Consulting
Automotive Management
I have 25 years plus experience in small business with an AMI Automotive Management Institute certification.
Master ASE Certified, Co Founder of PMTA Profesional Master Technicians Association, Co founder of BIGO Bluegrass Independent Garage Owners, etc.
Reality
-The problem I am seeing is there are a lot of shops that think they are doing things right because they are making the money they think they should.
-In reality they are working harder than they should, not doing what they can because they don’t have the proper procedures and their help isn’t trained to do their job.
-Paying for shop management software and not learning to use it to its capability. Mostly because the program is to complex.
-Don’t have a set procedure to handle clients from start to finish.
-Don’t have a customer survey system
-Some don’t even have a clean work environment.
-When a job gets tough some put it in a back row for new work coming into the shop.
-Don’t have a good internet presence, Facebook, Website, Shop Email
Pro Shop vs Non Pro
Shop potential:
I believe each mechanic deserves 2 bays for efficiency.
Number of bays divided by 2 mechanics, times flat rate, times 40 hour week = Shop potential
Example of a 4 bay shop
4 bays / 2 = 2 techs x $140 labor rate x 40 hours = $11,200
—- bays / —– techs x ———- x hours open
Shop Productivity
Take your weekly labor earnings, divided by 40 hours, divided by Techs = Your shop productivity.
$11,200 / 40 / 2 = $140
Weekly Labor / hours open / Techs = Productivity
Shop Appearance
Is your signage legible from the road?
Is your front waiting room clean and have seating available?
Are there vehicles in your parking lot for over 2 weeks?
Can you walk through your shop without walking around parts?
Are tools left out when vehicle is finished?
Are your techs dressed properly to meet customers?
CSI
CSI stands for Customer Satisfaction Index. It is a score that shows how happy people are with the product quality at car shops. CSI is not just about being pleased or not, it is also about measuring and reporting how satisfied customers are. This score tells us if we need to make things better in our shop.
Calculation Methodology: CSI is calculated by asking customers to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 or 1-5, depending on the survey. The score is then calculated by taking the average of all the responses. This can be done by mail in survey card or digital.
Boating
I am a believer that before a person operates a boat they should take a boater course.
Some good ones are offered by:
USCG Boating
Coast Guard AUX
Boat US
and many others in your local area
When I was in Florida I was offered a position with Tow Boat US Charlotte Harbor. I had to get my Captains License with Tow Endorsement. That was a tough course and test but my Pilots Navigation and Weather experience helped.
I enjoyed being a Captain for Tow Boat US Charlotte Harbor and gained a lot of boating experience while living on my Heritage East 44 on Pine Island.
That experience led to another opportunity of purchasing an Airboat business at the Nav-A-Gator Grill and Marina. Taking people on Airboat Tours showing them Alligators and Bird Sanctuary’s on the Peace River. I met a lot of great people and it was another chapter in the fun times of Florida.
Some things a Boater needs to know
Left from Right and Rear
Port = Red, Left (Short words)
Starboard = Green, Right (Long words)
White for Night and Rear
The Golden Rule of Boating Etiquette: Do to others as you would have them do to you!
Bubbas on Facebook
Aviation
Wayne’s Aviation on Facebook
I Owned and Operated Pine Island Airport over 10 years.
I loved flying Light Sport which was previously called ultralights. I attained my BFI Basic Flight Instructors Certification and Light Sport Pilots License.
I had a partner, Jamie Mathewson, in the flight school. We had a 10 students in our ground school for ultralights when Hurricane Charley hit the Island.
We did flight tours around the Lee Islands and it was some of the most fun times I had in Florida
Some things a Pilot needs to know
Left from Right
Port = Red, Left (Short words)
Starboard = Green, Right (Long words)
Rules of the Air
Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.
Flying isn’t dangerous. Crashing is what’s dangerous.
It’s always better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here.
The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.
The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.
When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.
A ‘good’ landing is one from which you can walk away. A ‘great’ landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make all of them yourself.
You know you’ve landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.
The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice versa.
Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn’t get to five minutes earlier.
Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.
Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you’ve made.
There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
Helicopters can’t fly; they’re just so ugly the earth repels them.
If all you can see out of the window is ground that’s going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.
Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment.
It’s always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible.
Keep looking around. There’s always something you’ve missed.
Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It’s the law. And it’s not subject to repeal.
The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above you, runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago.