S2Ep10: Make Your Passion Your Paycheck

Subscribe: RSS

Allan welcomes successful business owner Shane Orlando. Shane started with a paper route at just 8 years old. For decades, Shane has used his passion for helping people, to create a successful autobody shop and home restoration business.  In this episode, Shane discusses setbacks, personal development, and what has kept his business going strong over the last 30 years!  Contact Shane via email at shane@orlandoautobody.com

Hey, everyone, welcome to the show. I’m Allan. I’m a family man and attorney and an entrepreneur. Each week, we provide resources and advice to help build your business. Are you ready? Then let’s go.
Everyone, welcome to the show today, I am very excited to welcome to the show a very successful business owner, Shane Orlando. Shane is kind of a entrepreneur after my own heart. He’s kind of had his hand in a couple of different things over the years throughout his professional career, and, and we’re gonna talk about some of those things. He’s also really into personal development, which I love. And so anyway, excited to have him. Welcome to the show, Shane.
Well, thank you. Glad to be here.
So Shane, tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us about your professional career and the different industries that you’ve been involved in over the years. All right, well,
I’ll tell you what I tell most people when I get in a conversation like this is a little bit about my path, my history. And what led me to here I have eight brothers and sisters, originally from New York, been here in Arizona for 41 years or so, you know, I’ve lived in Colorado for four years, I didn’t graduate high school. In fact, I’ve dropped out three times. I’m currently 50 years old, I have gone to college and take some classes that that I tend to think that I need to use to further in whatever it is that I’m up to, or the career I’m in. That works for me, I will tell you that I tell most people finish school and if you’re going to do college, do do some accounting and some business classes, and then get out of there. But that’s just my personal opinion. That being said, at eight years old, I had a paper out. By 13, I was jumping in the bed of the truck with my dad headed to the job site framing houses by the end of that first summer. You know, I was making five $600 a week at 13 years old. It made me have a really poor attitude at school, given the teachers at that time in the 80s. Were making, you know, three $400 a week and I was making more than them. Whether that mattered and I certainly don’t know, that doesn’t I know today it doesn’t. It’s just gave me a kind of a piss poor attitude, my outlook for teachers. That being said, I also had some that were very good at some great teachers. So I think that helped lead to my having dropped out so often. But I would go Spring Break fall break Christmas break, you name it, I would take every opportunity I could including the weekends to jump in the truck with my dad and go make money. kind of got the itch for money. And my 10th grade year I dropped out right before summer to get started working. And then I did you know I got sick of working by September did the same thing in my junior and senior year. That’s kind of how it all happened. I remember sitting on the job site one afternoon, around 11 o’clock in the summer, it was really hot. I had been framing now for about three years. I remember my thought at the time was boy if I looked around and all these guys that were in their 30s they look like they were in their 50s or 60s. And if I continued to do that, I’d look like them. And I drive the same kind of cars they were driving in and out in the street or just you know real junky cars. It just wasn’t the lifestyle for me. I decided that moment to just get up and walk off the job. So I did and I went and took a little bit of a break and and then I got a tax return in January and use that money to start Orlando auto body I rented the shop. I think I had the first month’s rent, and I had a month to come up with the difference. I never worked at a body shop I fixed a few cars for myself and cheap cars that I bought along the way. In high school occasional friend would wreck their car and asked me to fix it or fix their parents car before they found out. They’d been driving their parents car while they were out of town. I had a knack for it. never worked at a body shop my life. Kind of the rest is history there. I worked. I did a lot of hot rods and a lot of specialty paint for a long time until I figured out that insurance. paid better. And how that happened was the occasional client would wreck their car, while dropping off one of their sports cars or something to get work done. And they’d asked me to fix it. And I would, and of course, I’d do it in a short amount of time and make three times as much money as I was making on their car that I’d be working on for a month. So quickly pivoted my business, from customs to insurance work. And so for the first 15 years, it was 90%, custom work, 10% collision work. And the last, the prior 10 years was an exact opposite. It was 90% insurance or 10%. Custom. And now it’s 100% collision work. I went from one shop, to four, I can tell you, I remember my first $600, paint, the $100, paint job 11 $100, paint job fonar. paint job 1800 3000 10,000 15,020. And that’s a lesson I learned that it’s very useful to share with people is that I, the only difference between my 600 ollar paint job, my $20,000 paint job was I have the courage to charge what I was worth. I think part of what happened to is obviously in the 80s, some of the muscle cars I was working on were worth $20,000. And today they’re worth 120,000. So that played a part. But more than that, it was my having the courage to charge what I was worth. And that was a hard lesson to learn.
So what was it that got you to that point where you realized, Hey, I’m not charging enough for the value that I’m delivering?
Well, you know, it was honestly just having the courage to ask, you know, I get myself worked up from one customer to the next with how much work it took and, and how hard my job was. And I had some resentment toward some of my clients that were maybe taking advantage of the fact that I was so inexpensive. Now, that being said, obviously, I learned a lot and so grateful for that. But I, you know, it’s mostly having the courage, you know, was just just ask, and quite frankly, people paid, I say, in the background was something there about my being worth that, for sure. You know, I struggled having dropped out of high school, I always felt like I felt inferior around people. So it didn’t want to be found out that I wasn’t very smart. And so now the courage really to confront what I was dealing with at the time. And ultimately, I overcame that and started charging what I was worth, and of course, people kept paying paying. Now, that being said, right, you got to pay marketing dollars in some way, shape or form, I justified my doing what I did, and chalked it up to Well, that’s what it took to get my name out there, you know, and lots of nice cars running around lots of people here and about me in a great reputation for quality, and ultimately ended up paying for that. But it worked out in the end, you know, so
yeah, and I’ve heard of this concept of kind of using loss leaders, right? It’s a type of marketing. Did you ever run into the situation where you gave somebody a better deal on the front end, somebody else heard about it, and then came in thinking they were gonna get as the similar type deal. And you were like, actually, no, our prices are higher, did that ever cause an issue? oddly enough, because I raised my prices, so incrementally over so many years that didn’t so much until you know,
20 years later, where maybe they talk to a customer of mine 2030 years ago, you know, they show up leading with I understand you paint these shells around three grand, I got a couple of my love to have you doing them. And that’s where I’ve interrupted with what I can even buy the materials for that today. And they’re now 20 grand, right, and you get a funny look on their face. But you know, that’s typical, the car business is always a little interesting. That being said, You know, I built probably 100 really, really nice cars in that same that first 15 years, you know, and I bought them fix them up, sold them broke even mostly, but ultimately got the money I invested back each time not a lot of money for my time. But that was very similar, right? I credible reputation as a result of that and have chalked that up to what it takes to get brand awareness or, or get exposure like a loss leader, like you said. So, you know, remember, I dropped out of school and no marketing or business background. So I didn’t even know what marketing was. And when I finally learned that in my late 20s. You know what it was? As it turned out, I’ve been doing it all along. I just did it that way. Does that make sense? It does.
So I have a lot of listeners that are in a similar situation that you were back then where they’re not MBAs. They didn’t go to any type of formal business school or have accounting classes, some of them. My guess is most of them graduated from high school, but not much beyond that in some cases. And so what do you take Those guys that are like, you know, I don’t know if I belong in the business world, I don’t know if I’m an entrepreneur because I didn’t study accounting or business or finance or whatever. What do you say to those people?
I mean, the short answer is get over it. But, you know, obviously comes with having got over it. The reality is there’s no overnight success. Whatever story it is, you’re telling yourself is your story. And yours alone, right? No one else knows your story. So I write a new one. That being said, I do talk to a coach a lot of people around business success. And you do see a whole lot of people entering into a field, where what it takes is to have passion and commitment around it, and excitement. But excitement isn’t going to carry the day, you know, you can be excited about something, but maybe it’s the wrong thing. Right, maybe there is no opportunity. Maybe it’s toasters, and no one uses them anymore. So if you’re passionate about what you’re doing, and, and there’s a market for it, it’s gonna take time. And I would say stick to it. That being said, if there’s some an area in your field of business that you’re weak in, go take some classes, you know, it’ll be the shortest application you ever filled out at college. Here’s my check in my first name, I don’t need accreditation, I don’t need your will take anybody’s money. They’ll take anyone’s money, they don’t need that 12 page document filled out, they just need a check in your name, ultimately, unless you’re trying to complete some kind of degree, which I certainly wasn’t. But boy, I’ll tell you, you know, I mentioned earlier, I had a paper out in a, I tell people, you ever get an resume across your desk, which is going to be few and far between anymore. That’s something that doesn’t happen anymore. But that has a paper route on it. You had a paper, I hire that person immediately. why I say that is because that kind of person is much like an entrepreneur. That’s what it takes. Those kind of people have what it takes to be successful. And it ain’t easy. And and it ain’t for everybody. Ultimately, you know, I would, I would tell you that there’s a whole lot of people that work way, less hours than I do. Except I have more freedom, you know, so you can’t take your money with you. And I think ultimately, the goal needs to be being happy, no matter where you are, what you have what you’re doing. Yeah, I
think that there’s this difference between working because you have to, and working because you want to in terms of not only how you view it, not only in terms of your enjoyment, overall enjoyment in life, but the fact that you just said that you work more hours than some people, but you have more freedom, right?
Yeah, I mean, that’s the things most people would prefer, there’s, there’s more than two types of people, but most people are like, Look, I want to run the company, I’m going to work really hard. And if and when I want to do nothing or have a day off, I can and that’s the freedom you get, there’s a whole lot of people would prefer to have structure, I just want you to tell me what to do where to be, and I want to go home and their freedom lies in clocking out at five o’clock, and going home and not taking work with them. So I don’t think there’s any right way. And ultimately, you know, I can tell you this, at 50 years old, I’ve had a lot of lost a lot have a lot lost a lot. I don’t think there is a right way, you know, I could have done all this and, you know, I could die tomorrow. And you know, that leads me to another conversation, which is retirement and the myth of that from people, which is often a trap, but but I could die tomorrow. And so from the outside looking in, I have this great life, I’ve created all this great things and, and certainly isn’t always the experience I have of that. And for what if tomorrow I died. But here we are, and I am happier today. But I think I would have looked for that internally versus externally. Bad to do over again. You know, I did some started to do some personal development back in 2000 2000 989. And did a lot of it since then. Boy, there’s there’s working on yourself. And it’s really important. And and that can help you be happy no matter where you are, you know, if you if your perspective, right?
Yeah, let’s chat about that for a little bit. Shane. So you talked about how you’ve made a lot lost a lot, made a lot last a lot. Let’s talk about setbacks a little bit. Why don’t you tell me about maybe some setbacks that you’ve had in your life and what you’ve learned about them from a personal development standpoint, to make you a better person and help you get to the next level? Absolutely. Well,
I think about a lot of the setbacks were in having to I was stubborn in a lot of cases, right? And so I thought I knew at all until I finally decided I didn’t and needed help and would ask for help, or seek out some education that would give me the help that I needed or the information I needed. So those are huge setbacks, right? You don’t have accounting. So you depend on certain accountants and six or seven accountants later you finally find one that works for you that isn’t stealing from you know, that is actually does their job has integrity. You know, I could talk about all those people, the issues I had with those people. And that’s just not knowing right. And so had I had some accounting background, maybe that, certainly that would help. That being said to, you know, you also don’t know, early on that, that you really should inspect what you expect. So, you know, the guy’s real busy, like most entrepreneurs and learn 20 hats, and they’re busy, and they can’t watch everything, but you should have discipline around your money. Now, my advice to most people is really have discipline, accountability, etc. You can lose a whole lot in a very short period of time, from theft and embezzlement. You gotta watch that.
So is that happened to you? Shane, have you had people embezzled from you?
Absolutely, you know, yeah, it didn’t take much to the subtle $600 on your gas card, when you give them permission to fill their tank up from time to time because they go to the bank for eight and make deposits. Well, when you reconcile that at the end of the year, and it’s 700 bucks in their car, make the 750 miles to the gallon, it’s a little Volkswagen, diesel, diesel, Volkswagen, right, it does 700 miles per tank of gas in the bank banks on the corner, you know that they needed about 50 bucks, and that 750 bucks makes sense. I mean, that’s a subtle one others are, you know, they get caught in some scam with your money in your credit card, and best they can do to fix it still cost you 50 grand, that’s stuff that happens. There’s things like, gosh, if you’re not really watching your mail, there’s companies, their whole job is to just send you out a contract renewal or update your subscription for something that isn’t even yours that you don’t even have, that doesn’t exist, but your bookkeeper just pays assuming because your names on the top and it says your annual fee are due or something is is due and they pay it. When you find out they’ve been doing that for three years. And you don’t not even a part of that organization. scam?
How do you stay on top as you’re, as you’re building a business, something that that I struggle with? How do you stay on top of all these little things that you need to stay on top of while you’re growing a business, while at the same time trying to delegate what you need to delegate? And do all these things. One of the one of the struggles that I personally have is, and as I’m building these businesses, I feel like I try to get too much control. It’s hard for me to like let go of my death grip on certain certain things, so that I have time to do bigger scope projects?
That’s a great question. It goes back to setbacks, right? I really great advice for any of your listeners that come from either my background or have very little business background and struggle, which is a lot of them, right? It’s a learning curve for sure, is let the statistics drive your business, not emotion. And so once you learn that, what are the things you need to be looking out for? What are the accountabilities for each person in your organization? What are they accountable for? And how often do they report to you and how transparent Is that what you made a huge difference for me was having your reports sent to you weekly. If you have multiple businesses, that’s that’s a big deal. If you’re with your team, having them all in one place, whether it be zoom, conference room, or email, they have to report to you, I like to use Google Docs. And it’s a shared folder, where everyone reports their statistics, there’s a lot to be said for transparency in a business and creating kind of a competition in a business where, where, you know, people state their goals for from this week to next, and they meet them or don’t meet them in a group setting. There’s a lot to be said for group settings that will have people perform or fall apart. And if you want somebody to fall apart, you want them to do it quickly. Because it could be costly, IF they are left unattended are not inspecting what they’re up to, or they’re not qualified for that position. You want to know quickly. And so you know, you want to get statistics you want to if you have a report each week, you want people to report in some cases daily. You know, I have people in my company that daily send me an email of what happened that day and some of my companies, I have created software’s and simple things and a lot of my businesses that that notify me Right, I get an email when someone signs a work authorization, I get, you know, notified at the end of each day, from the bank of XYZ, I get reports manually from some of my staff, anytime somebody sends out fills out a work authorization, it’s online only, and not a piece of paper. And that gives me a notification. And then you can look at close rates and, and as your sales people, if they’re close rates are crappy Boy, you got to train them or replace them, basically. So but if you don’t know very quickly, right, you’re getting 250 leads a month, and you’re closing that 60% 65%, that might be great. But that’s 65 out of 100. What happened to the other 7085 people, there’s a lot of businesses would have loved to have just 85 people show up to give them the opportunity to do business. You know, at some point, statistics work. And at some point, you got to say to yourself, well, it’s so such a large number, were absolutely had to be looking closer at some of this stuff. So you may put a follow up procedure in place to capture more of those leads, but tell you, it’s just statistics, you gotta have people report to you. Yeah, I
like that. I like that idea of having, you know, you talk a lot about the software that you have in place, a lot of the notifications and emails, automated emails, these processes, basically, that you have in place that allow you to act as an owner of a business and not necessarily as an employee, so that you’re in a position where you can trust people, but at the same time, hold them accountable. And I love that I love that concept. There are a couple of tricks that that I’ve learned over the years. And I To be honest, I don’t know how successful I am at them how good they work, they they appear to work for me. But sometimes I’ll just ask really specific questions that show that I know something about the data. For example, if I’m going through things with an accountant or with a vendor, I’ll ask about a very specific even, very small charge. If I see something that’s $7.40, I’ll ask them about it. Hey, where did that seven $7.40 come from? And tell me about that. And I don’t do it because I know where every $7.40 of my company’s go, because I certainly don’t. But I think that puts in their head, like, okay, he cares about that. So I have to make sure I’m on top of what I need to be on top of and I need to be he’s basically holding me accountable. Sure,
well, a million ways to do that there’s secret shopping your your you know, you could call in your company and see how they answer the phone. If they’re doing what you said, you could you could act like a client and then get input from people, you can have other people call in some stuff that we do in accounting as well hold an invoice of accounting once a month, or intentionally mess up the cash drawer, take 20 bucks and don’t leave a note. And and if your team is on their game, you’re gonna get a phone call, we’re short 20 bucks in this drawer, I saw a part on a carpet, there’s no invoice. Now who would have to expense it too. That sounds like maybe you don’t trust but it is definitely a way to give you more trust and to to just test your team, you got it, you got to make sure that people are doing their job,
for sure. And I also think that that can be a way of showing people that you care about what they’re doing. It’s really easy for me to get focused on bigger scale projects. But I think my people appreciate it when I get down into the details with them. And I start talking about their specific close rate on specific types of incoming calls or whatever it is. And so I think if it’s somebody that is a team player, an individual that you want on your team, I think they’re going to appreciate those types of conversations. I think they’re going to feel like Oh, man, he actually cares about what I’m doing this what I’m doing is important to him. It’s important to the team it’s in, it’s important to our long term goals.
Absolutely. Well, yeah, absolutely. Those are all good things. And, of course, making sure that your team is cohesive, and that they know you care. I had ran into a problem 10 years ago, where I hadn’t visited one of my businesses for once a month, maybe every couple months for almost, I don’t know, three or four years. And so then when I’d asked sent a survey out and just asked 10 different questions. What I got back was what was missing, there was pride. And part of that was because they thought I didn’t have any prime the business could have been stopped by and that didn’t matter to me. It shouldn’t matter them. And so you’d be surprised that you know, I suppose nothing surprise you with human beings. I am one and I surprised myself constantly but we’re unique creatures. We’re temperamental and a lot of cases and so you do want to keep your morale up, keep people you get a bad apple, work with them, but get rid of them. If If it’s not enough, it’s not going to work out. I’ve heard something very wise from somebody two things and I’ll share them one way Hire slow and fire fast. And the otherwise it’s not how big you get, it’s how quickly you can get small. And those two things have never resonated more than anything, any other advice I got from anybody, and the gentleman that shared those to me since passed, but I’ll never forget, he was a great mentor of mine. And boy, if you can remember those two things, take your time and interview people really, really well do follow up, do check the references, do a background check on them, train them, make sure you spend time training them, you don’t just hire somebody for a specific role, which I’m guilty of, you know, you get this big guy or somebody and you get a good feeling you let them go, Well, you know, if you do a aptitude tests, and Strength Finders is a good one, you may find out you’re hiring somebody with great intentions, great resume called everybody, but they’re not going to be good in that role. They don’t get along well, with others, they are, whatever a lot of those tests will share an insight. Now, that being said, I’ve done those tests and fill the position I wasn’t even looking for, because they had higher aptitude in other areas, I needed that help. But, you know, if they don’t work out, get rid of them fast. And I know that sounds terrible, but but you know, to your listeners that are going to struggle in business, I don’t mind sounding terrible, because that’s very hard lessons I learned, you know, I don’t mind being your friend after five. But at work, you’ve agreed with me that you’re going to provide a particular service or asset or value to my company, and I’m gonna pay you in turn. Now, you know, very hard lesson I learned was working with people and working with them and working with them. And you know, your business is going to just take forever to get where it needs to go. Because I’ll tell you what happens when you find the right people. It’s like a rocket ship. Hire slow, fire fast. And then if you are lucky enough to be in business for 35 years, like myself, been through two or three turn downs. If you’re really really big, and spread thin, and you have an economic turndown, you can’t get small, fast and stop the bleeding control, you’re expanding, you’ll be a lot of trouble. So.
So let’s shift gears just a bit, Shane, and let’s talk about personal development just a little bit. And so I’m wondering, why should an entrepreneur a business owner, why should they be focused on personal development?
Well, my opinion, of course, I think a lot of people would share it is that if you’re not growing, you’re, you’re stagnant, right. And business is always moving. And always changing and even more so now than in the past. So I mentioned toasters earlier, right? There’s, there is a new invention, like a smartphone. And then there’s so much so much opportunity, there’s only so much opportunity in saturation is going to be in one three or five years. Well, it’s the people that just want to do that business at your six that are going to get slaughtered, or there is no opportunity there, right? So you got to be willing to pivot change, shift adjust. That’s the same as a human being right. And if you’re stuck in your old way, so a lot of people think, you know, they turned 18, and this is who I am. And I’m going to do the best I can with who I am. sadly enough, most of what, who you are for yourself is your past. And a lot of self development courses teach you that, that you’re not your past, right here, you can be anything you want. And it’s never too late. And in this current environment, not even so much current environment, but what it takes to be competitive, competitive in business, it takes something and so you want to be good to yourself and good to people to make all that happen. And developing yourself will help you do all of that.
That’s awesome. So if I understand you correctly, you’re talking about how if we’re the types of individuals that are open and accepting of change and development that our businesses and those that we surround ourselves with, they’re going to follow suit?
Well, I’ll elaborate on that, right. Like if, for example, the location I’m at now has 13 employees, and they all have their pasts. And their day to day challenges and their family lives and then their work lives and then their financial particular situation and their backgrounds. ethnicities. I mean you name if you’re somebody that is able to connect with everybody, meet them right where they are, understand, communicate with them, and make a difference for them. It’s going to help your business. That being said, I tend to have for years and a lot of pay for and send a lot of my employees if they after 90 days. They get to do some personal and professional development. One of the courses I like it landmark, landmark education, it’s a three day course and they get a go. And that helps you speak the same language. So, you know, if you can create a culture of always improving and developing, it really works. And then that’s not something new, it may be new to your listeners. But once you figure that out, you’ll find out that the real successful businesses have always been doing that. They want to have a reason to be there. And it’s not to just perform a job. In fact, younger people today say the number one reason they want a job is to make a difference. And so have them make a difference. Have your, you know what you’re about and your company motto and what you’re about be something that contributes to people, we fix cars, we make a difference for people in my other businesses restoration business, their house burns, we come down and we fix their home. Right? And all of our people know that, that we’re here to help people. And helping people makes your job a whole lot easier than just punching a clock.
Yeah, so I always say that when you when you have your your why this comes from Simon Sinek a little bit, when you have your wife figured out the how becomes so much clearer, so much easier. And I think that quote, unquote, Millennials get a bad rap A lot of times, but one thing they do have going for them is it seems like they want this purpose. They want to find purpose in whatever they’re doing. And I commend them for that, as business owners are looking for things, Shane, they’re looking for things that they need to do to get to the next level personally, in the business world. How do they go about finding things about themselves that they need to work on?
Oh, boy, well, it becomes really, really clear when you’re doing a little bit of personal professional development, especially if it’s a group setting, right? If you’re reading books, that’s one thing be very insightful. But insight, he’s become an inside chunky, different different to implement what it is that you’re up to, and be authentic and vulnerable in front of people tough to do and tough to do in a book, tough to do on a CD. Simple things are like, Look, if you constantly have this particular problem with people, and the only variable that doesn’t change as you well, it’s probably you, right? And if you think you’re going to just find the right people who can put up with you. And that’s going to answer you know, that’s going to take care of the way you’re wrong. And you’re going to be stubborn, and it’s going to cost you quite frankly, most people in the professional development arena, once they really grasp how powerful that is, are constantly looking for where things don’t work in life, because then it gives them access to making a shift change improvement, which will only just make your life better. So hopefully I answered your question. But usually, it’s, it’s fairly obvious to those that are in that boat, if they’re willing to look. But I would say also, like I said, do some development that’s in groups where you can’t hide, you know, you want to see what’s wrong with you. Also ask some friends. You know, you really want to be successful. Ask people, you’re close to start by telling them I don’t care what you tell me. But I want the truth. If you are me, what doesn’t work about me, you can ask them what doesn’t work? What do you think I should improve on? And what do you think are my great qualities, if you give them permission to be authentic, no matter what. And they got a, you know, a name, and they will then it helps. And one of them? I asked 10 people in time was part of some homework assignment. And what I mostly found out was how great I am. Which by the way, most people don’t see themselves that way. So why I shared it that way was like, Wow, it was just a little shocking, because I was, you know, in my own mind was an absolute nightmare. But then I did find three to five things I could work on. were consistent through all the people I asked.
Yeah, so I’ve been reading this book that talks about kind of getting to the next level as a business leader. And, and it talks about exactly that. And in this process of getting feedback from people that are closest to you. And it talks about how it’s a process. You know, it sounds like you’ve had a lot of success with you know, a single question asking to various people. But if with me for example, with with the things that I’m working on, one of those things is, is listening to others. And if my my past shows that when people give me feedback, I don’t listen to them. When I go to ask them for feedback. They’re not going to be honest with me right there. They’re just gonna think why why would I spend time going through this process if you know he’s not gonna listen to me and he listens to me, he’s gonna fight back about it or he’s, you know, and so part of that is kind of setting that up to where you’re approachable, which is hard. It’s it’s really hard for us as human beings to allow others to say things about us that we need to work on and so we get defensive and then there’s the part that I After they tell you, you know, there’s this, I think this book is basically it said, just say thank you. Don’t get defensive about it, don’t say you’re going to do this, or you’re going to do that just thank them. And, you know, basically encourage them to approach you, when something comes up the next time or, or whatever.
Yeah, that’s really great. You know, along with what you said, if people were really honest with themselves, we don’t like criticism, you know, but if you’re open, and really looking to improve yourself, that’s where all the gold is. That being said, we also don’t like we’re not acknowledged enough. But most people are uncomfortable being acknowledged. example might be, you know, Hey, thank you so much for what you did today, most responses are no problem, rather than, hey, well, thank you, and I appreciate you, for thanking me, you know, it means a lot to me that you would acknowledge me for that, that both honors their acknowledgement, and acknowledges and back right, and so we are funny creatures, we will minimize the great things, and accentuate all the bad. And, you know, we constantly want to look good and not look bad, and avoid domination and dominate. You want to be right, never be wrong. And so boy even have conversation treads on a little bit of that you’re wrong about something, we want to justify, you know, and all of that’s happening automatically. And if you’re just present, and can be with it and, and get it that is that way, you’ll be less reactive, you’ll be more open, it’s just part of being human and isn’t even personal, you’re born that way. And so really take something to overcome a lot of that people have to do that. And really look, you know, I was really angry, frustrated, very bitter young man until my early 20s. And I share this with people with my own personal experience of being frustrated, mad and just really down and disappointed. And, and I thought, Man, I just don’t understand I do all this great stuff, I’m good to people, but I’m just not happy there, they take advantage of me, etc. So one day, I decided, you know what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna act happy. And I stopped at the normal gas station, I stopped and I filled my carpet with water and, and I think the clerk after gaming’s change, and it shocked me when he thanked me back. And I went, Wow, that was weird. All I had to do was think of anything me back versus no one says anything to anybody. You know, I essentially I just, I was the happy guy out there. And by the end of that same day, I was pretty happy. And I found out that most people were really great. And they were sitting there silent, with nothing to say. But if you were there and opened your mouth, while they had a whole lot to say, and it was mostly great. And so it was my own personal experience of just the difference of how you were being makes a huge difference with people. So
Well, I think that it changes when we realize how much control we have on a lot of things, but especially our attitude and our gratitude, right? I think, and I try to I have an eight year old son and a six year old son, and every day I, at some point during the day, I make sure that they know that whatever they’re feeling at the time, is 100% up to them, regardless of what other people do to us. The one thing that that we can control is is how we react and how long we dwell on something or not dwell on it. And so that’s something that I think is very powerful in business, because crap happens, stuff just goes wrong. It just does we hire a wrong person, a customer, you know, just make just tries as hard as they can to make you have a terrible day. And at some point, we all have to realize as entrepreneurs, we have to realize that it’s up to us how long we are going to dwell on that last customer or that employee or that mistake or that financial loss? Or, you know, on the other hand, are we going to shift gears and say, okay, man, I’ve got some, I’ve got some ways to improve. And you know, I’ve got some work to do to get to the next level.
Yeah, for sure. I’ll tell you, you reminded me of something, I guess I get to have this perspective, having had so many customers or customers for so many years, so many interactions. But I can remember the first time somebody was upset with me or didn’t like what I did for them, right? And I haven’t done from day one, I’ve kept my quality and my integrity the same for every customer. In fact, you touched on earlier loss leaders, I always give 110% for $1. And that’s the easiest way to get repeat customers, right and early on my body shop business, I’d picked an extra dent, fix their cigarette lighter, make sure their antenna went up and down or their visors were falling apart and I fix them real quick and point that out when they picked their car up and that blew my business up. But I’ll tell you the First time somebody wasn’t happy with me, it crushed me, right? And I thought, boy, what am I doing wrong, and it really, really bothered me and I have the luxury now of having all those years of experience and having done business the same way every time and being willing to admit when I messed up, it’s my fault and, and rectify it. But mostly, what I learned is, is, you’re not going to please everybody. And you have to get over it quick, do what you can, and get over a quick, you know, one out of 100, people are going to be impossible to make happy. And a lot of that’s a function of either their current situation, their past experiences with people, or unmet expectations, but there were their expectations, and not mine, they certainly weren’t something I agree to. But after a lot, a lot, a lot of clients or you can be very confident in that if you delivered what you promised and, and they’re just unhappy, they’re unhappy, and you can move on from that that’s huge. You know, don’t let it ruin your day. Think people even know that those are out there. But if you’re in a particular industry, most people feel like their industry, their competitors in an industry. And I tell people don’t do that. Just be colleagues. Although you’re not you’re not the same company be colleagues. I can’t tell you how many other body shop owners I know, you know, hundreds in the same market. And, you know, I’ve had I’ve locations that have body shops on both sides of me. So are we competitors, maybe for the drive up business, but you know, who wins at business, the best marketer? person does what they say, gives people what they what they want it, you know, I started early on, like I said, I’ve picked an extra dinner too, for somebody or, or really, really wash their car. Well, I can’t tell how many people think that’s impressive. So detail it when they deliver it. But in the auto business, you know, always do they say today, I currently dominate the market in deductible assistance, meaning if you’ve caused the wreck and you have $1,000 deductible, I’ll give people 10% of their total claim is a rebate against the repair. And that’s my form of so now I do exactly what i is on the estimate. But I just give you a little bit of money back. Why because you know, it’s money we were otherwise made. But you have choices in this business. If you come to me, I’m going to give you a few bucks back. But tell your friends give us a good review. You know, we’re here to help. We’re not here to hurt and accidents are just that they were accident. Most people aren’t prepared for accidents. And it hurts to go into your own pocket when that happens. So we’re here to help. And that’s how we do it now. Always just you know, get a mentor. Educate yourself where you’re where you’re short, hire slow, fire fast. You know, how big you get, how small you can get and how fast if, if you have to. So you’re not strung out, you’re not putting yourself spread yourself too thin. As I mentioned a moment ago, get a mentor, get some accounting background. Stick yourself into little business courses or like I said, attach yourself to mentors willing to teach all that. I will tell you that. I love doing that. I have a lot of people that call me for advice and I’ll always take their calls. You know, it’s my way of contributing to people. It’s just helping them where I can help them.
So how can people get a hold of you Shane?
I would say email me he’s probably the best Shane at Orlando Auto Body calm. Or Shana Orlando at hotmail, either one gets to me. I am happy to help where I can help.
Yeah, so Did you guys hear that? He just said that he’ll he’ll respond to you guys. So a seasoned entrepreneur and businessman with decades of business experience, decades of hiring and firing working with personnel, which is can be so so difficult. So take him up on it. Take him up on that. He just talked about how important mentors are. If you have a question for Shane, email him, take him up on it. I
would add to that decades of mistakes being made. Right. There are our best teachers. Yeah, they are.
Awesome, Shane, well, it’s been a pleasure. It’s tough to take 3045 minutes and sum up three decades of experience, especially in business and working with people and especially for somebody that’s been able to accomplish as much as you have in different industries and and the way that you’ve been able to effect and bless people’s lives. So we really appreciate it, Shane. Hey, you’re
certainly welcome. certainly welcome. I want to add one last thing because usually, as you said that one of the easiest ways to grow. Number one, have your attention on the people around you make their lives better, and they’ll make yours better, but be willing to give up some, you know, live business isn’t perfect. People wonder how I have so much and how do I control it all? It’s because I’m willing not to control it all. I don’t mind that cost me a little bit of money and not being so critical and not being so micromanaging the heck out of people and that your freedom is going to cost you something. So be good to people be willing to give some quality of life, not quantity life.
I love it. Thanks, Shane. We appreciate you.
You betcha, man. Good talking to you have a great week.
If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave us a rating and for daily inspiration and business tips. Follow Allan on Instagram. Until next time, remember we build the future one entrepreneur at a time.