looking 10 10 steps down the road from where you're at and that's the stuff I love doing and then I bring it back and I see who bites and who runs with it and you know and that kind of determines how we How We Roll you know so you know it's crazy to think about how quickly technology changes even in the cars that we drive right I mean in 2004 I had a um or at one point in time in my life right I had a 2004 BMW M3 one of the most amazing mechanical driving cars I've ever had

[32:40]  it's 2024 and now I have a Tesla that drives me around everywhere completely different world that I'm living in you know what I mean yeah so how are you kind of thinking about that Trend change towards electric vehicles and all the other kind of stuff that's coming down the pipe yeah it's it's going to be a real thing you know a lot of a lot of people in my industry think uh these electrics is just a fad you know it's going to go away it's not going to go away um and I can tell you the hybrid vehicles out there especially in Toyota they've those things are St state-of-the-art they're they're awesome systems um so you've got to be able to repair those things but you know you don't want to just have anybody stick their hand into a hybrid vehicle they good way to get hurt and uh you know and then there's just different systems and different testing equipment that you

[33:28]  have to use um we're kind of looking at electrics right now how how do we get in there I've got a guy that's um uh he's a what we call an ASC world class um so there's only about well there's less than 2,000 of those guys in the country and uh he's he's he's digging the the the electric stuff and you know Tesla just opened a a a dealership here in Meridian Idaho you know of all places you know I remember when when we first started seeing Teslas if they had to have any work done you had to put them on a tow truck and haul them to Utah yeah it wasn't getting done here and then I started seeing little vans that said Tesla on them and guy driving around with a screwdriver set and a

[34:17]  laptop you know literally and and then now they've got a they've got a shop and I I drive by there at night and you can see all the cars in there and you know they're working on stuff so you know you you'll probably never put a set of brakes on your Tesla uh you won't need to um so a lot of those High wear things you know starters those kind of things you don't have those in these electric cars but you do have other issues you have a lot of all the same interior stuff and uh you got shocks on there you got wheels and tires and you know you still have all those kind of things but um you know the the big thing the electrics is just the uh you know the the electronic you updating and that kind of stuff I'll

[35:04]  tell you Tesla's technology is so awesome that you know that's really not a thing you no it's crazy I mean they have um overthe a updates so like sometimes you'll wake up Christmas time coming up here pretty soon at the time we're recording this every year Tesla drops a big update so you get like a new feature and things which is wild back in 2017 my friend uh bought a model X right so brand new paid $1 like $220,000 for this car and they sold him by saying how much maintenance do you give to your vehicle currently and he was like well I got to change my braks I got to change my oil like I do this like the only maintenance you're going to do on this vehicle is changing the washer fluid is that something that you can handle and so that makes me think about from somebody who's positioned to be able to support uh Vehicles as they age right are you thinking about how this might impact the way in which you guys do

[35:50]  business if there's not as many variables to a vehicle does the model change to be more relationship based do the services change what do you kind of think about yeah I think it the model is definitely changing to a more relationship based um model and we've always carried that you know we want we want you know customers for 10 years not 10 minutes um you know we and we've we've got wonderful customers that you know I want them to like if if the tire light comes on in their car because the temperature just dropped from running in the 50s to 20s um I want them to just come by and know that we're going to take care of them we're going to get that thing aired up and evened up and you know I we're right across from a a a filling station and I see people using that hose out there and putting the

[36:38]  quarters in it and you know and I'm thinking you know I I really want our customers to you know know that we love them enough to where when they come in we're going to we're just going to take care of that kind of stuff and and uh we're just part of their their life we have people that just drop in and see how we're doing which is you know that's just awesome I never best thing you could ask for right there yeah well I never even thought that would ever happen you know and especially in an automotive repair business you know but but with the uh with the electrics coming on there's just um there's always going to be something you know the batteries do eventually go out they do um but you do have to have special ratings and permissions like like when you uh when the first time we had a Tesla up on the on our rack you know we were actually doing tires for it and and

[37:27]  uh they've got all these screws along the bottom of the car and every one of them has a tamper seal on it so that if somebody undoes that that that Fastener to drop down that plate they know it's been opened and all warranty's off you know so so if you're a Tesla owner you don't want anybody touching that car but including yourself you know yeah absolutely and so um so now I'm thinking I I need to buy one so I can undo all those and see what's inside there exactly there you go that's what I'm talking about a business expense for some experimentation would be nice absolutely so here's here's a question let's take this a step further right so we talk about you know EVs and things like that how are you thinking about the world of like artificial intelligence impacting this space in the future have you started to get curious about any of

[38:14]  that yeah and we're I'm kind of excited about it actually I think uh AI is gonna you know it's going to Aid Us in in Diagnostics I think is one of the biggest areas uh where that can make an impact um you know we have a lot of a lot of people that um you know are not coming into the trades and so that means the guys that are in the trades are going to have to be able to do more and so diagnostic is is probably the toughest position to fill in an automotive repair shop having somebody that's good at it especially with the electronic nature of everything that's going on out there um you know so we've got to give those guys better tools to be able to diagnose things quicker um

[39:04]  you know so I've been kind of you know I've been looking at it I I've been to a couple of uh you know uh like Workshop things where they've been talking about it nobody's really talked about uh Automotive specifically but um from where where I'm at right now is I I can understand that AI is really a um it it gathers existing wisdom that's out there yep and now a lot of there's a lot of wisdom out there and a lot of it isn't good um we call it Google garage I Googled it and it says it's this and it's like well it's good try exactly um you know so uh um but you know that when you have the proper software and stuff and then I think the

[39:51]  the strength is going to be in how you how you do inquiries into trying to zero in on on the problem and the better you can talk to that that AI interface the more you're going to be able to get out of it so the trick right now is and I think that's kind of what I see in the industry right now is people are trying to figure out you know how do we how do we're at the how do we use this thing stage in our Evolution but I I'm betting in five years we'll have ai pretty much built into all of our tools that that are existing uh you know and probably uh even some freestanding AI tools that you know we just haven't haven't even invented yet you know so got to stay

[40:38]  curious Brett you know the future is bright to be that light in the automotive industry but also add all of this technology we've been talking about as well yeah well and I've seen some really cool things like uh you know biggest thing in a for an entrepreneur is documenting processes and uh I've talked to a couple guys I'm in a group called Strate IC coach uh there's some guys in there that are really up on this thing and they you know they're using it to create you know employee manuals and you know legal documents uh they can pull things you know because these things pull from everywhere so um but all of them tell you it's it's all in the inquiry uh to to get there and uh so that's the part I'm pretty excited about you know because we're at you know now with two

[41:24]  locations uh we've got a big bigger need now to be documenting all of our processes you know even though we are in a franchise model um you know it's a great model because you know they give us enough to be dangerous but you still have to there's still a gap on how you how you run your individual business so you know with over 300 locations uh every one of those stores has a slightly different culture and a different way of going about doing the same things so uh you know having two locations you know the key for us is U continuity in process and so that's kind of where I'm heading for heading right now is trying to see how I can do that to kind of streamline some of my

[42:11]  processes and get a good written uh documentation of that so uh I'm excited for the future man it's uh You've Got the Right leader at the helm who's curious enough about these Technologies and how the space is changing to be able to ad adapt and morph to be able to meet the needs of the community you know what I mean which is so powerful I want to give you an opportunity because I'm a baseball guy right I want to give you your Babe Ruth moment to call your shot what is 2025 going to look like for your two locations and what you guys are trying to accomplish this next year yeah I think it's going to be solidifying the the the team in the new location uh we're pretty pretty well there always looking for technicians that's the that's the war cry of anybody in our our industry is to get the thing fully staffed so that we can uh handle the

[42:58]  volume that we need uh to be able to produce uh that's going to be key uh we're also uh looking at a partnership with um American uh what is it AMS it's um basically that's a Mobility company they they do uh they adapt vehicles for uh people with uh you know Mobility impairments and so like wheelchair uh vehicles uh anything from hand controls to a you know ramp system you can drive drive your wheelchair right in and up to the wheel and I mean they're cool and uh you know they're uh but there's not a lot of people that can work on those things so we've been partnering with those guys uh with uh uh you know getting getting us well established as a service

[43:47]  center but we may even uh bring a a a dealership to to the Boise market so uh that's kind of something that we're kind of looking at we'll see uh I got to have a lot of permissions from the franchise or uh to make sure that we're you know not not in a conflict and uh so uh but we're we've got a couple guys that are really good at it and uh and AMS really likes our guys and they really want us to be doing doing more with them so uh we'll probably be looking at that as well so that' probably be another it'll be more of a specialized function that we do but it's needed I tell you these ramps and things are really complicated really cool m i mean they're just cool machines but they're outside of the

[44:34]  realm of what a you know your typical Automotive technician's going to be really doing a lot of not a lot of documentation uh like how does this thing work they really got to get in there and figure it out so uh I think 2025 is going to be exciting year for us and and um I'm really looking forward to it I just uh you know the uh our our little area here uh is is still growing you know still got a lot of a lot of folks moving here and a lot of um just a lot of Gap in the service industry so uh so there's lots of opportunity and and U you know the ability to serve you know a lot a lot more people in 2025 well Brett it's easy to understand why you are the definition of heart and Hustle Man we've talked about your

[45:20]  journey we've talked about the hustle and the challenges that you've overcome in your career but also your excitement and optimism for the future and I mean I can't thank you enough for coming on the show man seriously yeah well I I I I'm really glad you reached out and uh you I've been enjoying listening to your podcast you get some great guests on here so it's like man this guy needs to be on patreon or something maybe 2025 is well we'll start that you know there you go yeah so part of our La our tradition here on the podcast Brett is you know we have one guest who wants to ask the next guest a blind question now your question is coming from an amazing leader who's actually in the Kansas City area who owns a uh a foster adopt connect company who has placed over 6,000 children in adoptions over the last like 10 years which is pretty crazy her question for

[46:07]  you is as your organization grows what efforts are do you make to create and sustain a positive organizational culture wow that's a great question um yeah mainly it's it's it's having those conversations early often uh I uh there's a thing called the Nehemiah principle uh Nehemiah was a was a prophet and he was telling the the coaching the Jews to build the wall around the city and his thing was you know banging the drum and keep them going and he was just always telling them reminding him what the vision was because it was a huge undertaking and and and so they're from That Grew this concept of a Nehemiah principle so um

[46:56]  that's that's who I have to be now and and as you when you get into multiple I can't do the I can't do I can't just jump on the counter anymore and write a ticket anymore you I mean because the system has moved Beyond me too so I'm always I say I'm the dumbest guy in here you know but but that really my job is to be that Nehemiah guy that's on the wall I'm you know I'm not building the wall but I'm coaching those that are building the wall and I'm encouraging them every step of the way and and then having enough bandwidth to to know know them personally you know because a lot of times uh you know and I get this from a lot of guys that we hire they've come from organizations where maybe they're not seen as people they're seen as things or assets to be deployed and and really I think you know

[47:45]  as we move forward into the future here you know we have to value our people and they they have to be um they're all individuals and they all have individual things and so we've got to be as leaders we've got to be sensitive to that and do what we can do uh to support them and so that they can get to where they want to go because you know the end of the day if if my people aren't meeting their goals we're never going to meet our goals as an organization and so uh so the the Nehemiah guy is just beating that drum every day and it you know the message is sometimes you say the message so many times you're just sick of it and then you just got to say it some more um you know you got to remind people why we're doing things and and who our customers are too is just be really

[48:32]  cognizant of who our customer is and and what we do for them and and uh you know who who it is it can't just be a car it's there's a family behind that car and so that's that's kind of you know going forward and you know as we may expand into some other areas that that that'll be even tougher to do you know but it becomes more and of what I'm supposed to do and then as a leader I've got to evolve into that self-managing company where my people can do everything without me interfering and uh and when I get to there then I'm I'm I will truly be you know a a CEO you know I'll Be You Know Chief and chief encouragement officer you there you go I

[49:23]  love that well BR it's easy to understand man why you are once again the definition of heart and hustle I can't thank you enough for coming on the show seriously I'm so excited to see where you take this amazing organization over the next couple years and I can't wait to have you back for the another episode sometime yeah I can't wait to see how yours goes too so uh very cool so all right guys we'll catch you in the next one that's a wrap all right