If I were a kid in school today there is no telling just how medicated I’d be. So medicated, the very thought scares me!

I’m sure they would try their best to muffle the chaos in my head: chaos I just couldn’t wait to share with everyone in the classroom either by accident or on purpose. If I had to paint a picture of what’s going in there it would have to look a little like those television editing booths they sometimes show on screen. You know, the ones with two dozen screens showing two dozen different shots of just about everything going on around you.

Well, that’s pretty much the way it looks and feels to me… With a producer shouting, “Give me Two on my count: three – two – one – Now!”

I’ve got an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of white paper taped to the filing cabinet across from my desk with the words “STAY FOCUSED” printed in 60-point, bold type; but, it might as well say, “Pink Bunny.” Or, better yet, “Squirrel!”

Between the incoming phone calls, the work I have to catch up on by close of business tomorrow, the work coming in, payroll, the constant barrage of problems, challenges, opportunities and solutions… Well, I don’t stand a chance. In fact, it’s a wonder I get to accomplish anything at all and I’m sure I wouldn’t if it wasn’t just a matter of sheer force of will.

The most terrifying part of all? I’ve been doing it so long that crazy seems normal: so long, I actually crave it!

In all fairness, it’s a little worse because I was gone for five days and the five days I was gone were spent attending an industry conference that has me so pumped up it must look like I’m vibrating around the shop. It could have something with the “To Do” list I brought with me or the commitment I’ve made to continuing education and improvement. Either way, I know the people closest to me are going, “Buckle your seat belts: Here we go again!” And, they’re right!

As a result of the conference, I’ve made the commitment to bring a number of the possibilities I was exposed to back to our shop, changes that are almost guaranteed to enhance our ability to serve our clients. In fact, I’ve already started implementing some of those changes.

The goals are relatively simple: expand, improve and serve.

Now, all we have to do is do it!

As the weeks and months go by I’ll be bringing some of those changes here and then opening them up for discussion. If there really is anybody out there, you’re more than welcome to join in.

Even if you don’t join in, it should still be one hell of a wild ride: one worthy of your consideration, especially if we are successful.

I know that even though I don’t know how it will end or what it has to offer, I still can’t wait to get started.

Things you learn whilst conferring with the other Wizards…

First, switch everything on in fifteen minute increments based upon electrical demand. That means moderate the way you “wake” the shop up. Why? Because there really is such a thing as a “Demand Penalty.” At least, there is in Ohio which means it would be prudent to check and see if there is one here. If there is, you are penalized when your usage spikes over a certain point in the demand curve: penalized as in a dollar-based penalty!

Who knew!

I’m going to check and if there is such a thing here in the Land of Fruits & Nuts, and if there is you can bet the computers will come on first. Then, the lights fifteen minutes after, and then the compressors fifteen minutes after that. One of the other Wizards, one with three stores, managed to save $10 per day per store! That’s almost a thousand dollars… Not bad for exercising a little self-restraint, especially when you are there forty-five minutes before the first employee shows up anyway!

There were lots of other tricks and tips: ways to save money and ways to make it work for you – and, I mean you as a motorist – more effectively.

I’ll be looking at most of them over the next few weeks, so don’t be surprised if you find them here. I’d like your opinion if you’d be willing to share because most of the changes we are going to make are designed to make your experience here more tolerable if not more pleasant.

On another note, Oz was wonderful, albeit too damned cold and the balloon ride back to Simi was relatively smooth, although too long. But, more about that another time.

I’m sitting here staring at the screen wondering what, if anything, I should write about.

It isn’t that there isn’t anything to write about. There is… Too much, in fact. Especially, today. And, therein lies the problem. It’s the what, not the if!

It’s not a matter of sharing what happened at the shop or within the automotive service industry as it is a matter of how far I am willing to let you in. How much is it reasonable to share? After all, are we sure you are really interested in what’s going on behind the curtain on the other side of the service counter, or is it just a matter of making polite conversation?

For instance, today was President’s Day and we started the day with a full schedule. This is a ‘good‘ thing, something we work hard to ensure. Holidays like President’s Day allow our educators and government workers and anyone else who has the day off to get their vehicles in while they are off and we are working. In essence, a perfect plan if the work involved matches the time allotted.

But, too often, God laughs when man plans, and if today was any indication: God was hysterical!

The phones were ringing and people were coming in even as we were unlocking the doors. There were messages on the answering machine requesting call-backs for additional appointments and people waiting in the waiting room. Everything was as it should be… Or, was it?

I had already received a call from one of our technicians who was stuck out of town – Yes, car trouble!

Seems somehow poetic, doesn’t it? A professional technician stuck on the road with a broken car!

Now, our three-technician shop is a two-technician shop, at least until one o’clock in the afternoon when Javier is due to return.

In the meantime, we’re writing service, documenting client concerns, ordering parts and trying to figure out how we are going to complete twenty-four hours worth of work (3 technicians X 8 working hours = 24 tech hours) with sixteen-hours worth of technicians (2 technicians X 8 working hours = 16 tech hours).

That was before I looked up, realized it was 8:30 in the morning and Bob hadn’t come in yet. I should preface the fact that I had this revelation recognizing that just about everyone here was surviving various levels of the latest flu that was going around. Well, Bob didn’t escape it either.

Twenty-four hours worth of work: one technician: eight hours… Well, maybe, ten… Or, twelve… Or…

That’s when, as a leader, you reach for the Bosun’s Whistle and call: All Hands on Deck!

The great joy, the incredible confidence that comes from surrounding yourself with great people cannot be over emphasized. We: Bob, Frank, Javier, Steve (And, me…) have been together forever… The ‘New Guy’ has been here for over six years. That means that we know each other and know each other well. Even the porters are extremely well-trained. That kind of experience and discipline is the backbone of our shop and when trouble comes; even when it comes in buckets, we don’t panic! At least, not a lot!

We take a deep breathe, figure out what we can reasonably expect to accomplish and then get to business of getting it done. Everyone pitches in. Everyone helps out. Everyone does whatever they can do to get it done.

Sure, there is stress – It’s always stressful when you have to call a client with disappointing news: “I’m sorry. No one came in today and as a result, your car or truck won’t be ready when promised. We hope it won’t be too inconvenient. And, if it is, is there anything we can do to mitigate that inconvenience.”

The amazing thing is that between all of us pitching in we got a good chunk of those twenty-four hours done… and, done right, I might add!

But, I’m not sure I’m ready to share just exactly how we managed to do that! It’s one of those: To write… Or, not to write! issues: a Trade Secret of sorts.

Or, at the very least: a Schneider’s Automotive secret!

I like being challenged… Really, I do. And, there appears to be an infinite number of challenges to confront and overcome just about every day when you own and operate your own automotive service business.

I like multi-tasking – Yes, I’m a man who is not only capable of doing more than one thing at a time successfully; I’m someone capable of doing whatever it is I’m doing well as well, no matter how many whatevers it turns out to be!

I like hard work. I even like working hard. As a matter of fact, I prefer it. The day goes by much more quickly when you are passionately involved and deeply committed.

I really like the people I work with and the customers and clients who come to the shop and make my professional life possible as well.

I enjoy the relationships I have with our suppliers… even when I don’t enjoy them. And, I love the industry I am a part of even when I hate it: and, there are times when it feels as if I’m hating it more…  and, more often, than ever before!

In other words, I like just about everything there is to like about what I do; where I do it; who I do it with and who I do it for. That should make me a pretty happy guy! Certainly, a guy who is happy more often than not… And, I am.

Unfortunately, however, I’m willing to bet it doesn’t always seem that way… At least, not to someone looking in from the outside. Why? Because doing everything I’ve mentioned above simultaneously can be stressful!

Wait a minute! Scratch the “can” in that last sentence! Using “can” instead of “is,” can be misleading because it “IS” stressful. “Can” almost makes it seem optional and it isn’t. Consequently, there can be no “can” about it!

If I seem a little stressed at the moment it’s only because I am. I got home late after a long afternoon where even I’m not sure what I was doing beyond whatever it was I had to. And, while I think I may have gotten it all done: getting it all done within the time frame in which it had to be done did not come without a price and that price is the way I feel right now!

I’m not whining about it… It’s the path I’ve chosen. I just wish the walk wasn’t as brisk at times. That way I might be able to get a handle on where I am and where I’m headed. OK, that’s a bit of an exagerration.  I do know where I’m headed: it’s the distractions along the way – the detours, potholes and roadblocks that make me nuts! That, and the fact that you can’t see very much when you’re working that hard and moving that fast. And, that’s where loving what you’re doing and who you are doing it for becomes critical, because you couldn’t survive on a constant diet of stress; at least, not for very long. There have to be moments of quiet coupled with moments of clarity. There has to be an abundance of satisfaction. Otherwise, all the “other stuff” would eat you alive.

So, if I seem distracted at times or I begin to act erratically; if I appear tense or driven, or it seems I’m moving in too many different directions at the same time, or it looks like I’m doing too much, it’s only because I am or I have. If it looks as if I don’t know where I’m going, if only for a moment: it’s probably because I don’t… for that particular moment. But, that’s OK… if only for the moment.

I know where I’m going. I’m moving out. I’m moving forward. I’m moving up. How do I know? Because up is the only direction you can go when you like what you do, who you do it with, where you do it and who you do it for… And, I do!

Ask anyone and they’ll probably tell you the very same thing.

I should have been at the gym this morning, but instead I spent that time at breakfast with a ‘friend.’

I placed ‘friend’ in quotation marks because I wasn’t quite sure how else I could let you know that I didn’t know what else to do with it. Friend is one of those words we have cheapened to the point it no longer means what it once did. I know how that must sound and ‘cheapen’ may not be the best word to describe what I’m trying to say, but these days we tend to refer to anyone and everyone as a ‘friend,’ a  ’good friend,’ or a ‘best friend, or a ‘dear friend,’ and I have to wonder: Are they, really?

I find this particularly uncomfortable because I was raised by someone who insisted that if you were fortunate to have one or two people you could call friend during the course of your life you were a very lucky guy. But, of course, my father was someone you could call at three o’clock in the morning and all he would want to know was where you were and whether or not you needed him to bring anything with him. Past that, he was on his way…

“Why” you needed him was never a question. Nor, was “What” you did or “How” you came to need his help in the first place.

Breakfast was with a professional ‘friend’ of more than twenty-five years: someone I’ve seen just about every week for somewhere around 1,250 weeks, give or take a few (I know, but who’s counting.). What made the morning so interesting was the quality of the conversation. It’s amazing how much more effective communication can be when it is uninterrupted: how much more you can accomplish.

I say that as if there was an agenda. But, there wasn’t. At least, none more pressing than repairing a crack in our relationship: both personal and professional, that was beginning to ‘run’ as welders are won’t to say.

I think we accomplished a lot. If nothing else, we managed to “button-hole” the crack to stop it from running any farther: from getting any worse.

I’m not sure where this morning’s breakfast will fit within the context of the “Great Scheme of Things” either. After all, neither of us would qualify as a ‘3:00 A.M. Friend’ for the other. At least, not the way my father defined friend. But, we managed to stop the bleeding, more or less.

We achieved a new level of understanding. We learned to listen more carefully. We deepened our relationship as acquaintances, which is great! Did we exchange phone numbers so we could call at three in the morning… Well, not yet. But, who knows. This could have been a start…

I actually wrote and posted this to my other blog site earlier today, but felt it was really appropriate to this site as well. So, here it is…

I just got off the phone following a twenty minute interview conducted by a Vice President at one of the nation’s (The “world’s,” actually…) largest and most respected public relations companies. The interview was focused on our experience with TMPS – I know, it sounds like the interview was all about really ‘cranky’ tires. But, it was really about what you know about these highly sophisticated Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems and how what you know impacts what we do in the field: “We” being the repair community.

To tell you the truth, while interesting from a philosophical or theoretical point of view, or on the basis of the marketing program it will ultimately generate – there was nothing all that extraordinary about the interview with one small exception, and that exception was a sliver of insight I was able to garner, a glimpse of what success in our relationship should really be all about… from your perspective: the only perspective that matters.

If my experience has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that the only way you can make anything automotive ‘relevant’ to a vehicle owner is to demonstrate that it is ‘meaningful.’ The interview I just completed helped me clarify that; perhaps, even quantify it more than anything I’ve ever done: especially, when it comes to anything even remotely ‘technical.’

It’s really all a matter of three questions, maybe four. The first question should be the most obvious: What does ‘it,’ whatever ‘it‘ might be, mean? And, that should translate to: What does it mean… to me! How will it impact me: economically, from the standpoint of safety, as a matter of inconvenience, et al.

If this is relating to a warning lamp, noise or a potential  mechanical problem, the second question is or should be: How will I know? That question is really all about how to tell if there is something going wrong before it actually fails and really goes wrong.

The third question is really a two part question: What do I do about ‘it:’ whatever ‘it‘ might be? And/or, what do I do to avoid ‘it‘ altogether.

The fourth questionis, if there really is a fourth question, is: How will all or any of this impact me (meaning you)?

I’ll be exploring these and other questions over the next month or so if for no other reason than to help me find better, more appropriate, more meaningful, more relevant ways to help you.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Like the computer in your car or truck, this will work better if the communication is bi-directional. But, we can talk about that later!

Unlike the other writing I am involved with, this blog is attached to my website which means that most of the people exposed to it will be motorists (civilians) like you, and not a part of the service industry like me.

Realistically, I’m not sure how many “civilians” know or really understand the lengths to which their independent automotive repair shop owner is willing to go on their behalf. Frankly, half the time I’m not sure anyone really cares. Nor, am I sure you really want to know.  But, the thought just occurred to me that this forum could be used to help expand that understanding for anyone interested in seeing what the wonderful world of broken cars looks like from the other side of the service counter.

This offers a unique opportunity to share a glimpse of my world with you; a world you rarely get to see. After forty-four years, I know it is a world the majority of you are unfamiliar, if not totally uncomfortable with: and, I’m not sure I blame you.

Automotive service and repair has become increasingly more and more sophisticated over the years beginning with the introduction of electronics in the early 70’s. Electronics were followed by computer controls (beginning in 1978 & 1979), and the rest as they say is history. The end result is a passenger fleet of cars and trucks that run longer, cleaner and more efficiently than anyone could ever imagined possible just thirty short years ago today.

The drawback?

Vehicle service, maintenance and repair are all more important… and, more expensive than anyone could have imagined either. This, coupled with the fact that for most of us – any automotive service is almost always unbudgeted, and you have the recipe for an almost perfect anxiety and frustration soufflé’!

Since most people are unprepared when they venture into our world: the Wonderful World of Broken Cars and Broken People – we’ll talk more about the ‘Broken People’ part another time – a little insight into what happens on my side of the service counter after you leave your car for service and repair might help ease the pain at least a little.

If nothing else, at least I’ll know I tried…

So, here’s the “deal.”

I’ll write about the things I think you need to know in order to have a successful automotive service experience from time to time, if from time to time you write and let me know what you want to know.

Think it will work? I say, let’s find out…