Shop Owner Coach

🚗 In my career as a shop owner, I was led to a series of critical questions I believe every owner should ask. These questions challenged me, confronted me, and in the end, vastly improved my business and life. I'll share one of those questions with you today.

Every shop owner has expectations for their team, and most are entirely reasonable.

We want our service advisors to build trust and communicate clearly. We want our mechanical specialists to continue developing their skills. We want our managers to lead with confidence and solve problems.

Those are fair expectations, but they lead to a question that most owners don’t ask nearly often enough:

🤔 Am I modeling the same level of growth, discipline, communication, and accountability that I expect from everyone else?

🔦 That question is uncomfortable because it takes the spotlight away from the team and places it directly on the person leading the business. It forces us to consider whether we are asking others to become more professional while excusing our own inconsistency, asking others to communicate better while avoiding hard conversations, or asking others to accept coaching while quietly resisting feedback ourselves.

⛰️ A team will rarely rise above the consistent example of its leader for very long.

⏸️ Reflect on this question, sit with it a while, and then come back - in future posts we’ll explore this and other tough questions. The answers may surprise you – and they’ll definitely inspire you.

When I walked through the inside of the Colosseum, I was amazed by what most people never think about. Everyone talks about the outside, the arches, and the massive presence of the building, but inside, you see the maze of passageways, staging areas, and working parts that make the whole place function.

That got me thinking as Vic, The Shop Owner Coach. A repair shop is no different. Customers see the counter, the waiting area, and the finished repair, but they rarely see the process, communication, training, leadership, and problem-solving happening behind the scenes.

The strength of a great shop is often hidden in the details. Build the inside right, and the outside becomes something people trust, respect, and remember.

Your situation, goals, challenges, and strengths are all unique to you! 🔧 What works well for one independent auto repair business may not suffice for the next.

That’s why we work closely with our clients to understand their specific goals and ambitions while identifying the unique roadblocks in the way.

Only then do we introduce the personalized tools and programs that capitalize on your strengths and help you achieve real results!

We'd love to know more about you and your Shop! Message us today at https://shopownercoach.com/

It's never too early to begin thinking about what you're building and working towards - and the legacy you'll leave behind.

Our first trip to Europe gave me one of those moments I’ll never forget. Standing in front of the Colosseum in Rome, I was amazed by what people were able to design, build, and preserve nearly 2,000 years ago.

It made me think about shop ownership. The strongest shops are not built by accident. They are built with vision, structure, systems, craftsmanship, and the willingness to keep improving long after the excitement of starting has worn off.

The Colosseum reminded me that great work can outlive the people who built it. As shop owners, we may not be building stone walls in Rome, but we are building businesses, teams, reputations, and futures. The question is, are we building something that will last?

Shop Owners know it better than most - you can't achieve the right results with the wrong tools.

At Shop Owner Coach, we provide the tools, the process, and the coaching to help you achieve the results you've been chasing.

Get what your Shop needs today: visit https://shopownercoach.com/

I share this line in every seminar. Being at full throttle doesn’t matter if you’re headed in the wrong direction. But when your time aligns with your values, strategy and goals, everything changes. You don’t just do more – you become more.

➕ More intentional. More effective. More respected.

⏰ Time doesn’t lie. At the end of each week, your calendar tells the truth. Not about what you hoped for, but what you chose.
If you want to know what matters to someone, look at where they spend their time.

🔮 If you want to change the future of your shop, start by reclaiming time today. Don’t wait until burnout forces your hand. Don’t assume next week will “slow down.”

⏳ Time is your most valuable resource, and it’s running out.

💸 Profit, to some shop owners, is a dirty word. We tend to steer away from this part of the business at our own expense. Without a sound, profitable business model, you are simply working at your shop collecting a paycheck, hence you have a job not a business.

There are many ways to impact your profits: increase sales, lower costs associated with these sales or reduce expenses.

📈 The easiest and quickest way to increase profits is to lower your expenses. Perform an expense review, look at uniform costs and utility rates – heck, even the tax rate you are assessed at can be improved upon. But don’t beat your parts supplier up for a better price on a part – buy the highest quality part at the going rate. Let your parts matrix apply the appropriate margin and bill the customer.

Focus on your fixed operating costs. A dollar saved in expenses equals a dollar which goes directly to your bottom-line. Can you improve your profitability? The choice is yours.

There’s something special about standing in your hometown and realizing how much of who you are started right there.

Lancaster, NY, will always be part of my story. The people, the pace, the lessons, the small-town pride, and yes, a few favorite food stops along the way.

Sometimes going back reminds you how far you’ve come, but it also reminds you what shaped you in the first place. Grateful for the roots, the memories, and the chance to keep building from the foundation this town helped create.