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As many of you know I talk with a lot of shop owners every single day that are struggling in their auto repair business and they’re looking for I guess a way out trying to figure out this business. And last night was no exception.

I had a late night call with somebody that just did what I had to call them late at night because he just couldn’t get away from the shop. He’s working all the time. Working about 60, 70 hours a week. After talking with him and after talking with probably a couple hundred other people I got to say the best advice I could possibly give to him as well as a lot of shop owners out there is to quit. Close the doors, and go get a job.

Should YOU Give Up On Your Auto Repair Business?

Now let me explain. I don’t want to say that everybody should just go ahead and quit the business and get out of owning an auto repair shop. But let me explain here a little bit. Now this gentleman as a lot of people I talk with are you know former technicians are current technicians that were at the top of their field they’re really good solid technicians and in a head that entrepreneurial seizure that they decided that well they can do it better than their boss. So they went out and bought a shop or open up their own shop and maybe that’s exactly what happened with you. OK. So before they were making 50, 60, 70, 80 thousand dollars some of them over one hundred thousand dollars is as a good quality technician. And then it decided to open up their own business. And then after years and years and years of struggle and toil they just aren’t making it. You know they’re still struggling there and like the gentleman last night he’s been in business for five years right now. Used to make eighty thousand dollars a year. He’s now making just barely over twenty thousand dollars a year with his shop and he’s been doing it for five years. And my advice to him as it is to unfortunately far too many people is maybe it’s time to decide that business ownership isn’t for you because look if you’re a good quality tech the value you bring to this industry is your technical ability. We all know that there’s a shortage of good technicians out there. And if you’re a good tech and you own a struggling shop and you’ve tried everything and you still can’t seem to get over the hump maybe business ownership isn’t what you should be doing with your life at this point.

Maybe Owning An Auto Repair Shop Business Just Isn’t The Right Fit

There’s no shame in deciding to close the shop. You’ve got a an enormous responsibility to yourself and your family. You need to provide for yourself and your family. You need to live a life. And I don’t know what kind of life it is to be working 60-70 hours a week and not making the money that you deserve to be making when you know full well that somebody out there and and many shop owners that are watching this right now know that you would die to have a great quality technician available to you on the market. You know so you know if you are a good quality tech there’s plenty of work out there. That’s the value you bring to the industry not necessarily owning the shop. OK. Now it could be you could be running a really good shop but it’s still not making you money and you might be employing other really good technicians and you might even be doing them a better favor for letting them free into the market because again I know there’s a lot of people in your area that are really looking for good quality technicians. So look. Failure is a part of life. OK. And if if business ownership didn’t suit you well that’s OK. You know I failed at many things in my life. I failed at plenty of businesses in my life.

: I’ve had to close the doors and walk away from several businesses because it just didn’t work. And because I realized failure is an event it’s not a person and just because it didn’t work out for you doesn’t mean that you’re a failure. You’re a really good technician. The value. I mean people will pay triple what you’re making right now in some cases just to have you come work for them. I mean you’re not a failure you’re a savior to a lot of people in the industry. So again I’m not going to win a popularity you know awards for what I’m talking about here and many people won’t say this but look you know I care about everybody out there and this is really coming from the heart. If it’s not working for you it’s time to do something different you know. Time for many are is running out. You know you’re getting up further in a year and you won’t be a won’t be able to turn wrenches for a whole lot longer. So why not make hay when the sun shines. OK and drop back and punt and say OK right now is not the time. You know maybe I don’t have the right location maybe I don’t have the right clientele maybe I don’t have the right technicians working for me. There’s something happening in your business that’s just not working out right now.

Struggling With Your Business As An Auto Repair Shop Owner? Do Something About It

If you close the auto shop, go work for somebody kind of build up your nest egg again. So you have some cash and you have some have a life again so that you can punch out at six o’clock at night and relax you know as a business owner you’re working 24/7 when you realize or not. I mean how many sleepless nights have you gone through. You know wondering how you’re gonna get this business going. Maybe at this time at this place at this point in life it’s just not working out for you. Okay now on the other hand take this as a maybe a warning or not not a warning maybe up a shot across the bow that it’s time to shit or get off the pot. Okay it’s time to get going. It is time. Maybe get pissed off at me for even suggesting that you closed the shop. I’ll be the martyr. That’s perfectly fine. You know I owe all the success in a world to my father who told me I would never make it in business when he actually said that to me. Now he loved me and he said that out of love because he cared for me he said I should just go get a job. But that fired something up inside of me and I’ve never forgotten it. And I’ve told him about Dan I told him that was the best inspiration you could possibly have.

So maybe this is your wakeup call. Maybe this is your inspiration that you need to go out and finally start kicking some ass with your shop. Know that you’re valued one way or another. You could be a valued kickass employee making two or three times what you’re making right now working for somebody else. But I get it. Look I’m an entrepreneur. I I can’t imagine working for somebody else but if I needed to provide for my family. And times got tough. And the bills were piling up and I was living paycheck to paycheck. It’s time to look at doing something totally different because you’ll have a job like that. If you’re any good. If you have technicians that are working for you like that they’ll get snapped up by somebody else and and have a more stable place for them to work. So I say this out of all the love of my heart that I could possibly have for all of you that it’s time to make a change. Either get off your butt, start kicking ass and making a good solid living, and make a real solid go at this – or – maybe drop back, close the shop, and go work for somebody else. I hope this resonated with some of you. Feel free to flame me with all kinds of comments.

I figured this needed to be said. That’s why I went ahead and said it! So please go down below this video and leave a comment and let me know what you think. I interested to see what your response is.