Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech Training and Pico Technology
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In this episode, Matt takes a relationship quote and flips it into a perspective shift for shop owners, managers, and specialists: instead of obsessing over “finding the right” customers, employees, or employers, focus on becoming the right shop and the right person—over and over again. He explores how this mindset applies to attracting younger clients, building a place top technical and mechanical specialists want to work, and evolving with changes like EVs, culture, and work–life balance.
Key Talking Points
The quote that kicked it off:
- “Love isn’t about fate and magic bracelets and destiny. It’s about finding someone you can stand to be around for 10 minutes at a time,” and the idea that it’s less about finding the one and more about becoming the right one again and again.
Translating relationship advice into shop life:
- Stop fixating on “finding the right clients,” “the right shop,” “the right boss,” or “the right employee.”
- Shift the focus to becoming the right shop, manager, owner, or employee.
Becoming the right shop for your current and future clients:
- Many shops are currently tailored to an older clientele (boomers) and have great rapport with them.
- Younger clients often care deeply about your why—your purpose, values, and what you stand for.
- Start projecting an image and message that resonates with the clients you’ll need in the future, not just the ones you serve today.
Becoming the right employer:
- Think about the types of technical specialists and mechanical specialists you’d love to attract.
- What are they after now, and what will they value most in the near future (purpose, time off, culture, tools, training, environment)?
- Make tangible changes in the shop that align with those values and make sure those changes are visible.
Creative ways to “show, not tell” as an employer:
- Hosting training classes in your shop so other shops’ staff and owners can see your facility.
- Letting others experience climate control, lighting, equipment, computers at every bay, etc.
- Letting your current team’s honest feedback become a powerful, organic recruiting message.
Culture vs. pure production:
- As shops hit their production targets more consistently, culture starts to matter more.
- High-output but toxic people can drag down the overall environment.
- Sometimes the right fit is someone who might produce a little less but makes the team function better and reduces animosity.
What it means to be the right employee:
- Contributing to ethical profit and strong production.
- Being a good teammate who doesn’t undermine the system.
- Helping with what the shop needs: clients, employees, reputation, and growth.
- Being able to demonstrate your value beyond hours billed—teamwork, leadership, culture.
Evolving with technology and the market (EV example):
- Understanding your shop’s stance on EVs and being able to discuss it intelligently.
- Looking at the local EV car park, investment needs, safety, and training.
- Positioning the shop to succeed ethically and profitably as the car parc changes.
Seeing the shop as an ecosystem:
- Front of house, back of house, management, and employees as symbiotic systems.
- Shared goals: profit, stability, and long-term perpetuation of the business.
- “Shop does better, you do better” as a logical, not just emotional, position.
Core takeaway:
- Continually “becoming the right one” as a shop, an employer, and an employee is an ongoing process, not a one-time event.
- Constant improvement and alignment with evolving values—clients’ and employees’—is how you set yourself and your shop up to succeed over time.
Notable Quote
“Instead of us seeking them, we work on becoming the right shop, the right manager, the right owner, the right employee—and a lot of the rest will take care of itself.”
Thanks to our Partner, NAPA Autotech Training
NAPA Autotech’s team of ASE Master Certified Instructors are conducting over 1,200 classes covering 28 automotive topics. To see a selection, go to napaautotech.com for more details.
Thanks to our Partner, Pico Technology
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Contact Information
The Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/
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