The Jaded Mechanic Podcast

Dutch Silverstein [00:00:00]:
This business and you're a technician. Never in 25 or 30 years, like I said, or more, has there ever been a more golden opportunity for you to ton it. If you had a work ethic, yes. If you have the ability to understand that the measure of how badly you want something is what it is, you're willing to give up to get it. And if you understand that you're sacrificing today for the blessings of tomorrow, you can write your own damn ticket by that, which others won't do.

Jeff Compton [00:00:38]:
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of the Jada Mechanic podcast. So we're still at Asta 2025, and we're having a great time. And this is kind of a special asset for me because somebody that I have a ton of respect for and it's a former guest and. But I've had a ton of respect for. For God, a long time now. I can remember seeing this. This man's name and always being like, he's pretty sharp individual. Sometimes he's a little abrasive.

Dutch Silverstein [00:01:06]:
Me.

Jeff Compton [00:01:06]:
Nah. But he super smart. If you recognize the voice, that's Mr. Dutch Silverstein. So, Dutch, how are you today?

Dutch Silverstein [00:01:14]:
Peachy for an old bastard, anyway.

Jeff Compton [00:01:17]:
And I'm sitting here with the beautiful lady that you're seeing in screen is Anna.

Ana [00:01:22]:
Yes. Hello, everyone.

Jeff Compton [00:01:23]:
That's Dutch's daughter, everybody. Yep, I know, right? Must be adopted. Were you adopted at a young age?

Ana [00:01:29]:
That's what he tells me, but I think it's my mom.

Dutch Silverstein [00:01:31]:
Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Compton [00:01:33]:
Dutch, high five. Yeah, yeah, high five. Very good. So you. We had an absence from you for a couple years from here, and I talked about how the first time I came was when I was brought here by Lucas and I got a chance to meet you and you didn't know who I was at the time other than I just was like, I've seen your name forever and conversations you were in and I had ton of respect for you. And since then, you've become a very important person to me to be able to bounce ideas off and get perspective from and everything else like that. And that's why I just want to celebrate the fact that you're back because this is an important event and you are an important person at this event.

Dutch Silverstein [00:02:16]:
I don't know about any of that.

Jeff Compton [00:02:17]:
Oh, that's 100% Dutch. When you haven't been here, the presence has definitely been noticed. A lot of people ask and a lot of people and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, it's not for me to. To divulge or ask a ton about why you haven't. But just to say thank you for being back so.

Dutch Silverstein [00:02:34]:
Well, you can ask me anything you want. I can't guarantee you're gonna like to answer, but I'll tell you exactly why I was gone, if that. If that's what you want for sure. This organization used to be known as the Independent Garage Owners Association. It was a small organization basically set up for shop owners here in North Carolina is the igonc. And it was for me a place where I could go to distance myself from the volume based transactional business model that everyone is pushing for. I believe in the relationship based business model and I see the value in it. Yeah, I see how it makes for happier employees, long term customers.

Dutch Silverstein [00:03:24]:
You got to remember, I was, owned my shop for 26 years, third generation. I had people that came in that were older and their kids and now that you know, their grandchildren came in, you get that by treating people with a certain amount of respect and welcoming them them into the fold, as it were. Welcome to my family. This is. I named my business A and M because it was after Anna and Max, my son.

Jeff Compton [00:03:49]:
That's awesome.

Dutch Silverstein [00:03:50]:
Right? Because everything you do in life is for your kids anyway, if you're married and you have kids. And I wanted it to represent it. And I wanted people who came in to know that I wasn't a franchise. I didn't answer to some corporate accountant. Yes, when you had a problem. If you did, you talked to me because it was my shop. So I always looked at this place as, in a way, as a safe haven from what I perceive to be a really bad trend in the automotive repair sphere. And that is the transaction volume based transactional business model.

Dutch Silverstein [00:04:27]:
It is to me what Olive Garden is to Italian food.

Jeff Compton [00:04:35]:
It's a great analogy.

Dutch Silverstein [00:04:36]:
If you've ever had really good Italian food, either from New York City or in Boston's North End, or you've been to Italy or any place where it was in a small, typical family restaurant where you were blown away.

Jeff Compton [00:04:48]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:04:49]:
By really good Italian food. And then you go to eat over at Olive Garden and you're like, this kind of sucks. I mean, it's not horrible, right? Okay, it's not horrible, but at best it's mediocre. It's standardized. You know what to expect every time you go into one.

Jeff Compton [00:05:10]:
Yeah, right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:05:11]:
But it's not good.

Jeff Compton [00:05:13]:
No.

Dutch Silverstein [00:05:13]:
But when you think about it, how many Olive Gardens are there? Oh, really? It's a ton of them. Right. Tell them. Okay, so they were able to using that formula they were able to grow. And yet you got the mom and pop that may only have where the people put their heart and soul in the business and take care with every dish and go shopping every morning for the freshest ingredients and import the ingredients from Italy. And what do they got? One, maybe two stores?

Jeff Compton [00:05:41]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:05:43]:
Well, why? Because we've come to grow and appreciate as a society, mediocrity. And we don't need, in my opinion, as a business, as a resource, a community resource, to place ourselves in a position of mediocrity.

Jeff Compton [00:06:04]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:06:06]:
If all you're going to be focused on is sales, you're going to have a problem because the product you're going to produce is going to be mediocre. Let's look at it. Let's call things the way they are. I want you to think about any of the big box automotive repair shops that you can think of. It doesn't matter what it is.

Jeff Compton [00:06:25]:
Yep.

Dutch Silverstein [00:06:26]:
Okay. Everybody has them. Ones that have hundreds or in fact, over a thousand stores. Now ask yourself, does that place that I'm thinking about, does that represent the apex of the automotive repair industry?

Jeff Compton [00:06:39]:
Not even close.

Dutch Silverstein [00:06:40]:
Not even close. And yet there are a thousand of those stores. Why does that occur? Because that business is scalable.

Jeff Compton [00:06:49]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:06:51]:
In order to be scalable, what must you not have Superstars. Because you can't scale as a superstar.

Jeff Compton [00:07:00]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:07:00]:
You're going to find them, you're going to put them to work, you're going to treasure them because they're going to carry their weight and then some. But you can't guarantee that every market you're going to go in, it was going to have superstar that you can lure away if they're working from another place.

Jeff Compton [00:07:16]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:07:17]:
So what we have here is the difference between what is known as competent versus good.

Jeff Compton [00:07:24]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:07:25]:
When you go to a store, a corporate store like that. Okay. One of those big box stores that we're all thinking of, what you're having is somebody who's essentially, they're performing a service and they're competent at it and get the job done, but they're not good at it. There's a completely difference between being good and being competent.

Jeff Compton [00:07:47]:
Well, that's kind of what we say seems to be going more and more, is that we start making compromises on standards. We lower the collective standard.

Dutch Silverstein [00:07:57]:
Yep.

Jeff Compton [00:07:57]:
Right. And then it becomes the norm. And then I think we're at a point now where, like, everybody that operates a car is kind of fed up with where it is. Right. We have people in all Facets that are either they're going to a smaller shop and the smaller shop is looking too much at the price and they're putting on these terrible quality parts, right? And then the cars coming back and the trust is lost, or they're going to, you know, the car is under warranty and the dealership says, yeah, okay, it's three weeks before I can get you in there for an appointment. And then you manage to get in there and then they go that parts back ordered or we're really so short staffed. I got you in for the appointment. Now it's going to be three weeks before my tech can get back to putting that replacement transmission that finally arrived in.

Jeff Compton [00:08:46]:
So you're without your vehicle collectively like maybe six weeks, you know, and in the aftermarket side, we, that used to be never the norm. We were turning around faster all the time than the dealerships were. And now I see the outrage of people with a car under warranty and they are livid because the car sometimes spends the first three months, six months collectively of the US Got a warranty for five years. They might spend six months of those five years in the dealership part waiting. And they're just, they're beside themselves. They're so irate. So when we, when we look at all these collective standards that have been reduced, if anybody, I feel that's not part of the design to reduce the expectations so that people become conditioned to a lower standard. Just like Dutch is comparing from Olive Garden to, you know, a small family restaurant.

Jeff Compton [00:09:39]:
I think it's definitely designed and it's sad to see because somebody that like Dutch has been doing this so, so long, he's seen it change. I've been around long enough to see it change. But he's seen it change from maybe it's what is his glory day.

Dutch Silverstein [00:09:57]:
It was the heyday of automotive to.

Jeff Compton [00:09:59]:
Now where we're so uncertain about where we're headed.

Dutch Silverstein [00:10:02]:
So I mean, you got to remember that, that I started this just like most of the guys. I started this in the 70s, man. Yeah, right. 1973, 1975. I was working in the station, then went to work for Sears, as you know, in the small engine department and graduated to line tech. And you know, I mean this is so we saw things differently. Yeah, you never saw the degree of what appears to be deliberate indifference. That's the only way that a lack of caring because they have you buy the short hairs.

Dutch Silverstein [00:10:43]:
What happened to customer service? What happened to leaning on the manufacturer? What happened to designing the products that was going to last more than 20 minutes.

Jeff Compton [00:10:52]:
Holding them accountable.

Dutch Silverstein [00:10:52]:
Yep. And that. That's a problem. That's a real problem that needs to be solved. But you're not going to solve it without the participation of people who own stock. The only way it's going to change is if that change is commanded to happen by shareholders. Enough people have to be so sick of what's going on that they show up at shareholder meetings and the money do the talking.

Jeff Compton [00:11:21]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:11:22]:
Now, Anna, not by the vehicles.

Jeff Compton [00:11:23]:
What was it like to navigate this kind of, you know, because sometimes we talk about, you know, females in the automotive realm, from a consumer standpoint, are very uncomfortable having somebody that's such an. Has always been such an expert for it. Did you feel very blessed to.

Ana [00:11:43]:
Yeah, I've never been asked that question, but it's interesting because I'm faced with it often. You know, there's all these Internet jokes about the slimy mechanic, and there's, you know, definitely a reputation that if you're a girl, you're gonna get taken advantage of. And I've only seen that more and more as I've gotten older and have needed to maintain my own car and all that good stuff. And I just, you know, obviously, with my dad, had never found that to be the case. And he would go out of his way to take pictures of, you know, oh, you need this replaced. And here's a picture, and do you want to see it? You can walk. You can look under the hood with me. And so it's definitely kind of like this duality between a reputation for an industry that has some bad actors while being raised by who I consider to be the best actor, one.

Jeff Compton [00:12:32]:
One of the outstanding ones, and has been for. For a long time. And the reputation precedes himself. He's never acted any way other than one of the most extraordinary professionals within the industry. Right. And I know he doesn't like to hear me blow his horn all the time, but it's absolutely true. Like, the legacy that Dutch has left behind, you know, in terms of all the online conversations and perspectives that he's brought, not that he's left behind like he's done, but you know what I mean? The example that he set for some others to come along because of the way he's always conducted himself, is. I wish that more had caught on, you know what I mean? Because we wouldn't have so many people then feeling that the stereotype that you described was the norm, you know?

Ana [00:13:18]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:13:19]:
There was a. It was a funny episode. I know you'll appreciate this she was being taught when she was in grade school by a substitute teacher who said during class was talking about the car.

Jeff Compton [00:13:31]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:13:32]:
It said that mechanics were thieves.

Ana [00:13:36]:
Yeah. My driver's ed teacher and said that.

Dutch Silverstein [00:13:39]:
Mechanics were thieves and that if you had a check engine light on, all you had to do was insert a computer into the USB port and that would tell you what was wrong with the car.

Jeff Compton [00:13:54]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:13:55]:
And my little girl stood up in class, got red faced and said, first of all, it's not a USB port. It is assembly line, data link connector. It doesn't tell you. And she went off.

Jeff Compton [00:14:06]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:14:07]:
And I heard about it through the school and I was. Yep, she's good. She ain't grounded, that's for sure. Yeah. Because people don't understand and that this now this individual was. Was trying to edge drivers and teachers trying to educate.

Jeff Compton [00:14:21]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:14:22]:
The young on this. No, no, you don't try to pull the wool over my daughter's eyes.

Jeff Compton [00:14:26]:
So, Anna, do you have a lot of fond memories of actually being at your dad's elbow, watching him do some things, or did you kind of like. Because I know you're not a tech, but did you kind of like grow up sometimes running around the shop?

Ana [00:14:40]:
I did, yeah. I remember the evolution. He at one point had a very small waiting room and then eventually took over some office space in his shop and totally redid it. And I remember his business growing. I don't really remember him like necessarily being under the hood turning the wrench, but I do remember him being sort of an advisor to both his employees and to his customers, clients, and, you know, getting on the phone, explaining what was wrong. I remember very distinctly him fixing a lot of issues that other people created by either trying to work on cars themselves or, you know, going to bad dealerships, what have you. So, yeah, I think I got a lot of. A lot of business acumen and I have a lot of car acumen for.

Dutch Silverstein [00:15:25]:
She worked for me for a summer.

Jeff Compton [00:15:27]:
Really?

Dutch Silverstein [00:15:27]:
Yeah, she worked for me as a csr, as a service rep. She wound up answering the phones, obviously. She took. She had a Camry and she took people home back and forth, you know, in the Camry when she was doing that. And then we tried to keep. Get her into bookkeeping. And that wasn't her thing.

Ana [00:15:49]:
Yeah, no. The accountant sat me down and was like, you're not allowed in this filing cabinet anymore. You did this wrong.

Dutch Silverstein [00:15:58]:
So I was into that.

Jeff Compton [00:16:00]:
I'm honestly amazed when you say that. The accountant, because it's hard for me to picture Dutch ever Passing that role off to somebody else, you know what I mean?

Dutch Silverstein [00:16:08]:
Well, you know, you have to. There's only so much that you can do as long as my attitude was, look, let me delegate, okay, the task and then I can always cross shepherds it because I'm not worried about you hand me financial statements, I can read them, I understand them, I can dissect them. I'm not worried about it. So I'm not going to worry about somebody pulling the wool over my eyes, stealing from me or doing any of that sort of stuff. I'm not worried about it. So. And the people that I did this with, I trusted.

Jeff Compton [00:16:34]:
Right?

Dutch Silverstein [00:16:36]:
And that gave me. Once they took that off my plate, that gave me more time to spend doing the things I like to do, you know, working with customers.

Jeff Compton [00:16:43]:
So this class, working with customers, this class that you brought to ASSA this year and you taught, can you tell us a little bit about it? Because I didn't have the pleasure of being. I couldn't be in it this morning. I was recording.

Dutch Silverstein [00:16:52]:
Otherwise I'd have been basically what I noticed was once the company getting back to the original conversation, you know, I left in protest because I saw one of the individuals who is an advocate for the. An advocate for the transactional business model was asked to attend and I. That to me was a betrayal. Yeah, I took it personally. I really did. And I guess I shouldn't have in hindsight, but I took it personally. I'm like, no, I don't. This is my quote unquote safe space.

Dutch Silverstein [00:17:34]:
This is my refuge. This is where I go to associated with people. The whole industry is populated with this cancer that's permeating every aspect, every poor of it. But there's one place, one sacred place, the Igonc that I can go and not have to worry about associating with any of these slime bag, slime ball, used car salesman type double speak.

Jeff Compton [00:17:57]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:17:58]:
Idiots.

Jeff Compton [00:17:58]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:17:59]:
Okay. Well one of those guys got invited here and I'm like, you people suck. So I. So I boycotted. And then as. As would happen, I realized that there was. I got over being angry and discouraged and realized that there was a golden opportunity for Text here to own their own shop and to create the destiny that they wanted. Right? We had talked about one in five.

Dutch Silverstein [00:18:32]:
One tech comes in five texts. My my age, die, leave, whatever gone. Okay? That's going to build scarcity. What happens to prices when something is scarce?

Jeff Compton [00:18:46]:
We can put them up.

Dutch Silverstein [00:18:47]:
You can put them up. Which means that now with the right amount of instruction Mentoring, you can have somebody who comes in and 20 years later retires with seven figures.

Jeff Compton [00:19:05]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:19:05]:
Now, there are guys in this business have been in it for 35, 40 years that don't have that kind of money.

Jeff Compton [00:19:10]:
That's right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:19:12]:
Okay, well, here's a problem. And the problem is one that Michael Gerber really nailed in his book the E. Myth Revisited. And the E. Myth is the entrepreneurial myth. And the entrepreneurial myth is that a practitioner or a technician in a technical business understands what it takes to run that business, to operate that technical business. Just because they can perform the technical aspect of the business, in their mind, they're confident that they can then run that business.

Jeff Compton [00:19:49]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:19:49]:
And it's a completely different skill set. Okay, so you say, well, for the normal tech who wants to go out, the typical tech that wants to go out on his own, who does? Who's going to mentor him? Well, if you look at coaches, a coach, and there are a lot of them attending this event is not going to be interested in a technician. And they're not going to be interested for one main reason. Most techs don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. They're not any different than the general public in many respects.

Jeff Compton [00:20:25]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:20:25]:
But the fact is that if you're going to work with a coach, you're going to be spending, depending on the coach you're working with, between 12 and 1500 dollars a month, unless you work at one organization which makes you sign a promissory note to the tune of $80,000, which they get paid beforehand, obligating you, your heirs and assigns. All right? So I thought, well, this is a golden opportunity for me to exert some influence on the industry, because I'm not making any money. I'm not asking anybody to sign up for any program. I'm not selling a book. I'm not engaging in any sort of coaching contract or any of that sort of stuff. And the consulting work that I do, they can't afford because I do it for multiple shop owners who are making money, who can legitimately afford it. So I'm like, okay, let me work with the auto shop owners group, which is a group that was started eight years ago. I'm the treasurer of it.

Dutch Silverstein [00:21:24]:
And what we do is we work with owners whose backer against the wall who can't afford to pay that. And we get them to the point where the pressure is off. They have money coming in, they can see the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Now, if they want to transition to a paid coach, God bless them. At least they can afford to do it and grow along that path. Yeah, well, that's what I'm doing with Tex. There's no reason that a tech shouldn't know what to expect when he's going to pursue the path of shop ownership.

Jeff Compton [00:22:01]:
Yep.

Dutch Silverstein [00:22:03]:
You have to know things if you're going to be successful at it. My obligation to the industry that has allowed me to feed my family, to put a roof over their head, I have no choice. I can't just coast and say it's somebody else's problem.

Jeff Compton [00:22:24]:
I feel the very same way in my role. Right. Like there's. I know now know what my power is. I'm not going to be the level of technical being able to pass that on. I'm not there. I'm competent, but I'm not there. Right.

Jeff Compton [00:22:37]:
I can mentor a couple people in my workforce, but do I feel comfortable enough to go out there and put this on the Internet and challenge everybody to say that is a definitive way to do that? No. But I seem to be able to resonate with a large population of the technicians in this industry. For. For whatever reason. I think it's just because we've all walked through the similar mud and, you know, had to bear the slings and arrows to get to where we are for whatever that may be. And it leaves us all kind of feeling the same way. And I've been the guy that through this method has been able to come out on the other side and go, man, it doesn't all suck, but let's cast light on what is making it suck or who is making it suck. And I've never backed away from that.

Jeff Compton [00:23:22]:
I was not raised to ever back away from anything. I was not ever very good at keeping my mouth shut. So it's not something that is even in my peripheral that I might should be doing to change the trajectory of this. It's not. I go with it. I just stay to me and that's it. And I let it take care of it. God will guide me the rest of the way.

Jeff Compton [00:23:44]:
It will be what it'll be, and I'm very lucky for that because it's keeping me like I'm the same way. I feel like I have something now to give back, and I didn't have that five years ago. And that as crazy as the weight that comes on you with that responsibility, at the same time you feel more unburdened because you know the direction that you can go, that's Huge, man, huge. So cool.

Dutch Silverstein [00:24:10]:
When I was at the. When I was at the airline, I was known as a systems junkie. And there was a problem where I was being dispatched to an airport with equipment that was on the mel. It's called the minimum equipment list.

Jeff Compton [00:24:28]:
Okay.

Dutch Silverstein [00:24:29]:
And maintenance control was attempting to dispatch me in a way that was illegal. I refused. Big brouhaha. Over the phone. It's recorded. And long story short, I refused the flight. Flight was cancelled. They sent up another section and passengers were accommodated, albeit much, much later.

Dutch Silverstein [00:24:52]:
I get a call the following day, Director of Training, who said, I listened to the conversation. It's obvious to me that you have a superior knowledge of the airplane. We'd like you to become an instructor. And I said, I really, I'm touched. I'm honored that you asked me, but before you do that, I think you might want to look at my HR file. Two days later he calls me back, he goes, thank you very much for the heads up. Offer withdrawn. Like you, I am not, I'm not diplomatic, right? I don't.

Dutch Silverstein [00:25:25]:
It's gotten me in trouble my entire life because I say what I mean, I mean what I say and I do what I say I'm going to do when I say I'm going to do it. That's all there is to it.

Jeff Compton [00:25:38]:
Those are not bad virtues to live by, though.

Dutch Silverstein [00:25:39]:
They are now.

Jeff Compton [00:25:40]:
Yes, they are now. Are you a lot like him?

Dutch Silverstein [00:25:45]:
Would you say he's much better than I am?

Jeff Compton [00:25:49]:
That's a nice thing to say, though.

Dutch Silverstein [00:25:50]:
She is much better than I am.

Ana [00:25:51]:
No, that's not. Absolutely not true. I mean, I hope so. I think that the one thing I try really hard on every single day is to have the kind of integrity that he has. I mean, he, he just does not back away from anything if something is, you know, morally right. He is, he is in line with that. And that's really difficult. And I think that for me, that's like the, the thing I think about every day is, is, am I being, am I using integrity in these decisions that I'm making, whether it be at my job or with my friends or whatever.

Jeff Compton [00:26:21]:
And that's a legacy, isn't it, Dutch?

Dutch Silverstein [00:26:23]:
I mean, that's what, that's what you hope for your children is that, you know that they're happy in life, that they're healthy, and that they have a value system that they can carry forward to the next generation. And maybe sometime they'll be blessed with grandchildren. No pressure, but you know, this, this is what you need to do. You have to have a life that's worth examining and worth celebrating. There are just some things in life that I just refuse to do. It's cool for other people. You want to do them.

Jeff Compton [00:26:52]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:26:52]:
I don't drink to excess. I don't run around. I don't gamble. I don't do drugs. I don't do any of that. My. My vice is I buy too many tools.

Jeff Compton [00:26:59]:
Mm.

Dutch Silverstein [00:26:59]:
Hey, I'm a tool junkie. Yeah. That's it. And I indulge my daughter because she's the light of my life. So this, this is what I. I do, you know?

Jeff Compton [00:27:07]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:27:08]:
Worse things to have happen, to be sure. But she represents the best part of me. Because she's rational.

Jeff Compton [00:27:14]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:27:14]:
She's reasonable.

Jeff Compton [00:27:16]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:27:16]:
I can say stuff and she steps back. So what you're saying is. And I'm like, oh, that's so good. Yeah. I don't. You know, I think she learned that in school. She may have learned part of that from my wife, who's the best thing I ever did in my life was marry that woman. But, you know, this, this is.

Dutch Silverstein [00:27:37]:
This is the way things work.

Jeff Compton [00:27:40]:
So what do you see when you have a classroom of people like that, Younger new start outs, as I guess we could say, what is some of the big obstacles that you see? Not like so 2 part that you see in trying to get through to them and they see in what they're trying to implicate in the industry.

Dutch Silverstein [00:28:00]:
Well, see, there's a change in the idea of work ethic and structure right now. More and more younger people believe in the ethic of work, like balance. And they do that because they're discouraged. They see the American dream is failing them because they will never be able to accomplish in their mind what their parents did. So since I'm not going to be able to have home ownership, since I'm not going to be able to retire when I want, since I'm not going, I am going to focus my energies on that which I can control, which is time spent spent with family.

Jeff Compton [00:28:33]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:28:33]:
Certainly very commendable. But it's an excuse. It's a cop out. Because if you're in this business and you're a technician, never in 25 or 30 years, like I said, or more, has there ever been a more golden opportunity for you to ton it. If you had a work ethic.

Jeff Compton [00:28:49]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:28:49]:
If you have the ability to understand the measure of how badly you want something is what it is, you're willing to give up to get it. And if you understand that you're sacrificing to do for the blessings of tomorrow. You can ton it. And you don't have to be the fastest a tech and you don't have or be flat rate or any of that. You can write your own damn ticket by doing that, which others won't do. And you'll do it for a short period of time. I'm not talking like 20 minutes. I'm talking about you'll do it for several years.

Dutch Silverstein [00:29:18]:
It might take you eight, it might even take you 10 years. That means 10 years are not going to be ball games. We're not going to recitals, coming in late, leaving early, working the Saturday or the day that you don't want. Right. Doing that, sacrificing again today for the blessings of tomorrow. And the next thing you know, if you do it right and you manage your money right and you approach a mentor, hey, look, I'm 52. I can retire.

Jeff Compton [00:29:44]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:29:45]:
I'm 55. I retire. We lived modestly. I'm 50, I can retire and do whatever the hell I want to do. Spend time, then deferred gratification, play with grandchildren. Ta da. Right? Yeah, exactly. I mean, this is what can be done.

Dutch Silverstein [00:30:03]:
So when someone says to me, well, you know, it's a different time, I acknowledge that. It absolutely is a different time. But if you're a tech in this environment with all the leverage that you have, if you're not out studying to improve yourself every night instead of watching an effing ball game, if you're not doing what's necessary to improve your skills, your ability, show up on time.

Jeff Compton [00:30:28]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:30:29]:
Leave your problems at home.

Jeff Compton [00:30:31]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:30:31]:
Forget about the baby mama drama. Don't be liquored up and show up hungover. Don't be one of these morons that goes, boss earns a dollar, I earn a dime. That's why I'm going to poop on company time. Right.

Jeff Compton [00:30:45]:
Don't be on the phone every 10 minutes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:30:47]:
Oh my.

Jeff Compton [00:30:48]:
With the girlfriend problem or, you know, whatever your side hustle thing may be, focus on what you're doing when you're at your job.

Dutch Silverstein [00:30:57]:
You know, now there are some guys and this, this is, this will piss a lot of people off. So that makes me happy. Okay, so there are some guys who say, look, I don't care how much time the guy gets on the phone as long as he gets the work done.

Jeff Compton [00:31:09]:
Right?

Dutch Silverstein [00:31:10]:
Okay, so if you give the guy eight hours of work and he gets the work done in six hours, knocks it out. Well, give him more work. Let him earn, right? Help him construct a budget. Hey, if you do this, if you get off the crapper, if you get off the phone, I can show you where you're going to earn X amount of more money per day. X amount of more money per week. We'll set this up in a retirement account for you. We'll put it in this type of investment. Let me set you up.

Dutch Silverstein [00:31:46]:
Have you ever set up a budget? How about, I got Dave Ramsey for my guys at the shop? I'm like, who wants to have Dave Ramsey? I'll pay for it. Nobody wanted it. Nobody wanted it. I'm giving them everything they need to secure their future. They didn't avail themselves, but they'll complain.

Jeff Compton [00:32:08]:
So, Dutch, is that a reflection on the fact that they already feel like it? Is it? It's all for naught because of this current situation that we're in. Going back to the. The way the light. The world has changed and the economic situation, all kinds of stuff. Is. Could that be why or is it lack.

Dutch Silverstein [00:32:22]:
Certainly no. I mean, that's a very, very fair question. It certainly could be that they're discouraged and that discouragement is preventing them from seeing things in the. The proper perspective. Absolutely. But the fact is, sometimes you just got to grow the f up.

Jeff Compton [00:32:35]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:32:36]:
Okay. Don't come crying to me about you not having the future you want when you're not willing to make that investment in that future.

Jeff Compton [00:32:46]:
Yeah, that's powerful.

Dutch Silverstein [00:32:49]:
All right. I mean, you know, you asked my daughter. She grew up without me. Is that something I'm proud of? No, it absolutely isn't. Seven days a week, work seven days a week for nine years. I worked seven days a week for nine years while I was going through chemotherapy. I worked because I did that, though. What did she want for? Nothing.

Dutch Silverstein [00:33:15]:
And I'm not talking about. I'm buying her the latest and greatest in a new car, that sort of stuff. You know, the fact is, she got. She went to a good school, good college. She always had food in her belly, a roof over her head. She lived in a nice house. Not a great house, not a mansion. Three bedroom, two bath.

Dutch Silverstein [00:33:33]:
She had what she needed to thrive, and she has. But in order to do that, I wasn't there for her because I had to start at 40 all over again.

Jeff Compton [00:33:49]:
But the example that you set, I can see that she's taken a lot of it to heart. And she, you know, the. Yes, it's absent time, but she seemed to have, I'm going to assume, probably at a very young age, understood what it was all about.

Dutch Silverstein [00:34:04]:
And why she got scared. One time she overheard me talking to my wife about the loss of retirement and that scared her. You remember?

Ana [00:34:16]:
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I studied finance in school and my friends used to say, why do you always start every sentence with well, when the markets crashed in 2008, and it was because it shaped who I am. You know, that. That conversation and this idea that everything you have can be taken away from you and you have absolutely no idea when it's going to happen or how it's going to happen.

Dutch Silverstein [00:34:40]:
Yep. Yeah, that's it. So, you know, we make a joke in the family. We'd say she's so tight that when she walks her sneakersqueak. All right. Because. But I'm proud as hell because she doesn't waste money. Right.

Jeff Compton [00:34:52]:
And see what. That's awesome. On to you because whereas it could have like, really shaped you in a dark way and felt like all was woe and it was never gonna. You just buckled down just like he does and has and always will to. To effort. I'm going to do the best that I can with it. Right.

Ana [00:35:13]:
I think that he taught me the only thing you're really in control of is your work ethic. Like the things that happen to him. You know, it's completely like out of the blue. Right. And the only thing that you can do is like he said, you just kind of get through it by keep working hard. And I would say, like, you know, this idea that he's gone in my childhood, physically he's gone, but what is he doing? He's providing for our family. So was he really gone? The answer is no.

Jeff Compton [00:35:37]:
No.

Dutch Silverstein [00:35:38]:
Yeah.

Jeff Compton [00:35:38]:
I didn't.

Dutch Silverstein [00:35:38]:
I didn't go to some of the parties that she went to. And, you know, there's things that the father, daughter stuff that I missed.

Jeff Compton [00:35:44]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:35:44]:
Let's be candid. Okay. And you, you're never gonna get that back. She's only gonna be three, four or five years old or whatever. But ultimately that's not the bigger issue. The bigger issue is the odds are really high. She needs to have her future future set up to give her the tools that she can go make her way in the world and be successful. Now my other child is on the spectrum and he will never, ever be able to take care of himself.

Dutch Silverstein [00:36:11]:
It's not his fault.

Jeff Compton [00:36:13]:
No.

Dutch Silverstein [00:36:13]:
That's the way the good Lord made it. Made him that way for a reason. Well, what's my responsibility? What's my obligation to take care of him? Which means you got to put money back.

Jeff Compton [00:36:23]:
Yep.

Dutch Silverstein [00:36:24]:
You got to plan for the care that's going to happen after we're gone.

Jeff Compton [00:36:28]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:36:29]:
Because he's going to be living for another 30, 40 years after Louise and I, you know, go take the dirt nap.

Jeff Compton [00:36:35]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:36:37]:
So just. If you don't do that, if you don't live up to your obligations, what good are you? What kind of man are you?

Jeff Compton [00:36:43]:
And see, I think that's where. Because, I mean, I'm not a daughter, I'm somebody's son. But, I mean, I can remember, like my father. I have memories of when it was like he worked a lot, too, because my dad was collision tech. And then we were always working on cars at home on weekends.

Dutch Silverstein [00:37:00]:
Right.

Jeff Compton [00:37:00]:
So there was a lot of times I could remember that. I can remember having to, like, beg him while he was in the middle of working on a car on a Saturday afternoon to finally take the training wheels off the bike so that I could start trying to, you know, and I couldn't have found the tool in the garage to be able to get the. Off anything that. So I can remember him grumbling and finally getting the. And then, of course, it's not. You don't just. He didn't turn around and go back to work. He has to get involved in me learning how to balance all kind of stuff.

Jeff Compton [00:37:28]:
And part of me remembers him having to beg and plead and get him to stop working on the car for a second to help this pivotal point in my life. But I don't disrespect him or resent him for what he was doing at that point of time. I just remember that. Right. It's a. It's a memory burned in my brain that because he's in coveralls and an old welding cap on the top of his head, because he was probably in the trunk brazing floor pans into the trunk panel. That's what he would have been doing.

Dutch Silverstein [00:37:58]:
Right.

Jeff Compton [00:37:58]:
So I am. I'm appreciative of what. The hustle that he put in his whole life for my parents to provide for both of us, my brother and myself. So. But at the same time, you don't have that. Any kind of ill feelings to him because of what he had to miss. You understand, the sacrifice was worth the reward. Whereas I see other people that complain about it.

Jeff Compton [00:38:22]:
My daddy was never. There's. There's obviously more there, and it's just an excuse.

Dutch Silverstein [00:38:28]:
I don't think she ever. See, I can't speak to anybody else's circumstances.

Jeff Compton [00:38:32]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:38:33]:
But she has owned me weeks and she was wee big this Is one of my favorite stories. Louise is in the. In the kitchen. Anna's maybe two years old, between two and three years old, and she says to Anna, come here, honey. So Anna comes in the kitchen, and she says, do this for Mommy. So Anna, being a good daughter, does this. But I'm standing there, and she says, okay, sweetie, go out and go play. I turn to Louise, I said, what the hell did you ever do that for? She goes, I just wanted to see which one she had you wrapped around.

Dutch Silverstein [00:39:10]:
So there was never any. Right? Yeah. There was never any doubt, although I wasn't there, that she was cherished and loved. Yeah, there was. There was. Of all the things you could say about me, and there are plenty of bad things you could say. She always knew my kids, always knew how I felt about them and that I was doing what was necessary for our family to thrive. So you can either accept that or you can bitch about it.

Jeff Compton [00:39:39]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:39:39]:
Yeah.

Ana [00:39:40]:
You can't. You can't resent your job. And I think that that's something that's really powerful for me, especially as I've started my career, you know, in the past decade. There's gonna be times where it's hard and. And you're gonna not get to do the things you wanna do, or you're gonna work later and not sleep as much. So you can't resent the things that are gonna take you where you wanna go. And for him making these sacrifices for our family, if I resented that, I would be miserable. Right.

Ana [00:40:10]:
And instead, it's so powerful because it's like, now I have this very strong work ethic, and candidly, I live. I live very well, and I'm very thankful.

Jeff Compton [00:40:20]:
So.

Ana [00:40:20]:
And I always say it's. I credit my dad because the late nights or the working on weekends or whatever, I don't resent because it's an opportunity to get better.

Jeff Compton [00:40:30]:
And it's a defeated attitude, I think, to just cop that is an immediate excuse. Like, I resent my parents for this. You know, I had. I had nice things, but they were never there.

Dutch Silverstein [00:40:43]:
What kind of crap is that?

Jeff Compton [00:40:44]:
Well, it's modern crap, you know?

Dutch Silverstein [00:40:48]:
You know, I mean, coming from a group of immigrants, when they came to this country and had nothing and watched their family being wiped out by the Holocaust, and you have a different perspective of really what's important in that regard. And the sense of family. Yes, that was there. You know, people, they. They just. They lose it. Right. I mean, the entire time, my mother didn't complain when her father worked.

Dutch Silverstein [00:41:13]:
That was not you didn't. These are Eastern European people. They were stoic. You. You did what was necessary because you had an obligation to do it.

Jeff Compton [00:41:21]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:41:23]:
That obligation no longer exists. Now it's a choice.

Jeff Compton [00:41:28]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:41:29]:
Well, no, you don't have that choice. I mean. Yeah, you always have it. In other words, there's nothing. Nobody's holding a gun to your head saying you can't do it. But the fact is that in the culture in which I was raised, there were certain things that men did, certain things that women did, certain things you did as a couple to advance the family.

Jeff Compton [00:41:53]:
Yeah. Now.

Dutch Silverstein [00:41:56]:
And I saw even there isn't that anymore. The. It's, you know. Yes, you do see people that are saying, I value the time and I want to work life balance and all that sort of stuff. But. Yeah, so it's not.

Jeff Compton [00:42:11]:
Aside from the coaching side of things, like as to the advice of the younger shop owners starting out, what's some other things that you can. That you can share from. From your insight as to what they need to be doing?

Dutch Silverstein [00:42:23]:
All right. So the first thing they need to do is. And this is one of the most difficult things that they need to do it really. I don't care how many books you got on growing a business or any of that sort of stuff. You have to have some real introspection. You have to absolutely stop what you're doing, turn off the distractions, and ask yourself, am I cut out to do this? Am I willing to make the sacrifices necessary so that I can do what it is I want to do? Am I willing to. To sacrifice time with my family now? Am I willing to put my personal fortune at risk? Am I willing to go into debt? Am I willing to make sure that when I come home, I don't bring the anguish of work or the frustration into the house because it's not my spouse's fault?

Jeff Compton [00:43:16]:
Yes, that.

Dutch Silverstein [00:43:17]:
That trans. Slipped off the. You know, the jack that's not. Has nothing to do with her. With her at all. Right. You have to determine, am I willing to put the time in the book so that I understand what a financial statement is? I'm not trying to become accountant. I'm not trying to do.

Dutch Silverstein [00:43:38]:
I just want to be able to look and understand the numbers and tell me what they mean. Am I willing to put the time in to say, you know, I don't know this. I'm gonna need help. What is a KPI? What does that stand for? Can you tell me what the difference is between markup and margin? Why that's important to Me, what are the benchmarks that I should be shooting for at out of every dollar, how much should wind up going towards labor, how much should go to parts, how much should go for overhead, how much should go for marketing? And what am I supposed to be left with by asking questions? Sincere introspection. Because you may engage in introspection. Determine. This ain't for me. Yeah, this is not what I want to do.

Dutch Silverstein [00:44:28]:
Find a mentor. Find somebody who's successful in the business and see do you want to run your business like they do now? In this case, I'm going to have to be fair. Well, I don't care for obviously for the volume based transactional model. There are plenty of people. If you just view it as a business.

Jeff Compton [00:44:49]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:44:50]:
There are plenty of people that want to do that business because you produce revenue faster than at established relationship based. You scale it faster. It has a whole host of advantages.

Jeff Compton [00:45:01]:
Y. Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:03]:
If that's what you want to do, if you're money motivated, if you, if your idea of being a great tech is flat rate because you want that cash, then you should shift yourself to the, to the volume based transactional model.

Jeff Compton [00:45:20]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:21]:
If you care about people and go, look, don't worry about it. I'll do the service. The money will follow me. I do really good work. That's a relationship based model. Determine who you are. Determine. Determine what's important to you.

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:33]:
Be true to yourself and then ask yourself, am I gonna do this? Am I really? Or is this just kind of like a passing idea?

Jeff Compton [00:45:42]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:43]:
You know, because a lot of people want to do stuff, but when it comes to the rubber meeting the road, they don't do it.

Jeff Compton [00:45:50]:
Or did I make the mistake from going away from being an employee and deciding I was gonna be a business owner?

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:56]:
Perfect.

Jeff Compton [00:45:57]:
Right?

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:57]:
You're exactly right.

Jeff Compton [00:45:58]:
Was that a mistake?

Dutch Silverstein [00:45:59]:
Some. Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Compton [00:46:01]:
I think that the industry where we are right now, I'm going to say it, I think even for a long time before they did make a mistake.

Dutch Silverstein [00:46:08]:
Yep.

Jeff Compton [00:46:08]:
Well, the, the bot themselves a job thing that we always see people refer to. Right. It's a very real thing, Dutch. Like it has happened for a lot of us have worked for people that just managed to buy themselves a job. You made an interesting point when you talked about debt. Do. I'm gonna think that when you're starting out, that's inevitable. You're gonna have to go in a little bit of debt.

Dutch Silverstein [00:46:30]:
Mm.

Jeff Compton [00:46:31]:
Right. I think it's like the, the equipment that the shop is gonna need. The. You know, I don't Want to say marketing maybe because like, I don't necessarily believe that, that if you do it right, you need to spend a pile of money on marketing. I think you, if you do it right, it takes care of itself, a lot of it. But where some of the. How do they avoid those pitfalls of too much too fast?

Dutch Silverstein [00:46:50]:
Well, the first thing you have to wind up doing is realizing that you don't need to buy anything new. If used will do. All right. There's no reason that if you're starting a business out that you should be spending $80,000 on a hunter setup.

Jeff Compton [00:47:01]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:47:02]:
Hunter make great equipment. No question about it.

Jeff Compton [00:47:04]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:47:04]:
If you can't determine what the return on investment is, if you don't understand the calculation necessary to determine that, you don't buy it. You buy something that's older, that you can, can use, that you can pay off quickly. Right. That's one of the things that you can wind it. Is it necessary to have the latest and greatest tire balancer?

Jeff Compton [00:47:26]:
No, no, no.

Dutch Silverstein [00:47:28]:
Right.

Jeff Compton [00:47:28]:
We've been balancing tires with long before road force and balancing them effectively long before. Did it sometimes take a little bit more time? Yes, yes. But we were able to do it. I mean, cars would go 200 miles an hour long before there was a road force balancer without shaking the, you know, the fillings out of the driver's teeth.

Dutch Silverstein [00:47:48]:
One of the things that you have to do is resist the temptation to get on the software bandwagon that costs you $200 here a month, 180 there, $320. Because after what that all adds up.

Jeff Compton [00:48:01]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:48:03]:
Can you do stuff? Do you have to buy an SMS right away shop management system? No, you don't initially. You can do it with QuickBooks.

Jeff Compton [00:48:11]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:48:12]:
All right. Because you're not going to be that busy unless you buy an established business already where you have cash flow that's coming in.

Jeff Compton [00:48:21]:
So to kind of offshoot from the software answer. Is there something you suggest that they don't tackle as a young as starting out?

Dutch Silverstein [00:48:30]:
Well, the first thing you have to do is do not buy an alignment machine.

Jeff Compton [00:48:34]:
Okay.

Dutch Silverstein [00:48:35]:
Do not get any alignment machine. When you first start out, there's no reason you should be able to sub that out to somebody in your neighborhood.

Jeff Compton [00:48:42]:
But yet so many coaches tell us all it's such a great revenue generator and you save so much money by not having to sublet it out. And it's such a quick turnaround on the time because you bill it for 1.2 and you know your tech should only take 18 minutes?

Dutch Silverstein [00:48:56]:
Yeah. Well, you really want to talk to me about this?

Jeff Compton [00:49:00]:
Well, you and I know that an 18 minute alignment is not really.

Dutch Silverstein [00:49:02]:
What you're doing is you're setting the toe and you're letting it go.

Jeff Compton [00:49:05]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:49:05]:
Okay. You're not performing an alignment. And if you're gloating about the fact that you're doing it in 18 minutes and you're charging them for 1.2 and you're not performing the service as it's designed, you're stealing from them.

Jeff Compton [00:49:18]:
Yes.

Dutch Silverstein [00:49:19]:
Okay. Now, if you did it, if you did the service correctly, and because you're fast, knowledgeable, you seldom make mistakes. And you can knock it off, take the time. Right. But setting the toe and let it go and that's it. No. What are you gonna do when you need a calibration lane change? What are you gonna do?

Jeff Compton [00:49:38]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:49:39]:
Set the toe and let it go. I ain't gonna work. Right. You don't have to buy new tools for everything that comes across your desk. You don't have to accept every bit of work that comes across your desk.

Jeff Compton [00:49:50]:
That was what I was going to be asking you next because you're. You are known as a guy that could fix some problem cars back in the day.

Dutch Silverstein [00:49:56]:
Yep.

Jeff Compton [00:49:56]:
Right. But when you look back at those problem cars, what was the key to making it work for you financially? And was there a whole lot of them that you look back now and go, that was just an exercise in futility and pride?

Dutch Silverstein [00:50:09]:
Well, there's a couple of them that absolutely. That kicked my butt. And, you know, I actually had to ship to the dealer. I was just like, I've reached the end of my rope. I got nowhere to go. I've exhausted everything, every avenue. I don't know, Right. And I turn to the owner and say, look, here's the deal.

Dutch Silverstein [00:50:25]:
You're not paying me for any of that that I've done. I didn't fix the vehicle. I didn't come up with a plan to allow you to fix the vehicle. Do me a favor, when you go and bring this to the dealer, okay. Because you haven't spent any money with me. It didn't matter If I had one hour in it or 10 hours. They did not pay. It's in writing on my website.

Jeff Compton [00:50:43]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:50:44]:
Okay. If I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, go to the dealer. When the dealer figures it out, let me know what the hell it is. I got to see what I missed.

Jeff Compton [00:50:52]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:50:52]:
And most of the time, people would laugh and go, sure. And they would, you know, they would tell me, here, this is what anime like, oh, what a dumbass. You know, I. I completely forgot about that. I didn't. I didn't do this right. Or anything. But for the most part, when someone would bring in a science project, I got paid up front.

Dutch Silverstein [00:51:08]:
And I had to have them understand that they ultimately wouldn't pay for any testing or evaluation if I couldn't come up with a solution. But the only way that was going to happen was if they agreed to the testing plan that I prescribed in advance.

Jeff Compton [00:51:23]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:51:23]:
So years ago, it was 750 bucks to start. Because when somebody comes to me and I've been to five other shops and they couldn't figure it out, what obligation do I have to them to be cheap?

Jeff Compton [00:51:36]:
Zero.

Dutch Silverstein [00:51:36]:
Exactly right. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is and guarantee my repair. We're going to start with 750. Now I can call you and tell you I want you more. You have to determine what it is you want to spend. Really, really simple. And if I say I need another 750 and you say, no, I'm not giving you that money back because you turned me down.

Jeff Compton [00:51:58]:
You're. So you're still giving them the value of what? The 750, the testing results, the everything. The eliminations of. It's not this, it's not that, it's not that, and it isn't that we're still not there yet, but there's value in what we say to the customer.

Dutch Silverstein [00:52:13]:
Right.

Jeff Compton [00:52:14]:
And that I've eliminated. You don't. If somebody goes to. If you go to anyone else and they tell you that you need those four things. I would lay my reputation on the line that you don't. Because I've already proven out that you don't have. We hit the magic final. Whatever.

Jeff Compton [00:52:28]:
You know, Bullseye. No, we have not. But I know that I'm zoned in this close.

Dutch Silverstein [00:52:33]:
It's called diagnosis by exclusion. We've excluded that. Which can't be.

Jeff Compton [00:52:37]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:52:38]:
So now it remains. And we just whittle that down to get to the point where you find it.

Jeff Compton [00:52:43]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:52:44]:
And it's. It's absolutely frustrating. And it was certainly a. A part of pride and it could. I have earned more money. Yeah. By doing break jobs all day long.

Jeff Compton [00:52:51]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:52:52]:
But doing gravy frozen front end work by doing flush a thons.

Jeff Compton [00:52:55]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:52:56]:
Make me want to yak. You know, that's not. I don't do that. I don't do flushes like that.

Jeff Compton [00:53:03]:
Amazing. What I don't want to keep you guys, I know Anna's got. She's got a few places to be, but, Dutch, just closing thoughts on what you think to be back here and see it at the new venue. And, you know, Anna, what do you think of it? And God, I hope next year you'll be here.

Dutch Silverstein [00:53:21]:
Well, I'll be here as long as they want me to teach the class. I want. I really want technicians to know that there's an avenue that's open to them that can change their destiny, that can change their future, that can provide for their family, and there's never been a better time for it. So I'll be back as long as they're willing to have me here so that I can teach this. And I'll continue to mentor shop owners through the Auto Shop Owners Group, which is a 501c3 charity. Again, nobody pays for anything. Also, another resource. I'm just going to pitch S c o r e.org score.org which is a service corps of retired executives.

Jeff Compton [00:54:00]:
Oh, cool.

Dutch Silverstein [00:54:01]:
So you go and you go score.org you enter in your zip code, and it brings you to the closest chapter. So if you say, well, I don't have anybody I want to talk to here, boom, there it is. Okay, so Anna answered the question. You don't remember what the question?

Ana [00:54:16]:
No, the question was what I think of the venue. I think it's incredibly impressive. I've been to the Raleigh Convention center before. I've never been down to this level, but I mean, overall, the scale, the production, the, like, involvement of it is all very impressive. And. And I'm a little jealous because, you know, I think that it takes a lot of really passionate people in the industry to make stuff like this happen. So I'm really glad I could come this year.

Jeff Compton [00:54:41]:
I can say that, that honestly, like, what I love about this industry and this. This networking style that we're doing is the passion that somebody like your dad has. I've always seen it. But to meet it in person and get to know him, be able to call him a friend, that's something I'm one of the most proud of, is the fact that he considers me a friend. And I am able to call him a friend. It's huge to me. Huge. Because he.

Jeff Compton [00:55:03]:
He was an example for me before he even knew who I was, just by how he always took this industry, you know, so I've been very blessed.

Dutch Silverstein [00:55:12]:
So unyielding and uncompromising in many respects. You know, I, that's. I just, I. I want this place. I want what we do to be thought of in the same level of professionalism that people have as attorneys and airline pilots.

Jeff Compton [00:55:27]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:55:27]:
Because a lot of the work is just as freaking difficult, 100%, and the risk is the same. All right. Yeah, you're right. I don't have 180 people behind me when I'm doing this break job.

Jeff Compton [00:55:40]:
Right.

Dutch Silverstein [00:55:41]:
But if I do it wrong, that mother and that kids, they may be just as dead as if I screwed up at the controls of the airplane.

Jeff Compton [00:55:48]:
Yeah.

Dutch Silverstein [00:55:49]:
You want to live with that? I don't want to live with it.

Jeff Compton [00:55:51]:
No. No. You know, not once. Not once.

Dutch Silverstein [00:55:55]:
There's an expression. I'll leave you with this. And I want you to think how this is going to apply to automotive repair. And the poem is this Aviation, to an even greater, even greater degree than the sea, is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect. We have to bring that same attitude of not tolerating carelessness, incapacity, or neglect to what we do. That's how we're going to get our value to be understood.

Jeff Compton [00:56:25]:
Amen. Thank you, guys.

Dutch Silverstein [00:56:27]:
All right. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Jeff Compton [00:56:28]:
Appreciate you. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and, like, comment on and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change. Thank you to my partners in the ASA group and to the Change in the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say, in this industry, you get what you pay for. Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10 millimeter, and we'll see you all again next time.