According to Entrepreneur Magazine, only 50% of small businesses make it beyond the five-year mark. Lack of sufficient cash flow and market shifts are often the culprits. But did you know that the next big drop-off is at ten years? At ten years, the failure rate jumps to 70% of small businesses, including independent auto…
Do you have a big, hairy, audacious goal for your business and life? If you do, great! If not, then we highly recommend you start asking yourself these key questions. In the book Taking People with You, David Novak asks three deliberate questions which he ultimately describes as “the only way to make big things…
When you need a fresh perspective, look to your left and your right. Quite a few ATI members signup for our coaching program so they can be made aware of where their business stands and, more importantly, get a new perspective on how to run things. It’s understood that more heads in the game will…
“I don’t need to have meetings, because I talk to my people throughout the day.” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this, I’d have about twenty-one dollars! But seriously, I’m amazed at the number of shop owners who resist the routine of regular meetings. As I reflect on the importance of…
Most auto repair shop owners feel like they’ve been through some of the toughest years ever. We faced COVID as an essential service provider. We faced extreme challenges to our parts availability and increased pricing on everything we need to do the job right. We face continuing issues with the shortage of technicians and the…
September marks the closing of the active and lively Summer and 3rd quarter of the year and welcomes the beginning of a new season — Fall. Soon thereafter, we will usher in Winter and the 4th quarter of the year. In other words, now is the time to bring our ideas, challenges, and goals to life so…
When was the last time you heard of someone getting bitten by an elephant? As I reflect on this question, I am reminded of my former clients Mike and Larry who owned two different shops in 2010. At the time, they both had been with ATI for eighteen months and averaged three thousand dollars per week in net…
Compared to labor, selling parts in the automotive industry is straightforward because it’s logical. During repairs, we often find a vehicle that needs a part replaced, we order the part from one of our vendors, we enter what we paid for it into our parts matrix, the system tells us what to sell it for,…
I was fondly remembering tips my grandfather shared with me when I took my first job and thought I would share them with everyone. He was a great businessman, head of a wonderful family, and deeply respected by me as a mentor in how to live a purposeful life and be successful. 7 Tips to Become…
On August 9th, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS Act which will provide subsidies to companies that make semiconductor chips in order to meet the demand for these chips and bring more manufacturing of them into the U.S. The automotive industry has been one of the hardest hit by global chip shortages causing dramatic…