Learn to Take a Step Away From the Shop

Remember the feeling of first becoming a shop owner? The excitement of embarking on a new adventure? It’s a feeling only some have the privilege of knowing—but, eventually, most will want to settle down and take things a bit slower. Perhaps you’re reaching retirement age, or maybe you’re just wanting to be able to take a vacation once in a while with your family.

There’s a time and a place to be active and hands-on with your business. But there’s also a time to learn to step away, and to let the shop learn to function without you holding its hand. It won’t happen magically, but only through focused direction and planning on your part.

As CEO of Auto Profit Masters and the Automated Marketing Group, David Rogers has seen this play out with shop owners many times. He’s managed to master the art of running a shop from offsite, having operated Keller Bros. Auto Repair remotely—along with his other companies—after doubling business in the first year, and bringing another million in the next year and a half after. 

Rogers is also the founder of Shop4D, a software platform designed to help run various types of automotive businesses remotely, in an effort to help other business owners learn to take a step away from their own shop.

Now, he speaks with NOLN on some basic groundwork you can lay down to not just take a more hands-off approach, but to open the gates for a new generation to come in with fresh ideas. 

Get a Grasp of Your Numbers

Whatever point you are at in your career, there will likely come a time when you will want to take a step back. It’s easy to spend long hours in the shop every day at first, but decades of it can put a strain on your personal life. Learning how to build up an operation that can run without your presence or guidance will allow that time to raise kids, pursue other hobbies, spend time with friends and family, and other important life events outside of work.

“When you create a business, live there every day, and put in those...hours, 16 hours a day—six, seven days a week—for how many years can you do that?” asks Rogers. “You know, there comes a point where something’s got to give. Your family suffers, your kids don't know you. I can't imagine a worse scenario than having a beautiful family and not being able to spend time with them.”

So, it’s important to start laying down the groundwork for you to be able to one day step away, as far in advance as you can.

A huge part of this is ensuring you have solid numbers on the performance of your business. Building up a shop with strong numbers and organized data will not only make it easier for you to eventually be more hands-off, but banks will also lend more readily when you have solid measurements and processes.

This data can help you see what you’re doing well—and not so well—and is something that can be gained through implementing a shop management program. It’s important to research all the options available, though, and to choose something that meets the specific needs of your shop. It should also be something that’s easy to use for your employees.

“Some programs are designed to grow your business, so it's important to understand them and to utilize one that helps you and gives your employees a clear understanding of what they must accomplish and how to do it,” explains Rogers. “If the program's not helping you do that, you may not have the right program.”

Until you are able to take a more hands-off approach, Rogers also reminds that owners should be accounting for that in how they are paying themselves.

“If you're necessary in your shop, if you're there—and especially if you're there, working in some sort of general management capacity—but not paying yourself that salary on top of your ownership compensation, then you're really just making the business harder to sell,” explains Rogers. “So, if your goal someday is to retire and sell out, you need to think about that.”

Hire on Merit—Not Favorability

Putting in place a reliable manager is another critical piece of building a shop that can run without you, but a mistake Rogers often sees shop owners make is simply putting someone that they happen to like in that role, such as a friend or relative. This can make it hard, almost impossible in some cases, to navigate work issues without it becoming personal.

“If you put somebody else in there just because you trust them, or you think they're a nice girl or nice boy or whatever, yadda, yadda, yadda—none of that matters,” remarks Rogers. “Because now you've got all these relationship dynamics that must be navigated, and that are going to cause harm to you, your family, and to your business if you hold someone accountable.

“Don't hire anyone you can't happily fire. If I can't look you in the eye and release you tomorrow for non-performance, I don't want to hire you today.”

Whoever you choose to put in place should show passion, motivation for improving the business and how it operates, and should have a firm grasp on the shop’s finances, metrics, and what all of it means.

And if you want employees in place who will gladly carry on the business when you aren’t there, you must ensure you have a proper pay structure set up for your entire staff. Work on developing a compensation plan that motivates your employees to stay there, and that incentivizes improvement and growth. It’s important to exercise extreme caution with pay plans, though, and to make sure you realize the result of any changes you may implement. There are resources that can help with this, such as Auto Profit Master’s free online pay plan assessment.

Let the Next Generation Elevate Your Business

Additionally, if you want your business to evolve with consumer needs and expectations, you need a fresh, motivated set of eyes to come in and help expand your understanding. Let your younger team members get involved in shop processes. Invite them to share ideas, criticisms, and suggestions. Welcome them into the inner workings of the business, and allow them to take a look in.

“We’re seeing so much drastic, rapid change in society today; things have been changing for a long time. And sometimes, when you're the guy who starts something—you're the inventor, you do a great job, you invent something wonderful, and you've got it where you want it to be. But it's that next generation that's coming up behind you that's going to take it to a whole nother level,” says Rogers. “If you can tie that into a very easy to follow process, what you begin to see is a culmination of some of the greatest shops in America today.”

You have to practice some judgment when hiring team members—especially management roles—but, at the same time, you can’t expect anyone to walk in, knowing exactly how you’re wanting things to work or improve. A workplace rife with support for team members and opportunities to advance their career will be the best way to have a trustworthy, confident team.

“So, if we keep saying, ‘Oh, I just gotta hire the right person’—that is the biggest mistake I see every owner make at some point in their career: believing they're going to find the ‘right’ person,” tells Rogers.

“Let me help you with something. They don't exist. You must create that opportunity. Every person in front of you is the right person. If you can understand the puzzle of how to incentivize, reward, and recognize that human being, they become the right person,” he adds. “You have to teach people how you want things done. Not try to hire someone to come in and already know how you want things done, and then being angry at them because they miss something.”