Kirk Richardson is a young and successful entrepreneur. Born into a blue-collar, hard working family, he was a below average student in high school and college. At the age of 22, he left school and started his first business. He bought his first three bay shop at the age of 24. Seven years later he bought his second shop, South Street Auto Care in Rochester, MI. Today, at age 34, Kirk is a remarkably successful business owner.

Richardson really prides himself on his ability to create a family culture within his businesses. The culture is a blend of hard work, accountability, fun, and hi-jinx, which combine to make loyal and dedicated coworkers. Kirk loves business and people in general and will talk for hours about business!

Episode talking points:

• The start of him re-building his business came from strategic planning on his ‘Starbuck Dates’ with his future wife.
• He created a solid foundation with a strong culture, processes, pay plans.
• He holds a core culture review with everyone in the company to modify and strengthen behavior.
• They don’t pay flat rate or hourly. Entire team is paid on a percent of gross margin.
• He shares his pay plan as a % of GP
• There is a work distribution system that gets the maximum value out of every technician.
• Hired a local consultant to kick ideas with but to hold him accountable. That is when he started his strategic plan. Plan is reviewed with managers and leader techs
• Kirk’s team also reviews him and he was told to stop talking to customers.
• Scrolls his culture and strategic plan on a TV in the employee break room.

South Street Auto Care Website

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